by Love N. Joy
“But Yolanda two wrongs don’t make a right,” Zariah said.
“I understand that but it’s time for you to start living for you, have fun while you’re still young. You’re 24-years-old Zariah and I understand that you and Quincy have been together since forever but you’re still young and you don’t need all this stress he’s causing you,” Yolanda explained.
“I can’t blame him fully. I did my dirt too,” Zariah replied.
“Yes and that was because of him leading you to do that,” Yolanda said in return. No matter what the situation was Yolanda never saw her little cousin as being guilty of anything When she was born Yolanda took her under her wing and they have been like two peas in a pod ever since. Zariah’s mother wasn’t really around like that so Yolanda’s mother pretty much raised Zariah like she was her own so half the time Yolanda didn’t see Zariah as a cousin, more like a sister.
“I mean it would be nice to spend time with someone who actually shows me their full attention,” Zariah finally said.
“Hello it’s about time you realized it besides the way you explained how fine he looks I don’t see how you would let him get away.”
“I did forget to mention he has some beautiful deep brown eyes,” Zariah replied with a smile. “I got a chance to see them in the daylight but I wasn’t going to tell him that his eyes were beautiful just to boost his ego up.”
“As if he hasn’t been told before though,” Yolanda said.
“Right,” Zariah replied and chuckled.
“Give him a call and take him up on his offer. You deserve to be happy don’t pass it up girl.”
“Ok, ok I will call him.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear,” Yolanda replied smiling now.
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“What’s that?”
“I got to go get some more of my stuff from Quincy’s house later on this week and I need you to come with me just in case he acts up.”
“Girl, you know I got you. So does this mean that you are moving out?”
“No just need to clear my head and I know for sure I can’t do it there,” Zariah replied.
“No problem. I’m here for you just know that,” Yolanda replied.
“I know you are…thank you for everything.”
Jaidyn’s P.O.V.
“Jaidyn come here,” I heard Pierre yell from the front room. What could he possibly want? I thought to myself. I got up from my bed and walked out of my room over into the living room. “What you screaming for boy?” I asked noticing it was another male in the room.
“I wanted you to meet my man Kevin,” Pierre said. He introduced us to each other and I couldn’t help but to smile.
“Oh wow it is so nice to finally meet you. You’re the Mr. lucky guy that has my brother around here smiling from ear to ear,” I replied as I pulled him in for a hug. I couldn’t just shake his hand this was someone who came into my brother’s life and broke through his cold freezing heart which is impossible to do.
“I take it you have said nice things about me,” Kevin said with a smile.
“You know I do boo,” Pierre said in return as he gave Kevin a kiss on the lips. I was so happy for him.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Kevin replied.
“So where you going all dressed up?” Pierre asked referring to me in my long maxi light blue and green summer dress with light blue and green wedge heels to match. My hair was up in a ponytail with silver hoop earrings to decorate my face.
“I wouldn’t consider myself dressed up but if you must know Ava and I are going out to get some ice cream from Pink Berry,” I replied. Pierre shot me a look but didn’t ask any more questions.
“We will talk about this later,” Pierre said. With that being said Kevin and him went and sat down on the couch and cuddled up next to each other. Awww how cute.I thought to myself being interrupted by my phone vibrating on my hip I looked down at the screen and realized it was Ava calling.
“Hello,” I said
“Hey girl I’m downstairs,” she replied.
“Alright I’m on my way down,” I said then pressed the end button. “Okay Pierre I’ll be back.”
“Alright have fun,” Pierre replied not really looking at me paying more attention to Kevin. I smiled and rolled my eyes playfully as I walked out the front door after grabbing my purse.
“So tell me something about you,” Ava said to me as we sat at the table in front of Pink Berry eating our ice cream.
“Well what do you want to know?” I asked.
“Tell me what kind of childhood you had.”
“My childhood was happy. I was raised by my momma and my grandma. My dad wasn’t around he didn’t want to be a father to me. But my momma was like my friend I could talk to her about anything and everything and she never lied to me, and my grandma was the strict but sweet and loving one. She didn’t let me slide with anything and she taught me values and how a man is supposed to treat you,” I explained. It felt good talking to Ava she listened and was very understanding.
“So I’ve been meaning to ask you about your poem ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’. When you performed it on stage it was so much emotion in it. Do you mind telling me the story behind that poem?” I asked.
“Sure I don’t mind. Basically my daddy really wanted a boy first. He felt like if he had a son then a daughter the son could protect his little sister. Obviously he had a daughter first and things went downhill from there,” she said.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“From the time I was five to my teenage years I just didn’t feel like other girls. They were into boys by the age of 12 and I was crushing on girls. I had sexual dreams about some of my female friends, not intentionally, they just happened. I started dressing like a tomboy by 13. My momma thought it was a phase I was going through. My daddy was livid about it. It just seemed strange to me, my momma was so understanding of what I was going through and my daddy hated me for it. Over time when I realized I liked girls and I came out the closet, I no longer existed to my daddy.”
“Well don’t think of it like that he’s probably was just hurt.”
“No Jai, you don’t understand, he hated my lifestyle so badly he abandoned his family by just up and leaving one day. So he and my momma never had the chance to have their son that they wanted. From my “confusion” as he would call it and them arguing about it he had had enough.” She got quiet and started to play with her ice cream by swirling her spoon slowly around in it. I knew it was hard for her to talk about this. I didn’t want to see her down so I had to change the subject.
“Hey you called me by my nickname. I only let people who are close to me call me by that name; are you trying to get close?” I asked while smiling. She looked up at me and smiled as well.
“I only want to be close to you if you allow me to,” she replied staring me deep into my eyes. Her comment made my heart skip a beat. There was something about her that had me wanting to be around her more and more. What it was, I couldn’t explain.
“I would love for us to get closer,” I said in return. We sat there and talked for a couple more hours by the time we got back to my place it was just starting to get dark.
“Well here you are,” Ava said as she parked the car and looked at me.
“What you aren’t staying tonight?” I asked somewhat disappointed. I was looking forward to her company.
“I mean I don’t want to wear my welcome out,” she said.
I sucked my teeth and said, “Girl don’t be silly. When I start to get tired of seeing you trust me I will let you know.”
“I hope that doesn’t happen soon,” she said in a flirtatious tone of voice. I looked at her and smiled.
“So are you coming up or what?” I asked.
“Welllll,” she sung out leaving me in suspense for an answer.
“Come on
, quit playing,” I said laughing while I shoved her playfully. She laughed as well. “Besides I could really use a scalp massage again,” I said.
“Alright I’ll come up,” she said looking at me.
We lay in my bed looking at each other while playing with each other hair. I had on my white camisole and white boy shorts to match while she had on a white wife beater and black basketball shorts. “You have nice soft hair,” I said while running my fingers through her long hair. This was the first time she let it down since she’s been here and it was 4 inches past her shoulders.
“So do you,” she replied. Silence circulated between us for a minute.
“What’s on your mind?” I asked.
“I don’t think you want to know,” she replied.
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know.”
She sighed and took a pregnant pause then finally said, “You remember you said you would tell me if I’m ever going too far with you?”
“Yeah I remember saying something like that,” I replied. “Why do you ask, do you feel like you are going too far with me right now?”
“No I feel like I’m about to though,” she replied. I looked at her with a confused look on my face at this point.
“Jai, I would really like to kiss you right now, it’s taking everything in me not to but I really want to,” she rushed out her words and sighed a sigh of relief now that she got the words out.
“How long have you been feeling like this?” I asked her.
“Ever since I first saw you, I thought you were so beautiful. That’s why I always want to be around you, you have this beautiful personality that’s easy to fall in love with. Jai what I’m trying to say is I’ve been wanting to kiss you since the first day I got here and I’ve been doing good holding myself back but I don’t know how much longer I can hold out,” she explained.
I smiled knowing this was uncomfortable for her to explain to me, I didn’t want to make her feel any more awkward. Without a second thought, I leaned in and kissed her. A peck became a passionate kiss. Her hands roamed my body while my hands did the same to hers. The chills from the night she gave me that massage came flooding back. She caressed my breast and I couldn’t help but to let a moan escape from my mouth. I pulled away catching my breath.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked. I shook my head no. “Do you feel uncomfortable?” she asked.
“No,” I responded. “I just want you to hold me.”
“Sure---sure no problem I can do that,” she said. I turned away from her and scooted closer to her, poking my butt into her pussy and grabbing her arms allowing her to wrap them around me and hold me as tight as she wanted to. She planted a kiss on my shoulder causing me to smile. I felt content with her, for the first time in my life I was finally feeling wanted instead of used and it felt good. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep with happy thoughts on my mind.
Chapter 11
Author’s P.O.V.
Zariah sat there on the couch contemplating on if it was the right time to call Isaiah up and set a date for when they can see each other again or wait a couple of more weeks. It had been three days since she seen him and said she would think about his offer. She knew the anticipation was probably building up in him to see what her answer may be and she didn’t want to keep him waiting. She pulled out her phone and sighed as she went to dialing his number. It was all or nothing from here.
“Hello,” she heard his deep voice say into the phone. She smiled just from hearing it. It was something about his voice that made her go crazy on the inside, something she couldn’t explain.
“Hey it’s me Zariah,” she replied.
“Well hello beautiful. How have you been?” he asked.
“I’ve been fine, thank you for asking. How have you been?”
“I’m good, I was a little worried I thought maybe you had forgot about me and said skip my offer.”
“No it’s not that just a lot going on and besides I was giving it a lot of thought. I like to weigh the pros and cons of situations I get myself into,” she said half telling the truth.
Isaiah chuckled in return and said, “Yeah I can understand that. So have you made your decision?”
A smile came across Zariah’s face as she replied by saying, “Yeah I would love to take you up on your offer.”
“I’m glad that you decided to do that I promise you won’t regret it.”
“I hope not,” Zariah said back with a chuckle.
“So when are you free again Zariah?”
“I don’t have to work on Sunday, does that work for you?”
“Yes Sunday is fine, it’s perfect,” Isaiah replied.
“Ok I’ll see you then.”
“Alright I’ll text you my directions before then if you don’t remember how to get here. And don’t worry about a thing. I’m planning the whole date you just show up and look beautiful,” he replied. Zariah smiled, she liked that he was smooth with his words and didn’t have to try hard to impress her. She said goodbye then got off the phone thinking about how Sunday would be. Yolanda was right she was still young and it was time for her to start having fun and no longer being stressed out…
Friday rolled around two days later. Zariah was just getting off work and her body was feeling sore. “Girl are you sure you want to grab your stuff now you just got off work and you’re exhausted,” Yolanda said as Zariah pulled up in front of her apartment building.
“Yes Yolanda I’m positive, I want to get this out the way now,” she said as she got out the car. Yolanda got out the passenger seat and followed behind her.
“So when is it my cue to come in?” Yolanda asked.
“If I’m not out in fifteen minutes with my stuff then you come knock on the door and see if everything is alright,” Zariah instructed.
Yolanda sucked her teeth. “So I’m supposed to sit outside your door for fifteen minutes looking stupid?” She asked.
“Yeah so now you can see how your boos be feeling when you kick them out your place and leave them stranded,” Zariah said.
Yolanda chuckled and said, “It ain’t my fault they don’t have a car. Shit I guess that means I need to start messing with dudes who done stepped their game up.”
“I guess,” Zariah said. Her mind was somewhere else right now and that was getting her stuff and hoping Quincy wasn’t here.
She walked into the front door and smelled boneless pork chops, macaroni and cheese and broccoli being cooked. That meant that Quincy was here. Zariah cursed under her breath as she slowly walked in and closed the door behind her. Quincy turned around to see her standing there. It was like a glow of relief came over his face just to see that she was home. Zariah hated that she had to be the one to put that glow out.
“I’m so glad you’re home. I’ve been cooking your favorite dishes every day just in case you decided to come home,” he said. Zariah didn’t reply just looked away from him. He chuckled and said, “It’s funny that the day I decide to cook my favorite dish you do decide to come home.”
“That’s just the thing I’m not coming home Q,” she came out and said wanting to stop him before he got his hopes too high. Just like she expected that happy glow in his face went away and a confused and hurt expression flowed into his eyes now.
“What do you mean you’re not coming home? Come on now it’s been almost a week that you’ve been gone. Why does it have to be like this?”
“I just need to clear my head some more.”
“Clear your head about what? Why can’t we just talk about whatever it is that’s bothering you?” Seeing Quincy look lost like a little child hurt Zariah to her heart. She felt a lump forming in her throat. She swallowed it hoping the tears wouldn’t fall. “Trust me there’s nothing more I can talk to you about that I haven’t said a thousand times before,” she said as her voice began to crack.
“Okay Zariah I understand that
. You’ve repeated yourself before and I wasn’t listening then but baby I’m listening now. Let me make---
“Q I think this is best for you too with me not being here. You need to clear your head as well you know, figure out why you’re going back and forth between Jaidyn and me. There’s something deeper that’s causing you to do this and you need to find out what that is.”
A tear fell from Quincy’s eye and at that moment Zariah felt her heart stop. Right then and there, there was a knock at the door. Zariah already knew who it was. She opened up the door and Yolanda walked right on in. “Okay I’m sorry I had enough of the soap opera scene between y’all. Where is your stuff at and what all do you want me to get?” Yolanda asked.
“It’s in my room straight down the hall, I’ll be in there to help you in a minute,” Zariah said. Yolanda walked towards the back. Once she was out the room Quincy looked back at Zariah.
“So are you sure this is what you want to do?” He asked.
“Q, this isn’t what I want to do this is what I need to do.”
Quincy didn’t reply he just turned back towards the food. Zariah sighed and headed to the backroom to get her stuff.
The food was ready to serve and eat but Quincy didn’t have an appetite now. He stood there watching Zariah and her cousin walk out with her stuff. As Zariah was about to walk out the door for good, Quincy pulled her back. “So can you tell me how long this is going to be?” he asked her.
“I really don’t know at this point. Look, I know this is hard for you to take in but in time you will understand it.” With that being said Zariah walked out the door. Tears started to fall down Quincy’s face. It was like the more he wiped them the more they fell. With so much anger rushing through him now he flipped over the living room table.
“Are you okay?” Yolanda asked as they put Zariah’s belongings into the trunk.
“Yeah,” Zariah replied above a whisper.
“Are you sure?” Yolanda asked.
“I’m fine,” Zariah said. “I think you should drive though while I just ease my mind.” She handed Yolanda the keys then got in on the passenger’s side. As soon as Yolanda started up the car, the tears Zariah were holding back started falling uncontrollably. Yolanda put the car back in park and leaned over to hug her cousin. “Why does it have to be so complicated between us?” Zariah asked through tears a couple of times. Yolanda just consoled her and allowed her to cry on her shoulder.