“And you say you haven’t mentioned any of this to Prodigal?”
Teary hesitated before answering. “No, I haven’t, and please, don’t you breathe a word to him either. I’ll tell him when the time is right.”
“Whatever you say. But he’s going to be crushed when he hears, and you know it. I hope we don’t have to pull the two of them apart when you tell him.”
“I hope not either. Anyway Prodigal has you and he has his own life. I can’t worry about him right now or what he thinks, Faith. I just can’t.”
“Suit yourself, but look, let me ask you this and then I’m through with it.”
“Go ahead. Ask away,” Teary responded.
“Have you prayed about this? You know that’s what you’re supposed to do. You, of all people, should know that neither of us can afford to walk into our future without seeking God, not after all we’ve been taught about him. I mean, we can’t afford to abandon our faith, especially now.”
“Look, I hear what you’re saying but I don’t have to pray about it, Faith. I know Skyler is the one for me. If nobody else can see that, then so be it.”
“Okay, whatever,” Faith said looking down at her Mickey Mouse watch. The waitress brought the two overstuffed appetizer trays and sat them on a table beside them. While she unloaded their order, Faith used it as an excuse to get out of the conversation. She didn’t want to tear her friend down, but she believed Teary was about to make a huge mistake.
“I better go and get Prodigal so we can eat. It won’t be long before it’s time for us to go. But before I do, I just want you to know that I hope you and Skyler will be happy together.”
“Too bad your future husband won’t feel the same way.”
“He just wants the best for you, that’s all. You can’t blame him for that, Teary. And you can’t say too much about Prodigal anyway, because Skyler doesn’t like him either if I might remind you.”
“I think they’re jealous of one another.”
“Yeah, that makes sense, but that’s why I was hoping tonight we could just hang out, enjoy each other and maybe the two of them could begin to get along. But you see how that’s turned out. Your man’s on one side of the restaurant and Skyler’s at the bar.”
“Just give them time,” Faith responded. “Everything will work out.”
♦
Prodigal swallowed the last portion of hot wings. Without mouthing a word, he pounced up from the table like a kitten after a ball of yarn, almost knocking over the almost empty glasses of soda. He politely took hold of Faith’s elbow, and forced her to stand.
“Hey, can’t I at least finish this last mozzarella cheese stick?” Faith asked him. Prodigal didn’t answer her. Instead, he walked around to the other side of the table where Teary sat.
“Look, we have to leave. I told Fantasia we wouldn’t be gone long. You sure you don’t want to come with us?” Prodigal asked.
“I’m sure. I already told you, Skyler and I are going to celebrate tonight, just the two of us. We’re going to hang out here for a little while, and then go do a little something,” Teary said, smiling coyly.
Skyler spoke up with an evil glint in his eye “Anyway, man. My lady and I have a lot to celebrate tonight. We actually have three things, don’t we, baby?” Skyler leaned over the table, propped his elbow on the edge and started to outline Teary’s lips with butterfly kisses. Underneath the table she hit her knee against his as a warning for him to shut up, but he ignored her gesture.
“Tell me about it, man.” Prodigal’s jaw bone flexed, a sign of his pent up anger.
“Let’s see. Where do I start? First, my lady just graduated from high school ,” Skyler stated.
“Yeah, keep on,” Prodigal’s voice conveyed his frustration with Skyler.
“Second, she just turned eighteen,” Skyler continued.
Prodigal stood rigid as a statue Faith didn’t make as sound. She eyed Teary nervously. You worthless punk, Prodigal thought to himself. “And the third?” Prodigal asked.
With a look of revenge plastered across his face and an uplifted eyebrow, Skyler stood up. “Yes, yes, yes. The third, the best out of the three. Da, dah,” Skyler said, trying to imitate the sound of a musical note. “May I present to you the soon to be Mrs. Skyler Jenkins. Right, baby?” He watched Prodigal’s face turn from chocolate brown to beet red before he added insult to injury by kissing Teary passionately.
Faith was stunned. How could Skyler do something like this? Prodigal lunged toward Skyler but Faith managed to grab him before he landed a blow.
“Prodigal, honey. Don’t do this. You should be glad for Teary. The two obviously love each other.” Faith continued.
About the same time, Teary stood up, “Prodigal, don’t. Like Faith said, I love Skyler and he loves me.”
Prodigal couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Married? How could she even think about doing such a stupid thing? He gave Teary an ice cold stare. How could she do something like this without telling me? I’m sick of her messing her life up with one jerk after another. He fumed, “Hey, I don’t know what to say,” Prodigal responded, his jaw flinching in anger even more than before.
“You can start by saying, congratulations,” Skyler said as he stood up and purposely planted another juicy kiss on Teary’s open mouth.
Prodigal shrugged his shoulders, grabbed Faith’s hand and said sarcastically, “Congratulations. See yah, Teary.”
“See yah, Prodigal. Bye Faith,” Teary said sadly. Prodigal hurriedly left the restaurant.
Skyler and Teary watched as the couple exited the restaurant. Skyler smirked, then placed his arm around Teary. “Baby, don’t look so down. You and I have the whole night to be together. Come on, sit back down,” he ordered.
Teary obeyed his instructions in silence. She didn’t want Prodigal to find out like this.
“Tell me something, sweetheart. Would you much rather be with them or with your man?” Skyler asked her in a pleading voice. Teary looked into his searching eyes.
“You know there’s nobody in this world but you that I’d rather be with,” she said. “It’s just that I wasn’t planning on Prodigal finding out about our marriage like this. I wanted to be the one to tell him. God, I wish the two of you could get along.”
“Forget him. Let’s have a toast ―to sharing the rest of our lives together.” They sipped on their drinks while underneath the table Skyler rubbed his hands up and down her thighs. “How about going to the club with me tonight? You’ll be eighteen in about an hour and a half,” he chuckled. “So you can come and see where your fiancé performs.”
“Okay,” she answered hesitantly. “But I hope before we get married that you find something better to do than working at that club. How are we going to get our lives together and do the right thing if you keep working there? I know you make good money, but I still don’t want my husband dancing half-naked in front of a bunch of wild, horny, desperate women. It just isn’t right. What you’re doing is not pleasing to God Skyler. Don’t you agree?”
He evaded her probing question. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll find something else. This is just for now, to help us get an apartment and some of the stuff we’re going to need to start out. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
chapter 13
VIP
“Baby, this will be your special spot. Every time you come to see me perform, this is where I want your fine little butt parked. You hear me?” Skyler said, as he led Teary to a seat near the stage inside Club Ecstasy.
“Sure, she blushed. Skyler pulled out the chair for her but he remained standing. “Aren’t you going to sit down?” Teary asked.
“No, baby. No sitting for me tonight.”
What are you getting ready to do?” Teary looked pleadingly up at him. It was her first time in a club, and a male strip club at that. She was nervous and apprehensive about Skyler leaving her alone. He senses her uneasiness because he immediately began to reassure her that she would be fine.
Club Ecstasy was filled to capacity with women of all sizes, colors, and ages; overdressed, underdressed, well dressed and badly dressed. Teary couldn’t imagine where all the females came from. They seemed like this was something they were used to doing. The music was loud. Waiters strutted around decked out in colorful g-strings with matching bowties. They had triceps and biceps for days. Teary had never seen anything like it before in her life. The waiters piled the drinks on the females, nonstop. She saw many of the women who ordered drinks sliding money down the front of the waiters’ g-strings.
A dark, well-built gentleman strode over to Teary’s table and asked, “May I get you a drink, pretty lady?”
She glanced up at him. Much to her amazement stood Langston.
“Langston, Langston Silverman?” She repeated just to be sure it was really him. She was shocked beyond belief. She hadn’t run into Langston since he moved from the neighborhood, which was more than alright with Teary. If fine was a crime, he shonuf would be doing time, with his no good tail, she thought to herself. He looked like he’d been lifting weights. His body was perfectly chiseled and shining like he had just stepped out of a bath filled with body oil. His black g-string left very little to the imagination, not that Teary needed to be reminded of his assets.
“Hey, uh, didn’t we go to school together?” he remarked sarcastically.
“You know doggone well we did more than go to school together, so don’t even go there,” she responded bitterly. I can’t believe this good for nothing punk is acting like he doesn’t remember me. She was furious, and she didn’t want Skyler to find out anything about this.
“Yeah, right. What brings you down here?” he asked with a hopeful glint in his eye. “Looking for a little action? If you are, I’m sure I can arrange a little something for old times’ sake,” he said, taunting her.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Langston. Anyway, if you must know, it’s my birthday. So my man and I thought we’d do a little partying.”
“Your man? And who might that be?”
“His name is Skyler,” Teary remarked proudly.
“Skyler? Skyler Jenkins?”
She nodded in agreement. “You know him?” Her brow wrinkled and a look of concern replaced the smile she wore.
“Yea, you better believe I know that fool. He good people you know. Well, I wish you two the best. See ya, wild girl.” He winked his eye, blew a kiss at her and started to walk off. He paused before saying, “Oh, and don’t you worry your pretty little head about nothing, cause your secret’s safe with me. I just hope you’re as good to him as you were to me.” The smirk on his face made Teary sick to her stomach. Winking his eye again, he continued teasing her. “I’m sure since our time together you’ve gained a lot of experience in how to treat a man, haven’t you? Glad I was the one who paved the way for you. See you around, lady.”
“To hell with you, Langston,” Teary spat. She wished she could crawl up in a hidden space out of the sight of everybody and die. She was furious, humiliated and disgusted. Just when she made up in her mind to get up and leave, her eyes zeroed in on the dancer coming out in a red cape that he used to shield his face and upper body. He wore a black Zorro mask that made it difficult to see his true features. But even though she couldn’t make out his face and upper body, what she saw below was more than enough. His taut, shined up muscular legs gyrated in perfect rhythm to the beat of the song that was playing.
Women yelled, the Sheik, the Sheik, the Sheik ain’t no geek.” The Sheik gyrated and moved with his cape swerving around in the air. The music was bumping, and Teary had begun to relax from the vodka and cranberry juice Langston had brought over to her. With her head spinning lightly, she swayed to the beat of the music. The Sheik began to peel his cape away from his face.
She quickly sobered up when she saw the man behind the cape was none other than Skyler. He looked so different. She had never seen him move the way he moved tonight. He came closer to her table and began to gyrate his sexy, stealth body all around her. He danced close to her face, taking one leg and placing it over the back of her chair. He bent forward, leaned in and brushed his thick lips against hers. The women went crazy. They were obviously envious and quite jealous that she would be getting all the attention.
Finally, Skyler realized he wasn’t doing himself any good as long as he danced around Teary. He went on to the next table and did his oh so perfect gyrations, allowing the old wrinkled white woman to fill his pants with dead presidents. From table to table he danced. More and more money was stuffed inside his red g-string. Teary saw the women’s reaction to her man. It was her turn to be jealous that Skyler was getting attention from all these females. She didn’t know if she would be coming back to Club Ecstasy. But what she did know was that Skyler would definitely have to find himself another career once they were married.
chapter 14
Standing on Your Own Two Feet
Prodigal couldn’t believe that he was now a full fledged high school graduate. He stared at himself in the mirror, carefully shaving the overnight stubble from his chin. I can’t believe I’m a grown man, he thought. It seemed like yesterday that I was a nappy headed little boy running around playing hide and go seek with Teary. Immediately his thoughts turned to those of Teary and Skyler’s plans to marry. Teary why are you determined to screw up your life? I don’t know what’s up with you.
Everything was going just like Prodigal had planned. He had been accepted for EMT school, which would put him just that much closer to fulfilling his dream to become a firefighter. He had already taken the pre-entrance physical examination along with the Civil Service Exam. He was ecstatic that Fairley High had implemented a pre-graduate testing program in his sophomore year of high school. If a student had a C average or above, they were eligible to take a series of Civil Service Exams for jobs throughout the city, which fell right in line with Prodigal’s plans. He was also glad that Faith made the decision to remain in Broknfield and attend the University so they wouldn’t be apart.
Suddenly, thoughts of his and Faith’s future together took a back seat to thoughts of Teary again. All these years I’ve loved that girl. But she couldn’t love me in the same way, or could she? Didn’t graduation day prove that we felt something for each other that was more than friendship? The kiss we shared had to have stood for something. But I guess I need to move on from there. She loves that trick, Skyler. And what about her dreams of a writing career?. Guess that’s been thrown out with the bath water too. Why can’t she see that if Skyler really loved her like he professed, then he would encourage her to pursue her dreams, not give them up? But I can’t make her see that and I certainly can’t tell her how I really feel about her. I have to let go and concentrate on giving my all to living my own life.
Prodigal hadn’t fully accepted that he had to move on with his life until the incident at the restaurant with Skyler. He was still reeling from the fact that she was going to marry that jerk. On top of that, she hadn’t thought enough of their friendship to let him know. Hearing Skyler tell him made him want to pound the sucker. That night at Chili’s Prodigal was forced to accept that he would never have a chance to love Teary like he desperately wanted.
♦
Several weeks after completing the EMT class, Prodigal received a call from the City Personnel office.
“Momma, I’ve been accepted at the Fire Academy,” Prodigal said after he hung up the phone. He burst with uncontrollable joy when he heard the news.
“Prodigal, that’s great,” his mother said proudly. “I didn’t doubt one moment that they would call. You’re going to make a great firefighter, son.” Ruth was elated that things were going good for her boy. There were times he missed his daddy so much that
Ruth became worried about the direction he would take in life. Growing up without a father was hard enough for him, but to have a father who was such an important part of his children’s lives and then suddenly he’s gone forever caused Ruth a great deal of worry about how their futures would turn out. So far, so good. “What’s the next step, baby?”
“The personnel director told me to come in next week for my physical. I’m going to have to take some more tests too. If I pass my physical and the other tests then they’ll bring me on as an official city employee.”
“Honey, I’m so proud of you.” Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.
“Thank you, Momma. I’m going to call Faith and tell her the news.”
Ruth stopped him from dashing off upstairs, “Wait a minute before you do that, Prodigal. I wanted to ask about you and Faith.”
“What about us?” Prodigal asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“I don’t get a chance to talk to you as much as I’d like too, with my crazy work shift and all. I just want to know what’s on your mind when it comes to Faith.”
“Momma, I really care about her. I’m going to marry her one day. If she’ll have me, that is,” he said and grinned.
“Oh, she’ll have you baby. No doubt about that. That girl is crazy about you. You’re such a good child and Faith is such a sweet girl. I believe she’ll make you a good wife too.”
“And I’m going to be a good husband to her. She’s going to start college in a couple of months. Hopefully by that time I’ll be in full swing at the Fire Academy. I figure in about two years, we’ll be ready to walk down the aisle.”
Ruth knew her son’s heart really belonged to Teary, always had. She couldn’t understand why Teary couldn’t see it or refused to see it. Ruth looked at it as a blessing from God when Faith came into Prodigal’s life. Ruth hoped and prayed that Prodigal would learn to love Faith as much as he loved Teary.
Into Each Life Page 11