Constant Surprises (Wrong Numbers Series)

by Bergman, Jamallah

  “Damn, you feel so good, baby, fuck!” he said picking up the pace.

  It was Roy, her Roy, in her bed making love to another woman instead of her. Amie stood in the doorway screaming. Roy and Susan jumped up and flew apart.

  “You fucking bastards! Get the fuck out of my room, out of my house, and out of my life! How dare you fuck in my room of all places, my God! Couldn’t you have done that shit in the back of your truck, Roy?”

  “This is your room, Amie? Well, I didn’t know it was your room,” Susan said sarcastically.

  Amie’s blood boiled over and before anything else could be said, she jumped Susan. They landed on the bed. All Amie could think of was getting her hands around the bitch’s neck. They both rolled off the bed onto the floor with a loud thump. Amie was swinging wildly at Susan, who was screaming for her life. Roy found his pants and was trying to get the two of them away from each other but it was no use, they were too strong in the heat of the moment even for him.

  The noise brought others running to the room. Sandy and Steven got in the midst of the tussle tearing the two apart. Amie had a good hold of Susan’s hair.

  “Let go of her hair, Amie, let go now!” shouted Sandy trying to undo Amie’s fingers from Susan’s scalp. Amie refused to let go. Susan despised Amie for as long as they had been in school together. Always making fun of her not only because of her race, but any little thing she could think to make her feel lower than low. Now it came to a head tonight―in all places, her house. She finally let go of Susan as Steven pulled her away.

  Steven asked, “What the fucking hell is going on in here?”

  “We were in here making out and this bitch came in!” Susan bellowed trying to put herself back together.

  “In her house and in her room of all places you decided to go start fucking, you vindictive bitch!” Steven said, pushing Susan towards Roy. “You knew exactly what you were doing. Roy, get your shit on, and get your woman out of here now. Take your sorry ass home. I have a bone to pick with you.”

  Roy helped Susan get her things together. Steven looked away as Susan dressed. He looked over at Sandy who was comforting a hysterical Amie. Going over to the two of them, he took Amie in his arms and just held her for a moment while she cried. “Why, why did he do that to me?”

  After that, Amie wasn’t able to continue with the party. She stayed in the guest room crying her eyes out. When her parents discovered what had transpired, it took most of Steven’s strength to keep hold of Richard Brown. “Listen, Mr. Brown, when I get home, I plan on handling my brother myself. He was wrong. I will make sure he pays for what he did to Amie.”

  Richard looked at Steven. “Please don’t do anything rash, Steven. I know you are angry just like everybody else. Just think before you do anything too drastic.”

  Kissing Sandy on the forehead, Steven walked out of the Brown’s home. It wasn’t until later on, Amie found out what exactly happened when he did get home.

  When he arrived home, Steven walked right past his parents who were sitting in the living room and headed upstairs. He was furious as hell with his brother. He wanted to kick some sense into him. When he went into his room, he heard the shower going on and decided to wait for him to get out. After a while he heard the shower turn off followed by Roy walking into his room still toweling off his hair. Roy just stared at his brother sitting on the edge of the bed and didn’t say a word.

  “Where the hell you want it?” growled Steven

  Roy asked, “What the hell are you talking about, dude?”

  “Get your shit on and meet me outside. I don’t want to mess up the house.” Steven stormed out of the room probably leaving his brother more confused than anything. Running back down the stairs, he slammed opened the door and headed to the porch to wait. After a couple of minutes, the door opened. Roy walked onto the porch.

  That is when Steven’s fist met his brother’s face causing Roy to fall off the front porch onto the ground below with a hard thud. “Get up you, son of a bitch!” shouted Steven. He ran down the steps picking up his brother only to sock him again.

  Their parents came out on the porch. Agnes screamed, “Boys, stop this now!”

  But Steven was going to teach him a lesson. He repeatedly punched his brother. Bob flew off the porch breaking up the fight. “What is going on with you two?”

  “Why don’t you ask lover boy what he did at Amie’s party?” Steven said. Agnes looked over to Roy who was slowly getting up off the ground.

  “Boy, what did you do?” Bob asked.

  At first Roy said nothing, then he finally confessed, “Susan and I were making out in Amie’s room at the party.”

  Bob and Agnes looked shocked. Agnes muttered, “How could you, son? How could you have done something so foolish on Amie’s special evening. Let me go call to see how she’s doing.” She ran inside.

  Bob stood there, anger started to boil over his face. “Never mind calling, Agnes, we are going over there right now. You are going to apologize to her in person.”

  “Not looking like this, Dad, please at least let me change.”

  “Oh no, you are going just like this, brother.” Both men grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

  * * * *

  Sandy spent the night with Amie. Amie was grateful as she was frazzled after what had happened. Who wouldn’t be after seeing someone you loved fucking another woman in your bed. She still couldn’t believe Susan would stoop so low to do something so asinine.

  They couldn’t sleep in Amie’s room, so they opted for the guest room instead. Sandy watched Amie came out of the bathroom slowly walking back into the guest bedroom. They could still hear her father going off in a tirade how he wanted Roy shot on the spot.

  “I’m…I’m sorry, Amie, about what happened tonight,” Sandy said.

  Without speaking Amie started to braid her hair. Sandy quietly helped her. “Thanks, I just want to go to sleep. I got to get up for tomorrow’s flight,” Amie finally said.

  Her father’s shouts shattered the silence. “Oh, hell no!”

  Both girls looked at each other and ran downstairs to see what was going on.

  “Get your boy off my property if he knows what’s good for him, Bob!” Richard shouted, walking out on the porch with Abby. Sandy and Amie followed behind.

  There stood the Fulton clan. Amie saw Roy’s face—beat up and somewhat bloody. “What the hell happened to him?” Amie asked Sandy.

  “Must have been Steven. Steven was so pissed off when he left here. He said he was going to teach him a lesson. I honestly didn’t think he would go as far as to beat the crap outta Roy.”

  “He deserves more than that really,” said Amie.

  “Listen, Rick, I know you’re pissed. If I had daughter and this happened to her, I would have wanted the boy hanged for what he did. But I’m making him come over to apologize to Amie, if she’ll accept it,” Bob said.

  Richard looked at his daughter. “It’s up to you. I wouldn’t accept his apology.”

  Amie said nothing for what felt like a long time, then she said, “Come in please.” Amie walked inside. Everyone followed her.

  When they all gathered in the living room, Sandy and Amie sat together on the loveseat. Steven perched next to Sandy on the armrest. Both sets of parents sat on opposite sides of the room. Roy stood in the middle like he was in a court room with his parents, brother, and Sandy as the jurors. Amie as the judge.

  “What I don’t understand is why, why in the hell did you do it, son, in my house and in my daughter’s room of all places?” Rick asked Roy as he sat down on an ottoman.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Brown, I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I’ve had a lot on my mind the past couple of days. I’ve been doing too much thinking for one man. Then Susan… Lord, I should’ve known she was up to no good when she coaxed me upstairs. I was drinking and just not thinking clearly.”

  “What you did was inconceivable, Roy. I honestly don’t know why Amie would want to even c
onsider accepting your apology. You all have been friends since elementary school. Why would you stoop so low as to do something like this?” Agnes asked.

  Roy didn’t answer. He just stood silently rubbing the side of his face, now turning various shades of blue and purple from his brother’s punches.

  “What happened to your face, son?” asked Abby with concerned.

  “My brother was teaching me a lesson.”

  “Should have kept on giving you that lesson too, brother,” Steven said holding Sandy’s hand.

  After a moment of silence, Amie said, “Roy, would you come out on the porch with me? Excuse me, everybody, I think we need to talk alone.” Amie patted her father’s shoulder. She walked to the front door with a perplexed looking Roy trailing close behind her. Amie could still hear the group talking inside.

  “I wonder what she is going to say?” asked Abby.

  “I don’t know but Amie will set things straight,” Sandy assured the group.

  Through the window Amie saw Sandy hold a finger to her lips then disappear beneath the window. She turned her focus back to Roy.

  “Why’d you do it, Roy?”

  “Amie, I honestly didn’t want to go into your room in the first place. I don’t know what it is that Susan possesses over me sometimes. She has some spell on me…I just do whatever she wants. She said she couldn’t do it in my truck. I was just thinking with the wrong head. I never wanted you to be mad at me, Amie.”

  “Well I am, for Christ’s sake. You were fucking in my room, on my bed with another girl. What am I supposed to think or do? If you saw someone that you’ve known and cared about for a long time doing something like that, you would be mad as hell too.”

  “You care about me?” Roy asked.

  “Of course I do, we’ve been friends for so long. We’ve always been there for each other. Why wouldn’t I care about you? Your brother did a job on you.”

  Roy chuckled. “Ow, don’t make me laugh. It hurts to laugh. Yeah, I know I totally deserved what Steven did. I should have never hurt you like this.”

  “You know Susan has been after me for years, she has always hated me for the longest time. She made my life a living hell since the day I started school. She knows how I feel about you, especially how much I care for you. That’s why she started dating you, Roy, to make me jealous. I just don’t know why you never saw it for yourself.”

  “Listen, Amie, I want to apologize to you proper like, okay?”

  Roy got up off the porch swing, and kneeled down taking Amie’s small hand in his own. “From this moment on, I will never hurt you, Amie Brown. I will never talk bad to you much less have anybody else say anything bad about you as long as I am living. I will let you do something to punish me for what I did to you tonight. So name what my punishment will be?”

  “Anything goes?”

  “Anything goes,” Roy said.

  “You have to take me to the airport in the morning, my flight leaves at eight forty-five. We have to be there about an hour early, so go clean yourself up and get here to pick me up.”

  “Of course that I can do, most definitely.”

  “And if you ever hurt me again like you did tonight, I get to kick you in the balls.”

  The look on his face was priceless for every bit of color drained from it. He wasn’t expecting that. Taking a deep breath, he held out his hand. “Done.”

  “We better head on inside because you’ve got to get cleaned up and I don’t want my dad getting even angrier at you,” Amie said.

  Everyone stood as they walked into the living room. Richard asked, “So did you apologize to her?”

  “Yes, he did, Daddy, he apologized and we came to an agreement,”

  “An agreement, what kind of an agreement did you come to?” Steven asked.

  “I accepted his apology on two conditions, one he had to take me to the airport in the morning.”

  “And the other condition?” asked Abby.

  “Well, she said that if I messed up like this again, I’ve given her permission to kick me in the balls.”

  Sandy started to giggle. The older ladies blushed while the men cleared their throats.

  “I think we better head on home so Roy can get some sleep. Glad we got this whole thing straightened out. Amie, I hope you do really good while you are in France and please write to me,” Agnes asked giving her a hug.

  “Will do, Mrs. Fulton, I promise you I’ll keep in touch,” said Amie.

  “Be careful over there, sweetheart,” Bob said giving her a hug, before the Fulton’s walked out the door.

  Steven came over and hugged her so hard he lifted her off her feet. “Thank you for knocking some sense into your brother’s head over there,” Amie whispered in his ear.

  Steven laughed. “If you want me to do it again, give me the word and I’ll pummel him. Take care, Amie, knock ‘em dead in France. Come on, Roy!” Smacking the back of Roy’s head, they both walked out the door.

  When the girls got back to the guest room Sandy laughed. “I can’t believe he said you could kick him in the balls, how the hell did you get him to agree to that?”

  Amie couldn’t believe it either, she too was laughing hard. “I swear you should have seen the look on his face when I said that was a condition. I was shocked he even accepted it; I guess he realized he fucked up big time. Let’s get some sleep; this has been a trying evening. One I want to forget.” Amie clicked off the light on the nightstand.

  * * * *

  The following morning, the girls got up to a big breakfast Amie’s mom had made. It was quiet while they ate. Amie was trying not to dwell on this being the last home cooked meal they would eat together for who knows how long.

  Cleaning the pan she made the scramble eggs in, Amie’s mother began sobbing. Amie immediately ran to the sink and hugged her tightly. Her mother started uncontrollably heaving and sobbing. “My baby, oh my baby is going away.”

  Amie had been dreading this moment for days now―seeing her mother crying like this.

  “Please, Mom, we said no tears we promised each other that we wouldn’t start this crying mess.” But it was too late. Amie was now crying like a baby, standing at the kitchen sink with her mother. Sandy was quietly crying while pushing her eggs around the plate. Amie motioned for her to come over. Sandy ran into their arms and the three had a good long cry.

  Cleaning up after breakfast, Amie took a quick shower getting ready for when Roy would pick her up. But when she came downstairs, Amie was surprised to see Roy already taking her bags outside to the truck. When he came back in to get the last of her luggage, she saw his jaw and left eye were now swollen and a lovely shade of purple.

  “Damn, he really gave you a wallop didn’t he?” She laughed.

  Her parents and Sandy walked into the foyer. Hugging her mom, then getting an even bigger hug from her father. He whispered in her ear, “I love you, baby girl, take care and be safe. Do you have your tickets and passport?”

  “Check.”

  “Traveler’s checks.”

  “Check.”

  “Phone card for when you want to call us.”

  “Uh huh, I got that too, I think I have everything, Daddy, I’ll be fine, you taught me well.” She gave him another hug. She could feel his chest shuddering and see tears in his eyes. This was one of the few times she had ever seen him cry. All she could do was hold him while he cried. When he stopped, she smiled wiping his tears away. “I love you, Daddy.”

  Grabbing hold of Sandy, both of the girls held each other tightly. “I’m so going to miss you, girl, knock them dead in France. Show them what a girl from Kansas can do.” They both laughed. Their foreheads touched for a moment. She walked out the door to Roy, who was waiting for her by the truck. He held the door open and she got in. Looking over at her parents and Sandy, they all waved with tears in their eyes. She choked back her own tears and waved goodbye. The rumbling start of the engine startled her; her heart seemed to sink into her stomach as they drove off.


  The entire ride was quiet until Roy turned on the radio.

  “How is your face feeling?” she asked.

  “Still sore, but I’ll survive.” He smiled as they got onto the highway.

  “I do want to thank you for taking me to the airport.”

  “Well, I made a promise to you and I meant to keep it.” He gave her a small smile. He pulled up the armrest. “Come over here and sit next to me.”

  Amie couldn’t believe it, but wasn’t going to pass up a chance to be able to sit next to him. Slowly she moved over and his arm went around her shoulder holding her close to him. She had been waiting for this for so long, but why the hell did it have to happen now of all times, she thought.

  When they finally got to the airport and checked her baggage, Roy offered to walk with her to the terminal. While they were walking, his fingers captured hers slowly―another first. Damn, why was this happening? Is he just trying to make up for last night or does he really mean it?

  They got to the security gate. The line was short and her plane wouldn’t be leaving for over an hour. Roy asked, “Do you want something to drink?”

  Shaking her head no, Amie said, “You know I love you, right?”

  Roy stopped looking out the window and looked directly at Amie. His eyes lit up. She was aware he wanted to say something to her, but she moved in close resting her fingers along his lips. Every nerve in her body started to tingle; she was going to hold on to this moment forever.

  “Please, let me talk because I don’t know if I am ever again going to have a chance to tell you this. I’ve cared so much about you since we were in elementary school, as stupid as it sounds. I just didn’t know how to tell you how much you meant to me. I always dreamed about how it would be to have you as my boyfriend, how our first kiss would be. I wanted to be the one making love to you instead of that bitch Susan.”

  Roy started laughing when she called Susan a bitch. “I hate this shit; I honestly hate this shit right now. Why couldn’t I just have gone out with you? We would have both been happy.”