by J. Jakee
I probably should have mentioned that her friend Silas had a temper, came off aggressively, and was showing signs of being low-key crazy... On the contrary, I found it very sexy and attractive that I could bring him to frustration that easily.
"He's taking it hard that I can't come tonight."
Marley semi-pouted, "Aww!"
Then, she quickly switched gears. Without easing into it she flat out asked me, "So, how was last night? I know that you stayed out somewhere because of the dress you had on this morning. You wouldn't slip that on to run to your mom’s job."
Marley looked like it pained her to wait for my response, so I waited. I took a long pause and pretended as if I was afraid to let her know, just to teach her a lesson about being nosey.
Finally, I said, "I was with Silas."
Marley looked like she started breathing again, and replied, "Oh!"
My eyebrows gathered on my forehead. "Where did you think I was?"
Marley turned pink and laughed nervously, "It's silly. Never mind that..." She tilted her head towards the exit and asked, "You heading out?"
I held my stomach. "Go without me. I need to hit the ladies’ room."
Marley caressed my arm before she left with Greg.
"Hope you feel better."
***
I watched Marley and Greg leave the church parking lot, and then walked right by the ladies’ room and into Ronnie's office. He looked like he was about to break outta there. He was by his desk stuffing folders into a bag, and his fedora was already on his head. I lightly tapped on his door. He looked up briefly to say, "What's up."
There was still tension there, so I kept my distance and leaned against the entryway. "Nice study, tonight," I said to break the ice.
Ronnie shook his head and smirked. Even with a smirk, his dimple flashed. "You know, you don't have to come back here and feed me your false encouragements every time I preach." He never looked back up as he spoke. "90% of the time, I know I'm good."
Ronnie walked over to his bookshelf, grabbed a book, and stuffed that into his bag, too - all without making eye contact with me.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, looking at the profile of his face.
He spoke quickly and brashly, "You know what I’m talking about. I’ve been teaching for twenty years. I have a knack for distinguishing who’s really paying attention. You haven't listened to one sermon since you started visiting here. Yet you always deem it necessary to tell me, I’ve done well."
I struggled with finding the right words to say. He had me, and I couldn't deny it. I never paid attention him. I was too busy thinking about more important things like how long it would take him to fall madly in love with me. "What's wrong with you? Why are you being so hostile?"
Ronnie zipped and buckled his bag. "I think you're taking it that way."
"No I'm not. You haven't looked at me all night, and you didn’t look at me this morning. You’ve been short and agitated. What's the problem?”
The pastor and I paused as a group of stragglers came walking down the hall and pass the office. When the hall sounded clear, Ronnie spoke up. "I'm not talking about it here."
"Ok fine. I’ll wait for you in my car."
I marched out before Ronnie could say anything else. Fifteen minutes later, the lights inside the church went out and Ronnie and some other man were walking out and locking up. The man slapped hands with Ronnie and walked to a Jeep parked on the side street. When Ronnie looked like he was starting towards his own car, I tapped my horn and waved my hand out the window. I parked only about four spaces away from his car. How could he miss me? I immediately caught an attitude. His act was getting old.
Ronnie came to my car, opened the passenger door, slid the seat back to accommodate his legs, and sat down. His sweet cologne took the pleasure of overpowering my lilac scented car freshener. "Let's make this quick. I have early morning plans."
"It's like you woke up this morning and suddenly decided that I was an inconvenience," I spoke sweetly trying hard to mask my ‘tude. "I thought we were friends. I thought we connected and were getting along great."
Ronnie took his time to respond as if he was being sure to select his words carefully. He looked straight ahead and said, "Silas… he's really feeling you. Marley talks about you two all the--"
I lifted my hand and cut him short, "All the time? Silas and I aren’t even around each other enough for Marley to have something to talk about all the time."
Marley was beginning to aggravate my soul with her blocking.
Ronnie finally looked at me when he asked, "You’re not dating him?"
"I'm single."
I felt his tension ease up. I sighed. Then I broke the silence.
"Hold up wait. Is that why you've been acting weird? Because of Silas?" I laughed. "Are you the jealous kind? You act like you and I are seeing each other... or are we?"
Ronnie shook his head and laughed. He bashfully looked away, which was kinda cute. He looked at me again. “It was crazy walking upstairs into my bedroom to see you under my covers with your hair stretched over all of my pillows."
He paused and looked away as he rested his elbow on the armrest. He pressed his thumb onto his chin. I could tell he was holding back something he wanted to say.
I softly said, "Just tell me..."
"You reminded me a lot like Margo - my wife." He then sat up and spoke clearly. "It's like I was excited... happy, you know. I felt full and I wanted you. I wanted to hold you… but not you... Margo."
He stopped and looked at me from the corner of his eyes. "You think I’m crazy, don’t you?"
Still burning after he stung me with the words, “…but not you… Margo,” I just shook my head.
He went on, "Then, just that like that…" Ronnie snapped his fingers. "I got upset. I resented you being there."
"Wow" was all that I could say.
Ronnie continued, "I prayed about it, and I realized two things. One, I'm still mourning my wife. Two, I may not be ready to date yet.”
I swept everything he had just said under my car rug.
"You seem stressed. Let's go get ice cream."
Ronnie slowly shook his head to decline. “I have an early morning."
"It's just ice cream," I pressed. "God's not gonna get mad at you for taking a few moments to chill and eat ice cream."
Ronnie took moments to think about it, and I sat on the edge of my seat waiting. I was preparing for a letdown. Just before I could get frustrated and shout, "JUST FORGET IT!" he finally asked, "Where are we going?"
***
We ended up at Coldstone Creamery just over the bridge in New Jersey. It was my suggestion. Our ice cream outing turned into a television in-ing at his place. Surprisingly, it was his suggestion. We started out on opposite ends of his couch watching a Modern Family marathon. Both of us had our feet up with his stretched towards mine and mine stretched towards his.
During a commercial break, I crawled over to him and collapsed my head onto his chest. His arm fell on my back, I held tight onto his waist, and we slept like that until dawn. The next morning wasn't awkward at all. To make sure it stayed that way, I got up, brewed him some coffee, and got out of there before he woke up.
***
"No. I don't feel like it. I don't wanna do anything today."
I could hear Dominic fussing when I walked through the front door. His deep voice carried from the kitchen.
"I don't even wanna be a grown up anymore. I want to be child forever like Nola."
I caught the tail end of his statement at the doorway. The manny sucked his lips in and blushed when he saw me. My father was in there as well. He was sipping from a mug and smirking.
"Good morning… And, I'm not a child, Dom." I greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. "I'm an adult like you."
Dominic sounded confused when he asked, "You are?"
My father dropped his mug in the sink. "You are a very smart man, Dominic."
Then he patted D
ominic on the shoulder, wrote the manny a check, and left out for work, walking right by me as if I were invisible.
The manny stuffed the check into his tight pants pocket and reasoned with Dominic. "Okay, you don't have to go to your program or to your job, Dom. Everybody deserves a break. We can just hang here or go to a quiet museum."
Dominic blurted, "I wanna go to the train station."
"You can handle that?" the manny asked him but looked at me. I shook my head in disagreement. The manny scratched his head.
"Let's think about that. For now, let's just relax here.”
Dominic agreed and left the manny and me in the kitchen. It was actually the first time we were alone together since he got back from his getaway affair with my brother. Since Alicia's fight with Derrick, I had a feeling that the manny was purposely trying to avoid me. He was always exiting any room that I entered or keeping his head down when we crossed paths in the hallways. I was looking in the refrigerator for a bottled water when he spoke to me.
"Listen, I just wanna tell you that it's over ‘tween me and Derrick."
I spun around quicker than a Tasmanian, "Really??? Since when? Why?"
The manny flagged his hands. "Girl he had the nerve to dump me. He said I was ruining his life." He rolled his eyes and sucked his teeth. "No, I haven't ruined your life, yet!"
I giggled, but then got serious. "No, don't do anything to mess up your job here. It won't be fair to Dominic."
"I'm just so mad,” he said as he looked up at the ceiling like he was fighting back tears. "You won't see him around here much anymore, since I was the only reason he came to visit anyway... No offense."
"What? None taken! You think I didn't know? They praise that man like he's Jesus, but as soon as he left for college he never looked back. He never called or anything until he brought you here."
The manny nodded, "This is a closed chapter… And, I mean it this time."
CHAPTER 28
"Oooo… this is our song! Remember?"
“Uhh yeah?”… It’s hard to forget it when it’s played on every DJ’s dance mix
Bailey grabbed my arm, swayed her hips, and said, "Then let’s go stroll."
"No! I don't wanna sweat my hair out."
President Gabrielle and her husband Adonis threw themselves a vow renewal ceremony at a lovely banquette hall located in North East Philly. The guests were required to wear formal attire. They invited the entire chapter, other sororities, and fraternities from the region, as well as her church family. Of course, I had to splurge on the absolute best, so I purchased a lace Jovani gown with tulle and beading. Once again, Delilah came through with making my tresses look regal and my nails superb. My hair was pinned to the side with cascading curls that fell below shoulders, and my nails matched my dress to the exact hue.
"Girl, bye." Bailey released her grip. "You're not gonna sit pretty all night. Let's dance!"
"Where's Marley? Wasn't she invited?" From my seat, I tried to look through the throng of people partying in their gowns and tuxedos, as if it were prom fifteen to thirty years ago all over again.
"Of course she was invited." Bailey whipped out her pocket mirror and teased her natural curls. She always wore it big - really big. Had she pressed it, she'd probably look like the black Rapunzel. "She's probably running late. You know she’s busy with wedding stuff." She closed her mirror. "You better get up and dance before Soror President thinks you're bored."
The truth was that I wanted to get up. I wanted to circle the place, mix and mingle, and even stand arm and arm with Gabrielle who adored me. I wanted to dance, and I wanted to eat, but I couldn't. I wanted to wait for Marley. I had a feeling she was trying to pull one of my numbers and arrive fashionably late. Why wouldn't she? She was already using my stylist, imitating my swag, and even picking up my habits. The last thing I needed was for someone to catch me with a curl out of place or my lipstick smudged, while she's waltzing in looking like Princess Diana reincarnated.
Bailey gave up on begging and hit the dance floor without me, but that didn't stop President Gabrielle from finding me moments later. She looked absolutely gorgeous in a gold sparkling gown that had a long train. Her hair was styled in a sophisticated up-do. Her arms were stretched out as she came towards me.
"Noooooola! There you are!"
I rose and kissed her on the cheek.
"I want you to meet my closest family friends!"
Gabrielle took my hand as she weaved me through tables and around the dance floor. I smiled, nodded, and received loads of kisses on the cheek as she introduced me as "a young and emerging real estate mogul who is about her business, and something to watch out for." Various people gave me their business cards, and Gabrielle pressured me to give my number to people who were interested in doing business with me in the near future. My palms and underarms were beginning to get sweaty as I answered questions about my non-existent classes and my non-existent internship. I was rescued when Gabrielle's husband interrupted a conversation by pushing his way through our mini circle and landing an unexpected passionate, yet aggressive kiss on her lips. It caught us off guard, but I used that opportunity to back a few steps away and slide out of the circle. I watched from outside the circle as Adonis whispered something in Gabrielle's ear and stepped off. She excused herself from her friends and approached me with a slanted smile.
"The hubby needs me at our table."
I smiled, "Aww. I envy you two. You’re just perfect."
"There's no such thing." Gabrielle's smile faded and she added, "I'll tell you a little secret that I told Marley last week."
She looked behind herself and then back at me. Her eyes locked with mine, and she spoke low enough for only me to hear "Behind what seems like perfection is a beautiful lie threatening to erupt."
I grimaced. What was that supposed to mean? And, what made her tell Marley that?
Gabrielle glided off to join Adonis. They locked hands and kissed again before posing for their photographer. I was balling up business cards and tossing them in my clutch when Bailey approached me again.
"Check your phone for an email!" she cheered.
"Why?"
"Marley’s bridesmaids sent an evite to her surprise bridal shower. It’s so cute!"
Bailey pulled it up on her phone. There was an animation of a champagne bottle popping out the word. "Shhhh..." along with confetti. Underneath that, glittery words appeared with the event's description, location, and time.
I smirked, "Looks cheap."
Bailey nudged my arm.
"Don't be mean."
"I'm being real. I would never send an evite for a bridal shower. That's so tacky. It's a wedding - a once in a lifetime big deal. You're so supposed to go all out for the bride and send actual invitations not this crap."
I pushed Bailey’s phone away.
"If I ever get engaged again and make you my bridesmaid, you better not!"
Bailey laughed as she tucked her phone in her purse.
"Well if you do plan to be engaged again, you better snatch your future husband while you’re here. These men have it going on."
"They have nothing on my boo," I spoke confidently.
Bailey's jaw dropped as she playfully slapped my arm.
"Why didn't you tell me? Shoulda known... A woman like you could only stay single but for so long. I wanna meet him."
"You will at the right time." I smiled as I thought about entering formal events like this, while arm-and -arm with a dapper dressed Ronnie.
The dinner was over after an hour. Marley never showed up and neither did her evite. Those ratchet birds didn't send me one.
I kissed Bailey on the cheek and waved goodbye when valet returned with her car. While I waited for them to return with mine, I spotted Gabrielle's white Audi pulling from the VIP parking area. She was in the passenger seat and Adonis was driving. They looked to be in an intense argument as Gabrielle's hands wagged in Adonis’s face. As I watched them argue, I heard a couple behind me sp
eaking lowly, in almost a mumble.
The man said, "Look. Those two are at again.”
The frustrated woman replied, "Gots to be kidding me. Told, you. He's no good. I wish she'd forget what the bible says and just leave."
The rest of the crowd, who obviously didn’t catch the altercation, clapped, cheered, shouted “Woohoo!” as Adonis screeched off.
CHAPTER 29
“Hello, Jerks! Don’t just stand there. Help!”
The three college boys that were in line looked stunned as they walked over to me. They were stunned that I just snapped on them for staring at me as if I was a circus freak, and probably stunned at the fact that a woman dressed in a formal dress was alone at FeliciTEA’s at 9 p.m. I couldn’t blame them. I loved FeliciTEA’s dearly, but being there on a Friday night was pretty pathetic, especially for a woman in her late twenties. I just wasn’t ready to head home. Had I known Gabrielle’s Vow Renewal ceremony would end so early, I would have tried to make plans with Ronnie.
After the guys helped me free the bottom of my gown which got caught underneath the door, my eyes instantly fell on a man who was rising from a table all the way in the back. His back was towards me and he had a baseball cap on his head, but from observing his posture, I knew it had to be Silas. I picked up the tail of my gown, walked over, and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Leaving so soon?”
The guy, who certainly wasn’t Silas, nor was he easy on the eyes, turned around and pulled his headphones from his ears. “I’m sorry. What was that?”
I pointed to his chair. “Oh… oh, I asked were you leaving. I wanted the table.”
“Oh, yeah. Yeah.” He grinned and stuffed his books into his bag. “It’s all yours.”
I sat down and watched while he walked away. I wanted to call Silas just for the hell of it. Just ‘cause I missed his hunched walk. Just ‘cause I missed the way he sweated me. However, I quickly remembered he was pissed, and I canned that idea. After a cup of mango green tea, I decided at least to call Marley. I was curious to know why she didn’t show up at the dinner tonight. To my surprise, she sent me to the voicemail after just two rings. Usually, she wouldn’t let my call get past one ring.