by Niquel
“Don’t wait too long, I may use up all the hot water.”
The warm water splashed against my skin, as I waited for Al to join me. He slid in behind me and we seductively washed each other’s bodies. Teasing and taunting each other with every passing of our washcloths. He climbed out ahead of me to grab two towels off the rack. He handed me a blue towel, I wrapped myself up in it and walked back with him across the hall into his room.
He gave me his favorite black and white vintage Scarface t-shirt to wear and we cuddled underneath his single sheet for the very last time.
“I love you, Al. This is just a small obstacle we have to overcome.”
“I love you, too, and we will.”
We both laid in complete silence until his alarm rang at exactly---seven-thirty.
“Guess it’s time for me to get up and start packing.”
After about an hour of throwing things around and shoving them in suitcases we finally finished. It was a fifty minute drive to the airport from here and I appreciated every moment I got to spend with him up until the last second. Passing by the ‘Welcome to Rhode Island’ sign we saw the exit for T.F. Green Airport shortly after. His flight left at 10:15 A.M and we arrived with forty-five minutes to spare.
Giving me a quick kiss goodbye, he grabbed two small suitcases from the backseat and ran to catch his flight. The traffic cop stopped oncoming cars for me so that I could pull out of the drop off area.
The drive back home was very long and depressing. It was hard for me to comprehend that he was really gone and that was the last time I’d ever see him again. All I could do was shed tears for the remainder of the ride home.
Chapter 8 : Depression
Two months had already gone by since Allan left and I still have yet to hear from him. I had no idea how the job was going and I had no clue if he even arrived safely. It was hard for me to cope with this and everyone took notice.
“Leci, you haven’t been yourself at all since Al left. I understand that it’s hard, but you can’t sit in bed and sulk all day,” Nikki said.
“Why can’t I?”
“Because it’s not healthy, when’s the last time you’ve had an actual home cooked meal anyway?”
“I don’t feel like eating, Nik.” She left my room and came back with a plate covered in aluminum foil.
“What’s this?”
“Lasagna and I’m not leaving until you eat every bite.”
Peeling back the foil I uncovered a mountain of cheese, noodles, several different types of meat and sauce. The smell was intoxicating and I completely devoured the meal.
“That was delicious Nik. I really appreciate you taking care of me.”
“You’re welcome. Now, maybe you should go take a shower and change out of that raggedy shirt and stained sweat pants.”
“Maybe, later.”
“Alright, well, I have to go Leci. Call me later okay?”
“I will. Thanks, again!”
My depression fell so deeply that I hadn’t been to work in over three weeks. No one at my job knows what happened and I couldn’t bring myself to share it with them. I’ve also been on school vacation for the past two weeks, but I’ve made sure all of my assignments were finished. My homework was the only thing keeping me going at this point.
I tried calling Allan again for the millionth time, but as usual it went straight to his voicemail. “Hey, you know who you’ve reached, leave one.” I stopped leaving messages after the first couple of weeks because it was clear he didn’t want to talk to me.
I sat down on the edge of the bed, clutching the sides of my phone with my hand, while starring at the photo I saved of us as my wallpaper. A sudden tightness formed in my chest, making it difficult to breath, and my chin trembled as tears poured out of my eyes.
I missed him so much, he had only been gone two months but it felt like two years. I had given that man everything, all of me, and he just up and left like he didn’t even care. The only thing that could get me out of this funk was my art. After every horrible breakup I experienced in the past it’s what I did to cope and heal. Allan and I had had a completely different relationship then I’ve ever had with anyone else but I figured it was worth a shot.
Grabbing my sketch pad and charcoal pencils out of my nightstand, I scooted to the middle of my bed with my feet crossed and rested the 9x12 pad on my thigh. I cleared my mind and let my fingers do all the work.
Several hours passed and I smudged the last bit of black soot around the bottom of the page and it was finished! I laid the pad down on the bed and was shocked at what I’d drawn.
It was of a young girl with her face buried against her knees, tightly wrapping her arms around the front of her legs with a black heart being ripped apart by two separate hands underneath her. I’ve never drawn anything this dark before but it felt good to let my emotions out.
Chapter 9 : Hope
Another month had gone by and school vacation was over. I buried myself in my studies to keep him off my mind. I also spoke to my boss and she allowed me to come back to work on the conditions that I never disappear like that again. I was one of her hardest workers and she understood that I had some ‘personal’ problems to deal with. I never went into depth about my problems to Cindy, but she still accepted my apology.
I was finally coming to terms that Allan and I were no more and that I needed to move on with my life. It hurt like hell but I tried to have an active social life again. Nikki wanted me to go to the club with her tonight so I could drink and dance my sorrows away, I accepted her offer but only if she bought me a new outfit.
She showed up at my house that night with a royal blue, strapless maxi dress, and black flats.
“If you’re going out with me, you need to be comfortable, because I like to dance all night long!”
“I know and as long as I have alcohol in my system, I can keep up with you.”
We drove to the club in her old black Toyota. The name of the place was called ‘Venue’ and it was ‘90s night. Techno and house music were pulsating through the air as we found our way to the entrance.
There were two vacant stools in front of the bar and she dragged me over to one, forcing me to have a seat. She ordered us two Long Island Iced Tea’s to help loosen me up. As I quickly guzzled the drink, I saw a cute guy staring at me from across the bar. He winked at me and came by with a friend to introduce himself to us.
“My name’s Lance and this here is Rico. Which one of you is the better dancer?”
“Nikki is for sure.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” said Rico. He took Nikki’s hand and went straight to the middle of the dance floor.
Lance was your typical jock type. He had sultry crystal blue eyes, huge bulky muscles that indented his all black three-piece suit, a strong chiseled scruffy jaw and short dirty blonde hair.
“Would you like another drink, Miss?”
“Sure.” He picked up my empty glass and ordered the bartended to make me another Long Island.
“There will be plenty more where that came from.”
“Thanks, I’ll need them to cheer me up anyway.”
“So what’s your name?”
“Alecia.”
“That’s a beautiful name to suit a beautiful lady.”
“Cheesy pick-up lines don’t work on me Lance, but thanks, I do appreciate the gesture.”
“Oh, you’re a tough cookie, I like that.”
The bartender puts a small white napkin down in front of me and places my drink on top of it. Just like the previous one, I quickly choke this drink back, too.
“Don’t hurt yourself Alecia.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m not even close to my usual limit.” Lance grabs my hand and leads me to the dance floor. I didn’t realize how tall he was until he wrapped his huge forearms around me. He was way taller than Al and beefier too.
“I’m not a very good dancer, Alecia. So I hope you’ll make me look good.”
“I can try. N
o promises, though.”
We laughed and danced until the club shut down at 2:30 in the morning.
Lance handed me a business card with his number on it. “Call me when you’re ready, no pressure.”
“Looks like someone had a good time tonight.” Nikki said nudging me with her elbow.
“Maybe.”
I kept flipping Lance’s card over and over in my hand. Staring at the beautiful golden scale of justice printed on the top with the words Lance Doherty, Attorney and Counselor at Law branded underneath.
“Nik, he’s a lawyer.”
“Really, are you gonna call him?”
“I don’t know, I don’t think I’m cut out for this again. After Al, it’s going to be real hard for me to get close to someone. I’m afraid once we bond they’ll leave, just like he did.”
“Leci, this will be different, I promise you.”
“Let me sleep on it.” Nikki dropped me off in front of my apartment building and sped off once I was safely inside the door. I stumbled inside my apartment and felt my way to my bedroom. I placed Lance’s card on my nightstand and crawled right into bed. I decided to give it a few days and maybe I’d call him. He seemed like a nice enough guy to be around.
The next morning I felt like complete shit. My skull was pounding, I was sweating profusely, and my stomach was in knots. I was hung-over and there was no doubt about it. My shift started at ten and I was determined to make it to work. I tried to take a shower, but it hurt so much to stand up that I flopped down in the tub and let the hot water rinse the stench of alcohol and sweat down the drain.
Apparently I didn’t do a good job hiding my ‘sickness’ when I got to work because Cindy noticed my performance wasn’t up to par ten minutes into my shift.
“Alecia, you look like hell. I don’t know what’s going on but I think you should go home and get some rest.”
“Thanks.”
My hard night of partying definitely caught up to me. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow and slept the rest of the day away. My eyes didn’t re-open again until ten o’clock that night. I still felt horrible but I was starving and craved for something deep fried and full of grease. I drove to the nearest burger joint and ordered a couple of bacon burgers, fries, and a chocolate shake.
I drove back to my apartment, sat on my bed and stuffed my face until I couldn’t stand to take another bite. I dropped the empty wrappers on my nightstand and saw Lance’s card sitting there.
Meeting him must have happened for a reason, so maybe I’ll give him a call. I let his ten digits sit on my screen for a while before I got the courage to hit call.
“Hello?”
It took me a minute to say something back because I wasn’t expecting him to actually answer the phone. I was prepared to leave a message and that was it.
“Is this Lance?”
“Yes, how can I help you?”
“It’s Alecia, we met at the club last night.”
“Hey! I wasn’t sure if you’d actually call or not but it’s refreshing to hear your voice.”
“I honestly never thought I would.”
“Well, you did and that’s all that matters. What are you up to on Friday?”
“Nothing, as far as I know.”
“I’d like to take you out for lunch and get to know you a little better.”
“That sounds great, I’ll text you my address.”
“Alright, well it’s late, so make sure you get some rest and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight.”
Wow I guess Nikki was right, I don’t have anything to worry about. He seemed very sweet, and I could definitely use the company right now.
I rolled out of bed a few hours later to discover a beautiful crisp fall morning. The foliage resembled a painted portrait and looked absolutely breathtaking through my window. The sun was shining bright and the leaves were vibrant shades of yellow, orange, and red. Today was the day Lance and I had our first official ‘outing’ together and I was very excited. Allan was becoming a definite thing of the past and Lance may be my new future. I braided my hair into a single French braid and tied a small blue ribbon at the end of it. I slipped into a multi-striped ballerina neck sweater, a pair of black boot cut jeans, and my tan riding boots. Lance called and told me he’d be here in about twenty minutes. I couldn’t help but stare out the window and imagine what kind of car he drove. It was probably something cliché like a BMW or Corvette.
A bright yellow Porsche screeched through the parking lot and I watched as Lance stepped out of it in a full black and white pinstripe suit. He started walking towards my front door so I quickly zipped my leather jacket and met him outside.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Alecia.”
“Good afternoon.”
He escorted me around the back of his Cayman S and opened the passenger door for me.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He brought us to a fancy Italian restaurant for lunch.
“This place seems kind of fancy.”
“Don’t be fooled by all the faux expensive looking decorations they have. We’re just here for some great food, hope you’re hungry.” The light reflected beautifully off his crystal blue eyes as he looked at me. He was definitely a great catch and any lady would be lucky to have him.
The hostess came over and brought us to a private booth in the back of the dining area. She offered us a free House Wine sample and we both ordered entirely different seafood and pasta dishes. He ordered the shrimp scampi with linguini and I ordered the baked lobster tail with butterfly shrimp and angel hair pasta.
“So, what made you become a Lawyer?”
“All my life, I’ve always helped people and been the voice of reason for the defenseless.”
“I bet a lot of people are very intimidated by you, huh?”
“By my appearance definitely, when people see me approaching the bench they assume I’m the defendant not the Lawyer,” he laughed.
The waitress brought us our entrée’s and they both looked and smelled delicious. After an hour of mindless conversation, and witty banter we finished our meals and left. He wouldn’t let me pay for a thing, which was nice.
“That was nice Lance, thank you for taking me there.”
“No problem, I’m glad you liked it. It’s one of my go-to places for lunch.”
He drove up to my apartment door, gawking at me from his seat. His eyes were like two blue magnets, fixated on mine and I couldn’t bear to look away. I wanted to kiss him right then, but I restrained myself and lightly brushed his cheek with my lips instead.
“Enjoy the rest of your day Lance; I can’t imagine how busy you must get. Thanks again.”
“Alecia, wait would you like to go out again tomorrow? Maybe grab dinner this time?”
“Sure, just let me know what time.”
“Does six o’clock sound good?”
“It sounds perfect. See you then.”
I carefully closed the door to his yellow Porsche and went inside my complex. I hadn’t been this happy in a while and it was a nice change from the months of depression I just went through.
I thought about Lance all night. I wanted to call him but couldn’t find the nerve to, in the event he was working on a case. Lacey needed my help to build the new entertainment center she bought for our living room and it took us all night to put together.
“Well, that was exhausting, but it’s together.”
“See, who needs a man when we’re here together,” Lacey laughed.
“Having a man here would have made this a hell of a lot easier, though.”
“Eh, whatever I’m going to bed. We can set the TV up tomorrow.”
Lacey shoved the empty boxes to the side and stomped off to her room. I retreated to mine shortly after. I couldn’t stop thinking about my date with Lance and how incredibly sweet he seemed. He was the perfect gentleman and I almost wanted to find a flaw in him, so that he wouldn’t seem so damn perfect. I plugge
d my phone into the charger next to my bed and before I could even get my eyes shut, my phone vibrated. A message from Lance popped onto my screen.
Lance: Just wanted to let you know that I was thinking about you -Lance.
Me: I was thinking about you, too.
Lance: Can’t wait for our date tomorrow, get some rest Miss.
Me: Me either, night.
Chapter 10: A New Beginning
All I could focus on was seeing Lance that night. I had worked a short four hour shift at the sub shop earlier that day and was already back at home. I wasn’t sure what fancy place he’d take me, but I wanted to dress to impress.
I found a gray three-quarter sleeve belted sweater dress in my closet that I had previously washed, but never had an opportunity to wear it until now.
Lance called me and let me know that he was on his way, so I made sure I put a brush through my hair and smoothed my curls out. I even splashed on my Japanese cherry blossom perfume for the occasion. I waited by the window and searched the parking lot until I saw his yellow Porsche come speeding through it.
I ran outside to the passenger side door of his car before he had a chance to get out and let myself inside. His eyes were fixated on my outfit and he shot me the warmest smile.
“Where are we headed tonight?”
“You look so beautiful tonight, Alecia. Normally most girls wait until I get the door for them though.”
“Hopefully you’ll learn sooner rather than later, that you can’t compare me to any girl from your past.”
“I can tell, and where we’re going tonight is special.”
We were in the car for quite some time, hitting toll roads, and cruising down multiple highways. Our journey ended on Route 1 in Saugus, where we pulled into the parking lot of an Asian style restaurant named Kowloon. The lot was nearly full when we arrived but after circling around once, we found a spot a few feet from the entrance, after someone left.
The inside was gorgeous; there were pictures of celebrities hanging everywhere. Wrestlers, movie stars, you name it. We walked by an enclosed private room, and I would assume there was someone famous behind the red curtain, because there was a ton of security standing guard outside of it.