THE HEALING HEART

by Zelda Clemens

  Seeing the sexy blonde as she served her customers diligently, my heart was gladdened with joy but fear accompanied the feelings forthwith, making me lose the last words and moves that I rehearsed; my fretful nature just returned to me and that was really the wrong time because all I wanted was to be bold and daring.

  As if she knew I was coming for her, she came immediately to me with smiles wiggling her curvy hip as she advanced closer to me. The closer she came, the harder my heart pounded.

  “Hi, what do you need?” she asked and smiled.

  I was surprised that she came to me because she doesn’t usually leave her desk but customers come to her to make their orders. Maybe I was just lucky to make her come out to meet me.

  “I…I just need a good drink that will make me remember that I should be happy today,” I said haltingly and forced a smile.

  “Today is really a great day,” she said with a seductive smile that made me notice the glowing blue eyes of hers, “I know what you need,”

  “Yes, you’re right,” I said and smiled back trying to get my lost confidence back, “I love fourth July,” I said smilingly and crossed my legs to make her take a closer look at me, even though it was under the dim LED DJ lights.

  “That’s the reason why I should make Silver Oak wine available for you to relax your nerves,” she said humbly and waited for my approval as her smiles stormed into my heart.

  “That sounds cool and I’m sure I’ll like it just like I like the person standing before me,” I said with humor even without knowing when I said that. “Sorry, can you still remember who I am?” I asked trying to start a talk that could lead to asking for her phone number.

  “You should have introduced yourself first,” she said and left immediately even without giving me the chance to correct my manners or tell her the first time I saw her.

  I was daunted by that reminder of my manners but I just had to wait for her to come back before introducing myself properly.

  As I waited for her to come back, I saw my good friend in college even though I wasn’t really close to him then because of his lifestyle; he used to spearhead the Red Skulls, which was a brotherhood that worked against the school authority once they introduce policies that were not favorable to the students. Louis Brown used to be the tough guy which was the major reason why I avoided him then. Of course, I was the bookworm then.

  Seeing Louis Brown, I tried to pretend that I was busy with my phone just to make him pass but with the tail end of my eye, I noticed that he was coming right to my side and I couldn’t run away from him as I used to do in those days as a sophomore.

  “Don’t tell me you’re Derek Churchill,” he said hilariously and patted my back gently to have my attention.

  “Wow, are you not the famous Louis Brown?” I said as he pulled me up into a hug.

  “It’s been a long time, bro,” he said and observed me closely, “you’re always looking handsome. I thought your handsomeness must have faded a bit but that’s far from the truth.”

  “I’m flattered, Louis,” I said and pulled myself back to observe his facial expression.

  “I used to avoid you in college because of your bookworm nature,” he jested which made us start laughing aloud to the point that people around noticed our presence.

  “I thought you’d have stopped being funny,” I said and offered him a seat.

  We sat together and exchanged pleasantries while I still waited for the sexy bartender to serve the wine. I took a sweeping look around to make sure that she was still coming but noticed she wasn’t coming yet but busy serving others. I was grimaced but I didn’t want my old friend sitting next to me to notice it.

  I shrugged away my sadness and smiled back at Louis even though my attention wasn’t with him anymore but with the girl that I was expecting. Meanwhile, I wanted to be alone so that I could have the temerity to talk to the girl. Louis’s presence would simply jeopardize my chances and I wasn’t ready to miss the opportunity to talk to Alex.

  “I can see you’re uneasy as if you’re waiting for someone,” Louis asked observantly which got me feeling more fidgety because of his presence, “I used to feel this way when there is a new hard-to-get girl turning my head around,”

  “Yes…No…I just remembered something,” I lied.

  “Let’s drink up, it’s our Independence Day celebration,” He proposed and got up to meet the bartender who kept me waiting.

  I was surprised with the way Louis held her and planted a deep kiss on her lips. I was shocked to observe that she could be his lover or even his wife.

  At that point, all I wanted to say to the girl got blotted out even to the last word. I became fretful and worked up. All I wanted that very moment was to get up and disappear from the bar but my ass remained stuck on the couch as if I couldn’t just get up and make a sly move out of there. I forced myself to stand but my attention that remained glued at the love birds before me made me remain still to know how the story was going to end.

  At a point, I summoned the courage and got up to leave. As I was about to take the first step out of the bar, I heard her sexy voice as she said: “Sorry, dear. I kept you waiting because I had some things to take care of.”

  I turned and looked at her absently and feigned a smile though I’d lost my mood for any friendly talk with her especially seeing that Louis accompanied her back to my position.

  “Baby,” Louis called out to Alex and pulled me close, “meet my good friend back then in college. He’s Derek Churchill,” and to me, he said, “Derek, meet my girl, Alex Newman.”

  “Oh, Alex, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said with a fake smile and shook hands with her.

  “I’m glad to meet you too,” she said, “Your wine is ready but it seems you want to go out or something,”

  “No…Not really,” I said stutteringly and sat back to my position, “I wanted to check something in my car but I just changed my mind,”

  “We need more wines,” Louis said and sat. He poured out the wine in two glasses and we began to drink while the girl continued attending to her numerous customers.

  Alex wasn’t the only bartender at the bar but had numerous workers around. Amid the superfluity of bartenders lurking in the bar, I noticed that people love to be served by Alex and I couldn’t say why. Maybe it was because of her beauty and smooth way of talking to her customers to make them feel so welcomed.

  “So, what do you do for a living?” Louis asked in order to keep the ball rolling but he wasn’t just the reason why I was there, so I wasn’t so disposed for some chitchats with him. My entire attention was glued to any direction that the sexy girl was.

  “Well, I am a firefighter,” I answered bluntly and took a sip of the alcoholic wine before me.

  “That’s good but I really hate fire so much that I won’t like to come close to it,” he said with a loud grin, “I’ve had a bitter experience with fire in the past, that’s why I have these burns and scars on my arm,” he said sadly and raised the long sleeve of his shirt to show me some scars.

  “That’s really serious,” I exclaimed with sympathy and observed his arms closely, “So sorry for that,”

  “Thanks, bro,” he said and chuckled, “I really hate fire,” he reiterated.

  “That’s the good reason why you should avoid hell fire by all means,” I humored.

  Ha-ha,” He laughed out loud and nodded, “Well, I’m yet to believe that such place exists,”

  “So, what about you?” I asked, “What do you do for a living?”

  “I’m a lumberjack,” he said and smiled, “I always like to do hard things,”

  “I hope you’re no more as stubborn as you used to be back then in school,” I said and looked at him furtively with smiles.

  “No…not anymore,” he replied humbly, “those days, I used to think that being a man requires physical strength but when I took my time to study your nature back then in school, I realized that being one of the most intelligent college students wasn’
t because you were the hitman but because you took your time to study and make good grades. You inspired me in those days but you never noticed,”

  I was wowed hearing that because it was then I realized why Louis used to make some efforts to come closer to me back then but I kept avoiding him due to his boisterous nature.

  “I feel so flattered right now,” I said and chuckled, “thanks for making me feel proud of myself,”

  I began to feel more relaxed around him because he seemed to have changed for real, even though he wasn’t really bad those days in school but fighting for his right from unorthodox ways.

  “Alex has been my girlfriend for about two years,” he began, in a bid to tell me his love story; “she’d always inspired me which is the reason why I took up the job as a lumberjack to make myself humble. She’s a rich girl but she prefers to be my friend because she saw a part of me that is romantic. But the truth remains that I don’t really think I am the romantic guy but just playing along to make her think that I am. I love to do crazy things sometimes but she seems so soft to allow me to explore my real nature.”

  “Hmmm, that sounds cool but you must not be kinky, especially if she doesn’t need it that way,” I advised.

  “But it’s usually fun to do it that way,” he added and chortled.

  As we were discussing, the talk of the devil just showed up looking so sweet and cool. She relinquished her duties to one of her workers just to come and join us. I was both glad and jealous that particular time but I’d to balance the two to avoid being noticed.

  “Hey, guys,” Alex greeted and sat close to Louis and crossed her arms over his shoulder. This really got me uncomfortable but I tried my best to pretend that I wasn’t moved by that.

  “Pretty girl, you’re welcome,” I said as I welcomed her to the table of men, “You’re really diligent and hardworking, I’ve noticed” I complimented her in order to get her attention but she just rolled her eyes and smiled uninterestedly.

  “Thanks,” she said and crossed her legs, exposing that sexy leopard–skinned high-heeled, “I just have to be hardworking because it’s in my nature.”

  “She’s a workaholic and I keep advising her to ensure some leisure sometimes not just working all through,” Louis said and pulled her closer and they exchanged a French kiss before me.

  I was really covetous and wishing that I’d be in Louis’s shoes at that moment. Seeing them kiss got me horny instantly but I crossed my legs to avoid allowing the bulge in my trousers to be evident. I looked at Alex lasciviously, though on the sly so that she wouldn’t notice my lust.

  “Hmm,” I hummed and cleared my throat to bring the lovebirds back from the kissing world, “I’m still here,” I humored.

  “Don’t mind us,” Louis said apologetically and smiled, “I miss her a lot all the time.”

  “That’s cool and I love it,” I said forcefully but in actual sense, what I meant was “why not give me a chance with her even for a second?”

  The chilly air conditioner in the bar wasn’t helping at all because it got me chilled, thereby triggering that lewdness of my mind to the point that I became restive around them.

  “So, tell me what you do for a living,” Alex asked looking directly into my eyes which got me jumpy.

  I tried my best to have that battle of looks with her but I couldn’t just stand it. I usually feel mousy whenever I am around a girl I love which was the weakness I tried so much to overcome but I couldn’t.

  “I’m a firefighter,” I answered meekly and got myself busy with the wine in my glass just to conjure some confidence in answering her questions.

  Her question made me understand that she never noticed my presence as the leader of the firefighting team even though I thought she saw me that very day that we came to perform our duties.

  “Hmmm, that sounds adventurous and disaster-managing,” she said and took my glass of wine and sipped.

  I was really surprised that she didn’t use Louis’s glass but mine but I pretended not to notice what she did. She kept looking at me but I tried my best to avoid those looks from her which were making me uncomfortable. I tried to pretend that I was the brave guy, though.

  “It may interest you to know that Derek was among the best students in college,” Louis said and refilled our glasses.

  “Wow, no wonder he looks owlish,” Alex jeered and waved her hand in the air as if she was beckoning me forward.

  “I don’t know if I should take these as compliment or mockery;” I said smilingly, “well, thanks to you guys.”

  “I thought you wouldn’t be appreciative,” Louis said and stood up, “Let me use the restroom. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

  Even though I wanted Louis to give us some moment, I felt like telling him to stay back so that I could still have my confidence around the sexy blonde. Immediately he left I became speechless and couldn’t even start any discussion.

  For about three minutes, we didn’t talk to each other but her body language was descriptive enough to tell me that she wanted me to talk to her. My eyes got fixed to a spot on the table just to avoid her daring eyes but I noticed that she kept looking at me admiringly which got me thinking why she’d be doing that since she was really close to Louis and loves him too.

  After a while, she looked towards the direction that Louis went as if she was seriously wishing he’d stay longer and give us the chance to talk but I couldn’t still break the silence.

  As I tried to be a man and start a conversation I noticed that I didn’t even know what to talk about but all that occupied my mind that very moment was an imagery of the sexy queen and me having a strong sex in bed.

  “I noticed that you avoid women a lot but I know that past experience can reshape our lives the way we don’t even want,” she said observantly which finally broke the long silence between us.

  “Hmmm, you sounded so sure,” I said shyly but still feigned being so audacious around her.

  “I’ve noticed you a lot and I can’t help but ask why you’ve been uneasy around me even starting from the first day you came to extinguish fire with your firefighting team.”

  Talking about the day I came to her rescue with my men made it obvious that I’d been wrong about her because I never knew that she noticed me that very day let alone seeing me.

  “That sounds strange because a couple of minutes ago you asked me what I do for a living and I answered.”

  “I didn’t want to sound as if I’d seen you before,” she said and parted her lips, “I didn’t want Louis to suspect anything but the truth remains that I know that you like me a lot but too clumsy to accept it,” she vented.

  “I don’t know what to say,” I muttered, “I’m really the introverted type but I’m easygoing, I assure you,” I said and looked into her eyes which finally restored some lost confidence in me.

  “I noticed that too,” she said and refilled the glasses, “I like you too but I can’t cheat on him, especially for being indebted to him with my own life.

  I didn’t understand that last part, so I had to ask questions to be cleared.

  “That sounds so serious,” I said and knitted my brow with bewilderment, “what could make you be indebted to him, even with your own life?”

  “He saved my life when I was attacked by hoodlums.” She answered soberly, “If not for Louis, the treacherous guys would have raped me in turns but he came to my rescue even to the extent that he almost lost his own life, saving mine. He spent three months in a coma before being fully convalesced. It wasn’t easy for me seeing him incapacitated in bed but I was glad that he later pulled through and returned back to life.”

  “Wow, that’s brave of him,” I said proudly, “Not many men can do such.”

  “Not only that, he saved my little girl when my house was on fire,” she said thoughtfully and wiped the tear that was announcing its presence in her left eye.

  “That’s really brave,” I said with admiration, “he’s always been the strong macho guy since colle
ge. He wasn’t the bad guy as people used to think; just that he used to do good things through unacceptable ways,”

  “Yes, you’re right,” she said and downed her glass of wine, “Now, you see why I owe him.”

  It was then I remembered my discussion with Louis about the way he dreads the fire. I guess those marks on his arm was as a result of trying to save Alex’s daughter. Hmmm, I never knew she was a single mom. That was cool too.

  “Indeed, you owe him your life,” I said and smiled absently as I thought through the whole thing. I wished I could be her hero like Louis but I came a bit late into her life which was the reason why I should allow my feelings die and move on with my life without her. “I now understand why I should allow you be with someone who’s worth your love and attention. Louis is really a great man.”

  “Thanks, but I still have my eyes on you,” she said boldly which got me perplexed.

  “I admire you a lot but I have to accept my fate,” I said dispiritedly and looked toward the north and saw Louis coming back to meet us.

  “Call me,” she said and slipped her business card into my palm so that Louis wouldn’t notice that, “Let’s meet tomorrow at Romeo and Juliet Garden.”

  Soon, Louis was in our midst with smiles all over his face.

  “Hey guys, who missed me?” Louis said and giggled, “I’m sorry for my long absence,” He apologized and joined us, “I bumped into an old friend and we exchanged some pleasantries and memories of the past.”

  I concealed the business card immediately so that Louis wouldn’t see it. I was so glad for having Alex’s attention even though she said she wouldn’t cheat on her man but I was glad to give it a trial.

  We enjoyed the Independence Day together with the intensive exchange of amorous looks between Alex and me even though we tried hard to keep Louis in the dark so that he wouldn’t notice what was already going on between us. The eyes say a lot, and that was our means of communication that very moment.

  I kept thinking about the fact that Alex was a single mother which kept me asking some rhetorical questions about who fathers the child. It was obvious that Louis could be the father but that wasn’t my problem at the moment. All I dreamt of was how to eat Alex’s pussy and give her a good head in between her legs.