Love, Lies & Consequences

by Frazier, Natasha D.

  During Taboo, while Raegan was giving clues to her team Rico would blurt out things just so that she would notice him. He loved attention. She could tell by his T-shirt that said Every Woman’s Dream. Now he was sitting next to her asking her hundreds of questions about herself.

  Answering Rico’s question, Raegan said, “If you must know, the men that I’ve crossed paths with and have an interest in usually can’t measure up to the standards that I set or accept my lifestyle.”

  “What lifestyle is that?” Rico asked, becoming even more intrigued.

  “Man, you’re nosey!” Raegan knew that he was trying to feel her out but thought that since her answer was personal, he was being rather personal.

  “You left yourself wide open for that question. Tell me.”

  Raegan tossed her curls away from her face and adjusted her tube top before speaking. It was obvious that Rico was giving too much attention to other parts of her body. “I’m celibate. Guys say they can handle that but they really can’t and I completely understand. It’s a choice. We choose what we want and if one should choose to be sexually active, then one may as well choose someone who is making the same kind of choice, right?”

  “I understand that. My mother is a pastor so I try not to do anything that will reflect badly on her.”

  “Oh okay,” Raegan said, eyeing him carefully. Raegan wondered at this point if his love was greater for his mother or for God.

  “I’m serious. I’m not giving myself to anyone else until I’m in a serious relationship. I have met so many women who only want the physical part of me and don’t want to know the real me,” Rico said in an attempt to empathize with her.

  Unable to control her chuckle, she asked, “Are you serious?” Now that was a new pick-up line.

  “Yes, it is true. There have been times when I’ve been sick and couldn’t get anyone to check on me, but if I wanted to have sex, she would be right there,” Rico explained.

  Raegan thought that this sounded pretty weird. He seemed to be arrogant and self-centered. Based on her quick assessment of him, he didn’t have a reason to be arrogant. She decided that she would definitely get out of the house before he could ask for her number.

  “Well perhaps you’re just dealing with the wrong kind of women,” Raegan said as she stood up to find Tammy.

  “Maybe I am. Maybe I am,” Rico said with a smirk on his face and a light in his eyes that told Raegan that she hadn’t heard the last from him.

  CHAPTER 3

  ∞

  I finally found you. Hello Ms. Lady. We met at a barbeque about a month ago. How are you? I know this is forward but here is my number. I would love to hear from you. Rico “Interesting,” Raegan said as she read the private Facebook message. Raegan definitely wasn’t going to call but decided that she would accept his friend request.

  A month had passed since Tammy’s Labor Day party. Raegan didn’t give Rico her number before she left but she had a feeling that she would somehow hear from him again. Until today, Raegan had not heard a peep from Rico; in fact, she had forgotten the interaction.

  Just then Raegan’s cell phone started ringing.

  “Hey Rae!” It was Tammy. Tammy was always so bubbly and energetic, wearing a smile on her face like sunshine all the time. Although Tammy was very sweet, she was also honest, lacking any sort of filter. One never had to guess what she was thinking because she would certainly say what was on her mind.

  “Tammy, what’s up? I was just about to give you a call. Guess who sent me a friend request on Facebook?”

  “I don’t know. Tell me”

  “Guess? I met him at the gathering you had at your place last month.”

  “Rico?” Tammy questioned. She was a bit skeptical about this interaction.

  “Yes ma’am. That’s him. We had a long conversation at your party, remember?”

  “I remember all right. I thought you weren’t interested in him. A classmate told me several times to come rescue you because he was bothering you. Was he?”

  “No, he was just being arrogant. He mentioned some stuff about his promiscuous ways in undergrad and how he’s changed so much...blah, blah, blah. He’s looking for his ‘queen,’ he says. That had nothing to do with me, but for some reason he felt the need to share that with me.”

  Tammy didn’t know a lot about him; he was only invited to the party because the invitation went to the entire alumni chapter. She felt the need to warn Raegan. “Please be careful.”

  “No worries.”

  “All right girl. I’m off to a happy hour. I was calling you to see if you wanted to hang out tonight,” Tammy said.

  “I’m going to pass. I’m a little tired. I’ll catch up with you over the weekend,” Raegan declined the invitation.

  After arriving home, Raegan slid into her lounge clothes to catch up on her DVR as planned, along with her favorite glass of wine. After being engrossed in the television for a few hours, she checked her messages to find that she had received another Facebook message from Rico. “Hello Ms. Lady. It was really great to meet you and I’d like to chat with you sometime. May I call you? Inbox me your number.”

  Boredom and a little bit of curiosity got the best of her, so she sent him her number. Immediately, she received a text message from him asking about her day. After two hours of texting, she thought that maybe her first impression of him may not have been completely accurate. He was more interesting than she remembered.

  “Will you go out with me?” Raegan could not believe what she was reading. He obviously has me mixed up with someone else if he thinks that I am going to accept an invitation to go out with him via text message, she thought.

  Raegan responded to his text. “I do not go out with guys who ask me out through text message.”

  “Give me a few minutes,” responded Rico.

  About five minutes passed and the lovely song of Mozart began to play through her Blackberry. It was Rico.

  “Hello,” Raegan said after she allowed the phone to ring for a few seconds.

  “Hey Gorgeous! Your voice is even sweeter than I remember,” Rico said.

  “So you say…”

  “Yeah…that’s right. Is there a chance that I can hear that beautiful voice in person again soon?”

  “I don’t know…” Raegan said. If he wanted her to go out with him, he was going to have to ask her directly. She wasn’t going to play his game.

  “You have to know that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since we met. I would like to take you out to see a movie, go to the museum, picnic, or whatever you like. It really doesn’t matter; I just want to spend some time in your presence.” Rico said. “Are you free next weekend?”

  There was a new movie coming out that she wanted to see. “Hmmm…Seeing a movie sounds good, but only if I get to pick the movie. We can meet at Edward Cinema in Greenway Plaza at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday. Sound good?” Raegan set the date.

  “As long as I get to see your pretty face,” Rico agreed to the details.

  “Okay, I have to go, so I will see you next weekend,” Raegan said as she ended the call.

  ***

  Raegan met Rico at the movie theater promptly at 7:30 p.m. as agreed. She wore a gold sequin tank top, blue jeans and a pair of pumps. Her hair was curly as usual, but today it was glossy because she visited the beauty shop earlier that morning.

  “Wow, you look amazing!” Rico exclaimed as soon as Raegan was within earshot. He had arrived early and stood in front of the theater waiting for her to arrive. He was glad that he had done so because it was a pleasure to see her walking toward him in all of her beauty. He hadn’t thought that he had even the smallest chance with her after their initial meeting at Tammy’s party but decided to take a shot anyway. He was thankful for Facebook.

  “Thank you. Are you ready for the movie? I am pretty sure that Channing Tatum is going to give us another amazing performance,” Raegan said excited to watch her favorite actor.

  “Well, let’
s see,” he said, extending his arm toward the door. He had already purchased the tickets. Rico didn’t care which movie they went to see, he just wanted to spend that time with her.

  Raegan didn’t mind movie dates because she didn’t have to talk. It wasn’t personal. All she had to do was sit there and watch the movie. Those types of dates usually turned out well.

  He purchased drinks, candy and popcorn before they found seats in the theater. They had arrived in just the right amount of time. The theater began filling up pretty quickly.

  She noticed that he was polite during the movie. He didn’t attempt to put his arm around her or make any moves. Every now and again, he would comment about different scenes. After the movie ended, he suggested that they grab dessert so that they could spend some time talking and getting to know each other.

  “Where would you like to go?” he asked her.

  “There’s an ice cream shop right down the street. We can go there.”

  Rico didn’t care much for ice cream but he wanted to spend more time admiring her beauty and getting to know her more. He was intrigued by Raegan. He had never met another woman like her.

  Since they hadn’t driven to the theater together, they each took their own car to the ice cream shop. Once inside, he found them a table and they waited for the waitress to take their order.

  They discussed their favorite parts of the movie before Rico switched the subject. “So, tell me, what do you do?”

  “I work downtown for a Fortune 500 company in HR. I’ve been there about six years now. When I first started, I worked with employees who filed sexual harassment complaints. I’ve since moved away from that and I work in recruitment, which is much more fun,” she said.

  “That sounds interesting. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of stories.”

  “I have. The first assignment was too personal for me. I needed something lighter. Now, I get to help students and some people who are mid-career find the perfect place within our company. I enjoy that.”

  “I see. Your face lights up when you talk about it.”

  “What about you? What do you do?” she asked, putting a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. The waitress had just returned with their desserts and she didn’t waste any time digging into hers.

  “I work in sales. I sell luxury vehicles.”

  “Now, that’s interesting. How did you get into that?” she asked.

  “It’s actually a career change. I used to be in social work but I didn’t like it. I found it draining, plus it didn’t pay very well. I have a friend who works at the dealership who suggested that I give it a shot. I’ve been there about six months now,” said Rico.

  They continued to talk about work, church involvement and their favorite things over ice cream until near closing of the shop.

  “This was fun,” said Raegan as she finished her ice cream. “But I need to get home and get ready for morning worship service. I’m not volunteering tomorrow so I need to get there in enough time to find a seat.”

  “I had a great time. Thank you for spending some time with me tonight. I hope that we can do this again soon,” Rico said, standing and helping her out of her seat. He walked her to her car, helped her inside and made sure that she was safely out of the parking lot before leaving. He wanted to see more of her and he knew just how to make that happen –church!

  As Raegan rode home, she reflected on her time with Rico. Surprisingly, she enjoyed herself. The more she thought about her date, the more her thoughts traveled back to when she first met Rico and she revealed that she was celibate. She thought that would be enough to run him off but she was wrong.

  She was reminded of a recent conversation with a male friend who suggested that she would never get married if she remained celibate because she was never going to meet a guy who would feel the same way about sex. She wasn’t sure of what Rico’s stance was on the issue, but figured that he may not have a problem with it since he looked her up and asked her out after she told him that there wouldn’t be any sex.

  Her celibacy hadn’t been an issue in the past two years because she hadn’t seriously dated anyone. The true test of my commitment will come when I am actually tested, but it’s nothing I can’t handle, she thought.

  CHAPTER 4

  ∞

  Rico decided that he would surprise Raegan and visit her church on Sunday. He knew that her faith was a big part of her life and he wanted to show her that he was interested in getting to know her on all levels. He saw by the huge grin on her face when she made eye contact with him that his efforts were appreciated.

  Raegan was surprised to see Rico standing off to the side of the sanctuary entrance waiting for her when she entered the building. He greeted her with a kiss to the back of her hand before they walked into the sanctuary.

  As always Raegan enjoyed the service. Rico expressed that he liked the pastor’s sermon, although he spent a great deal of time watching her. After the benediction, Rico whispered into her ear that he had to leave. She was hoping they would be able to have brunch since he had taken the time out to visit her there.

  He told her that he had something to take care of at home, although he wasn’t specific about it. Getting away to go to church was the easy part; it would have been strenuous for him to come up with reasons as to why he was gone for several hours. He enjoyed spending time with Raegan, so brunch with her could have easily turned into a two-hour event.

  After church, Raegan called her best friend and sorority sister, Kensi. Not only was Kensi her best friend, but Kensi had also come to be her accountability partner. Kensi helped Raegan focus on her goals when it came to celibacy. In fact, they made a celibacy pact. Neither of them would have sex again before marriage.

  “Raegan! What’s going on? I haven’t heard from you all weekend missy! What’s up with that?” Kensi exclaimed jokingly. Even though they were on the phone, Raegan knew that Kensi was wagging her finger around.

  “Kens Kens Kens! How are you sis?” she sang in a cheery voice. She was very upbeat that afternoon. After going to church earlier that morning she felt empowered again. She began to share her notes from the sermon with Kensi. “Pastor’s sermon topic today was ‘This is only a test.’ It was pretty good too. He discussed how our responses should be when God tests us. He explained that God often tests us at the place of our affection. When we love the blessings of God more than God, often He will test us. Testing is the only way to prove what we say we believe. He also mentioned that God tests us because He is trying to promote us. We can’t have great blessings and weak tests. Our faith has to be equivalent to the blessings we are about to receive.”

  “Oh, sounds like you took some good notes there buddy,” Kensi said as she scribbled down a few of the points to review later.

  “Of course I did. I always do.” Raegan was very proud of herself for taking notes and keeping up with her Bible studying.

  “Yes, the sermon was really good and it really touched my spirit. I am more encouraged than I was yesterday in my daily walk with God,” Raegan continued.

  “I am happy to hear that. So what else is going on? That is just where you were today. I haven’t heard from you all weekend,” Kensi said as a matter of fact.

  “Well…I actually went out on a date last night,” Raegan said, leaving Kensi to probe for details.

  “Oh really! Which guy? Spill the details.” Kensi loved to tease Raegan because it seemed like she dated a different guy every month, discarding them as if they were old newspapers.

  “That’s funny. What do you mean which guy?”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault you have so many to choose from.”

  “That is definitely not true!” Raegan never thought this, but all of her friends believed that she had a plethora of guys to choose from. She believed her pickings were very slim. “I’m not sure if I told you about him or not. He is the pushy guy I met at Tammy’s Labor Day gathering. Did I tell you about that?”

  “Nope. Doesn’t ring a bell,” Kensi
said as if to hurry Raegan along with the more important details of her date.

  Raegan gave her a quick recap of the first time they met and then continued with details regarding her date.

  “We met at the movie theater. When I first walked up to meet him, he says, ‘You look amazing.’”

  “He is either a sweetie or a master at the game,” Kensi interjected.

  “That is true but it was cute nonetheless.” Raegan continued, “We went to see the new Channing Tatum movie. I thought it was pretty good and had an unexpected end. I’m not sure if he enjoyed it all that much even though he said he did. Afterwards we went to grab dessert from an ice cream shop.”

  As Raegan chatted on about her date, Kensi noticed that she wasn’t providing any of Rico’s basic information, forcing Kensi to probe even more.

  “Raegan, you’re killing me here! Give me the real deets! What does homeboy do? How old is he? Does he love the Lord? Where does he go to church? Where is he from? Did he go to school? You know! All of the basic background questions,” Kensi said dramatically.

  “Sorry,” Raegan laughed off Kensi’s dramatic outburst. “You’re funny. I like the detective in you, though. I guess I forgot to mention that he came to my church this morning.”

  Interrupting her, Kensi said, “Wait, what? Now that is interesting. I guess that answers my questions about his love for the Lord. Or maybe he was just trying to get next to you.”

  “Maybe…” Raegan said as she thought about Kensi’s assessment of him. She continued, “He is 31 and he’s a new car salesman. He is from a very small town in Alabama that you nor I have ever heard of and probably never will. Google him.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m way ahead of you. I started after you gave me his name. I haven’t found anything interesting yet though, only his Twitter and Facebook page appeared in the search results. No, wait! Here’s the link to an article about him in Social Services from his previous job,” Kensi noted. She skipped around other articles that appeared in the search results that seemed to be irrelevant.