Beautiful

by Kiexiza Rodriquez

“Mom, are you here?” Tierra yelled, as she walked through her condo door.

  “I’m in the kitchen, Tierra.”

  As she walked closer towards the kitchen she could hear several voices along with her mothers. She turned the corner and saw Shireece, Sean, her mom, and Qu sitting at the kitchen island.

  “Hey!” they all sang, simultaneously looking up and waving.

  “Hey ya’ll, what’s up? Mom, did you forget I told you I have that dinner thing tonight?” she asked making her rounds kissing everyone on the cheek.

  “No, I didn’t forget. Shireece called me, and we went out to lunch. I didn’t really want to go out this evening, so she and Sean came up to keep me company. You don’t mind, do you?”

  “No, I don’t mind mom. Why would I? I’m the one that called Shireece, for you earlier remember? Thanks you two,” she spoke towards the duo.

  “Not a prob,” they chimed in unison.

  “What’s your excuse?” she asked, finally reaching Qu, giving him a hug.

  “I called to talk to you actually, and Mom told me that you were still at work. She said you’d be home briefly, so I figured I’d stop by. I was hoping to grab a minute or two of your limited time,” he pleaded.

  “Qu, I really don’t have a lot of time. I have, like an hour before I have to be at JC’s,” she looked at her watch. “I’m meeting with my biggest client tonight. He has some kind of business proposal to talk to me about.”

  “Only an hour, however, will you make it?” he laughed. “Well, maybe some other time.”

  Mrs. Rodriquez, hearing the disappointment in Aquarian’s voice, looked at her daughter with harsh eyes. You know the ones that make you pay attention to what momma is saying. It made Tierra immediately readjust her tone with Aquarian.

  She smiled and nudged him with her side. “Come on, Butter Ball,” she conceded, “You can help me pick out my outfit.”

  He followed her to her bedroom and looked around the massive room as they entered. Tierra left him standing in the middle of it, while she made a B-Line for her closet.

  “Great view,” he said, pulling back the burnt orange colored sheer curtains. “It’s really close to the view I have when I look out my window.”

  “Sure it’s ok, but I never really have time to enjoy it, you know… I’m barley here. What do you think?” she asked, holding up a leopard print, spaghetti strap dress, with a scoop neck line. “Or this one?” she asked tossing the leopard print dress on her bed, and held up a red multi-layered skirt with a matching red top.

  “I thought you said this was a business meeting?” he asked as he looked at the clothes she was pulling out her closet. He was surprised at how each one appeared to be more seductive than the one before, at least to him.

  She squeezed his cheeks lightly between her fingers, and grinned, before responding, but in a serious tone, “It is a business meeting, but it’s a business meeting at JC’s. You don’t wear a suit to JC’s Qu. You know that.”

  She piled about 20 outfits on her bed. Qu was shocked any one person could really have that many outfits and not be able to pick out one to wear. Some of the things she pulled out still on had price tags on them.

  “What’s wrong with this one?” Qu asked, holding up what he thought, was a plain little black dress.

  “Great idea! I told you, you have great taste,” she removed the hanger from his hands and carried it into the bathroom, hung it up on a hook on the wall, and turned on the shower. She stood at the doorway to the bathroom and looked at Qu.

  “So what did you want to talk to me about?” she questioned him and began hustling around the room, grabbing her makeup case, before retreating back into the bathroom, leaving the door open so she that could hear him talk.

  Tierra quickly undressed and stepped in the shower. She figured with the door open she’d be able to hear what Qu was saying. But that wasn’t the case, and neither of them new it.

  Qu took a deep breath in, before he began. Unsure of how to say what was on his heart, so he opened his mouth and allowed the words to pour out.

  “Ti, when I lost Beautiful, I began to lose my faith. I couldn’t understand why God would bring her into my life only to take her out of it. When I first found out about her, I was so ecstatic. I wished I had someone to tell and I thought of you. When I came here to see you, and we talked, I remembered what being with you felt like. You have always been my other half…” he began to get nervous at the thought of fully revealing what was in his heart.

  The shower stopped and Qu could hear Tierra walking around in the bathroom. He walked over to the doorway and leaned up against it, “I don’t know what’s happened to you over the past year. Why you have not found love. But I’ve have another chance to have you back in my life, and I’m not letting you go this time. I needed to let you know that you are an important part of my life,” he wiped his brow satisfied that he finally got out at least part of, what he came to say. There was a long silence and Qu again retreated to the safety of Tierra’s bed, sitting on the edge of it.

  “Qu, did I hear you right? You’re not letting me go? What do you mean by that?” Tierra inquired stepping to the bathroom doorway.

  When looked up at her, she was standing in the doorway leaned over, one hand on the door frame the other, attempting to fix the straps on one of her shoes. The seemingly, simple black dress was nothing more than several pieces of sheer material drawn to one shoulder and held with a turquoise butterfly. The way it wrapped around her body fit her perfectly. The steam escaped from the bathroom and engulfed her around her feet. Qu was mesmerized. He walked over to her, bent down, and gently took her foot in his hands and laced the straps on her shoes.

  When he finished, he paused, and took in the full view of her, and was in awe. Tierra reached down her hand to help him up, and they gazed into each other’s eyes for what seemed like forever. Qu wondered how he could have missed her. When did his the tomboy, next door, become this beautiful woman?

  Tierra’s Blackberry beeped, interrupting their trance. “Damn! I’m going to be late. Qu, can I call you tomorrow? I promise we will finish this conversation!” She kissed him on the cheek, grabbed her black clutch, Chenille waist length jacket, and rushed down the hall.

  Her mom stopped her in her tracks. “What’s this?” she asked, lifting her hand up and down, referring to the little black nothingness her daughter was wearing.

  “Blame Qu mom, he picked it out,” she ratted on him, “Bye, goodnight everyone,” and then she was gone.

  Qu remained in her room for a several more minutes. He was stunned by what he just witnessed. When did his best friend grow up? He never really looked at her before as more than the girl next door. One of the guys, and now, all he felt inside suddenly made sense.

  Mrs. Rodriquez sent Sean to gather Qu. When Sean walked into Tierra’s room he shook Qu on the shoulder. “Hey man, you alright?”

  “She’s, beautiful Sean. I mean how could I have missed that, huh?”

  “Man, I don’t know? She was drop dead gorgeous back in High School. But she’s always been one of the guys to us, man. Ya’ll was like brother and sister for the majority of your life. What do you expect? Just be careful, you’ve missed a lot the year you were away,” Sean warned. “Ya’ll are both my peoples, I hate to see either of you get hurt. So, I’m saying if you’re saying you love her, go for it. If you’re not sure you’re willing to risk your friendship, leave it alone.”

  Qu concurred, looking up at Sean.

  “Come on man, Momma Rodriquez done did her thing in the kitchen!”

  Mrs. Rodriquez made dinner for them. It smelled like heaven to the trio who were no longer used to a real home cooked meal. Shireece wasn’t the best cook in the world, though Sean would have to admit, over the past several years she had gotten much better. Still knowing he was about to throw down on some Tierra momma cooking was heaven to Sean’s ears. Shireece and Mrs. Rodriquez were in the kitchen laughing when the guys walked in.

  �
��See. You wait till we leave to talk about us, huh?” Qu said playfully.

  “No, we were talking about those times I stayed over Ti’s house and we’d have breakfast for dinner,”

  “Shoot, in college your daughter was good for cooking pancakes, eggs, cheese grits and bacon at 2am for our study group,” Qu said, laughing in agreement with Shireece.

  “I remember those nights!” Sean chimed in.

  “Well then, I guess you guys will enjoy what I made. Tierra didn’t actually have overstocked shelves when I arrived. I’ve gone through just about all she had here. Does that girl cook at all?” Mrs. Rodriquez asked.

  “Don’t ask me. I just got here too,” Qu threw his hands up in his defense.

  “Honestly, Mrs. Rodriquez, she works about 60-70 hours a week. She does cook, just once or twice a week maybe. She eats all those yogurt things that are in the refrigerator and lots of salads. She doesn’t eat like we did back home. I think it’s her job, really. When she first went to work there she had that ya know, that J-Lo booty when J-Lo first came on the scene. She was thick. Then maybe two years or so ago, she hired a personal trainer, and changed everything about how she ate, and lost maybe 30 pounds. That’s when she started getting way more clients, and that promotion. Since then she’s been burying herself in work. Truth be told I’m worried about her,” Shireece admitted.

  “It’s not that bad, Mrs. Rodriquez,” Sean disagreed, throwing a look at his wife a look that expressed his disapproval of her statement.

  “What Sean? This is her mother. Hell, this is Momma Rodriquez. She was all of our second mothers. I’m not going to lie to her. You know I’ve been worried about her. Shoot, Mr. Baxwell had to make her take a vacation. Now you know it’s bad when the head of the company makes you take a vacation.”

  “Thanks Shireece, for your honesty. It’s ok Sean, don’t worry,” she placed her hand on his shoulder, “I know what’s going on, and I’m here now. With God’s help, she will get through this. Now dig in, you three. Food’s getting cold.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice,” Sean jumped up off the stool, grabbed a plate, and began helping himself to the bounty before him.

  “Ghetto, just ghetto,” Shireece remarked and shook her head.

  “Leave that man alone,” Mrs. Rodriquez teased, slapping Shireece’s hand playfully. “Shoot. We all know Sean doesn’t know when he’s going to eat like this again. You know how you cook.”

  “Hmm… hmm,” Sean moaned, as he stuffed his face.

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