“Darrrling,” I heard Keisha’s voice sing loudly through my humble abode before her presence was shown in the kitchen doorway. “Are you ready?”
Her dark brown eyes were casted down towards the mail in her hands, my mail to be exact. My eyes scanned over her quickly, taking in her sloppy ponytail which still seemed to be fascinatingly put together, and her jogging capris and white tank top. It made me really sick just how tiny her body was. I self consciously looked down at my white t-shirt and navy blue running shorts that stopped just at mid thigh. Yeah, I could stand to lose a couple of pounds.
I’m not an oinker, okay? Let’s get that strayed away. But in today’s society a size 8, which I currently wore, might as well be obese.
“I guess,” I huffed from behind the kitchen table.
We were going to take our weekly run around my neighborhood, so I could at least try to get rid of the fifty pounds I probably consumed from the plate of pancakes I just scarfed down before she arrived.
I love to eat and I don’t exercise. It showed in my thighs, and my behind, and all of the many curves I possessed. Keisha on the other hand, jogged daily, then after that she was in the gym for an extensive forty five minute session with her trainer. I’ve walked past a gym before, but that’s about all I could manage to do.
“Well, hop to it, missy. We don’t have all day,” she hurried me along, taking her ear buds to her iPod out of her ear and roping them around her neck while taking a seat opposite myself.
“Actually, I do. It’s not like I have anything better to do than sit around successfully unemployed.” I emptied my plate in the garbage disposal, and then set it in the sink with the other dishes that needed to be washed later.
“They haven’t called you back?” Keisha asked sympathetically with her plump bottom lip poking out.
“No,” I turned around gloomily, folding my arms over my chest while leaning into the sink, “They haven’t. And honestly at this point I can safely say they’re not going to.”
“I’m still holding out hope for you. They could call you any day now,” she encouraged.
I pursed my lips at her. “Yeah, okay. It’s been two weeks, Keisha. Whatever decision they came to happened a week ago, and evidently they didn’t decide on me.”
“Well …maybe next time you won’t just up and quit a job because your employer gets a little fresh with you.
My eyes narrowed. “He didn’t just “get a little fresh”,” I made quote marks in the air. “He all but shoved his hand up my skirt and started playing my vagina like a piano.”
“It was Usher, though. Usher. You’re the only woman in this world that would have a problem with one of the hottest dudes on the planet coming on to her.”
“Yeah, one of the hottest dudes on the planet that was so fucking cheap he was paying me two figures below my well earned salary.” I threw a sarcastic smile her way. “Yeah, I was lucky alright.”
That was one of my sour spots. I worked my ass off for Ursher, day and night, and no matter how well of a job I did he always denied my request for a higher wage. Then his ass had the nerve to try to kiss me one night after a club show he had finished. This dude shoved his entire tongue down my throat, while drunkenly trying to feel on my inner thighs, just knowing that they were going to open for him like a buffet table. I punched him so hard I’m sure his wide ass nose spread even further across his ugly face.
“I still say you should’ve let me put it on him. You would’ve gotten a raise and then some,” she smirked cockily, popping her booty in her seat.
“Trust me, Keisha; unless you wanted to give him what you got and then get ten more things in return …you don’t want that fail boat. He gets around. A lot.” That admission made her turn up her nose.
“Ew,” she hopped up from her seat to turn towards the fridge, fishing through the little items I had left in there. I seriously needed to grocery shopping, and soon. “So, are we going any time soon? I do have a hair appointment in a couple hours.”
“Yeah, we are. What are you going to get done?”
“Probably more curls,” she said as she released her hair from the ponytail. It was straight then, but normally she kept soft waves of curls in it. Her dark brown hair stopped just at the middle of her back and it was all hers. She spent half her life growing it out, and it was nice and natural. “I really want to dye it, though.”
“Oh really? What color?” I watched as she pulled it back into another ponytail.
“I kind of want the top to be dark and the back to be blonde or something else really striking.”
“Uh,” I raised my eyebrows at her. “Two tones are not cute to me.”
Placing her hand on her hip she turned around to me and asked, “You really don’t think I could pull it off? I do know I want something different, though.”
“I think you should get some high lights, or maybe a lighter shade of brown,” I suggested. “But please don’t do two tones. That’s so ghetto.”
“It’s not ghetto! White girls do it all the time,” she informed as if that made it better.
“Okay? And white girls can’t be ghetto? Why are we even having this discussion?” I chuckled. “Do what you want, but I’m advising you that with your skin complexion I don’t think it would work. I really think that a softer brown would look cute, though.”
“Well, I don’t really know what I want do with it right now. I probably won’t put any color in it all you. You know how I feel about damaging.”
“Yeah, well, let me just go through this mail before we go.”
“There’s nothing important,” she told me over her shoulder, going back to perusing the fridge.
I walk over to the table to grab the mail.
Junk
Bills
More junk.
Even more bills.
A couple of flyers for restaurants and stores.
At the very end of the pile was a yellowish envelope with my name, but no address, and no return address. That’s pretty creepy.
“Did you find anything worth looking at?”
“No, not really,” I answered distractedly as I looked all over the envelope for any sign of who it could be from. I don’t really want to open it, because it could be laced with anthrax or something else that would be lethal.
Deciding to risk it, I opened the letter to reveal some handwriting that was very familiar to me.
Kelsi,
I’m not really sure if I’m going about this the right way, but someone advised me not to go with my first instinct which was to call you.
I really would like to catch up with you, if only for old time’s sake.
If you feel comfortable enough I’d really appreciate it if you meet me at Toi on sunset.
I’m sure you remember where it’s at.
I’ll be there around 10 tonight. I hope you make it.
It wasn’t signed with anything, which was very incognito, but it didn’t really have to be signed. I knew exactly who it was from, and I knew exactly why they picked that particular restaurant. Justin and I used to shut down Toi every time we were in California back in the day. I’m not sure how I felt about the invitation, but I could feel my heart trying to pound its way out of my chest.
“Kelsi!” I jumped when I felt Keisha’s cold hand grip my upper arm. I hastily hid the letter and envelope in between the rest of the unopened mail. “What the heck are you doing, girl? I’ve been calling you for the last five minutes.” She tried to look over my shoulder, but I was already half way into the living room to set everything on top of my entertainment center.
“Nothing, just looking over the bills so I know how much to take out of my account,” I lied almost breezily.
I didn’t want to lie to her, but she had gotten in such an uproar when I talked about Justin the last time that I thought it would be best to leave it alone for the time being. I didn’t even know what I was going to do about it. For right now, it was going to be an open invitation that I could or could not take on. I’d probably lean towards the latter, because this all seemed to be too surreal.
As soon as we stepped outside the humidity hit our bodies pretty hard. If the heat hadn’t been so bad it really would’ve been gorgeous outside. The sun was shining brightly, and there was a light breeze that grazed our bodies gently. We started off slow, both us placing our ear buds in our ears. I started listening to KISS’ Hotter than Hell. I dabble in all genres of music. I like everything from rock, to country, to rap. It all ranges, and if it sounds good to me I’ll like it.
I honestly tried to keep my mind off of him, but the harder I tried it seemed the easier it was for him to sink in. This whole situation was randomness at its best. First, Justin and I meet again after years of not speaking to one another, his girlfriend ends up holding my interview for the job I so desperately needed at the time, and now he’s trying to be civilized like we were old friends or something. I know we were old friends, but we definitely did not leave on those same circumstances.
I just didn’t understand it. I didn’t know what to think or do about it. And what if Keisha was right, what if Jessica and Kim decided to call me tomorrow, or the next day, or whatever and offered me a job? Could I really take it knowing that I would constantly be in such a close vicinity to Justin?
There were so many questions that needed answers in my head. So, I guess that could be the good thing about meeting him, but at the same time it could be really awkward. I didn’t know. I needed a second opinion. I looked ahead of me to see Keisha running without a glimpse of perspiration on her body. There I was heaving and sweating like a fucking pig. I told you, I never exercise, other than these occasional jogs with her.
“Hey!” I breathed out weakly, stopping to lean on my knees to catch my breath.
“You’re tired already?” Keisha halted, yelling a few feet ahead of me.
I lifted up and placed my hands on my hips, still breathing in and out at a face pace. “Well, not all of us can run marathons you know.”
But, we just started!” She walked up to me, looking me over with disdain. “You normally make it a couple blocks before getting winded. I told you that you need to start going to the gym, but you never listen.”
I glared at her. “Are you trying to say I’m fat?”
“I couldn’t say that, because you’re not fat!” That statement was optional to believe. “I’m not talking about losing weight. I’m talking about being healthier and feeling better, and being able to jog around the block without almost passing out.”
“What would make me feel better is I was at home chomping down on some ice cream right now.”
Keisha could only roll her eyes. “Okay, what’s really wrong?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked her as we started a very slow pace of walking.
“Come on, Kels. I know you better than anybody. Something is on your mind, and you’re going to tell me sooner or later, so make it sooner so I don’t have to deal with the shit later.”
“There is nothing wrong with me. I just …I don’t feel like running, or hearing another one of your exercise lectures.”
“I lecture you all the time about going to gym. What makes today different from any other day?”
“Nothing’s different. I never feel like hearing it,” I combated.
Keisha laughed sarcastically. “Funny. Now tell me what’s up with you.”
“Alright, I’ll tell you. But you need to remember that you asked, so don’t go off on me when I tell you.”
“Uh oh,” she exhaled dramatically.
“Uh oh what?”
“Nothing. So tell me.”
“I got a letter,” I began vaguely.
“Okay?”
“I got a letter from Justin.”
Silence
“I got an unidentifiable letter from Justin asking me to meet him somewhere tonight.” I winced as I waited for the verbal backlash, but it never came. When I looked at Keisha she was staring ahead as if I had never said anything. Maybe she didn’t hear me; maybe she blocked everything out after Justin. She was irrationally bat shit crazy when it came to him sometimes, she had always been that way. After a few minutes of silence I added, “I probably won’t go, but I am curious to know why he wants to see me.”
“Hmm,” she made the noise that I hated coming from her, because I never knew what she meant by it.
I reluctantly asked, “What do you think?”
She shrugged her shoulders indifferently. “I don’t know,” she answered. “I’m thinking a lot of different things right now.”
“Could you be a little more specific?” I pushed.
“First off, how the hell did Justin find out where you live? That’s creepy even for him. Secondly, you have a job on the line. Do you really want to screw up something by rendezvousing with him?”
“Nobody is rendezvousing with anybody. It’s harmless, I think. I don’t know. That’s why I kind of want to go, because I want to figure out what the hell he’s thinking. And I’m not sure. It only had my name, so it must’ve been put into my mailbox by him or someone he knows. This is all so confusing and frustrating.” After a thought I said, “And I don’t have any job on the line as far as I know, and maybe that’s why he wants to talk to me. Give me some information. I don’t know!” I finished rambling, throwing my hands up in defeat.
“Nothing about you and Justin is harmless. And there is an easy remedy for all of this, ignore him! There is no point in this little get together, and you know that. But for some reason you have to see him. Plus, any information about any job offer would given to you directly from your employer or people working for your employer. Justin doesn’t know shit.”
I scoffed. “I don’t need to see him.”
“So then, there is your answer.”
“Justin and I don’t have feelings for each other anymore. So yes, anything concerning us is completely harmless. Justin didn’t invite me out because he wants me back, or wants to work anything out. It’s because this whole thing is …weird. And I, like him want to figure out how to be civilized with one another. I don’t give a damn about Justin or his relationship. I just want to have a comfortable work environment if I do on the off hand get this job.”
“You don’t need to be civilized with Justin. Ignore him. What part of that don’t you understand?”
“What part didn’t you hear about me being around him all the time if I take the job?” I asked. “There is no ignoring him. He and Jessica must be really close, so I don’t want there to be any awkward tension that could possibly alarm Jessica enough to give me the boot.”
“I don’t understand you sometimes,” I could see her shaking her head in the corner of my eye.
“Why?”
“Because …you claim you hate the dude, but I’m giving you every single reason that I know of why you shouldn’t go meet him tonight and you’re tearing each reason down, because you know you want to see him.”
“But not for the reasons you think,” I explained.
“Yeah, yeah,” she rolled her eyes, “Because you want things to be comfortable and blah, blah, blah. If you want to go see Justin you’re going to do it, and nothing I can say is going to stop you obviously.”
“That’s not true,” I disagreed. “I asked you because I honestly want your opinion.”
“But you know my opinion, and you know that it’s not going to change no matter how you flip it. You and Justin getting together to talk, or whatever it is y’all are deciding to do is lethal. You can’t think straight when you’re around him and he …well, he’s Justin.”
“Justin wasn’t always so …Justin-y,” I defended awkwardly. “He used to be very sweet, and romantic, and he genuinely cared. Even at the end of everything I still think he cared about me, but just not as much as he cared about himself.”
Keisha made very realistic gagging sounds before laughing incredulously. “It is really funny how you defend him still to this day.”
“He was my friend, Keisha. Whether you want to believe it or not we cared about each other. I do hate him with the intensity of a thousand suns,” I half joked. “But I still cared about him.”
“You act like I don’t understand that, but at the same time he hurt you, and like bad. He didn’t just rip out your heart he took it with him, and he had it for a very long time. I was there, remember,” she reminded me. “Every night you needed a shoulder to cry on …I was there. So, I think I understand more than anybody how much you felt for him, but that was in the past, and he didn’t deserve it then. He sure as hell don’t deserve it now.”
She was right, and I hated how right she was about everything. Especially when it came to Justin. He hurt me more than I could’ve ever been hurt in my life. And yeah, we move on, and things become easier but that doesn’t mean that you forget about people, or your feelings, or your friendships. I dislike Justin for the person that he became in our relationship, but that doesn’t mean that I couldn’t give him a chance to actually meet him half way if he’s willing to look past everything.
“So …” Keisha knocked me out of my thoughts. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I’m probably not going to go,” I guessed with a shrug.
“Yeah, you are,” she decided.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because this is Justin, and no matter how much you don’t want to go …you’re going to go, because it’s him. And that’s all the reason you need. And yeah, I find that sad and pathetic,” she told me a little too bluntly. “But I’m still going to love you afterwards.”
“Well, thanks,” my eyebrows crinkled. “I think. I really don’t know what I’m going to do, but I have the rest of the morning and afternoon to decide.”
“What time are you supposed to meet him and where?”
“I’m supposed to meet him at Toi around 10,” I informed her. “I think it’s a little nod to our past. I haven’t been to that place in ages, so I’d really like to go anyway, even if I don’t go to see him.
“Toi is a good spot, but at 10 at night? That’s not very subtle?”
“What do you mean? Toi is packed at all hours of the night. If he wanted to get me alone to molest me or whatever you think he’s trying to do I figure he’d do it somewhere a lot more private. It’s a good thing that he picked that place, because it’s a pretty neutral place for the both of us.”
“I guess …I think that he picked so late at night so that no one would know his whereabouts, but hey, to each their own.”
“Justin could’ve picked some time in the early morning and you still would’ve found a conspiracy for that as well.” I smirked.
“He has an ulterior motive for every move that he makes, and the sooner you see that the easier it’ll be for you to come to terms with what kind of guy Justin Timberlake really is.”
“If I didn’t know any better …I would’ve thought that you had a relationship with him instead of me the way you speak so diligently about him,” I cracked.
“It doesn’t matter,” she changes the subject after a breath, then looking down at her watch she said, “We need to hurry back so I can go get my hair done before I’m late for my appointment.”
And that’s all that was said about Justin after I asked her if I did decide to go would she possibly mind joining me. She, of course, acted like I asked her to go get three root canals, but she agreed that if I did want to go she wouldn’t leave me to fend Justin off by myself. When we got back to my house it was a little past noon, Keisha left after snagging three bottles of water on her way out, and I was left alone to pretend like I didn’t want to reread and reanalyze the letter.
But reading it one more time to make sure I read everything correctly couldn’t hurt.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
I’m exhausted, and I don’t mean just tired. I could literally fall on the ground and pass out right now from exhaustion. Trace came over bright and early around 7 this morning to wake me up and he’s been running me ragged all over the streets of LA ever since. We went to go talk to Johan and everyone else for the clothing line, we went to make a phone conference with the other owners and staff of Southern Hospitality, then we ran around doing his little mindless roach errands. He kept me completely busy from the time he came to my house. We finally set foot in my house at around 8:45 pm, and I still hadn’t showered or figured out what clothes I was going to wear to meet Kelsi in a few hours.
Now don’t start thinking things that are completely out of left field. I merely conjured up the invitation on the off chance that we could get together and discuss whether or not we’d be comfortable in the setting that we were being forced into. I wanted to see where her mind was at, and just talk to her for old time’s sake.
I didn’t tell Trace, because I knew he’d freak out, and I didn’t tell Jessica because well “ she doesn’t know. I’m not sure if I want her to know yet.
“Well, Trace,” I began saying when we stepped into the house. “I think I’m about to take a shower and go to bed,” I faked a yawn while easing out of my coat and placing it on the coat hook before placing my keys on the hook next to it.
“Come on, J. It’s not even 9 yet. Why are you so quick to go to bed right now?” He raised his eyebrow curiously, plopping on the couch and folding his arms.
“I’m tired. We’ve been out all day running around. I just want to take a shower and relax.” I took a seat on the arm of the couch.
“I’ve never known you to ever go to bed before midnight. You could be dog shit tired and you’d still stay up so you could sleep in later. Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on?” He was looking at me, and it felt like he was looking through me. Trace was like a brother to me, and even though I hadn’t mentioned Kelsi I felt like he knew something.
“There’s nothing going on!” I squeaked. “I don’t see why I’m getting the third degree, because I want to head to bed early.”
“Weren’t you supposed to stop by Jessica’s tonight before coming here?”
“Yeah, but …she had some things she had to do, so I told her I’d catch up with her in the morning,” I lied. “I mean, I have no problem with you staying here and watching TV, or whatever you want to do, but I’m still going to bed.” I really hoped that he didn’t take me up on my offer. I never minded for Trace to spend the night at my house, but tonight was not the night that he could.
Trace gave me a look while scratching under his chin. “I don’t know,” the words lingered on his lips longer than I would’ve liked. “Yeah, I think I could crash here for the night,” his stare continued to penetrate into me. He was trying to break me down. The worse thing was is that I knew it, and it was still working!
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I don’t really feel like driving home anyhow, so …I think I will stay here.”
“Okay,” I was trying to think of an excuse I could give him, but anything that I could’ve said he would’ve read through.
“Justin, why don’t you just cut the bullshit and tell me what’s going on so you can go and do whatever it is that you’re trying to hide from me.”
“I’m not hiding anything!” My voice squeaked again. You’d think that with all the experience with the media I’d be better at lying. I am pretty good at lying in general, but when it comes to lying to people close to me it doesn’t always work out well. “Why are you giving me such a hard time?”
“Because I know Justin,” he revealed quite loosely.
“You know what?” I tried to play off. I didn’t know what he knew. He could’ve very well not have known anything at all.
“I know whatever it is that you’re trying to hide has to do with Kelsi.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I breathed out, instinctively breaking out into a sweat.
“Stop frontin’, dude.”
“I’m not frontin’ about anything. I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about,” I turned my head to the left, looking at anything that wasn’t his face. I looked over the walls, and counted all the tiles on the floor in my vision, I even looked over the grail lining of wood on my front door.
“I’m not your mom, so I don’t understand why you’re so scared to tell me. J, what’s up?”
I had to tell him. He’d bug me and keep me there longer if I didn’t spill it.
“I wrote Kelsi an anonymous letter asking her to meet me tonight at Toi.”
Trace shook his head in disbelief, raised his hands, and opened his mouth to say something but immediately shut it.
“And I know that it’s probably not the smartest or logical idea I’ve ever had, but I really think that it might be good for us to sit down and talk and be kind to each other, and not have the unnecessary tension clouding our every meeting with one another.”
“Justin, do you ever think shit through? Like, seriously. Do you ever just have an idea and think it through, and then tell yourself that shit is not going to work out just because you want it to. You are too spontaneous for your own good.”
“Not thinking things through is how I’ve gotten to where I have in my life. I jump in head first, and then I find out if I can swim. That’s always how I’ve been, but with this Kelsi situation I have thought about it. I’m not just doing this recklessly.”
“I think it’s a bad idea.”
“Well, luckily for me I didn’t ask for your opinion,” I looked back over to him.
“You always do that,” he chuckled knowingly.
“Always do what?” I asked with an attitude.
“You always get defensive if people don’t agree with you. Face it, Justin, not everybody has to go along with what you say or how you feel.”
“Look, Trace, if you’re just going to dump on me then you can leave,” I submitted seriously.
“Whatever, Justin, you know I’m going to go with you. You’re more than likely going to make a fool of yourself, and I want to see it being done live and in person. So go on, get spiffy …I’ll be waiting,” he said with a grin.
I hated how we acted like brothers. He knew that I didn’t really want him to leave, and hell, I even wanted him to go with me. If I was going to do this I might as well have backup.
“Alright, well, I’m going to jump in the shower real quick. What I need you to do is call Toi and add yourself to the reservation.”
“Okay, I can do that,” he obeyed, taking out his cell and dialing information for the number.
I jumped in the shower, making it quick as promised, threw on a pair of jeans, and a dark grey blazer over a white t-shirt. I looked nice, but not like I was trying to impress anybody, which I wasn’t. Kelsi had seen me at my worst and my best; there was nothing about me that could impress her at this point. The drive to Toi was long and quiet as we coasted down the highway. There was a lot in my head, and I’m sure Trace didn’t want to be at the end of my attitude if he had something negative to say. Which if you knew Trace that was 95 percent of the time.
We arrived ten minutes before ten, and I was happy that we weren’t late. I didn’t want Kelsi to get the wrong impression like I was standing her up, but in the end it could be me that got stood up. She might not show.
The ambiance at Toi was always high energy. It was a fun place to sit down, eat, and chat away for hours. Kelsi introduced me to this place. We were in California for a show, and we were up at like 2 in the morning with nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs and look stupid. She searched online for a place for us to go and she found Toi. She was heavily into alternative music at the time, so this type of place was right up her alley. I remember coming in there with doubts and leaving a true fan of the environment and not to mention some of the best Thai food I’d ever put in my mouth.
We walked in and instantly breathed in the smell of incense mixed with the different aromas of food. The Doors were playing from the speakers as we made our way up to the host waiting for us.
“Hey Mike,” I greeted warmly.
“Hey Justin,” he smiled at me. “I haven’t seen you in a long time.”
“I know. I can’t believe I almost forgot this place,” I looked over at the empty stage at the back of the restaurant that was empty, but normally had different local bands play several days a week. My eyes set back on Mike. “Has our eating companion made it yet?”
“No, they have not. Are you ready to be seated or would you like to wait for her?”
“I think we’re ready to be seated, but as soon as she gets here be sure to bring her over.”
“Of course,” he nodded while grabbing two menus and showing us to our seat further towards the back, but centered in the middle so we could see who came through the door. “Have a seat, and your waiter should be here to serve you shortly,” he handed us our individual menus, sitting down an extra one for Kelsi whenever she made it.
I casually glanced at my watch noting that it was a little after ten.
“Man,” I leaned back in my seat and breathed out. “This place is still as cool as it was back then,” I admired the different groups of people eating, talking, or just sitting back enjoying the music.
“I’ve only been here once, but I do remember the food is incredible.”
“It’s on my top list of Thai food, because I can’t eat everybody’s.”
“True,” Trace agreed, relaxing back into his chair.
“Hi, I’m Misty,” a young girl with jet black hair and red streaks that was pulled back into two ponytails came up to us to take our order. “I’ll be your waitress this evening. Can I get you anything?”
“I think we’ll just have two domestics right now,” I looked over at Trace to make sure, and he nodded his approval.
“Will that be all?”
“For right now, yes,” I smiled at her politely.
“Okay,” she jotted down our order on her pad before giving us a parting smile. “I’ll be right back with those.”
I watched as she left, when she was out of view I gave my attention to the door. “Do you think she’s going to come?” I asked insecurely.
“How would I know? I know her just about as well as you do, and that’s about as much as we know those two girls sitting over there,” he nodded his head in the direction of two women who were staring openly at us before looking back at me, “Which is not a lot anymore.”
“But if she got the letter, which I’m sure she did I think that her curiosity would bring her here tonight.”
“Yeah, it might,” he shrugged. “But then there’s Keisha who if her mouth is as bad as I remember probably has her bombarded in a room somewhere giving her a lecture on why she shouldn’t come out tonight.”
I had forgotten about Keisha. They were attached to the hip, so if Kelsi read the letter chances were very high that Keisha was over her shoulder reading it at the same time. If she did come out tonight, I really hoped that she wouldn’t bring her around. The last that I saw of Keisha was the last that I would like to see of her.
“I don’t plan on wasting my whole night here. I’m going to give her at least an hour, because that’s courteous, and if she doesn’t show up …well, then I guess that’s about all I can do to try to squash everything.”
“Alright, an hour,” he agreed. “I can do that.”
“You don’t think she’s coming do you?” I knew. I could tell in his voice that he didn’t think she’d be there.
“Honestly, no I do not. Y’all don’t have a good track record. Why would she come out here when she left you on such bad terms?”
“Kelsi is a badass, I’m going to go on and admit that. She means what she says, and does what she means, but …I think she could be forgiving. After all this time, I’m pretty sure of it.”
“Well, if you think that then I guess there’s no reason why she wouldn’t be here. But, to go off of her vibes a couple weeks ago, it ain’t happening.”
“Sometimes I don’t understand why women can’t forget shit like that. Okay, I cheated, and I know it was wrong. But I’m genuinely sorry, but you’re trying to make me pay for it for a life time.”
Trace narrowed his eyes at me. “The same reason you didn’t forget it with Britney and you went on to make that video,” he started naming off instances. “The same reason I didn’t forget it with Elisha and broke up with her instead of staying in a relationship where neither of us were happen. It’s not the sort of thing you can just forget that easily, you above anyone should know that.”
“Why the fuck are you being so logical all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know. I feel pretty smart this week,” he smiled cheekily at me.
“But …” I stopped what I was saying when Misty placed our cold beers in front of us. “Thanks, sweetie,” I smiled politely with her.
“No problem,” she smiled back. “When you’re ready to order more just wave me over.”
“But, I was young,” I excused myself lamely once Misty was out of ear shot. “I didn’t think about who I was hurting or what I was doing.”
“You sound like Britney right about now.”
“But I did forgive Britney. I might not have done it right away, and I might’ve been slightly revengeful, but I forgave her in the end. Our friendship was just irreconcilable after that. And why are we talking about this old ass issue?”
“Because it’s damn near as old as your issue with Kelsi,” he stated sensibly.
“Point taken,” I relented, taking a swig from my beer. Not the best beer that I’d ever had, but it would do.
Kelsi and I, our relationship was old as hell, but it was relevant now.
“I just hope she comes,” as soon as the words left my mouth I spotted her walking in the door looking like a dime piece even in casual wear. Her hair was swept back into a low ponytail, she wore a pair of straight legged jeans with a purple tank top, and matching ballet flats. Much to my chagrin Keisha walked in right after her wearing a blue and white summer dress with a pair of flip flops.
“Well, it seems that you got your wish,” Trace followed my gaze to Kelsi and Keisha
As Mike led them through the crowd, weaving and bobbing through the tables, I suddenly lost all train of thought. My palms got sweaty, my heart was thumping in my chest, and my head was pounding with all sorts of new thoughts surrounding Kelsi and the fake smile that adorned her fake.
Fake, but cute.
I could only sit and wonder if this was such a good idea after all.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's another chapter. If you read it and want to review I'd love that. If you just want to read it ...well, that's okay, too. I'll be bringing character pictures within the next couple of updates, so look out for that. Hope y'all enjoy it.
Chapter End Notes:
I ran through this chapter quite fast, so please forgive and forget any typos and the like. =)
Incomplete
Devon is the author of 3 other stories.
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This story is a favorite of 6 members. Members who liked Unspoken Truths also liked 509 other stories.
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