Chapter 5: Chapter 7
"Always be my baby" by Mariah Carey is playing— in my head, as I stand in a beautiful beige halter top dress with beige high heels, standing in the middle of a ballroom. Looking around the whole room with my eyebrow raised thinking to myself, 'Bro, I thought that I was in my room asleep in bed. How did I end up here? Yo either I started sleep walkin' or I'm trippin' and it ain't the good kind.' All of the lights shut off around me. A gasp escapes from my lips, the light on the other side of the room turns on, and there stands a figure of a man with his back turned to me.
Making my eyes into two small slits, a familiar body approaches me, the sway of the body— a smooth gate. That caramel skin and his one sided smile, two circles forms on my face as he approaches me, my heart beating against my chest. The light turns on with each step he takes to get closer to me, my heart hammering against my chest as he approaches me and the lights turn on with each step he takes towards me.
Standing there waiting for him to come— when he took the last step closer to me I looked down and noticed his shoes right in front of me. Moving my head up to look at him in the face, still the same as the day he came in my front door.
"Would you like to dance?" He says to me, while extending his arm out to me, placing my hand in his. Aquila pulls me in— closer to him as he wraps his right arm around me, placing his hand lightly on my lower back. A small gasp escapes from my lips, he lets down his arm, a small chuckle escapes from his mouth, "Did I scare you?"
"What? Why would you say that?" I say while, placing my hand over his chest and Aquila presses his hand against my back pulling me closer to himself. "Well you gasped, so that makes me think that you were scared."
Two small circles form on my face, while I shake my head from side to side saying, "You pulling me into your chest like this, was unexpected to me." A small chuckle escapes from my mouth, "that's all." Our hands touch each other's again, his warm hand sliding against my own. He then says, "Well shall we." I nod my head and Aquila begins to do the waltz, sweeping me across the dance floor and the music slowly begins to play. The waltz is a dance I didn't know I could do or even he could do, breaking me from my thoughts, "You seem to be amazed."
A small chuckle escapes from my lips, "I am. You and I are dancing the waltz. I didn't even know that you could dance the waltz."
"I had to learn it overseas, but then again you never asked."
"Smart ass. I never had to ask, because when you came back, who had the time to ask if you could do the waltz?" And there it is, his famous one sided smile and it slowly becomes a full on smile showing off his pearly whites. "You know, feisty comments like that are why I love you so much."
"Oh really? Well you being able to admit makes me love you all the more." Two small circles form on my face as our eyes meet, a warm feeling fills my heart. My eyes follow the direction of where his eyes go, when my eyes slide down to his lips. Aquila slowly moves his head closer to my face, "Perhaps for old times sake," his face is close to mine, I move my head closer to him, our lips graze each other and he continues to say, "Or maybe, for added precious memories." Aquila then lightly, yet softly places his lips on mine. Our lips moved against each other's, his hands lightly yet firmly placed on the middle of back pushing me closer to his body. I also had my hands on his back pushing him closer to myself. The kiss becomes deeper and more passionate as our hands caress the other parts of our bodies.
We stop to get air and as I open my eyes to see the skin on Aquila's lips halfway missing and a small gasp escapes from my lips and he says, "What's wrong baby is not what you want? I thought you love me no matter how I may appear." I try to get away from him, but each time I try to squeeze myself away he holds me tighter saying, "Whatever happened to I love you no matter what, Aquila? Was it just water under the bridge?"
"No, but you need to let me go!"
He squeezes me closer to him, my breath hitches in my throat as if a corck lodged in a glass bottle of wine. "Never. You'll be here with me forever." My eyeballs become the size of a CD disk, my mouth gapes open, as he holds me tighter in his grip and he leans in closer to my face inches away trying to put his halfway bony lips on mine.
I pop up out of my sleep as a gasp escapes from my throat. My heart beats out of my chest and the feeling of wet droplets drips from my forehead, back and "Even though I think, this a dream d neck. Trying to breathe slowly to calm down my rapidly beating heart, "It's okay, it's just a nightmare— just a nightmare." 'Just a nightmare? That was some nightmare, I don't know if this is a precursor to doing so or not. But what I do know is, that wasn't a normal nightmare— then again he has been on my mind recently.' I think to myself.
I'm standing there, packing up the vegan chocolate chip cookies and the bell at the door jingles. A customer just came in or walked out, a small breath of escape from my mouth and a somewhat deep voice behind me says, "Excuse me, but I'm looking for someone. Can you help me?"
I turned around to say, "How can I hel…" I stop mid sentence when my eyes land on ocean blue eyes, "It's Mr. Mysterious. What can I help you with today?"
He takes a step back to look at the cake case, "Tell me," he looks at me in my eyes, "Are you okay?"
A small chuckle escapes from my lips, "Why are you asking me that? You're the customer. I should be asking you that question."
He takes a step closer to the cake case, folding his arms on top of each other as they rest on the cake case, "Well, I guess that beats the norm doesn't it?" two small circles form on my cheeks and I nod my head. Getting up off the cake case and he walks over to the coffee bar side and I follow him there, saying "True, it does break the usual-- but to answer your question. It's nothing, just-- been a long night."
He slightly squints his eyes, "Long night?"
I sway my hand in the air, "Hey, don't be gross." Him and I burst into laughter, "I'm just a little tired. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
He leans on the customer side saying, "Sounds like that calls for a little break. How about you and I take a little troll together."
Leaning back on the sink, "You know that wouldn't be so bad either, but I have to…"
"No. You're going on that walk." Fei says, interrupting me; she continues speaking to Mr. Mysterious, "She'll be going on that walk with you, now please" she shifts her head slightly towards me, "excuse us. We're going to have a little conversation in the back."
She grabs me by the hand and pulls me away to the kitchen on the bakery side. Fei says heatedly, "Now, you listen. You are going on that walk with Mr. Mysterious." she says pointing her finger at me. "I just came back from my break. What's the problem?"
"It's just that, I keep thinking about Aquila. I know it's old news and I should move on with my life, but I can't seem to get past it."
Fei lightly places her hands on both sides of my cheeks, "Listen to me. I know that you loved Aquila, but he's not here anymore-- if it brings you any solace you can hold him in your memories. But for now, here is a man that wants to get to know you and be there for you. Get your head up out your ass, and go for a walk with this man. At least get his name this time, other than calling him, Mr. Mysterious."
A small breath of air escapes from my mouth, "You know Fei, you can be a real nag sometimes, but that's why I love you so much. You always give me a good kick in the butt when I need it. Thank you. And since you're back from your break then I'll go now."
She nods her head, "Yes, thank you. Now get your ass out there and get your man." My head moves side to side, "What is wrong with you?"
She extends her arm poking outside of the kitchen, "Do you want me to push you, to get you out there?"
Slightly squinting my eyes, "No. I got myself." I take off my apron and as I'm leaving the kitchen I put it on the back stock black cart near the wall. Fei and I walked over to the coffee bar side where he's waiting for us to come back and said, "Is everything okay?"
Two small circles form on my face as I nod my head, "Yes, I just got caught up in my head." balling up my right hand and I lightly bop myself in the head as two small circles form on my face. "Alright Fei I'll see after my break." I walk out from behind the cash register on the coffee bar side and he extends his arm out for me to walk in front of him to walk outside the shop.
Walking through town with him, catching some lunch and then we walked through Golden Bridge, one of Orange's largest parks. He then says as we walk through a canopy of trees, "You're probably wondering when am I going to tell you my name?"
I nod my head as a smile graces my face, "I am." I stop to look at him in his blue eyes, "But I know you'll tell me-- eventually between here and the walk back to the coffee shop." A small chuckle escapes from my lips, and I begin to walk again under the canopy of trees. He runs to catch up to me, "You sound so confident today, how sure are you that I'll tell you."
I stop walking as he walks ahead of me. I place my hand lightly over his wrist, stopping him. He turns to face me, "Because you personally came here last night to tell me that you were coming here to tell me your name."
He looks at me in the eye and they shift to look down on my hand that covers his wrist. Mr. Mysterious places his hand over mine, he lifts my hand up saying, "Separate your fingers a little bit more."
My eyebrows furrow, he looks at my face smiling as if he's trying to hold back his laughter. He then places his hand on mine but placing his in the gaps intertwining pour hands together. He pulls me close to his side and a small " Yelp" escapes from my mouth. "I'm taking you to my favorite place in the park."
He separates from me and begins to power walk to this unknown location in the park. Once we got away from "civilization" in the park I said, "Not to sound stereotypical, but is this where you're supposed to kill me."
A small chuckle escapes from his lips, "Not all white people are crazy."
"I say tomato you say toh-mah-toh."
His laughter fills the quiet and serene atmosphere of the trail we were on. I look up around me and there's nothing but trees for miles. Some trees are short and tall, some broken and snapped in two. He then says, "We're sitting here. It's shady and it's by the fountain."
On second look the fountain is gorgeous, it's a granite statue of a black woman holding an urn which is where the water is coming out of. She has a serene facial expression as if she knows what she's about to do is to help her fellow brothers and sisters escape the rigors of slavery. I then say, "You know, this is a beautiful statue. When I was eight years old I don't remember seeing this statue."
He's sitting on the bench and he says while tapping his hand beside him, "Why don't you sit down here and I'll tell you how this statue became a part of this park."
Two small circles form on my cheeks, he always has a way with saying things that makes them sound enticing. I nod my head, and walk over to the bench and sit beside him.
He then says, "Well about two years ago, the governor wanted to do something that represents black people. He wanted to give back to the community, he said that it's what he always wanted to do. But the crazy thing is, he never wanted that reason to be publicized."
"I think it's 'cause it will show he has a heart." I say as I take the Reynolds wrap off my sandwich.
He laughs and I turn to face and never notice he has a little dimple on his cheek. Two circles form on my face as I place the sandwich on my lap to get out hand sanitizer from my pocket. I put some on my hands and after he finished laughing he said, "You're terrible."
"No, it's called being honest." He takes a bite of his sandwich saying, "You know, Kemille if you gave the man a chance he might…" swiftly cutting him off saying, "Look, I speak for myself but as I woman who lives in the black community that man hasn't done a damn thing since he's been there. The most he's done is this statue and that's because black women and girls are being targeted by white cops who could care less about a black person's life."
He puts down his sandwich and looks at me. Shifting uncomfortably in my chair, "I'm sorry. But it's the truth. The one thing that's undeniable is the racism in this country, especially when America showed its ass to the whole world. Now everyone has sympathy for the black race," a small chuckle escapes from my mouth, "please. Save me the mellow drama not only that black people hate each other and that's the saddest part of all."
I turned to look at him and he turned to look at me and I saw a sense of understanding in his eyes. Two small circles form on my face. We eat our sandwiches in a comfortable silence.
Just as I take the last bit of my sandwich and place it in my mouth he says, "Are you ready for the big reveal?"
"Yes, I didn't come all this way for nothing."
He turns around to face me, "Okay, what do you think my name is? Take a wild guess and it better not be, Mr. Mysterious."
"Mhm." I said while throwing a side punch in the air. "It is a good name for you. After all you've got the whole mysterious thing down to a T."
"Okay, if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say-- Francis?" he shakes his head from side to side. "Mhm." I nod my head, "Michael, De'Andre, Adrian." he was shaking his head from side to side.
He smiles amusingly, "You give up?"
"No-- I won't give up. At least drop a clue or two."
He says leaning a little close to my face. Where I can see his blue eyes have a hint of green in them. "Wow, they're so pretty."
He looks into my eyes, as if searching for something, "What's pretty?"
A small chuckle escapes from my lips as my mouth slightly curls into a smile. "Your eyes. They're blue but there's like a hint of green in them."
He backs up a little, placing his arm on top of the back of the bench, "You're actually the first person to acknowledge the hint of green in my eyes."
"Why don't we put an end to the guessing game, mhmm?" he said as both of his eyebrows swiftly went up and down.
My lips became paper thin as I shrug my shoulders, "Sure." I straighten myself out on the bench, "We can put an end to this game."
He laughs in amusement and turns to look at me, "My name is Lucas-- Lucas Spelling."
A small gasp escapes from my mouth as my mouth gapes open and he has a slight smile on his face with an eyebrow raised up.
Author's Note:
I apologize for the long wait of the release of this chapter. But I hope that my readers continue to read the story and enjoy the string of words pulled together. Thank you for all of your support!
Happy Reading,
Chee Alexander
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone