To read the first part of CHAPTER ONE, click here.
To read the second part of CHAPTER ONE, click here.
 |
| Art by: Nicholle Kobi |
CHAPTER 2 | REAL LOVE
Not long after Vincent left, Nyla had so much energy she decided to go to Bally’s and burn some off. Just as she opened her front door Blake was walking toward her.
“Where did you come
from?” Nyla asked with a mixture of
curiosity and irritation hiding in her voice.
“I was waiting to talk to
you.” As Blake walked closer to Nyla, she could hear the sadness in his voice
and for the first time, she felt bad about everything they had been through.
“What do you want to talk
about?” Nyla asked with sincere concern.
“Can we go inside?”
“I’m about to go the gym. Can it wait?”
Without one word Blake looked
up at Nyla, she looked back into his eyes; she knew whatever he had to say he
needed to say it now. Although she didn’t
want to hear it, she still loved Blake strongly enough as a friend to not want
to see him look so sad.
“Come in.” Nyla turned back toward the house, opened the
door, and let Blake walk in ahead of her.
As soon as she closed the door Blake’s demeanor changed. He was no longer sad but irate. “What the
hell are you doing?!”
Nyla jumped back and began to walk
away. Blake’s eyes were wild, and his face
held so much anger that Nyla was scared to answer.
“Do you hear me? I want to know what the hell you think you’re
doing?!”
“Blake, what are you talking
about?” Nyla asked calmly.
“Having him here all
night? Why would you have him here all
night unless you slept with him?”
Nyla had so many thoughts
running through her head that she could not slow them down enough to pick what
question she would ask first so she went with the obvious. “How do you know he was here all night?”
Blake said nothing but still
had the same questionable angry look that he had started with. That is when it all came together, and Nyla
grew just as angry as Blake was.
She walked up to him and before
Blake could blink, Nyla slapped him so hard her hand was tingling from her palm
to her fingertips. “Why were you
watching my house last night until the morning?
Have you lost your damn mind?!
What if Vince saw you? I don’t
want to be with you Blake, let it go!
You should have known that what we were doing wouldn’t have lasted. If you really loved me, I mean enough to go
through all of this, then why didn’t you tell me before there was a Vincent? “
Nyla waited for an answer, but
Blake wasn’t sure if she was still asking questions that she had already known
the answer to, or did she actually want him to answer. The moments in between her questions and
Blake’s lack of acknowledgment, Nyla began to cry uncontrollably. She covered her face and released all that she
had been holding in for years. She cried
for the friendship she realized she had to end.
She cried about the questions her girlfriends would ask when it hit them
that Blake would not be around. She
cried for the secret she would now have to tell Vincent. She knew Blake would
try to beat her to it because she was ending it. She let her tears wash away all the memories
they had together. As Blake stood there
trying to find the words to say, Nyla sat, crying, and washing away all that
they ever had.
Never seeing Nyla so vulnerable
Blake was not sure if he wanted to console her or make love to her. He wasn’t sure if she would allow either of
the options. Instead, he whispered, “Are
you ok?”
“Leave, just leave.” Nyla managed to say without letting her voice
quiver.
“But you are upset, and I can’t
leave you like this.”
“Yes, you can! Leave and don’t come back, don’t call me
either! This is too much, and it is over. I don’t want to see you; I don’t want to talk
to you, and I don’t think we can continue this friendship.”
Blake’s face went blank. He could not believe that Nyla was so upset
that she was willing to throw away their friendship. Just as he was about to open his mouth to
apologize the phone began to ring, and the talking caller ID seemed as if was
shouting just as loud as they had been. “You have a call from Ross, Vincent!” Their eyes met and Blake began to walk toward
the phone before Nyla could think she was in front of Blake holding a crystal
vase that he had given her for her birthday last year.
“Don’t even think about
it.” Her eyes were steady on his; her
voice was calm and sure of what she was saying.
At that moment Blake knew that whatever Nyla was feeling for Vincent was
real and it was not going to end until she said so. He then understood that it was over for them
and to tell anyone of their relationship would hurt him more than it would hurt
her. Blake gently took Nyla’s hand that
held the vase and pulled her close to him.
He kissed her on the forehead and gently whispered in her ear, “I love
you. If you ever need me, just call me,
and know I will miss you.” Blake then
let himself out and held back his tears as he walked to the car.
Nyla closed her eyes in relief
and cried one last tear. That single
tear washed away all the shame she let rush her earlier. That tear freed her to love Vincent openly
and honestly and with that peace of mind she turned to the telephone, took a
deep breath, and said, “Hello”.
He continued, “I also want to know if you would like to meet for lunch tomorrow?”
Nyla was so excited she yelled, “YES!” as if he asked her to marry him.
Vincent was shocked but elated that she had so much enthusiasm behind her voice. “Okay then, we should both get some sleep. Mondays are always hard but to know I will get to see you tomorrow should make it a perfect day.”
Nyla shook her head in agreement but only managed to say, “Sleep tight and I will see you then.”
They both hung up and slept the rest of their Sundays away.
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,
Nyla jumped up to get ready for work.
She checked the clock and saw that it was
Sweating and feeling good Nyla
ran up the stairs to get ready for work.
She looked in the mirror only to see that her hair was a mess and there
was not enough time to get dressed and work magic on her hair. Not even the 5-minute ceramic trick could fix
this mess! Nyla quickly decided that she
would sport a very neat and tight chignon today. The trick was to pick an outfit that would
compliment her choice of hairstyle. With
butterflies in her stomach from thinking about her lunch date with Vincent,
Nyla went through everything in her closet and by
Just as she turned to head for
the shower she spotted an A-line cut, cream tea-length dress with 3-quarter
sleeves and a boat neck hanging on the back of her bedroom door in a cleaner’s
bag. “JACKPOT!” she yelled and began to do a celebratory dance in honor of this
perfect dress. Just before she completed
the last step of her dance she stopped dead in her tracks, “Shoes? What shoes do I have?” Just as fast as she said it Nyla was in the
closet going through boxes, throwing pumps, sandals, and slingbacks across the
room. “Gold!” She said as if she had the
biggest idea ever. “I need gold shoes.”
As she rummaged through her
things, she found the sexiest pair of strappy gold sandals with a 3-inch
heel. She held the shoe up to the dress
and knew this would be the perfect fit. It
was now
By 6:50 Nyla was shocked to be
looking at her reflection in the mirror and to see that she had pulled herself together
all too well. She turned twice to make
sure her Spankx had smoothed all the dimples in her body, smiled at her
reflection and mumbled, “You look good girl.”
Laughing at how silly she felt to have been talking to herself, Nyla
hooked on her gold and cream earrings, buckled her 3-inch sandals, took one
more look and headed off to work.
Angel had not spoken to Nyla
since Saturday at the barbecue and grew a little worried. She knew that Nyla got to work every day at
7:45 a.m. sharp and wanted to be the first phone call Nyla took for the
day. Things were off with Blake too,
although he called Angel and the rest of the girls Sunday afternoon it was only
to say that he would be taking a break from the group for a while. Although it worried Angel that he was being
so distant she had no time for babying Blake so she just said, “Let me know if
I can help with anything. I know
break-ups can be hard.” Nothing would
have made her think otherwise if Blake didn’t reply, “What break-up?”
Angel reflected on the day of
the barbecue when he told Elle he was upset about a girl. She thought it would be rude to refresh
Blake’s memory, so Angel just said, “I don’t know, I just thought you were
having girl problems.”
Both ends of the phone line
were dead silent when finally, Blake said he had to go, and that he would call
to check on them now and then.
Before Angel could get through
her next thought the phone rang. It was
Nyla and she went straight into apologizing for not calling to say she made it
home and to tell how she and Vincent had such a great time. After 5 minutes of talking non-stop and
recapping her weekend, Nyla’s mouth moved faster than she had ever hoped when
she said, “Then Blake came walking up to me after he had been watching my house
all night.” Just as fast as she said it,
she wished she could eat those words right back up and bury them so deep they
would never come up again. But it was
too late and there was nothing she could say to her friend to make it seem
innocent.
Angel sat holding the phone
trying to focus on one of the million questions she had put away just for this
moment. She was shocked to find not one
would come out of her mouth, but her mind continued to run wild as she sat
stunned and silent. Although every fiber
of her being was screaming at her to ask just one question all she could muster
her mouth to say was, “What did you just say?”
Nyla kept talking as if she
didn’t hear the question and just before she could get into the next phase of
her weekend Angel yelled, “WAIT ONE MINUTE!
What do you mean Blake watched your house all night? Why would he do that? What is going on with you two? Be honest Nyla.”
There was nothing that could
erase what Nyla had said, she could finally tell another person everything that
had been going on with her and Blake. As
Nyla sat on the other end of the phone trying to figure out where to start,
whether to tell the entire six-year story or not, she began to feel a weight
lifted off her shoulders to finally put it into words. But before she began, Nyla made Angel promise
to never tell another soul, Angel promised, Nyla took a deep breath and began
from the first time her lips ever touched Blake’s and their secret rendezvous
began.
Comments
Post a Comment