Sunday, April 4th . Started like every other day. Until I got an unexpected phone call.
"Yo. You got a minute or a half an hour?" The voice said when I answered.
"Sure." I said.
"Alright. Meet me halfway?"
"Yea."
That was the end of the quick phone conversation. Seemed like Dashaun wanted to finally talk. I bet my soul I knew what it was about. I left to go meet up with him. From his tone it seemed he was not mad, but let me see what will happen.
Whenever we say meet half way we always mean George Hill Park. It's the other park we sometimes practice at. I usually bring a ball with me. For some reason I did not think that was going to be needed due to the pressing circumstances.
When I got there I saw Dashaun sitting on a bench watching two guys play one on one. I knew he was already there when he called me. I heard talking in the background during the phone call. I approached him .He looked up at me.
"I kind of miss practicing." He said as he got up and walked to the swing area. I followed.
"Well it's almost Spring. We will be out there playing again soon." I said.
Dashaun looked surprised. "We?"
"Yea. Listen, I was never really mad at you. And you know I never hold a grudge or get mad even if I wanted to. I do have my pride though. I just wanted to wait to see when you wanted to talk to me again. Assuming that's what this is about."
"Yea. I figured you were waiting me out. And yes, this is what it's about. I don't know why I got mad that night. I guess because I knew she did not really like me. I was frustrated."
"Bro, we're not going through this soap opera apology scene. We good?"
"Yeah." he said and we gave each other the dap. Nice to know I had my friend back. Now it's time to get into the main reason I came here because I knew we were going to make up.
Damn. Maybe i am cocky.
"I assume things did not go as planned yesterday night?" I asked him.
He paused for a second. Maybe thinking if he should say something or how he should explain it.
"I'm surprised Jessica did not tell you." He said.
"She came in and went to bed. She looked in the living room first and saw me like she wanted to say something, but she decided not to."
"I guess she has her pride too." he laughed.
"So what happened?"
"Okay boom. It started out how we planned. We were going to see a movie and go back to my house. My mom should have been gone by then because she had a night shift."
"Wow all this planning for one event." I laughed.
"Shut up and listen. The movie was fine. Then we came back to my house. My mom was gone as expected. It was ten thirty by then. Then it started to get weird. We were supposed to get right into it, you know. Then she started to go off about how she was hungry. I was like okay. I made both of us a burger. We finished that while watching TV. Now I was ready. I leaned in to kiss her, but then she said she had to go to the bathroom. She did that. She came back ten minutes later. I knew she was stalling now. So when she came back I just grabbed her."
"You was going to rape her?"
"No! I was just impatient. I grabbed her and kissed her. She kissed back. So I assumed this was it. I began to take off my shirt. Then we kissed some more. I tried to take her shirt off, but she kept holding my hand down not letting me. Suddenly, she stopped kissing me and just started crying. I'm not a douche bag so I asked her what's wrong."
"So. What she say?"
"It's safe to say she more than likes you. She went off for an hour about how this was wrong, she shouldn't be here. Talking about how you have not tried to talk to her in months. She was really hurt more than ever. She thought having sex with me would take the pain away or something. That's love if I did not see it or hear it."
"Oh." What else could I say to that. I really hurt her. More than I thought.
"She wants you. That's been confirmed. You know that as well. The question is why do you deny her? Her looks have nothing to do with it. She has a great personality as you told me many times. She is into the same things you're into. She is the perfect girlfriend for you. Why?"
"Time." I said. That's all I said.
"What? Time?"
"I have to go talk to Jessica. I'll see you later."
"Make it right, bro." We gave each other the dap and that was that. Now I needed to talk to this girl again.
I arrived back at my house about fifteen minutes later. I thought about most of the conversation in my head. I knew what I needed to say. What she said was still up in the air. She is an emotional girl.
I went into the house. It was quiet. I knew my dad was at work. Where my mother was I did not know. I stopped in the living room. It was empty. I went to the kitchen. No one was there, but I did find a note:
Ray and Jessica,
I've gone shopping with Carol. We will be awhile, I should be home by eight or nine. Food in the fridge. Eat whatever.
Love,
Mom
That explains where mom is. I looked at the clock. It was six. Now to find the other woman in this house. I went up stairs. Jessica's door was closed. I knocked twice. No answer. Normally I'll just wait until I see her, but this was urgent.
"Guess I'll just open the door this time." I said to myself. So I did. I found Jessica laying on her bed with her laptop. Her headphones were in. She did not hear me, but she saw the door swing open.
"What are you do…" Jessica started to yell.
"We need to talk. Now." I interrupted.
She took her headphones out and paused whatever song she was playing.
"I guess Dashaun told you about yesterday." she said.
"Yea. How did you know?"
"That's the only reason you would come in here and talk to me. And if that is it then I don't want to talk to you because you know you were right." She began to put her headphones back on.
"That is not why I'm here. Well it is, but not to gloat or because I know you like me. Well that did help the decision to come and talk to you, but not the reason. Then again…"
"Shut up. I already told you everything I told him. Far as I'm concerned I really…"
"I love you okay!" I just shouted it out.
She sat there shocked. She did not say anything at all. Was she waiting on me to say something?
"Love?" she finally stuttered out. "You love me? Then why did you?" She did not finish her thought.
"Yes. I love you. You're perfect. I knew that since the first day you came into my room and asked to watch Naruto that day. I had that same feeling you had. It was just right. You are almost too perfect of a girl for me honestly, but that's why I did not make any advance on you when you did. I really wanted to."
"Why then?! You saw me cry my heart out to you and yet you just stood there. Then months passed and you did not say anything. You once again let me lead on Dashaun. You knew I did not like him like that. He knew it too, but he tried so hard to make it so." She started to cry again. "I felt so bad looking in this innocent kid's eyes everyday."
"I know. That's my fault."
"You damn right it's your fault! But I'm just to blame."
"Dashaun is fine. He is not mad at all. Calm down."
"That's not the point! Why did you do it?"
I gave her the same answer I gave Dashaun. "Time."
"Time? Is this another bull crap excuse?"
"No. I seem to be the only one to have remembered that you're only going to be here for a year. After that you're off back to Japan. If we dated, it would have complicated things. You feel like that and we did not date. Imagine if we did. We both would be devastated."
"Long distant…"
"Relationship? I thought of that. You are in Japan. I probably would never see you again. Who knows what happens in the time we are apart. I just wanted to save us the trouble of the heart ache."
"Why now? You just wasted months of time we could have been together to make those memories. Why not just keep up the false face?"
"Because you were hurting. I could not stand to see you like that any more. I was hurting too. I don't expect us to go out now. I just needed to tell you this. For me mostly." I turned to leave.
Jessica grabbed my hand forcefully and spun me. She then kissed me. I could feel the tears still descending from her eyes. I did not care. This time I kissed her back. I was not going to stop either. This was what I wanted. Her in my arms. Us together. The pit vanished instantly.
Still time ticked away. And time soon was accelerated to my disliking.