Lucky are those who find true love, a love that can withstand the trials and affliction with the potential to last a lifetime. Luckless are those who find a love that is convenient to their “Right now” whereby brokenness is hatched, and this too has the potential to last a lifetime. Understanding the difference is essential when choosing a partner.
Now that Trevor and I opened the communication line between us I no longer wait on the neighborhood gossip. His transparency granted me access to the authentic version of the story before it traveled down the gossip line. Usually, additional information would be attached. Now that we are speaking again, we found the time to get together. We would play a game called "girls against the guys" basketball game. Of course, these games were never about how well the girls can perform on the court, but more like the guys getting a chance to show off. We saw how well they played along with us, attempting a simple layup from the paint was the highlight of their day.
I always chose to guard Trevor because I knew he would let me shoot a couple of times just to make me feel like I accomplished something. One afternoon we played until the sun went down. Still energetic from the game we decided to take our fun and laughter to the front of my building. My brother Issac sent word to have our little brother Johnathan bring down the CD player along with some CDs. Vanessa and I volunteered to make a run to the store for some beers and chips. For an hour we were cracking jokes and play fighting.
I observed our group go from a measly ten people to about twenty-five.
We have been living in the neighborhood long enough for others to know three things about the Harvey family if nothing else. First, we knew how to have a good time, secondly do not underestimate males or females in this family because we were all born with a lion’s heart. If you did not know most animals seek shelter during a storm lions, however, we HUNT. My mom would say we were just born that way, most importantly the moment one of us excepted someone as a loyal friend instantly they became family.
Family to us meant everything. There was no struggle we could not overcome together. Our mom taught us whether right or wrong, you defend one another, especially in the presence of others. If your sibling happens to be wrong still defend them and when in private tell them they were wrong so they can learn from their mistake. We had our differences; however, the result was we are brothers and sisters, and nothing can or will tear us apart.
Hours had passed as we gathered with music, laughter, and our “adult” beverages. As the night slipped away and the beer set in Trevor made his way over to me.
He whispered,
“Would you like to ditch everybody and take a walk with me to Coney Island?”
“Ummm, how would your girlfriend feel about you being around your ex-girlfriend?”
“I no longer have a girlfriend so that would be impossible.”
“In that case, you don’t have to ask me twice.”
There was so much going on, I am certain that no one noticed that we were gone. Coney Island was only a fifteen-minute walk from my house. There is something about being in good company that can make a fifteen-minute tread feel like five minutes. The season had come and gone for the amusement park to be open, so we headed straight for the boardwalk. Although there is not much to see when the amusement park is closed, the boardwalk at night had its very own ambiance.
The night air was lovely but in conjunction with the essence of the seawater, it felt as though you were inhaling peacefulness. The sound of the water pierced the shore vigorously, but not enough to be intimidating. The wind felt as if it were kissing my cheek as gentle as a mother would her newborn baby. Ten minutes into our walk Trevor whispered, “I missed having you around,” he said barely letting the last word out before he grabbed my hand.
He continued,
“This is not just about you and me our families were getting along well and coming together to create a bigger family and I love that. You are the sensible and serious one and I realized I am the complete opposite, which is one of the reasons we do so well together. You understand me in a way that no other girl has and that means a lot to me.”
At this point I was wrapped in emotions I had been waiting for him to share his feelings, even more so now after that imprudent decision, he made for us to take a break. He stopped mid-sentence and grabbed me by my waist and kissed me. Instantly I felt light as a feather. We began to play catch up and fill each other in on all the things that had transpired with family and friends while we were separated. Straight away it felt like old times when we would be on the telephone for hours on end.
I was overwhelmed with a fondness for this man that I was not paying attention to. As I glanced behind us I noticed that I could no longer see the rides from the amusement park. He was handsome as hell and I could not stop looking at him. Maybe it was his perfectly shape white teeth that magically fit behind his full lips flawlessly. Maybe that distracted me, but whatever the reason I knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore lol. I guess I had a bewildered look on my face because he decided that we would begin our journey back home.
When we returned to the building there were a couple of stragglers remaining, I looked down at my watch and realize that our little excursion lasted nearly four hours. When we reached my front door, he softly kissed my forehead and said Goodnight. I replayed that night in my head while preparing to go to bed trying to figure out why I felt like something was missing, then it hit me.
He never apologized for running from what we had, nor did he reassure me that out of the different variations of circumstances that may arise in our future I would never have to worry about him making that mistake again. I was so focused on us reuniting that I allowed myself to believe that I did not need his verbal confirmation promising that he would never hurt me like that again. The conflict between my mind and heart was unsettled.
For the next few weeks, I developed a routine of an early morning rise for my first class which began at 8:15 am. These three classes before lunch made my mornings feel longer. One of the privileges of High School was having the option of going outside for lunch, which I took complete advantage of especially because my next class was not until mid-afternoon. I dedicated a few minutes during lunch to Trevor, I would call him every day. Trevor on the other hand had a lot more free time than I did.
At first, I thought the reason for his leisure time resulted from him being nearly done with school. Senior year is usually the easiest due to the small number of credits remaining that are required for graduation. From, the number of classes I was taking my first year this seemed likely. Later, I found out that this did not apply to him. Trevor and his friends would brag about the many hookie parties they attended and how much fun an early-day party could bring.
After listening to another festive time, he had at another school’s get-together, he asked me if I would like to go with him. The next time I would be able to witness it for myself, and of course, I had to see what all the hype was about. Trevor and I began seeing each other like we use to. This time around we were more vulnerable with each other. We spoke of feelings for one another more often and he began sharing what he imagined our future would look like.
Never having to take any formal training his aspiration was to become an electrician. His skills at being able to not only fix but put anything together that had wires were nothing short of extraordinary. This man’s competency level did not stop at wires. He could put anything together and that included those large boxes with way too many pieces and a five page pamphlet labeled instruction that he would never read. His intuitive nature was astonishing to me. He wanted to start his career with New York City Housing Authority and the benefit would be he could potentially live rent-free.
So that was super convenient to receive an hourly wage for working in the maintenance department in exchange to have his monthly rent adjusted or removed entirely. After sharing how our parents worked hard to provide shelter and food for us, he vowed to never experience that struggle. Providing for his family would not be as strenuous according to his plan. His objective was to eliminate all housing issues by working for the housing authority.
The end of the week was approaching, and I was exhausted, my day began like all the others. Rise early report to the first period, then call Trevor during lunch. On this day, however, our conversation ended differently.
“So, you want to come over and watch a movie?”
“Yes, sure, if I don’t kill my lab teacher before then I have two more classes,”
“I was thinking more like you coming now.”
“I could use a break from this. I am on my way.”
There goes that High School freedom again being able to come and go. I grabbed my stuff and headed straight to Trevor’s house. When I got there, he was in the kitchen cooking. I could smell the bacon immediately, but I needed to get closer to identify the sweet scent coming from the kitchen. The counter was a mess with pancake powder everywhere, banana peels, and eggshells.
From my investigational skills, I determined that he decided on pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon for breakfast.
“You have not tasted my banana pancakes, yet they are exclusive.”
As he continued to boast I started to clean the kitchen I could not withstand another minute of the dishes in the sink and the messy counter. After the clean-up, he made our plates and placed them on the dining room table. I have to say I was shocked! The food was better than I expected.
The bacon was not burned to a crisp the eggs were a little harder than they should have been, but the added cheese made up for it. I would have sliced the banana into small pieces to place on top of the pancakes but he decided to go with the more elaborate idea. He may have watched a cooking show or two because he put two bananas in a blender, then mixed them into the pancake batter which made them heavy as opposed to light and fluffy. The pancakes were heavy, not horrible, so we sat and peacefully enjoyed our breakfast.
“What are we feeling like? Action or drama?”
‘You know I am always up for an action movie.”
“Yeah, I know, and I know how you like to play fight after so let’s do drama first.”
"Just say you are scared of me.”
“Girl, you are half my height and no comparison in weight what is there to be scared of?”
“I am fast and strong, though.”
“I know you are but I’m going to do us a favor and pick a movie that will have you crying rather than fighting.”
We sat back and watched The Pelican Brief then Indecent Proposal. We did not make it to the third movie as we planned. Trevor made his move and began kissing me. It did not take long for our sweet and gentle kisses to escalate. I knew good and well it was early afternoon yet and still it felt like it was 10 pm. The bedroom seemed as if it became darker in a matter of seconds, and the faint sound of the television became a whisper.
The only thing I could hear over it all was my heart beating. As our kissing became more intense it felt as though my body temperature increased to more than one of a fever. His hand glided up my thighs gripping me tighter and tighter as they went higher and higher, he stopped kissing me long enough to whisper
“Do you want me to stop”
Without hesitation, I replied “No.”
About the Author:
Lucky Colter is a public speaker and featured writer on PR Now Magazine. She has already received over 1000 views collectively on her amazing Chapter Series "Broken Brooklyn"
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