True Love does exist. We've got to be willing to take the risks.
THE PRINCESS & THE THUG: HOOD LOVE
By
Alm Hlgh
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Alm Hlgh on Smashwords
The Princess & The Thug: Hood Love
Copyright ©2007, 2010 by Alm Hlgh
CHAPTER 1
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Adieu ma che'rie-
Good-bye my dear.
Karen closed her eyes as tears crept from beneath them.
She had given her last respect to her bff Angela Louise Mayfield-Grant and her husband Loren Miles Grant.
How could a love like theirs been so wrong when it was so right?
Could she herself have saved them if only she had spoken up?
August 20th, 2009 the first day of college at University of Chicago was Angela and Karen’s first year of college. They were excited that they and their high school chums were able to get into the prestigious University of Chicago. It would be just like attending school back in their Hillside neighborhood on the north side of Chicago.
She was excited to see Angela because this was the first time seeing each other since graduation and they were longtime friends from kindergarten. It was Karen’s first day back from vacation where she had been visiting her newly engaged father at his home in Arizona. In her mind the engagement was just another failed attempt to make her mother jealous and woo her back. The “other woman” was merely another trick up his sleeve.
It was a cool breezy and sunny pre-autumn day. The leaves had a crisp and beautiful golden-red color that rivaled peaches in full bloom during the summertime. Every once in a while squirrels would dash across the litter free perfectly manicured lawns chasing one another or carrying fresh found foods of nuts, seeds and bugs. Parents rushed their teary-eyed pre-kindergarten toddlers off to the local neighborhood nursery as they made a mad dash to beat the morning rush hour traffic.
The scenery was poetic- and had Karen known what she was soon to experience later that fall; she would have described the scenery as being poetic justice. Karen wore a smart-looking lavender Georgette blouse that was overrun with a sea of ruffles that bespoke of a nostalgic time in history. But Karen was thin with long legs and it gave her an air of class over her stylish black designer “skinny” jeans with those lavender stilettos that made her feet look like a size two. She stood on the corner of West 57th and South Shore Drive; the gentrified Hyde Park neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. Just down the street from her was the infamous University of Chicago that helped give the neighborhood its flair of prestige and history. The Metra trains’ bells rang loudly as they pulled in and out of the Hyde Park Station. They toiled the masses of people to and from work or school. She looked at her watch and impatiently tapped her foot as she watched their favorite eatery quickly fill up with college students as they stumbled out of bed and rushed to grab a bite to eat before class.
Just as she was sure she would scream, she spotted Angela in a white silk blouse sporting a new pair of her favorite Levi skinny jeans and black Nike’s coming from the Metra train station. Her eyes lit up.
“Angie…”
“Karen!” they greeted each other like they hadn’t seen each other for ages as they ran towards each other and embraced and complimenting each other’s clothes and new hair-dos.
“OMG! Look at your tan.” Angela marveled. “It’s perfect... Arizona must be beautiful.”
“And the guys aren’t so bad either.” Karen added as they walked into the now crowded eatery “Bread Barn” where they sold fresh-baked goods and the best iced cappuccino. As they stood in line they chatted excitedly about their summers and Karen pulled out her new touch screen Apple iPhone; revealing megabyte after megabyte of photos as she narrated the scenery of each picture.
“Oooh, not bad… Well at least this explains the lack of emails from you this summer. How could you leave this piece of paradise?”
“Not easy,” Karen responded with the quick wit. Angela had always admired her ability to have quick witty comebacks for all occasions. As a matter of fact that was how this wonderful friendship had begun. Two five-year olds waiting at the corner for the school bus on a rainy day, when a car drove by and promptly made mud pies out of their perfectly picked out little outfits for school.
Angela was about to throw her temper, when before she knew it this pint-sized cherub hollered out in a loud but pleasant and sweet voice, “Hey, next time aim for the face…”
It was so unexpected that Angela quickly forgot her anger as a case of unexpected giggles overtook her diminutive body. They laughed together at how ridiculous they looked all splattered in mud; and they have been laughing ever since.
Karen ordered a cream scone with her favorite white-hot chocolate drink and Angela had a pumpkin muffin with an iced latte. “We’ve gotta do a sleepover so I can show you the hotties I’ve captured…”
“Tonight is cool, Mom won’t mind…”
“Holy shit! Who is this babe and is he taken?” Angela burst out suddenly losing her train of thought when the next picture flipped over in Karen’s digital camera.
Hearing and seeing Angela’s reaction Karen coughed as she almost choked on her drink. Then she guiltily giggled as she leaned over. A mischievous smile broke through her perfectly rounded and pouty lips.
“Are you kidding me? Too many hotties and ooh so-so little time…” She said in her best ever impression of Anna Nicole Smith as she took a closer look at the picture that had caused her friend’s strong reaction. For some reason Anna Nicole Smith was a favorite icon of their circle of friends. Karen’s expression became if it’s possible even more “girly” as she said,
“Aah Joe.” A strange little smirk crept over her lips. Angela raised an eyebrow.
“Joe?” Angela surmised more than a passing interest in him from her friend. She didn’t miss the breathless sound Karen made as his name parted from her lips. It was like a sweet memory had suddenly taken over her thoughts and she was no longer here walking besides Angela enjoying a scone with a cup of white-hot chocolate. It was like her spirit had momentarily left her body and went back in to steal that moment in time.
“Joe,” she repeated again as if just saying his name could take her back to that moment any time she wished… “Now I know why first kisses are memorable…’
“SHUT UP!!!!” BLINK-BLINK-BLINK…
“NO WAAAY!!!” Okay yes time did stop. And everything and everybody surrounding them suddenly stopped and then were swooped up and off the planet. They were in their private little bubble; just them- Karen and Angela two friends sharing one of their life's major moment events.
“First kiss?” Angela managed to ask. Karen blushed then looked down. She took a long sip of her hot chocolate and then allowed her eyes to peep out through her long dark eyelashes.
“I always thought you would be first,” she admitted shyly.
“You? Me…” Angela asserted more shocked than she expected she would be.
“I always thought that great love story would be mines first to tell.” She paused as if she were accepting defeat.
Then with renew gusto she asked, “Tell me, how was it?”
Karen just blushed more and more. That was one of the great things about having a lifelong friend, they knew even without having to explain.
“It was that good huh?” Angela asked almost as if she were remembering it herself.
Karen felt one of her mischievous moments about to happen. Holding in the giggles that threatened to betray her next words she blinked, gave a mildly amused smirk and then she said, “And you’ll never guess what else he was good at.”
Without realizing it, Angela’s feet came to a sudden halt and the fluffy baked pumpkin muffin she had been teasing her lips with abruptly fell to the ground and was now bird food. Karen could barely control the laughter that erupted in her belly and pushed its way forward up her throat and out her mouth like an uncontrolled sudden bout of disgusting up-chuck.
“KAREN! You didn’t” Angela managed to get out as her eyes became as huge as a serving plate used to serve the Thanksgiving turkey. Karen couldn’t hold it back anymore. The laughter burst out as she doubled over at Angela’s strong reaction.
Angela promptly gave her a whack across the head.
“HEY!” Karen was laughing so hard that even the whack across the head only added to her deranged amusement. “Tennis… Joe is great at tennis.”
“You fart… That was so not funny,” Angela said as she marched off attempting to throw her temper. Karen laughed even more as she watched her BFF big attempt at being mad.
* * * *
Arriving at University of Chicago it was the typical prestigious All-American elite University. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society during the 19th Century and it was built with a donation from the oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller around the late 1800s. The school had been modeled after the quadrangles of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. There is a rich and prominent display of Neo-Gothic feel and design to all of the buildings, giving the Hyde Park a distinct look in its modern-contemporary atmosphere. Unconfirmed rumors say that legendary renowned New York Central’s Park architect Frederick Law Olmstead suggested that Chicago plant the ivy that graces the campus exteriors. The University holds the honor of having the first American scientist to win a Nobel Prize in any sciences and also is able to boast being affiliated with more Nobel laureates than any other U.S. schools including Harvard and Princeton. .
The student body ranked at the University of Chicago is also impressive with 85% of the alumni going on to earn graduate or professional degrees. In fact within the past five years, Chicago’s undergraduates in all fields have won impressive numbers of world’s top fellowships that includes five Rhodes, four Marshall, three Truman, three Churchill and two Gates Cambridge Scholarships. Famed archaeologist Robert Braidwood who is said to be the model for the movie archaeologist Indiana Jones used to occupy the basement office in the Haskell Hall building. Therefore their parents didn’t fight too hard at the long commute from their ritzy north side Hillside neighborhood to their new university located on the polar opposite south side of Chicago neighborhood Hyde Park. Yea, Angela and Karen lived the sweet- life.
Entering the immaculate and well designed Ida Noyes hall, their usual clique were milling around the Pub located on the lower level of the building. Judy a tall blonde with a pair of oval-shaped blue eyes and a Classic-Coke bottle shape, Seth a wire-thin tall freckled face redhead who was one of the best basketball players in the nation and of course Brad who was nothing short of a Greek God lost in 21st Century America rounded out their friendships. The nature of Karen and Angela’s relationship with Judy was weird to say the least. They shared very little in common with her and weren't as close to her. Their relationship strictly stemmed from the fact that their parents were colleagues and business partners. Judy was like the Paris Hilton of University of Chicago. She had a way about herself that made you feel like you were a bag of puppy chow. She was rich and she knew it.
Now Seth and Brad were opposites and alike at the same time. Seth on first impression came across as a quiet, academic geek and clumsy doof; but once you got to know him he was anything but that. He was a phenomena athlete and surprisingly a real flirt with the ladies. However his grades always hovered around that marginal C-average that kept him in good standing and allowed him to play his favorite pastimes basketball and football. He had won 2 MVP player awards in high school and had received a respectable number of sports scholarships to play ball at some fine institutions before deciding to come to U of C with his friends. He drove a vintage 1975 Datsun B210 and rumor had it that the front seats turned into recliners for two after hours.
Brad was just beautiful; the complete opposite of Seth. He actually was a budding male model. After three successful ad campaigns for some well-known designer labels, he had a small following complete with a fan club and websites that included Facebook (40,000 friends and counting) and Twitter (with well over 25,000 followers and counting). He was tall, well-built and of all things he was shy. But the shyness only added to his charm. He was also good at sports making the first string on the varsity football team in high school, maintaining an A-average, receiving scores of academic and sports scholarship offers from highly noted Universities such as Notre Dame, Princeton, University of IL and the likes. He eventually accepted the full-scholarship to play football at University of Chicago with his best buddy Seth. He drove a new red convertible mustang. Though he wasn’t a ladies’ man like Seth and no one had actually seen a “girlfriend” he was simple too gorgeous to not have one; so it was an assumption and rumor that he had only dated college chicks since his junior year of high school.
“Hi girls,” Judy greeted in her usual condescending tone as they secretly smiled to themselves acknowledging her snobbishness. Brad and Seth both occupied the floor of the Pub as most students did but Judy sat on a bench directly in front of them. Seth and Brad turned to greet them upon hearing Judy. They stopped short as Seth being Seth, abruptly said,
“Well-well-well… Harper is dangerously flirting with my raging hormones…” He flirted as they sat on the bench with Judy. Now Judy was a walking designer “Brand” whore. From head to toe she was wrapped in some Brand name shoes, stockings, panties, blouse, etc. Like I said she was a walking designer Brand Whore.
Karen didn’t want to blush, but who could resist him. Yup the rumor was true; Seth car was getting more ass than a public toilet at a gas station. He had a way with words that made your heart melt.
“Nice tan.” Brad managed to mumble out as Seth made his cat calls and lewd whistles which made Karen the object of attraction.
CHAPTER 2
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“Cut it out… She’s not a dog; so don’t whistle at her.” Angela bellowed as they sat opposite them at the Pub, a common hangout for freshmen students. Seth kept on with his cat-calling and woofing causing laughter amongst the watching audience.
“Perverts!” Angela yelled as she gave Seth a whack across the head effectively stopping the cat calling.
“Ow…” he said while pretending she had somehow mortally wounded him.
“Baby…” Angela said.
“Can I be your baby tonight?” he quipped with a sheepish grin.
“Pervert.”
“Clubs to kick off freshman year?” Brad asked changing the subject and the mood.
“I was thinking about S.G. but doubtful. I think this year I’m going to take it easy.”
“I hear you,” Judy chimed in. “Going to chill and let all the fun come to me.”
Everyone blinked and looked at Judy as if she had suddenly grown an ear onto her nose.
“What?! No cheerleading?”
“You’re a cinch… After all you were captain in both junior and senior high school.”
“Okay Malone, what gives?” asked Seth who had come into the habit of calling his closest friends by their last names. If you ever wanted to know the girls that Seth was truly serious about, listen to what he called them. If it was by her first name, that usually meant “bone and throne.” If he called a girl by some cutesy and obscure nickname that he was famous for making up, then the girl was a friend and he treated her like his little sister; very protective of her. If he ever called you by your last name; that meant real girlfriend material and if he ever would ask you out he was seriously dating you. This girl would get invited to all the school’s social functions and introduced and taken among his circle of friends. Other than Angela, Karen and Judy no girls had received that status from Seth.
“Nothing gives,” Judy continued to insist as they walked through the corridor leaving the building and heading for outdoors.
“Okay I’ll catch you guys later,” Judy said as she made a hasty exit from the clique and did a complete about-face up the flight of stairs as her friends continued out of Ida Noyes building.
“You too Mayfield? No cheerleading either?” Seth continued.
“I haven’t thought about it.”
“Aah damn, who’s gonna cheer for me at the games?” The group laughed.
“What about you Harper?” Brad joined in reminding everyone that he was still there. They continued talking as they made their way into the Stevanovich Center for their math class. The lecture hall was packed so they sat in the back row.
In her best voice, Angela did her infamous impression of Judy who does a barely unmentionable impression of the late sexy-bombshell Anna Nicole Smith. Running her fingers through Seth’s curly soft hair and moving her body in a seductive and flirtatious manner she said,
“I’ve decided to go with a more sophisticated club this year…” The group made eye contact and then burst into uncontrollable laughter. It was well past time for the lecture to start, however, the professor had not arrived therefore the room was a little noisier than usual.
“I’m thinking about the Broadcasters club or maybe even the literary club.
“Give me a break… You hate English not to mention that you are digitally and mechanically challenged.” Brad and Karen managed not to openly laugh out loud at Seth’s words as they both had images of the past. Angela plus computers plus English equated to disaster.
“Bite me.” Angela barked.
“What? What I say? It’s the truth…” Seth reiterated as a sly grin quietly trespassed across his face.
The professor finally arrived. After apologizing for being late she quickly pulled out a couple of stacks of papers from her bag. She then gave them to her TAs for distribution as she began going through some general expectations of her class. By this time Karen was sharing her vacation pictures with Seth and Brad. Before they knew it, they heard the professor wrapping up the lecture early with a few hastily scribed notes on the board. Just like that the first day of college had ended.
“Are you thinking about anyone in particular to dig your hooks into?” Angela asked on the walk to the Bread Barn.
“Eh… not really, nothing but leftovers… And then there’s Seth and Brad.” The two girls exchanged glances and quickly fell into hysteria of laughter.
“How could you seriously say that with a straight face?” Angela managed to ask in-between her laughter.
“I know... I know… but I couldn’t resist.” Karen barely heaved out.
“Seth and Brad? Really that’s like dating my brother.”
“Aah how did it come to this? Two of University of Chicago’s most eligible bachelors are like our brothers.”
“We’re just sad… That’s all. But of course you now have Joe.” Angela said as a joke. However with that said, Karen's demeanor became quite stoic instantaneously. The atmosphere suddenly shifted.
“Karen?” The unasked question hung in the air between them, yet they both understood what the question was.
Karen suddenly shifted her eyes away from her BFF and physically turned her back to her. Angela promptly ran around to face her and with her hand she gently pushed Karen's face up towards hers causing their eyes to meet.
Their eyes met for a nanosecond and Karen pushed Angela’s hand away and quickly side-stepped around her. Karen entered the Bread Barn followed by Angela. They found an empty table and sat there as the waitress came and took their orders.
“Latte…”
“White Hot Chocolate.”
The waitress walked away and Angela began her badgering. Slowly Karen’s eyes made their way to her friend. She gnawed at her lower lip as she mentally debated as to tell her BFF her most cherished secrets.
“Quick… Judy, Seth and Brad will be here soon.” Karen still unsure, and then she quickly made up her mind.
“You have to promise that you’ll take this to the grave…”
“Karen,” was all that Angela could manage to whisper.
“Promise?”
Angela could only nod her head as her voice had disappeared from her throat. The waitress set their orders down and left. Karen took a small sip of the hot liquid as if she was testing for taste. It was smooth, warm and soothing. As the hot liquid made its way down, Karen could feel its warming and calming effects. This is just what I need she thought as she mentally chose all the right words to share with her BFF.
Angela wanted to drink, but somehow she had become stone, unable to move; held transfixed on the next words that would proceed out of Karen’s mouth. Her heart race and she could feel her breath coming in tiny gasps as if she were hyperventilating. She repeated to herself, “relax, breathe –in, breathe out… breathe-in…”
Karen set her cup down and slowly looked around taking stock of the people in the café. It seemed like it took Karen an eternity to speak. Angela felt as if she were sitting on pins and needles and was about to blow a gasket. Breathe-in, breathe-out she quietly repeated to herself.
Not realizing it before she knew it, she heard herself asking “Did you by chance…” but she could not finish that thought. Karen would never go “all-the-way.” She had been brought up in a devout Catholic household. Besides that she was a “true” good girl; someone who never strayed or disobeyed her parents.
Karen’s eyes broke away. Angela felt her heart leap into her throat. “Oh nooooooo…” she screamed inside of her head.
“Karen…” Angela was back to the whispered name. This was BIG. I mean REALLY BIG.
Karen blushed and Angela eyes became like turkey platters again; they were oval and they were BIG’ really BIG.
“OMG!” The words rushed out of her mouth and into the noisy little café, effectively shushing the other patrons.
“Shush! Lower your voice.” Karen reprimanded as she felt all eyes on her.
“Karen! You didn’t…” she said again but in a much lower whisper.
Karen slowly shook her head.
“He wanted to, but I couldn’t. All I could think about was having an accident. My father would hit the roof and my mother would have shit -fits for days… But... But...”
“But what?” Angela asked as she finally took a sip of her latte.
“Joe... Joe...” she hesitated again as if she was having doubts about sharing her secret.
“Joe what?” Again Angela felt her heart doing somersaults as she nudged Karen to continue.
Karen gave the small café another once over and then proceeded:
“Joe… Joe … He’s twenty-three.” The words suddenly became unglued from her throat. They were now free to breathe the fresh air of the tiny café.
BLINK-BLINK-BLINK… Swallow-Swallow, was the exact order of Angela’s reaction. She blinked three times attempting to comprehend the words of her friend and then she quickly gulped down two swallows of the hot liquid in hopes that it would help with the digestion of the words.
“Are you alright?” Karen asked as if it were her friend who was suddenly wrestling with some deep dark secret.
Angela managed to nod her head.
“I’m okay… It’s just that it was so unexpected; that’s all. You know you are the quiet and obedient one. I’m the one who’s always stirring up trouble; giving them hell.” They laughed together. Now that the second secret was out, things began to feel like old times.
“You won’t tell, will you?”
“Of course not… But Karen you’re barely eighteen.”
“Joe and I sort of fell in love...” That admission made Angela choke on the hot liquid again. ‘Love, what would a couple of barely eighteen year olds like us know about love,’ she thought. Instinctively Karen reached across the table and patted her friend’s back.
Angela held up her hand to say, “Okay, that’s enough I’m alright.” She wanted to say, ‘Are you nuts? He’s twenty-three, lives fifteen-hundred miles away and you’re only eighteen years old.’ But she instinctively knew that a BFF didn’t need her to play the Mommy role. She needed her BFF to be her BFF.
Karen sat back down and almost unnoticeably she tensed up. Angela noticed.
“There’s more?” she asked with an incredulous tone. Angela was sure she would be admitted tonight as the youngest person ever to suffer a heart attack from the sheer shock of it all. Her heart raced its very own lonely marathon and she sat stoically attempting to keep her nerves from unraveling.
Karen’s eyes darted away to some unnamed object in the background. Nervously she chewed at her lower lip again. Abruptly Karen grabbed her bag and began a methodical search for something. Abruptly she pulled out a small black velvet box. Angela near dropped the small cup of liquids onto her lap but made a quick recovery only spilling a small amount on the table. She quickly grabbed some napkins and wiped up the spill before it could dribble off the table.
“Karen?” Her name became a question as Angela searched her friend’s eyes for the many unanswered questions streaming through her mind as if it was connected to the Internet. She looked at her friend for the first time in a long time. OMG for the first time she saw Karen not as her childhood friend but as a girl becoming a young woman.
Angela felt weird. It was like her friend had suddenly matured and was living inside of a whole new world; a world that was apart from the world that she shared with her. A world that Angela had only dreamt about but never experienced. It was the adult world. The world where you leave your childhood behind and begin to live the life of a full-fledge adult. Yes Angela could see the beginning traces of that world in her friend’s eyes. OMG Karen was leaving her behind. Suddenly, Angela felt lonely.
“He asked me to marry him,” her longtime friend disclosed in that quiet voice of hers.
“He said I should stay in Arizona with him.” She reached for her now empty cup of hot chocolate; not because she was thirsty but rather she felt nervous and unsure as she shared this last bit of secret with her friend.
“He’s got his own apartment… He’s working on his Masters Degree… A car... Job and everything…” Even though Karen wasn’t directly looking at her friend, she could feel the intensive glare of her eyes penetrating her soul, searching for some rationality of what was going on. But she had no rationality for it. In her short experience with love, the first lesson that she was learning about love is that it has no rationality and it follows no principality of law and order. Love just is.
CHAPTER 3
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“I wanted to stay… But I knew it would be a hassle. My mom, dad and everything.” She took a small pause between her thoughts; somehow it was obvious that they had sat down and painstakingly discussed the situation at hand.
“I told him that we should wait for me to graduate. Then I could return. We exchanged emails, phone and address… You know to keep in touch.”
That’s when Angela heard it. It was fear mixed with uncertainty mixed with a lot of other emotional stuff that Angela did not have the vocabulary or the experience to call by name. But she could hear that unasked question of ‘will it last until I can return?’
“I don’t know if I’m to be happy, excited, and glad or mad…” she raised her cup to her lips and took the last few sips of her now lukewarm drink.
“You’re my BFF; of course you are supposed to have mixed feelings about this… You love me and want me to be happy so that makes you worry for my safety and well-being…”
Angela marveled at her BFF words. Yup she could not only see it but also feel it, Karen was definitely beginning to live inside of a whole new unknown world; and yes Angela felt weird about being left alone.
“Hey Harper, Mayfield you’re coming to our opening game, right?” Seth loud booming voice that belied his wiry frame burst the bubble of their secret world as he and Brad made their way to the table.
“What you guys couldn’t wait for us?” Judy asked as she followed closely behind them.
“So you guys coming or what?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
“Let me guess, you’ve got to see if you can borrow your parents car, right?”
“It must be a real hassle to be poor.” Judy spoke without regard to their feelings.
“Yea, a real pain in the ass like someone I know…” Karen bit back with her razor-sharp tongue causing them to secretly giggle.
“If we come we’ll make ‘we love you Brad and Seth’ posters.” Angela volunteered attempting to squash another heated exchange between the two.
“Iced…” Seth replied as the waitress came and took their orders.
“Why do you go around saying those ridiculous things?” Angela finally asked.
“What,” Seth gave his usual goofy grin. “That’s my trademark… Iced. When I become famous and you hear, Iced, StoneCold1; you’ll know.”
“In your dreams...” Karen chimed in as they joked with their longtime friend.
“So what’s for dinner?” Seth asked inviting himself over for dinner to the best offer.
“I think I heard something about spinach casserole with some chicken and potato boats.” Karen replied.
“Okay so that’s not happening… How about you Malone; Mayfield?”
“Who eats dinner anymore at home and with their parents? Cosbo...” Judy said in an exaggerated huff; again without regards to feelings and almost as if she were chastising him.
“Mayfield… Please oh please let it be something good.”
Karen and Angela snickered at his childlike behavior. Seth was truly a heartbreaker.
“Hmm, Mom said something about lasagna and Caesar salad.”
As if he had hit the jackpot, Seth did an over-the-top weeble wobble-wobble-wiggle-wiggle-turn-spin high-five-the-air dance while chanting “Yes, yes… yes… Score…”
They arrived at Angela’s home as the sun was setting for the night. Seven-thirty in the evening the sky was already a paradise of twilight filled with a billion twinkling stars all trying to outshine the other ones. A white-painted frame house 2-story home littered with mortar and bricks gave the house a nostalgic yet modern-day look and feel. The yard was like the other perfectly manicured lawns, except for the abundance of fall foliage and ewes that adorned the landscape and set it apart from all the other homes on the block. Parked in the long winding cement and brick driveway were a new 2009 Lincoln Towne Car and a Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG SUV.
They entered through the kitchen door. The kitchen was decorated in beige and yellow silk paper with brown and gold molding and curtains to match. The kitchen was a Chef’s dream with a walk-in freezer, oversized commercial stove, ranger and refrigerator. There were two stand along marbled island and above hung the most expensive cookware that could be bought. The only thing that seemed out-of-place in this perfectly designed kitchen was the missing wait staff. Instead stood a tall, slender and attractive woman who looks belied her forty-plus years. Her dark hair was pulled back in a neat little ponytail with a Chef’s cap and apron on as she hovered over the fresh-baked homemade lasagna.
Hearing the stampede of teens entering her home she looked up and greeted them with her prized pearly white smile. LeAnn was Angela’s Mom. She was a cool hipster Mom by most teenagers’ standard and she was beautiful to boot.
“Brad, Seth, Karen… Ah someone is missing. Where’s Judy?” she inquired as she busied herself setting the table.
“Mrs. M you know this is too Cosbo for Judy.
“Cosbo?” LeAnn was at a lost for his meaning of “too Cosbo.” Instantly we could all visualize the preverbal deer-into-headlight scenario as she gave pause to her work and looked up as if the answer would suddenly appear out of the thin air. We indiscreetly slightly snickered at her. As cool as she was, she could at times be too aloof for her own coolness.
“The Cosby Show… Theo, Rudy, Vanessa, Denise… The Huxables.” Angela helped as she knew her mother could get lost in thought and easily forget what she was doing.
She laughed like a small child. “Ah-ah... The Cosby Show… Well duh…”
Angela, her younger brother Rex, father Don, mother LeAnn and all of Angela friends sat around the early American designed dining room table and enjoyed great food and conversations. Karen quietly observed the easy flow of dialogue between the two generations of people. She had always admired and to a small degree envied Angela’s relationship with her parents. They had an openly close, warm and loving relationship. There was virtually no subject matter that Angela could not talk to her parents about and that included boys, sex, drugs and all things in between. As a child Karen grew to love to spend the nights over her friend’s house because she could always count on having at least one meal with the family, an old-fashioned board game of Monopoly, Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit. It always felt like a full house in this home.
“How’s football practice coming? Are you ready for that big opening game against Beloit College?” Don asked. That was one thing that Angela’s friends enjoyed about coming to her home for dinner; they could always count on her parents taking an active interest in what they were doing.
“You know we are thirty-two and O. Mr. D you coming?” Seth couldn’t resist bragging a little bit as a crooked smile stole a place on his face.
“Humph. Not bad. I hear Pitbull McCoy got recruited by them… He’s a tough dog to tame…”
Seth’s infamous goofy and crooked grin widen on his face revealing a not so perfect set of teeth as he replied, “That’s alright… You know Pitbulls are bred to be obedient to their masters…”
“Well Said…” Brad chimed in as he leaned over and high-fived his team-mate.
“Alright we’ll see who’s the master and who’s gonna be eating puppy chow the next day.”
The rest of the night they laughed and enjoyed good bantering, laughter, games. Later the kids washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen as the adults relaxed and prepared for bed. The night got longed so Seth and Brad found themselves making their way back home and Karen joined Angela in her room for a sleepover.
* * * *
Staggs Field was packed to capacity with the opening game against Beloit College. It was cold and a chilly night as Angela and Karen stood at the concession stand waiting to place their order. True to his words Mr. Mayfield had managed to talk LeAnn into coming out into the chilled air to watch Seth and Brad’s first college game. They wore blankets like snowsuits as did most of the people who had come out to watch the opening game.
It was a brutal game. Half-time the score was twenty-one and seven; favoring Beloit. Pitbull McCoy was a beast on the field and virtually unstoppable. Watching the game it was easy to see why Seth had been awarded the MVP two years in a row during his high school days. He could take a beating and sacrificed his body if it meant the possibility of scoring a touchdown. He had been knocked down, smashed up, thrown, dragged, and sometimes he even used his body as a human shield to protect his teammates.
Pitbull had definitely studied their technique and plays. Watching him it was plain to see that football was an intuitive sport for him. He seemed to have been given a script and somehow memorized every play and every formation that they used. Nothing could surprise him. The one touchdown that they had received was a hard-won touchdown when Brad had intercepted the ball made a break and at the spur of the moment pass to Seth. Seth ran thirty yards as if he was running for his dear life itself with two big goons dogging on his tail and made the touchdown just as one had grabbed his right heel and brought him down as the second goon sacked him on his left propelling him over the goal line with ball still in hand. It was an awesome play that received a standing ovation.
“I’ll take 2 Twixs, four hot dogs, three colas and one lemon-lime and four bags of chips.” Angela ordered for her family. After they had received their orders they weaved and bobbed through the sea of people coming and going to the concession stands or the bathroom.
“What do you think about Gionni Nimbles?” Karen asked.
“He’s okay, but he’s not my type.”
Karen gave Angela an incredulous look. “Are you nuts? Have you seen Gionni Nimbles lately? He’s every girl with a beating pulse type; a Calvin Klein model; a Demi god even. Uncommonly manly, lean, clean and smooth...”
“Oh you mean, nice and easy…” They laughed stealing a line from Seth.
Karen took a sip of her hot chocolate and then said, “Everyone sees the way he stares at you…”
“Me? Are you sure it’s not you?”
Karen abruptly spit out her hot chocolate to keep from choking. “Are you kidding me? He has no interest in me. Besides whenever he sees me in the library he always asks, where’s your friend?”
“You lie…” Angela replied as she walked past an attractive but unnoticed young man leaning against the fence.
He was talking to someone and abruptly turned and that’s when:
“Ow!” Angela squealed as she hustled not to spill the food and drinks she was carrying. Quick to respond, the young man reactively threw his body against her causing them to mesh together and keep from dropping the items. He then quickly helped relieve her of some of her burden.
“My bad,” Miles absent-mindedly responded as he stacked the items in her arms and hands in a more balanced and secure manner.
“No harm no foul.” She replied without even giving him a glance as they continued on their way back to the game.
* * * *
Miles stood over six feet tall. With his height he could easily look over the bleachers to watch his old friend Pitbull desecrate the home team. A smile tore across his face as he remembered the good old carefree days when he too could play his favorite game for hours at a time. But things changed after his parents died and he went to live with his Aunt Marie. Aunt Marie had seven kids of her own and wasn’t looking to take in another mouth. However that didn’t stop her from gladly reaping the benefits of his trust fund account while neglecting him.
He was tall and considered a fairly attractive young man who was well-built with a very muscular physique. Girls adored him and getting a girlfriend was not the problem. The problem for him was surviving everyday life on the streets after his Aunt Marie kicked him out favoring her boyfriend.
Miles rubbed the spot just over his left eye. The wound had healed but left a physical as well as an emotional deep scar. The memories crashed into his mind much like the players were being crashed against the turf of the field. Hurtful memories swirled across his mind just like the home team was being swirled across the field; as if they were nothing more than tumbleweed.
He saw it vividly as if it had happened an hour ago. He remembered the day like yesterday even though it had been over seven years. He was twelve then and his little cousin Nina was only eight.
It was midnight and he was thirsty. Sleepily he left his attic room and made his way down the creaky and nearly dry-rotted old stairs. He was headed to the kitchen when muffled cries and the sound of a struggle abruptly brought him to a full sense of awareness. Looking across the small corridor that connected Nina’s room to the rest of the condo, a slight dim light from her room drew his attention. He quietly eased his way towards her room and ever so gently pushed the slightly ajar door wider.
The sight first filled his eyes and then his soul. A rage that he didn’t even know he possessed began a slow burn from his core vibrating his soul. His eight year old cousin lay on the disheveled bed across the springless mattress like a ragged doll. A half-naked brute of a man towered over her. She was making a futile struggle to keep him from invading her most private area. She struggled to keep her legs closed while he struggled to restrain her, keep her mouth covered and pry her legs open.
Miles felt his fist crashing against the back of the man’s head catching him off guard. The man toppled over and landed into the wall with a big bang. The room shook. His opponent reacted quickly with an enraged yell and soon cracked his own fist against Miles’ face. The punch drew blood from his mouth and nose. But Miles felt no pain. His adrenaline was flowing on max. He rushed into the man with all of his 135 pounds of flesh. The fight was on. In reality he was no match for the six feet three inches 220 pounds man, but he gave it all he had; fighting not only with his body; but also his heart and soul. From some faraway place, Miles could hear the screams and cries of his terrified little cousin. Those screams and cries propelled him. They energized him giving him more strength, more power to defeat this enemy.
As Miles bested this unknown assailant the room was illuminated with a bright light. Suddenly the man’s face became clear. As Miles was taking in the sight of Aunt Marie’s boyfriend standing before him as his opponent; the sound of the bat cracking against his skull suddenly sent the room spiraling out of focus as he felt his body floating through the air, shattering through the window pane and again floating effortlessly through the air over the balcony and down, down reaching the asphalt pavement; crashing to a sudden halt.
He couldn’t think about it unless he would be allowed to go out on the field and take out his aggression on some of those football players. It was that anger that had kept him alive on the mean streets of Chicago. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. He didn’t want to remember the betrayal of his family. That had been too much for him to understand. He was still having a hard time dealing with his parents’ death, and then he finds out his aunt had stolen the money from his trust fund; leaving him penniless. That’s when all hell breaks loose, his aunt kicked him out of her condo in favor of her boyfriend sentencing Miles to a lifetime of foster homes and detention centers. Finally, when he just couldn’t bare it anymore; he made up his mind to disappear. Disappear from it all and so he ran away. He ran away into the streets of Chicago. Truth be told, no one missed him; no one reported it. He was just another foster kid lost in the system.
He prayed that time would erase those cruel harsh memories that had propelled him into a cruel world at such an early age and taught him not to trust anybody and never, never feel for or love another soul. He allowed his heart to harden and his soul to close while letting his blood run cold. He became a zombie; a walking dead amongst the living. He had become cold-hearted and cold-blooded in order to survive. This game, this football game was child’s play compared to the everyday brutality of facing and surviving the mean streets.
He smiled as he watched. Watching his old friend Pit brought back the few good memories that he had from his childhood. At first Miles couldn’t understand why Pitbull would choose to go to some little obscure university when he had been offered scores of scholarships from better institutions, including the Big Ten. However, now as he thought about his past; it made sense- Pitbull was looking to put those bad and painful memories behind him. Pitbull had really developed his skills. He had heard that Pitbull had been scouted by some of the nation’s finest higher learning institution. But that was not what Pitbull wanted. He wanted to reinvent himself into a better person with a better future. He wanted to go to a place where no one had ever heard of him or knew of his past. That was good he thought.
Miles would not even allow himself to dare to hope or dream of a better life. That would be too risky; there was no escape from this gangster lifestyle. Then again, was there anything or anyone that could offer him better, he wondered. Abruptly he smiled, at least one of them would make it out of this nightmare alive and well.
Pitbull was in rare form. He was a demon and was proving to be a thorn in the infamous Seth Reeves’ side. As he concentrated on the game he hadn’t noticed the young girl standing next to him.
“Cold out,” Angela commented more or less to herself as she wrapped her short rabbit-hair jacket a little tighter around her petite frame. Miles heard her, but did not respond. Instead with all the coolness of Jude law at the East Village hangout 2 A in NY, he lit a cigarette and calmly inhaled its poisonous gas. He then stood and took stock of the slight girl.
“Watching anyone in particularly?” Angela asked as if they had been conversing for hours. Miles unresponsive to her question took another puff on his cigarette, then tossed it to the ground and stepped on it putting it out as he walked away.
They lost 37-32. It was a great comeback, but not good enough to overcome the stealthiness and raw skills and intuition of Pitbull. Pitbull had lived up to his legend. It had been an awesome game.
* * * *
Angela’s parent went to the Bread Barn to help boost the team and school spirits. They were well-known among the students and most of them welcomed her parents as they were active members of the university’s school board, the booster club and the community. They didn’t stay long, just long enough to point out all the good plays and teamwork that the team had done and to remind them of how much they had overcome from the first half to even come into a five-point range. The team welcomed their encouragements and kind words not to mention the free pizza and drinks that they paid for.
Angela and Karen drove her Mom’s SUV dropping her parents and little brother off.
“Two a.m. sharp.” LeAnn reminded them of their extended curfew as they got out of the car kissing them both good-night before they drove back to the café.
“Drive safe and be careful.” Dad admonished as they drove away.
By the time they had gotten back the entire football team and pep squad had ushered in and they were munching on the free pizza and drinks. The music blared and they found Seth, Brad, Judy and Gionni Nimbles in the connecting bowling alley of the Bread Barn.
Gionni was a short, well-built light-haired young man. He wasn’t unattractive, but he wasn’t attractive either. He was so-so. They had already paired in teams so that meant that Angela and Karen would be on the final team.
“Sup Angie-Girl, When you gonna take a ride in the wild, Wild West?” Gionni greeted her in his usual manner.
“Bite me…” she responded as she stood to take her turn bowling.
“Would love to… Come here.” Gionni replied with a sly inviting smile.
“Ew, what was that sound?” Angela asked as she picked up her ball.
“What sound?” Gionni asked dumbfounded by her question.
“Oops, it’s the sound of my puke rising up at the thought of you biting me…”
She then took her mark, one-two-three steps and released the ball down its smooth wooden path. She wiggled her hips from side-to-side mimicking the flow of the ball as it was making its way to its target.
“Ooh baby, baby worked those hips…” Gionni responded.
“Hips, thighs and ass…” Seth joined in as they watched appreciative of Angela’s bodywork.
Of course she would leave three pins behind challenging her to pick up the spare.
“Why don’t the two of you bite each other…? I would pay good money to watch that… Not…” Angela barked as she waited for her ball to return.
“Ow… I think I felt the BURN…” Karen complimented and teased as she walked over to give her BFF a high-five.
“Would that be Iced?” Angela joked teasing Seth for his lame expression.
The pins were racked again and it was now Judy’s turn. Brad watched her intensely as she walked. It was one of those rare moments he allowed his guard down and watched her unabashed and without regard for if anyone saw.
Seth saw it and he eased over to his football chum.
“So you gonna stare all night or ask for the date?” He broke into Brad’s daydream.
“Get real… I’m not even close to her league…”
“Hey Diva’s need love to… Somebody’s gotta hit that… Might as well be you… Or would you rather I do the honors?”
“Hey don’t talk about her like that…” Brad admonished.
“Teh-hee-hee… you know me… I don’t mean anything by that.”
“But still, not around me. I’m serious about her.”
“Well it would be nice if she knew that. But for real dude, you can’t get picked to play if you’re not in the game…” He gave him a light punch in the arm for support as he got up to take his turn.
“Brown sugar don’t ice you know…” He said as he picked up his ball and gave the watching girls a wink and a smirk.
“Retard…” Karen joked with Angela and Judy. They laughed as Seth took his position.
They didn’t want to smile. They really didn’t want to smile. Besides that made no sense, but somehow, Seth had a way of making non-sense sound so sweet and inviting to the ladies listening ears. Their hearts melted upon impact.
They laughed, teased and played like that the whole night long, putting that terrible blow to their football record and their egos behind them.
As the night came to an end and everyone milled about outside as the Bread Barn and Bowling alley were closing that’s when it happened.
“Angie-Girl, let’s go to the movies. Next Saturday eight o’clock.” Gionni put it out there just like that.
Angela was taken off guard because Gionni said it so matter-of-factly and without the jokes. That gave Brad courage.
“Judy, so what’s up? Wanna go? Pick you up at seven-thirty.”
“Great, we could double…” Gionni quickly added attempting to make it official without Angela’s and Judy’s permission.
“Well hell, Harper why don’t you and I ride shot-gun; make sure these kiddies don’t get into trouble.”
The ladies all looked at each other a bit perplexed by what had just happened. No one responded yea or neah, but somehow they were going on a triple date.
“I guess one of us should say it’s a date.” Judy responded as they all packed up and headed home.
* * * *
It was Sunday and a nice clear and warm day for autumn. Angela and Karen had gotten up late only to find her family had gone to church leaving them to their own devices. Angela was making breakfast; if you can call microwave pancakes and eggs cooking; then she was making breakfast as Karen was on her laptop chatting with Joe. Every now and then Karen would laugh out loud at something funny he would write.
Angela watched her friend’s expressions react to Joe’s messages. Karen glowed. Even when she wasn’t smiling Angela could see a trace of a smile on her face. Karen’s eyes sparkled with anticipation as she waited or rather hung upon his every word. Angela felt herself growing a little envious.
She was first curious what did it feel like to “have a boyfriend” and second to have all of a boy’s attention focused on you. She liked the way her friend had that girly look and sound to her now. It was a little babyish but it was cute.
Bang-Boom-Boom-plop-plop-spin-spin-spin, the pot went as it hit the floor and effectively disrupted Karen’s love chat.
“Oops sorry.” Angela innocently apologized, even though not really. She had had enough of that giggly goop, lovey-dovey mushy stuff. Alright, I get it you’ve got a boyfriend she thought as she placed the food in the microwave oven.
* * * *
One of their favorite pastimes was spinning a day downtown Chicago for shopping, a movie or play and dinner. They took the Blue-Line subway from Cumberland and rode it all the way down to the Thompson Center on Clark and LaSalle in the heart of downtown Chicago.
Chicago was alive. It marched to a beat of its own drummer. It had a festive mood as this was the time that Chicago had various free concerts that offered a variety of music from pop, R & B, Punk, Alternative, J-Rock & Pop, Blues and more. There were also multi-cultural events that were held in the Cultural Center just a few blocks east on the corner of Randolph & Michigan. Here writers, poets, lyricists and a variety of artists could showcase their art and work. Michigan Avenue known as the Magnificent Mile was a shopper’s paradise. It is home to the Apple, Niketown, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Disney Stores.
The streets were already crowded with tourists, workers and shoppers. Angela took a deep breath. It was amazing that fresh Garrett’s Popcorn could be smelled even five blocks from its historic little spot on Randolph Street.
The two of them nearly raced down the street to get to Block 37 and have a firsthand look of the big sale from the top shops that occupied that space.
“How do I look?” Karen asked as she came out of a dressing room wearing a purple-lavender checkered skirt with a pair of gothic black booths.
“Not bad. It’s something that only you could rock.” And that was the truth.
“What about this hat?” Angela asked as she set a turquoise fedora on her head.
“You know you look good in hats. You’ve got the face and head for it.”
“Really?” Angela asked as she moved her head from side to side to get a different look and feel for the hat.
They walked east on Randolph Street heading towards Michigan Avenue. Each caring a shopping bag of newly purchased goodies. They briefly stopped and bought their lunch at Café Descartes. Then they walked over to Millennium Park to enjoy it, the mild summer weather and the scenery.
Millennium Park was more than a park to say the least. It is a twenty-four and a half-acre park that houss the Jay Ritzier Pavilion where during summertime free concerts are held. The Great Lawn outdoor area held 4,000 fixed seats, plus the lawn area could hold another 7,000. Even the infamous Oprah Winfrey had taped her 2008 congratulatory Team USA Olympic broadcast here. It was the first time a show had been taped at the park and also the very first time the infamous Mayor Daley had attended an Oprah Winfrey show.
Above the lawn was a steel trellis that distributes speakers throughout the entire lawn area, creating a truly modern acoustical environment. There were twin 50-foot fountain towers. In addition to the cascading water, the towers display video images of various Chicagoans and lights. In the Lurie Garden you could find a variety of plantings with pathways intertwining throughout. There was so much more to Millennium Park, there was the Kapoor’s sculpture, the 925-foot BP Pedestrian Bridge that is made of wood and steel, there was the walking trail, the children’s park, the bicycle path and more; much more.
They sat on a bench facing the scenic Lake Shore Drive. Lake Shore Drive was one of the few beaches in the US that truly was public domain; it belonged to the public. There was no housing built on the lakefront; only public parks, fountains and amusements. It was a beautiful curvy street that hugged the outskirts of Chicago's skyline while cuddling the sandy beach and pier area of Lake Michigan. Watching the far away boats making what would be one of their last summer cruises on Lake Michigan, Karen nibbled at a tuna melt sandwich with fries, while Angela stuffed herself on a bag of Garrett’s cheese and caramel mix popcorn.
“Do you think Brad really likes Judy like that?”
“I know can you believe he asked her out?”
“What about you and Gionni?” Karen asked.
“Get real, who takes him seriously.”
“He sounded pretty serious to me… But for real Brad asked Judy out.”
“I know, I don’t think I ever remember him taking a girl out from school.”
CHAPTER 4
* * * *
“How about that? I thought he was dating college girls back in high school.”
“You know…” Karen continued as she gave her next words some careful thought.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with any girl. What about you?”
Angela munched on her popcorn as she carefully considered Karen’s questions.
Her eyes bucked. “OMG. You are right. I’ve never seen him with a girl.”
“You don’t think?”
“What he’s saving himself?”
Their eyes met in anticipated excitement.
“OMG how exciting is that. Do you think he’s still a virgin?”
“No way… Guys don’t save themselves for stuff like that.”
“You’re right… But still. Hey what do think about Gionni? Do you think he’s ever done it?”
“For sure… And don’t even ask about Seth.”
They laughed. “You mean Iced…”
“That’s right StoneCold1… The Iceman.”
“Please he hasn’t been a virgin since he got out of pampers.” They laughed uncontrollably at the thought of his silliness.
“Where does he come up with that stuff?”
“Who knows. But you have to admit he’s entertaining.”
“Yeah he’s really something.”
Karen put her half eaten sandwich down and watched her friend.
“Don’t tell me? Angela you’ve got a crush on him? No way, right?” She held her breath as she waited for her friend’s answer.