Chapter 22
Maurice hadn't realized how hungry he was until his stomach started rumbling as he passed the Rock Bottom and smelled the grill smoke billowing from the restaurant. Since he'd just finished a three-hour workout and a pickup game of hoops with some guys at the University City YMCA, he felt as if he deserved a juicy steak and a fresh green salad.
His workout hadn't taken his mind off Kenya, as he'd hoped that it would. While he'd been lifting weights, a woman with a striking resemblance to Kenya had walked in, and Maurice had nearly dropped the 350-pound barbell on his chest.
As she'd gotten closer to him, he'd realized that it wasn't Kenya. She'd smiled at Maurice, mistaking his stare for interest. When he'd moved over to a machine to work on his quads, he'd seen another woman who reminded him of Kenya. As she'd squatted on the machine, he'd called out Kenya's name.
“Sorry,” she said. “I'm Lola.”
Maurice had mumbled his apologies, then attacked the machine for the next hour. All the while, thoughts of Kenya had danced in his head. He knew that he wasn't over her, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Parking his car across from the restaurant, Maurice dashed across the street and came face-to-face with Kenya.
God, she's beautiful
, he thought as he watched her take a sip from her glass. She smiled at the waiter as he set her dinner in front of her. His heart told him to leap over the green railing, pull her into his arms, and kiss her senseless. But he walked into the restaurant, avoiding a confrontation with Kenya. Suddenly, Charlotte felt like a small town. Maurice knew he was going to be running into Kenya, because they liked most of the same restaurants and went to the same shows and movies. He took solace in the fact that he would be heading to minicamp in a couple of weeks, and he'd be too tired to think about Kenya or anything else, other than learning the new offense.
While he waited to place his take-out order, Kenya walked into the restaurant from the patio and bumped into him.
“Excuse me,” she said, then looked up at him. “Maurice.”
“Kenya.”
“I was just . . . excuse me,” she said, then dashed away.
He had wanted to grab her arm and stop her, but when he saw that she was headed to the restroom, he was glad that he hadn't.
“Sir,” the waiter asked, “are you ready to order?”
“You know what? I think I want a table outside, next to that woman who just walked in.”
The waiter raised an eyebrow, then led him to the empty table next to where Imani was sitting. When she took a look at the man who'd taken a seat at the table beside her, Imani waved for the check, even though she and Kenya weren't finished with dinner.
“Imani,” Maurice said, “why are you tripping?”
“Because when Kenya comes back over here, you're the last person that she needs to see.”
“It's good to see you, too, Imani,” Maurice said sarcastically. “You look great.”
Imani shook her head. “Haven't you done enough? You haven't changed at all, have you?”
“Is this your business? You have no idea what's going on,” Maurice snapped.
“I know that you're an asshole. You hurt her in college, she forgave you and gave you another chance, and you blew it again. What's wrong with you? Don't you realize that Kenya is the best thing that ever happened in your sorry little life?” Imani's voice had risen with anger, causing a few patrons to turn around and look at them.
Maurice shook his head. “Still the same old Imani. Always sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.”
Imani looked toward the door and saw Kenya heading their way. “Mo, why don't you just leave? We've already toasted you out of her life.”
“Are you done?” Maurice asked when he saw Kenya approaching the table. “Because I'm pretty sure that Kenya doesn't need you to speak for her.”
“What's going on over here?” Kenya asked as she took her seat.
“Are you ready to go?” Imani asked.
Kenya looked over at Maurice and knew that she should've left. But she couldn't leave. There was so much she wanted to say to him, so much she needed to get off her chest. She needed closure, because she knew that they'd run into each other from time to time. Smiling at Imani, she said, “I'll meet you at the car.”
“Kenya,” Imani said.
“Imani, I can handle this. Meet me at the car. I'll take care of the check.”
Placing her hands on her hips, Imani shook her head at her friend, as if she was silently telling her that she was making a mistake. Kenya nodded as she sat down. Turning to Maurice, she asked, “Was all of that noise about me?”
“Your friend needs to mind her business,” he said.
“Imani's just looking out for me, and I'm not going to be mad at her for it.”
Maurice rolled his eyes as he turned around and faced Kenya. “And I'm the bad guy here? I'm the one who tried to seduce your sister to prove a point?”
“No, you just had sex on DVD for me and the world to see,” she countered.
“How many times do I have to tell you that DVD was fake? Even James tried to tell you, or were you too busy sticking your tongue down his throat to hear him out?”
Kenya reached for her purse, pulled out enough money to cover dinner, then rose quickly to her feet. “Go to hell, Maurice.”
Standing, he reached out and touched her arm, willing her to stay. “Wait. I don't want to argue with you,” he said. “We run in the same circles, and we're going to run into each other. Does it have to turn into a fight every time we say hello?”
“I guess we have no choice since my firm represents your realty company,” Kenya said begrudgingly.
“Good thing you assigned us another attorney,” he said flippantly.
She jerked away from him. “Then that means my office is off-limits. If I have anything at your place, burn it. The only thing left between us is business.” Kenya stomped off.
Imani was waiting at the car, with baited breath. She could imagine Kenya telling her that she and Maurice were going to give it another try. But when she saw the look on her friend's face, she knew that was not what she was about to hear.
“I don't know why I even talked to him. What was I thinking? I must like this. I must like letting him trample over my feelings,” Kenya said, her voice peppered with anger.
“What happened?”
“We argued, as usual,” she said. “Maurice and I should've just ignored each other in the Bahamas. Why can't I get that man out of my system?”
Imani shrugged her shoulders. “For whatever reason, you love him. But Maurice is selfish, and the only person he cares about is himself. Look at what he's done to you again. You've never done anything but love him, and he hurts you at every turn.”
Looking at her friend, Kenya thought about what she'd done with James so that she could hurt Maurice. She wasn't innocent, and she couldn't pretend that she was. She'd made the choice to seek revenge, and the consequences were losing Maurice. But she'd never felt as if she had him, anyway. Kenya had been constantly looking over her shoulder for Lauryn. And the old adage had proved to be true: when you look for trouble, you find it.
“Let's get out of here. The House of Jazz is hosting Mike Phillips tonight. Do you want to go?” Kenya asked.
“Sure. But can we head to your place and change first? I'm going to show you guys how we get down in Atlanta. And I need to call my husband.”
Kenya smiled weakly. Maurice was supposed to be her husband. They should've been making wedding plans instead of breaking up again. “How's Roland?”
Imani waved her hand and laughed. “He's Roland. He and my mother are teaming up against me to try and force me to have a baby. I want children, but I'm just not ready right now. That's one of the reasons I came up here this weekend. I swear that man's sneaking Viagra behind my back.”
Kenya laughed thinking that Roland was acting like a dog in heat, trying to hump Imani at every turn. “You might as well have a baby. You're not getting any younger.”
“Now you sound like my mother.” Imani's face grew serious, and Kenya knew where she was about to go. “Did you ever tell Maurice what happened in Atlanta?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he jump up and down and thank God?” Imani rolled her eyes as she spoke. “I'm sure he was all too glad to know that he didn't have the responsâ”
“Give it a rest, Imani. Maurice was very upset when I told him about the miscarriage, because he wants to be a father,” said Kenya.
Why am I defending him?
she thought.
Imani eyed Kenya quizzically. “Really?”
“He's not as bad as you think.”
“I know that Maurice has never seemed to care for you as much as you care for him. I'm surprised he even graduated after you left,” Imani ranted. “You wrote his papers, helped him with his math and everything else. You should get a cut of that huge contract he signed.”
Kenya slapped her thighs. “Just stop, Imani, please. This isn't all Maurice's fault. I did something that I shouldn't have done, and he has a right to be angry at me.”
“What did you do?”
Kenya unlocked the doors to her car, looking Imani in the eye. “Well, when I found out about him and Lauryn and the DVD, I wanted him to hurt like I was hurting. So, I tried to seduce James.”
“James? As in his brother? Oh my God, Kenya! Have you lost your mind?”
Rolling her eyes at Imani, Kenya opened the driver's door. “I know that I was wrong. Nothing happened, really. James and I kissed, but he knew what I was doing.”
“And Maurice? He knows, too?”
Kenya nodded solemnly. “He's never going to forgive me. I mean, Lauryn isn't my sister, they were engaged to be married, and Maurice swears that the DVD is a fake.”
Chewing her bottom lip, Imani shook her head from side to side. “It could be, not that it would make a difference. You and Maurice aren't good for each other. If it's not Lauryn, I'm sure he has a staple of groupies that follow him to every NFL city.”
“I know you don't like him, but when things are good between me and Maurice, they're good. I love him, and I wish I could stop.”
“You two are like a soap opera couple, just a lot of drama. Is that how you want to live your life?” Imani asked as she got into the car. “I've seen the good and the bad times with you two. The bad times almost killed you.”
But it isn't always drama. It's just that I keep waiting for something from the past to wreck our future,
Kenya thought as she got into the car.
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The weekend flew by. Kenya and Imani shopped, partied, and avoided talking about Maurice. As Sunday began to wind down, Kenya tried to prepare for the week ahead, but Maurice invaded her thoughts. Sitting on the sofa, she remembered times that they'd sat in that same spot, kissing, eating popcorn, and watching movies. She couldn't even walk into her bedroom without thinking about the times they'd made love in her bed. Earlier that day, while she'd been cleaning up, she'd found one of his T-shirts, with a faint smell of his cologne on it. As soon as she'd got a whiff of it, she'd wanted to call him and tell him that she was wrong, that she was sorry that she'd used James to get back at him, and that she desperately wanted to believe that he didn't want to be with Lauryn. She hadn't, though. And now the silence in her place was too loud, the memories of the two of them too strong. She finally admitted to herself that she had allowed her insecurities to wreck her relationship with Maurice.
Kenya knew that on the outside she seemed to have everything together, but she couldn't help but remember the cruel taunts that had haunted her from childhood, when she was a chubby little girl and stout teenager. Maurice had seen through that for a while, but as soon as cheerleader Lauryn had come along, and it was bye-bye, Kenya.
Once again, she decided against calling. If their relationship was over, then so be it. But hadn't she done everything to please him? Kenya had the overwhelming urge to watch the DVD, despite the fact that she was going to have to come face-to-face with seeing the man she loved making love to another woman. After walking over to the DVD player and pressing PLAY, she watched with bated breath as Lauryn's image filled the screen. Leaning in to get a closer look, Kenya began to see that Maurice might be right. The drapes in his bedroom were different from the ones on the DVD. As she looked at the man on top of Lauryn, she realized that it wasn't Maurice. The man had the same body shape as Maurice, but taking a closer look at his face, she saw he didn't look a thing like Maurice.
Kenya shut the DVD off and dropped her head in her hands. “What have I done?”