“Do we have any more classes together?” Joy asked.
“Naw. But we can meet up after school. Okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, and he walked off.
Joy panicked when she realized that he hadn’t said where they were to meet, and he had already left. She quickly recovered when she remembered that she would see him tomorrow morning anyway. The rest of the day went by smoothly. Joy looked for Josh while walking to her classes and during her lunch. Not seeing him, she started to feel down.
When school was over she walked out the front door of the main building, still looking for Josh. Still she didn’t see him, so she decided to just go home and see him tomorrow. While walking to the Metro, she heard someone call her name. She turned to see who it was and her stomach tightened. She smiled, praying her nervousness wouldn’t be obvious to him.
“You wasn’t even going to wait for me?” Josh asked.
“I didn’t know where, so I just figure I see you tomorrow.”
“Well, I thought I would have time to chill a minute and talk to you, but something came up. Let me get your number and I call you later tonight,” he said.
“Okay,” Joy agreed, telling him her number as he entered it in his phone.
“Aight, so I call you later,” he said, walking away.
“Bye,” Joy said.
“Bye,” she heard him reply.
The whole way home, she smiled as she thought about Josh. There was something about him that really attracted her. The mixture of his good looks and charisma was a perfect combination. When Joy got home, she went straight to her room. Her mother was probably in her room, as usual. Her father, she knew, wasn’t home. She took off her clothes, got comfortable and waited for Josh to call. She sat there for a while. Bored, she turned on the TV, her mind still on Josh as she flipped through the channels. She kept looking at the phone, wondering why he hadn’t called yet. She wanted to talk to him badly. “Why am I stressing?” she said out loud. “I don’t even know him.”
Joy went downstairs to get something to eat, but couldn’t find anything in the refrigerator. She couldn’t remember the last time she had had a home cooked meal. Her mother never cooked, which in Joy’s opinion was a good thing. Her father did all the shopping but was rarely ever home to eat, let alone cook. Nobody had ever shown her how, so she considered herself the microwave queen. Opening the freezer, she found her favorite—super pretzels. She grabbed the box, took two out and put them on a paper plate. While she waited, she decided to wash the few dishes, mainly cups, that were in the sink.
The microwave dinged just as Joy was letting the water out of the sink. Grabbing a bottled water and the mustard, she went back to her room. As she grew closer to her bedroom door, she heard her phone ringing. She hurried up the steps, nearly dropping the contents in her hands. She placed the bottles under her arm so that she could open the door. But by the time she walked into her room, the phone had stopped ringing. Placing the stuff on her dresser, she picked up her phone. She had six missed calls, all from a number she didn’t recognize. It had to be Josh, she thought.
The phone rang again; she didn’t even let it ring a second time. “Hello.”
“Joy?”
“Yeah. Who dis?” she asked, knowing it was Josh because no other dudes had her number.
“Josh. Wassup? I called you like a hundred times,” he joked.
“It wasn’t a hundred, it was only like six. I was downstairs getting something to eat,” she said, laughing.
“Well, I’m glad you picked up this time, because I wasn’t going to call you no more if you didn’t.”
“I am too.”
“So, when can I see you outside of school?” he asked.
“I don’t know. What do you mean?” she asked, nervous.
“You should come to my house one day and chill,” he suggested.
“Okay,” she said, not really sure what else to say.
“I just want to get to know you,” he said, trying to ease her mind.
“When would you like me to come around?” she asked, still uneasy.
“I don’t know, but soon.”
“Aight.”
“I have to do something for my mom, so I call you a little later,” he said, hanging up.
Joy closed her phone and put in on the charger. She was disappointed that she couldn’t talk to him longer.
The next day at school was different. Everywhere she turned she saw Josh. He didn’t ask her to his house no more, which Joy was happy about, because it had made her apprehensive. They started having lunch together most days. He paid for her food and they would sit and talk. Joy looked forward to this every day and was disappointed whenever he wasn’t there—which was often, because he had to cut class to chill with her at lunch, and his teacher reported him. They were already two months into school by then. After school and on the weekends, they would spend all their free time together. For the first time since Joy could remember, she felt happy.
Chapter Five
Joy opened her eyes and at first couldn’t remember where she was. She looked at the clock. It was a little after eight pm. That’s right, she remembered, she was at Kevin’s. She hoped he would come back soon. Feeling kind of hungry, she climbed out of bed and went to the kitchen, where she looked in his refrigerator. Hearing something behind her, she turned to see Kevin walking in carrying two bags.
“Hey, girl,” he said, smiling.
“Hey,” Joy replied.
“Sorry I’m back so late, but sometimes people have long receptions and they want pictures of every moment,” he explained.
“It’s cool. I was asleep, anyway,” Joy said, not looking at him.
“You must be hungry. I thought I make you some of my famous spaghetti,” he said.
“Sounds good. I’m starving.”
“I am too. The food at the reception was nasty. They kept offering me food, so I tried some fish and some other stuff that didn’t look good in the first place. As soon as I put it in my mouth I wanted to spit it out. The bride’s grandma was all in my face, so I held it in my mouth until I had a chance to get up from the table,” he said, laughing. “I mean, that shit was nasty,” he added, still laughing.
“That’s crazy,” she said, with little enthusiasm.
“What’s wrong with you? You sound so down. What happened?” he asked.
Joy took a deep breath. “Josh called me with some shit, talking ’bout he wants to see me. He said he was coming down here, to his aunt’s house. I was just a little upset by his call.”
“Are you going to be okay?” he asked, clearly concerned.
“Yeah, I’m just glad you came back,” she said sincerely.
“Are you going to see him?” he asked.
“No. I definitely don’t want to,” she said, though sounding unsure.
“Is it because of me?” he asked, curious.
“Honestly, yes and no. Yes, because you’re so opposite him. In only two days you showed me what it’s like to be treated right by someone. Josh couldn’t even do that in four years. I mean, he was all right in the beginning, but he showed me a lot of things about his self that should have made me walk away a long time ago. No, because Josh pushed me away for the last time. I know I’m young, but I loved him and I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. But this was the last straw,” she said, more confident now.
“You sound sure. Let me get started on dinner while you go relax.”
“Okay.”
As she was walking away, Kevin grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him. Sensing that she needed it, he squeezed his arms tighter around her. He sensed how good it made her feel. When he let go, they looked into each other’s eyes and it was like fireworks had gone off. Before either of them knew it, they were kissing. Kevin stuck his tongue as far as it could go into Joy’s mouth. She sucked on his tongue as her hands moved to his belt and struggled to undo his pants. He helped her and then stepped out of his pants. Next he stepped out of his drawers. He stuck two fingers inside Joy’s pussy and felt her wetness. He moaned deep with the anticipation of feeling her again. Joy grasped his fingers and pushed them deeper inside her. Turning her around, he entered her from behind. Joy leaned against the counter and moaned loudly, then screamed out as she came. When Kevin felt he was about to come, he pulled out and came all over her butt. He then went and grabbed a rag and cleaned them both off.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?” Joy asked.
“Not putting on a condom,” he said, frowning.
“It’s my fault too, because I could have stopped you and told you to put one on. We both just got caught up in the moment. For some reason, you affect me so strongly. My body just calls to you or something,” Joy said.
“I know.”
Joy moved closer and kissed him on the lips.
“Let’s not start that again,” he said, laughing. She laughed with him. “Want to order out? Because I don’t think I’m up to cooking right now,” he said with a smile.
“Sounds good.”
Kevin went to grab the menus while Joy went into the bedroom to pick a movie and set it up. Just as she finished doing that, Kevin walked in the room, looking at one of the menus he had in his hands. He stepped on something and almost fell. He looked down and saw the back of Joy’s phone. Joy looked at him and followed his eyes. She then closed her eyes, embarrassed by her anger. He frowned as he put the menus on the bed and reached down, picking up the two pieces of what used to be Joy’s phone.
“Why you break your phone?” he asked, still frowning.
“I was mad,” she said quietly, not looking at him.
“You can’t let that dude make you this mad,” he said, putting his arms around her.
Joy stepped closer to him and let him hold her as she began to cry.
“It’s okay,” he said, rubbing her back. He then eased her onto the bed and laid her down, kissing her on both cheeks and her lips. “I’ll go run you a bath. That will make you feel better. You just lie here.” He wiped the tears off her face. He couldn’t explain it, but something about her touched his heart, and it hurt him to see her upset.
He went into the bathroom and started running the water, remembering he had some candles in the closet that he had never used. He wasn’t really into candles, but somebody had given them to him and he couldn’t bring himself to throw them away. He was glad that he hadn’t, he thought as he lit them and placed them around the tub, adding some vanilla bath oil to the water. He liked the way it smelled, so he used it even though the boys got on him about smelling sweet. He tested the water to make sure it was warm enough and then went to get Joy. She was still lying there, her eyes closed. As he whispered her name she opened her eyes a slit. He helped her up and led her to the bathroom.
“I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I’m upset. It just seems so unfair to me. I just want him to leave me alone. I wish I never met him,” she said, feeling he deserved some kind of explanation for her strange behavior.
“It’s cool. I understand how it goes. My ex-girlfriend had a baby by my uncle. She tried to say it was mine, but my uncle confessed that he had sex with her and said the baby could be his. So we did the DNA test and come to find out it was his. The fucked up thing is that I get to see her at all the birthdays and other family events, especially since they went and got married,” he said, shaking his head at the memory.
“Oh shit. That’s so fucked up,” Joy agreed.
“But I am glad that my uncle told me before I went and married her, because I was going to buy her a ring right before I talked to him.”
“This is so nice. Why don’t you get in with me?” she suggested, trying to lighten the mood.