Unexpected Love (10 page)

Dee responded in a comforting tone, “TC, you got it bad. Damn, girl, you are in love, but don’t you know that love conquers all? We all had to come back to reality, but no matter how hard or complicated things get, you can make it through with love on your side. You have us. We love you, and the guy you’re talking about is here for you. You said he loves you, and I trust you know what you’re talking about. TC, we also know more had to have taken place in Rio. Talk to us. You may be surprised what we already know. Who is the guy?”

TC sighed. “Ok, I can’t go into details because he’s picking me up, and I’m going to his house so we can talk. I’ve been avoiding him for about a week, and he noticed I missed a couple of classes. He’s concerned.”

El interrupted. “Wait. How does he know you’ve miss time from school? Does he go to your school?”

TC continued. “Yes and no. You two have seen him before, but you didn’t have a chance to get a real good look at him. Well Dee saw him from a distance in RIO, but you both saw him from the balcony once. Lke I said he was in Rio. Did you all know I was a virgin?”

El responded, “Yes, we did. As tight, serious, and wired up as you were, yes, we knew it. We were just messing with you with the sex jokes, and we apologize. Nevertheless, we knew that you were in control of your body, and when you were ready that day would come sooner or later to decide to have sex. Hell, you are a grown ass woman. Who are we to judge you or even tell you what to do? That is an awesome attribute for you.”

TC giggled, “Well it used to be an attribute.”

El and Dee started screaming. “Shut the front door!” El yelled.

“I told you, Dee. I told you something was different. She is too laid back. Plus, when has TC ever missed any of her classes, except to avoid that Professor Seth Howard. Man, that’s a sexy name,” El rambled.

El looked at TC, suspicion in her expression. “Is Professor Seth Howard the man you fell in love with? He’s the one you had a DTD moment with?”

TC nodded.

“Get the freak out of here! OMG, OMG! I would have never imagined,” El exclaimed. “My little sister is a grown woman! And, Dee, how come you’re not acting that surprised?”

El hugged TC’s neck but drew back to stare. TC slapped a hand up to her neck, knowing her sister had noticed the passion mark.

“Damn, you two must have been really into it. You have bite marks on your neck. I never had that.”

Dee answered, “Well, I was with his best friend. The guy who told us TC was ok. I just figured it out. Junnie told me that was his best friend, but I didn’t know it was Professor Howard. I mean Seth until now. TC, you’re stressing and blowing all this out of proportion, but I have a feeling good things are about to happen for you. Just take everything in stride. Junnie told me he’s never seen his best friend act like this before. He said Seth must really be into my sister. ”

TC replied, “Oh and for the record, there was never a DTD moment. It was an NCAA week.”

El and Dee both looked puzzled. “Ok, we know DTD is ‘Drop the Draws,’ but what is ‘NCAA’, TC?” Dee exclaimed.

TC clarified, “It means ‘NO CLOTHES AT ALL!’

El shouted, “
Damn!
Brother was laying it on you wasn’t he?”

TC stood and walked to the door to answer a knock, mentioning over her shoulder to El and Dee, “Brother is massive in the delivery department too!”

El begged her to wait before she answered the door. “Well, what about the woman and all the other stuff that was going on?”

TC answered quickly. “Look, I got to answer the door. It’s all resolved and a misunderstanding on our part, mostly me. We’ll talk about it later.” She swung the door open.

El and Dee fell back into the chair as they reacted to Seth’s presence. “Damn!” they said in unison.

TC invited Seth in. “Sorry, that seems to be the word of the day. I need to grab my bag and sunglasses.”

“Hello, ladies.”

TC watched El and Dee from the kitchen entry as they became speechless and fell into a deep stare. She then heard El and Dee call her to the kitchen. “Yes? Meet me in the kitchen,” TC answered.

“Shhh whisper, girl. Are you sure you can handle all that? We didn’t realize he looked that good. I mean damn good! I mean massive muscle everywhere. If he’s massive up top, we know he’s…” El emphasized.

TC ended the conversation by walking out and yelling, “
Massive!
”

* * * *

TC tried to create small talk. “Babe, I love your place, and it’s really not that far from school.”

After Seth dropped his keys he walked over to her. “I told you I would never hurt you, and you said the same. What are you doing? Are you bringing this to an end before it really gets started? Why are you avoiding me? If I hadn’t convinced you to let me come get you, it would have been two weeks since I’ve seen you or talked to you. I love you, babe. Even more now that we’re back. What’s wrong? This can work! What do you see as a problem?”

TC took a step back from him and held her mouth and stomach. “Where’s the bathroom?” All of a sudden, she felt like she was minutes from throwing up.

“Babe, are you ok? You don’t look too good. What’s wrong?”

TC could hear Seth, who stood outside, knocking on the bathroom door. She turned on the water while she was throwing up.

TC waited until she flushed the toilet before answering. “I’m ok. I just need to sit down.” She opened the door and walked to the couch.

“Are you really ok, babe,” Seth asked. She saw the worry in his eyes and patted his leg. The queasiness in her stomach hadn’t settled down much.

“Ever since I returned, I don’t feel like myself. I think I’m coming down with something. Maybe I caught a virus on the plane. I just feel week and tired. It may all be psychological. This might be too much for me right now.”

“What are you saying, TC?” Anxiety filled his tone.

“Ok, babe, you’re not going to want to hear this. I’m… I mean… I have decided that we should take a break for a minute. I mean at least until I graduate. I’m not interested in anyone else. I just need to focus, and I can’t do that with you. When I’m with you, you’re all I can think of. I can’t concentrate at all. I failed a couple of tests for the first time in my academic career. This is not me. This is also why I wouldn’t date or go out with anyone because I didn’t want the distraction.

Surely being a professor you can understand where I’m coming from. I’m an
A
student. My GPA is a 4.0. I like it like that. I still love you too. I still want to be with you. I am not trying to hurt you or break your heart. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m just asking for some time to finish school.”

Seth listened with a disturbed expression on his face. He wouldn’t look her in the eyes as he usually did. “TC, I don’t know what to say, but this does hurt. I feel like I’m being pushed away. Why can’t you learn to balance everything? This is how life is. This is reality. I feel that there’s more to this than you’re actually telling me. I feel so connected to you, and it seems like someone is trying to rip my heart out my chest with their bare hands. So stop covering things up and say what’s really on your mind. I think I have an idea, but I’m going to wait for you to open up to me.”

TC got upset. “See, there you go. You think you know me, but you don’t. Stop trying to analyze me. We’ve only been together for almost two weeks. You act as if we’ve had some extensive time together.” TC was denying her true feelings of being in love with Seth. “People don’t fall in love that fast. This could be nothing more than lust. Tears begin to fall from her eyes.

Seth grabbed her and pulled her to his chest. “Babe, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry. Please forgive me. No, no, don’t do that.” TC tried to resist Seth, but he refused to let her go. “I don’t want you crying.” Kissing her face and tears, Seth picked TC up and carried her to the bedroom to lay her on the bed. “You are so stressed. Let me give you a massage. I will make you feel better. I hear you, TC. I will give you what you want. I will also wait for you. Just don’t tell me to wait if you really aren’t going to come back to me. Please don’t do that to me. I believe you love me, and I’m about to remind you how much I love you. I want to remind you of what we shared in Rio. We made mad passionate love. It was something I myself never experienced. This is how I know you are the one for me, TC. You are my babe.”

She laid on the bed while he took both their clothes off, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Oh Seth, I love you too,” TC whispered.

“Do you have classes tomorrow?”

“No,”

He looked into her eyes and stroked her cheek. “Then stay tonight.” Seth continued kissing her all over. TC was so immersed with pleasure that she begin grabbing the sheets tightly on the bed.

“Oh my god, this feels so good. Seth you said you understood. This isn’t fair.” TC groaned.

“I know, babe. Life isn’t fair, and I’m fighting for what’s mine. I’m fighting for my love. I want you to remember and come back to me. I also want you to remember that each time we make love, it gets better than the last time. Open your legs so I can enter into your love canal,” Seth commanded. TC surrendered her will to Seth’s love.

* * * *

“Babe, babe?” TC called as she was waking up. She noticed a note left on the bed and grabbed it. She jumped to the floor feeling a little lightheaded, and then searched the house to find Seth gone. “Where is he? He’s just going to leave without saying anything? Oh yeah, the note.”

Dear TC,

My love, you are my heart. Not being with you or the thought of losing you is driving me crazy. When I made love to you for the first time, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I know I am moving too fast for you. I can understand that and respect that. I would even be willing to slow things down a bit, but you don’t want that either. You just want to call it quits. I’m trying to accept and respect what you want, but I can’t stand by and watch you walk out my life. I can’t pretend Rio never happened. I left you a spare key to my house. You will always be welcomed in my heart. There’s breakfast in the kitchen. You’ll find mangos and pineapples in a bowl, just like the ones we ate every morning in Rio. I wish you much success, babe. You know where to find me if you need me.

Love forever yours,

Seth

Chapter Eleven

Graduation & Special Gifts

I am getting tired of sitting in this lobby. I wish they come on and call my name. I was on time for my appointment.
TC walked up to the receptionist. “Excuse me, ma’am, but can you tell me how much longer it will be before my name is called?”

“Well I can check for you,” the receptionist answered. “Wait one moment. It appears you will be called next. Please forgive us. We are short staffed today. The University is in the process of hiring two more doctors for the health clinic.”

“Ok, thank you,” TC replied. Before she could return to her seat she heard her name. “Casey Shaw, Ms. Casey Shaw?” the nurse called.”

“Right, here,” TC responded.

“Have a seat, Ms. Shaw,” the nurse instructed. “I will be taking your vitals, and the doctor will be in shortly.”

“Good afternoon, Ms. Shaw. My name is Dr. John Wells. What brings you in today?”

“Well, I haven’t been feeling too good for a while now. Sometimes I think I have a cold, and other times I feel like I have a virus or something. I know I was dehydrated so I increased my water intake. I lost some weight, but I thought that was from not eating much. I’m always hungry, but I can’t keep it down. I’m not anorexic. I throw up unexpectedly. I will be graduating next week, and I’m trying to get myself in shape.”

The doctor looked impressed. “Oh, congratulations. That’s awesome, Ms. Shaw. I’m glad for you. What are your plans after graduation, and why do you feel you need to be in shape?”

TC responded, “I want to be in shape because I’m planning to do some traveling after graduation. I don’t want to be feeling sick on the plane. So can you help me, Dr. Wells?”

The doctor got up to wash his hands. “I’m certainly going to try, but first let’s do an examination and then get some lab work on you. So you said you’ve felt this way for a while. What’s a while? Plus, you look a little pale which indicates you still may be dehydrated. When was your last menstrual period?”

TC thought about it. “I’ve been feeling this way since March, so about two or three months. My last menstrual was back in February. I had some spotting in March, but nothing after that.”

The doctor paused with a questioning look. “Ms. Shaw, did you consider that you might be pregnant?”

TC answered immediately. “No, sir. Don’t be alarmed, Dr. Wells. My menstrual is very irregular. It skips months all the time. I just figured stress was the main reason. Plus I’m not involved with anyone at the moment. So I don’t believe that’s an issue for me.”

Dr. Wells reassured her. “Nonetheless, let’s just cover all the bases and have a pregnancy test done. If it’s negative at least we can rule that off the list as a possible cause of your illness. After you go to the lab to get your blood drawn, we will give you a call with the results. Please make sure we have a number where you can be reached. If you don’t hear from us within two days, you can give us a call.”