My Serenity

by M. Clarke

CHAPTER 5

  Seth

  “Then she flipped me off,” I explained, breathing hard.

  Elijah and I were on the treadmill, side-by-side. He was going faster than I was and breathing just fine. Damn! He was in good shape.

  “She gave you the bird?” Elijah looked highly amused. “Did you flip her off?”

  “Yeah.” I was too embarrassed to tell him that I’d lost my control to the point that it took me a few seconds to respond.

  “You did?”

  Hearing Elijah sounding surprised, I felt like crap. It wasn’t gentlemanly of me. It wasn’t what I usually would’ve done, but I had been so emotional that I didn’t care.

  Elijah took a sip of water from his water bottle. “Just letting you know in case you run into her. Let’s just say, even though the chances are very slim, you never know—but she’ll probably punch you if she sees you.” Elijah laughed. He was finding this humorous.

  I looked at my watch. “Are you talking from experience?”

  “No, but why are you looking at your watch? It’s ten. You have somewhere to go?”

  Elijah started picking up speed. I swore he’d be the death of me—or at least my heart. I didn’t want to look like a weakling so I started to speed up too.

  “Of course not. ‘Cause girls don’t flip you off, they bow down to you.”

  Elijah wiped the sweat off his forehead with the towel that was draped around his neck. “They do not.”

  I took a sip of water from the water bottle that I had put in the bottle holder attached to the treadmill. It felt refreshing. I wanted to pour it on me, to cool down my body. “If they’re not doing that then they’re busy staring at you—like the girls over there are staring at you.” I gestured with my head.

  Elijah didn’t look. “You give me too much credit. How do you know they’re not staring at you?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “How’s your mom? Is she coming around?”

  “I think so. Sara came home today. She says hi, by the way.”

  Elijah lifted the corners of his lips. He was probably recalling the days Sara would gawk at him when he’d come over for dinner or just to hang out with my family. Sara was all over him. He would be a good sport and talk to her, but I was thankful he never flirted back.

  “Tell her I said hi. How about Simon? Is he taking any days off from work? I mean, I’m sure you don’t need him and you’ve got things handled, but is he at least calling to check up on your mom?”

  “I didn’t ask.”

  By the time we got off the treadmill, my muscle shirt clung to my skin. Sweat beaded on my forehead, neck, and chest. After wiping sweat off my face, I turned to see the three ladies that were staring at us. I jerked from seeing them unexpectedly and so did Elijah.

  “Hi.” All three of them waved.

  “Hi,” I replied hesitantly. Elijah said nothing. “How can I help you?” I tossed the towel over my shoulder. I smiled at the fact that they were attractive, especially in their workout clothes.

  “My friends and I wanted to know if you and your friend would like to join us after you finish working out,” the blonde one said, curling her hair around her index finger. I knew that sign. She was nervous. I gave her credit for being brave.

  Elijah finished the last sip of his water. “Seth, I’m going to get another bottle. Do you need one?”

  “Yes, thanks.” I gestured toward the ladies with my eyes, asking Elijah what I was supposed to tell them. I knew he wasn’t going to go, but Elijah had asked me to join him for a late dinner with some of our friends after the workout. Elijah snickered and left without a word.

  I turned to the ladies with a smile. “He has a girlfriend.”

  “Oh….” One sighed disappointedly.

  “A group of my friends and I are going to be at the Pub House by the campus in about an hour. You can join us if you like.”

  “Thanks,” the redhead answered politely. They looked at each other, and as if they could read minds, the redhead spoke, “I’m Tammy.” She pointed to the blonde. “Her name is Shelly.” Then she pointed to the brunette. “Her name is Regina.”

  I nodded, greeting her with a smile. “Here’s my number.” I showed them on my cell. “Just in case you get lost. Are you from around here?”

  “We’re all seniors at Shepherd University,” Shelly giggled.

  “Oh, I graduated last year from there. Well, then you know where it is. See you then. Oh, we should be there in an hour.”

  “Bye,” they said at the same time and left smiling.

  “What took you so long?” I scoffed at Elijah.

  “Just giving you some alone time with them. Did you get their numbers?” He handed me a bottle.

  I opened it and took a gulp. “I gave them mine.”

  Elijah looked at me as if I just said something he couldn’t understand. “You never give out yours. You get theirs.” He took a few steps to the workout bench.

  “Well I—does it matter? I’m not good with this. Maybe I need a refresher course from you. It’s been a while since I asked a girl out. I mean, I dated a few in grad school, but it didn’t last long.”

  “Of course it matters. Girls like to be chased. For example, Alex was interested in me, but never once did she make a move on me. Anyway, we’d better finish so we can get to the Pub House on time. Do you want to be on top or bottom?”

  It took a moment for his words to sink in. It sounded so perverted, but I knew what he meant. “Elijah, you know I like to be on top,” I joked. I had to throw in that comment.

  Elijah rolled his eyes and shook his head with a grin. “Well, I’d like to be on top this time, so get your ass on the bench and press this motherfucker until your arms hurt like hell.”

  “You put way too much weight on. You might be able to press that much, but I can’t. Not yet anyway.” I took some off. “There. Now I can get on the bottom for you. Be prepared for some action.”

  “Okay, then. I want to see you sweating, grunting, and panting.”

  Everything sounded so sexual, and sometimes we worded it that way to be funny. Elijah and I were close that way.

  I spread my body along the length of the bench and positioned my hands evenly. I pushed the weight bar up while Elijah spotted me, then put it back on the resting pole. After several rounds of reps, I was getting tired. Then, it was Elijah’s turn. He added more weights before he began.

  “Show off,” I murmured while I spotted him.

  His face changed color. The veins down his neck and arms bulged out. “If you don’t shut up, I’m going to throw this at you.”

  “I dare you to, Superman.” I bet he could, so I changed the subject. “I think I’m going to go to Lexy’s and take a shower since she lives across from the market plaza.”

  “You’re welcome to come to my place and shower.” Elijah’s tone was strained.

  “No thanks, I prefer to take a shower by myself.”

  Elijah shook his head, spreading his lips. “Shut up.”

  I chuckled. “You only have one shower and looking at the time, it’ll be faster if I go to Lexy’s. I’ve already texted her. She said okay. She also said she’s bringing a friend.”

  “I thought she’s at work or whatever she’s doing.”

  “She’s helping the cafeteria manager train the new employees. You know she doesn’t work there anymore, right?”

  “Of course I know,” Elijah, moaned. “I’m the one that helped her get a job at the administration office. She’s moved up now to assistant in human resources. If all goes well, she’ll continue to climb quickly.”

  “She’ll be home by the time I finish taking a shower. I have a key to her apartment. She gave it to me when my dad passed away. She told me I could go there to escape from everyone.”

  “Fine.” Elijah sounded irate. “I’m almost done.” He really wasn’t upset, but when you’re working out and talking at the same time, the words come out like you’re annoyed.

  “Well, t
hat was fast. I didn’t even get to enjoy it. Are you this quick with Alex?”

  Elijah sat up, tilted his head with that “are you kidding?” look, and gave a small chuckle. “Yeah, you’re funny. Alex screams my name all night.”

  “I’m so jealous.” I threw the towel at him. “Get your ass up. I’m hungry.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Seth

  Heading upstairs to Lexy’s place, I reminisced about all the fun we’d had in college together. Those were the moments you couldn’t get back. We lived with no regrets and learned from our mistakes.

  With the key in my hand, I opened the door with reservation. Even with the invite, I didn’t like being there without Lexy. I turned on the light switch and walked in. Lexy had two bedrooms and one bathroom. She had decided not to head home to New York, but instead took Elijah’s offer, which I was glad she’d done. For my own selfish reasons, I wanted her to be near us. Her parents weren’t happy about it, but I knew in her heart she was looking for an excuse to stay.

  I was glad to walk in to a clean place. Her last roommate had driven her crazy by being untidy. Placing my bag down, I closed the bathroom door and texted Lexy: I’m inside your apartment getting naked.

  Okay. Do whatever you want, but only in the bathroom, and don’t tell me what you did. LOL!

  I read her text and laughed. Haha. Are you coming home first or will you meet us there?

  I’ll meet you there, she texted.

  I replied: Okay. Your apartment smells like a garden and your bathroom smells like roses.

  My friend did that. You’ll meet her tonight.

  Okay. Bye, I replied. When I stepped into the shower, my muscles immediately eased from the tension and stress. The warmth from the water gave me shivers down my spine in the most soothing way. I lathered up the shampoo on my hair and then washed my body. Something about being alone in the shower made me think of things I tried to forget.

  I hadn’t thought about my dad for the past two hours, but now that I was alone, the memories came crashing through. You can escape from sadness for some time, but you can never run away from it. My muscles might have loosened, but my heart felt heavy, weighing me down. Having Sara at home would add a little bit more needed sunshine to our cloudy days.

  I turned off the water, grabbed my towel, and wrapped it around my waist. I was just about to wipe myself dry when I heard a noise. Lexy had told me she was going to meet us there, so why did it sound like someone was home? Strange. Did someone break in? I decided to keep still but looked around for something to protect myself with, just in case. There was nothing. I grabbed the hair spray from the counter and held it close to me as my heart pounded with anticipation. At least I could spray it in the intruder’s face.

  Just as the door opened I popped out, dripping wet. I heard a scream so loud that it made me cringe. The high-pitched screeching could have cracked the mirror. The bathroom was small, and having another body in there limited our space. Then I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder and someone knocking the hair spray out of my hand. It happened in the blink of an eye. Somehow, from the weight of her holding on to me, I fell on top of her with my knees bent, so I wouldn’t crush her. Holy shit! It was the waitress from the restaurant. The girl I had thought was the same person that flipped me off.

  I was staring at her beautiful brown eyes and she was staring back at me. We were both in shock. All I heard was the sound of our beating hearts trying to get back to the steady pace. I hadn’t felt like this about anyone for a long time, and here she was, right under me. I didn’t know how long we looked into each other’s eyes, but it was long enough for me to know that I wanted to ask her out, and she made my world stop spinning. When a drop of water from my hair fell on her cheek, she blinked and broke our gaze.

  “Sorry about that. Are you okay?” I pulled back my lips that were unknowingly gravitating toward hers.

  She tilted her head with a questioning look, studying me—then studying me some more. I stayed still, wondering what she was thinking. Was there something on my face?

  “Seth?” Her words came out softly and were hardly audible. It didn’t dawn on me at first, but looking at her closely—the warm color of her eyes, the shape of her bunny-like nose, the high cheekbones, and those lips that were so full anyone would think she had gotten plastic surgery—reminded me of someone from my past. It couldn’t be, after all these years, could it? Sometimes fate brought two people together at the most unexpected time.

  “Josefina Anders?” My tone rose with exhilaration.

  “Seth?” Her eyes twinkled and grew.

  I nodded. “Josie?”

  “Seth!” She exclaimed. “Oh my God!”

  “What? How?” I helped her up, then felt all of her body touching mine. Her hands running across my chest like we were making out almost gave me a rise. Already thinking she was attractive and unable to get her out of my mind ever since she flipped me off, my body was on fire from her touch. When she backed away, I felt a rippling sting on my cheek. I didn’t realize what had happened until I turned my head and saw my own reflection in the mirror. What the fuck! She slapped me? I turned back to her in shock with my hand over my cheek.

  “That’s for not calling me back, asshole.” With her hands on her hips, I couldn’t tell what her true expression was. Was she mad or happy to see me? I didn’t get it.

  I gripped the towel around my waist that was about to fall. “What in the hell are you talking about? You never showed up for school the day after you gave me your number.”

  “It wasn’t my fault,” she answered somberly, looking down.

  Josefina

  I couldn’t believe it was my Seth. I had dreamed all these years that we would reunite, but never did I imagine it would come true. We were in sixth grade the last time I’d seen him. He looked so handsome and different all grown-up, yet I could still see his glowing emerald eyes when he looked at me, the high cheekbones, the chiseled jaw, and his perfect forehead. I could still see the boy I fell in love with.

  When he walked out of the shower with his hair dripping wet, and the wetness cascading down his six-pack—a body that would turn any woman’s head—my sex drive raced into high gear. I didn’t know it was Seth at first. In fact, I had no idea what the hell I was doing attacking a stranger. All I wanted to do was use the restroom before I changed and met Lexy at the address she’d texted to me. Never in a million years would I have imagined running into my elementary school love like this, but I didn’t mind at all. I could still remember the last day I saw Seth as if it had happened yesterday.

  “Seth. I’m going to give you my number, just in case.” I tried not to choke up when I handed the yellow Post-it note to him. Even though I knew that today was going to be the last day I saw him, I had to pretend that it wasn’t. I knew it would break his heart. And if I didn’t say it, then it meant that it wasn’t really happening.

  It was easy for me to pretend because I’d done it so many times with my mom. It was the only way I could keep myself together when she would have her moments. Many times I wanted to tell Seth how I hated going home and how much I enjoyed being with him, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t get the words out. How could I tell someone who had a wonderful family that my family was fucked up? He wouldn’t understand the degree of dysfunction in our family. It would only make him worry, and I didn’t want to add that extra burden on him.

  “Just in case what? I’ll see you tomorrow and every day.” Seth took a whiff of it and shoved it in the back pocket of his jeans. “It smells like roses, just like you, Josie Rosie.”

  Seth knew how much I loved roses, so Josie Rosie had become my nickname. No one else was allowed to call me by that name except for Seth. “I like the smell of roses. I borrowed my mom’s perfume,” I told him as we walked around the basketball court area after lunch. That was our daily routine. We would have lunch with our friends, and then separate from them. Since we weren’t allowed to hold hands, we found a perfect spot where we could.
>
  “I thought you weren’t allowed to touch your mom’s things?”

  “I’m not. She gets really mad. She wasn’t home when I did it.”

  “You shouldn’t do things like that. You’ll get in trouble.”

  He was right. But the truth was, whether I touched it or not, Mom would find a reason to punish me. So why not make the most of it and do what she said I did? When Seth reached for my hand, I jumped into his arms and held him tightly. I didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want to let him go, but I had to. I wanted to remember how he felt—the joy he always gave me. His friendship and his love for me were sunshine to my rainy days at home. He had no idea how much he meant to me and how much I would miss him.

  “Is everything okay?” Seth asked, caressing my back. “You’re not planning to break up with me, are you? Is this like an ‘I’m sorry, but you’re not my boyfriend anymore’ kind of hug?”

  I squeezed all the tears out and wiped them so he couldn’t see. “Something flew in my eyes,” I lied when I looked at him. One big difference between girls and guys, I had noticed, was that they were a whole different species. Sometimes, they had no clue.

  “Let me see,” he urged.

  “I’m going to the girls’ bathroom. Just promise me you won’t lose my number.”

  Surprising Seth, I kissed his lips for the very first time. It was short, sweet, and perfect. Without looking back, I ran. Little did he know, I was told to go to the office after I had my lunch. It was the last time he would see me, and it was my last memory of Seth.

  “So where did you go?” Seth inquired.

  I wasn’t sure if I’d heard him correctly. It was difficult to answer him when my eyes betrayed me and flashed down to his chest that looked so deliciously wet. After I purposely rubbed my hands on it and felt that muscular body, I wanted more. I thought about hugging him again and accidentally pulling down the towel, but I concentrated on the smell of lavender oozing from his body to distract myself.

  “Huh?” I broke out of my naughty thoughts. “Somewhere. Hey—I have to be somewhere. Do you think we can exchange numbers and catch up later?”