by Love Belvin
“Very well.” He offered a neck bow before leaving, not paying another glance my way to see if I agreed.
It wasn’t personal. NormaJean was that mesmerizing.
“How’s your mother?” A note of sincerity in her cords.
NormaJean crossed her fingers painted a dark red at the square tips. Her head wrapped in a black turban with sparkling gems in the Chanel brooch holding it together. Only NormaJean could wear such a piece as a necessity and make the shit look like classic vogue, similar to the simple diamond studs in her ears. I guessed at thirty-four years old, she had it down to a science.
I chuckled, rubbing just beneath my bottom lip. “She’s good.”
“Still teaching at William Paterson?”
“Nah. She started at Kean this fall. They have a larger and ‘more active’ women’s health program, according to her.”
NormaJean scoffed, “Damn feminist. Does she still hate me?’
A harsh chuckle pushed from my nostrils. “NormaJean, my dear, my mother will go to her grave hating three people: her father, my father, and you.”
Finding it funny her damn self, she giggled. “I guess I deserve that.” Her eyes twinkled, spearing into me. “Enduring her animosity for me is one penance I wear without regret.” She angled her head. “Give the young lady a break.”
My head reared and eyes narrowed. “That was a swift change of pace.”
“Keep up.” Her chortle was breathy. “Instead of viewing her as disgraceful, useless, and annoying, you should try seeing her as a young, untarnished bud filled with potential the world needs.”
I scoffed. “You’ve got a lot of faith in a young, mean ass girl you’ve never met.”
“Because I was once a young, mean ass girl most wished they never knew.”
“That’s because I hadn’t been born yet. If so, you would’ve lost your mind from the smiles I put on your face.” I flashed a wicked smile.
With a repressed grin, NormaJean shook her head. “You wouldn’t have known how to make me lose my mind: I taught you those primal skills. You forget?”
Snapping my fingers then pointing to her, I agreed, “Touché.”
She scratched above her brow, smiling bashfully. “Now, back to the point. Everyone deserves grace. If she’s a horrible person—which I doubt she is—hopefully she’ll improve. Two of the best things I did were grow the hell up and make friends.” I nodded, appreciating her revelation. “And thank goodness I learned to. It made this whole cancer experience that much more bearable. Thanks to friends like you and others, I’m not going to die alone.”
My mouth dropped and nose flared. “Is that why you flew out here?”
That’s fucked up!
Flying so far to dump death in my lap.
“Oh, dear, no!” She giggled. “Ashton, calm down.”
I tried relaxing in the dimly lit restaurant, but I had no control over my heartrate that was now on fucking Pluto.
“Then what are you saying, woman?”
Her lips met, mouth widened into a smile, and long thick lashes smacked. “I’m cancer free, Ashton.”
My eyes burst wide and spine inclined in my seat. “Are you serious right now?”
Her lips parted and those perfectly white chiclets appeared. NormaJean smiled so big and bright, something I could only recall seeing after fucking for hours straight. When she nodded, I shot to my feet and leaped to the other side of the table. I grabbed her wrapped head and kissed her forehead. Her little hands rounded my waist and squeezed.
“I’m so fucking proud of you, girl!” I whispered through gritted teeth.
“Thanks, Ashton.” Her voice was small, and unusually fragile.
I took back to my seat, relieved as hell. It had been a tough past eight months of surgery then chemo. I’d taken more last-minute flights just to be by her side than she’d been able to talk me out of. I missed a game last season when she had an emotional breakdown after having both breasts removed. In her line of work, those accessories carried six zeros or more behind them.
“Thank God,” I muttered, meaning it. I may have acted like a heathen, but I knew God. Well. “This shit is finally over.”
“Well, let’s hope so.”
I shook my head. “Let’s say so, and let that be the end of it.” Still processing what this meant, I punched the air with passion.
NormaJean laughed. She’d still been underweight, but the color in her golden bronzed skin had returned some since I’d seen her this summer. I knew she had her last session of chemo before I returned to school, but she never mentioned the assessment her doctors had to do when it was up.
A thought occurred. “So, this is why you flew all the way out here.”
Giggling, she nodded. “Yes, Ashton.” Her arms went into the air, gesturing Mario, the best formal restaurant in my college-town. “This is why I came out here. To give you the news face-to-face. You deserve that courtesy after all the support you’ve shown.”
The waiter returned, handing me the check.
“No.” Her hand pushed into the air. “This was my invite; my treat. I insist.”
“You came all the way out here to share the best news I’ve heard in forever, and you think I won’t get the bill? You must be out your damn mind, girl.”
I handed my American Express to the waiter without glancing at the tab. It was easily over two hundred bucks, but pennies for the company.
“So what are you doing to celebrate?” I asked when the waiter took off.
“Well, I just started, by coming out here to see you. I’m going to head back to the airport and fly out to Paris for a few weeks. GiGi and the crew want to hit the circuit, and that takes time.” Then she rolled her neck, cheekbones highlighted. “And how do you plan to celebrate.” The devilish gleam in her eye clarified her inquiry.
I chuckled. “Go back to my apartment and work on these written interviews before the department’s PR head chews my ass out.”
“A young man your age should have a willing celebratory partner on speed dial.”
My brows lifted, uninspired. “I have a girlfriend. No speed dial feature on either of my phones.”
She spat in the air. “Give me a fucking break. Girlfriend my ass. I swear, I can still strangle her.”
A quiet chortle pushed from my chest. “It wouldn’t help. Aivery’s Aivery.”
“Fuck her,” NormaJean hissed, crossing her arms over her chest. “She doesn’t know how many of those girls on campus would die to be in your bed…your girlfriend, no less. She needs to grow the hell up, and before you’re drafted in the spring. I still don’t think she should have a ticket to your train. Find another girl, one who has a fucking clue.”
“Hey!” I waved my palms in the air. “Don’t kill my vibe by bringing her into this moment with my cougar/bestie/favorite pinup girl.” I laughed, and NormaJean did, too. Sobering, I added, “But this is huge for me. Congrats, baby girl. You’re the toughest woman I know.”
“Why thank you, Ashton Spencer. I’m happy to have this moment with you.”
The waiter returned my card with receipts for me to sign. When I wrapped that up, NormaJean and I left the table. I assisted with her Burberry cape near the front door when a suited man approached us.
“I’m sorry, Spencer.” His smile was goofy. “But Ms. Norma J, do you mind?” He pointed to a waitress who held up a camera.
My questioning gaze met NormaJean’s. I knew how particular she was about her appearance, especially after having just finished chemo recently. “Maybe some other time—”
“It’s okay, Ashton,” NormaJean insisted. “Unless it’s not okay with you...”
“Totally fine.” I backed away to give them room.
After a few clicks and flashes, and seeing a bit of the fire back in her eyes, a weight lifted from my shoulders. I had no idea I’d been carrying the stress of her recurrence and treatment the way I had. She was still here, healthy, and with all the beguiling star magic she’d had since I met her years ago.
“How?”
“With them asking for a picture?” Her grin was perceptive.
“Hell no. Protective, for sure. I don’t want you feeling like a damn spectacle, especially after what you’ve been through.” I acknowledged Marv, waiting on her.
“Looks like it’s about to rain,” NormaJean surmised out loud, peering into the purple sky.
“Then you need to go.” I motioned her toward Marv as I handed my card to the valet.
NormaJean croaked out a sound begging my pardon. “If you don’t get over here and hug me!” She yanked on the cuff of my jacket sleeve.
“Shit.” I caught myself. “I can now get out of protective mode. We cancer free, baby!” I sang playfully, pulling her into my arms.
She readily received me. “You better act like you know, Spencer.” Her squeeze was tight and sincere. She pulled back and peered up to me. “You better be lucky I respect your little relationship enough not to make you kiss me out here.”
My eyes roved up, left then right on the slow-moving street. It was after eight at night, and not much was popping around here during the week. Across the street, I saw a few people leaving out of nasty ass Applebee’s, but that was the most populated area.
Smiling, I glanced down to her still in my arms. I hadn’t held NormaJean this close in public in years, and especially around or on my campus. Neither one of us was with it. But tonight was different. I could tell she was just as giddy as I was about her recovery. I kissed her forehead again.
“Hit me up soon, and tell GiGi she owe me.”
NormaJean slipped from my hold, giggling. “You have a girlfriend. She can’t make good on shit.”
Laughing, I shook my head. Marv had the car waiting at the corner. Seeing her off reminded me of wilder times. Tonight, the NormaJean flew into BSU land to surprise me with good news of her health. A few years ago, during my freshman year, she’d fly in to fuck.
“Tori!” The shriek snapped my attention across the street. Trisha moved frantically down the street. A tall woman with a masculine build and fade cut looked to have been searching in the opposite direction. “Tori!” she called out again.
At the same time, my truck pulled up in front of me. I sauntered out into the street and spotted the valet a crisp twenty before descending into my car and taking off for campus.
The rain pelted down on me. It began two minutes ago. The droplets so fat, trekking uphill, my sneakers were starting to soak. They were heavy and slowing me down. Worse than that, I had no idea where I was going beyond the bridge I’d just started on.
“Hey, shit brain!” A passing car zipped past with some idiot yelling out. “It’s raining like fuck!”
Their collective laughter faded the farther away they drove. Humans are the most dumb creatures ever. More cars zipped past, their tires spraying me with puddled water, but lights helping me see the next few yards ahead. Sudden beeping scared me and I began to walk faster. I was no punk, but not a fool either. The last thing I wanted was to come all the way out here to become a cold case. I watched that show.
“Tori!” a deep voice barked. Ashton was driving alongside me with his window down. Behind him, cars punched into their horns. One van veered around him, blowing its horn, too. “Hey, Tori!”
“I’m good. You can go!” I called out to him.
“In the rain? Don’t be dumb. Come on!” He tried watching the road and me at the same time.
“I’m not dumb, and I don’t need your help!” He was the rudest human of them all.
“Tori!” he shouted again.
I stopped, so fucking irritated. “It’s not far. Just go!”
“It’s a twenty-minute ride to the first BSU entrance!”
“So?”
“Add another twenty to get to your dorm, girl!”
I continued to walk, feet slipping inside my sneakers. “I’ll be fine.”
If only I knew the way after this bridge…
“You’re new here,” he continued to shout. “You don’t drive; you can’t possibly know how to get back to campus.”
“I’m good!”
He slammed on his brakes and roared so loud, it bounced off the railings on the bridge. “My fucking leather interior is being ruined because your stubborn ass wants to be a dumb ass!”
I stopped again, but didn’t look his way. Between that and the loud horns, I yanked my body toward his truck and dumped myself inside.
“‘Bout damn time,” he muttered, checking the rearview mirror before taking off. I rolled my eyes, holding my body tight. Beyond being soaked, I felt…dirty. “Where are you coming from?”
“Dinner.”
“With who?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It does if they drove you out here and had you walking back to campus. That’s fucked up.” He kept pushing. “Where’s your cell? You couldn’t call your roommate or some upperclassman with a car?’
“I don’t have a cell,” I grunted, wanting this ride to be over.
“So, with who does matter. Anything could have happened to you. If some random, nefarious fuck didn’t get to you, the bears would have once you crossed BSU lines.”
“Doesn’t matter. Why do you care what happens to this dog?”
“You’re shivering,” he mumbled and tapped a button on the console that lit in turquoise. This truck was fancy: burnt orange leather interior and it smelled like nothing else I’d ever experienced. “And believe it or not, I do care if you die.”
“Don’t care too much. I’m out of here tomorrow.”
“Leaving? As in quitting?”
“As in never coming back to this shit hole.”
“Yeah. Quitting like a quitter,” he muttered. My curled body tensed even more. Then he spoke louder. “That’s too bad. We start workouts tomorrow.”
I chanced a look his way. Ashton’s eyes met me quickly, then went back to the road.
“Who?”
“You and me. It’s a part of me making amends—” His eyes rolled and inflection changed. “—with you and to show Panther spirit. Trisha didn’t tell you?”
“No. Why you gotta do that?” I felt my butt warm.
“Because you snitched on me.” His voice was calm…friendly as though we were kicking it about the game. “That’s what happens when you’re a leader on this campus. You’ve gots to kiss lots of ass.”
“I ain’t snitch.” I needed that to be clear. What Trisha did was what she did. I didn’t run crying to her. “I ain’t no baby. I ‘on’t need saving.”
“I was vexed earlier, but honestly, I’m over it. It’s all good. My bad for all the shitty things I said to you. It won’t happen again.” I didn’t say shit. He was probably messing with my head anyway. This could have been some immature game he and his friends were playing, trying to make me believe we were cool. “It was wrong of me to never introduce myself or simply let you be without the jokes.”
I swung my neck his way. “So, I’m supposed to believe we’re friends now?”
“Hell no.” He chuckled, but it wasn’t in a mean way. His words were harsh, but his energy, not so much. “I’m saying I won’t be a shitty human anymore.”
My eyes slid over to him. Did he have a bug in my brain? But Ashton’s attention remained on the road. And that’s the way the rest of the ride went. We arrived on campus, and as though I’d told him which one I lived in, Ashton pulled in front of my dorm building. Thankfully, no one was out because of the rain. It was late and I was tired.
The truck hardly stopped before I opened the door.
“Hey,” he called out to me, and my body froze with my back to him. “If you change your mind about quitting tomorrow, I start my workout at the old track field. I run four miles before lifting in the main gym. I’m out there at 5:30 sharp, Monday through Friday.”
Without another word, I
left the truck. I made a dash up the stairs and into the building, hearing my sneakers suck-kiss the floor. When would this day end?
“Who’s dropping you off in the Cayenne?” I turned to see Andrea, one of Aivery’s friends, standing near the windows with the full view of the front of the building.
“What?” My face was balled tight.
Her head fell to the side, long, dark, braids with the perfect X pattern reaching her small hip. She then tossed her head back toward the window, boxed braids swinging in the air. “The Porsche out there. He’s still waiting on you.”
My eyes swung toward the window. Ashton was still out there waiting in his… Porsche? Ashton Spencer had a Porsche? Is that what they looked like? I’d never seen one.
“Mind your fucking business while waiting on your food.”
Her mouth dropped as soon as the elevator chimed. Two people stepped off and I walked in. When I pressed my floor, I saw Andrea still standing there, mouth ready to catch flies.
The stupid phone ringing snapped me from my sleep. The room was completely dark, and for a while, I didn’t know where I was. After a few rings, I realized Samantha either wasn’t in her bed or wouldn’t answer it. I lifted from my warm pillow and tapped the small nightstand, hoping to feel it. Thank god the cordless was there.
“Hello…”
“Tori?”
My forehead stretched. “Ma?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah…” What was going on?
“Look…” My heart started racing at her second pause.
“Ma, it’s late.”
“Yeah. I know!” she snapped. “Look. I ain’t got the money.”
“My money?”
“Yeah. That.” What?! “I got let go from Walgreens a couple of weeks ago. I ain’t wanna tell you because I know you been tryna get yourself together out there. I used the money to pay the bills around here where I was short from my last check from them.”
I pulled in hella air from my nostrils; my stomach flipped, then squeezed. “That was my money, Ma.” The words felt yanked from my throat. Painful. I knew she’d lied when I spoke to her last week. “I ain’t got no tampons, bras…my sneakers got a hole in them and they stink.”
