by Nia Arthurs
Drew surveyed the bowl of creamy hand whipped mashed potatoes and pieces of steak, fried and then baked in the oven, sautéed in my very delectable barbeque sauce. It was a good set up, if I do say so myself.
“Wow.” Drew blinked at me in wonder, “you did this?”
I feigned offense at his astonishment, “Yes, I am capable of cooking.”
He pulled me in for another hug and held me close. “Have I told you that you’re amazing?”
I sniffed in his Drew-scent and grinned, “Not often enough.”
He chuckled and his chest rumbled beneath my ear. He pushed me back and tipped my chin, “Well, you are.”
Our gazes caught and held.
This is it!
The man was finally going to kiss me. Just as I was about to close my eyes and lean in, Drew stepped back and grabbed a plate.
“Can we eat it now?”
It took me a minute to regroup since I was sorely disappointed by his lack of smooch initiative.
“Uh, yeah.”
We dished out our portions and then moved to the living room.
“So,” I turned to him, “what do you want to do?”
“I thought we could watch the last episode of “Lysani”.” Drew suggested.
I regarded him suspiciously, “Why? You hate anime.”
“I don’t hate it.” Drew defended.
He did. I didn’t care. Anime wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea. I wasn’t in love with playing video-games but I didn’t want that to dull my value in Drew’s eyes.
He peered into my brown eyes as he admitted, “I want to watch it with you.”
I shrugged and gave in. This was sort of his night. I went to grab my laptop and we ate together as Lysani played on the screen. After the episode was over, Drew slid me close to him. I leaned in to his side and propped my foot up on the couch. The night was still and the room was silent, but I felt a tornado of feelings tear into my system.
Thanks to juggling my personal anime, my programming work, and the Channel Six cartoon, I couldn’t take the time off from my business to drive Drew to the airport when he left. That sucked. Being your own boss was sometimes a blessing and a curse. I had to keep my reputation as an entrepreneur and that meant making a lot of personal sacrifices.
I would have blown off my responsibilities but Drew convinced me not to. Tonight was our good-bye. He snaked his hand to hold mine and our fingers meshed together. I wanted to say many, many things, but it all sounded sappy and I didn’t want to start the mushy stuff until Drew did.
But he seemed content to just sit with me, his thumb trailing the back of my brown hand. The standing fan blew cool air on us and, Drew’s quiet caress coupled with the settling in my stomach lulled me into a sweet sleep.
The next morning, I woke up on the couch. Drew was gone. My heart sank immediately. I stretched and groaned. The sunlight filtered in through the blinds illuminating the pristine condition of my living room. Drew must have cleaned up and washed the dishes when I was asleep.
What kind of man does that?
I grabbed around the couch for my phone but found a note near my pillow instead. It was from Drew.
DIDN’T HAVE THE HEART TO WAKE
YOU LAST NIGHT. I LEFT YOU A LITTLE
SOMETHING IN THE BACKPACK. I ENJOYED
EVERY MINUTE I SPENT WITH YOU, LEXI.
LOVE, DREW
I stared at the word ‘love’ and got royally ticked. Did he not have the guts to say that word to my face? Since being mad at someone who just gave you a present is a horrible waste of time, I got over that quickly. My temper gave way to curiosity. I ventured closer to the backpack and poked it. The gift inside wasn’t hard. I lifted the bag and felt its weight. Hm, it wasn’t heavy either. Eagerly unzipping the backpack, I stuffed my hand inside and retrieved a stack of colorful T-shirts.
Oh my lerd. I loved T-shirts!
I shook out the first and held it against my chest. It was just my size. I peered closer at the front and laughed. It had a Superman emblem on the front just like Drew’s. I raced through the clothes and marveled. I’d mentioned wanting some T-shirts like his in passing three days ago. Drew must have moved on that immediately to get me these so quickly. I went through the pile until I reached the last one. The T-shirt was white with the picture of an animated teenager with short brown hair and cocoa colored skin in battle gear. It was Lysani. I covered my mouth in shock. This T-shirt meant more to me than all diamond earrings or fancy flowers in the world.
I rummaged around for my cell phone and checked the time. It was seven-thirty in the morning. I immediately called Drew.
“Hey,” He picked up on the first ring. “You found it?”
“Yes!” I squealed and held up the Lysani T-shirt. “I love it. Drew, thank you so much. But now I feel bad that I didn’t get you anything.”
“Are you kidding?” Drew scolded me. “You gave me everything.”
Though that compliment was cryptic and mostly inaccurate since I had definitely not given Drew everything, I took it to heart.
“Well, thank you anyway.” I booted up my laptop and immediately checked on to Facebook so that I could unblock Drew. I hadn’t rectified that little decision since our last clash. “What are you doing today?”
Like always, Facebook offered me a dose of daily news and monthly highlights.
“I’m just packing up and getting ready to head to the airport soon. I have to check in an hour early.”
“That sucks.” I responded as my eyes carelessly glanced over a news article about donations to six schools.
“Drew, Mom’s on the phone for you!” I heard Archie’s voice in the background.
Drew sighed into the phone. “I’ve got to go.” He said softly.
“Yeah, of course.”
I love you. Don’t leave. Why haven’t you kissed me or married me like you promised.
Since this was far from the right time (if there ever was a right time to say the last two), I simply let the silence flow.
“Good bye, Lexi.”
“Goodbye, Drew.”
He hung up.
Pouting like a child, I casually went over the article again.
I stopped and back-tracked.
What the heck?
I slowly reread the article. It was strange that all six of the schools Drew and I had visited that first week had gotten donations. I stopped when I noted a quote from the principal of my Alma Mata.
“We were given an additional ten thousand dollars to build and construct a computer lab not only to assist in learning but to encourage all the little programmers in our halls.”
I read and reread the term ‘programmers’, her admission cementing the suspicion bouncing around in my brain.
Drew.
His generosity moved me and the fact that he’d donated even more specifically for a computer lab at Faith and Grace Primary was an overwhelming act of love. I shot up from the computer table and grabbed my keys.
Screw the D&B account. I could always get another job but I good men came in short supply.
Jumping into Herbie, I started the engine. It sputtered and then died.
“Come on, come on.”
I had to get to Drew and tell him that I loved him. He’d said it to me a million times without using any words. It was my turn. I turned the key in the ignition. Black Herbie didn’t even try to make any kind of sputtering noise this time.
“No.”
I called Susan. She didn’t answer her cell phone. She was probably at work.
I could call my dad but it would take too long to fix the car. Drew was leaving for the airport probably in the next fifteen minutes. I didn’t want to miss him. In Belize, after the boarders check in, they head to a section of the airport cut off from all those without a ticket.
Drew was a good man, but I wasn’t spending a thousand dollars on a ticket to talk to him.
I was in love. I wasn’t crazy.
I stalked the sidewalk in indecision
before I decided to give up on meeting Drew at Archie and Susan’s and see if I could way lay him at the airport.
Yes, yes, I know it was a supremely cheesy plan, but I was willing to put in the effort.
I ran down the street, keeping my eyes peeled for any taxi drivers. Two minutes later, a small purple 1997 Prizm came cruising down the road. I flagged my hands and waved it down until it stopped.
I jumped into the backseat.
“The Phillip Goldson Airport, please.” I commanded the older gentleman, “I really need to get there as quickly as possible.”
“Ah gat yuh.” The taxi driver nodded and we sped through the highway to get to the airport. He talked a lot but I wasn’t in the listening mood. My toes tapped nervously against the vinyl carpet.
It was five minutes after nine right now. Drew’s flight was at ten. I kept my fingers crossed, praying that by some miracle, he had been delayed and had not yet entered the flyers-only zone. I quickly paid the taxi driver and rushed into the busy airport.
Tourists and Belizeans marched to and fro. The low buzz of conversation resounded in the large building. Thanks to Susan, the information fountain, I knew what flight Drew was on. I marched up to the desk, past the other tourists. A pretty brown skin woman with crimpy natural hair and a sophisticated air regarded me.
“Can you tell me if Andrew Darcy has boarded the plane already?” I questioned breathlessly, ignoring the looks I was getting from the people who were regarding me with narrowed eyes.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” The woman frowned at me, “I am not at liberty to reveal that information.” She looked to the fat man that I had jumped in front of, “Sir.” She addressed him.
Normally, I would have let that slide but I wasn’t ready to give up yet.
“Please, I need to know.” I insisted.
She peered at me and then lowered her voice, “I can’t give out names. I’m sorry, but...” She glanced around quickly and checked the data on her computer, “If the person you’re looking for isn’t somewhere in this line, he’s probably already in the reserved waiting area.”
I felt myself deflating and stepped back in shock. “Th-thank you.” I said and then trudged to a seat in the larger lobby to keep the world from spinning around me.
Drew was gone. I was too late.
Maybe he was coming back. And then again, maybe he wasn’t. Maybe I had only been an enjoyable diversion on his first trip to Belize.
I groaned and slumped deeper into my chair.
Drew returned home with no promises that he’d be back. No assurances that would make my heart rest easy. All around me happy people, ecstatic to be in Belize or ecstatic to be going home, passed with huge smiles on their faces. I felt no such relief.
It was over.
And maybe that was the lesson. I always did work better alone.
As I stewed in these thoughts, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I glanced up and immediately, my heart beat a rhythm against my chest.
EPILOGUE
DREW’S P.O.V.
I’m a dreamer by trade. I have grand ideas and I form them into reality. I turned my passion into a business and now, I have a team of people that I employ to keep my business on the cutting edge. I’m living the life most people only imagine. I thought I had it all.
Until I met Lexi Reyes.
And then all of the pieces just didn’t seem to fit without her. I’ve never felt this way about a girl in my life and for most of my friendship with Lexi, I held my feelings back for fear that she’d become overwhelmed by them. I saw how she reacted to poor Jermaine. No way did I ever want to be in that guy’s shoes.
It’s 8:59 a.m. I walk into the Phillip Goldson International Airport wheeling my suitcase behind me, feeling the distance between what Lexi and I were just starting to build growing further with every step. A pleasant lady with coarse brown hair stands behind the counter.
“Can I see your passport, sir?”
I think of Lexi and I just can’t move.
“Sir, can I see your passport?”
I look at the woman and she looks back at me. She has no idea of the turmoil broiling in my stomach. She’s waiting for me to hand her my identification. Waiting for me to smile and move on with my life.
But I can’t.
If I leave today, I have no doubt in my mind that it will be the biggest mistake of my life. So what if I have to uproot my gaming business and move to a little country like Belize? I have a fancy apartment, an excellent office, and a winning pile of loneliness waiting for me in New York.
I tap my passport against my wrist.
“You know what,” I inform her, “I’ve got to go.”
I turn my back on her gaping expression and race through the doors marked ‘Exit’. Noticing a small purple taxi cab just driving away, I wave it down and hop in when the driver slows.
“I need to get to Belize City, sir. Stat.”
The gentleman chuckles and I glance at him strangely. I am far too on edge to be laughed at.
“Is there a problem?” I question the driver.
“No, no problem. I just dropped a young lady not a minute ago. She mi di cry the same tune.”
Something about his words intrigues me. The fact that someone else is enduring the same feelings I am, buoys my spirit.
Poor girl.
“Yes, she was a pretty thing too. Don’t know why anyone would leave her.” The taxi man stopped at the toll. Though I am not inviting conversation, the man is quite chatty. “She had long Spanish hair, all wavy-like. But she was black. The good kind of Creole.”
I feel a pang in my stomach. The man’s descriptions bring Lexi to mind; though his racist comments about “good Creole” folks is far from endearing.
“She wore a T-shirt and jeans, all covered up. Real modest. Ih haad fu find modest women nowadays.”
My head shoots up.
Lexi.
The barrier rises and the taxi man prepares to drive off.
“Stop the car!” I yell and he stops abruptly, his trunk narrowly missing being bashed in by the white barricade that is slowly returning to its resting position. I fish in my pocket for a fifty and place it solidly in the man’s palm.
“Thank you.”
I jump out of the car and run toward the airport entrance. The hot Belizean sun bakes my head and sweat pops out on my forehead as I race through the automatic doors searching for her. At first the place is too crowded and though this is one of the smaller airports that I have been in, I am still overwhelmed by the number of people strolling through the space. And then the chaos clears and I see her.
Her hair is up in a ponytail. She’s wearing the T-shirt and jeans from last night. Her expression is so crestfallen; my heart immediately aches with her. I walk slowly to the woman in the airport chair and place a gentle hand on her shoulder. She twists her head and faces me. The disbelief in her eyes prompts me to laugh.
“Drew? I thought… but the lady said. What are you doing out here?” She stands a few feet away from me and the distance is too much.
I step closer and place my arms around her waist, drawing her in.
That’s better.
She still seems shell-shocked. “Seriously, you’re flight leaves in half-an-hour. You’re supposed to be in the other room.”
I grin and memorize her beautiful face. This crazy, kind, sweet, chocolate and ice cream obsessed women is everything I could ever want in a partner. I’m never letting her go.
“I couldn’t leave.”
She peers at me, placing her arms around my neck. “Why?” She whispers.
She’s smiling. She knows why. She just wants to hear me say it.
“Because I love you.” I admit and finally saying it out loud makes me feel bolder, taller, and more complete. “I love you and I made you a promise.”
She arches an eyebrow.
I dip my head and kiss her, softly and slowly, right there in the airport lounge.
“Mm,” She says with her eyes closed
.
I nudge her with my nose so that she opens her beautiful brown eyes and looks at me, “I’m never walking away.”
“You better not.” She breathes, peering into my eyes, “because I love you too.”
I can’t take the distance between us any longer. I kiss the amazing, beautiful woman in my arms.
I am never letting go.
THE END
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You can also follow me on IG: Nia Arthurs @nia_bks and Twitter: @niaarthurs
Other books by this author
Available on Amazon…
The Taming Series
Taming Mr. Jerkface
Taming Mr. Charming
Taming Mr. Know-it-all
Taming Mr. Darcy
The Seven Realms Series
Genesis
Revelations
The Tree of Knowledge (coming soon)
Out of Control Series
Scarlet
Devotional
Unfiltered
