Secrets (11 page)

AJ

             
It’s obvious that, to Sam, I was overreacting about this Terrell thing, but I hated the thought of being so far away and some other guy getting to hang out with
my
girl, spending time with her like I should’ve been able to do.  I leaned my hands against the shower wall while the water beaded down my back, forcing myself to picture them together.  He probably made her laugh and made her feel a little less lonely here without me.  While, yeah, I wanted her to find that…..I just imagined it’d be with other girls, not a 6-foot-something, football player who seemed to have some sort of fixation with her.  Thinking about it made me ball my fists. 

For whatev
er reason, Sam seemed to think Terrell wasn’t interested.  If she was only basing that belief on the fact that he had a girlfriend, I wasn’t convinced.  But, I told her I’d do this, so I forced myself to be open-minded.  After all, all I’ve
ever
wanted was for her to be happy.  And if having this guys’ friendship did that, then……hell, I couldn’t even
fake
like I liked the idea.  I’d just have to suck it up and deal with it.

My eyes shot open
as an unexpected revelation hit me; I was the one who told Sam to get out and make friends in the first place.  Now, just because I didn’t like who she chose to befriend, I was giving her a hard time.  I sighed and shook my head, acknowledging what a douche-bag she must think I was being.  Whether I knew this guy or not, I knew Sam.  She’s by far the most trustworthy person I knew and I wasn’t giving her enough credit.  If this guy wasn’t good people, she’d cut him off quickly.  No questions asked.  With that, I made up my mind to back off…..unless Terrell gave me a reason not to.

*****

              We were supposed to leave by seven, and the later it got the more I didn’t want to go.  I was still sitting around in my shorts while I watched Sam pulling up her jeans.

             
“You
do
know we’re supposed to leave in like,” she looked at the time on her phone, “ten minutes, right?”

             
My efforts to stall apparently hadn’t gone unnoticed.  I got up and got dressed once she went into the bathroom to put the finishing touches on her look.  When she came back looking sexy as ever, I couldn’t help but to think we’d have more fun if we stayed in - rerunning what we did the night before. 

I realized that my mouth was open and shut it. 
Those jeans may as well have been painted on, hugging and cupping each and every curve – curves that I openly admit to being addicted to. At the thought of it, a sharp breath left my lungs.  Her glossy lips glistened and called my name.  Well, not literally, but I swear I heard it anyway.   My eyes were on her as she paced over to the closet and grabbed a pair of yellow heels that matched her shirt.  She had to be the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.  Instantly I began to fantasize about what I’d do to her if I didn’t think she’d protest against me messing up her hair.  The visual now emblazoned in my head left me to question whether last night was nothing but a slip up.  We hadn’t discussed it, so I found myself wondering if her body was again off limits.  I’d give my right arm for that not to be the case.

             
“Ready?”  She asked.

             
I couldn’t even respond as a ghost of her naked figure excused itself from my thoughts.  I nodded and stood by as she locked the door, following a few paces behind as she led the way to Terrell’s room.  I tried to convince myself that it didn’t irk me that he was only right down the hall, but who was I kidding.  She knocked once and the door opened almost immediately, like he was anticipating her arrival.  I already didn’t like it, but I promised her I’d try.  This guy was huge – had to be a few inches taller than me, which would make him about 6’5”.  To add to it, he was almost pure muscle.  When he saw Sam, he smiled.  Naturally I hung back and observed how he was with her. 

             
“Terrell, this is AJ”

             
“What’s up, man?  I’ve heard a lot about you,” Terrell said as he reached out to shake my hand.  I returned the gesture and nodded once before shoving my hands back in my pockets. 

             
“Where’s Maisha?”  Sam asked.

             
“She just called and said she’s about to walk up to the building.  We’ll probably run into her on our way out,” Terrell replied.

             
He slammed his door shut and walked a few feet ahead of Sam and me.  So far he seemed ok, but I was sure to catch him slipping as the night wore on.  When we reached the bottom of the steps, Terrell’s girl was just walking in.  His demeanor completely changed as soon as he laid eyes on her.  They approached one another in the middle of the lobby and exchanged a kiss.  Terrell turned to introduce me to Maisha and I caught a glimpse of how she looked at Sam.  She was a little reserved, almost like she didn’t really trust Sam or something.  Maybe she felt the same way about
her
that I felt about Terrell.

             
“Maisha, this is AJ, Sam’s boyfriend.”

             
She smiled and waved. Terrell looked over at Sam and me again.  “Everyone’ll fit in my car,” Terrell offered.

             
That was a little too much ‘
togetherness’
for me, so I declined.  “We’ll just follow you,” I replied, much to Sam’s dismay.  She shot me a quick disapproving look and rolled her eyes.  Terrell didn’t know what to make of my statement, so he stared at me confused for a second and then turned to walk out the door.  Sam rolled her eyes again, but I just wanted to feel this guy out before I let him start thinking we were cool or something.

             
We drove in silence.  Sam stared out the window at nothing in particular, like she always does when she’s mad.

             
“Are you not speaking to me now?”  I asked.

             
“I would speak to you if I had something to say,” she replied coyly.  Her jaw clenched and she shifted her body so that her back was almost to me.

             
“What’d I do now?”

             
“Nothing.” I could tell by her tone that my questions were irritating her.

             
“Would you just say it?”

             
“Fine, AJ, I’m mad,” she hissed.

             
I tried not to smile because that would’ve
really
pissed her off, but I couldn’t help it.  She was pouting like an eight year old – arms folded and everything.               

“
Why’re you being like this?  I told you I’d give this a chance and I meant it!  You’re mad ‘cause I didn’t wanna ride in this guys backseat?”

“You were rude.” She shot back.

“Wasn’t trying to be, but I’d rather drive.  If it came off like that, I didn’t mean for it to.” 

             
She was quiet for a moment.  I saw her turn to look at me, searching for sincerity.  “I know you don’t like the situation, but Terrell’s seems to be good guy, AJ.  Trust me, I didn’t like him at first either.  I just think that if you give him a chance,” she paused and shrugged.  “Who knows, maybe you two will even get to be friends.”

             
Whoa there, killer.
  I highly doubted it, but I smiled convincingly anyway.  She slid her hand underneath mine and intertwined our fingers, signaling me that she wasn’t upset anymore. 

There was something on my mind that I just decided to put out there. 
“I just don’t understand why being friends with him means so much to you.  There…..I said it.  I know you don’t see him as anything more than a friend, but…..I don’t get it,” I repeated.  That one factor had been irritating the crap out of me since we’d first started talking about this guy.

             
She stared at me thoughtfully and decided to say exactly what was on her mind.  “My friends weren’t as forgiving as yours were when it came to our relationship.  I lost a
lot
AJ.”  She turned to stare out the window again.  “Terrell just seems like a good guy and I’ve learned that real friends are hard to come by.” 

             
A pang of guilt forced me to acknowledge the truth in her statement; I hadn’t considered that before.  Her friends had turned their backs on her after she’d been loyal to them for years – all because of how she felt about me.  I didn’t know how to relate to that because I’d never experienced it.  I didn’t say anything else, feeling somewhat ashamed that I hadn’t put two and two together before she spelled it out for me.

             
In the restaurant parking lot, I pulled in beside Terrell.  We stepped out at the same time to open the ladies’ doors.  I heard him and Maisha laughing together and something about the way he looked at her reminded me of myself and the way I look at Sam. 

             
Sam wrapped her arm around mine as we followed Terrell and Maisha to the door.  He held it until we were all inside and then quickly returned to Maisha’s side.  The hostess approached us at the entrance.  She greeted and welcomed us all, but her eyes never left Terrell.  When she led us to the table, Sam and I both noticed how she made sure to rub her hand down his arm casually, but he didn’t seem to even notice her.  His attention was focused so intently on Maisha that the girl’s advances went right over his head. 

             
Both ladies slid into the booth first, leaving Terrell and I sitting across from one another on the end.  There was an awkward silence until Terrell decided to break it.

             
“So, how do you like it at Westwood?”

             
Sam gazed at me, wondering if I was gonna be nice or not.  Noting that I had her attention, I shrugged at Terrell’s question.  “Fine, I guess.  The classes are pretty easy so far.”

Terrell nodded.

There was a brief lull in conversation while I convinced myself to keep talking to this guy.  “What’s your major?” was the first question that came to mind.

             
“I’m pre-med.  You?”

             
“Business and Communication.”

Terrell perked up. 
“Same as my baby.”  He turned to Maisha and smiled at her.

             
“How long have you two been together?”  Sam asked. 

             
“Three years,” Maisha replied flatly.

             
“Oh, ok.  How’d you guys meet?”  Sam added.  Maisha stared at her for a second like she didn’t know how to answer the question.             

“
Danielle, Terrell’s sister.”  When she finished her statement, she turned to look at him.

             
“That’s cool so you two knew each other for a while before you hooked up,” Sam replied.

             
“Yeah, for most of our lives actually,” Maisha stated.

             
The awkward silence returned, so Terrell seized the opportunity to get me talking about myself again. 

             
“You play ball, man?”  He asked.

             
“Yeah.”

             
“Football?”

             
“Sometimes, but mostly basketball,” I replied.

             
“Oh, ok.  We’ll have to get together on the court sometime.  You’ll be here for good in January, right?”  He asked.

             
“Yeah, as soon as school starts back up after Winter Break.”

             
“That’s cool.  I know you can’t wait to be here with Sam.  It’s not easy being away from your girl, but the time’s gonna pass before you know it.  Maisha and I were like that for a whole year.  We weren’t as far apart as you two, but we may as well have been; we never got to see each other.  I started at Charleston a year before she did, so I can definitely relate.”

             
“It’s harder than I thought it would be and it’s only been a few weeks,” I commented.

             
“Yeah, but Sam’s a good girl so you don’t have anything to worry about. I can tell by looking at you that you love her.  As long as the love’s intact, you’ll make it.” He smiled at me reassuringly just as Sam squeezed my hand under the table.

             
The waitress came to get our orders.  As soon as she left us, a middle-age Asian couple was seated at a table not too far from ours.  The wife hadn’t taken her eyes off of us yet, which usually meant that whatever onlooker had spotted Sam and me together, didn’t like what they saw.  Whispering whatever ignorant comment she shared with her husband prompted him to glance in our direction.  Confirming my suspicions that they’d take issue with our relationship, the woman shot me a look of disgust.  When I smirked at the endless stream of bigotry that seems to be the life source of our planet, Terrell followed my gaze just as the woman turned to whisper to her husband again.