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Marcus

Jae
was staring at his computer screen when I stepped into the room. He looked at me and smiled.

“Hello, Marcus.”

“What's up, Jae?” I asked and decided to have a little fun with my Korean roommate who could barely speak English. “You chillin' chillin'?”

“Chillin' chillin'?” he asked.

“Yeah, chillin'. You know, just hanging and being cool,” I explained my slang to him.

“Being cool?”

“Yeah, chillin' and being cool. That's a good thing, Jae. It means that you're all right.” I smiled. “I got a lot to teach you in just a few weeks.”

“Tell me about your family, Marcus,” Jae said. “Tell me about Georgia.”

“Well, I live with my Pop…I mean, my father. He got custody of me after him and my mother got a divorce. My mother lives in Texas.”

“You wanted to live with your father?”

“Well, I didn't really have a choice. My mother sort of walked out on us. She left us,” I explained. “It was my father
who took care of me when I was little. But my mother came back after a few years.”

“Were you angry with her for leaving?” Jae asked.

“Yeah, I was pretty pissed off when she left.”

Jae struggled to understand. “Pissed off?”

“Yeah, I was upset. That's what pissed off means…you know, angry. She left me at a time in my life when I really needed her.”

“Do you have siblings?”

“Nah, I'm an only child,” I said. “What about you, Jae? You got sisters and brothers?”

“I have five sisters and one brother. I am the youngest child of seven. My parents are very poor. Much poverty in my country. I am the first to attend college,” Jae said.

“Well, that's cool.” I smiled.

“Yes, cool.” Jae smiled. “Chillin' chillin'. Right, Marcus?”

I nodded and laughed. That's all I could do as I dropped my shoes and relaxed on my bed.

“I miss my girl,” I said. “I miss her like crazy.”

“You have a girlfriend?” he asked. “What is her name?”

“Indigo,” I said and pulled her picture from the drawer of my nightstand. Showed it to Jae. “This is her.”

“She's very pretty.” He grabbed the photo and stared at it for a moment. Handed it back to me.

“Yeah, she is,” I said and then tucked her picture back into its place. “What about you, Jae? You got a girl back home in Korea?”

He was silent for a moment then dropped his head.

“Yes, but we can't be together. Our families have too much hatred for one another. Our fathers are too stubborn.” Jae's eyes were sad. “I love her, but our love is forbidden.”

“What? That sound like some Romeo and Juliet type stuff, man.”

“Romee and Julie? Who's that?”

“Romeo and Juliet. It's an old story by an old writer, William Shakespeare, about two lovers who couldn't be together because of their families. It's pretty sad.”

“I never read that story before,” Jae said. “Where can I find it?”

“Go to the library. It's probably in there,” I told him.

“You think it's there?” he asked.

“I'm sure it is,” I said. “It's like a classic story. Every library in the world probably has it on the shelf.”

“Will you go with me, Marcus…to the library to find it?”

“Right now?”

“Yes. I would really like to read that story.”

Was he serious? He wanted me to get up out of my comfortable bed and trample over to the Fine Arts Library in search of an ancient story.

“All right, man.” I slipped my shoes back on to my feet. “Let's go.”

We had to hurry. It was eight thirty-five by my watch, and the library closed at nine. We rushed over and just made it before closing. We both stood in front of the woman at the front desk; her head was down as she read something. When she looked up, I realized it was Daria.

“Hi.” I smiled at her.

“Hi.” She smiled back and we both just got lost in the moment.

Jae nudged me.

“Um…we're looking for William Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet,
” I said. “Can you help us find it?”

“Sure.” She punched some buttons on her computer and then stood. “This way.”

I watched her walk as she made her way to the fiction section of the library, Jae and I following close behind her. She went right to the book, pulled it from the shelf.

“Romeo and Juliet?”
she asked. “You got a paper to write or something?”

“It's for my friend here.” I nodded toward Jae. “He's never read it before.”

“You'll need lots of tissue.” She smiled at Jae. He smiled back, but it was clear he had no idea what she was talking about.

“Thank you,” he responded.

“Marcus, I had a good time the other day,” she said as she began walking back to the front of the library.

“Yeah, it was cool,” I said, trying to keep the conversation light. Didn't really want to talk about anything personal in front of Jae. We followed Daria to the checkout counter where he placed his book.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?” she continued. “You wanna go to a party?”

“Sounds like fun,” I said.

“Good. Let me give you my number.” She grabbed a piece of paper from a notepad and jotted her number down on it. “Call me and we'll meet outside your dorm.”

I grabbed the paper reluctantly from her fingertips. Stuffed it into the pocket of my jeans.

“Holler at you later,” I said before ushering Jae out the door.

I was grateful for air as we stood outside the library and headed back toward our dorm.

“What was that?” Jae asked.

“What was what?” I played dumb.

“Was she flirting with you…or were you flirting with her? And did she just ask you to go on a date?” He grinned. “What about Indigo?”

“What are you talking about, man? Nobody was flirting. And it's not a date, it's just a party. And she's just a friend.”

“Just a friend.” Jae laughed and then mocked Daria. “I
had a good time the other day, Marcus.” He batted his eyes like a girl would. “What was that?”

“It was nothing. We just went to a coffee shop, had a couple of lattes,” I explained.

“Lattes?”

“It's coffee, man!” I was becoming irritated.

“She's very beautiful.” He grinned. “And you said
‘it was cool.'
That is a good thing, right?”

“Come on, Jae. You got a lot to learn about American girls and about life.”

“Love is universal, Marcus,” he said, “no matter what country you are in.”

“I love my girlfriend back home, Indigo. I promise you that.”

“But you're attracted to the beautiful lady in the library. No?”

“She's pretty. Okay, there. I admitted that she's pretty,” I said. “Now can we talk about something else? Tell me about this forbidden lover of yours.”

“Joo-Eun?” he asked, as if I already knew her name. “She's very beautiful. I've known her since we were both five years old. Our families have known each other a long time. My father worked for her father, and they were once good friends.”

“What happened to make them not be friends anymore?” I asked.

“It's a long story. Too many bad things…too much pain.”

“But you're in love with…what's her name?” I asked.

“Joo-Eun,” he said. “But she has been promised to someone else. She will marry soon.”

“Are you for real? How old is this girl?”

“She's fifteen. It is customary in Korea for the father of the bridegroom to choose a wife for his son. And he has chosen Joo-Eun.”

“That's crazy. So, you don't even get a say in the matter?
You just gotta let your girl go marry some other dude like that?” I asked. “Can't you fight for her?”

“It's senseless. I cannot win. I will love her silently for the rest of my life, and will go to my grave knowing that I love her and she loves me.”

“That's sad, bro,” I said, really feeling Jae's pain. “I'm glad that in America I can choose who I want to be with. And if I don't like her, I can move on to someone else. No place like the U.S. of A, man.”

Jae and I made our way back to the dorm. I kicked my shoes off once again. Jae did a nosedive into the book,
Romeo and Juliet,
and stayed there for hours, reading silently in his bed. I sent a text message to Indigo.

WUP?

Nothin, she responded.

Go swimming 2day?

Went 2 da mall wit my girlz.

Where u at?

Spendin da nite at Tameka's. She needs a friend.

Is she big as a house?

Just a little. Be nice.

Sorry…she's preggers right?

She's sad…Vance is trippin.

He's 17…what does she expect?

A father for her baby!

Both are too young for dat.

Where's Jay? she asked, spelling his name wrong.

I had told Indigo about Jae; told her about the communication barrier that we had on the first day, but that I thought he was a nice guy. And that I would school him.

Jae is reading Romeo & Juliet.

?? She was confused.

Long story…get sum z's…call u 2morrow.

K…g'nite.

It was good to know that Indigo was still under my skin, still the girl who invaded my dreams. Still my one and only Indigo Summer.

Tameka

Indigo
and I took the elevator up to the twenty-fifth floor. I stood in the corner, dressed in stretch pants and Vance's extra-large basketball shirt with Armstrong, his last name, plastered across the back of it. He'd left it in our garage one day when he came over for a visit. That was the day that he'd challenged me to a game of one-on-one at the goal in front of my neighbor's house. Back then I was much smaller, in better shape and not pregnant. It was before my ankles were swollen and before my thighs were the size of ham hocks.

I'd chosen braids for the summer, an easier style to maintain. I grabbed a handful of braids and pulled them back on my head with a scrunchy. I looked over at Indigo, who was dressed in tight leotards like the ones we wore in dance practice, a long T-shirt and sneakers. She glanced over at me and smiled.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yep, I'm cool.”

Saturday morning prenatal exercise classes were always fun. I loved the exercises and the positive energy that filled the room. I was a dancer and used to exercising so it was important for me to stay in shape, even during pregnancy.
The instructor taught that doing prenatal exercises would make childbirth much easier. Also, it would help keep the pounds under control after the baby was born. For me, it was a way of hanging out with people who were just like me—pregnant—and not feeling embarrassed about it. I had made new friends. Even though I was the youngest in the class, I still connected with the older women who gave me advice and support.

Patricia was twenty-one and pregnant by her thirty-five-year-old, very married boyfriend. Her mother kicked her out of the house the minute she found out about the pregnancy. She was left with nowhere to go and had ended up on the street for a few days. Her aunt finally took her in, but she had to work to pay rent, and because the house was overcrowded, she had to share a bedroom with three other people. There was barely anything left to eat at home by the time she got off from her minimum-wage-paying job at Kentucky Fried Chicken, and many nights she went to bed hungry. The woman at the WIC office told her about a program where she could get free milk, juices and other food for free because of her income. She also told her about the exercise class. It was a way of escape for her. And even though her aunt complained about the class being a waste of time, she made a commitment to show up every single Saturday.

Jolene was the mother of three and was carrying her fourth child. Her husband was a truck driver and was barely at home. He was upset when he found out that Jolene was pregnant again—complaining that it was hard enough feeding the children that they already had. He accused her of not being honest about her birth control. She was convinced that her husband would change his attitude once he laid eyes on the baby when it was born. I hoped he would, too, because Jolene was very sweet. With her dark brown
skin and long flat-ironed hair, she was the first person to approach me on the first day of class. She gave me good advice about being a young mother; told me that she was seventeen when she'd had her first baby. She encouraged me to stay positive. Her mother volunteered to watch the kids on Saturday mornings so that she could attend classes. And she jumped at the chance every single week, just to get a break from the little rugrats.

Deja was happily married to Arnold. He dropped her off every Saturday morning and gave her big hugs and kisses before he disappeared across town to play basketball with his homeboys. Deja and Arnold had both graduated from Clark Atlanta University. Arnold was an engineer and Deja worked as an intern for a major law firm while she attended law school. I admired Deja. In fact, I often imagined Vance and I being just like Deja and Arnold. We would both attend college and end up with great careers. We would get married and build a nice house in Gwinnett County just like them. And we would have a great life—Vance, the baby and me.

Fawn was an older woman with a seventeen-year-old son. With her flawless skin and short and sassy haircut, she looked way too young to have a son that age. She reminded me of my mother; very fashionable and modern. They had instantly become friends when they met at one of our exercise sessions. They were already planning trips to the mall, and Fawn even joined my mother's book club. She was pregnant by a man who she'd only dated for a short time. When she told him that she was pregnant he didn't seem to care, and in fact he broke off the relationship, stating that he wasn't ready to be a father again. His kids were grown and he wasn't ready to be changing diapers and warming formula at this stage in his life. It left Fawn pretty much alone, but her son kept her company most of the time.

Indigo and I stepped out of the hospital elevator and into the room where a few people had already started to gather. Some of them sat around the room nibbling on fresh fruits.

“Hey, Tameka girl!” Jolene said as I walked into the room. “Your belly looks a little rounder today.”

“Hey, everybody.” I smiled at my pregnant friends as they gobbled down chunks of watermelon, pineapple and bananas.

It was not unusual for Deja's husband, Arnold, to be in our classroom. He often walked her to class and kissed her goodbye at the door. But this morning I noticed another strange man standing near the food, popping chunks of fruit into his mouth like there was no tomorrow.

“Tameka, come here, honey.” Fawn rushed toward me, grabbed me by the hand and dragged me across the room. “I got somebody I want you to meet…”

The strange man set his plate down and looked my way as we approached.

“Tameka, this is my son, Sean.” She smiled. “Sean, this beautiful young lady is Tameka.”

“How you doing, Tameka?” Sean's voice was deep for a seventeen-year-old. He was tall and slender with dark brown skin and a short haircut. Wearing denim shorts and a tall tee, he reached his hand out.

“I'm fine, thanks.” I shook his hand.

“Isn't he just the cutest?” Fawn pinched Sean's cheek.

“Ma, please!” Sean groaned.

“Sean's mad because I made him come to class with me today,” Fawn said, “but I didn't feel like driving this morning, so he didn't have much of a choice.”

Sean rolled his eyes and grabbed another piece of watermelon. Popped it into his mouth.

“It was nice meeting you,” I said before joining Indigo at the other side of the room.

“I am loving these braids.” Deja ran her fingers through my hair.

“Thank you,” I told her. “It's too hot for anything else.”

“You got that right. I'm getting ready to get me some braids.” Patricia rubbed her belly. “Who's your friend?”

“Oh, my bad. This is my friend, Indigo,” I said. “Indi, this is Deja and that's Patricia.”

“Hi.” They all said it in unison.

I pulled Indigo to the other side of the room.

“And this is Fawn,” I said. “Fawn, this is my friend, Indigo.”

“Nice to meet you, honey,” Fawn said and grabbed Indigo's hand.

“You, too,” said Indi.

“And this is Sean. He's Fawn's son.”

“Hi.” Indigo smiled.

“What's up?” Sean said and then went back to text messaging someone from his phone.

 

As Beyoncé's “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” echoed through the room, Patricia started shaking to the music. Our instructor, Ruby, entered the room wearing a sports bra and low-rise workout shorts. Her abs were tight and her calves toned. Each week I wanted to grab her chiseled body and drag it down the street. It was a crime for her body to look like that in front of a bunch of pregnant women. It was hard to believe that she'd just given birth less than a year before.

She often gave us lectures about how important it was to exercise during our pregnancies, and especially after the baby was born. She showed us pictures of when she was pregnant, as well as flashing photos of little Kianna, her ten-month-old baby girl. Ruby taught us how to eat, exercise and care for our bodies from head to toe.

“Okay, ladies, let's get started!” she said. Always full of energy, she bounced around the room. “Let's do our stretches.”

All of us stretched our oversize bodies onto the floor and began pulling muscles that didn't want to be pulled. Indigo plopped down on the floor next to Deja and did the same stretches as the rest of us. We were used to working out together; it's what we did in Miss Martin's dance class every single day. Neither of us were strangers to physical training.

“Okay, let's pair off and do our usual exercises,” Ruby announced. “Go ahead and get paired up with the person next to you.”

Since there was an odd number of people in the room, pairing up left me without a partner. Indigo was quickly whisked away by Deja. I shrugged as Ruby looked my way. I wasn't necessarily looking forward to pairing with her. She was like Miss Martin in many ways, a workhorse. She was a perfectionist and I wasn't in the mood for perfection today. I would've preferred doing my exercises alone, but she never allowed that.

“Young man,” she called to Fawn's son. “May I see you for a moment?”

Sean looked up from his cell phone.

“His name is Sean,” Fawn announced and smiled.

“Sean, can you lend us a hand over here please?” she asked. “Tameka doesn't have a partner. Will you be her partner for a little while?”

Was she serious? I could feel my face turning beet red with embarrassment as he looked my way.

Sean shrugged, stuffed his phone into his pocket. “Okay.”

He made his way over and stood in front of me.

“Great!” Ruby was too bubbly in the morning sometimes. “Let's get started.”

We started doing a series of arm and upper back stretches, pelvic tilts, sit-ups, squatting and calf stretches. Sean offered
support as I did my exercises, making sure that I didn't hurt myself. He was there in case I needed help sitting up or squatting. At one point I squatted and had trouble standing. When Sean tried to pull me up from the floor, I pulled him down instead. Falling onto the floor, we both fell out in laughter.

Taking a break, Sean and I sat in the middle of the floor.

“So, what are you, like fifteen or sixteen?”

Here comes the embarrassing part,
I thought.

“I'm almost seventeen,” I said.

“Where's your baby's father?” he asked.

“He's in college. He just left for summer school a few weeks ago,” I said. “Got a basketball scholarship.”

“That's cool,” he said. “I'm going to college in the fall, too. Georgia State.”

“Really?” I smiled. “You play ball?”

“Nah,” he said.

“What will you major in?” I asked.

“I'm not really sure yet. I'll figure it out later,” he said. “My moms wants me to be an architect, but I don't know about that. I'm a musician really.”

“What kind of music do you do?”

“I play the keyboards…by ear,” he boasted. “And I rap. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to get on somebody's label. Matter of fact, I'm not even really feeling school. I'm just going because that's what she wants.”

He glanced over at Fawn.

“Well, it's gotta be about what you want,” I encouraged. “Can you flow?”

“Of course I can.” He smiled and then started free-styling.

He flowed nicely and I was impressed. His sound was original and I liked what I heard.

“That was good,” I said.

“You really think so?” he asked.

“Mos def,” I said.

“Thank you,” he said.

He seemed to really need the encouragement and I was glad that I could help out. When our short break was over, he pulled me up from the floor—successfully this time. We finished off the next set of exercises, Sean helping me out until we were done.

“Thank you for being my partner, Sean,” I said.

“It was my pleasure.” The ringing of his phone interrupted us. He walked away as he answered.

Indigo found her way over to me.

“Well, that was fun.” She wiped sweat from her forehead.

“This is what we do every Saturday,” I explained.

“You should come back next week,” Deja told Indigo.

“I just might,” Indi said.

“Nice to meet you, Indigo.” Patricia waddled toward us. “You have a good week, Tameka. And I'll see you next Saturday.”

“Okay.” We embraced.

“See you later, Tameka,” Fawn said. “Are you coming back again, Indi?”

“I'll probably come back next week.”

Fawn got closer to me, whispered in my ear, “I think Sean's a little sweet on you.”

“What? No.” I laughed.

“I'll see you next week, honey.” Fawn winked and then walked toward the door. “Let's go, Sean.”

I watched him, wondered if he would look my way so that I could say goodbye. After all, we had shared an interesting conversation. He had even freestyled for me. He never looked my way. With the cell phone pressed against his ear, he followed his mother out the door. Indigo locked arms with mine and we headed toward the door.

“He's cute.” She smiled as she watched me watch him.

I didn't even bother to ask who or to expound on the conversation. I just ignored her and walked toward the elevators.

“Thanks for coming with me today. I really appreciate it.”

“Not a problem,” she said. “Now can we stop and get a smoothie, please?”

“Of course,” I said and felt my phone buzz.

It was Vance. He called just as he promised. This was turning out to be a better day than I expected.