I woke up with a pounding headache. Still in my super expensive dress, make up still on and false eyelashes hanging on by a thread. My hair smelled of cigarettes and weed. I looked around my hotel room wondering what the hell had happened the night before. I stumbled out of the bed and walked into the bathroom. My cell phone was on the counter and clearly the battery had died. I splashed some water on my face, changed into some sweats and headed into the second room of my suite. My sister was still passed out on the bed and Deann was sound asleep on the couch. The room was dark and I had no idea what time of day it was. I started a pot of coffee and jumped into the shower. Fifteen minutes later I had washed of all the dirt and sweat of the night before and even though my brain felt as if it was trying to escape from my skull, I felt a little refreshed. I walked out onto the balcony with my cup of coffee and sat down. The last thing I had remembered about last night was the three of us dancing in VIP inside some random Scottsdale nightclub. We had been club hopping all over that night and with all the bottle service we had I obviously took the drinking overboard. I heard my phone going crazy in the other room. I had put it on the charger and now I was receiving all the messages and voicemails that had been left when my phone was dead. I walked into the bedroom and picked it up. I had ten text messages all from the same person. I didn’t recognize the number. But they were all wondering where I was and why did I leave the club so soon. I sent a text message in reply asking who it was. There was a rustling coming from the living room. I looked around the corner and saw my sister looking like death himself. I laughed and threw a pillow at her.
“Come on Lauren. Don’t do that. I feel like crap.”
I laughed again. “Do you want some coffee or do you just wanna order some food?” She ignored my question and walked into her bathroom. I heard the shower turn on so I figured she was getting ready for the day. My phone vibrated and I had received a text message.
“What do you mean who is this? Damn u forgot bout your folks so quick?” it said.
I smiled and my heart fluttered a little. I knew exactly who it was. It was my long lost friend slash secret lover Wade. I hadn’t heard from him in years. He must’ve been at the same club as us last night. I sent him a message back telling him what hotel I was staying at and to meet me for lunch around noon. I sat back and tried to think of a plan for my lunch date. I couldn’t let Deann know that I was going with Wade. She didn’t really know all that had happened between him and I and seeing as how they have a child together, I didn’t want to make things between the three of us weird. She did know that I used to see him and that we used to be together all the time. But I never did tell her to the extent how him and I felt about each other. I sat back on my bed and turned on the TV. I flipped to the weather channel just to see what the day was looking like. I pulled my digital camera out of my purse and wondered if the pictures could give me any insight on what happened the night before. The very first picture was the last one of the night. And as blurry as it was I could tell it was me, Deann, Maricela, my best friend Lynn and 4 familiar men’s faces. I could not believe that the young boys that I used to know had turned into grown men. There were the faces of Bogie, Lavell, Wade and Raymon. In the past these four men were inseparable. I had not seen them all together for many years so you could imagine my surprise when this picture showed up on my camera. For the moment I put the camera aside and noticed that it was already 11 in the morning. In one hour I was supposed to be meeting Wade.
I frantically got ready for my lunch date. It had been at least a year or so that I had this feeling. My stomach was overcome with nervousness. I’m not sure if I was anxious due to the fact that I hadn’t seen him in awhile or if it was because I knew in my heart I was still in love with him. The elevator ride felt like the longest ride of my life. As I grew closer to the restaurant the butterflies in my stomach became more and more frantic. I turned the corner and there he was. His back was to me but I knew right away it was him. I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, looked me up and down and just smiled. We hugged for an unmeasurable amount of time. Nothing needed to be said.
As we sat and ate lunch we laughed and talked like the old friends we were. We had both tried to stay clear of anything that would lead to the topic of our broken relationship. Towards the end of the meal he and I both knew that talking about our past was at this point inevitable.
“So, I won’t beat around the bush. Tell me the truth. Why did you leave the way you did?” I started off the topic by getting straight to the point. I know if I didn’t ask one of the hardest questions first then we would never get anywhere. The smile disappeared from his face and he looked down at the table. I could see the regret written all over his face. Slowly he raised his head, looked me dead in the eyes and said,
“It just got so hard. Seemed as though I wasn’t really what you wanted me to be. I wasn’t ready to change. But the real question is, why didn’t you stop me from leaving?”
I truly wasn’t ready for that question. How am I capable of stopping someone from doing what they wanted to do? I was quiet for a lot longer than I wanted to be but I really wasn’t sure how I was going to answer his question.
Finally I replied, “I didn’t know how to stop you or how to get you back. Honestly I was more consumed with confusion than anything else. Everything seemed perfect. I really didn’t know that you felt the way you did.”
On and on this conversation went. I got out everything I needed to say to him I never got to. He said everything he always thought but never spoke about. All and all it was the best meal I had eaten in months. He walked me back to my room and I invited him in. All the while I had forgotten about his baby mother sleeping on the couch. We walked in and instantly things changed. Deann looked at Wade then looked at me. I couldn’t tell whether it was a look of surprise or a look anger. She stood up. Put on her shoes, grabbed her purse and left. I followed her out the door and yelled to her. She turned around and came walking back to me.
“What Lauren! What do you want? I thought it was over with you two. Why is he here and why on Earth would you bring him back to this room? I told you that your break up really hurt our son. He was attached to you! Now here you are dragging this relationship on. I wash my hands of you.” Then she turned and walked away.
I stood stuck in the same spot, dumbfounded. Wade walked up behind me and just put his hand on my shoulder. He leaned down and kissed my cheek then whispered in my ear,
“No matter what any one may say to you or I, then will never know the love we have for one another. You will always be the love of life.”
Once again Wade saved the day. He had always known what to say to make me feel special and happy.
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