“One For Good Luck”
By
Author Monica “MoGeSu” Sumter
I sat staring out
of my room window. It was windy and cold outside but nice and cozy inside. The
huge bay window with the cushioned trunk seat was my favorite place in my whole
house. It was, by far, the most inviting. My window overlooked the outstretched
back yard that stayed perfectly manicured. For every raindrop that fell on my
window outside, inside were teardrops falling down my cheeks. I didn’t even
bother to wipe them away anymore. I’d been sitting there for hours, not sure
how many, when there was a knock on my front door.
At first I didn’t
even realize what that noise was. I jumped and turned towards my room door but
stayed seated. I was still as a statue while I listened for the noise to come
again. When I heard it, louder and more demanding, I looked at the clock. It
was a little after 1:00 pm. I couldn’t think straight and didn’t know for the
life of me who that could be. I finally got out of the window and slowly walked
to the front door. Once again I waited and listened.
For a long while there was dead silence,
except for the rain pounding on the roof harder than before. I was running down
a mental list of who would possibly come to my home unexpected, especially in
the middle of the day. I had been working, so to speak, from home for the last
several days and my car was pleasantly parked in the garage. I jumped when the
police-like knocking brought me out of my thoughts and back to reality.
“Who is it?” I barely squeezed out of my
throat.
“Jerod, with the cable company, Ma’am!”
he yelled back.
“Oh my gosh,” I thought to myself as I
quickly unlocked the door.
I’d forgotten all about the appointment
I’d made. It had been raining for days and the rain must’ve gotten into the
wires and knocked out the cable. Shoot, I didn’t know. I was just guessing. I
felt bad when I opened the door. The poor man was drenched. I immediately
started apologizing.
“Oh my goodness you’re soaked. I’d
forgotten about my appointment. I feel terrible!” He smiled a beautiful smile
despite his wet face.
“It’s okay. Didn’t they call to remind
you of your appointment?” he asked. I nodded in shame.
“Yes they did. I’ve just had a lot on my
mind. I truly apologize.” I motioned him to where the cable box was. He did his
best to wipe the rain water off his hands.
“Let me get u a towel,” I offered. He
smiled again then turned around to get to work. He was a handsome man which
reminded me of my heartache again.
I sighed and turned around to go get
Jerod a towel but my mind was elsewhere. I was thinking about all the mess I
was going through with my so called boyfriend. We’d been together for almost a
year and I was less than impressed. I’d recently found out I was not the only
female he was seeing but of course he was trying to make me believe otherwise.
At this point I was confused and tired, mentally. I arrived back with Jerod’s
towel but was still in my own world.
“Thanks,” he said but noticed I wasn’t
paying attention.
I didn’t realize I had begun slowly
pacing the room while chewing on my manicured thumbnail, deep in thought. At
one point in time the not-so-good looking guys were the ones that treated you
the best. They opened doors and pulled out your chair for you. They also gave
you gifts like flowers and jewelry, just because. Now they try to play you just
as much as the fine ones. I turned and caught a glimpse of Jerod’s face. He had
completely stopped working and was sitting on top my antique floor model TV
with a slight smile on his face.
“So you’d forgotten about the
appointment, huh?” he asked.
“Yes I did. Again I apologize.” I turned to fully face him.
“You said you had things on your mind.
From the looks of it they’re still on there…” He had noticed. If he was working
and doing his job he wouldn’t have. I calmed down. It wasn’t his fault. It was
nice of him to inquire.
“Yea I guess you’re right. I’m good
though.” He turned and went back to the task at hand behind the cable box.
“So enlighten me,” he said, surprising
me. I had started pacing again but immediately stopped and turned towards him
again.
“Enlighten you? I am SO not about to sit
here and just disclose all my personal business to you. I don’t talk to
strangers!” I added. He straightened up and laughed.
“Strangers are the best to talk to. Try me.”
I couldn’t believe him. He actually
wanted me to pour out all my inner most feelings and problems to him. I started
to think about his offer, though. After a while it didn’t seem like such a
bogus idea. It is always best to have a man’s opinion when it came to
relationship problems. Also an unbiased opinion would be helpful. My friends
and family all hated my so-called boyfriend. I purposefully never told any of
them about the issues I’d be having with him because I knew once we worked it
all out they would still never forget the things I’d told them. They saw the
change in me and needless to say we never worked any of it out.
I sighed and sat down on the couch. Felt
like I was a patient and he was my therapist, like I should be lying down
instead of sitting. While he worked I filled him in with the short version of
my past year’s relationship.
“Sorry but these reasons for his acting
like an ass are nothing but excuses and a bunch of bull. You know it, don’t
you?” he asked.
I
sat in deep thought for a while before answering. I had just opened my mouth
when the phone rang. He was looking at me, arms crossed, sitting on the TV top
again. He slowly rose and went back to work. I got up to answer the phone.
“Hello?” I asked in my “white girl”
voice everyone always accused me of talking in.
I didn’t think I sounded white, just
professional and like I had good sense. On the other end was my boyfriend,
wanting to have a conversation I was not prepared to have at that very moment.
Besides, I was emotionally unstable first of all and second of all Jerod was
there. He was working, but definitely paying close attention.
I was on the phone for almost thirty
minutes. I did more listening than talking but I’m sure just from my end it
didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I did not do what I should’ve
and broke up with him. I was too ashamed, embarrassed basically, to even face
Jerod. Why did I care? Why SHOULD I care? He doesn’t know me! He don’t know
anything about how lonely I feel at night and how badly I needed to feel loved,
to feel worthy of being loved. I’d been through SO much, especially when it
came to men. When I needed to feel beautiful and appreciated, my boyfriend had
been there.
I didn’t expect anyone else to do so,
but for some reason I felt the need for Jerod to understand. I didn’t want him
to think I was a stupid or vulnerable chicken head. I wanted him to know I was
intelligent and didn’t suffer from low self esteem
but we all needed an ego boost sometimes.
I marched right back in the living and
stood staring out of the window. When I’d stormed in there I was planning to
announce that we’d decided to work it out and that was that. I didn’t want to
discuss my situation with some stranger anymore. I wanted him to do his work
and get out, but for some reason it didn’t happen that way. I felt like a
teenager not able to admit to her parents that she was dating the bad boy of
the neighborhood. I didn’t see when he straightened up and took his sitting
position on the TV again. I didn’t want to turn around but I knew he was watching
me.
“Ma’am?” he started. I turned around
slowly.
“Jenna,” I corrected.
“Jenna. I couldn’t help but overhear
your conversation. Are you happy with the decision you have obviously made?” he
asked.
I didn’t immediately answer. I just
stood there staring at him. I couldn’t speak. This wasn’t me. What was this?
How did I get here to this point in my life? I was too overwhelmed. The tears
began to fall again, harder than the rain outside. He walked towards me. I
didn’t want him to see me like this so I tried to turn and run. He caught up to
me and wrapped me up in his arms. I backed away from him immediately. His shirt
was still cold and wet. When he realized what was wrong he stripped down to his
boxers and again walked towards me with his arms out. I couldn’t fight him. He
was there and he wanted to console me. At that very moment in time that was
exactly what I needed……
Lightning flashed and thunder clapped
while the rain continued to crash down outside. We were oblivious to any of it
as Jerod gave me nothing but love making at its finest. I’d never experienced
that with men I’d been with for years, let alone a stranger. His kisses were
flawless and his caresses were to die for. My boyfriend had called several
times and I ignored them all. After we had exhausted every position we knew and
lay spent and out of breath, the phone began to ring again. I reached to answer
it when Jerod beat me to it.
“Hello?” he answered and politely
waited. I was laughing so hard I had to cover my mouth.
“I’m sorry but I have her busy right
now. Oh, and please don’t bother to call back. There’s no need. I’m here now.
Have a good day.” He placed the phone back on the cradle and I burst into
laughter.
“I can’t believe you just did that!” I
squealed through fits of laughter.
“Seriously, you deserve so much better,
Jen. I promise I did you a favor. You are such a beautiful woman.” I blushed.
My boyfriend, EX boyfriend now, was good at kissing up but he’d never said
anything like that before.
“I have to go…” The sound of his voice brought
me out of my thoughts. My heart dropped.
I knew he’d have to leave but I wasn’t
ready.
“Okay,” was all I could muster up. His
eyes actually showed sadness.
He sat on the side of the bed putting
his shoes on. He was fully dressed from the waist down but still shirtless. I
sat, still naked, in the middle of the bed behind him with the covers pulled
tightly around my body, staring at the tattoo of his name spread broadly from
shoulder to shoulder across his muscular back.
“Good God,” I whispered as I
instinctively reached out and traced it.
He stopped focusing on his shoes and
turned his body around to face me. He waited silently for whatever I would do
or say next. I had his full attention.
“So what now?” I asked but was already
cringing at the thought of his answer.
He reached and pulled the covers from my
grasp. He let them fall loosely around my waist. He touched me as lightly as
I’d just touched him. After the weightless strokes across my skin he leaned
forward and kissed my lips. His trailed from mine to my cheek then brushed
against my ear.
“What now is that I show you what being
loved by a real man feels like. You deserve that feeling and I wanna be the one
to give it to you.”
My breath caught in my throat as he
whispered his answer to me and his hand stroked through my hair. He continued.
“What now is I undo everything he has
done. Soon the scent of my skin and touch of my hand will be enough to make
your heart skip a beat. I get to be the one running through your mind all day,
filling your soul with such a fire that anyone can see it shining from within
just by the look in your eyes. What now is my face is the first one you get to
see when you wake up in the morning and the last one you see when you go to
sleep at night. Now my name is the one that will roll off your tongue and drip
from your lips while you’re having dreams of me so wet that you sleep with your
legs tightly closed. I don’t need to have been with you forever to realize what
an amazing woman you are.”
I was left speechless. Now finished with
his answer to my question and happy with my reaction to it, he moved his lips
from my ear and back to mine.
“Now I really must go,” he said with a
slight laugh.
Feeling much better since we’d cleared
the air I hopped up and got dressed myself. We went back around to the front
room together.
He gathered his tools and began to pack
everything up.
“Is it fixed?” I asked looking towards
the TV. He reared back and laughed.
“Baby I was done ten minutes after I got
here!” He laughed even harder when I repeatedly, but playfully hit him.
“So you were over there all hard at work
and faking?” I asked as if I were mad.
He was laughing so hard all he could do
was nod. I began to laugh too, but not for long. He was standing in the doorway
and I knew what that meant.
“So I guess I’ll never see you again,” I
stated, not asked.
“Why you say that? Didn’t you hear
anything I said in there? But I get it. Seeing is believing. Well how about I
start putting my words into action tonight. It is Valentine’s Day. ” he said.
I had forgotten all about it. “Oh wow!
I’m impressed. I didn’t think men took things like that seriously.”
“Wanna bet?” he asked. I shook my head.
“Nope. I don’t gamble,” I told him.
“Just out of curiosity, why not?” he
asked.
“Because gambling takes luck, and all my
luck is usually bad,” I said and I meant every word.
He came towards me and planted a long
passionate, breath taking kiss on my lips. He’d already stopped kissing me but
I still stood with my eyes closed and lips puckered. I didn’t want it to stop.
Once I realized it was over I licked my lips to get the last taste of his. He
smiled.
“That was one for good luck since your claim you have none. I wanted to give you some
of mine.”
That was the sweetest thing anyone had
ever said or done for me and I was truly floored. We hugged, said our goodbyes,
and with that he was gone but later returned with an arm full of flowers, a
card and candy ready to start our Valentine’s day date. Oh yea. I was
definitely getting excited about finally finding love again!!!
InstaGram and Twitter: Author.MoGesu
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Until next time you guys, be on the lookout for more from your girl MoGeSu!!
