Thursday, October 22, 2009

Chapter 16

Jeremy whistled as he walked through his front door. He was in such a good mood that he actually played pretty well on the basketball court. He usually does okay, but today was special. He felt young again, like he did when he won championships back in high school and college. He just felt good.

And he knew he owed it all to having Charlotte back in his life.

He went and took a long shower, letting the hot water soothe his overworked muscles. When he got out, he dressed in some lounging clothes and turned the tv on. He put it on his favorite old skool R&B station, and danced his way to the kitchen. He heated up some leftover Robin put in the refrigerator for him and settled down in his favorite chair.

He ate while his mind took him back to his night, and morning, with Charlotte. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.

It was strange how he went from an occasional thought over the past ten years to nonstop thoughts, over the course of a couple of days. He was just amazed by her. And to think, she felt the same way he did. He just couldn’t get over that.

He replayed her words over and over in his head. And it didn’t help that she’d told him she loved him. Just thinking about that made his heart flutter. He hadn’t felt that feeling in a long while. She was bringing out of him something that seemed to have been hidden away for a long time. He tried to remember the last time that Robin did something for him or to him to make him feel butterflies, or at the very least, even a small flutter. He came up empty-handed.

And, as he was soon beginning to realize, thinking about Charlotte and Robin at the same time was depressing him. That thought alone made him uncomfortable. How someone could cheat on another person was beyond him.

He didn’t regret what he’d done with Charlotte, but the fact that he was going to have to hide that from Robin was killing him. He wasn’t used to keeping secrets from her, they shared everything. He married her and made a commitment to her and in one night, he broke that.

He started thinking back to the night he proposed to Robin. They were so happy back then, not to say they weren’t happy now.

They went to a small jazz hall that she loved going to. After eating, he took her down to the Galveston on the seawall. He’d made reservations at a hotel on the water and he wanted that night to be perfect. After checking in, they went for a short walk down on the sandy beach and just talked and kissed and just made the night perfect. When they’d gotten back to the suite, he had her to close her eyes and he let her to the bedroom. There, he stood her in front of the bed where he’d had the concierge place rose petals all over the bed and had chocolate covered strawberries and champagne waiting. There, in the middle of all that was a small box with and engagement ring in it.

He got down on one knee while he was holding her hand. He squeezed her hand and told her to open her eyes. She was looking down, in the direction of his voice and immediately saw him on one knee. She teared up before she even had the chance to look around the newly decorated room. He drew her attention to the ring on the bed and then told her how much she meant to him, expressing just how many ways he loved her.

She was so hysterical and happy that she got on the phone and called her mom before she even gave him an answer. He remembered how he laughed at the fact that she was calling and telling everybody that he proposed before she gave him and official yes. He didn’t care, though. He loved her with all his heart. She was going to marry him and that was all that mattered.

But now, things were different. He loved her, but something in their relationship had changed a while ago. He couldn’t put his finger on it but he could tell that they both knew it, but they both were fighting hard to keep their relationship together. He couldn’t say that he his love for had changed in a bad way, but his love for her was different nonetheless.

And he figured that she was in the same position.

He was brought back to reality by the phone ringing. He looked at the screen as it displayed Charlotte’s house number. His smile was automatic. He couldn’t help it.

“Hey you,” he greeted her.

“Wow, you sound really happy. What’s going on?” she countered.

“Nothing. I was just sitting here thinking about things, some good and some bad, but either way, I was happy when I saw your name pop up on the called ID. I never thought I’d be one of them,” he said.

“One of who?” she asked.

“You know, one of those people who blush and smile at the mention of someone name. I never thought I’d be one of those dudes. And if anybody else finds out that I am, I’ll know it was you who said something.”

This was another thing he missed with Robin, he realized. The playful banter and the talking about nothing. They used to do it all the time, and now, everything was so serious or wasn’t anything at all. He couldn’t just walk up to her and talk about the green, purple and yellow socks he started to buy her when he was at the store. She would wonder what he thought she had to wear with that and even if she did have an outfit, where would she wear it? She wouldn’t be caught dead in socks like that. Her reputation was at stake.

But with Charlotte, it was different. Everything seemed to be. She probably would’ve playfully scolded him for not buying them for her, and the scarf or hat to match. And she would wear them, just because they came from him.

“Oh, you know I will tell every person I come in contact with. You just wait til I get a chance to talk to Sam. You know I’m telling her.”

Jeremy racked his brain trying to remember who Sam was. Then he remembered she was Charlotte’s younger sister. The one who used to pretend that she was his girlfriend. When her friends would come over, she would pretend that he was there to see her. He played along with it, too. All her little friends were so jealous of Sam. They all thought Jeremy was the most beautiful boy they’d ever seen.

He laughed as he remembered that and relayed it to Charlotte.

“You know, if you ask her about that today, she’ll deny that that ever happened. She tries to play the role of the bad girl now. I don’t know what I’m going to do with her,” Charlotte told him.

They talked about an hour longer before his call waiting chimed in. He asked Charlotte to hold on while he clicked over.

“Hello?” he said into the phone.

“Hey baby, good, you’re still awake,” Robin said. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be home first thing in the morning. The meeting we were supposed to have tomorrow got cancelled, so I’m going to head out early in the morning. I miss you so much.”

Jeremy didn’t know what to say. He went from about hundred miles per hour talking to Charlotte to zero when he started talking to Robin.

“Okay,” was all he could muster up to say.

“Okay, baby. I’ll see you in the morning. Love you,” she said.

“You, too,” he replied. His mind and mouth just wouldn’t form the words.

After clicking back over, Charlotte noticed the change in his tone.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“She’ll be back in the morning. I was kind of hoping to get in some more time with you before she came back. Now that’s out the window.”

He sounded so sad and heartbroken. She wanted the same thing, which was the reason for her call. But it seemed that when they got to talking, she always forgot her reasoning and just went with the flow.

“Well, that’s what I was originally calling you about. I wanted to see if you wanted to come over. You could stay with me until the very last minute. I want to see you, too,” she finished quietly.

“Hang up, I’m on my way” was all she heard before the dial tone sound.

Ten minutes later, he was knocking on her front door.
_____________________________________________________________________

Robin hung up the phone with Jeremy and sat back down on the bed.

“Babe, come on to bed. I told you, we’ll figure this out. I promise,” Greg said to her.

She turned around to face him. He noticed right away the tears streaming down her face. He reached over and pulled her to him. He wrapped his arms around her and spooned her. He let her cry until she fell asleep. He never would’ve expected for Robin to react this way. She didn’t even know whether or not she was pregnant yet. He figured it had to be something else that was bothering her. She was withdrawn from him since she took those tests.

He couldn’t put his finger on it, but her demeanor, body language and attitude towards him had changed in the last couple of hours. He was sure about that. He just hoped that she wasn’t pulling back from him. That, he wouldn’t be able to take again. If that was the case, he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

4 comments:

Lady said...

I really appreciate the kind words that you all always have for me about this story. As I said in the beginning, this story was written (in play format) back in 2003, in my B2K fanfiction days.

I still laugh at the fact that I actually used to write fanfiction.

But this story, in the format and direction it was written in originally is really sad and embarrassing. I can't believe what I wrote back then. If you could see the original story and then compare it to this one, you would think it was two totally different stories.

Maybe I'll make a blog for that one, too.

Anyway, thanks for (still) reading. I really appreciate the love! Thank You!!!

Lyn said...

Wow!! you should post that blog too because this one is really good....:) i cant wait for the next post!!!!!

azulkrema said...

Love it!!! cant wait to see what happens next....

mum said...

Stop making me feel a little sorry for Robin! She's got two great guys that she's stringing along. NO FAIR! Take Greg and be on your way!! Love it! mum