Nikki was filled with love’s desire. She was anxious to see Justice, much more than she had been at any other time in their relationship. It was Ricardo’s weekend with Muffin and she had cleared her calendar of all things involving any kind of work. She had turned off her phones and had purposely left her laptop at work. Her mind and especially her body were hurting for him so that night she intended to soothe her ache for him. Her body was freshly showered and baby oiled up. She added a few sprits of Justice’s favorite perfume to all of the places she wanted him to pay close attention to, before admiring herself naked in the floor length mirrors of her walk-in closet. She had been hitting the gym three days a week, paying a crap load of money to work with the best personal trainer in town, to ensure that she tightened her body back up. Loving Justice had added about fifteen pounds to her statuesque frame, which had started to make her feel self conscious about getting naked in front of her beau, but not tonight. Tonight she was willing to let every imperfection she may have had hang out freely as long as the night started and ended with she and Justice making love.
She put on her laciest black lingerie complete with red pump stilettos, his favorite. Her hair was freshly done and flowing down her back while her makeup was flawless. She gave herself one final look over; she was so hot her aura was radiating heat. Satisfied with herself she gathered her strawberries, chocolate sauce and whip cream from the kitchen before setting up her spot for her romantic interlude with Justice. She poured two glasses of champagne and checked her watch before having a seat on the pillows she’d fashioned into a cozy little nook in front of the fireplace, as Justice was supposed to be there at any moment.
Time ticked slowly by and it was half a bottle later before Nikki’s anticipation turned to worry then frustration. She had called Justice’s cell phone countless times with no answer and no returned call. Initially she thought that he may have gotten stuck at work, but a call to the law firm where he worked assured her that he had been gone from the office since noon. Then she thought maybe he had gotten stuck in traffic and hadn’t even made it to town yet, but talking to Robin informed her that he had already been by to have his routine visit with his niece. By this time, she was starting to feel stood up so she was extremely pissed. She knew from experience that when the man in her life didn’t show for a planned event, it was usually another woman that had held him up. She had an uneasy anxious feeling that was building up inside of her and her nerves were causing her to drink faster than her liver could process it, so before long she was more drunk than she wanted to be.
She was angry, disappointed, frustrated, hurt and in extreme disbelief. She sat on the floor in front of her fireplace throwing accent pillows across the room in an attempt to ease her frustration. She could feel the tears clogging up her throat, as she finally turned off the music and picked up the pillows she’d been flinging all night long. She had eaten most of the strawberries and chocolate sauce when a knock came at her door. She rolled her eyes at the thought of him showing up two hours late for their special date, but inside she was elated that he had finally found his way to her doorstep.
She cracked open the door to find him standing there with a stern look on his face. She opened the door before she moved to the side so that he could make his way in. She couldn’t close the door behind him fast enough before demanding, “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been waiting for you all damn night! This was supposed to be our special night! And don’t even start with the you’ve been at work or over to see Justine because I’ve already called to check so.” She folded her arms across her chest to express how angry she was as she shifted all of her weight to one side as she waited for an answer.
“I been thinking,” Justice said unable to look her straight in the eye. He continued rushing through his words as though he had rehearsed them, “Nikki, I don’t think we should see each other anymore. Look, I’ve got too much stuff going on with work and school; I can’t give you the time that you need right now.”
“Wh…what.” She stammered trying to find the words to convey her complete shock at what was occurring. She thought for a second as she took in what had just been said to her, “Wait. What do you mean we shouldn’t see each other anymore? What? Why?”
“I just told you that I’ve got a lot going on right now, besides this is getting too serious for me. I don’t have time to dedicate to a relationship right now. I’ve been thinking about this all night and-“
“...And what? You show up two hours late to break up with me!? What’s this really about Justice? Are you seeing someone else? Is that what this is all about?” Nikki said, tears started to form as her voice cracked.
“No! No, there’s no one else. This is about me. I need to concentrate on my career and you need to concentrate on your family.” Justice replied wanting to wrap his arms around her. He wanted to tell her what had really happened before he made it to her place but he was now obligated not to. “Look, this thing is over Nikki. We had fun that’s it but it’s over,” he continued, well aware of how cold and emotionless his words sounded. They both stood there looking at each other waiting for the other to say the first word that would get their conversation started again but neither said a word. The seconds seemed like hours making the tension in the room stifling and Justice felt like he had stayed far longer than he should have for someone trying to end a relationship. “I gotta go,” he said as he started to make his way over to the front door.
Just as his hand reached the knob he felt Nikki grab his other hand as tightly as she possibly could as if she were trying to keep him there. “Justice, wait!” she exclaimed anxiously. Confusion ravaged her words as she pleaded, “I…I don’t understand. What? Did I do something wrong? I mean, if all you need if time then I can give you that. I’m willing to wait until you finish school or whatever. I know how important your education and career are to you.” She could hear herself begging this man not to leave her, something that she had never even considered doing before in any other relationship. She was crying and she could feel herself about to fall completely apart in front of him but her need for him consumed any issues of pride she may have had. She needed him in her life, in her heart, more importantly in love with her and she wanted him to see that her feelings were sincere. For the first time in her life she was ready to get down on her knees to beg this man not to leave as long as it meant that he wouldn’t go.
Justice was not prepared for Nikki’s response. He had expected her to cuss him out before kicking him out of her life, as well as, her house for dumping her after showing up two hours late for their date. He had been waiting for her to hit him or at least throw something at him, anything but the reaction he’d gotten. She looked so fragile, as she stood in front of him sliding her palms up and down the lapels of his jacket, as she begged for a chance to make their relationship work. He could see the tears falling from her pleading eyes, as her voice cracked and trembled; a sign that her emotions were making it hard to express herself. He had known her for almost seven years but had never seen her shed so much as a single tear, so the sight of her in such disarray was more than he thought that he could take. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, to kiss her, to hold her and to tell here just what was going on but he had to try to keep his family together, so he had to sacrifice his happiness with Nikki to ensure that. “Nikki, let’s not make this any harder,” Justice grimaced at the thought of having to act like a complete heartless bastard in order to sell the notion that he really wanted their thing to end.
“NOOOO!” Nikki cried as she threw herself around Justice, “Justice, baby, please don’t do this to me. Please, I’m begging you, please don’t do this.” She said before sobbing uncontrollably into his chest.
Justice’s heart cried for him to stop his charade before he lost her forever but his rationale pushed him forward as he grabbed either side of her shoulders and pushed her away saying only, “I gotta go.”
“But wait,” she cried unable to just let love walk out of her door, “wait, you’re talking like…like-“
“Bye, Nikki! I gotta go!” He snapped, before rushing out of the front door towards his car. Nikki made her way down the steps after him, stumbling on the last steps before falling onto the lawn. She quickly picked herself up, running across the yard to reach his car before he could get in it.
She placed her body in between him and the door saying, “why don’t you want to talk about it? What happened that made everything so final? Whatever it is I can fix, baby, I can make it right”
In her haste to follow him out of the house, Nikki must have forgotten that she was dressed in only what looked like her underwear. “What the fuck!” Justice snapped, before he ordered her back in the house saying, “Nikki, get back in the house! You’re out here damn near naked.”
“So!”
“So? What the hell do you mean so? So you better get back in the house and get some clothes on before someone sees you out here naked, that’s what’s so.”
“Come back in with me.”
“No, I already told you it’s over there’s nothing left to talk about.”
“Baby, please wait-“
“NO! I told you it’s over! It’s over! I don’t want to be with you anymore! It’s over!” Those were the last words of their conversation. Those were the words that cause Nikki to turn and run crying up her driveway to her house, slamming the door behind her. Those were the words that would play over and over again in both their heads for the rest of the weekend, as they both tried to reflect on just why their relationship had really ended.
Meanwhile, across town at Monique's place the scene was just as tension filled. “I can’t believe you have gotten yourself into this kind of trouble. Haven’t you two ever heard of condoms?” Robin asked her cousin as she opened up the two pregnancy kits that she had purchased from the drug store. She had promised Monique that she would take the test with her so that she didn’t have to do it alone. It had become a sort of weird tradition between the two of them ever since Robin’s first pregnancy scare when she was sixteen. When ever one thought that she may be expecting then the other would hike up her skirt to pee on a stick of her own so that neither would have to go through this nerve racking ordeal alone.
“I know, I know! God! Eighteen years of consequences for fifteen minutes of pleasure…and this is the first time we’d ever done it without a condom and of course, he promised he was gonna pull out, which he didn’t.” Monique said as she paced back and forth behind Robin looking over her shoulder every few seconds to check her progress.
“Girl, please tell me you know his HIV status.” The nurse in Robin prayed that her cousin had at least been that smart. She knew that Monique had only been with one guy her entire life and that she had been tested before she started dating Velle, but she also knew that Velle had been through his share of women in college, as well as, in town so as a health care professional she was concerned.
“Yes. I know, he’s had a lot of female friends so I made us get tested awhile back, like six months. He’s negative. I mean, I never intended on having sex without a rubber in the first place but damn!” Monique replied.
“Okay. You ready?” Robin asked. She had written their name on the test that each was going to use. She went first, as she felt she definitely had nothing to worry about. She hadn’t gotten any action a good while now. She reapplied the cap and placed the stick on the counter with both her name and the result window showing. Then it was Monique’s turn, she did the same exact thing as Robin, but unlike her cousin who was admiring herself in the bathroom mirror; her eyes were fixed on the result window of the two tests. Robin was chattering on about work or something, when Monique noticed what looked like two lines starting to appear in her cousin’s result window.
“Okay, Robin,” she said becoming quite puzzled by what she was seeing, “Now, are we looking for two blue lines or one?”
“Two for pregnant, one for not. Why?” She asked as she stopped rearranging strands of hair. She continued to questioning saying, “Are you preggers?”
“No,” Monique replied calmly as she held up her cousin’s test. “You are!”
