When You Come to Me (34 page)

She traversed up the driveway, kicking aside the pair of soccer shoes, smiling to herself. She could think of no better joy than to crawl in his bed beside him and show him just how much she loved him. He would smile and tell her that he always knew she’d be back, so he washed his sheets twice for her, just so they smelled just right.

She had a little giggle about that too.

She knocked on the door slowly and methodically, as she prepared herself for her new future. She heard footsteps approach and quickly finger-combed her hair and ruffled her clothes, momentarily forgetting that Brandon had seen her at her very worst and didn’t care. That was the love and comfort that she wanted.

But Reina appeared on the other side, leaning against the frame of the open doorway in nothing more than the blue buttoned down shirt that she bought him for his birthday. Natalie only saw her hazel wolf-eyes, her full coral lips, and her long silhouette of undulating russet hair.

#

“I can’t do this,” Natalie breathed, turning to walk in the other direction.

“I knew you would come,” Reina called after her, chuckling a little. Natalie stopped herself cold.

“I found a stack of pictures hidden in his bottom drawer,” she continued. “And you were in every single last one of them…”

She wanted to rip every shred of that shirt off of her body. She wore it proudly, smugly. And she could smell him all over her. She suddenly felt nauseous.

“I guess I was praying everyday that you’d forgotten about him or he’d forgotten about you…but he called me
Natalie
the other night when we made love…and I found an earring that wasn’t mine in the console of his truck, as if he’d saved it…waiting for you to come back and claim it…but I knew you’d come eventually…”

Reina’s smile was lifeless.

“Where is he?” Natalie pressed.

She only shrugged in return. “He left in a huff about an hour ago…I tried calling him, but it went straight to voicemail…”

Natalie was relieved that there was a glint of hope left inside of her at the sound of Reina’s reluctance to divulge that information. And she figured that storming through the house and beating Reina to a pulp wouldn’t solve much of anything.

So she pulled her cellular phone out of her pocket and dialed the familiar number, that she sadly knew better than her own, and she hesitantly held the device close to her ear: there was a clicking sound, followed by the sound of Brandon’s voice urging callers to leave him a message after the beep. So, perhaps simply asking him where he was wouldn’t help matters much…

Reina disappeared into the house and reemerged seconds later fully dressed, with a large overnight bag affixed to her shoulder.

“I should tell you to get the hell on or leave him alone,” she told Natalie. “But I would only be wasting my breath, now wouldn’t I?”

“I suppose,” Natalie replied unaffectedly.

Reina nodded sullenly and started the long trek up the narrow, tree-lined road. For a moment, Natalie thought to ask the girl if she needed a ride somewhere, but she truthfully couldn’t care less. She only had acute tunnel vision at the moment.

And then clarity clamored the length of her body, and she smiled confidently, strolling to the dead-end, through the trees, across a long expanse of mushy ground, to an opening in the grass. A large, hazy silhouette sat placidly on the dampened bank, and the breeze ruffled his clothes.

Natalie smiled wider then and she could only let the tears spring from her eyes.

“I guess some things never change,” she quietly said, walking toward him slowly.

Brandon remained still. He then picked up a large rock and hurled it into the water, creating a large plunking noise.

“What are you doing here, Natalie?” he replied, his head lowered.

“Isn’t this where it all began? Isn’t this why we make sense in the first place?”

“You’re a little late in drawing that conclusion, aren’t you?”

He got to his feet and dusted off his bottom. He then diverted his eyes away from hers and proceeded to walk past her, but she instinctively grabbed his arm and yanked him back.

“I’m done!” he yelled into her face angrily. “What part of that don’t you understand, Tallie?”

“Then why can’t you look me in the eye and tell me that? Is that the truth, Brandon? Is that how you really feel?”

He broke free of her grip on his arm and he started to walk away from her again.

“Anthony knows about us,” she admitted. She watched him stop cold, idling his weight on one side of his body.

“I left him tonight, Brandy,” she whispered, sniffling. “I told him that I couldn’t lie to him anymore…and I couldn’t lie to myself anymore…and…he was so angry, baby…but I didn’t care…it had gone on too long, Brandy…and I couldn’t do it anymore…”

He turned to face her, but kept his distance. “What are you trying to tell me, Natalie?”

“You’re
it
,” she breathed. She took a few long breaths before she continued. “You’re mine…and you’ve always been mine…and…I can’t stand life…without you in it…I don’t…I don’t make any sense without you…and I’m sorry for everything that I put you through…for the confusion, the doubt, the fear, everything…I…”

She didn’t get her chance to finish. Brandon came storming toward her pressing his fingers into her face, melding his lips into hers, lifting her up off the ground, forcing her legs around his waist in the style of a pretzel. She could think of nothing else but how high she felt – not in the physical sense of course. She felt bedazzled and desired, and her small encounter with Anthony and Reina only moments ago, felt like a distant dream that she could only see faint details of.

Brandon lowered her to the ground and kissed her again.

“So, he’s gone, he’s really gone?” he asked her, rubbing her face confidently with his large hand.

She nodded and smiled. “Yes…and Reina’s gone to…I made sure of it…”

“Good, because it was only a matter of days that I would’ve been able to keep up that charade…”

He got her into his truck several minutes later, and he took her back to their field. He spread out the blanket over the grass and he knelt down with her. He sat on his bottom, and she straddled his lap boldly, grinning as she kissed his ears, then his nose, then his cheeks, the cleft in his chin, then his lips. She didn’t remark on how beautiful the stars were, but how beautiful Brandon was, and how his grasp reassured her. She then slowly pulled her hood over her head and placed it on the ground. He rubbed her shoulders, trailing her collarbone with his fingertips as he kissed her again.

“We can’t do this here,” she whispered against the surface of his lips.

“I know,” he whispered back. “But it feels amazing…”

She nodded silently, converging her lips with his again, succumbing to the sensation of the wetness, and the aroma of his proximity.

“We should pack our bags and just leave,” she suggested.

He chuckled into her face, hugging her tightly as he ran his lips along her neck. “That’s not the Tallie Chandler I remember…”

“It doesn’t matter,” she replied, smiling in return. “People change…let’s just go, Brandy…”

“Okay,” he replied without hesitation. “I have a good idea as to where to start…”

WHEN SHE DROVE her car back to her apartment and saw that Anthony wasn’t there, the situation reached a higher level of reality. Perhaps it was the first time that she realized that her decision was real and tangible, and that she and Brandon were both free to do what they wanted. She went into her bedroom and grabbed the first bag she could find. She couldn’t remember the last time that she felt this level of happiness.

She found a couple of sundresses and a pair of jeans, and a few shirts. It was only a matter of time before Brandon would arrive and take her away. She couldn’t even think of where.

She waited for what felt like an entire hour later when she heard a knock on the door. And Brandon stood behind it, bracing himself against the frame of it.

“You may not want to hear this,” he began. She sighed heavily. “No, I don’t think I do...”

“My car almost broke down on the way over here...I’m thinking that maybe the gas is low or something small like that...”

“So? Let’s stop by a gas station on the way...let’s go...”

He entered the apartment, and dumped a small brown bag on her living room couch. He then stood before her and wrapped his arms around her coolly, kissing her forehead slowly.

“I did some thinking on the way over here,” he began, pressing his hands into the meat of her sides.

“You make me nervous when you think...”

He chuckled warmly, kissing her cheek this time. “Hear me out...”

“I’m waiting...”

“We’re always on the run,” he began. “We’re always trying to run away from someone or something...it’s as if we both have trouble facing things the way that we should. So, do you think that leaving in the middle of the night is the best solution to this hasty situation...?”

Natalie sighed again and eyed him silently.

“I thought you would see it my way...” “I hate it when you make sense...”

“I learned from the best,” he replied. “I just want to focus on you for the rest of the night...tomorrow will come, I’m sure of it, and we’ll see where we stand...just allow me to stop time for awhile...”

She reached for the sides of his face, encouraging his forehead to embrace hers. “Just promise me,” she whispered against the bridge of his nose. “Just promise me that you won’t leave me tonight...promise me that I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and see you lying beside me...”

He kissed her lips once and she sucked in her breath, taken by full surprise. “I’ll never leave you again, Tallie...I swear...”

And she locked her arms around his neck, pulling him in as closely as she could, feeling overwhelmed by his smell and his strong embrace, loving the idea that being with Brandon was tangible once again...

#

He internally thought about the women in his past as he watched his Natalie sleep peacefully beside him. And every once in awhile, he’d feel the need to pinch her cheek, or stroke her head, and kiss her forehead, just to make sure that she was real, and their situation was real. He would never grow tired of watching her. He would never grow tired of wanting to cradle her in his arms, and shield her from the harsh world that she hadn’t experienced yet. He would never grow tired of the golden flecks in her mocha skin, or her unadulterated orgasmic scent. He would never grow tired of loving that flicker of vulnerability in her safeguarded eyes, or the fortification of her intelligence, or the core of her pure morality. He wanted to forget about any flaws in their imperfect connection; they were soul mates, through and through, of a juxtaposed kind, brought together by Fate or God or the Universe, or their disquieting magnetism toward one another.

He’d given up on the idea that he’d find someone like Natalie a long time ago, even when their love was in its first stages of development, even when he was convinced that she would never fully love him the way he that he pored himself over her. His feelings for her had transcended falling in love in the simplest of ways, which made his previous involvements with women look like child’s play on a playground.

He was sure that he and Sophia Baldwin wanted the same things out of love and relationships: security, honesty, loyalty, consistency – the route to get there was always a little blurry. Their fights were normal, their sex was normal if not fantastic on some occasions, but the pink elephant better known as deplorable chemistry always lurked in the corner, and he knew that he could never marry a woman like her.

Perhaps he and Reina Sloan could’ve been something great one day, but he kept an impeccable distance from her for obvious reasons. He would always look at her knowing that she would never be Natalie Chandler, no matter how sweet or beautiful or submissive she was. Natalie would never let him get away with anything...and he loved that about her. She would always make him feel young and fresh and necessary. He could never get that feeling with anyone else...

He would take her somewhere special, he would make her feel wanted and loved and appreciated, the way that he used to...

He couldn’t believe his luck...

#

She rolled over slowly, and the fresh sunlight stained her cheeks. She felt coolness beside her and felt her heart thump. Maybe the happenings of last night were only a dream or hallucinations of her wishful thinking; maybe she was still engulfed in the nightmare that had had her dreadfully enraptured for months...

But the warm shadows of the morning star moved a little and his silhouette appeared to the left of her and she couldn’t help but smile. She gently pressed her lips into his bare back, whispered that she loved him, and slid out of bed.

She started breakfast quickly, assembling what she remembered of his favorite breakfast: two slices of toast, nearly charred, eggs scrambled with cheese and diced peppers, and a large helping of bacon on the side. It would only be a matter of time before Brandon came wafting into the kitchen, wanting to taste everything in there...including her...

But Asha appeared instead, stone-faced and groggy and she slid into a kitchen chair at the small table in the nook.

Natalie tried to hide her smile, but her roommate saw it anyway.

“Why the hell are you so cheery this morning?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Natalie replied, dumping the hot pan of eggs onto a ceramic plate.

“The hell you don’t,” Asha replied sharply. “You’re smiling as if you just won the Noble Peace Prize...what’s going on...? Did you finally get laid?”

“God, Asha...no...”

“There are peppers in those eggs,” Asha remarked, arching an eyebrow curiously.

“I know...”

“Aren’t you allergic to peppers?”

“Possibly...”

“And didn’t you and Ant say that you both hated toast?”

“God, who are you? The food police?”

“Ha, ha...something doesn’t smell right...”

The sound of a toilet flushing fluttered from Natalie’s bedroom and Asha perked up even more.

“Anthony sure got in awfully late last night...”