Black Love Short Stories

A Push to Something New (I)

Welcome to March of 2021. We made it this far in! Let's keep pushing. Btw-This story has is going to have multiple parts. Happy reading!

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Asha Atkins jogged along the park trail breathlessly. She had only a half mile more to go, but she was tired. Although she wanted to quit- she was determined not to. She had made a New Years resolution to improve her mile time. She had been stuck at thirteen minutes per mile, but knew she wanted it to improve. And was determined to do so.
The mid March wind blew, chilling her body. And although the sun was shining, the winter air was in full effect. Despite this, Asha kept on pushing. Speeding up her pace, she looked down at her watch and saw that she only had .05 of a mile to go.
Her mind focused on the Beyoncé song that was flowing through her earbuds and kept up her pace to the beat of the music.
Just as she focused back on the trail, she felt something heavy attach itself to her lower half. Stumbling, Asha fell on her hands and looked up to see the drooling mouth and panting body of a brown dog in her face.
What in the world, she thought as her eyebrows furrowed and she stared at the animal, who seemed to be smiling at her.
"Oh, I am so, so, sorry." A deep voice called out. Asha looked to where the voice came from and met the dark brown eyes of a chocolate man.
Asha couldn't help but to stare. His build was solid and firm. His hair was cut cleanly in deep low waves and his beard was full. His brown skin was warm and smooth, Asha observed.
"Miss, are you ok?" The man asked knocking her focus from his features to what he was saying.
"Are you ok?" He asked again and his eyebrows were furrowed. Asha saw real concern from him and took his extended hand. Standing up, she dusted herself off.
         "I'm so sorry about that, Miss." The man apologized to her again and she looked at him, surprised that he was taller than her. She stood at 5'9, and knew he had to be at least a couple of inches taller.
        "Asha- it's Asha." Asha replied to him as she continued to wipe off her body. Hearing someone call her 'Miss' made her feel old. And even though she was 26, she didn't want to become old just yet.
        "Well in that case, Miss Asha, I'm sorry again. I just got Asa and I've been training him for a few weeks now. Let's just say that we haven't gotten the hang of not running after people yet." He smiled and Asha couldn't help but to mimick his actions.
        "It's fine- really." Asha assured him. "Nothing is broken." She waved her phone at him.
       He smiled at her. "Good. I'm glad." He patted Asa's head. Asha looked at Asa and smiled.
        "I love his name. It's biblical right?" She asked.
        The man smiled and began to rub Asa's side. "That's right. Asa was a king of Judah, one of the good ones. He was royalty and so is my boy."
Asha smiled. "So I know King Asa. But what about you? What is your name?"
"Jaison." The man smiled at her, revealing his pearly whites. He extended his hand to her and she took it, shaking it.
"Well, thank you again, Jaison," Asha said and looked down at Asa. "And thank you too. You pushed me towards my goal."
Asha looked down at her watched and saw that it was almost time for her to get home and watch her favorite show. She looked up at him.
        "I have to go. But thank you. It was nice meeting you." She smiled at him before walking back to her car.

                                     ***
A few days passed and Asha slid down in the pew of her home church. Her brother looked at her and pointed to his watch.
"Traffic." She mouthed and he gave her a lopsided grin. He knew that his older sister had only gotten up late- something that always got her into trouble when they were kids.
Asha focused on the worship leader as he lead the praise team behind him. she soon felt herself give into the song, and felt the atmosphere grow thick with God's presence.
Standing up and lifting her hands, she began to worship God. Sundays were her favorite day because it was the day she actually got to rest. She worked five days a week and her Saturdays were often full of running errands that she couldn't get do in the week. So Sunday was always good to her, allowing her to truly rest.
She sang with the choir and enjoyed the silky smooth voice of the soloist. She truly felt God's presence and thanked Him for this moment.
The soloist finished singing and the pastor stood up from the podium.
"Good morning Church." He smiled at the congregation and listened as they eagerly greeted him back. "It's preaching time. And I'm honored to introduce you all to our guest minister. He is a young man from Uptown. And he is beyond anointed in ministry. He volunteers to help dogs with PTSD and is always cracking a smile or a joke. I present to some and introduce to others, Mr. Jaison Livingston."
The congregation clapped as the guest or preacher stood and took his place at the podium. He smiled widely as he began to speak.
"Goodmorning, everyone." He began. "I'm honored to be here with you all." He spoke surveying the crowd. Jaison looked at Asha and his smile grew wider.
"I'm not gonna hold you long, however, this is a Word from the Lord." He said and the crowd exploded with amens.
Jaison prayed and then asked everyone to stand for the reading of the scripture.
"I ask you all to open your Bibles to the book of beginnings: Genesis. Let's travel to the twelfth chapter where we find our text for today. We'll be reading the first through the third verses."
Jaison waited as he heard the turning of the pages in people's Bibles. He read the Scripture and then began to open his sermon.
"The other day I was at the park with my rescue dog, Asa. Now- Asa is learning manners and he has been doing well. As we were taking a stroll in the park, there was a woman who was jogging. She was so focused that she jogged right past us. And as she did so, Asa- being Asa- jogged right along with her, I just stood there because my boy dusted me." Jaison finished and the congregation laughed.
Asha found herself laughing as well. I can't believe that he's a minister, she thought. It shocked her, but his charisma in the pulpit was catching and she found herself hanging onto every word he said.
"And by the time I had caught up to her and Asa, he had trampled her. I immediately apologized to her and pulled Asa back. I thought she was going to get upset. But she didn't.," Jaison shook his head at the memory. "No. Instead, she said that Asa had pushed her towards her goal. And that stuck with me. It has been with me so much that that inspired the title of my message today: A push to something new."
Jaison began to preach. He allowed the Spirit to use him as he spoke. And when he was done, he felt as though he had done what God had called him to do today.
Asha stood up room her seat when the service was dismissed. Her younger sister, Aaliyah, looked at her.
"So- it sounds to me that this preacher man is the mystery guy you told me about?" She smiled and watched as Asha's cheeks blush. "You better go talk to him."
Asha quickly lifted her head and rolled her eyes. "Liyah, that's him. But he's not a mystery man. Just a guy at the park." Asha shrugged "And yes. I'm gonna speak. It's only right. Plus he did well today." She said as she grabbed her purse.
Walking to the front of the church, Asha got into the line to greet Jaison. When it was her time to talk with him, she noticed a small gleam in his eyes. Jaison took in Asha's familiar face. Her light brown skin was smooth and he admired how well her long hair complimented her face.
"And so we meet again," Jaison smiled at her.
Asha nodded. "And so we do. I just wanted t osay that your sermon was amazing. And tell Asa I said hello."
Jaison nodded and saw the people in the line shift their bodies impatiently as they waited to speak with him. He focused on Asha, but frowned slightly when he noticed that she had dissapeared.
As he greeted the other members, he couldn't stop thinking about Asha- and he was determined to see her again.

                                     ***

A week had passed and Jaison walked up the entrance of the pharmacy. The sign is me the outside read The Peoples Pharmacy. He needed a few things and to get his mind off of his upcoming sermon, he decided to go tend to some other errands. This sermon was kicking his tail. All week he had been working on it but he still found himself stuck in the same spot. Nothing he did could get him past it.
And in order to do something to shake this blockage away, he went to the pharmacy to grab some things for Asa and himself. Turning down to the pet aisle, he grabbed a new milk bone for Asa. His boy was growing each day- and he knew that Asa would love it.
Jaison put the milk bone is his basket and turned to leave the aisle when he bumped into someone.
"Oh snap- I'm so sor- Jaison?" The familiar voice called out to him. He looked up and saw the sweet face of Asha looking up at him.
"Asha, it's nice to bump into you again- literally." Jaison smiled widely.
He then observed her again and watched as she nervously shifted and away from him before looking back at her. He noticed her hazel eyes, which immediately led him to stare at her.
Asha noticed his staring and she put her head down, feeling her cheeks warm. Whe she looked back up at him, he smiled faintly.
"So what brings you here?" Jaison asked. He watched as she pointed to the things in her basket.
"Well, I needed some more shampoo. And I needed some vitamins." She spoke.
He nodded. "I see. I was thinking about buying some vitamins too. I have trouble sleeping some nights."
"I do too. Come on, let me show you some good vitamins." Asha said as she led him to the vitamin aisle. She bent down and pulled some vitamins from the shelf.
"Magnesium is good. And melatonin too." She said as she showed him the bottles. Jaison looked at each of the bottle descriptions before looking choosing the melatonin.
"Thanks for helping me with this." He smiled and Asha nodded. "I couldn't have done this without you. Kinda like how I couldn't have finished my sermon without you."
Asha shrugged. "You're welcome. Even though I didn't mean to do it."
"That's the best inspiration though- accidental and unexpected."
"Yeah. I believe you're right." Asha nodded. "Well, I have to get going." She said as she turned to leave.
Just as she did, Jaison grabbed her hand.

"I umm....I was wondering if we could exchange numbers. And get to know one another better." Jaison asked. His heart began to beat faster as he waited for her to respond.
"Sure," Asha said and watched as Jaison smiled widely.
The pair exchanged numbers and Asha left to go pay for her things. Once she was outside in her car, she looked up at the pharmacy sign- it's neon letters beginning to glow as the setting sun began to go down for the night.
He may have my number, but I hope he doesn't think he's gonna get a response, She said as she back out of the driveway and into the dark street.

**

Sheesh, Asha hurt my feelings lol.

Part two is coming soon. What do you think so far? How do you feel about Asha, Asa, and Jaison.

Until next time,

Malaysia =)