From The Start

32

Candice

I honestly couldn't wait for my date with Nathan tomorrow, like I think I was more curious to know where he was taking me, than for the whole date overall.

Rey got a little too excited before me, because she ran rampant, through my room and busted in my closet, moving hangers back and forth.

"Rey, calm down, why are you so hyper?" I said, pulling on her arm, so she could look at me.

"Girl, this is a revelation. For the first time in 2 years, you've actually agreed to go on a date." She squealed, flailing her hands in the air and then went back to rummage so more, for clothes.
The thought of 2 years ago, gave me a few flutters to my stomach and I took a deep breath, almost on the verge of becoming emotional.

"Rey, I don't even know where he's taking me." I yell, her back to me.

Rey looks up from the closet and flops onto the carpet with a deep breath.

"Man, I really could use a drink right now." Rey says as she pulls at the carpet.

"Oh what do you have in mind?" I say looking at her curiously.

"Uh, I'm thinking vodka." She says looking up to the ceiling and begins to laugh.

"Rey, I thought you stopped that a long time ago." I scream as I slapped the bed in frustration.

"Damn! relax, Felicia, I was kidding, you know I don't those things anymore." She says, rolling on her stomach and lays down flat, banging her toes repeatedly on the floor like a little child. Rey use to party pretty heavy her sophomore and junior year.

She never really had an easy life growing up and she told me about all the abuse she went through as a child.
If it wasn't for the sweet justice that her stepfather got, she probably wouldn't be here today.

"What time did he say he'll come get you?" Rey's voice muffled, while her face was planted on the floor.

"Uh, I think he said four," I repeated, rising off the bed to walk to my closet.

"Why so early?" She said mysteriously as she lifted her head off the floor and lines creased across her forehead.

"Um, I don't know, that's why I'm not going nuts to find something to wear." I say in sarcastically, referring to her mad raid through my closet.

The rest of the night was also a blur and all I could do was relax. I was downstairs watching a romantic comedy that randomly came on. I watched it closely, meanwhile, I could hear keys shaking at the door, but passed it off as Derek.

Continuing to watch TV, I ignored the sound of the door. I suddenly felt chills go down my spin, when I felt a delicate hand on my shoulder. I jumped, flipping around with my fist drawn.

"Oh my God," I screamed. "Mom, what are you doing home?" I say in shock.

"Girl you scared me." She responds in her light West Indian accent, a smile eases on my face and we both begin to laugh.

"I'm on early leave, so that means, I'm off till Monday. I want to spend some time with my babies." She explains, coming around the chair to flop next to me. I noticed a pile of mail in her hand that was held together with a rubber band and she had on her turquoise scrubs with her duffle bag, slung over her shoulder.

"So, what you watching here?" She asks propping her black slip ons at the coffee table.

"Just a random movie." I pretended to run through the channel guide.

"Oh," She said leaning her head in the couch.

Minutes later, I feel light air tickle my neck. I adjusted my head to see my mother knocked out next time me, her head tucked next to my shoulder.

I rise up slowly, careful not to wake her and watch her limp, warn out body, stick in the awkward position. I shuffled over to reach for the remote control and switch off the television.
The room fell dark but I was still able to make out a few objects around me, the wall included.

I didn't want to bother her while she slept, but I reached out for her slender body and gently positioned her on the length of the couch. She fidgeted a bit, still in her sleep and mumbled something I couldn't make out.

"Ms. Wilson, you have to take your medicine." She mumbles again, louder this time, in a sleepy and small voice.
She continued to speak, mentioning injections and food.

Wow she really overworked herself to the max and I felt bad, because she provided for us and all I could do was blame the stupid job for taking her time away, when she could spend it here, at home. I went over to the linen closet to grab a comforter. I brought it back to cover her curled up body. From what I could make out, she lost numerous amount of weight from the last time I saw her. Her shoulder length brown curly hair was all over the place and she looked like was losing her color.

I placed the comforter over her body and watched as she turned over her to side, grumbling and mumbling some more, her back facing me. I shook my head and leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek and forced my feet to quietly exit the room, my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness.

I was back in my room, on my bed, relaxing again, listening to my IPod, when I felt my cell phone vibrate from underneath me. I popped out a left bud from my ear and pressed the talk button.

"Hello?" I answered, forgetting to look at the caller ID

"Hey, Candice." I recognized the voice as Nathan and I instantly snapped up, accidently pulling the rest of the headphone out my ear and out the IPod.

"Oh, hi what's up?" I greet, with a sudden excitement.

No matter how hard I tried, I could never get him out my head and all I could think of was kissing his lips or touching his body, his perfect, tall, lean...

"Uh, Candice, are you still up for tomorrow?" He said, interrupting my fantasy, I went back into the conversation.

"Yea, sure." I said in a cool tone, playing it off.

"Ok cool, well I said it was going to be a surprise so be ready at 2:30." he said, sharing, majority his plans.

"Ok, I'll be waiting, but what should I wear?"

"Well, that's just it. If I tell you what to wear, then it will give away the whole surprise." he said with a spark in his voice. "But I have everything already, Just dress casual."

"Alright, I'm down." I said, now sitting on the edge of my bed, feeling wide awake now. Just a second ago, I felt like I would knock out at any minute and now I can't even think of anything but this date tomorrow. I eagerly went to my closet.

"Cool, so I'll, uh see you tomorrow then." He said in a calm, deep, provoking voice, which was starting to make me hot.

"Yea, tomorrow," Was all I could let out, while I moved around some hangers, looking at some clothes.

We hung up from there.
I stood in front of a line of things to wear, pondering at which one to put on. I mean I wanted to look sexy for him, but then again, I wanted to feel comfortable. My brain went into a knot.
I couldn't contain the enthusiasm that my body was giving off, I needed to calm down.

Tomorrow should be interesting, I thought as I dug through some clothes...