The Cost of Love

New Beginings and Old ways

Hey everyone due to recomendations i have decided to turn this into a longer story with weekly updates. Anyways i digress If you haven't heard of Mario Costa it's because he is a Porn Star.(drools) Anyway umgh enjoy this chapter and someone please tell cookie to read it XD.                                                     New Begginings and Old Ways

                Eighteen years of experiences within my life were about to become nineteen in less than a week. Within the last month’s events I have begun to live with Ruby and my life has been slowly changing. Things at first had been pretty awkward and there were arguments over the rules that had not yet been listed, but for the most part I was happy. She however never did stop reassuring me that although I was staying with her rent free that there were indeed rules to follow.

I’m just lazily lounging around in my room and I can smell her cooking, a scent that feels the house and warms every room. She had been teaching me a few of her recipes and from what I could tell, some fresh baked cornbread had just come out of the oven. That’s something I liked about her home, although she liked for it to smell nice she never relied on air fresheners to make it. She would use flowers from her back yard or just bake a pie if need be.

I left my room in order to see what else she had laid down on the table, but before I got to the kitchen she beckoned me to her dining room. “Michael child come here boy and sit down.” Her tone was always both harsh and laced with kindness.

                “Yes Ruby what is it?” I sat adjacent to her at her table still kind of groggy from just waking up, even if it had been 6 o’clock in the afternoon.

                “Well child you know I promised you that you didn’t have to pay rent here” Her coffee brown eyes searched for mine as she spoke, looking for conformation that I was listening so  nodded.

                “I know Ruby but I wish you would let me.” Although she knew of my affair with the visiting pastor, she didn’t know that I had been doing the world’s oldest profession for years and I had no intention of telling her.

                “Child the only way you can pay rent is if you get a job and so far all you do is lounge around here. But I do have some things that you can do and rules for you to follow” She reached for a small white note book that had been buried in her purse and lifted it up. I couldn’t help but think of Moses when he came with the ten commandments in his hand.

                “Okay I understand, lay them on me women!” Her eyes opened wider when I addressed her.

                “Boy you better watch the way you raise your voice at me!” She motioned her hand as if to grab a belt from somewhere below the table so I quickly apologized. “Well child I have a few simple rules and it’s best for you to abide by them. They are as follows.” She reached into her bag to grab her glasses.

                “Where was I oh of course ; #1 you will be either working and paying rent or you will be enrolled in school. #2 you will do the dishes and vacuum every day, #3 you will not have any visitors over my house unless I have met them prior to their visit and have approved of them. You may borrow my car only when you have school or work. #5 you will be back at my house no later than eleven o’clock on a weekday, and no later than twelve thirty on weekends, as I will be turning on the alarm and you will not have a password.”

                She paused to see if was listening and waited for my response the ways teachers often did, but that is what she was after all. “Yes Ruby I understand” I looked at the food siting on the kitchen table, than back at her.

                She saw my hungry eyes and said “Good, now come on and lets eat.” We both walked over to the table and just as I was about to grab a piece of fried chicken she hit me with the palm of her hand. “Boy what is wrong with you, you better go wash your hands first!” This like many of life’s lessons was knocked into me.

                I Lay in bed looking at my ceiling and couldn’t help but think of how much my world had changed, and how little room I had now. I had gone from staying in my own loft to being confined into a single room. Ruby’s house was modest yet nicely decorated but was not as lavish as my old hole in the wall. She kept all of her China in a cherry wood cabinet in the living room, and  all of her nice furniture had plastic over it. I laughed at the thought of how much she went out of the way to protect verything and not use it, And was reminded of the short story Everyday Use, I think by Alice Walker maybe Maya Angelou. I let these thoughts put me to sleep, my last night free of regulation.

                I decided to spend my first day under Ruby’s law exploring the neighborhood so I could have a good sense of direction. We were living in the hills but near the base of them, there were many large houses but they all seemed empty. This was one of those neighborhoods were people would greet each other and ask you how you were doing but never really cared or were sincere. This was nothing like where I was from, where we were all pretty much poor and had to rely on each other, where if one kid was hurt the whole block got involved.

                I walked two hours away from where I was looking at the different neighborhoods and how things were transitioning and changing. I found myself in a neighborhood that was smaller and more modest looking than my new one, but by no means was it ghetto. The houses were so close together it looked as if they were hugging, there were a few small parks being cradled in the arm of the neighborhood. As I was walking and exploring I couldn’t help but think to myself that this wasn’t the type of place that followed Webster’s definition of Family and Friends but rather defined it.

                I Turned around to see the last street sign so I could remember where I had gone and maybe revisit this place again. I saw a tan figure holding what looked to be 6 boxes and carrying them into a house. As I turned back towards the direction my back was facing I heard something loud hit the ground and break, something that sounded expensive.

                “Hey bruh do you need help” I looked and saw that there was glass all over the floor and a box that looked spilt over. “Hell yeah help me real quick this shit is slippin?” it looked like he was losing his grip and another box was going to fall so I came to and grabbed the two bottom boxes he held.

                I followed him with the boxes as he walked into the empty house and saw where he had placed the ones he had managed not to break. I let down my boxes and I saw him laying bending over for a bit to put down some boxes, than lift up his shirt to dry off some sweat.

                “What’s up papi, thanks for the help that was mad crazy you came just to help out, a regular caballero right there.” He laughed a bit and saw that I was still staring at him. I couldn’t help it really, he had nice brown skin, kind of slim but had a firm looking chest and arms, and dimples as he laughed.

                “What’s up papi?” He said again this time with a serious face.

                “Papi! Why are you calling me papi?” His smile was completely gone now, and I was a little confused.

                “My bad pa… it’s a Puerto rican thing, anyway do you make it a habit of saving people?” I smirked a bit and said “Do I look like captain Save-A-Hoe” we both laughed for a bit.

                “But not gonna lie most definitely not used to a nigga calling me Papi” The air in the room became a bit more intense and he stepped a bit closer. “But you like it huh?” he looked up at me and I couldn’t help but get hard, and I found myself heading for the door with my back turned.