Cathy and Kiara were standing in the living room getting ready to go to class when someone knocked on the door. Cathy opened it thinking it was Brent and was surprised to see Chris. She smiled and let him come in.
"Good morning," he told her returning her smile and then he turned to look at Kiara who was just standing there blushing.
"Good morning, Kiara. I thought...well since you told me you had morning classes, I wanted to know... if you wanted to walk to class together," Chris stuttered. He wanted to slap himself upside the head. What was wrong with him this morning? Yesterday, he had been all Mr. Cool and Suave, kissing Kiara and asking her to be his girlfriend, but today he could barely get a word out without looking like an idiot. He supposed he got lost in the heat of the moment yesterday and now as he stood looking at this incredibly beautiful girl that was now his, he could barely believe it.
Kiara smiled back shyly. "I'd love too." She walked over to him.
Chris took her backpack and draped it over his shoulder and then took her hand in his.
"See you later, Cathy," Kiara said mouthing "oh my god" behind Chris as they walked out the room together.
Cathy gave her a thumbs up and with a huge smile. She was so happy for Kiara. Chris was a handsome guy and he seemed to really care about her. Brent appeared in the doorway a few minutes after they left.
"Did you see Chris and Kiara together?" he asked grinning so hard all his teeth were showing.
Cathy laughed. "You are just overjoyed, aren't you?"
"You know how hard it was trying to get those two together?"
"Not as hard as us trying to get us together," Cathy told him with a smile.
"Yeah, that was a long year..." Brent sighed.
Cathy playfully hit his arm. "Stop it..."
He smiled and gave her a quick kiss. "Let's go. I refuse to let you ride Faze's motorcycle again if you're running late for class."
"Believe me, that will never happen again. I don't like fearing for my life!" Cathy grabbed her backpack which Brent took from her and they walked out the door together.
Lynette peeped out of her room after she heard the door close and then walked out into the living room with Sierra. "Good bye love birds, sheesh..." she said dryly. She turned to Sierra. "I guess it's just us single gals now."
"Yes, would you like to get together, so we don't feel left out?" Sierra asked teasingly.
Lynette looked at her. "I mean...you're hot and all that, but unfortunately I'm not like my cousin Faze. I don't swing both ways. I don't think I swing anyway to tell you the truth. I've been turned off by men, don't like girls. I'll just be an old lady with cats."
"I'm not so sure about that," Sierra told her as they walked out the room together.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean, you already have a man, you just don't know it yet."
"I have a man? Who?"
Sierra stared at her.
"Randall?!!" Lynette yelled as they walked down the hallway. "Oh please! That guy is too much of a dog to like me like that."
"Well, he used to be a stray dog until he found his owner," Sierra smiled and winked at her, suddenly stopping as Lynette got into the elevator. She waved bye to her as the door closed.
"Hey why did you..." Lynette stared at her in confusion as the door slam shut.
"What stray dog?"
Lynette jumped and turned around to see Randall standing in the elevator. She froze.
"So, you're just going to stand there and not say anything to me?" Randall asked stepping closer to her.
Lynette sighed. "I wasn't trying to be rude, sorry. I just didn't expect you to be on the elevator."
"How you been?" Randall asked staring down at her.
Too close, Lynette thought looking up into his eyes. Damn, he was fine, a tall, masculine, fine ass Black man. They didn't make them any better than him.
"Fine," Lynette told him and stopped. Wait...did she just call him "fine". No...she was telling him she was fine. She sighed in relief. This man had her all fucked up.
"Your roommate told me you haven't been sleeping well."
Lynette stopped and stared at him. "Why would she tell you that?" She was going to hurt Sierra...
"I asked her how you were doing a few days ago, before the barbecue yesterday. She said you were having nightmares..."
"She talks too damn much," Lynette said irritated. "She didn't even tell me she talked to you."
"Lyn, when are you going to stop avoiding me? Haven't this gone on long enough?"
"Avoiding you? What are you talking about?" Lynette asked him.
"Look I know why you ran away from me that night when I tried to kiss you."
"And what the hell do you think you know?" Lynette stared up at him with her hands on her hips.
Randall smiled. She looked beautiful at that moment, even if she was being sassy. Her long braids hung down her back and her skin glowed slightly in the dark, but he could see the dark rings under her eyes. Damn... so it was true, she was having nightmares and he had an idea what they were.
He sighed and suddenly pulled her into his arms. Caught off guard, Lynette was too surprised to fight him. Besides, the man felt good against her. She had missed him like crazy. How many times had she wanted him to hold her again like he did on his couch when she told him what happened to her and like he did at the club, but was too stubborn to go to him?
"What...what are you doing?" Her voice shook.
"Ending it," Randall said and wrapped his arms around her tighter.
"Ending what?"
"Ending my time of giving you space. I realized I'd waited too long when I saw you talking to another dude name Kantrel," he said the name as if it was a bad taste in his mouth.
Lynette wanted to laugh but stopped herself.
"No way, I'm letting you go out with another guy. From now on I'm the only guy in your life."
"What?!" Lynette yelled at him in outrage. "How the hell are you going to tell me..."
The elevator door opened. She shook her head and walked away from him as fast as possible. Randall caught up with her on the steps.
"Lyn," he grabbed her hand to stop her.
"Randall! Stop playing games with me. I mean it...I've had enough of..."
He pulled her up a step until she was standing in front of him and suddenly kissed her. It was a tender sweet kiss that she felt all the way to her toes. No guy had ever kissed her like this and when he pulled away, she just stood there wanting those warm, masculine lips back on hers.
"Damn," Randall whispered. "I always wanted to know what it was like to kiss you."
She slowly opened her eyes to stare into his. "And?" she asked.
"I'm in love," Randall said softly.
Lynette took a step back and nearly fell down the steps. Randall quickly caught her and pulled her in his arms.
"Oh god, let me go!" she panicked.
"No," Randall told her. "Not letting you run away from me ever again. You need me."
Lynette scoffed nervously. "Someone sounds arrogant, what makes you think I need you!"
"You need me to get over that bastard. You need me to move on with your life. You need me to show you what it's like to be with a good man, a man that's never going to hurt you, a man that's always going to be there for you, a man that's going to look after you and love you and do whatever it takes to make you smile again."
Lynette stared up at him. Tears started rolling down her face. "I can't...I can't be the woman you need me to be...I don't even want to have sex. I can't without thinking about him...Let me go, oh god, let me go! I'm sorry... I can't." She struggled in honest this time. Her heart racing with fear.
"Lyn, Lyn!" Randall yelled her at, his deep voice filled with authority making her pause." He made her look at him.
Lynette swallowed and tried to look away but his hands held the side of her face. "I care about you, so much more than you realize, that's why I can't allow you to do this to yourself anymore. You don't have to suffer alone. I'm here for you. Let me be here for you. We'll take it one day at a time. I'm not pressuring you to do anything that you're not ready for. We don't have to have sex. We don't have to do anything, physical, except maybe let me hold you once in a while and get a kiss or two," he smiled at her. "Lyn, please let me in your life. To tell you the truth, I've always wanted to be your man since the day I first saw you on the porch cursing out Tyrese over eating your ice cream," he chuckled. He mimicked her voice comically. "You fucking bastard, who the hell told you to eat my chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Go to hell!" And then you saw me walking towards the house and stopped and stared and I stopped in mid stride to stare back at you and my heart slammed in my chest and I..."
Randall suddenly stopped when Lynette stood on her toes and kissed him. When she pulled away Randall was staring at her with an intense look of emotion that she dared not think about... "We connected that day...I felt it too," she said softly.
Randall nodded.
Lynette stopped fighting as she stared into his eyes. She was tired of fighting; she was tired of hurting and feeling like she had to go through this alone. Randall looked so sincere, his eyes were full of promises she wasn't ready to accept, but she did need him. She needed him because he seemed to be the only one that truly understood her. So, she did something she hadn't done in a very long time, she allowed herself to lean on someone and for once she let it all out.
Randall held her tight as she cried against his chest. He ran his hands through her braids and kissed the top of her head. God, he'd been a fool...never again would he ever let her go...
Sierra passed by them with a smile on her face. Guess she and Lynette were never going to get together now. She amused herself with the thought.
******************************************************************************
The sun was just beginning to set when Cathy decided to go to Lee's room. Brent was hanging out with Chris and Scott playing touch football on the Quadrangle. It gave her the time she needed to talk to Lee. She knew Brent would never let her get near Lee while he was with her.
The Hangout was usually closed on Monday which meant Lee was either in his room or at The Hangout practicing with his band. She decided to check his room first before she left the dorm.
Lee opened the door dressed only in a pair of black silk lounge pants. Cathy stared at him with wide eyes completely caught off guard. Apparently, he had been expecting someone from the smug look on his face. Perhaps, she hadn't needed to talk to him after all.
"Cathy!" The shock look he gave her almost made her smile. She knew she was the last person he expected to knock at his door.
"I'm sorry, maybe this isn't a good time," she told him.
Lee grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room, slamming the door shut. "Please come in, wow, you just ...I never thought you'd come here," Lee stared at her still in shock. He continued to hold her hand until Cathy gently pulled it away.
"Welcome to my humble home," he bowed down and swept out his arm. His long, black hair swung loosely down his back and over his shoulders.
Cathy smiled at him and looked around. "Wow, this is nice." His walls were painted red with black borders. Pictures of half-dressed women hung here and there. An impressive stereo system and a huge flat screen television covered one side of the living room. Small wall lamps lit up the room instead of a ceiling light giving it a warm, romantic glow. Huge plants sat in the corners. What really attracted her attention was the red furry sofa that sat in the middle of the room.
Lee watched Cathy walk to it and touch it. He laughed. "I was waiting for you to do that. It's the first thing people do when they see it."
"I've never seen anything like it," Cathy said rubbing her hand through the thick fur. "This apartment is exactly what I thought it would be - a place for seducing women."
Lee grinned, his dark eyes sparkled mischievously. "You haven't seen anything, yet. Would you like to see my bedroom?"
Cathy quickly shook her head. "No thanks, I've seen enough!"
Lee chuckled and sat down on the furry couch, he patted for her to sit down with him.
Cathy looked at it cautiously. "That thing doesn't bite, does it?"
Lee laughed. "No, only me," he wiggled his eyes flirtatiously at her.
Cathy gave him a look that made him expose those perfect white teeth of his. She wondered if coming here had been a mistake.
"Not that I don't mind you being here, in fact I love that you're here, trying to sit on my couch..." he joked when he watched her slowly sit down on the other end. He found it amusing that she was scared of it. "You're so damn cute!" He suddenly grabbed her and sat her down in his lap. "Is this better?"
"No!" Cathy replied and tried to get away.
He held her against him. "Cathy, why are you here? You know Brent would go crazy if he knew you were with me, alone in my apartment."
Cathy stopped struggling since he refused to let her go and he was too strong for her to wrestle with. She sat stiffly in his lap, her back straight, highly uncomfortable being so close to him, his furry red couch and his naked chest...
"I never got the chance to talk to you." She turned to look at him and swallowed. Those dark eyes that were so much like Sierra's, seem to stare right through her. She could see the emotions in them, the pain he was trying to hide while he was teasing her.
"Why? What does it matter? You're with him now," he tried to say as coolly as he could.
Cathy grabbed the sides of his face. "Lee, I had no idea how you felt about me. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Would it have made a difference?" he asked staring deep into her eyes.
Cathy sighed. "No..." she said softly, "but I didn't want to see you hurt..."
Lee scoffed. "You can't save everyone, when two guys are in love with you - someone's going to get hurt."
"Lee, you're one of my most cherished friends. I don't like to see you hurting."
"I don't want to be your friend, Cathy, and you being here, sitting in my lap, smelling so good, isn't making it better for me."
"You're the one who pulled me in your lap in the first place!" Cathy stood up; this time he let her go. "What I don't understand is why you're in love with me. Lee, we are so completely different."
"So are you and Brent," he pointed out.
"But you and I are just. It just doesn't make sense. Are you sure it's love you feel and not something else? Maybe you're confusing it with something else! You told me once I was the first female friend you've ever had."
"Is that why you came here, to tell me I'm confused?" Lee asked leaning back on the couch and crossing his arms.
"I'm just saying that although we're close, it isn't the same as Brent..."
"That's because he was always taking up most of your time, I never stood a chance against him, Cathy. I knew you liked him, you were always "looking" at him; you never "looked" at me that way. I knew you...loved him...but I didn't want to give up. I should have been just as aggressive as he was, I should have fought harder for your affections, maybe then..."
Cathy shook her head. "I still wouldn't have loved you, Lee..."
He sat there silently not knowing what to say to her words. She knew she had hurt him, but she had to make him understand so he wouldn't continue to give Brent a hard time and hope he would move on.
"I don't want to hurt you, I definitely don't want to lead you on like I unintentionally did Paul, so I'm going to say these words that might sound harsh to you and I'm going to be truthful. I will never love you, Lee, at least not the way you want me too. I love Brent, he's the one, he's always been the one. So, please, stop thinking you may have a chance, stop regretting things you should have done in the past, stop being angry at your best friend, and stop hurting me and yourself by acting so badly. Let it go, Lee..."
She stared down at him as he sat there frozen looking like his heart would break. God, she hated this, she tried to stop the tears threatening to run down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Lee," she mumbled and took a step to leave. Strong arms suddenly wrapped around her, pulling her back against a hard warm chest.
"Don't leave me, Cathy..." Lee mumbled against her hair. "I'm sorry if I caused you a lot of pain. I swear, I'll behave, I'll put everything behind me, deep down, I knew you loved Brent, but you couldn't blame me for trying, what man wouldn't go after the woman he loves?"
"Lee," Cathy said.
He held her tighter. "I lost, Brent won, it was a fair fight. I can take it like a man. I'll even be friends again with him. I'll respect your relationship with him, but don't leave me. I still want to be near you. I would go crazy if I couldn't talk to you anymore."
Cathy turned around to face him; she wasn't prepared to feel his lips brush against her forehead. Lee held her close as his lips trailed warm kisses down the side of her face. His long fingers ran through her hair.
Lee...Lee...don't!! Her mind screamed out at him while her body froze in shock at what he was doing. It was only when his lips touched hers that she reacted. The slap was heard throughout the apartment. Lee dropped his arms from her waist. He had managed to still one soft, tender kiss before it was taken over with pain.
Cathy backed away. "Why?" she asked in confusion as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. "Were you only saying the words I wanted to hear so you could...kiss me?"
"No...no...I...meant what I said, I don't know what happened!" Lee said desperately. "I can't help how I feel about you..."
The door suddenly flew open. Brent stood in the doorway, his chest rising up and down as he let out harsh breaths as if he'd run to the room. He took one look at Cathy's tear-stained face still froze in shock and Lee's dejected stance and saw red.
Cathy reacted immediately. She threw herself on Brent as he charged for Lee. She literally grabbed him and wrapped her arms and legs around his body forcing him to stop in fear of hurting her.
"Let go of me, Cathy!" He warned her.
"Never, I'm not going to let you kill your best friend."
"He's no friend of mine," Brent yelled.
"Let him go, let him kill me, it's better than to having to deal with this type of pain every day," Lee mumbled.
"Shut up!" Cathy yelled at him furiously causing both men to pause and look at her. She stared at Brent. "Brent, if you love me, I'm asking you to leave this room and don't touch Lee. It was my fault, I came here on my own and tried to "fix" things between us, I only made it worse, I take full blame for what happened."
"And what happened, Cathy?" Brent asked between gnash teeth.
"I kissed her," Lee said, "and she slapped the hell out of me. She told me she would never love me, that she's always loved you. She wanted me to move on. She wanted to give me closure. She told me, no matter what I did, she would never love me! Imagine her saying those words to you, Brent. Why don't you just kill me and get it over with! I won't even fight back."
Brent stared at the man he'd called his best friend for three years. In all the time he'd known him, Lee had never cried, but he was crying now. The tears were flowing freely and as much as Brent wanted to hurt him, he couldn't do it. Cathy had already hurt him far more than his fist could. She'd broken the man's heart. Gone was the confident, suave man Brent had known all his life and his place was a broken shadow of himself.
Brent wrapped his arms around Cathy and pushed her head against his shoulder. He didn't want her to see Lee, he knew she wouldn't be able to take it. "Stay away from her," he told him and walked out of the room with her.
Lee watched him leave, grateful that Brent had sheltered Cathy from his pain. He hadn't wanted her to see him this way. A man still needed his pride if he was going to live through a broken heart. Sierra showed up in the doorway shortly after Brent left. Lee was still standing there, hurting too much to move.
"I could feel you," she said placing her hand over her heart. "It felt like you were dying inside..." She ran to him and held him tight. "It'll be okay. Just wait and see, I know you love her, and one day you may actually get to love her, but she isn't your soul mate, she belongs to Brent and no matter how many hardships they may go through, they will always end up together, Lee. You must remember that, your soul mate will come when you learn to let Cathy go..."
Brent took Cathy to his apartment. She had tried to leave his arms when they got into the hall way, but he wouldn't let her go. He dropped her on the couch and towered over her angrily. Cathy swallowed; he could be quite intimidating when he wanted to be. The way he was looking at her made her want to curl into the corner of the couch and hide behind a pillow, but she knew Brent would never hurt her even if he did look like a scary giant at the moment.
"How...did you know where I was?" She managed to squeak out.
"Tyrese saw you going into Lee's room on his way out and sent me a text."
"Oh," Cathy said, no wonder he'd gotten there so fast.
"You have no idea how furious I am at you right now," Brent growled at her.
"I have some idea..." Cathy mumbled hesitantly.
"You knew how I felt about you being alone with him and you waited until I was busy to go behind my back to see him!? If I didn't know you so well, if I didn't trust you so much, I would think you were actually trying to cheat on me with Lee!"
Cathy stared up at him hurt that he would say such a thing. "Brent you know I would never do that to you!"
"Did you even consider how I would feel if I found out? Were you even going to tell me? You weren't, were you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have done it behind my back. You knew how upset I was the night at the club when he kissed you! And then you do this?! Just how long had you planned to do this?!"
"Brent, I'm sorry. I hadn't planned to do it at all until I saw him again at the barbecue and how he just blatantly disrespected you by showing up and flirting with me and then your parents being displeased when they found out you and Lee were fighting over me. I just wanted it to end. It bothered me more than I wanted it to, and I thought maybe if I just talked to him and let him know he had no chance with me, all of this would be over and things could go back to normal. I felt I had some responsibility in this. Once I found out how he felt about me, I couldn't let it go on. I didn't want you to kill him for thinking he might still have a chance. Yes, I snuck behind your back to talk to him because I knew you would never ever let me get near him if you knew what I wanted to do. I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear I didn't! And I was going to tell you after it was over."
"And after doing all of that, he kissed you...again!"
Cathy sighed and looked down at her lap. "I'm sorry...I didn't know he would do that...again."
Brent grabbed her face in both his hands and forced her to look at him. "Baby, life isn't black and white like you try to make it..."
She raised an eyebrow at that statement. "But...it is...with us..."
Brent narrowed his eyes at her. "Stop making jokes I'm serious! This is the real world, not everyone is like you, people will not react the way you expect them too because they are human beings with their own feelings and their own minds. You are never prepared for them to act differently and that's what worries me the most! What happens when the person you care about, the person you go out of your way to give peace and happiness to turns against you? Things could have turned out badly had I not came."
"Lee would never hurt me."
"He kissed you right after you told him you would never love him! Does that sound like a man that's sane? You broke his heart, which was why I didn't kill him."
"Oh god," Cathy covered her face with her hands. "I feel awful. I didn't mean to. I hurt you and him by trying to make things right. I'm so sorry. How do I manage to hurt everyone when I try so hard not to...Paul, Lee, you...all the men I've ever cared about, ends up getting hurt because of me!"
Brent sat beside her and pulled her into his lap. "None of them loved you for the right reasons, Cathy. Paul thought you were docile and passive enough to control the way he wanted to, and he used you as competition against me, when things didn't go his way, he resorted to violence. Lee thinks you can change who he is and make him a better person just by being with him, but he doesn't understand that's a decision he has to make for himself, like I did. I made the decision to change without you telling me and I stayed away from you until I could. And it wasn't easy, a guy like me can't change overnight when he's used to a certain lifestyle. I did...struggle...but in the end, I came out a better person for it and yes, you did play a big role in me changing, because I loved you and wanted to be the guy you needed, but it wasn't all completely you.
Both of them wanted you for very selfish reasons. What would they have given you in return? Would you have been happy constantly giving and receiving nothing? Life isn't always good, you live through the bad stuff and you learn to move on. You have to learn to do that too, Cathy. You're not perfect, even though in my eyes you are, but everyone makes mistakes. I know you don't like hurting people, but sometimes, you can't avoid it."
Cathy stared at him in shock. "Why can't people see you the way I do instead of thinking you're a big jock who only knows how to play football? You should show them this side of you."
Brent smiled. "Hell no, let them think what they want, I don't care, but this side of me is only reserved for you. Now, did Lee try anything else with you other than kiss you?"
Cathy blink, "Brent!"
"I'm not perfect either; I still want to pound him into that ugly ass hairy couch. I felt bad for him because I'd want to die too if you told me you could never love me, but still, knowing that he disrespected me by kissing again makes me want to put him out of his misery for real."
"Promise me you won't hurt Lee?" Cathy made him look at her.
"Aww come on, I just want to break a nose or something..."
"Brent, promise me you won't go behind my back and hurt Lee like you did Paul."
"The jerk kissed you! My knuckles are itching..."
"Brent!"
"Can I at least bust up his lips?"
"Brent, must you solve everything with violence? Besides, it was my fault for going into his room, it's not like he came after me..."
"Fine, I promise I won't touch him. I'm only leaving him alone because I don't want to upset you again. However, you need to be punished for going to his room, that was a stupid move, Cathy."
Cathy tried to move away from him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her against him. "What...what are you going to do?"
Brent gave her a devious look and pushed her on her back across his lap. "You remember what happened the last time he kissed you? How upset I was? And all the things I did to you because I was so pissed off?"
Cathy eyes widened. She remembered...How could she forget? Her throat was sore from all the screaming she did from the all the orgasms he gave her.
"Let's multiply that by three..."
Was he trying to kill her?!
"Brent, did you forget I have a weak heart?" she asked meekly.
Scott suddenly burst into the room followed by Chris.
"Damn, you two are always at it! It's rather nauseating and now Chris has gone and got himself hooked up to our little sister, Kiara. Maybe I should get my own place."
Chris laughed. "Don't mind him, he's just mad because he lost. You hear that Scott you lost, in your face, IN YOUR FACE!" Chris followed behind him.
Cathy took advantage of the distraction to flee from Brent. He watched her run out the room.
**********************
Lee washed his face in the bathroom after Sierra had left. His heart felt heavy in his chest like someone had placed a ton of bricks in it.
It hurt, damn..it hurt...
Someone knocked on his door when he walked into the living room. "Go away," he snapped.
The door slowly opened. The girl he had been waiting for before Cathy appeared had finally showed up. She smiled at him flirtatiously and ran her hand through her long brown hair. "Are you sure you want me to go away? Sorry to keep you waiting, I wanted to look my best."
Lee plastered a smile on his face. "Why bother, I'd only undo everything you've done to yourself."
"Mmm, I like the sound of that, undo me you sexy, rock star, make me come undone all night!" Shenequa stepped in and kicked the door closed with her red pumps.