✞ C E L A I L a C R O I X ✞
Hot water pelts Celai's skin as she steps into the shower. Today is her first day back to work, and saying she's excited is an understatement. God has blessed her with an interior decorating business which Celai planned on having become a real agency; right now, she's only freelance and did everything through her social media accounts.
Though she didn't have to start working until ten that morning, she's wide awake at 6:30, already halfway ready to leave. She compromised with Kassima and promised her she'd take it easy with working at first, so she postponed her only jobs to a later date, and her only job today was to set up a nursery for soon-to-be-parents. But Celai has learned to appreciate everything, no matter how small, because it's all a gift from God.
Celai smiles to herself about her future plans before washing herself clean, stepping out the shower, and drying herself off. She throws on some of her older clothes, clothes she wouldn't mind getting dirty while she's working, and then makes her way downstairs.
She catches Brian putting on his boots on the couch. He smiles when he sees her. Celai can tell he's happy to see her back from the hospital. "What are you doing up so early?" he asks.
"Just wanted to see how it felt to be a Senior Master Sergeant for a day," she says as she walks in the kitchen.
"You can always just join the AirForce to find out," Brian responds.
She laughs. "Now you know that's not for me."
He gets up and goes over to her. "I promise if I would've been in your life earlier, it would've been."
"That sort of sounds like a threat," she jokes.
He gives her a soft chuckle and kisses her forehead. "Be safe. I'll see you this afternoon."
Celai watches him leave and begins to make breakfast for her and her mother. By the time Kassima comes out ready for work, Celai has a plate of bacon and eggs for both of them.
"I was wondering when you were gonna start making us breakfast again," Kassima says as she joins Celai at the bar. She begins eating, while Celai is almost finished. It's not long after when Kassima's phone begins ringing from her and Brian's room.
She nods her head toward the sound of her phone. "That's probably Brian. Can you go see what he forgot this time?"
Celai gets up from her seat and goes to grab her mother's phone from her room. However, when she picks it up, she sees a name she doesn't expect.
Pastor is calling, her phone reads.
She raises an eyebrow, wondering why Pastor Edmonds is calling Kassima and more importantly, why he has her number. Curiosity gets the best of her and she answers the phone.
"Hello?" she says.
"Oh, Celai?" a familiar voice says back.
"Julian?"
"What's up?"
Celai, confused as ever, questions him. "Did you need something... from Kassima?"
"Nah. I was actually calling to see if I could talk to you," he states.
"Oh," she says flatly.
"Yeah. You doing alright? You didn't show up to church yesterday."
Guilt burns into Celai's face. "Yeah, I just couldn't. I had to get my sleep hours back."
Julian chuckles, calming her nerves. "I get that. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Yup, I am. I'll be there this Sunday."
"I hope so," he says. There's a hesitation on his end. "You ate yet?" he asks.
Celai swallows. "No," she fibs.
"Well, are you up to head to Waffle House with me?"
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah. I haven't been able to take my mind off of it since I bought it for you the other day."
She laughs. "Okay, sure."
"Send me your address and I'll be there in... twenty?"
Celai looks down at her clothes. "Thirty."
He laughs. "Alright. Be there in thirty."
"Bye," she says and they end their call. After texting him her address, she walks out Kassima's room and back to the kitchen.
"What did Brian need?" Kassima asks.
"Why do you have Julian's number?"
"Girl, don't question me..." A smirk spreads on her face. "But to answer you, he gave it to me since I couldn't be in the hospital around the clock like he could. I wanted to know everything, even the stuff you didn't want to tell me. Did he need something?"
Celai shrugs nonchalantly and walks away. "Yes, but it's not concerning you," she says with a smirk identical to her mother's.
"What do you mean?" Kassima questions.
Celai begins trotting up the stairs. "I'll be back before I have to go to work. But for now, I'll be at Waffle House."
"You just ate breakfast though."
"That's crazy because I don't recall that happening."
Celai heads to her room and instantly starts looking for a better outfit than what she has on. In no way is she trying to impress Julian, but she does want to look a bit more appealing than she currently does. After several drawers slam and hangers fly, she ends up with something matching her intended vibe and she takes one last look in the mirror.
"You better hurry up," Kassima says, startling Celai. "I think I just heard a car door close."
"Already? I told him thirty minutes."
"It has been thirty minutes."
Celai looks at the clock on her wall and finds Kassima to be right. She looks back at her. "Do I look okay? I didn't get to try on anything else."
Kassima gives her a look of adoration that she's never seen before and nods. "You look really nice for someone who's not interested in Julian."
Celai opens her mouth to protest, but the doorbell rings, cutting her off. She goes downstairs and opens the door and there stands Julian in his casual clothing she's starting to become fond of. They both smile at each other and Celai cuts her eyes to the gleaming white car that was still running in the driveway, slightly ignoring his greeting.
She tries not to, but she can't help but think how much Julian had in his pocket to have a BMW as his car.
Kassima's footsteps coming down the stairs pull her out of her gaze and she flits her eyes to Julian, who is staring at her, probably waiting for her to greet him back. "Hey, ready?" she asks hurriedly. Without his response, she pushes past him and lets the cold air hit her.
They both walk to Julian's car, but despite Julian getting a late start, he beats Celai to his car since five of her steps equated to two of his. He opens the passenger door for her and she tries not to think too much of it as she thanks him. To her, it didn't seem out of character for him to have a bit of chivalry instilled in him.
He gets in on his side and pulls out the driveway. "I ain't expect you to be up so early," he says, not letting a moment of silence sit between them. "Whatcha got planned for the day?"
Celai smiles to herself at his southern accent coming out a bit. It makes her wonder where he's from originally, because it certainly wasn't Virginia. "Well I have my first client since the accident at ten. A couple's having their first baby girl and wanted me to decorate the room."
"That's what's up," he says nodding. "But what's the rush in getting to work so quickly? I would've just quit and tried again next year," he jokes.
She laughs softly. "I already had these clients lined up, we were waiting on some decor to come in from overseas. But also, as much as I love being around my mother, I do not need to be staying at her house at twenty-three. There's nothing wrong with that, but sometimes a girl just needs her own space that's larger than a bedroom."
"You're only twenty-three?" Julian asks, looking at her with confusion written on his face.
A rush of doubt comes over Celai in an instant and she nods. "How old are you?" she questions, realizing she never learned his age. It then dawns on her that there must be a lot about him she doesn't know, including his relationship status.
She looks down at her lap and doubt clouds her mind. She starts wondering what she's even doing in the car with him, knowing he might have a girlfriend, or worse.
Luke 24:38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?" Celai thinks to herself. She repeats the verse in her head once, twice, three times, trying to answer the question within the verse.
Why?
Why?
There was no reason as to why.
A sense of peace washes over her like an ocean wave and she looks back at Julian who is looking between her and the road. "You good?"
"Yeah."
He looks back at the road and chuckles. "I tell you I'm twenty-five and you stop talking?"
"Yeah, because I think you're old," she says back with a playful smile.
"Two years is not a big difference," he protests.
"No, but I just turned twenty-three. You've been twenty-five for how long?"
He shrugs. "Uh, I don't know, I just let my birthday come around. I was never good at math."
She laughs and he follows suit. They continue their playful banter all the way to the Waffle House diner and into the restaurant.
✞ J U L I A N W E S T B R O O K ✞
With it being an early Monday morning, Celai and Julian have no trouble finding a booth. Julian sits across from her and looks down at the menu already on the table. "Do you know what you're getting?" he asks.
"I know some of the workers here really well so I usually have them fix me something that's not directly on the menu. What about you?"
"I guess I'll just get what you're getting since I've never been here," he says looking up from the menu.
Celai squints her eyes at him like he just offended her, which he probably had. "You've never eaten at Waffle House?"
"Nope. It's why I asked someone like you to go with me so I would know what to get."
"You definitely chose the right person then."
A waitress comes up to them and beams at Celai. "Where you been, girl? I haven't seen you in forever."
Celai smiles back. "It's been a lot going on. I'm here now though so thank God."
The waitress looks at Julian and he feels like he's been caught as he was staring at Celai pretty hard. "Who's this?" she asks.
"Mary, this is Julian, Julian, Mary. She was one of the women who helped me out when I was younger."
Julian smiles at the older black lady and she smiles back before looking at Celai. "Seems like you're losing your grip on lil ol Waffle House, ain't ya?"
Celai laughs. "No, not at all, just a bit busy."
Mary pulls out a notepad and a pen. "Mmhm. We got some new workers so I'll have to write this down for them. Do y'all know what you want yet?"
"We'll get two of my usual. Julian, do you like grits?" Julian shakes his head and scrunches up his face. Celai chuckles at his disgusted look. "You'll like the way Mary makes them."
"Sure will," Mary adds on. "So that's two waffles for both of you, bacon, sausage, a piece of toast, and cheesy eggs in grits? And what's to drink?"
"Orange juice," Celai says while Julian asks for a glass of water. Mary nods, finishes writing down things on her notepad and then walks away.
"I hope those cheesy eggs in grits don't kill me," Julian says.
"You'll like it, I promise," Celai reassures. "I tried it once by accident when I was fourteen and never went back."
"You've been going here for a while then, huh?"
He watches her look down in her lap for less than a second. "Yeah. I don't know what Kassima told you, but we used to not have the best relationship so I went here with my best friend."
That makes perfect sense to Julian. He was always intrigued about why Celai called her own mother by her first name, and he never fully understood what Kassima meant when she kept praying for her daughter to come back when she first began going to Disciples of Truth. He had assumed something happened between them but they never showed it when they were together.
"So really, Mary was my mother for a little while. Well, her and my best friend's mom, but she died when we were in college. Either way, they had taken the mother role while Kassima was out doing her own thing."
Julian furrows his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
Celai chuckles lightly. "If Kassima ever asks, I didn't tell you this, but she used to be all about her reputation. She had a nice job, nice house, and a good fiancé. And then she got pregnant with me and that didn't line up with her fantasy. To make things worse, my dad left and she didn't want to look bad in front of other people so she gave birth to me and just let people wonder about me and not necessarily see me. And that's how she sort of viewed me too. She continued living her so-called perfect life while I just did my own thing and Mary and Gina took me in."
Julian watches her as she reveals a part of her life to him. He can tell she's comfortable about talking about her previous situation from her tone, but in her eyes, he can tell there's still more that she didn't acknowledge. "Are things good between you two now?" he asks.
Celai nods. "Yeah, things are good. Gotta thank God for that one cus there was no way I would've been able to forgive her for how she treated me without Him."
Julian assumes her calling Kassima by her first name is a product of the irreversible damage and he even goes as far as to think maybe Celai is nervous to fully trust her mother again. He didn't want to think too much of a situation he didn't know all about though, so he says to her, "Well Jesus said 'Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid,' John 14:27."
A smile warms Celai's face and Mary comes back with their drinks.
They continue talking and while Julian is interested in everything they were talking about, he's having a hard time following because he can't stop staring at Celai. He had gone past the denial stage of finding her attractive; he was aware that he was interested in her, but he knew God's plan for him was to stay single, so he tried his hardest not to be too into her as she could turn out to be another lesson like Demi.
However, he just can't stop staring and staring inevitably led to flirting and he happened to be real slick with his mouth. Every so often, a compliment or a flirty joke slipped out and he loved seeing her reaction: shy, but not taken aback. She was flirting as well and with just as much ease.
Mary comes out with their food and the appetizing scent fills Julian's nose. The waffles smell like cake and the bacon sizzles like it's talking to him. They both say Grace and after uttering the word, "Amen" he licks his lips and starts pouring syrup on his waffles. As he's about to take a bite, he notices Celai is staring at him and she hasn't touched her food yet.
"What?" he says with a small grin.
She shakes her head. "Nothing, just wanted to see you take the first bite."
He chuckles and begins eating. He tries not to show too much pleasure in his face but he knows for sure that he's never eaten a better tasting waffle. Celai is laughing at him, but he doesn't care. He begins trying everything and loving everything. "I really didn't expect that. This is utterly amazing," he proclaims.
"I know," she says. "Now try the cheesy eggs and grits."
Julian stares down at the yellow mush and frowns a bit. He glances up at Celai and she encourages him to try them. He scoops some on his spoon and takes a bite.
Absolutely amazing.
He nods in satisfaction. "You like it?" Celai asks.
"Mhmm."
She laughs again and begins eating her own breakfast. There isn't much discussion after that, just good food.