The room by the stairs was getting a show. Ethan stalked back and forth like a panther at the zoo. Leslee stood with her back to the window, arms folded and a stoic face to match.
"Why not marriage?" Ethan demanded to know turning in front of the large armoire.
"I don't have a problem with marriage." Leslee said. She glanced at the three-carat diamond ring still in the half open box on the bed. "It can be a great thing."
"We already do all the things that married couples do: cohabitate, sex. And you cook dinner!" Ethan slapped his sides. "Hell, we even have dinner parties with our friends."
Ethan planned to propose to Leslee at the end of break after days of carefree bonding. Unfortunately, his plan was destroyed when she started unpacking his bag and found the black ring box.
"I know! We've been doing all that for three years. You were in love with the lifestyle not the life commitment; remember!" Leslee said using her hands to convey her point.
"Its just the appropriate time, the natural course of things." Ethan declared gaining enough composure to stand still.
"You're a liar, Ethan! You've been pushing to get married every since that acceptance letter from Yale came back." She was still shaking her head, unconvinced from his comment.
"I have always wanted to marry you. I just pushed up asking you because I'm leaving in four months." He said smooth and calmly. He knew Leslee was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with no matter how spicy her temper.
"I admit that your love for me is true but you want to put a ring on it because of your insecurities. Get this Ethan, one can have a ring on and still have an illicit affair. I will not marry someone that doesn't trust me."
Ethan didn't say a word, just stared at her breathing rigorously. He didn't know what to do or what to say.
Leslee's emotions got the best of her. She couldn't understand how she could be okay with him leaving and he couldn't be sure of their love when he's gone. She stormed out of the room in a fury.
Ethan angrily threw his body on the bed, breathing in the deep pine smell that swirled in the room. He thought it was the right move. He hoped his plan wasn't screwed up. There were still some more days left, things could be salvaged.
The living room television was blasting an old episode of Martin to drown out the happenings upstairs. Eric and Asia were stretched out on the couch. Leslee speed walked pass them headed for the front door. She slammed it behind her causing the side windows to vibrate.
"Oh, thank God! They finally stopped." Eric said turning down the volume. "I thought we left our parents at home. Nag, Nag, Nag; Bitch, Bitch, Bitch; if they're going to act like this we should've left them." He looked at Asia for agreement.
Asia rolled her eyes. "I guess I'll check on her," Asia said pulling herself off the cozy couch. Shaka who was lying in front of the red brick fireplace trotted behind her.
Asia held the door open for Shaka to pass in front of her. Unlike Leslee, she gently closed the door behind her. With his television buddy gone, Eric got up and strolled to the kitchen. The aromas of the spices sparked his curiosity. Eric caught Ashlyn and Denver in a passionate make-out session while the food around them was also steaming.
"Are you guys going to cook or kiss because I'm hungry?" Eric said sitting on the maple barstool.
They stopped, released each other's bodies and resumed their kitchen duties. Ashlyn stirred the sautéing food in the black cast-iron skillet. Denver went back to chopping vegetables on the wood-checkered chopping board. Eric gazed at the food none of which sparked his appetite.
"What are you cooking?" Eric asked with a turned up lip.
"I'm making stir-fry." Ashlyn confidently expressed with her hair swept back in a messy ponytail. "With juicy ginger & rosemary beef tips and a side salad." Ashlyn sprinkled a dash of salt in the skillet. She salivated at the sound of the entrée.
"I'm making the salad," Denver said slowly slicing the cucumbers; the blade barely missed his index finger. He continued chopping hoping Eric didn't see that mishap. But he did. Eric shook his head at his lack of culinary skills.
Ashlyn placed the big wooden spoon on the light brown granite countertop and assisted her inexperienced knife-wielding boyfriend.
"Why do you always fix diet food?" Eric asked peeling a nicely ripen banana. "I want some starch, carbohydrates, and fats! The things on the food pyramid that's worth eating!"
Eric wasn't against eating healthy. He ate healthy for breakfast and lunch. He wanted a hearty meal for dinner that would stick with him the whole night. Not rabbit food that will have him waking up with an empty, growling stomach at 3:32 am to raid the kitchen.
"It'll be on a bed of rice." Ashlyn annoyingly added rapidly slicing a carrot.
"Tomorrow Asia's cooking. Soul Food!" Eric said. He left them to prepare their salad or to return to their love session. Either way, both choices were undesirable to him.
Eric walked through the kitchen and pulled back the glass patio door stepping outside in the backyard. He eyed the gas grill in the middle of the outdoor kitchen where he imagined barbecuing some hearty beef ribs, smothered in spicy barbecue sauce tomorrow; while he watched Yasmin in a barely there swimsuit basking her already bronzed skin under the flaming sun.
Jordan finally found a place to sleep. He was deep in a dream world swaying back and forth from the gentle breeze in a canopy. Yasmin was on the phone with her legs dangling in the pool. Eric kicked off his brown Old Navy flip-flops and placed his legs in the pool taking a seat next to Yasmin. The cold water sent a chill up his legs. She tapped her thumb on the phone ending the call. She placed the phone on her side. Then slowly kicked her legs around in the water making waves.
"You decided to answer Jack's calls," Eric said trying to spark a conversation.
"You mean Robert." Yasmin clarified with a smirk. "No. That was my mom. She wanted to make sure everything was okay."
"Are you and your mother close?" Eric asked. His heartbeats raced every time he talked to her. He let the honeysuckle, rose perfume she wore treat his nose. "You know, can you talk to her about anything."
"We're as close as a mother and child can be. I tell her the basics: I'm safe, I ate, I'm dating whoever; things like that." Yasmin made quick glances at him, then back at the thick layer of trees at the end of the property. "What about you?"
"My family has always been close" Eric scratched the stubble around his jawline. "But my recent decision has torn a rift." He stared off at the trees where the sun narrowly peaking above them.
"About the Marines? I didn't know you committed yet?" She laid her pecan eyes on him, giving him her complete undivided attention for the first time.
"No, I haven't but the fact that I'm thinking about it frightens them."
Yasmin gripped his arm as if she can hold him from going. "It bothers me too." She took a long, deep breath. "The thought that one of my homies will be fighting in a war in a distant land is scary. I wish you wouldn't. I would miss you terribly." She dropped her hand. "But at the end of the day it's your choice." She assured him as a tear hung in the corner of her eye.
Denver came out, "Dinner's Ready!!" He yelled; then went back in.
Yasmin gently kissed Eric on the cheek then pulled her legs out the water and followed Denver into the house. Eric stood up, legs dripping water on the warm concrete as he watched Yasmin and Denver gathering plates and utensils from the cabinets. Eric was confused she called him a homie and gave him a sincere kiss on the cheek. Never has he known of homies kissing each other. Asia never kissed Ethan or Jordan no matter how many times he asked. Eric walked over to a sleeping Jordan. He yanked down the canopy. Jordan fell onto the emerald green grass, his right side breaking his fall.
"Let's eat!" Eric shouted running away laughing.
"I owe you!" Jordan shouted getting up off the ground, holding his side.
In the front yard, Leslee and Asia were leaning against the now cooled down cars while Shaka explored the woods.
"Are we going to hear the same argument all week?" Asia asked. She remembered the last time Ethan and Leslee had an endless debate. They were deciding on what apartment to move in. Leslee wanted to move in an upscale loft with concierge, cleaning service and valet parking; that her parents offered to help pay for from their retirement money. Ethan picked a modest two bedroom, one bath apartment with no frills only wood floors throughout. In the end, after five loud debates and strong brainstorming, they picked Ethan's choice.
"He just wants to get married he doesn't trust me," Leslee told her former freshmen dorm roommate.
"Don't give me that. Ethan trusts you. You have the password for his cell and the pin for his debit card. If a guy trusts you with his money, he trusts you." Asia reminded her.
Ethan gave her the pin to his debit card because he kept forgetting to pay the rent. Leslee would give him her half at the beginning of the month and he put his half in at the end of the month with hers that added up to twelve hundred a month. His forgetfulness went so far that they almost got evicted.
"That's right!" Leslee tsked. "I stand to be corrected." A smile emerged taking over her face.
"I don't think it's about trust. You're both just panicking. Ethan just wants to make sure all his affairs are in order before he leaves." Asia lightly nudged Leslee's arm. "You, my friend, is his first priority."
"See this is why I come to you, wise one." Leslee jokingly said.
"Shut-up! But you know I got your back" Asia assured. She had seen Ethan go through copious amounts of girls. Leslee beat them all in a landslide.
"Now, all we have to do is get you a man. Every guy is not like Zack. What about Jordan?" Asia threw the suggestion out there.
"Hell to the no!" Asia responded shooting down the coupling of her and Jordan down. Zack was her boyfriend from high school; he got another girl pregnant during junior year. After the years of dating since high school, she never knew he had a chick on the side.
"Just for fun!" Leslee said with a giggle. She stopped trying to compose herself back to a serious state. "Just for fun!" Dating Jordan could never be serious.
Ashlyn came out the front door interrupting their girl talk to inform them that her healthy meal was ready for consumption then fled back in the house. Leslee walked towards the door as Asia called for Shaka. Shaka came running from the dense woods with something clasped between his teeth. Asia bent over and pulled the triangle, metal object out of his mouth.
"What is this?" Asia studied the silver triangular piece of metal. Asia gave it little thought and threw it on the ground. She went back into the house as if what Shaka fetched was a meaningless piece of metal. Although it wasn't, it was a calling card. It was the beginning of the end. It was an arrowhead.
Where do you think the arrowhead came from? Was it left there on purpose or was it an accident?