Thursday had finally arrived. Never had a day made Brooke feel so frightened before. The nerves within her were skyrocketing. It was hard for her to keep calm enough to not puke everywhere, but she somehow found it in her to make it to Joe's Coffee Shop without making a complete fool out of herself.
Once she enters the shop, she roamed around, trying her best to find Jasmine. However, she couldn't find her small frame anywhere. Next thing she knew, there was a huge commotion centering around the stage. This caused Brooke to look up immediately. There, upon the center of the stage was Jasmine in all her beauty. She was wearing a skin-tight black dress that stopped mid-thigh with a slit going down her leg. But the upper part of her dress fit smugly around her top area that it reveal enough cleavage to excite the mind's eye. Brooke swallow hard as she couldn't help the rush of emotions flooding through her. A person has never turned her on this much before, but something about Jasmine changed things. It's as if she knew her beauty was captivating enough and wore the right amount of makeup, and the right clothing to enhance this beauty. There was no way that anybody in their right mind could ever resist the temptation of her, and Brooke was clearly failing miserably at resisting because she felt as if she was salivating just from looking at her.
Slowly, Jasmine walked to the microphone and cleared her throat loudly:
"Today, in honor of the path that my ancestors craved in history, I wrote a poem titled "To Be Black". I was inspired by historical events to write it when we were reading about the cruel topics of slavery. It goes a little something like this:
Oppressed. Discriminative.
Why must we go,
Run in hide?
In a world that preaches natural rights.
Freedom, what is it?
It is nothing but a fragment of a figment.
It's not real.
So you better know the deal,
Or else you're the next one
They're going to kill.
We're nothing but "property".
Something that we ought to be,
"Because of the presence of our skin".
Something that is skin deep,
Prevents people from seeing the real me.
To know that I'm a human being and not an object that's not to be seen.
Why must you hate?
What did we do?
To suffer from this abuse,
When we are a better you!
Who deem you to be superior?
And us to be inferior.
Is it because of the paleness of your skin?
That reflects the origin of a sin
They're like ghosts,
Haunting us with our every move.
My eyes are now scared to close.
Because no one knows,
When the master will come and go.
This was the first time I realized my skin was a crime.
No matter how much I cried,
No one tried;
To save my life
Now, I'm not afraid of dying. No, I'm afraid of living.
Because every breath I breathe,
It's as if I'm sinning.
Because I'm black.
You know what feels unsafe?
It's being black in America!
However, I am more than a woman
More than a man
When will you understand?
That I'm a phenomenal woman
And I will take a stand
To show you
One day I will dance...
Towards freedom.
At first, Jasmine was met with silence as the crowd paused to process her words. Then all of sudden, the room exploded with applause as they cheered her on. Brooke stood appalled as she would have never imagined such well-crafted words escaping Jasmine's mouth. It was then Brooke knew that Jasmine was the one for her. Suddenly, Jasmine met Brooke's eye within the crowd and flashed her a cheeky smile.
"By the way, this poem was not written to attack, it's just how I feel sometimes," she said before leaving the stage with a wink.
Brooke's heart stuttered once Jasmine made her way towards her. As Jasmine engulf Brooke into a huge bear hug, she softly whispered in her ear, "I'm glad you made it. I wanted to hear you recite some of your work so bad. I know it will be way better hearing it from your mouth than reading it could ever be." Brooke was so sidetracked inhaling her soft, sweet, Japanese Blossom scent that she almost didn't catch a word she said.
"Thanks, I didn't want to disappoint. I figure I could spare some time to make it here."
"Well, that's good considering you will be the closing act. Make it stellar!" she said before leaving to go back to her job.
The mention of her being the closing act sent nerves throughout her body once again. Gosh, I hope I can make it through tonight, she thought as she patiently waited for her turn.
An hour later passed before the dreadful moment arrived. It was Brooke's turn to perform.
"And the closing act," boom the announcer, "is the first time performer, Brooke Winston." Brooke slowly made her way up to the stage as she tried her best to gain some confidence. She had previously written the poem she was planning to perform tonight yesterday and had hope that she wouldn't forget the words once the spotlight was on her. Stage fright had the habit of doing that to her.
Brooke chuckled nervously once she reached the mic, "Hello, as you already know, this is the first time I'm ever performing here. A strange girl I met earlier this week pretty much forced me to perform tonight. So hopefully I remember all my words," Brooke said before she begins.
"The title of my poem is "Collide":
Crash. Break. Fall. Melt.
The moment I crashed into you
Is the moment that I knew,
That you held the cards
That could make me melt into goo.
I knew you held the power to make me fall,
And that I wouldn't be afraid to risk it all.
Because breaking a piece of myself for you,
Seem like the only thing I was meant to do.
You were my breaking point
My weakness all wrapped in one.
It's no wonder that you had a hold of me
Of the person that I could become.
I gave you my all
But receive nothing.
Why is it that once you left,
All my strength was gone?
You took my heart and tore it apart
And claimed only a fool would ever give it out
From the start."
Brooke then inhaled sharply as the painful memories that inspired the poem hit her suddenly. She tried to secretly compose herself as the audience started to applaud her. She gave them a tight smile before heading towards the bar. Jasmine then slid Brooke a glass filled with orange juice.
"It's on the house," Jasmine said while whipping the counters. "That's clearly some ex you had."
"Yeah," Brooke replied back bitterly before taking a sip. It was then that she realized it wasn't just orange juice she was drinking. It had a hint of alcohol in it that burn her throat as it went down. Brooke coughs a little as she wasn't expecting something so strong.
Jasmine chuckled at her reaction. "Hope that makes you feel better."
"Much so. I just hope you aren't trying to get me drunk enough to get in my pants."
"Please, I would never. I have way more class than that. Besides, the day I get in your pants, I would want you to be fully alert," Jasmine says with a seductive smile.
"We'll see about it."
"Oh, we will see," Jasmine said in a confident voice.
This caused Brooke to stare at her with a goofy smile on her face and Jasmine stared back with the same amount of intensity. After a little while, Jasmine broke eye contact to check the time.
"Hey, you want to give me a few minutes to clock out and I can walk you back to your place?"
"Sure, I like the sound of that," Brooke said while sipping her drink. Jasmine smiled as she walked away. While waiting, Jasmine continues sipping her drink as she hummed to herself. She was overcome with a giddy emotion that was rare to her. She couldn't believe she was allowing a stranger to walk her back to her dorm. Damn, she must have put some spell on her to make unwise decisions, but for some reason, Brooke felt she could trust her enough.
After, a few minutes Jasmine return and grabbed hold of Brooke's arm. Slowly, they started making their way to Brooke's dorm. It was a perfect night to be walking, with the full moon glistening in the darkness.
"You want to make a wish?" Jasmine asked after catching Brooke staring off into the night sky.
"What you mean?" Brooke asks curiously.
"You know the myth about making a wish on the full moon and it might come true."
"Nope. Doesn't ring a bell. The only myth I know about full moon is people transforming into wolves. Luckily, I can see you truly aren't one of those people."
"Nope. I happen to prefer draining people of blood instead. That's why I can't transform because I'm a vampire," Jasmine said in a mocking manner
"Danger alert! Danger alert! You do realize that doesn't make me feel any better with you walking me home. I don't want to be found in a ditch now."
Jasmine started laughing, "I told you already. I have way more class than that. I rather the cops find you in a bejeweled chest underwater. Give me more credit."
"Great, now I totally feel more comfortable around you. You obviously care about how I'm presented in my death state.
"Totally. That's the way it should be."
Brooke smile at Jasmine's playful manner before informing her that they were at her place.
"Well, it was nice seeing you again, madame. Maybe, we should meet up again," Jasmine asked nervously.
"Maybe we should," Brooke replied back.
Jasmine then leans in to give Brooke a goodbye hug before walking away.
Brooke sighed once she left, Why does she have to smell so good, Brooke thought before walking in.