NINETEEN SEVENTY NINE
Author
Bob Marley and the Wailers were faintly playing
in the background of Abhaya's bedroom.
She sat against the bench seat attached to her window, gazing at the scenery outside.
Usually, Abhaya would stare at nature in complete wonderment, but right now, her mind was too focus
on something else to take in the beauty before her.
Her mind was on Michael and had been for the
past week in a half. She hadn't heard from him since the night of the party; he had been ignoring her.
At first, Abhaya didn't mind Michael's silence.
She knew he probably needed time to himself to think, but after almost two weeks, she grew impatient.
Every time she called his house, his siblings would say he wasn't home, but she knew that wasn't the truth.
Michael went as far as not frequenting the same establishments his friends would go so he wouldn't run into Abhaya. She somberly sighed; her mind lingered back to the night she kissed Michael.
A smile crept upon her lips as flashbacks of them resurfaced throughout her mind.
The kiss shared between them. She remembered tasting the alcohol on his tongue, the weed.
She remembered his fingertips trailing up and
down her abdomen. Abhaya was sure that Michael
was considering fingering her from how he moved
his hands against her waistline.
To her dismay, he decided against it. For the first
time, she had wished that Michael hadn't been such a gentleman and used his long fingers to dig inside her warmth until he found a pot of gold.
"Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I'm feeling."
Abhaya slightly turned her head from the window to look at the radio.
"Stop doing this to me, cruel world, stop it!" She made her way towards the radio to turn the station; the next song made her groan.
Life was testing her, and she knew it.
"Since we are lyin' here, ah For the first time, you
and I Show me what you'll do for me and then will I."
Switch sang, causing Abhaya to think about when she and Michael were lying in the same bed together.
"There'll never be a better love, love, love, love."
Without another thought, Abhaya quickly pressed her finger against the off button on the radio.
She couldn't take the torture of love songs mocking the way she felt any longer.
Abhaya left her room and ran towards her sisters; instead of knocking, she twisted her hand against the knob and pushed the door open. Mohini, who was caught entirely off guard began to quickly place a few things that were against her dresser away.
Abhaya was too busy pacing back and forth to
notice her sister suspiciously hiding things inside
of her dresser drawer. "Sheesh! Haven't you heard
of knocking!?" Mohini yelled.
Abhaya ignored her sister's thunderous shrieks.
"I feel I'm going crazy! Michael still hasn't tried to contact me. No call, no visit, nothing!" Mohini could tell her sister was a bit distressed, so she decided to
let go of her slight anger. "For guys to have balls, they indeed don't have enough balls. " Abhaya's moment of agony suddenly disappeared as a fit of laughs escaped her lips. Mohini always knew the right things to say.
"I'm supposed to be sad right now. Stop making me laugh whore!" Mohini sat down against her bed and patted a spot for Abhaya to sit. She kicked the pink slippers off her feet before plopping down on the bed.
Facing her sister, the both of them were seated Indian style with one leg crossed over the other.
"Close your eyes, and let's take a few deep breaths." With a nod, Abhaya closed her eyes.
"Breath In," She breathed in, "Breath out" She breathed out. The two sisters did this a few more times before Mohini ended the short session of peace.
"How do you feel?" Mohini asked, hoping she helped her sister feel better.
Abhaya sighed, "I feel a bit better, a bit at peace, but my heart is still going through this confused bullshit. Michael avoiding me like the scarlet letter isn't making anything better." Mohini nodded, giving her younger sister her undivided attention. "You should just show up at his place. He'll have to talk then." Abhaya's eyes slightly widened at the suggestion,"Don't you think that's a bit much?"
"Of course not; Michael does it you all the time. Randomly showing up here as if he's the fifth family member or something." Abhaya slightly laughed.
"Yeah...he does that quite often. I just feel as
though it'll be weird for me to do it this time around since we're going through a slight problem." Abhaya tried to explain.
Mohini shrugged, "It doesn't matter. Michael's taking the easy way out and trying to ignore whatever the hell's going on here. Such a typical man. Sometimes we women have to be the aggressors; we have to get our point across one way or another."
"You have a point." Abhaya sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"So, how do you feel? Like, do you want to date him mor something?"Her sister questioned.
Abhaya liking Michael wasn't shocking to Mohini
as she always felt the pair would eventually develop feelings for one another. It was inevitable. Abhaya half-smiled at thought of her and Michael dating.
"Well, I don't know. The thought of it sounds nice,
and I did enjoy the kiss we shared but...but I feel like Michael wouldn't feel the same." She tried to express to her sister. Mohini folded her slender arms across her chest, a devious smirk tugging at her thin lips.
"Then make him feel the same." Abhaya questionably looked at her sister, "And how am I going to do that?"
Mohini softly patted her sister's left cheek twice,
"My dear sister, I'm the Aphrodite of these situations. We'll come up with something soon, but for now, go to Michael's house and make him talk."
Abhaya felt a bit excited about what her sister said. "When should I go?" She asked.
"Now."
"Now!?" Abhaya iterated, "Yes, no more time can be wasted. Now pull your big girl panties up and go talk to the man." Mohini began to push her off the bed, giving her the encouragement she needed. Abhaya reluctantly stood up from her sister's bed, "You better be leading me into the right direction with this hini!"
"I would never lead you astray, little sis, now go!"
—
Abhaya was speeding towards Michael's house with anxiousness. The wind was blowing wildly through her hair, causing it to flow around without any constraints.
The radio was turned up loudly, and Abhaya was singing her heart out to heatwave.
"Leave your worries behindddddd! Because rain, shine, don't mind. We're ridin' on the groove line tonight." She bobbed her head back and forth and did a little shoulder rock. As she was riding through town, she received lots of attention from her eye-catching new wheels. Every time she was at a red light or stop sign, she found herself thanking people for their compliments on her new ride.
A few songs later, Abhaya pulled up towards the
front of Michael's house.
The two didn't live far from each other at all, so it didn't take her longto get there.
Abhaya reached her hand towards the radio to turn
the music down before glancing at the review mirror, ensuring she didn't have any red lipstick against her teeth or any other makeup malfunction. Right before she could step one foot out of her car she saw Michael walking down his patio. He was dressed with dapper, which caused Abhaya to curiously gaze at him.
Michael wasn't paying attention to the car in front of his house until he made it towards the end of the patio.
Abhaya honked her horn at him, startling Michael
to death as he jumped. It was around seven-thirty, so the sun was beginning to set. Michael scrunched his eyebrows at the car before he realized who it was.
"Shit," He mumbled, Michael wasn't ready to face her yet, but he didn't have a choice now. With reluctance, he walked towards the driver's seat of the car.
"Abs!" Michael cheerfully greeted, however, he felt nervous about her response.
She narrowed her eyes at him, "Don't you Abs
me! Get inside, we're going for a ride." Michael had somewhere to be quite soon, but he wasn't about to
tell Abhaya that; he was already walking on thin ice, Michael wasn't trying to fall through.
Michael walked towards the right side of the car
and got in. "Did you miss me?" Abhaya asked as she drove off to a destination unknown.
"Of course." Michael wasn't lying, he did miss her,
but he just was feeling very out of place at the moment.
She glanced at him before her eyes shifted back towards the road ahead of her, "Really now? How
do you miss someone but not reach out to them? I could've been dead, and you wouldn't have known."
Guilt immediately took over Michael, "Abhaya,
don't talk like that." He looked over at her, "Well, it's the truth Michael, I could've been laying in a pool of my own blood right now, and you would-" Abhaya was silenced by Michael's large hand being placed over her mouth.
"Please don't say things like that, Abhaya, please."
He begged, not wanting to think about someone he deeply cherished no longer being within the physical realm. She licked the palm of his hand, and Michael slightly laughed before removing it. He slid his palm down his black slacks, wiping off her spit." Why do you look so nice?" Abhaya curiously asked.
"I have a ummm, a meeting to go to." Abhaya was
still suspicious, but she decided not to focus so much on that. After the twenty-minute drive, Abhaya pulled up to a secluded park. No one was out, and it was completely silent, a perfect place for them to talk.
"Whose car is this?" Michael curiously questioned
as he glanced around, admiring how beautiful the car was. "Mines." Abhaya proudly revealed. "
"Yours!? When did you get a car?" Michael asked. Abhaya put her car in park before turning the engine off. "I got it as a graduation present."
"Why didn't you tell me, girl?"
She took off her seatbelt and turned to face him,
"How could I tell you anything when you've been avoiding me like the Black Plague?" She folded her arms across her chest, her left brow raised as she awaited Michael's response.
Michael awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.
"Yeah...about that," Abhaya mocked the sound of his soft timbre. "Yeah, about that."
"Explain yourself because I gave you the personal space you seemed to need, but then you decided to be excessive with it and prolong the time to almost two freaking weeks." With a sigh, Michael turned towards Abhaya, "I know, I know. I'm a dick." He admitted.
Abhaya agreed with his sentiments. "A major one."
A few seconds of awkward silence passed by until Abhaya decided to speak, "How do you feel? Like on what happened between us?" Michael's eyes shifted away from Abhaya as she intently watched him.
"I feel uh, I feel fine. We...we weren't in our right state of mind so it's nothing we should think so heavily on. We were drunk." Michael took a slight pause before continuing "and high, it was just a silly mistake is all."
Just a silly mistake is all.
Those words didn't settle well within Abhaya's heart.
She felt like a fool for expecting Michael to say anything different. "A silly mistake?" She nodded, knot showing any emotions that could be deciphered.
"I mean, we're best friends...what else could it have been beside a mistake." Michael finally looked back
at her. "We're all entitled to how we feel, Michael."
Abhaya kept her game face on though Michael's words sliced at her heart; she was now internally bleeding.
"And how do you feel?" Michael asked with curiosity.
How did Abhaya feel? The complete opposite of how Michael seemingly "felt."
Abhaya didn't think it was a smart choice to disclose how she truly felt for him since he burst her bubble of hope. The daydreams Abhaya had of them running off into the sunset had completely disappeared into an imagery of dark nothingness.
"I feel the same way." She lied straight through her teeth. "See! We're on the same page now. Everything can finally go back to normal." Michael smiled from ear to ear, causing Abhaya to frown inwardly.
"Yeahhhh, back to normal." The tone of her voice was unenthusiastic in comparison to Michaels's glee.
An awkward silence surrounded them once again.
No one wanted to break it this time because neither one of them knew what to say. Abhaya reached her hand towards the radio and turned it up, trying to make the tension between the two dwindle.
Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder was coming to an end,
the Radio Host started to speak, "And that was Sir Duke by the legendary Stevie Wonder. The next song is dedicated to all the lovers around the world."
Moments later, Would You Mind by Earth, Wind,
a Fire began to play.
Michael and Abhaya's hearts instantaneously
dropped. Memories of them kissing while Would You Mind played in the background clouded their minds. The thought of reaching over to kiss Michael suddenly became an urge for Abhaya, but she didn't give into temptation. She wasn't under the influence this time, neither was Michael, so none of them could blame their actions on recreational vices.
Abhaya cleared her throat, "Don't you uh have somewhere to be?" Michael, who forgot about his "meeting" suddenly remembered, "Yes, I do..."
"I'll drop you off; what's the location?" Michael was a bit reluctant to tell her, "It's in Jonesville."
"Jonesville? That's on the other side of town."
She curiously looked at him, "I know, but you don't have to take me over there, Abs, I'm fine.
"How else are you going to get there? With your feet? I'm taking you, and that's final." Abhaya switched the ignition on and pulled out of the park. She had to get on the interstate to go to Jonesville, so the ride was thirty minutes long. Michael gave her directions that led to a dead-end on a street called Gresham road.
"The meetings at a dead end?" Abhaya asked, looking around the dark roads. Not a single street light was in vision. The only illumination was Abhaya's car lights.
"Well, as you know, I'm in quite a few organizations. This one happens to be private; If you're not in the Um, in the organization, you can't know where the meetings are held. It's an uh, it's a secret." Michael spoke as if he was trying to convince himself of the story he quickly made instead of convincing Abhaya.
Abhaya scrunched her eyebrows up, "What the hell are you in? The Klu Klux Klan?" She said before laughing.
Michael laughed as well. This somehow eased the awkwardness.
"I don't think they'll accept a man of my complexion."
"Maybe you should just try out! They might like
you, never know until you try." Abhaya shrugged her shoulders as the laughter continued. Michael shook his head, "You are something else, you know that."
Their laughter began to die down, "Well, you better go ahead to your meeting."
"Yeah, I'm already late.." Abhaya smiled at Michael as she opened her arms up for a hug.
He began to lean over the seat; the closer he got to
her, the more she stared at his lips. That sensation
of boldness erupted from within her once again.
Right before Michael was about to wrap his long
arms around her, she kissed him and immediately pulled back. Michael was still leaned over but frozen, completely baffled that she kissed him but oddly enjoyed the feeling of her soft lips just as the time before.
"I'm sorry...I umm...I was leaning for your cheek
and uhh y- yeah. It was an...accident." Abhaya knew her lie was horrible, but she didn't know what else to say. Michael nodded, "Accidents happen...y- yeah, accidents happen." He leaned back towards his side, "Well, I'm gonna go now...." He spoke leisurely.
"Right, right! See you umm see you soon."
Michael slightly smiled at her before getting out
of the passenger's side. His back was turned towards the car, all he had to do was walk away, but for some reason, he couldn't move his feet forward. Instead, he turned around and got back inside the car before closing the door shut.
Abhaya was a bit confused, "Is something wro-" Her voice was halted by Michael quickly kissing her.
It was so swift that Abhaya had barely caught onto
it until Michael kissed her again and again and again. Abhaya felt like a rocket exploded inside her heart; she kissed Michael back while slithering her arms around his broad neck. Michael pulled her on top of him to where she was now on the passenger's side, straddling his lap. He placed his hands against her ass before lightly squeezing it.
Abhaya didn't know where this side of Michael came from, but she never wanted it to disappear.
She enjoyed this masculine dominance Michael was showcasing against her femininity.
Eventually, the two of them had to break away for air. They were breathing heavily, lips still in proximity.
"I should go now," Michael spoke slightly above
a whisper. "Are you gonna disappear for another two weeks?" Abhay questioned. He shook his head, "I'll see you tomorrow." "You promise?"
"I promise." She leaned down to kiss him once
more before going back to the driver's seat. Michael opened the car door before taking a step outside.
He closed the door back and looked at Abhaya, who was focused entirely on him, "I'll see you tomorrow."
He made sure to say that once more so she would know he wasn't about to go missing again.
She nodded, "See you tomorrow, and goodnight...!"
"Get home safely, alright?" Michael tapped the car door twice before turning around to leave. Abhaya watched Michael as he walked up the street.
She smiled from ear to ear as her cheeks became
beet red.
She wanted to scream in pure bliss but decided
against it because she was sure Michael would hear her. She didn't know what had just happened, but
she loved every moment of it, as did Michael, who cheekily grinned while walking up the pitch-black streets till he blended into the darkness.
Tomorrow was a day they both looked forward to.
-
Thanks for reading!
It looks like Abhaya and Michael finally made it official. Sike! The next chapter will have a lot of drama, so be prepared.
Let's talk about two seemingly sneaky individuals. Mohini and Michael. During this chapter, Mohini quickly put away something as Abhaya barged into her room. What do you think she's hiding?
What about Michael's "meeting"? Why was he acting so suspicious, and why did he choose to get dropped off at a dead end? Hmmm, it seems to be a lot of secrets already. What's your intake on it?
Again, thanks for reading. Muah! 💋