My First Love

It was too hot to comprehend; summers in the city made no sense at all. I wanted to drive with the windows down, but the air touching my skin felt as if a dragon sneezed in my direction.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the rearview mirror. I touched the gold cross that dangled from my neck and smiled. I had not heard from Dave since he left. I knew it was just a fling. It wasn’t as if I hadn't stalked him on social media to get the scoop. I wasn’t even mad. The vibe was good.

My cell phone rang. It was Ms. Gail, also known as Candy Redd, “Where you at?” she asked in her bossy tone.

“Coming down St. Charles. I’ll be there in about five.”

“Stop at the store and get a bag of ice and some cold drinks. And make sure you get some Red Cream.”

I was quiet.

“Did you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The call ended. Barq’s Red Cream Soda. I smirked. He had to be there. Ms. Gail had two sons. One named Arnaud, who was killed attempting to be a big shot dealer, and the other named Micah, who was her pride and joy.

How many times did he and I share a Red Cream back then before he graduated high school and went off to college? There was something about the name Micah Landry that excited me and pissed me off all at once. Yet, there I was driving to the corner store to buy his favorite drink.

I was wearing a hot pink terry cloth tube romper and a pair of white sneakers. I parked just off the corner and stepped out of my ride. “What's happening baaaaby?” one man asked.

“Not too much.”

“You looking good.”

“Thank you,” I replied before walking into the store.

I grabbed a few things and placed them on the counter. I went to the back of the store. I received a text message from Malik, “I know you plan to get out of the business, but could you have at least given me a warning?”

I chuckled before I responded, “I’m not leaving yet. I’ll be back next week.”

It was not a lie. I planned to finish out the year. He had me for about six more months. By then, I'd have a semester of school left, and my second car would be paid in full. I had a cute little house in the seventh ward. It wasn’t much to some, only 2000 square feet, a modern-day spin on the old shotgun-style homes with a nice covered back patio. The mortgage was less than most people spent on rent. So, even if I gave up shaking my ass for a living, I could still handle the mortgage for at least a year without stress.

I felt at peace as I grabbed the rest of the items I needed. I turned and caught the gaze of a pair of dark brown eyes. He smiled with a head nod. I nodded. He spoke, “Usually a smile is returned with a smile.”

I smiled, “You’re right. It costs nothing to return a smile.”

I knew he was not from the city. His accent was thick, but not so much that I couldn’t understand him. He ran his hand along the side of his jet-black hair, “I love your accent,” he commented.

I chuckled, “Accent?”

He laughed, “You have an accent.”

“Um, is that so?”

He shrugged, “I know I have one, but so do you. It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you—”

“Emilo and you are?”

“Aja.”

“A pretty name for a pretty woman.”

He was seriously rizzing me up. Yet, I had things to do. As gorgeous as he was, I had already failed at one fling; I was not about to attempt another.

“I should get going.”

He reached for the stuff I held, “Allow me to assist you.”

I nodded. We walked to the register. He grabbed a few more things, placed them on the counter. One of those things I saw was bare skin in an extra-large. The cashier looked at him, then at me, and grinned.

He pulled out his card and paid. I tried to stop him, but it was done. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, Aja. I wanted to. Maybe next time I see you, you’ll let me take you out.”

“I don’t know, maybe. We’ll see.” I said before taking my stuff and leaving.

****

The house uptown, not far from St. Charles Street, was a serious upgrade from the house I spent two years of my life in. The large white house was surrounded by a black iron fence. I parked on the road behind a luxury sedan.

I saw people sitting on the porch. As I left the car and walked to the back of the vehicle, I was greeted by him, “Hey, need some help?” he asked, and immediately grabbed the bag of ice and drinks.

It was hard staring into his grayish-blue eyes. He had pretty lips and long eyelashes. He stared into my soul, and for what? I looked over his shoulder and saw her. She was a prissy little Creole girl who went to his high school, Nicole Monroe.

She shifted in her seat and watched him closely. I grinned and shifted my focus back to him, “Looks like you’re gonna be a papa soon.”

He chuckled uneasily, “Yeah. Crazy, I wanted this other girl to be my wife and carry my kids, but she pushed me into the arms of another woman.”

I scoffed, “Boy bye. I barely nudged you in that direction, and you jumped all over it first chance you got.”

I walked off. I was already going up the stairs to greet Ms. Gail. She was wearing a khaki short set with a pair of beige Daniel Green slippers. She hugged me tightly, “How are you, Cher?”

“Not too bad.”

Micah walked by us with the stuff into the house. I heard a throat clear. I looked to where she sat with her hands on her belly, “Hello, Aja.”

“Nicole.”

She smiled widely, “Miach and I are expecting our first child in a few months. Did you ever meet anyone, or are you still single?”

I wanted to say bitch, “I could have your man right now if I wanted him.”

Yet, I smiled, “Still single. I just don’t know what I’s gone do without a man in my life. But I know the Lord will provide.”

Ms. Gail side-eyed me. Nicole stood up, “I’m going to help Micah.”

She went inside. Ms. Gail smirked, “You and that damn mouth.”

It wasn’t that I disliked Nicole. It wasn’t her fault that Micah chose her. It was a strange situation the three of us were in back then. He wanted us both and had no qualms about expressing it. And we foolishly played into his desires.

“So, you ready to be a maw maw?” I asked.

She nodded with a smile. Her long black hair was in a single ponytail, and her soft brown eyes dazzled in the sunlight. She was still quite the fox in her forties.

She leaned back, “I sure thought you’d be the one having Micah’s baby.”

My eyebrow lifted, “Me?”

She kissed her teeth, “You don’t think I knew you and Micah were fucking back then, even though I told you not to take advantage of my baby.”

I made a face, “You do realize that Micah was no virgin when we did what we did. I was. And, I wasn’t even eighteen, I was sixteen.”

Her head tilted, “You mean to tell me that you lied about your age. You were just a baby.”

I nodded. I could see her eyes tearing up.

“Oh, Aja, I would have never let you get in that business had I known.”

“I know. And I’m good. You took care of me. You and Micah were my only family.”

She swiped her finger under her eyes. “You hungry?”

“I can eat. What did you cook?”

“Smothered cabbage, with stewed chicken, cornbread, and rice.”

“You cooked one of my favorite meals.”

“Micah cooked.”

I blushed.

She grinned, “Go on in there and get something.”

I left the comfort of my cushioned seat and went inside. There was a fresh aroma of lavender and vanilla, intermingled with the food that was prepared before my arrival.

I slipped off my shoes by the door and put on some footies. I practically slid across the dark hardwood floors. Ms. Gail was a neat freak, and everything was always in its place.

I went down the hall past the formal dining room, and then there was the open kitchen. Nicole had car keys in her hand, “I’ll see you Sunday at church.”

“You leaving?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen my great aunt. She’s at my mom’s house. It was nice seeing you again,” she said as she hugged me.

“Drive safely.”

“I will. I’ll call you late, babe.”

I reached for a plate from the cabinet. I went to fix my food. He took the plate from my hand, “Let me do that for ya.”

I watched him carefully place the servings of each item on the plate. Then he walked it to the table, placed it down, “I know you want a cold drink, Barq’s?”

I nodded. I sat. He brought a glass of ice and a can of red cream soda. The top popped. I heard the fizz as the red liquid covered the cubes of ice. So many memories of us flooded my mind.

Like the first time. Yes. It was a three-bedroom shotgun house. His mother went to Biloxi for a week with her then boo thang. He was supposed to be ‘cross the river while staying with his friend for the week. I was home alone.

I had a foot-long shrimp po’boy fully dressed. I had a bag of Zapp’s crawtator chips, two pralines, and a 16-ounce bottle of Braq’s red cream soda.

I was in the living room watching TV, ready to chow down, when the door opened. He stepped inside with a backpack. I spoke, “Oh, hey.”

“Hey.” He said and then walked straight back to his room. Moments later, he returned wearing a T-shirt and some red basketball shorts. He sat next to me, “whatchu watching?”

“Nothing really, I have been going through trying to find something. You want the remote?”

He nodded, “Sure.” He said before looking over at my stuff, “You gonna eat all that by yourself?”

“You want some?”

“Yeah. I’m starving.”

“What happened to your friend?”

He chuckled, “I wasn’t staying by him.”

I made a face.

“You don’t remember me?”

I shrugged.

“Your grandmother used to stay over there, close to the fairgrounds. You used to go to middle school with my cousin, Trisha.”

I smiled, “Yeah. Trisha. How is she? I have not seen her in a hot minute.”

“She’s good, she’s going to graduate next year from high school.”

I nodded, “That’s nice.” I gulped because if he knew that much, he had to know I wasn’t eighteen, or maybe he didn’t. I could have gotten held back,”

“Why are you pretending to be eighteen? You should be in high school getting ready for junior prom.”

I handed him half of the sandwich. “It’s complicated.”

“It’s cool. I understand complicated. I won’t say anything.”

We ended up watching a movie as we ate. He confessed to me that he had a crush on me then, and I didn’t believe him. We joked about it on the way to the kitchen to discard our trash.

As I was standing at the sink washing up a few dishes, he stood behind me and kissed my neck. I turned to him slowly, “Micah, your mama told me not to mess with any of her shit, including you!”

He lifted my chin, “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

That was my first kiss. The amazement of having a young man’s tongue in my mouth, just as I had seen in those movies, even the one we watched moments ago. His hands explored my body, squeezing and caressing. Then he slipped into my shorts, and I grabbed his hand, “Micah?”

“You want me to stop?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know. Maybe we should be careful. Protection?”

He nodded. We ended up in his brother’s room, which had become my room. It was the last bedroom opposite the kitchen. I had never experienced anyone kissing me below. My eyes rolled, my back arched. Then he stopped and looked at it, “Yep, never been touched.”

I watched him take off his clothes. He crawled on top of me and looked down. “Put it in,” he said.

I reached for him and guided him to my opening. He pressed. I gasped and then held on tightly. A few minutes later, I was humming and calling out his name.

*****

I was putting the food away. The kitchen was spotless. Ms. Gail had already said “good night” and went to her room.

I looked at my watch. I stood. He stood, “How are you just going to leave, and we are sitting here playing catch-up?”

I chuckled, “Your mom is going to bed.”

“So. It’s not like you ain’t ever slept in her house before.”

“I have my own house.”

He reached for my hand, “Stay with me.”

I scoffed, “And what about your wife?”

He kissed his teeth, “Come on now. You know Nikki doesn’t care.”

“I don’t know Micah. Probably not a good idea. Can’t have you getting hooked on me.”

He laughed, “I remember that being the other way around.”

“Um, maybe at first.”

“You’re right. I was hooked on you, but you pushed me away.”

“Again. Here we go with that. It was hardly a push. Besides, I saw the writing on the wall when you were both accepted to the same university. It didn’t make sense for me to compete with that.”

“You should have come with me to Baton Rouge.”

“No. You needed to be focused, and now look at you. Graduated with honors, now accepted into a master’s program here with a guaranteed six-figure job after graduation. You done good.”

“Thank you.”

“You still messing with that dude down at the club?”

I shrugged, “Maybe. Someone must keep me company.”

“Well, I’m back now.”

******

My grandmother once told me that you never forget your first love. They were ingrained in your database for eternity. As he hovered above me, I stared into his eyes. Our bodies moved in sync, thrust for thrust. Our hearts raced. Then he said, “Turn over.”

My face was buried in the sheets. He had a nice grip on my ass as he pounded away at varying tempos. Then he grunted, and his body collapsed on top of mine. He rolled off, I turned to him, and just like all the times before, we talked about everything and nothing.