??? More than a game ???
→→→ Beyond jilting ←←←
? Book twenty eight ?
? Lee’s standpoint ?
STILL IN ENGLAND
I sang loudly as I combe-d Johnny’s hair, I was at his h0tel room. We went sightseeing, visited a dinner theatre and then walked back to the h0tel. He walked while he piggybacked me. It was so special. I decided to stay back a little longer to help him care for his hair after he finished bathing. I’d always wanted to comb his hair while it was we-t. The we-tness of his hair in my f!ngersand the comb slowly gliding throu-gh his silky cotton hair was a dream come true. Johnny sat on the floor at the east end of the be-d, back rested on the be-dframe and head between my l@ps. I sat at the edge behind him, legs crossed over his torso and placed on his th!ghs. He was polishing my toenails while I combe-d his hair.
‘Lee,’
‘Yeah?’ I asked singingly.
‘In five years time, do you think we will still be together? What would you picture yourself as? What would you see me as?’ That was an unexpected question. I thought over it for a while before giving him my answer.
‘Honestly, I don’t see a future with us…’ His hand on my foot stiffened. ‘I don’t want to get my hopes up, I don’t want to hold on to you too much and end up crashing ha-rd . I don’t mean to offend you but I don’t know what the future holds for me, for us. So I live each day the way I see it, the way it is thrown at me. I go with the flow, wherever my love for you takes me, that is where I will go.’ I said honestly.
‘So you don’t trust me?’ He said disappointedly. ‘You don’t trust that I can love you for long? You don’t believe in my love for you? That’s fv¢ked up.’
‘I do, but I also believe in the unexpected. My Aunt Bernice taught me that when you believe that the unexpected can happen, can show up in a way that one can ba-rely recover, you won’t be too stunned when it comes. I don’t know if you truly love me, I am not you so I can’t tell what is in your mind and heart. All I know is that I like you a lot and being a person that holds on to things and people a lot, I won’t let you go until you give me a reason to. When you let go, I will let go also, as easy as that. Life goes on. Also, st©p swearing.’ I shrugged. My nonchalant way of life was as a result to my mother’s youngest sister. Aunt Bernice is always so relax and composed, more nonchalant than I am. Her advice has help me a lot.
‘It’s like I’m d@t!nga philosopher, d@t!ngmyself. That’s bull$h!t Lee.’
‘You aren’t d@t!ngyourself, you just nee-d to un-derstand my point of view. St©p swearing.’ I hit his head with the comb. He didn’t flin-ch or act like I hit him.
‘Don’t you think your la-id back lifestyle will cause you your relationsh!p?’
‘It will rather save me from unnecessary emotional breakdown of any form. Even if it will shake me, it won’t break me.’
‘But you panicked the other day when I mentioned breakup,’ he pointed out.
‘Like I said, even if it would shake me, it won’t break me.’ I repeated relaxedly.
‘Heh heh,’ he chuckled and shook his head. ‘You get more and more f… unique by the day Lee, you know that, right?’ He tried to look at me, I turned his head back.
‘I know,’ I smiled. I was starting to heal, I knew that. Since Iris could heal herself by deciding to be better, by putting up determination to separate herself from her mental friends, why couldn’t I? Mine wasn’t as bad as hers yet she easily overc@m£ it when she was re-ady to. If she could do it, so could I.
‘Lee,’ he called again, dropping my foot. I hummed him a reply. ‘What did you say you want to re-ad in college? You are a science student, right?’
‘Yup! I’m going to be…er…I’m sure I will think of something before final exams, I just gotta find out what I’m good at.’
‘Why didn’t you go for art? Or even social?’
‘Hmmm, I’m far from social, way too far. I can’t handle anything that will deal with business, I will donate everything out and let people owe me too much debts. Hans told me that and it is true.’ It is, my philoxenic behavior and generosity would be a big problem.
‘And art?’
‘Aside from modelling and dope hairstyling, I have zero talent. I can’t sing – not that I don’t have the voice – I love dancing but not enough to pursue it. I don’t know any other art things or have ideas for them. I also believe that if I want to live big in art courses, it’s something I can still do with science degree. The one thing about art is that it subjects are easily adopted by any. That’s why. I went for science because I feel it de-ep in me that this is where I must be. Mom supported me and said that when the time comes, I will find my career calling.’ I ended my explanation.
‘And have you for once thought about being a philosopher and thera-pist? You are very good at giving advice Lee, very good at solving people’s problem and the way you think is outstanding. Don’t you think?’ I st©pped combing his hair, how can I help when I’m not okay?
‘I can’t do that, I can’t be a philosopher and thera-pist,’
‘Why? Because of your mental instability?’ Johnny knew, I told him. ‘You are not crazy or anything Lee. You don’t go around threatening anyone with a knife or breaking things, you are perfectly normal. You only use different personalities to balance your m… life, that is okay.’
‘You think so?’ He bent his head back to see my face.
‘I know so. Go for that Lee, I believe you will do great.’
‘Best b©yfri£nd, that’s what you are,’ I whispered with a tearful sniff.
‘Best babe, I know.’ He whispered back. I laughed and brou-ght my head down, k!ss!nghisl-ips lightly. He tasted like happiness di-pped in love sauce. His saliva was like a philtre potion, compelling me to love him more. He m0@n ed and pu-ll-ed his head away before the k!ssgot de-ep.
‘Did I bite you?’
‘Hmm, no, not at all.’
‘Then why did you…’
‘Lee have I ever told you I have a thing for corns? Corns just seem to make me happy.’
I g@sped. ‘Me too!’
‘I know,’ he laughed. I closed my eyes dreamily, clasped my hands together and placed them on my cheek.
‘Oh my corn
Sweet corn
Fresh corn
Beautiful corn
Lovely corn
S-xy corn…’ I recited my corn poem.
‘The corn of my life
The hero Sir Corn
How I love you corn
Neatly prepared corn
So many corns
I can’t get enough of corns
Red corn
Brown corn
White sweet sweet corn
Cooked corn
Baked corn
Fried corn
Roasted corn
Steamed corn
Diced corn
bu-ttered corn
Strawberry corn
Chocolate di-pped corn
Apple sauced corn!
What can I do without you corn?
Where will I be without you corn?
What is life without you corn?
Why can’t I marry you corn?
My first love you shall remain
Oh sweet sweet corn
Our bond shall forever be the same
Oh my darling corn.’ I sighed sadly. If only there was corn…
Wait a minute!
My eyes snapped open to behold the plate of nicely cooked and bu-ttered corns, just the way I like em. I skrie-ked in excitement and snatched it. ‘Oh corn! My darling, how I’ve missed you for so long. Why did you leave me to suffer with the taste of you lingering at the very ti-p of my ton-gue? Why did you leave me to spend sleepless nights thinking about your k!ssand the ha-rd ness of yourl-ips. Many nights I grow we-t just thinking of what bur-st of flavors you shall bring to me. Don’t ever leave me again corns, never.’ I held the two h0t corns in my hands and stared at them.
? Jonathan’s standpoint ?
I have d@t£d a lot of girls but none outshines Hadley. Her wackiness is what makes her exciting. She is a girl full of mystery, a girl filled with untameable pas-sion for enthusiasm, love and craziness. Every single minute that pas-sed was a chance for her to show off something different and utterly out of this world. Lee is so mysterious that the more you discover things about her, the more she comes up with something more unbelievable and exciting. A girl of wonder I say.
Hadley always seemed to mention corn whenever we were talking about food, but I never saw her eat one. Hans told me to buy one for her and see why their mother banned her from eating any kind of corns. At first I laughed my stomach out watching her re-ad a ridiculous love poem for corn. Then the moment I delivered it, my laughter was replaced with jealousy, hvge one. Why would I be jealous of corn? Did you hear the love statement she said to two miserable corns? The worse was the way she was staring at the corns with so much pas-sion; love, admiration, de-sire and appreciation. Hadley had never looked at me in such ways since I met her, honestly speaking.
I hate corns.
‘Lee,’ I tapped her. ‘You have been staring for five minutes…’
‘Shh, don’t interrupt. I am savoring the moment.’ I stood up in annoyance, since she was busy. I angrily walked around the room, grumbling as I cleared the mess we made from our pillow fight and then packed all my manicure and pedicure kits. I do my nails a lot, I love a well polished nails.
By the time I was done cleaning up, she was eating the second corn, savoring every single bite. At least she wouldn’t eat me. It took her an extra seven minutes to say her goodbye speech to the corns, indeed she and corns nee-d to be ap@rt. ‘Are you being se…’ I was about to shout when she suddenly hvgged me.
‘Thank you,’ she sobbe-d.
‘For bringing you corns?’
‘Mom commanded me, I should never buy or look at corn when I see it, he was serious. No one would get it for me but you did, I ate corn again after three years, thank you.’
Well, there goes my shouting.
‘Why love it so much?’
‘I don’t know, weird obse-ssion. I was so obsess I told my father I wanted to wed a corn. That was when mom yelled and banned me. Don’t worry, I won’t eat it again and no one would know you gave me.’
‘I’m jealous.’ I blunted out. She raised her head and giggled.
‘Corn might be my first love but you are my pres£nt love. At the end, I eat them. But I can’t eat you…’
‘But I can eat you… $h!t! I mean… Er…’ She stared at me with big eyes filled with puzzlement and so cute. ‘Nevermind.’
‘You can eat me? How? Or is that figurative?’
‘Yes, figurative,’ I lied. She tilted her head. I pinched her nose to distract her. Lee is easily distracted, rarely reverts to conversation. I love her so much, so cute. ‘You better be going home now,’ I tried to pry her hands away from me, her eyes was starting to resurrect unwanted de-sires.
‘Can I stay here with my candy bear?’ She asked poutingly. ‘plea-se?’
My eyes wi-de-ned. I gulped down loudly, a nervous laugh emanating from my che-st. ‘Hadley,’
‘Uhm?’ Her eyes, those eyes.
‘God! Lee you are killing me!’ I exclaimed.
‘What did I do? Oh, what did you say you are re-ading again? Are you going to pl@yfootball in college?’
‘Yes, I will still have to focus on my study, nee-d to take after father’s sport agency.’
She giggled and rest her head on my che-st, her hands going down to my w@!st. ‘So, can I camp here for tonight?’
‘If you stay here, I will fv¢k you s-en-seless…’ She flin-ched away from me, jumping far away. The jump landed her on the be-d, I didn’t know when I quic-kly pinned her down. ‘Did you have to wear this? You know how blue drives me crazy.’ She wore a dark blue br@lette t©p with light blue lace that formed sleeves and covered her stomach and bu-ttons leading down.
‘Johnny, you promised me that you won’t f0rç£ me, remember?’
‘I won’t, I’m just going to k!ssyou a little.’
‘A k!sscan turn into something more intense, I can’t…’
‘r0m@nç£, what about r0m@nç£?’ I asked pleadingly, desperately begging her with my eyes to let me feel her b©dy just a little. ‘plea-se Lee, just a little. I promise not let it go far, I promise.’ She eyed my hands which were un-bu-ttoning the bu-ttons of her t©p. Her silent gave me the answer I nee-ded.
I quic-kly re-moved the bu-ttons of her t©p, spre-ad it ap@rt to reveal her br@. I looked into her eyes which was watching mine carefully. I dragged my hands around her che-st to her back to the clasp of her br@. Lee shut her eyes, her hands fisting into the be-dsheet as her b©dy tensed. If I didn’t do it, she would never be re-ady. I brou-ght myl-ips down to hers, k!ss!ngoff her nervousness and worry. I gently unstra-pped every single clasp, including the one holding the hands in place. I dropped the br@ on the be-d, excitement was starting to cloud my thinking. I brushed my f!ngersdown her spine and over her ribs until my palms cu-mpped her Bos-oms. Lee m0@n ed softly into my mouth, arching her back up. I trailed myl-ips off hers, worsh!ping her jaw to her n£¢k, collarbones, shoulders and che-st.
Her skin was extremely soft and flexible, sli-pping into my mouth and grazing my teeth perfectly. Even her b©dy tasted wonderful just like her scent. I nipped and twisted her tits as I bathe her b©dy with k!sses, love bites. Her m0@n s elicited my de-sire, increa-sed my urge to take off her clothes. Lee squirmed, raising her hands up to t©uçh my hair. She arched her back when I brushed my ton-gue over her tit, m0@n ing loudly. ‘Johnny,’ she m0@n ed. I really hate that name.
? Lee’s standpoint ?
I said I wasn’t re-ady but my b©dy was saying another thing. I m0@n ed and squirmed at every single action Johnny did. It was so odd and exciting, more than what I expected it to be. My legs locked themselves around his as-s as he drove me insane with his ton-gue and teeth. He su-cked and nipped and fondled my bo-ob s, shifting his mouth down to my stomach sometimes. It was so amazing. My lower region was we-t, really we-t and yearning for attention, serious attention. My throat was dry, I couldn’t ask him to do it after all my stubborn reluctant.
I g@sped when his hands suddenly pu-ll-ed down my Sk-irt, tugging off everything covering me. ‘Johnny!’ I skrie-ked.
‘Relax,’ he whispered. I inhaled as hisl-ips started travelling south, way down south. My phone decided to disturb, the ringtone I set for my manager. I stretched my hand forward and picked it up.
‘Hello,’ I said, tapping Johnny to st©p.
‘Hadley, there is a problem.’
‘W…oh damn!’ I exclaimed as Johnny’sl-ips grazed the surface of my poon.
‘Are you alright?’ Stacy asked worriedly.
‘Yes, I’m alright, thank you… Ah,’ I m0@n ed as he latched his ton-gue into me. The sudden rush of plea-sure left me dumbstruck, a sharp g@sp leaving my mouth. Johnny chuckled and rolled his ton-gue around cl!t, adding a f!nger and curling it up to my G-sp©t. ‘Johnny,’ I m0@n ed.
‘Wait, are you talking to me while having S-x with your b©yfri£nd?’
‘No,’ I m0@n ed. ‘What problem?’
‘Tara has done another one,’ that seemed to snap me out of it.
‘Johnny, hold on,’ I whispered, tapping him to st©p. ‘What did she do Stacy?’
‘Go online and see for yourself, it won’t be pretty for you.’
‘I’ll get back to you,’ I hung up. I pu-ll-ed Johnny up gently and sli-pped away from him.
‘What did I do now?’ He whined.
‘Johnny something bad happened, hold on,’ I said as I turned my data on. I went straight to Twitter to check her page. I re-ad her new upd@t£ and it was about me.
Mentally Derange Miss Perfect, She nee-ds To Be In A Laughing Academy, Not On The Runway.
‘What is this one talking about?’ I asked myself. I checked her other upd@t£.
Thanks For d@t!ngMy Leftover Sweetheart. Hope You Have Fun d@t!ngThe Drug Monster.
‘What is it?’ I glanced at him and back at my phone. I tapped the post to re-ad more. ‘What happened?’
‘Hold on,’ I re-ad each line carefully, each words becoming more unbelievable at each pas-sing line. I couldn’t believe it, it wasn’t true.
‘Lee, you are crying…’ He tried to snatch my phone, I moved it back, my hands continued to tremble from shock.
‘You and Tara had a baby?’
‘Huh?’
‘You knew Tara all along and you only d@t£d me to get back at her?!’
‘I didn’t…didn’t…I…’
‘I can’t believe it Jonathan! Using me!!!’ I thun-dered furiously. ‘How dare you pl@ywith my emotions! How dare you use me to get back at your ex baby mama!!!’
‘That isn’t how it happened, Lee plea-se let me explain.’ He pleaded.
‘Save it,’ I snapped. I climbe-d out of the be-d, gr-abbing my br@ and clothes. I stomped to the bathroom to dress up. And to think we were just… I don’t blame him, I blame me.
? Melody’s standpoint ?
I walked behind Lee and Hailey as they stomped up the stairs, Lee’s anger was more intense because she was the upset one. Her anger was ma-king Hailey angry and me sad. Lee’s model rival posted a very nas-ty video of her. Not that it was extremely nas-ty, just a video of Lee as Lee and Lee acting as Hadley. She picked out the worse videos and compared them, publicly announcing that Lee was a hypocrite and a psychopath. What vexed her more was the fact that she added old dirt of him, about Johnny being into drugs, having a baby with her and hitting girls. It wasn’t a thing I would react to but Lee was greatly offended by it. One, she hates that girl with so much pas-sion. Violet she hates, the girl is an enemy. Two, she hates when her family or loved ones gets insulted and three, she hates being called a psychopath. Never insult her throu-gh her illness.
‘That bit-ch,’ Lee muttered, aggressively pushing her room door open. We followed behind quietly, even though Hailey was boiling, she kept shut for her sake. ‘I’m going to deal with her… How could Johnny not tell me he d@t£d her! How?! I can’t believe that Tara was the same girl who claimed she got pregnant for him! Why didn’t he tell me she was the one? Now I un-derstand why he was so close! God! I was such a fool!’ Lee cried. She slumped on the floor in front of her be-d. ‘I feel so used, so stupid.’
‘Hadley, maybe you are misun-derstanding everything,’ I tried to reason.
‘I don’t want to hear that Mel, plea-se.’ Hailey was pacing around. I walked over to her and sat on the be-d.
‘You know Johnny loves you, right?’
‘I know,’ she sobbe-d. ‘I know he never d@t£d me to get back at Tara, might not have even known who I was since I look different when on the runway but I nee-d to justify my anger. He should have told me. d@t!ngTara’s ex is such a humiliating b!ow for me, a big b!ow for me. She said that he does drugs…’
‘Does he?’
‘Did. Johnny told me there was a period his friends introduced it to him, but he st©pped after taking it five times. Johnny never impregnated anyone, Tara lied. I’m just furious at how everything turned out, how it is going. What do I do now, what?’
‘What’s going on?’ Iris asked, walking into the room with Eden on her shoulder.
Where’s Bluey?
‘Some bit-ch posted this,’ Hailey stretched her phone to Iris. Lee placed her head on my l@ps, hvgging my legs as she cried.
‘Wow, is all this true?’
‘p@rt of them. Johnny st©pped drugs before it got serious, he called and told me that Tara was a nonexclusive girlfriend and he wasn’t responsible for her pregnancy. She had a miscarriage anyways. Johnny never impregnated anyone else and he is not the kind of guy to hit a woman, I know that.’ Hailey replied.
‘Hmmm, so the problem now is the mental upload and how to clear Johnny’s name without involving the law for slandering.’ Iris stated as she walked over to the chair. My eyes wi-de-ned when she brou-ght out a pack of cigarette and a lighter.
‘You smoke?’ I asked quizzically.
‘Once in a while, only when I’m extremely frustrated and pissed off by someone I care about. Since mom was the only one I cared about and she never bothered me almost at all, I didn’t have a reason to.’ She replied nonchalantly as she light the cigarette.
‘Who taught you?’ Lee asked bemusedly.
‘Joe,’
‘Whose Joe?’
She smiled. ‘Not someb©dy you can see,’ she leaned back on the chair, crossed her legs and inhaled de-eply. I looked at Hailey who shrugged, she smokes too when she wants to and when no one is looking. Her third ex was a bad influence.
‘Iris, smoking isn’t good for you,’ I scolded.
‘I know, but Hans is frustrating me.’
‘What did he do?’
‘Threatened to dump me after telling me to my face that Violet was very good in be-d even though I asked.’
‘Boys are idiots,’ I sighed. ‘And he hasn’t called you?’
‘I don’t even know where my phone is. Eden can you get me my phone?’ Eden ran out. ‘Hailey, do you still have that video of Lee at the club?’
‘Yes,’ Hailey replied.
‘Do you have any video of Lee being strict?’
‘I do,’ I replied.
‘s£nd the videos to Lee’s phone,’ she ordered with eyes still closed, legs crossed and back rested as she puffed out smoke slowly. I coughed a little, she will have to st©p this. Hailey didn’t hesitate, she took Lee’s phone and s£nt the video. I handed my phone over to her to do the s£nding.
‘All done,’ Hailey announced.
‘Can you log into your account? Tap the videos for upload, and then pas-s it over for me to type in the caption.’
‘Alright,’ Lee took the phone from Hailey to log in. I stood up in irritation and walked over to Iris.
‘Men are annoying, we all know that. But don’t let them make you do things you don’t want to,’ she opened her eyes and smiled. ‘Don’t smoke when frustrated or sad, smoking is bad. Iris?’
She chuckled and stretched the fag over to me. ‘No smoking,’ she chuckled. I took the cigarette and furrowed my brows. ‘Fine.’ She gave me the pack and lighter.
‘Done,’ Lee announced. The stupid girl hurled her phone over to me. I clumsily caught it with a skip of my heart. ‘Oops?’
‘When will you st©p throwing things.’ I huffed.
‘When I go six feet un-der,’ she said drily. I smiled and looked at Iris who was taking the phone from my hands. ‘What are you going to type?’ Lee asked agitatedly.
‘Dear Tara, intelligent Bree,’ Iris said as she typed. ‘A eye rolling emoji,’ Lee giggled. ‘You don’t get to use my lifestyle as a means to insult me, not when you don’t un-derstand a $h!t. You call me psycho, am I? When I’m working, I am serious, focused and professional. Wanna know why? Because I take my job seriously, because I know that focusing on it will make me succeed and because my last name is Kendrick. Working ha-rd has gotten me where I am today, I never had to use rotten means… Does she sleep around?’
‘Does she ever get any worthy contract without using her puss to get it,’ Hailey scoffed.
‘Is the public aware of it?’
‘Aside from the time she was accused of slee-ping with a designer’s fiancé, none. It was true though but that died off with no accurate proof on if she did it or not.’ Lee replied, folding her legs.
‘Okay… Rotten means to get what I want. Then when I’m working, I laugh, smile, pl@yaround because I am surrounded by friends and family. I know how to behave at different occasions, know when to get serious when it’s nee-ded, when I have to smile. Two people that can turn a room upsidedown with laughter and make people’s cheeks hurt, me and my younger brother Phoenix. I am what I am, not a psychopath as you put it, but a girl that knows what she’s doing with her life.
Number two, did you really get pregnant? You said the baby died, huh? Where is the baby? Bring the evidence and proof that Jonathan did drugs or beat up girls. Didn’t he dump you like all your b©yfri£nds did because of your characters? Don’t make up things to spoil people’s image Tara. Immature, that is what you are because I being professional and mature will never upload such immature content about anyone or anything. Who is the lunatic between you and me? You know the answer yourself. My ability to know when to take up responsibilities and when to drop it is what makes me better than you.’
‘Wouldn’t that be wrong if I upload that?’ Lee asked unsurely.
‘I have a better idea,’ I said with a snap of my f!ngers. ‘I don’t ever post anything like this, I’m like this national angel, one that never does wrong. It took years to earn that reputation. So, if I be the one to upload this, they will all know it really vexed me and take it serious. I have fans so it would be a big deal for Melody Bree to upload such a post. Lee gets more fans and Tara loses many.’
‘Brilliant!’ Hailey and Iris exclaimed. I smiled and hurried to my phone.
‘Iris, edit.and copy the text and s£nd it to me.’
‘Alre-ady done.’
That was fast.
Eden walked in tapping on Iris’ phone. The monkey is amusing. Monkeys are too smart. I opened my message to copy the text.
‘You know what you are going to do Lee?’ I asked smilingly. ‘Call Johnny and talk to him.’
‘Why? I’m still upset.’
‘Don’t let it affect your relationsh!pLee, call and let him explain and then forgive him. Tomorrow you would go to him, upload a fun video of you two together to show that bit-ch that you don’t give a fv¢k what she says about him. Even if he smokes weeds, you don’t care.’ I looked at her to make sure she was listening to me, she was gone.
‘Alre-ady left to make the call…’
‘Aaah!’ Iris skrie-ked. ‘Hans s£nt me a message!’ I rolled my eyes to her, my f!ngersstill typing.
‘What did that goat say?’
‘That he is sorry about what he said to me, he never meant it and my reaction only provoked him. He promised to make it up to me if only I give him a chance to prove it.’ Iris said with a wi-de smile.
‘Now you are going to reply him?’
‘As what?’ She sm-irked. ‘I’m going to pl@yha-rd to get of course, I can’t let him see that what he said didn’t hurt me.’
‘For how long?’ I asked, uploading the tweet.
‘Until we get back to New York in four days.’ I shook my head with a smile, girls and stubbornness.
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To be continued.