Sincere Deception Read online

  “That’s wonderful, Ava. It takes a strong woman to achieve something like that. I hope you accomplish all your dreams. What’s your motivation? What inspires you to push yourself toward your goals?”

  “I just want to make my mother proud. That’s really the only thing that drives me to never give up.”

  “Interesting you’d say that; that’s another thing we apparently have in common. Everything I’ve decided to achieve in life was done with my family in mind. If it weren’t for my sisters, I probably would not have made it this far.”

  “That is very true,” I said, holding an intrigued expression. “I hope you continue to reach your goals and follow your dreams as well. I mean, I know we just met and don’t know each other that well, but I think it’s great that we have that in common.”

  “I agree, and thank you. I appreciate that, Ava. I’m pleased to have such a beautiful woman sitting right beside me to share this night with.” Followed by his statement, he licked his lips and stared deep into my eyes.

  He had me so fuckin’ wet I thought I pissed myself. Clearing my throat, I sat up and tried to adjust my awkward posture. I had to cross my legs just to keep from making it so obvious that I was anticipating him inside me. He was doing something to me, and he knew it. Not only that, but the alcohol had me steaming and ready to fuck. One side of me wanted to hold on to the good-girl persona that I knew I was—

  the other side yearned to release that bad-girl for just a little while. When he extended his mouth toward me and attached his tongue against my neck, I placed my hands on the back of his head and played with his wavy hair. With his strong hands, he reached in for every inch of my body. By now, he was on top of me as I lied on my back with my legs stretched. As the sexual music banged throughout the room, my head was spinning like a Mary-go-round. My body was dripping with sweat, and my pussy was thumping with erotic desire.

  The next morning, my head was filled with fuzziness and my stomach was sour. Just as he promised, Lee woke up and drove me back to the bar. I picked up my car at nearly 8 A.M. I then drove to my apartment, took a shower, got dressed, and headed to class. As soon as I walked into the classroom, my teacher, Ms. Adams informed me that I was fifteen minutes late.

  “I know I’m late. I apologize,” I said, heading towards the sign in sheet to sign my name.

  “Please make sure you’re on time from this point on, Ava. You know exams are coming up in a couple weeks. I need to make sure the entire class is on board with everything. In order to make sure this happens, I need to make sure the entire class is actually here.”

  “I understand,” I said, speaking dry and calm. I then turned to walk towards an unoccupied seat.

  As soon as I sat down, Kelis shook her head at me. After pulling out my books and work assignments, I looked at her, then giggled softly. I already knew why she was shaking her head. It was because of my night out with Lee, and I knew that she was gonna continue to shake her head and make a big deal out of it until I told her exactly what went down between him and me.

  “You slept with him, didn’t you?” she whispered.

  “No,” I said, smiling. “Why would you ask me that?”

  “You’re lying your ass off. You slept with him, and not only did you sleep with him, you liked it.” She shook her head again, then smacked her lips.

  I could not stop laughing. The look on her face was hilarious. She appeared stunned, confused, and upset all at the same time.

  “OK. Well what if I did sleep with him… why would that be such a bad thing?”

  “It would be bad, because you do not know him, Ava!”

  “True, but people sleep with people they don’t know all the time.”

  “Yes, but you’re not people! You’re Ava!” After changing the tone in her frantic voice, she began to whisper again. “I can’t believe you had sex with that man. I mean, I just can’t believe it.”

  Whispering back, I said, “Well, it happened and I can’t say I’m ashamed.”

  “You know that’s exactly what he wanted, right? He only wanted to get inside those pretty panties of yours, and now that he’s gotten them, he’s probably not even going to call you again.”

  “How the hell can you be so certain about that?”

  “I just know. I know how these men are. They charm you, they fuck you, and then they leave you.”

  I laughed.

  “What the hell has gotten into you, Ava? Why are you laughing? It’s not funny. I’m serious!”

  I laughed again. Not because I was purposely tryna tick her off, but because I simply didn’t care of what Lee’s motives were with me. I didn’t sleep with him because I was expecting him to sweep me off my feet. I slept with him because I was hot, horny, and wanted to. But how the hell was I supposed to logically explain that to my best friend, when the Ava she knew was all about love, romance, and matters of the heart? How was I supposed to convince her that I just didn’t care about the idea of a real romance? Instead of arguing with Kelis, I decided to reserve such a conversation for times after class. I simply opened my book and hid myself in classwork assignments.

  A few hours later as we were walking to the parking lot, Kelis decided to resume our conversation where we left off.

  “Ava, are you planning on seeing this guy again? If you are, please be careful.”

  “I don’t understand what the big deal is, Kelis. I had sex with the man last night; I might have sex with him again—who knows,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “This is not anything worth discussing for the entire rest of the day so please just drop it.”

  Pouting as she leaned against the hood of her car, she refused to respond. It wasn’t until my phone rang when she decided she wanted to speak and give her input. It was Lee on the other end of the line asking to see me again later on that night. “I would love to go out with you,” I told him excitedly. We agreed to go out for dinner, then head back to his place afterwards. I then ended the call. As I turned to direct my attention back towards Kelis, she was already staring at me with evil eyes. Her lips were poked out, she was shaking her head, and her arms were folded.

  “Please do not fool with this sorry excuse of a man. He’s gonna hurt you, crush you, and then leave you wondering what the hell happened and why.”

  “Listen to me, Kelis, and listen to me good,” I said to her as I held her arm firmly. “I do not care whether this man wants me or not. I’m just having fun.”

  “Well, you can still have fun without fuckin’ the man.”

  “But I wanted to fuck him. I mean, between the Long Island Iced Teas, Hennessey, and Patron—I was ready to fuck just about anything,” I kidded.

  She let off a look of confusion and disbelief. She then paused and said, “Look, I understand that you’re hurting. I get that Eugene broke your heart again… but going out with a man you barely know is not going to fix the pain you feel.”

  “The only person that’s talking about Eugene is you. I can care less about that fool. Leave the past where it is. I do not want to talk about it anymore.”

  “Whatever,” she said, waving her hand passively into the air. “I am only trying to help you. I am your best friend. Being concerned and trying to make sure you stay away from corrupted men is my job. If you choose to crack jokes and take this lightly, that’s on you.”

  “I don’t know why you’re saying all of this to me as if I don’t appreciate your friendship. We’ve been friends for fifteen years. Do you really think you need to remind me of that?”

  “I don’t think I should have to remind you of that… but for some odd reason, you haven’t been such a great friend to me. I mean, you avoided me for days after breaking up with Eugene. I didn’t have a clue about him cheating on you. If we were treating one another as best friends, I’m convinced I would’ve been the first person you’d call.”

  “Well, I apologize for making you feel as though you’re not important to me. I went through a tough time. But I got over it and I’m ready to continue mo
vin’ on. Can you forgive me?”

  “Sure… I can forgive you, but can you promise me you’ll stay away from this Lee guy?”

  “I can’t promise that. But if I invited you to come along on this date with us, would you quit trippin’?”

  “Why the hell would I go on a date with you two?”

  “I mean, since you’re so against me goin’ out with him alone, maybe we can see about arranging a double date? I’m sure he has a friend he can invite for you.”

  “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said, laughing sarcastically. “But on second thought—if it means I’ll be able to protect you from this fool, I’ll consider the idea.”

  Immediately, I dialed Lee and proposed to him the thought of considering a double date. It didn’t take him long to agree. He told me that he would call up a friend to accompany Kelis later on that night. After speaking with him, I asked Kelis to meet me at my house within a few hours. I then walked to my car, hopped inside it, and drove home.

  CHAPTER 8

  ANGRY GREETINGS & COLD PASTA

  Within minutes, I arrive home. I ran into my home with a handful of heavy books, threw the books onto the middle of the floor, then proceeded to my bedroom. I had no clue what I was gonna wear. Did I want to go with the sexy/laid back approach with fitted jeans and a nice shirt, or did I want to slip my curves inside a dress? I chose the sexy/laid back approach.

  After picking out my wardrobe and lying it out on my bed, I decided to get started on my homework assignments. Ms. Adams was on my ass regarding my work, and with good reason. We were just a few months away from our NCLEX-RN exams at University of Cincinnati of Medicine, and it was mandatory for me to get my work completed, not only on time, but also correctly. Thankfully, I managed to stay strong long enough to obtain my CNA certificate and LPN license, but the biggest challenge of my academic career, was holding on throughout four intense years of additional training. I knew that I needed to remain focused—I promised Mamma, so no matter what was going on in my life, my ultimate goal was to graduate with honors.

  I was able to complete an entire assignment within two hours, and just when I was in the process of putting my books away, Kelis called. She advised me to buzz her inside the building. She and her daughter were downstairs. As soon as they came inside the door, I grabbed Mia, and squeezed her with loving embrace. Mia was the cutest two-year-old. Not only was she cute, she was calm and obedient.

  “I know we’re going out tonight,” Kelis stated. “I just had to bring Mia with me, because her father called and said he’ll be late picking her up. He should be here shortly.”

  “Oh, it’s fine,” I replied, still holding Mia in my arms as I hugged and kissed her.

  We proceeded towards the living room to be seated. As soon as Kelis sat down, she said, “So, have you spoken to Lee since earlier?”

  “No, I haven’t, but I’m sure he’ll get in touch with me before he comes to pick us up.”

  “What do you mean? I thought you and I were riding together? Since when did we arrange for him to pick us up?”

  “Here we go again,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I don’t understand why you’re giving me such a hard time about this. We are simply gonna head out for some good food, a little conversation, and a few laughs and giggles. As soon as we’re done spending those few hours together with the guys, we can come back home.”

  Holding a hesitant look upon her face, she smacked her lips, and shook her head. “Whatever, Ava. As long as he brings us both back home by 10 P.M., it’s fine. You know I have to be at work in the morning.”

  “I’m sure that’s something we can arrange. We shouldn’t be out for too long. I just want you to get out and have some fun with us.” I grabbed the television remote and flicked to the cartoon channel for Mia to enjoy. I then turned back towards Kelis and revealed a huge smile.

  “What?” she asked, slightly smiling back.

  “You’re my best friend, right?”

  “Yes. Why? What’s up?”

  “Girl, Lee had my knees shaking last night!” I smirked again, but this time, with a giggle. “He put it down on me!”

  “Oh my goodness. I cannot believe you’re sitting here tellin’ me this right now.” She placed her face inside of her lap, then laughed embarrassingly.

  “I know you barely know him, and probably don’t want to hear about him… but girl, the sex was amazing.”

  Kelis and me rarely kept anything from one another. I mean, we talked about our sex lives, childhood memories, fears, pains—there was nothing in this world she didn’t know about me and there was nothing in this world I didn’t know about her. At times, we fought and bickered about stupid shit, but for the most part, we got along well. But it was just something about this situation with Lee that was clearly turning her off. She didn’t want to speak about him, think about him, let along meet up with him and his friend for dinner. I was trying my hardest to change her perspective of him as quickly as I could. I was tryna speak positively about him— even if that meant telling her how bomb the dick was. I even went on to tell her about the passing of his mother, and him being the only boy out of three children—hoping that this would help her realize how much him and I had in common.

  Kelis looked at me like I had lost my mind. “Look, I’m not gonna tell you, you can’t admire this man; that’s your choice. As far as what you’ve told me about him so far it sounds like he may possibly be a nice guy underneath his bull-shit persona. But again… I can only judge him by what I see.”

  “I can see that your opinions of Lee are not gonna change; I can respect that. But all I am asking is for you to try to be nice, put a smile on your face, and act like you’re having a fun time tonight.”

  Before she could even respond, her phone rang. It was her baby’s father informing her that he was just a few seconds away. I gave Mia a hug and kiss, then told her I loved her before her mother took her away. As I sat there waiting for Kelis to return, Lee contacted me. I answered right away.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey Beautiful. What are you up to?”

  “Nothing much,” I replied, smiling. “I’m just sitting here watching cartoons.”

  “Watching Cartoons?” He asked, laughing. “Well that’s interesting. I didn’t know you liked to watch cartoons, but now that I know, I’ll make sure I get us a full video collection of cartoon throwbacks to watch at my place.” We booth giggled.

  “Well, I was just calling to make sure we were still on for tonight,” he said.

  “Yes, I’m still on for tonight, and very excited, might I add.”

  “I’m excited also. Is your friend still coming along, too?”

  “Yes, she is.”

  “Alright. Well, John and I will be there to swoop you beautiful ladies up in about an hour. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Alright. See you soon.”

  As soon as I hung up the phone, Kelis returned. She stormed back inside the living room and flopped onto the couch. Clearly, she was upset.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

  She was so worked up, she could barely even speak. She just sat there breathing heavily until she had enough air to communicate. “Men are nothing but trouble. I mean, I know I’m not with the father of my child anymore… but the least he could’ve done was let me know he was gonna find another woman before actually doing it!”

  She started to cry, so I ran into the bathroom and snatched a few sheets of tissue. When I returned, I placed the tissue upon her eyes and gently wiped her tears. I then sat next to her and held her without saying a word. Although she never talked about it much, I knew that Kelis was still deeply in love with her ex, Steven. She actually never wanted to end their relationship in the first place—but because Steven said he wanted to separate for a while to find himself, Kelis had no choice but to set him free. Now there she was sitting on the edge of my couch balling her eyes out as she desperately tried to find a way to comprehend what happened.

&nb
sp; “I don’t want my daughter around another woman! I am her mother! Mia deserves both her mother and father in her life as a family—not some random mother fucka!”

  Finally, I decided to express my outlook on the situation, and I continued to hold her close as I spoke. “I’m sorry, Kelis. I know you’re hurting and I won’t tell you, you don’t have a right to. I understand what you’re going through… but I hate to see you upset and crying—”

  Before I could even finish my sentence, I was interrupted by a call from my phone. It was Lee. When I picked up, he informed me that he was on his way to Cincinnati and needed my address. I gave it to him, then released the call. I fixed my attention back towards Kelis.

  “I think Steven’s way of going about the situation was wrong. I mean, if he knew he was looking for another relationship, he should’ve just said that. But you and I both know that half these punk ass men can’t tell the truth if their lives depended on it. To hell with Steven. He’s gonna continue to do what he want regardless. Don’t let him and his new chick get to you. Girl, you can have any damn man you want.”

  “Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but you don’t have to worry about me. I know you’ve been looking forward to tonight, so I will get myself together and get dressed.” Without saying another word, she stood up, grabbed her bag of clothing off the floor, and proceeded to the bathroom.

  I still had not taken a shower or done my hair, so I rushed into my room, plugged my curlers and flat irons into the outlet, and went to work. By the time I was finished, Kelis completed her wardrobe and went into the living room to wait for me. I threw a shower cap over my heated curls, then hopped inside the shower. Shortly after, I dried off and dressed myself inside my bedroom. Kelis and I were both lookin’ good, smellin’ good, and ready to head out with the guys. As soon as they arrived, we walked down the stairs and greeted them inside the car. Lee was driving, John was seated on the passenger side, so Kelis and I sat in the back seat. Lee introduced John to Kelis immediately, and in response, she remotely introduced herself to him as well.