4. Myraj
I found myself overwhelmed at the book event that I had looked forward to all year.
I had been having a great time until Tyrus called me after the last session.
He called to tell me that he didn’t think we would work, and he had met someone else.
He knew I was out of town, and he wanted to tell me before someone else or social media did.
He said it was the respectful thing to do.
Myron had popped up earlier and surprised Symone, and the two were locked in like the couple of the year. Wherever she went, he was right there. I was happy for my friend, and I loved how he loved her, so I didn’t say anything or remind her that she was there to support me.
Symone wasn’t an avid reader, so whenever we went to book conventions, it was all in support of me. Since Myron arrived, everything changed. He found things to do in the city that had nothing to do with the book convention. More often than not, they were slipping away from me.
I was on my own, and I had no one to talk to in my darkest moment. My mind twirled with past conversations I had with the girls about my dating life, as well as the handful of boyfriends I’d had over the years.
There were plenty of other readers at the book conference who I knew, but none that I felt close enough to share my personal business with.
The session I attended after the phone call was all about relationship goals.
A question arose about the longest relationship the attendants had been involved in.
The answers varied, but mine was the shortest with nine months at my big age of thirty-six.
Even some of the younger readers had relationships that outlasted mine.
There were some teasing comments like, “Girl, we’re gonna start calling you Love ’em and leave ’em Lucy,” or “Heartbreak Hope.” While it was all supposedly in good fun, it was painful, especially when I heard one young girl mutter to her friend, “Damn, she must be run through.” All this was on the heels of being dumped.
People often assumed that because I had never had a lengthy relationship that I was a ho, and nothing could be further from the truth.
I was a thirty-six-year-old virgin, and I was ready to risk it all for a night of romance.
I wanted one night where I felt desired by a man, and he made me feel beautiful, like a princess, and cared for.
After the session ended, everyone went to the conference room for a big party.
I skipped out and went to my room, hoping to find Symone so we could chat.
When I arrived and found that she wasn’t there, I texted to see where she was.
She and Myron had gone to some restaurant they had been wanting to try and would be gone for another hour or so.
After a while, I left the room because my thoughts were driving me crazy.
Knowing that I was lonely here and would be lonely when I returned home wasn’t helping matters.
I headed out of my room, and somehow, my feet led me to the roof.
I was startled when the tall, dark man came out of the stairwell onto the roof.
I had planned to slip away unnoticed, but I was mesmerized by him.
He was clearly in the throes of some sort of attack the way that he was breathing.
I prayed that he didn’t pass out, and I didn’t have to call 911.
I watched him for a while, and when I saw him practicing anxiety techniques to calm himself, I figured the threat had passed.
Yet, I wanted to stick around to make sure.
It took nothing but the scent of his cologne to remind me of my own despair, and I was back crying again.
Micaiah made it easy to open up to him. We had been talking for over an hour, and I could tell that he was unassuming, confident, and he seemed to genuinely be interested in me.
When he suggested we go to the restaurant across the street, I took him up on that offer.
No matter how comfortable I felt with him, I knew that I didn’t need to be in the dark on the rooftop with a stranger, especially when no one knew where I was.
We had been chilling here for the last hour now just talking.
“You seem to be such a warm-hearted and generous person. What’s your zodiac sign?” I asked.
“Leo.”
“Mm.”
“What?” he asked with a smirk on his full, heart-shaped lips, making the twin dimples in his cheeks twinkle at me.
“You Leos have been known to be arrogant.”
He chuckled, a low smoky sound. “Is that right? Do I seem arrogant to you?”
“I would say confident, not arrogant, but I don’t know you.”
“What you see is what you get,” he replied.
I tilted my head, thinking that I liked what I saw. His rich, cocoa-colored skin was smooth and even toned. Thick, bushy eyebrows looked like silk. His hooded, almond-shaped, russet brown eyes sparkled like the stars in the sky from a diamond-shaped face.
He was tall, but most people usually were tall when I stood beside them. It was cold outside, and he wore a hoodie. His body was mostly covered, but I could see tattoos on his neck and hands.
“It’s not a bad package.” My eyes flew open wide as he chuckled. “Did I say that aloud?”
“You did,” he replied, nodding and smiling at me. “But it’s okay. Your package is definitely wrapped up nicely with a bow.”
I blushed, and I was thankful that my hazelnut-colored skin was just brown enough not to show that I was blushing.
His grin was the sexiest one that I had ever seen with just a peep under those full, heart-shaped lips at the straight, even white teeth behind them. It was like he was teasing me for what was to come.
“What were we saying about zodiac signs?” I asked, squirming in my seat as I played with the chocolate mousse pie.
“You were telling me that I was arrogant, and I was letting you know that I’m far from that. What sign are you?”
“Sagittarius.”
“What if I were to say that all Sagittarius were impatient? Or that you never put your money where your mouth is? Not to mention, y’all say the most reckless shit ever. How would that make you feel?”
I scoffed. “I would say that I don’t know who you’ve been dealing with, but she ain’t me,” I replied, pointing my fork at myself.
“’S’all I’m saying about Leos. You can’t generalize people and put them in a box. Take time and get to know me. That’s what I would do with you.”
My face grew warm, and I steered away from that path. “I will admit that you don’t seem like the Leos that I’ve met in the past, so I won’t hold you accountable for their flaws.”
“Sounds personal.”
I turned my lips down and shook my head. “Not so much. Just a guy I once dated.”
He reached over and used my fork to slice off a piece of pie. When he held it up to feed it to me, I blushed again and dipped my head.
“C’mon. You gotta eat. Besides, it’s keeping your mind off negative thoughts.”
“You’re right about that. All those thoughts do is bring sadness,” I conceded before I accepted the pie.
“I don’t want to talk about the ones who did you wrong. I want to talk about you.”
“What about me?”
“Tell me about yourself.”
“About me. I don’t know, that’s kind of hard.”
“You haven’t taken out time to get to know yourself? Maybe that’s the issue in your relationships.”
“It’s not that. I just don’t think about myself like that. I think about other people.”
“You can tell me what you do and don’t like. It shouldn’t be that hard. Tell me your favorite foods and music, stuff like that,” he stated with a cajoling smile.
“Okay, let me think . . . I love my freedom. As much as I want to find that special someone and settle down, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I don’t want to lose that.”
“And you shouldn’t. Not with the right man. Go on.”
“I love the outdoors, especially in the spring, summer, and fall. I go to a lot of picnics, concerts, and festivals during festival season.”
“What kind of festivals and concerts?”
“R and B and old-school concerts and arts festivals, food festivals, cultural festivals. If it’s a festival, I’m going.” I laughed nervously, and he crooked a lopsided grin at me.
“Old-school classics. That’s wassup. I like that too. I love Caribbean music, but I’m a fan of Sam Cook, Ray, Aretha, and Patti. Who are some of your favorites?”
“I love Sam and Ray too. Throw in some Aretha, and it’s all good. She was my mama’s favorite. Oh, and don’t forget about Clarence.”
“Clarence? As in Carter?”
“One and the same.”
“You don’t strike me as that kinda girl. You seem like you’re sweet and innocent.” His long lashes lowered as he seemed to regard me in a different light.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Those are the vibes I get from you, but a man can be wrong. Just have a hard time imagining you hunching to Strokin’.”
I laughed so hard. “Not quite, but I love good music, especially when they have a good story to tell, like blues and country music. A lot of people think I’m crazy when I say that I listen to country music, but it’s part of our heritage.”
“Yeah, well the roots of country music are steeped in black culture. The industry grabbed hold of it as they do with everything, marketed it to the white folks’ segment, and pushed their artists to the forefront, when their artists were learning from ours. So, yeah, I feel you on country music.”
“You ever been to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville?”
“I can’t say that I have.”
“You should go; it’s an experience. I like to travel a lot, so that’s why I’ve been able to check it out.”
“Where do you travel?”
“I own my own travel agency, so I’ve traveled all over. I’ve been to Spain, Cape Town, Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, and Paris. I’ve been to plenty of tropical islands, Canada, South America, and a few places in Europe, and all fifty states.”
“Nice.”
“What about you? What do you like doing when you’re not at romance events with thousands of black women going crazy over a book bae?” I teased, pointing at the security logo and words on the front of his hoodie.
He smirked, and it felt so personal, like he was sharing a secret with me.