Chapter 17
chapter seventeen
donavan
I licked my pointer finger and stuck it up in the air to detect the wind’s direction. Golf was all about skill, strategy, and working with the natural elements.
There were only a few more days before the tournament and I would be damned if I didn’t come out of here the champion.
“Here he go with the theatrics, we don’t have all day to mess around with you.”
I chuckled, “Man, fuck you, Fields, you better learn some shit while you can. This your first time, baby boy, I’m sure you don’t want it to be your last.”
Sam Fields was an upcoming golfer, he was one of the only Black ones to make it here this weekend. He was a cool dude, it felt good to talk shit with another brotha’ that would leave it by the tee after it was over.
“Just hit the ball already,” I zoned him out and touched the chain around my neck for good luck. My muscles were coiled with tension, ready to go to the next outing. I had one more to go until I could take Ivory out for our date.
The crack of the ball hitting the club was music to my ears. It was a distinct sound of the ball soaring through the sky.
“Bet that one is right on the money, Fields,” I turned to see him with his jaw on the floor.
He looked at me, then back to the distance the ball went, before he started mumbling underneath his breath.
“Listen, keep your head on straight, focus on you and the relationship you have with the club, and you’ll be alright, man.
I’ve been watching your career and I’m impressed, keep up the good work.
” I’ve been following him since college and rooting for him.
There weren’t that many Black golfers on the same level of professionalism as me, so when I saw them making a difference, I paid attention.
“Thank you, it means a lot coming from you, man. You’re a legend.”
We dapped each other, and I hopped in my cart to finish the back nine.
Everyday in training, I did the front nine for the morning session and then in the afternoon, the back nine. I always gave myself time to reacquaint myself with the course. Each one was different so I had to familiarize myself with the way of the course.
My phone rang through the car speakers, it was my brother Braylin.
“Yo,”
“Wassup?”
I haven’t talked to him since I’ve been here. I thought I was bad when it came to training, but he was even worse. He was getting ready for the Olympics, so he often went radio silent. I was excited for my brother, though.
“How are you, how’s your girl doing?” Braylin acted like her annoying older brother and she treated Graycen like her younger one.
“She’s doing good, I’m on my way to go scoop her up now. What you got going on?”
“Not much, you know, just enjoying my little bit of freedom until it’s time to go on my sabbatical.” Braylin took his training so seriously, that he swore off women for an entire six months.
“Here you go, when are you going to settle down?”
“Just because you finally got the girl, don’t mean I want the same. I’m good, Donny, you and Gray seem happy enough so just know that’s good enough for me.”
I pulled into the driveway, got out of the car, and opened the door to see Ivory dancing around the place.
She had on my golf shirt from a few years ago, the music was so loud she didn’t hear me. Her love for Tori Kelly was unmatched, she’d been running “Don’t Take Me Home” into the ground.
“Is that bigfoot singing right now?” I hung up on his ignorant ass.
“No plans, my heart is in your hands.” I couldn’t help the smile on my face because I had no plans to take her home. If it were up to me, Ivory would stay with me forever.
She was belting the words with her eyes closed, hair in these tiny purple rollers, with two things underneath her eyes. It never got old to see her so comfortable with me.
“What a performance, you sound like heaven.” I dropped my keys on the entry table, opening my arms for some love.
It’s been a few days since we’ve said those magical words and she hadn’t run for the hills yet. If anything, she’s gotten more comfortable which I wasn’t expecting.
“I hate when you sneak up on me. Remember how we used to walk around the school pranking each other and we scared Principal Keith? That was too funny, we used to have so much fun.” It was tenth grade, Ivory had just planted a few live frogs in my locker, she knew I hated them.
I had one of my buddies dress up as a killer clown and he was supposed to chase her around the school, but while he did that, the principal saw him, too, and shitted on himself. We were suspended for two days.
“You started that war, are you going to stand there all day or act like you want to show your man some love? What type of shit you on?” She snorted just a hint of a smile, but she still walked her ass over here.
Ivory wrapped her arms around my neck, and I hauled her up in my arms, planting her on the table.
“I don’t remember you asking me if you could be my man.” She was right.
I nuzzled into her neck, she smelled good as hell. “Don’t worry about that, I’m the most romantic person you know, just know I’m coming with the pressure.”
“Right, now take these kisses so I can go get ready. I was promised a night of wining and dining.” Her wish was my command.
ivory
Donavan was right about one thing, he was the most romantic person I knew. He never half stepped when it came to impressing me.
We were standing in front of a helicopter ready to take us on our date. I was just gushing about someone doing this for his date the other night while we were in bed.
He talked trash about the gesture, but I should have known he was bullshitting. I just thought he was hating because he didn’t think of it first.
“Oh my, I’m nervous…” Thankfully, I wore pants tonight instead of the dress I was tempted to put on.
The rotors were so loud, I wasn’t sure if he heard me.
He turned to look over his shoulder at me, I’m sure my hand was clammy now. I tried to shake the nerves off.
Donavan squeezed my hand, pulling me closer to him, “What I tell you the other night?” His voice was as gentle as he was.
“Uhh, you said a lot of stuff.” My brain was in overdrive so I had no idea.
“I told you that the safest place you could be was where?”
“With you.” He nodded, “Right, so trust me. I won’t let anything happen to you; if I gotta learn how to fly this shit myself, I’ll do that.”
“Okay,” I took a deep breath. My heart was still beating as fast as it was when we arrived on the roof of the building.
Donavan cupped my face, lightly pressing his lips to mine. His kisses made me forget about everything outside of us.
“You ready?”
I kissed him one more time for good luck.
“Yes, let’s go.”
The pilot introduced herself, and once we got settled in, I said a quick prayer – something I hadn’t done in years. But, Donavan was my personal blessing so God must have been real.
“If you close your eyes, you’ll miss everything.” Donavan said into the headpiece.
Looking out the window, it was beautiful to see the lights in the night sky.
He wanted to travel in style to our dinner date.
It was only supposed to take twenty minutes, I was counting down every one.
This was the cutest thing anyone had ever done for me, but I wanted to drive in a car on the way home.
A one-way flight was good enough for me.
“Look over there at that building, we’re about to land,” he pointed to one on his side. I couldn’t see anything until we descended a bit.
There was a sign there but I couldn’t make out the words, “What does that say, I don’t have my glasses.” Donavan playfully nudged me.
“You don’t wear glasses, Ivory,”
“Right, that’s why I can’t see.” As we went closer to our landing spot, I saw the words that made me tear up.
Ivory, will you be my girlfriend?
I turned to look at Donavan and his boyish grin, “You got five seconds to give me an answer before I take it back.” Why the hell do we play too much? It’s our love language.
“I mean since you went through all of this trouble, it would be wrong to say no.” Once we landed, I got to see the surprise in full effect.
The sign was huge, in my favorite color – red. There were too many candles to count. I covered my face when I heard the camera flashes coming from different directions.
“Take a picture with your man, princess, this will be the only time you ever get to say you have a boyfriend.” I never thought I’d hear me and boyfriend in the same sentence.
“Yes, you are very lucky.” Donavan stopped in his tracks and looked at me with so much tenderness, the tears I’d been holding in were about to fall and mess up my beat.
“And I’d never forget it. I am the luckiest man alive.”
We took a few pictures with the photographer he hired, it was beautiful. He had gotten us reservations for this restaurant I also saw while scrolling through the internet.
I got the steak and he got the salmon. It was perfect, we were in our own private area, and I had too many drinks. I was on my way to the bathroom when I saw a familiar face.
Clarissa was sitting there at the table with a date, I figured it was her fiancée. I kept walking to the bathroom and she caught my eye on the way back. She waved me over, I didn’t want to keep Donavan waiting too long, but it would be rude to avoid her.
“Clarissa, how are you? And you must be… Acacia?” My heart crawled up my chest, it was her. She looked different, but I would know her face anywhere.
“Acacia? No, you must be mistaking her for someone else. This is Vera, my fiancée, it’s about time you two met.” I ignored Clarissa and focused my attention on my ex-girlfriend.
“Yes, you must have me confused with someone else, I must have one of those faces. It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Ivory, my love has told me so much about you.
I’m sorry to have missed a few of our scheduled meetings.
” Acacia —Vera —- smirked at me with her hand out as if I would ever give her the pleasure of touching me.
I shook my head back and forth, Clarissa looked concerned for me. A part of me didn’t want to make a fuss in this restaurant. There was something going on here and every part of me intended to figure out exactly what it was.
“My apologies, I must have had a little too much to drink, please excuse me and enjoy the rest of your night.” I nodded at them, thankful I had my phone in my hand – the bathroom was perfect for pictures.
I stuck my phone in my back pocket, but not before pressing the record button.
I needed to make sure my eyes were seeing what they were.
Donavan stood up when I got to the table, “If you needed to take a shit, you should have waited until we got home, princess, you done blew up their bathroom.” He laughed and quickly stopped when he saw the look on my face.
“What happened?” Quickly, pulling my phone out of my pocket, I stopped the recording to show it to him.
“Who does that look like?” He scratched his head a few times.
“Is that Acacia, did she do something different to her hair?” I had to refrain myself from jumping up and down.
“Yes, she wanted to cut it for the wedding but I begged her to keep it. Now she’s dyed it blonde and has a few face tattoos.
But that’s her, that’s my client’s MIA bride.
Get this, though, she tried to act like I was the crazy one.
Her new name is Vera, if the bitch was going to change her name, she could have at least went with something cuter.
” I rolled my eyes, I may have still been a bit bitter at the way she decided to end our relationship.
“So, how did you feel seeing her?”
“I mean, I was confused and angry, but that’s pretty much it.” Donavan didn’t look convinced.
“Do you still have feelings for her?” I grabbed his hand and held it close to my heart.
Looking into his eyes, “I don’t have any feelings for her, I’m mad that she left me with all of those bills after not doing her part when she begged me to let her handle some of the expenses.
If I wasn’t financially responsible, I would have been fucked.
But now, her flakiness makes sense, do you think she’ll do the same thing to Clarissa?
Oh no, I have to warn her.” I was about to turn around and march right back to their table, but he held my hand tighter.
“Before you do that, let me call a few people and get some answers. Don’t say anything yet, the wedding is in two days. Let’s see how this plays out.”
A sinking feeling in my chest rose at the thought of Clarissa getting hurt like I was.
“Alright, but can we go home now?”
Donavan paid the bill digitally and we rode back home in silence.