Angela

I moved here to get away from all of the drama in my last city. I came home to get away from all of the crime and I think that I was going right back to a place like that. New Orleans was the town I had grown up in, but my first day back I had to call the cops because the house next door got broken into. It didn’t seem right.

A few hours later, I was still putting things away and there was more movement at the house. The man that the police had picked up and carted off was back and again he had to break in to the house. It was then that I realized he wasn’t a burglar. He was my neighbor and the first thing I had done on this block was call the police. I knew that I was going to have to apologize in the morning. I wouldn’t have called if I would have known. I was just trying to help.

Sighing to myself, I picked up the last box that I was going to mess with today and went towards the kitchen. The house was small compared to the one I shared with Jimmy, but it was mine so it was enough. I wouldn’t have to argue with him anymore. This was the first time since high school that I was single and I was sure that was why I wasn’t able to sleep. How could I sleep with everything going on? It was only when I was too exhausted to move that I was finally able to lie down and shut my eyes. It had been so long, but even now being back in my hometown brought up all kinds of old memories that were hard to shake.

***

I was up later than usual. Usually I would get up at five or six and run for about an hour. It was the one time of the day that the silence would take over and I was able to think. I wasn’t trying to remember why I was there or where I was going next, I just wanted to think about the now. Now I was back home and needed a job. There weren’t many choices, but I was going to find something.

When I got back, I saw the door open to the neighbor’s house. I should have went over there and apologized for what happened, but I didn’t know who lived there and I didn’t know if he was going to be mad. He went to jail because of me, even if it was only for a couple of hours. I knew how some people felt about the police and those that called them. I didn’t want to be one of those people.

Instead I went inside and made some lunch. Cleaning the house up took up a little more of my day and only when it was about four in the afternoon that I went outside again. The man from the night before was outside working on a motorcycle and I figured that it was my chance to make things right. I hadn’t meant to cause any trouble and I wanted him to know that. I wasn’t going to be that kind of neighbor.

As I made my way across the street, I had to wonder if he even knew that it was me. Maybe I could just pretend that I didn’t do it and everything would be fine. It would have been easier than having to admit it to his face that I was the one that had caused it.

I almost turned around when I saw the man’s bare back covered in tattoos. He didn’t look like the type of guy that would be happy to hear what I was going to say. But I was already there and I wasn’t going to just walk away now. So what if he looked a little rough around the edges. That didn’t mean anything, right?

“Sir?”

There was music blaring outside from the garage and I had to get closer to get his attention. I was almost close enough to touch him and I stopped when I saw something that made my heart skip a beat. “Angie-Always Loved.”

It was silly. I knew that I didn’t know him and that Angie was a very common name, but it was the last part that threw me off. I hadn’t heard that in so long. It made my mind go instantly to the man that I knew when I was a teen. He had told me that for months before I left. It was the sweetest thing that I had ever heard then and since. It was good to know that I was always loved by him. It didn’t end the way I wanted it to, young love rarely ever did, but it was a point in time that I couldn’t forget.

“Sir?!”

I said it a little louder, but there was too much drums going on in the music playing. I could have touched his shoulder to get his attention from whatever had him hunched over the bike in such a way, but I didn’t. I didn’t think that I should. Instead I went to the garage and turned the stereo off. The quiet that took over was deafening and I almost wished that I hadn’t just done that. It felt different now and the man cursed and stood up.

“Stupid ass stereo!”

He stopped when he saw me and my heart stopped when I saw him. “Marcus?”

It was the man from my past and the tattoo was not a coincidence. The fact that he was standing there had to be. This was the man that I hadn’t seen since I left school my senior year. I put my hand to my chest, making sure that my heart was still beating. I couldn’t breathe and I was immobile, everything that I was there to tell him about last night had run out of my mind. I was stuck looking at him with a smile on my face, but everything else inside of me threatened to crumble. What the hell was wrong with me? The second question was about the universe and its sense of humor. Of all the people, down all of the streets of this city, him, really?

“Angie?”

The voice was different and his body was different, but those dark green eyes were the same. He had a few more freckles that I noticed and he was taller, but it was the same guy I had known so long ago. That was my name on his back and I had to wonder why it was there. He towered over me and I was left unable to speak. What was I supposed to do now?

“Wow, what are the odds?”

He was confused and I pointed to the house on the other side of the street. “I live there now since last night. I take it that you live here?” The odds were never in my favor. I had just put down first, last month’s rent and deposit. It wasn’t like I could just walk away from the place. Why did it have to be next door to him?

“You live there now?”

I shook my head that I did. It was strange to be right there in front of him and even the ten feet between us didn’t seem like enough all of a sudden.

“Yeah, I moved in yesterday pretty late…” I was here to tell him that I had called on him last night, to apologize to the neighbor, but I hadn’t expected to see Marcus. Of all of the people that I thought I would run into while I was back home, it didn’t occur to me that he would still be here. Not after he talked about going out west so much. He wanted to go to the west coast and I always thought he would go. I expected him to be in California.

“I saw you last night, but I didn’t know it was you. Someone called the cops on me and I got taken in. This place hasn’t changed much than when we were younger, nosy ass people always getting in the middle.”

He sounded so casual and I didn’t understand it because all I could do was shake on the inside and hope that I didn’t pass out right where I stood. How could he be so cool?

“Sorry about that. I saw you break that window and I thought that you were a robber. I know how the crime is on the other side of the city. I was the one that called. I am sorry. I was coming over here to tell you that and offer to have you over for dinner to make it right with you.”

“But now?”

Now I found out who it was and wanted to move again. I had run from Marcus before. He had been trouble ten years ago and looking at him now, he looked like even more trouble now. Now he looked like he was the king of it and I could already feel the draw to him. I always had a magnetic pull for the bad boy and Marcus still fit the bill, though we weren’t cutting class in school any longer, so desperate to see each other.

“Now I see that it won’t be necessary Marcus. We go way back, right?” It was the understatement of the world, but he didn’t yearn for me like I had for him. If he had, I might not of left, but I knew that it was a one way street.

“Yeah we do Angela.”

“So that tattoo…”

He looked away for a moment and I wished then that I could read his mind and hear his thoughts. What was behind that look that he gave me now?  I shouldn’t have brought it up, but how could I not when it had been staring up at me.

“It was a mistake. Some broad I met a couple of years back.”

“I see you stuck with the same line Marcus. It was a good line.”

Marcus’ green eyes flared and if I didn’t know any better, I would have said that he was mad at me. I don’t know what I did wrong. The tension in his jaw was prominent and I could see the jump as he clenched his teeth together.

“Yeah it worked well in getting those panties to drop, didn’t it?”

My face turned red at the reminder and I groaned inwardly. I should have just let it go. I could have gone weeks, months even without seeing the neighbor up close and having this conversation with a ghost. My propriety had made me come over here and I was cursing what I now started to see as a character flaw.

“Yes it did. I was young and not very bright back then.”

He chuckled and I felt his eyes on my body. He was looking me up and down from my head to my toes and even though I shouldn’t, I really wanted him to like what he saw. I certainly did. The years had been kind to him and he was even more handsome now that he was a man. Attraction had never been the problem with us. It had been the big stuff that had ruined it all.

“I see you still have your claws. I always liked that side of you.”

“Yeah? I seem to remember you hated that side of me Marcus. But time has a way of making us remember things a little differently, doesn’t it?”

“No, I remember everything just the way it was. Damn it has been a long time Angela.”

I wanted to get away from the nostalgia talk. I asked him about his bike and what he was doing to it. Machines had always been his hobby and if it happened to go fast, well it was all the better for it. I missed the slight smell of grease when I would kiss him after working on something. Back then it was an old Chevelle that he worked on more than he drove. He loved that car and I still could see the baby blue paint in my mind.

“What about the Chevelle? You still have it?”

It was the first car that we made love when we were dating. He was my first and was my only for several years. I had some very fond memories in that car and I would have loved to see it again.

“Not here, but it is around.”

“That was a great car Marcus.”

“Yeah it was.” He had this faraway look in his eyes when he looked my way. It was like he was seeing me, but not really seeing me. What was going on in that head of his?

“It is good to see you again Marcus, but I got a few errands to run.”

“Where is your car?”

“I don’t really drive and since I moved back here I didn’t think I would need it, so I sold it before I came.” After a bad breakup, I had to sell the car to get home, but that wasn’t information that I was going to offer up. He didn’t know about that. I wanted Marcus to think that everything was okay. He didn’t need to know anything more than the basics. I can’t get roped up with a man like him again. It almost broke me last time.

“If you ever need anything Angela, don’t hesitate to ask. We are neighbors now and I would like to catch up one day soon.”

I agreed that I would and we should, but I walked back across the street knowing that we can’t. I can’t get involved with him again. I barely made it out of it the first time and it had always been impossible to say no to Marcus.