“Bye, Les,” I said while trying not to sound too eager for her to leave. When she stepped out onto the porch, she glared at me one last time and then turned to walk toward Terrence’s car with AJ a few yards behind her.
As soon as I closed the door behind them, I grabbed my phone from the pocket of my hoodie and dialed AJ’s number. He answered quickly and agreed when I asked him just to circle the block a couple times and then come back. Two minutes later he returned with a huge smile on his face, and I didn’t even fully let him inside before I started kissing him.
“Aren’t your parents coming back soon?” he asked.
I hadn’t really considered that. “Hold that thought.”
I quickly concocted a simple plan to find out how long it would be before they returned home without making them suspicious. I walked over to the end table, picked up the house phone and dialed my mom’s cell.
“Hello?” She answered.
“Hey, Mom. Can you guys bring me something to eat on your way home? I’m hungry.”
“We’ll be here probably another couple hours, so just find something in the kitchen,” she replied.
“Fine,” I sighed insincerely. “See you when you get back.”
I hung up the phone and smiled at AJ. “Looks like we have a while.”
“I’m impressed,” he replied smiling back at me.
I assumed my original position with my arms around his neck and my lips on his. There was nothing holding me back now and I allowed myself to get lost in him. Nothing was going to spoil this moment. I ran my hands through his hair as I’d dreamed of doing so many times before. The kiss intensified and we’d somehow ended up back on the couch where things started getting pretty serious……when the doorbell rang. I pulled away from him and looked into his eyes again. I had a bad feeling…….
I walked slowly toward the door, making sure that my clothes and hair were in order before I opened it. I was right…..this was bad.
“Hey,” I said as calmly as possible.
“Hey,” Antonio replied.
How was I going to explain to him that Leslie was gone and AJ and I were now here alone? He’d already seen AJ’s car outside and I couldn’t lie and say Leslie hadn’t left. He could easily find out that I was lying from Terrence who had just picked Leslie up. I was stuck.
Antonio brushed past me without waiting for an invitation and I could see that he was immediately curious about Leslie’s whereabouts. I put my head down and waited for the questions to start coming.
“Where’s Leslie?” He asked coldly.
My voice was shaky when I replied, “She left a little while ago.”
“Are your parents back?” was his next question.
“No,” I said in a low voice with my eyes still glued to the floor.
AJ was still seated in the living room with his back to Antonio and me. He rested his head on the back of the couch, seemingly at ease although I knew that he could hear us clearly. Antonio exhaled loudly and I saw him tense up. His jaw was clenched and now his eyes were fixed on AJ. It shocked me when Antonio addressed him. “Then what you still doin’ here?”
AJ responded without moving or turning around. “I’m not the one you should be asking.” My heart wasn’t in my stomach…..it was in my toes. This was not happening.
“What did this fool just say to me?” Antonio’s deep voice seemed to shake the house.
“Antonio, wait!” I shouted as he started toward AJ.
My attempt was futile because my strength was no match to his. He pushed past me effortlessly and got right in AJ’s face and I could’ve fainted. I grabbed at his arms trying to hold him back as tears began to stream down my face uncontrollably. I exerted every ounce of strength I had and he didn’t budge an inch. It was inconceivable to me that AJ didn’t even flinch a little at Antonio’s fury. But after letting him run off at the mouth for a few seconds, AJ had all that he could stand. He rose up from the couch and drew back his fist.