I continued shaking my head. “No, KK. We just ended things a week ago. He dropped me off at home and just broke things off for no—” I could go no further or else I’d cry.
I was so confused as to the cause of him ending our friendship. When I thought it was for another woman, I learned I was wrong. Two days after he dropped me off, I went to Stenton’s Facebook profile and saw that he had set it to a picture of me in Cayman the morning after our tattoo excursion. It was taken from behind me. I was naked with just a loose sheet covering my bare breasts, but not my back. My hair was a messy display against my back and shoulders. My posterior was exposed all the way down to the top of my cheeks, revealing such intimacy between Stenton and the woman in the picture. Me.
The caption underneath read: The moment you meet your perception of perfection is the moment you’ll never be the same. I didn’t understand the meaning of that as it pertained to me. The picture got over four thousand likes on his personal page where he had as many friends. How he was able to keep that account from the general public, I didn’t know, especially because he didn’t go through lengths to hide his identity. His friends knew who he was. Stenton didn’t post this intimate picture of me to his fan page where he had millions of followers.
I didn’t know he’d taken the picture, but remembered feeling so full and freshly conceptualized about my life after getting inked with him. I looked down at my ring finger covered with a plain wide metal band so that I didn’t have to explain it to my parents yet. Couldn’t deal with that and a broken heart. It also wasn’t something I was prepared to share with Karen. But I couldn’t help but wonder when he’d posted the picture. That led me to question when he planned on breaking up with me in relation to posting it. I didn’t know how long it had been there.
“Well, sometimes they can splurge on their lovers. I mean, it’s really no inconvenience; you’re staying in the same room. I mean, really. He’s just a jerk, Zo.”
Still shaking my head, I shared, “I’ve been to two of his homes. He bought me a brand new BMW.”
“Is it outside?” In a millisecond, she leaped to her feet and faced the door.
I shook my head.
“Did that punk take it back?”
“No. It’s parked at my school where I don’t have to worry about anyone bothering it or my parents finding out.”
“Oh! So, this was serious!” she mused as she took her seat.
Again, I nodded.
There was a long pause, I’m sure Karen was trying to process the gamut of information I’d just laid on her. I was still fighting to make sense of it now that I’d spoken it out loud. Then Karen shot from her seat and headed out of the room.
“You cannot whisper a word to Ang, Karen!”
Karen halted in her tracks. “Are you kidding me?” She gave me a sharp gaze. “I’m about to feed those limbs of yours so we can restore your energy for prayer.”
“Been there, done that,” I mumbled.
“When two are gathered in my name, Zo! You know the scripture. You gonna need a backup warrior to deal with that Angela. Until then, my lips are sealed…outside of touching and agreeing with you.”
In that moment, I couldn’t say I felt better, but I did feel like the load was light after having shared it with someone who loved and respected me.
~~~~~~~~~~
July 2007
“Ohhhh! We so killed it tonight!” Bernard bellowed as he jumped out of the door, at the rear of the church. “Come Sunday morning, folks are going to be dropping to the floor to get their deliverances. Gloraaay!”