"Happy Endings" Part 2

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

[glow=red,2,300]“My love’s a melody/Come sing along with me”
—Mary J. Blige: When I’m With You
[/glow]

Shalena was lying across her bed in her room listening to the radio while waiting to see what big surprise announcement the DJ would be sharing with all of the listeners in the area. She was hoping that he would be having a contest of some sort to win Mary J. concert tickets since they would be going on sale the next morning.

While waiting for the news, Shalena thought back to earlier in the day for it had been quite an experience for her. After almost two months of hanging out with Tariq when visiting Janette down in Brooklyn, Shalena had become very comfortable being around him although she let him know up front that she wasn’t looking for a relationship. He told her that he was cool with that. But in the back of his mind, he was hoping that their platonic relationship would grow into something more, eventually.

Anyway, Shalena felt safe in sharing her pain about what she had done regarding her pregnancy with Tariq. This was something she hadn’t shared with her family although she really wanted to. Tariq told her that if her family loved her the way she told him they did, then they wouldn’t turn their backs on her but would instead continue to give her the support she would need. And they did just that.

Earlier in the day after church service, Shalena asked her parents to join her and their pastor, who was also her uncle on her father’s side, in his study. Though it was hard for her to tell her family what she had done, she was relieved to know that they all forgave her and didn’t hold it against her. Her uncle also told her that he would hold prayer and counseling sessions with her in private to help her get over the hurt, anger, and depression that she was feeling stemming from her terrible mistake. However, at first, Shalena noticed that her father was upset, but he put his feelings aside and told her that he’d always be there for her.

She couldn’t help from smiling while thinking about how right Tariq was about the situation. However, her favorite radio station’s announcer’s voice boomed throughout her bedroom causing her to sit up in the middle of the bed.

“This is DJ Spin-That-Joint J.T. of Hot 105 WBLS, home of the smooth jams and classic joints. We’re back from our break and like I promised my loyal listeners…I have a crazy surprise for yall! On the phone with me right now is the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul…MARY…J….BLIIIIIIGE!!! W’sup, Mama?”

Shalena put her hands up to her mouth out of pure bliss and disbelief. She immediately grabbed her cordless phone from her nightstand to call Janette up to see if she was listening.

“Hey, w’sup. I’m blessed. How ya been since the last time we talked?”, Mary happily replied.

“I’ve been good. Just sittin’ here waitin’ on the tickets for your show at Madison Square Garden to go on sale tomorrow!”, the DJ grinned. “I know you gonna bring the hotness like you have always done!”

“Thank you.”, Mary chuckled. “It’s gonna feel so good to be performin’ for my peoples. This is home and the love I receive from yall always feels great!”

“That’s what I’m sayin’! So tell me about this new single that I’m gonna world premiere for our listeners in just a minute.”, the DJ stated.

While Mary gave him some information about her latest single, Shalena was talking a mile a minute about how she was going to finally be able to buy the tickets on tomorrow for her and Janette to attend the show.

“Girl, you are so crazy!!! Nah…you don’t EVA need to meet Mary! You’ll scare the poor woman to death with yo’ silly @$$!”, Janette laughed with a shake of her head.

“I know how to act civilized, turkey!”, Shalena chuckled. Just then she heard the intro of Mary’s “It’s A Wrap” playing. “Oh snap! I LOVE that song! Mary tells it like it T.I. ‘TIS on this one!”

“I know right! That joint is hot!”, Janette smiled. “So you haven’t forgotten about my party have ya?”

“Of course not, girl! I’d neva forget my friend’s burfday! Tariq said he’s gonna come pick me up to bring me down for it next weekend. By the way, how’s Calvin doin’?”, Shalena asked.

“He’s aight with his foolish self! That boy keeps me crackin’ up with the silly things he does for me. I can’t wait to see what he’s gonna do for my birthday!”, Janette giggled.

“Awwwwwww…two foolish peeps that are made for each otha! Now that’s burtiful!”, Shalena joked.

“Whateva! And speak of the devil, he juss beeped in. I’ma call ya back in a lil’ bit.”, Janette chuckled before ending their call.

“…Because you’re busted/And I might as well go on/Boy it’s gonna take a long time/To make this a happy home/You know it’s a wrap yeah/Why you go and do me like that/I thought the love was good/But I misunderstood baby/It’s a wrap/And I am not surprised/How you could sit right here/And look me in my eyes/And tell a lie/Heard you callin’ her name/In your sleep last night…”, Shalena loudly sang after grabbing her remote and turning her stereo up a bit.

Her mother, Denise, happened to be walking past her closed bedroom door to head downstairs to check on some laundry when she heard the loud music playing. She knocked while slowly opening Shalena’s door. She began to laugh and shake her head while watching her “baby” doing the wop while sitting in the middle of the bed. Her arms were going all over the place as she clapped her hands over her head.

“Is that momma’s song I hear?”, her mother laughed as she came strutting in the room to join Shalena. This was her mother’s only other favorite song by Mary. Her first was Mary’s remake of “I’m Goin’ Down”.

“Yup! C’mon, ma!”, Shalena giggled as she scampered off the bed to join her mother on the floor to dance. They started off by doing the bump although her mother broke out with some ol’ school moves going back to the camel walk and the mashed potato followed up by her impersonation of Tina Turner rolling on the river. Shalena fell to her knees while laughing uncontrollably at her mother. Neither one had heard the phone
ringing.

“Heyyyyyyyyyy!!! Could yall stop your two-women ‘Soul Train Line’ for a minute?!”, Marvin laughed with a shake of his head while watching his wife and daughter. “Lena has a call.” He proceeded to hold up the cordless phone from the den in his hand.

“Thanks, Daddy!”, Shalena breathlessly giggled as she walked over to her bed to pick up her phone. Her mother waved goodbye to her and went out of the room with Marvin.

“Hello?”, Shalena asked while turning her stereo down enough so she could still hear some of Mary’s interview.

“W’sup. What’s this I hear about you bein’ part of a ‘Soul Train Line’?”, Tariq chuckled.

Shalena began to blush and giggle. “Oh nothin’. Daddy was juss bein’ silly ‘cause me and Momma were in here jammin’ to Mary on the radio.”

“Oh yeah. I’m listenin’ to it now. But guess what?!”, he grinned.

“What?”, Shalena asked with a smile.

“You don’t have to stand on line tomorrow to buy your tickets for her show. I already have four front-row seats for us and Janette and Calvin!”, he jokingly yelled.

“You whattttttttttt?!!! Oh my God! How did you do that?!”, she shrieked while holding her hand over her chest. She felt like her heart was about to jump out of its ribcage from the excitement she was feeling.

“Ummm…let’s just say that I got it like that.”, he seductively chuckled into the receiver. Truth of the matter was that he was a close friend of Mary’s cousin, and after having the opportunity to chat with Mary a few times in the past, the two of them had become good friends. However, he chose to keep that part of his life a secret from Shalena until he felt the time was right. Besides, in the past when he ran across females that knew he was included in Mary’s circle of friends, they only stayed interested in him long enough to try to meet Mary or any of his celebrity acquaintances that he had met through her.

“Indeed you do have it like that! How can I ever repay you?!”, Shalena smiled as she laid back on her bed. Under her assumption, she was thinking that he may have received the tickets due to him being an A & R Rep for Calvin’s uncle’s independent record label named Sounds of Platinum.

“Hmmmm…lemme get back to ya on that one. I wanna make sure that it’s somethin’ incredible!”, he teased.

“ANYWAYYYYY!”, Shalena giggled with a roll of her eyes. However, the mere thought of Tariq in all of his chocolate-covered glory sent shivers down her spine. She quickly changed the subject.

“Now I have a ‘guess what’.”, she smiled.

“What?”, he asked with a bit of amusement.

“I took your advice and came clean with my family about what I had done. And juss like you said, they didn’t hold it against me. I’m lucky to have them and to have you…as my friend.”, she quickly replied.

“Didn’t I tell ya they would understand?”, he smiled.

“Yup!”, she stated with a nod of her head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Sweet Meat aka CC]

Within a month’s period of time, everything seemed to be falling into place for Shalena. She had moved into her own place a few miles away from her family, she landed a job that she had been hoping for which was in the school system as a social worker, and being around Tariq completely erased her memories of DaShawn once and for all.

To celebrate her blessings, she invited Tariq, Janette, and Calvin to her new place for a get-together several days after moving in. Speaking of Calvin and Janette, they had made their relationship official and Janette couldn’t be happier.

“So Miss Thang…you and sexual chocolate have been hangin’ tight for quite some time now. So w’sup with you two?”, Janette slyly grinned as she and Shalena sat on the porch swing out front. The guys decided to stay inside to watch a wrestling match.

“Well, I like him a lot. But…”, Shalena began before becoming quiet.

“But what?”, Janette demanded to know with a shrug of her shoulders while looking at Shalena with a puzzled look.

“I don’t want to open up my heart so quickly. That’s what got me into trouble with Shawn. I can’t go down that road again.”, Shalena sighed with a shake of her head while watching a car drive down the street.

“Awwww…I undastand how ya feel, but that’s no reason to give up on a good thing. Yeah, Shawn was and still is an @$$hole, but don’t let that keep you from the happiness you deserve.”, Janette smiled as she patted Shalena’s hands that were resting on her lap.

“Thanks, girl.”, Shalena bashfully smiled while glancing at her.

Several hours later after Janette and Calvin left, Tariq decided to hang out with Shalena a little longer so they could have some time alone. When he was around her, they shared one laugh after another and also shared interesting topics of conversation.

However, while Shalena was in the kitchen putting the last of some dishes in the dishwasher, Tariq decided to play her acoustic guitar that she had in the corner of her living room. She usually kept it in her bedroom, but she still wasn’t quite finished with unpacking some of her things. Anyway, her father had given it to her as a present on her 16th birthday. She had begged her parents to let her take guitar lessons so she could be like Wendy in Prince’s Revolution Band. But that didn’t last too long because she soon lost interest in the lessons although she could play a few chords by ear. Shalena decided that she would leave the guitar playing to her father who was pretty talented when it came to him playing it.

“That’s pretty good! I didn’t know you could play.”, she smiled when she came back into the living room to join him.

“Thanks. I didn’t know you owned one of these though. Why don’tcha show me what’cha got?”, he challenged her with a sly grin.

“Man, please! After takin’ a few lessons, I realized that I suck at it!”, she giggled with a shake of her head as she headed in his direction. She proceeded to sit down next to him on the floor.

“Awww, c’mon…pleeeeease!!!”, he jokingly whined while lying his head on her shoulder.

“Okay, but don’t laugh or I’ll crack this thing over your head!”, she laughed as she took the instrument from him.

Tariq sat in amazement as she began to strum a few chords of Syleena Johnson’s “Guitars of the Heart (Happy)” that her father had taught her to play on his guitar while she had been staying with them. Besides listening to Mary J. on a constant basis, she loved to play this song lately because it reminded her of Tariq although she never shared this with anyone.

By this time, she was so caught up in the song while playing and humming it that she forgot that he was sitting next to her. However, when she realized it, she immediately stopped playing.

“My bad! Forgot where I was.”, she bashfully smiled as she laid the guitar across her lap.

“Nah, you shoulda kept goin’. That was tight. Your playin’ sounds aight to me.”, he smiled while staring into her eyes.

“Thanks, but we both know it could be a whooooooooole lot betta.”, she chuckled while holding her head downward. She wanted to tell him more than that. She wanted to let him know just how he made her feel. But she was too embarrassed to do so.

The room was filled with silence although she felt him moving closer to her. The next thing she knew, they were sharing a kiss after he lifted her chin up with his finger.

“That was nice.”, she bashfully giggled when it was over.

“Yeah, it was.”, he smiled. He proceeded to close his eyes, lean forward, and share another one with her. Afterwards, he began to speak while removing the guitar from her lap and pulling her into his arms.

“The last few months that we’ve been hangin’ out together have been coo’.”, he stated.

“I know right. I thank you for bein’ there for me. You’ve helped me out a lot with the situations I’ve been dealin’ with.”, she whispered while lying her head on his shoulder.

“I love you, Lena.”, he whispered as he tightened his embrace around her.

She began to smile although she didn’t say anything at first. Instead, she snuggled up closer to him.

“Lena?”, he replied with a bit of anxiety in his tone.

She slowly lifted her head up to look into his eyes. “I love you too.”

Needless to stay, he stayed overnight with her and they continued to talk until they fell asleep in each other’s arms on the throw blanket from her armchair and a few throw pillows from the sofa.

[glow=blue,2,300]*Part 3 Comin' Soon[/glow]