Chapter 10
A few days later Pauline was at the clothing store where she worked. She was busy putting clothes on hangers when someone behind her cleared his throat. As she turned around to face him, she was met by that annoyingly handsome lecturer of a man. She suddenly felt drained of her energy, and she did not bother to hide the fact that she was not particularly happy to see him. "Mr. Wyatt," she said flatly.
He snorted. "New kid, you work here now?" he asked in his usual cocky tone, arching his brow.
"How can I help you, Sir?" Pauline asked, totally ignoring his question.
He smiled down at her as he studied her face. "First of all, it's Kev. Outside the confines of the university, it's Kev, not Mr. Wyatt." He screwed his mouth up a little before holding some pants up and saying, "I want to try these on. Where's the changing room?"
"Follow me," she replied, as she led him towards the back of the store. Pointing at the room, she said in a totally bored manner, "There you go."
He walked into the small space and drew the curtain. She had moved a few feet away to lean against a clothes rack and to give him his privacy. Store policy was that an employee must hang around a changing room if there's someone inside. Pauline couldn't understand why that was necessary. I mean really, if someone 's gonna steal something, they'll steal, the alarm will go off, and we'll bust 'em, she thought.
"What do you think?" Mr. Wyatt's deep voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned around, but she was not ready for what she saw. He was wearing a navy blue pair of perfectly fitting jeans. However, that was not what had stunned her. He had pulled his shirt up to mid torso, so that he could reveal the waist of the jeans. He probably didn't mean to flaunt his perfectly chiseled abs, or maybe he did. Either way, Pauline was speechless as she stared at his chocolate brown body. "It can't be that bad," he said, slightly hurt as he looked down at himself when she did not respond.
"No…I mean…" she gulped, "…the pants look great on you," she said as she tried to look everywhere but at him. He, for the first time, gave her a genuine smile as he nodded. He drew the curtain again and changed into a different pair of pants. The next time he drew open the curtain, she was ready for him. He looked at her expectantly. "Hmm, you'll need a smaller size," she said as she walked up to him, holding the cargo pants at the waist as she tried to gauge the right size. "Yep, one size smaller," she said as she turned, preparing to head to the rack to get him another pair of pants.
She had barely taken two steps before Mr. Wyatt grabbed her hand and pulled her into the changing room. "What the…" she said as he quickly drew the curtain and pinned her against the wall. All this was done in such a fluid motion that Pauline had barely realized what was going on before he had crushed his lips to hers. For a few moments, her eyes were wide open before she shut them as she reciprocated his kiss. When he felt her threads of resistance die out, he freed her arms of his grasp so that he could slowly run his hand up and down her side while the other held her head up to him. She wrapped one arm around his neck while laying her other hand on his chest. The kiss, Pauline had to admit, was wonderful. Her temperature began to rise, and then he slowly withdrew from the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. They remained quiet, save for their heavy breathing. She clung to his shirt as she caught her breath, while he laid a flat palm against the wall beside her heat-radiating body.
"This is so wrong," Pauline finally said. "It's wrong on so many levels." She gently pushed him away by the chest. "You don't even know my name," she added quietly.
Mr. Wyatt brought his hand to her face, and set it under her chin to raise her head. He looked at her intensely and said in an uncharacteristicly gentle tone , "Pauline. Your name is Pauline."
He elicited a sigh from her before she walked out of the changing room, looking a bit disheveled. When he had changed back into his trousers, he came out carrying the ones he had tried on in his arms. "Um…so, how much are these?" he asked her as she stood near a rack looking at the ceiling.
"They're free," her voice quavered as she waved her hand, dismissing him. He let out a little laugh as he walked to the counter, deciding that he wanted the slightly larger pair of cargo pants after all.
xxx
Mrs. Lincoln and Jamie arrived at their newly rented furnished apartment late in the evening. The building was in a nice neighbourhood, which simply added to the high rent she had paid for the house. This was one of the few times she was truly glad to have had a trust fund. She was an independent woman, and in this situation, having the extra cash just sitting around in the bank worked in her favour. She would have preferred to go home, but the tenants renting her house, their house, had a notice to move out in another five months. She couldn't just kick them out.
Jamie dropped his bags in one of the rooms and then came for his mom's suitcase which he pulled into the master bedroom. He then went to the living room and turned on the TV. He dropped himself on the couch and hang his leg over the armrest as he flipped through the channels with the remote. Finally, he found Cartoon Network, thus quitting the channel surfing. "Mama, what are we gonna have for dinner?" he asked as he tried to repress a yawn.
"It will have to be take-out, dear, till I can go shopping tomorrow. Is Chinese ok?"
"Sure, Ma," he replied. He actually wanted pizza, but since she had suggested Chinese, he figured it's what she wanted. It was all he could do to make her happy. It's not much, but at least she can eat what she wants, he thought. Jamie just wanted to punch somebody real bad. He could still hear the sadness in his mom's voice no matter how hard she tried to hide it. He then flipped channels again till he found a movie with Julia Roberts in it. "Mama, come and sit. I think you'll like this."
She came wearily around the couch and sat, smiling at her son as she touched a soft hand to his face. "Thank you, baby," she said as she carefully kicked off her shoes. She had noticed how hard he had tried to make things better for her ever since the fight. He laid his head in her lap as he tried to get comfortable. She picked up the directory that was on the stool next to her as she looked for the contact of a Chinese restaurant. She then picked the phone off the receiver and dialed the number. As she waited for her call to be answered, she made a mental note to let Abby and Cree know that she was back in the States. She also needed to enroll Jamie in a school. She sighed. Tomorrow...tomorrow is another day. I'll deal all with this stuff then.
xxx
The following evening Kuki had practically dragged Abby and Pauline down to the coffee shop. She had insisted that they get there in good time to catch the performances of Hoagie's band. As they walked into the shop, Pauline gasped. "Whoa, this is a coffee shop? It's more like coffee mall," she said with a little laugh.
"It is pretty big," Abby seconded. "I guess it's why they have decided to hire a band. They've got the space anyway."
"Yeah," Kuki said. "Plus the band is pretty popular with people around here. They only perform for an hour, but this place gets packed in the evenings coz of them." She spotted an empty table at the front of the shop. "There," she pointed, "Go sit there and I'll get us something to drink and snack on."
"Oh, you're buyin'? Yay," Abby said as she clapped happily.
Kuki snorted, "You wish. You're paying me back, both of you," she said as Pauline turned away and had begun to whistle in an attempt to remove herself from that conversation.
The group of three had been at the coffee shop for about fifteen minutes before the band was ready to begin their performance. Kuki had pointed out each member and what they play while they were setting up their equipment, connecting wires, doing microphone checks and whatnot. But by the time they were done, the shop was packed. There was a hum of voices and laughter as friends were catching up on various issues. The crowd was silenced when Yvonne on drums hit the cymbal a few times with her drumsticks.
The lights all round were dimmed except for those on the stage. Chad adjusted the height of the microphone stand before he spoke with a smile on his face. "Hey everybody. How y'all doing?" There was a chorus of "We're fine!" from the crowd. "Great, I see it's a full house," Chad responded. "As usual, The mOholos are glad you're here. We're nothing without you, so, thanks for coming." There were cheers and applause from the fans.
Once there was silence again, the band began to play. Chad, on electric guitar began the performance before being joined by Hoagie on acoustic. Yvonne began to sing Cold feet by Tracy Chapman, and was given vocal support by the others whenever necessary. "My God, they're good," Abby said as her two friends nodded in agreement. The band performed a number of other songs, and Abby noticed that they did not play their own songs, but rather renditions of other songs. Considering that they pulled crowds into the coffee shop every week was testament to their talent.
After several performances, Hoagie removed his mic from the stand as he spoke, "I know we always end the evening with one of your requests, but today we're gonna switch things up a little bit." He was looking a wee bit shy, Abby noticed. She smiled at him in encouragement, and he smiled back. He was walking around on stage as he continued, "We've just played your request, and now I'm gonna be a little bit selfish and play my request. I had to beg these guys to help me out," he said as he pointed his thumb backwards at his band. This got the crowd laughing. "And you know we always do renditions, but this time I wanna perform the song as Jason Mraz performed it on AOL Music Sessions." He then looked straight at Abby as he added, "This is for you, babe."
He went back to his stool, put the mic back on the stand and picked up his guitar. He lowered the mic stand to his level, and adjusted the other one to the level of his guitar. He looked around at his band mates to assess their readiness. They all nodded, and Hoagie began strumming. He then sang in what Abby, from that day henceforth, was convinced was the most beautiful voice she had ever heard. His vocals were silky smooth:
Well you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks, and now I'm trying to get back
Before the cool done run out I'll be giving it my bestest
And nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some
But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm yours
(Chad joined in on electric, Nathan on the keyboard and Yvonne on the drums, while the crowd snapped its fingers in rhythm with the beat)
Well open up your minds and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
A look into your heart and you'll find
(The band members harmonized their vocals with Hoagie as they sang the next line)
Love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment
People dance and sing, we're just one big family
And it's our God forsaken right to be
(Again, the band harmonized its vocals with the lead singer)
Love love love love loved
So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate
I'm yours
(Instruments were played at this point; no vocals in preparation for the bridge)
Well I've been spending way too long
Checking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
So I drew a new face and laughed
I guess what I'll be saying is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanity and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do
Our name is our virtue
(No instruments, just vocals in harmony)
But I won't hesistate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm sure
There's no need to complicate our time is short
This is our fate
I'm yours
(The instruments were back)
Open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
A look into your heart and you'll find the sky is yours
So please don't, please don't, please don't
There's no need to complicate
Coz our time is short
And this, well this, well this is our fate
The band members harmonized the final line of the song.
I'm yours
Hoagie ended the performance as the last member of the band on his instrument. No sooner had the stage gone quiet than the whole coffee shop erupted in cheers, whistles, and gave the band a standing ovation. Abby, who had been mouthing the words to the song quickly went up the stage and gave Hoagie the greatest hug she had ever given anyone before she gave him the sweetest kiss he had ever had in his life. The crowd wolf whistled, but the couple had none of those sounds as they were lost in their own world. When they finally came back to the land of the living, Hoagie introduced Abby to his band, and she gave them all warm hugs as she thanked them for helping her boyfriend out with the song. Meanwhile, Hoagie had gone to thank Kuki for getting Abby to arrive in time for the performance.
xxx
A/N:
The chapter was longer than initially intended. My apologies, but thanks for working hard and going all the way to the end. I guess I got a little carried away with the song, but I felt I needed to write it all so I could explain how the performance was. Sorry. The bits in bold are where the band harmonized its vocals.
And of course, the song belongs to Jason Mraz – I'm just a fan. Aaand, sorry if I wrote my own random lyrics.
Also, I've just realized I've been in a mushy mood of late; lots of love going around, eh?