“Do you like it, Lay? Be honest” I self-consciously smoothed down the back of my new hairdo and looked at my best friend for approval. She dramatically grinned and put her heart over her chest.

“That tells me absolutely nothing. Does it look bad or not?”

“Terri…wow. And to think you couldn’t look any younger…” Laila finally said. We were sitting down in one of the many celebrity hairstylists’ salons in downtown Los Angeles. The idea of recreating my look sprang into my mind right after I visited my parents a couple of months back. When my mother hugged me and said that it was a new beginning, I took it to the heart. I decided that I’ve spent way too long waking up feeling empty and like complete and utter shit. Daniel had a little something to do with it as well. He saw something in me that not even my best friend could see. He saw hope. He knew that I was capable of change and it melted a portion of my heart to see how damn persistent he could be.

“Are you ready to see yourself, Terri?” the stylist asked. I sighed in preparation and nodded my head. She twirled my chair around so that I was facing the large mirror. A brief sensation of nostalgia swept through my soul. Somehow, perhaps by the grace of God and outstanding genetics, I looked very similar to my twenty-two year old self. With an exception of the incoming crow’s feet. Thank the lord those things were fading due to that miracle cream I began implementing into my daily beauty regimen. My hair was cut perfectly into a Halle Berry-style pixie cut. Instead of having all of the hair laid flat this time, I requested for the front ends to be spiked up a bit.

A certain glow radiated off of my smooth brown skin. Something I haven’t seen in years. And in that moment, I found myself to be quite beautiful. Beautiful in the sense of my soul feeling clean and free from all of the harmful debris I hoarded into it. I felt like a brand new person. “Well, how do you like it?”

“I love it. Thank you so much, Crystal.”

The coffee colored stylist gave me a dimpled smile, happy that yet another customer enjoyed what she did for them. I dug into my fashionably spiked clutch bag, fished out my debit card and handed it over to her. Seconds after she walked away, I got back to checking myself out in the mirror.

“Next time you visit your parents, make sure you thank them for the gift of eternal youth. I’m so jealous!” Laila shouted, still flabbergasted at my new appearance. “You should also thank your new boy toy for getting you on the right track. It’s obvious that he’s smitten with you.”

“I find that hard to believe…also, please never say that again. The phrase ‘boy toy’ makes me want to vomit.”

Laila giggled and wrapped her arms around my shoulders from behind, gazing at me through the mirror. “I’m totally going to use this ‘new you’ to my advantage. Maybe you’ll become even more open with me. I have so many questions to ask you.”

“I’m still the same person, Laila. I just have a different outlook on life.”

“Sounds new to me” she teased.

I swatted at her with a playfully annoyed face and missed. She laughed so loud everyone in the shop turned to look at her. Her laugh, the kind that she couldn’t help but to burst out loud with, was a cross between a dying seagull and a donkey. She knew it was outrageous, but Laila gave no fucks.

On the way back into town after the haircut, we decided to go shopping. Since the both of us were shopaholics and no one was there to stop us, we spent well over what we planned on spending. As usual, we felt deep regret. But that only lasted for a few seconds.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as I walked past Victoria’s Secret. An unusual sensation took over me. It was like the damn store was calling my name. Images of Daniel began popping up in my head. Continuous flashes of his sexy little face welcomingly swam through it. Laila slang her right arm around my shoulders and gave me an endearing look.

“I’m so proud of you, Ter”

“Oh shut the hell up. I’m not going in that place.”

“So why are we mindlessly staring inside then?”

“Because…well, because-“ I began stumbling over my words, basically giving it away that I was at a lost for words and had no real explanation.

“Exactly. C’mon. Let’s find you something!” Laila grabbed me by the arm and practically yanked me inside the lingerie store. The good thing about Victoria’s Secret is that since it’s such a popular store, it’s not too embarrassing to look for something sexy. Laila started on one side of the store and I started on the other, working our way in. We finally met thirty minutes later, I had a black teddy grasped in my left hand and Laila had every other type of lingerie in hers. I scoffed at her and disapprovingly shook my head.

“Yeah…this makes everything so much easier-“ I began to say in a sarcastic tone but was soon cut off by the last voice I thought I’d ever hear again.

“Terri?” a deep familiar voice called out. I crinkled my brows together, silently praying that the voice did not match to who I thought it was. There were few people who acknowledged me outside of work and even they called me “Miss Lawson”.

“Terri?” the man repeated. Brooding brown eyes met mines when I turned around and lifted my head. Laila gasped as the thin-laced material fell out of my hands and unto the floor. She immediately bent down to pick it up for me. I took that as a chance to react.

“Oh my god…” I finally whispered out. He took a step closer to me and I stepped back, pressing my spine into the fragrance counter. For a second, I thought I was going to knock everything down but of course Laila came to my rescue. My eyes remained shocked as he glared down at me.

“You guys know each other?” she asked while looking between the two of us. Almost immediately, I shook my head.

Jerome smirked and frowned. “Of course we do, Terri! C’mon don’t lie to the sweet girl.”

My body began to activate into panic mode. I started to sweat, tears sprang into my eyes, my legs began trembling, and I felt the need to throw up. All because I thought I let go of that past. Jerome stood there with confidence. With his beige trench coat and khakis on, I made an assumption that he finally found a sucker to settle down with. Either that or he got himself a decent job. He sure did look the exact same as when I left him a few years back. The only notable difference was that he grew his hair out and kept it cut short and lined up. He also has a goatee going on. I felt so overwhelmed with his presence because although I didn’t want to make a scene, all I wanted to do was slap the hell out of his ass. I never got my chance to do it back in the day.

Before I could act out of anger, I grunted and grabbed Laila by the arm, making her drop the fancy items into the closest bin. “We have to get out of here before I lose my mind,”

“What-“ she started to ask but I cut her off and started dragging her towards the exit. “What’s going on? Who’s that man??”

“You really haven’t changed. Have you?!” Jerome bellowed out as he followed us out of the store. I continued to ignore him and hastily walked towards the escalator.

“Let bygones be bygones, girl. How long ago was that, huh? Nearly twenty years! Are you really going to ignore me?!” His voice grew louder with each sentence.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face him. In the calmest voice I could muster up, I clenched my teeth and said, “If you do not leave me alone, I will destroy you. I will find out everything I can about you and destroy you. Do you hear me?”

He gulped and chased his sudden fear with an arrogant smirk. “When did you get it in your head that this ‘new you’ frightens me?”

“Lay, can you excuse us for a second? Please?” I asked almost desperately.

She nodded her head with a look full of skeptic splashed across her face and sat down on the nearest bench. I looked up at Jerome, lips quivering. It pained me inside to feel such horrid emotions towards him. Before I could croak my first sentence of hatred out, he put his large index finger across my lips, silencing me. Not being here for his bullshit, I reached up to slap his hand away but he caught it with his free hand. I stood there in awe. Eyes wide.

“Act like you’re engaging in a friendly conversation with me or your cute little friend will be in for a surprise” he said with a sick smile.

My eyes at the moment felt like they couldn’t possibly get any wider but they did. What was he saying? Was he threating me? This was the first time in a long time that I was actually scared of someone. Out of all the threats I’ve received from people, this one definitely felt like something genuine. I glanced over at Laila’s naïve looking ass and she looked at me like she was thoroughly confused. If Jerome ever did anything to hurt my one and only friend, I would go through hell and high waters to destroy him. Physically and emotionally. 

“Are you threatening me?” I exclaimed through his finger.

Jerome slowly slid his finger away from my lips, grabbed me by the waist, and snatched me into a tight hug. He pulled me closer as I struggled away from him. “Yes. That was a threat. I’ll make this quick. You go out on a date with me tonight and no one has to suffer. Especially that little shit you call a boyfriend. Ha. And to be quite frank, I thought you went for the older guys, such as myself” he huskily whispered into my ear.

I struggled more, deeply confused by his brash actions. Was he serious? How the hell did he know about Daniel? Shit, how did he know anything about my life? Did he somehow become a stalker over all those years?

Attempting to be discreet, I cautiously pulled my phone out of my pocket and started to text Daniel to warn him. Jerome reached behind him and quickly stole the phone from out of my grasp. “Don’t try it. I have people watching you and your friends. Say one word about this and you, as well as them, will face the consequences. Got that? Be ready at exactly 8:30 tonight? Is that clear?”

“What is this all about, Jerome? What did I do to deserve this? If anything, I should be beating your crazy ass up!” I grumbled.

He began laughing as if I had just shared the funniest joke ever. “You can’t be serious. You know what you did.” And with that, Jerome loosened his grip and forced me to look up at him. “You will pay for everything you’ve done to me, bitch.”

I stared up at him with an agape mouth. I honestly had no idea what the hell this fool was talking about. And I couldn’t help but to wonder if the man had escaped from some type of mental institution with all of this crazy talk. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Keep saying that. The more you repeat it, the more pissed off I’ll get. Now go back over to your friend and act like we just did a little bit of catching up. Go home to your boy and break it off for your own good. That is if you give a fuck about his life. And I want you to look sexy tonight. Put on your best clothes because I’m taking you somewhere special. ”

After he finished up with his sentence, he nodded his head and walked away. It took everything in me to withhold the sob that was threatening to come out. Laila got up and ran towards me with a smile on her face. “Everything okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“Yeah….um” I swallowed saliva that wasn’t even there to mask the emotion. “Everything’s fine. I haven’t seen him in years and I…I…um. I missed him.”

“You two used to date?” she asked, looping her arm around mines.

I stared off into the distance trying to calm myself down and to make sense of what just happened. Thinking about it made me feel sick to the stomach. “Something like that.”

~***********~

The ride back home was quiet. Laila knew something was wrong but was obviously holding back on questioning me. She knew I hated feeling like I was being interviewed. I felt so alone, confused, and depressed. There was no one I could discuss this with. I definitely didn’t want to test the theory of him hurting anyone I associated with if I screwed up and told them anything. All I had to do was survive the rest of the day and everything should go back to normal. God, the thought of him messing with Daniel and knowing all about him made me livid. Daniel is the most innocent thing to happen to me and if something ever happened to him because of my own mistakes, I could never live with such guilt.

I sat in my apartment contemplating ways to get the hell out of this ridiculous arrangement he had set me up in. I thought about calling the police but my phone lines were blocked. I thought about writing a note and telling my next-door neighbor about my predicament but I had noticed a few sketchy looking cars in the parking lot keeping an eye out for me. I literally felt like I was on house arrest. At around 7:30, I finally got off of the couch and made my way into the bathroom to take a bath. As I lazily ran the loofah across my leg in the soapy water, I sighed and blinked through my half-closed eyes. When was this terrifying nightmare going to end? Why did it have to happen on this day, of all days?

All I wanted to do was cuddle up with Daniel and revel in the warmth of his beautifully soft skin. He always knew how to make things better for me even if he did it in the weirdest way possible. By this time, he would have called to make sure I was doing okay. And if I didn’t answer, he’d continuously call until I picked up. Since I was so used to his daily phone calls, I felt a small twitch of sadness from the lack of hearing his voice. Damn him. What is it about him that turns me into such an emotional mess? And why did Mr. Crazy have to steal my phone?!

The sound of the doorbell ringing followed by a few consecutive knocks tore me out of my thoughts. Hoping they’d go away, I continued to wash myself and slid further down into the tub. The knocks grew from soft to aggressive in a matter of seconds. Groaning, I lifted myself out of the lukewarm water and slipped on my grey terry cloth robe.

“Coming!” I hollered.

Daniel practically bomb rushed me after I opened the door. He began fussing me out and rambling on about how worried he’s been since I’ve been neglecting his calls. He stopped full on when he noticed my new pixie cut. “Whoa” was all he could muster up. My lips involuntarily formed into a genuine smile at the sight of him. He had no idea how much I wanted and needed him right then. Before I could catch myself, I threw myself into him for a hug. I almost started to cry, but held it in. Daniel wrapped his strong arms around me and pulled me closer to him. We stood there for the next minute simply enjoying each other’s presence.

“You look so beautiful” Daniel passionately whispered into my ear. “I don’t know if my input counts, but this new hairdo you’ve got going on arouses me in more ways than one, babe.”

Oh God. Did he really have to say that? Why couldn’t he come in like an asshole and make things easier for me? 

“Thank you” I responded with a quaint smile. Daniel grabbed me by the shoulders and broke our hug so that I was staring into his eyes. They looked wonderfully emphasized under the brightness of the moon. It was illuminating through the sheer curtains. I took notice of the much longer locks of his raven black hair. His hair seemed to have more volume and length to it. He also had this sexy five o’clock shadow going on. Dammit Terri, get yourself together and kick his ass out.

He gazed into my eyes so hard that I felt like he was trying to decipher what I was feeling. “Terri, is everything okay? Anything you want to tell me?”

“No. Everything’s fine” I unpersuasively replied. The clock read 8:00 the last time I checked. I had less than thirty minutes to somehow get rid of Daniel and get dressed.

“I don’t believe you” he quickly said, crinkling his eyebrows together. “I’ve never seen you like this before. You look scared. Paranoid. Antsy.”

“I’m fine!” My voice may have raised a slight decibel. “Now, I need you to leave so I can get dressed. I have somewhere to go” I quickly made a move to grab his arm, but he jerked away.

“Daniel, don’t give me a hard time. I said I was okay and you need to believe me.”

“I wish I could.”

“Nothing’s holding you back.”

“Except that ‘scared shitless’ look you’ve got going on. It’s killing me, Ter. I need to know what’s going on and I refuse to leave this apartment until you tell me.”

The way he looked in his usual dark washed jeans and black v-necked shirt and the fresh-out-of-the-shower smell he carried made me want to forget about the situation and cry in his arms. That’s when I suddenly realized. It hit me like a baseball flying straight out of a ballpark. I was falling in love with Daniel Jones and I would do anything to protect him. Even if it meant being involved in a gruesome blackmail scandal to save his life.

“I have a date.”

The expression on his face made me feel like I just committed the most awful crime to ever be committed. “Uh…” he combed his fingers through his hair and adjusted his stance. “W-was I wrong for assuming that we had something going on here?”

“No…I’m doing this to protect you and that’s all you need to know.”

“What does that even mean? To protect me from what? You? Terri, I’ve fallen in love with you. Please enlighten me on how the hell this is protecting me?”

“It just is-“ I barely murmured, still trying to take in the part where he confessed his love for me.

“I’m not a child. The whole “it just is” argument is not going to fly with me” he replied.

“He’s supposed to be here in twenty minutes. You need to leave.”

“You’re not going to respond to anything I just said?”

I wanted to submit to him and confess how I felt for him, but he chose the absolute worst time to come clean. “Please leave. We can talk about that tomorrow.”

“Why not now? Baby-“

“I have a date. For God’s sake! Will you leave me alone?!” I yelled in an exasperated fit.

Daniel’s face was unchanged. Surprisingly, he was fazed the least by my statement. I guess he knew that I was already his and that he had a certain hold on me. Before he walked out of the door, he swiftly pulled me into his arms and lifted my chin with the side of his index finger. “I don’t know or care about who this strange man is that’s taking you out…but I want you to leave here with some knowledge of who your heart belongs to.”

I gasped as he crushed his lips onto mines and took full control of them. Trying to suppress a sultry moan, I tightly squeezed his shirt between my hands and succumbed to his sweet kisses. Daniel cunningly nudged my mouth open and began massaging my tongue with the likes of his. Boy does this feel like heaven…He furiously kissed me more passionately by the second. Almost as if he’d never see me again.

C’mon Terri, don’t let him do something that’ll blow your cover.

I ended the kiss by feverishly prying myself away from him. The look of desire and hunger that lurked in his eyes nearly sent me over the edge. Why is this happening to me??

Daniel gave me one last peck on my now swollen lips and confidently walked out of the door. I had to take hold of the closest coffee table because that literally left me weak in the knees.

~*******~

Thankfully, I got dressed and was ready to go by 8:29. Since I was running on a small amount of time to prepare myself and since I didn’t care what I really looked like, I settled on an outfit that took only a few minutes to put on. The tight black knee-length long-sleeved dress not only accentuated what little curves I had, but it also showed that I wasn’t trying too hard. I matched the outfit with a pair of my favorite nude colored pumps and a few pieces of gold jewelry. I wore heavy mascara and eyeliner and rubbed a small dollop of clear lipgloss onto my lips.

The doorbell rang at exactly 8:30. I don’t know what’s creepier. The fact this dude knew where I lived or his impeccable punctuality.

I grabbed my black velvet clutch and leather jacket and nervously walked towards the front door. Gulping, I opened it up and quickly stepped out onto the porch. Jerome, who was dressed in an all black attire smiled hard. “What makes you think I didn’t want to come in?”

Closing the door, I sighed and shook my head. “Can we just go ahead and get this over with?”