The Perfect Design

Wheels Up

-Russell

"Ohhh, Russell" she moaned as I carried her up the stairs to our bedroom. I had made sure she felt special on this day. Lights dimmed, rose petals lined all over the floor leading up to the steps, white candles lit. The atmosphere was amazing. Her legs being wrapped around my waist as we reached the last step drove me crazy and made me "stand up" even more if you knew what I meant.

Finally reaching the plush king sized bed of our bedroom, I laid her down kissing her soft lips while I relaxed between her legs. I started kissing all over her neck, chest, stomach, then going down to the promise land; the area where I wanted to connect with her the most, the center of her. I kissed along her thighs, my lips eventually hovering over the warmest spot of her body that I longed to be inside of. "I love you, baby" she purred softly. "I love you too" I said to her, looking into her eyes filled with the same amount of passion that I seemed to have at the moment. She moaned as my lips connected with the area between her legs. Afterwards, I lined myself up at her center ready to enter her, ready to finally make love to her.

"Before you do this, Russell, make sure you know everything." Make sure I know everything? What did that have to do with this moment? I stopped and looked at her with a confused look. "Leah, I don't get it." I said with a perplexed expression on my face. "Neither do I, but I hope you find the truth."

I woke up, my eyes blinking very rapidly as I looked down at myself. That dream caused me to have to take a cold shower. Here I was, getting ready to make love to her, but she interrupts and tells me "make sure you know everything". I don't have dreams often when I sleep, but when I do, they are very significant and also tell me of things that I should do. They're almost instructional. I sat up, my mind racing trying to figure out what this dream meant. It's like I was about to enter one of the most intimate moments with Leah, but before I could do so I needed to know the truth, I needed to know everything. Before the relationship could progress, I needed to get all the facts about everything going on, I needed to hear Leah out.

I always find a way to dismiss people because something rubs me the wrong way without allowing them to explain themselves. My father always told me 'Making decisions in the heat of the moment can cause a lifetime of regret'.  I realized this is exactly what I was doing to Leah. Someone that really cares about, a woman that was willing to go to lengths to please me. Yet, I haven't even given her the time she deserves; I've hurt her, made her cry and stood her up on multiple occasions. Here she is giving me her all, and I have kicked her to the side all because of my own insecurities. She was no Ashton. Honestly, I really trust her; I just got a bit jealous when I saw her in those pictures with Lamarcus. She was smiling; it looked like she was enjoying whatever he was saying. It also hurt to know he was providing something to her that I couldn't; time.

Sure Leah understands my career, and knows that time is limited, but there are instances where I could have made more time for her. I could have told her about Richard's charity event, cancelled some meetings that wasted my time, and not went out with the boys just to give her one day. Here I was trying to pick out the things Leah did wrong, yet I was much more at fault then she was.  Like Leah said in the dream I was going to make sure I knew everything. I decided to call my friend Damian Lillard to see if he knew anything.

"Bro, hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."

"Nah bro, you're good. What's going on?"

"I wanted to ask you about Lamarcus, man. Something about him rubs me the wrong way, especially about Leah." I heard Damian sigh on the other side of the phone. "What' that for? Tell me what you know man!"

"Alright bro, I didn't want to get into this, but Lamarcus definitely has a thing for your girl. When you introduced me to her at the party I admit that wasn't the first time I saw her." Damian said. I immediately wondered how even Damian saw her before.

"Lamarcus had shown me her pictures on Instagram, said they had met before. He also mentioned she was playing hard to get because she claimed she was happily seeing someone." That's my Leah, she was never afraid to stand up for me and our relationship.

"Man, just keep her protected because you know Lamarcus is a womanizer. I've known him for years and he hasn't changed one bit."

"Cool, do you know anything about him possibly posting pictures of him and Leah on the internet?"

"Nah, bro I don't know anything about that."

"Okay, thanks man. I just needed some clarity."

"It's cool. Just know you didn't hear it from me."

A part of me felt shameful for calling trying to do some investigation on this situation because had I listened to Leah, this would definitely be prevented. I knew I had to do something. I needed to see Leah. I know she probably wasn't in the mood to see me, but nothing beats no but a try. I gotta get my woman, my friend, my future wife.

-Leah

____________________________________________________

January 19th, 2015

Over the last month, I have taken the time to invest in myself and the palace like never before because they were the two things that were consistent in my life. The Seahawks had made it to the playoffs and dominated. They sealed their chances to becoming Super bowl champions by defeating the Green Bay Packers. Russell had a rocky game but they made it work. I would be lying if I said I didn't think about Russell a few times, every day. But when I thought about him, I wasn't angry, bitter or sad but content. I was content because if God meant for Russell and I to be together, it would happen. In the meantime, I knew any man would be lucky to have me not because I'm cocky; everyone knows that, but I am a loyal and kindhearted person who loves to do things for other people. Sometimes I forget about treating myself.

I spoke with my boss on Friday, and asked Him if I could have a few days off just to get some creative inspiration for the palace. I would use this time to just relax and have some fun time for myself. To my surprise, he agreed to give me two weeks off since he was impressed with the quality of work I had been producing thus far. That means my vacation would be ending sometime around the Super Bowl. Some parts of me felt bad for not being around during one of the most important games of Russell's life. Then I thought to myself, where is he during one of the most important times of my life?

I didn't want to go too far so I decided to take a trip to sunny California. Not too far from Seattle, but far enough to clear my mind and to energize myself. I turned on my Bose speakers, connected my iPhone and started dancing around to the music filling my room. I can't stop smiling as I'm packing my suitcases and bags to enjoy some time to myself. I already told Aunt Pat where I was going just so she will not think I was missing.  I was going to Santa Clara, California because I heard they have some nice museums and it was a beautiful place not too for far from the city life but far enough for peace.

4 Hours Later

I'm boarding the plane, and thankfully this flight is not very crowded, to my surprise. I got a window seat which made me ecstatic. My facial expression changed when someone came and sat beside me. I was hoping I could have the seat next to me empty. "Excuse Me" a deep but light and airy voice said as he began to get himself seated. As I lifted my head up scanning his tall and muscular frame, I made it to his face and good God what a sexy face it was.

"Colin Kaepernick..." I said, in disbelief. He, out of all people, is sitting beside me right now. Surely, he received these reactions before, so he just smiled and said "Hello, Beautiful." This was going to be a great flight. Too bad it was only about 2 hours. Wheels up to California, baby!

*Comments, votes? :) *