TO HOLD A ROSE

EPISODE III - ROSE

"Mom please," Abel stood by his mother's car as she got set to leave. He held her door open and leaned against the body of the car. "You can fix another appointment with her for tomorrow, and you'd leave later in the evening."

Noelle appeared restless in her car as her heels clutched on the brakes and she held the steering with one hand. Exhausted from telling her son she couldn't do what he asked. He had badgered her over and over, hoping she would budge and invite Rose again. But she declined. She told her son that it would be wrong of her to set her new stylist up and it would not speak well of her. He ignored everything she said to him, he begged her again and kept her from driving out the compound. "Abel, would you let me go now?"

"Moms please. I've been begging you for two days," he said. He looked beyond desperate.

"And you don't want me to mention you to her?"

The look on his face suggested he did not want that. He knew Rose wouldn't accept if she knew Noelle was his mother.

"I'm not surprised by your silence. You know it's wrong to ambush her like that," she told him. She attempted to pull the door but his hand held it away from her. "Abel, let me go now please. You know I would love to help, only not like that. If it's meant to be, it will be."

"Fine. You can go then," he muttered. He slammed the car door, his face pale and helpless.

"Oh dear God," Noelle muffled. His reaction caught her by surprise and she couldn't look into his eyes. They held pain and rage and they looked frightening. Then she drove out slowly.

He watched her drive out with the last hope he had. It had seemed possible for him to see Rose again until now. It burned a hole in his heart; one deeper than that he hoped Rose would fill. He felt deserted. His heart told him to wait, that the opportunity would come but he couldn't get himself to listen. The beats in his chest were too heavy, and waiting was not helpful. He stood by the window in his room, quiet, and looking down into his compound. The windshield of his Camaro had a darkened reflection of the distant stars and he stared long. Then he held his phone up to his face, her picture glared at him and it stung deeper then. Nothing could brighten his heart now, not even the wide smile on her face.

Abel heard his phone ring many times, as he laid in bed and he ignored it. He held a pillow over his head at one point in frustration. Then he got angry and stood up to switch it off, and he saw the missed calls. It was Sam. It was already past eight, and he wondered why he had been calling. He decided to put a call back, still wearing the pant trousers and the white T-shirt he wore underneath to work. "Hello?"

"Abel," Sam said with a melancholic tone. "Please tell me why you were disrespectful to moms"

"What. . .she told you that?" he kissed his teeth. And he said nothing else.

"Man I don't know what's up with you but she called and sounded very unhappy. She said it was something about that babe."

Abel held his neck with one hand and he turned on the light. He still said nothing.

"See," Samuel said. "Please call her. I'm sure you were angry or something. But call her, and apologize. You know how moms gets."

"Alright. Sure I will." He ended the call. He hated that he had made his mother unhappy. It felt like he could not recognize himself anymore and Sam had brought him back to his senses.

"Yeah I trust you will. Let's talk tomorrow bro. Maybe you take the day off work to hang out." Sam tried to inject some energy into their conversation.

He agreed to hang with Sam, and after talking to him, he called his mother. He apologized for the way he had spoken to her and he promised to move on from Rose. He had never been that rude to his mother. And while he buried himself in the fantasy of holding Rose, he slowly became a ghost of himself. He begged his mother to visit as soon as she could so he could take her out. It was important to him that he made up for his reaction. Talking to his mother gave him relief. And he wanted to make her happy again.