Left In The Dark

Chapter 14

Every inhibition, every fear, every desire to retreat was left in the shooting range that night. I became a new woman with Shawn. I was more open. I told him in detail what happened between me and Boris.Words that I thought I couldn't speak again, I spoke. And he was there to listen, to confide to, and to encourage me. What he did was take those demons that I let affect me and helped me kill them. Figuratively and literally. That night he managed to transform me and make me better in such a short period of time. I forgot about pace. Time didn't matter to me anymore. Love knows no time span. I knew within myself that I was surely on my way to falling in love with this man. And I was ready to just allow the natural feeling to happen, instead of fighting it because I reasoned it was too soon. He wasn't a monster. Shawn was my god-sent. It had been a couple of weeks since then and we've been together every day. He would stop by my place every day either before or after work. Just to keep me company. Kelly and Michelle complained that he took up all my time now and that I never saw them. They even went so far as to threatened to beat Shawn up. It was too hilarious. But he shut them up quick when he took us all out to an exclusive album launch party for John Legend. After that, they were just as in love. He always knew what to do.

Tonight were driving to get some ice cream. Shawn suddenly had a feel for some and I didn’t have any. It was getting too cold for ice cream anyway, being about late October. But he didn’t care; he ate ice cream year round. I shook my head as he forced me out of the house. I really needed to go grocery shopping. I told him that there was a corner store about 3 blocks from my house that sells some, but he insisted on going somewhere else. An hour long drive. It better be the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted for all that.

We ended up at some place called pinkberry which I’ve heard of before but never been.

“This ain’t an ice cream parlor Shawn. It’s frozen yogurt.” I laughed.

“Close enough.” He simply said.

He ordered the original with pineapples, nuts, gummy bears, coconut shavings, and cap’n crunch. It sounded a hot mess and I scrunched my face.

“What kinda order is that?”

“Mine!” He shot back and tapped the tip of my nose.

I chuckled and ordered mine. I got the chocolate one with raspberries, honey almond granola, and peanut butter crunch. We exited the store and instead of heading back to the car, he wanted to walk around and eat. If it were any other time of the year I wouldn’t mind the stroll, but it was mid fall and was a little chilly, especial at night. I hugged my light jacket around me, fastening the buttons. We ended up walking like he wanted because he threatened to leave me by myself. I sucked my teeth at him because he knew I didn’t know where we were. Had this been near my house, I would have gladly left him. The corner store was total of 417 steps: two left turns and one right, from my house.

I had to admit it was nice though. I devoured my frozen yogurt; it was definitely worth the drive. Shawn tried to get me to try his, but I would move my face whenever I felt the spoon approach my lips.

“Ah come on Bey. Try it.” He begged.

“Mmm mmm” My lips were firmly pressed together. “Your’s sound nasty.” I teased.

“You know I shouldn’t even share with you, you ain’t even offer me none of yours.” He mopped.

“Well you just jealous cuz mine was better. I was not tryna share.” I joked.

He mumbled to himself and I continued to laugh and tease him. Eventually he stopped talking to me, pretending to be upset. I knew he wasn’t though because he still held me close, guiding my steps. In the silence between us, I began to listen out and heard swooshing and crashing sounds. It sounded like a body of water—like an ocean. My ears perked up. We couldn’t possibly be near a beach could we? Inhaling, the air smelt salty and I knew that we were.