A Necessary Struggle: Fall Semester

Part 21

The Texas University campus was melancholy as a few students strolled about on their way to the Conrad Student Union for a club meeting, Lincoln Theater for the showing of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or headed to Gleason Athletic Center for a night workout.

Harmony tried to keep her feelings trapped in its Teflon safe as she made her way down the sidewalk to the quad. Unfortunately, Wes looked absolutely delectable as the slate gray tank molded to his washboard abs and the burgundy cargo shorts showed off his sculptured calves. He was making this hard. She took a deep breath of the humid night air as he planted himself in front of their spot.

Their spot; Wes planted their invisible flag of love there. In front of the statue of Stephen F. Austin in brass holding a rifle at his side. It was the first place he saw Harmony alone without Samuel, her friends, or her study group; reading over her notes in the yellow summer dress that danced with the running wind. He lost two minutes staring at her luscious lips mouth the words she scribbled over the pink index cards. In one minute Wes made up his mind she was going to be his girlfriend no matter what.

Wes donned a smile as he saw Harmony approach him. The way her caramel skin glowed under the luminescent light littered along the sidewalk and the way the lime shorts gripped her toned thighs like they were made just for her was better than any picture stored on his phone or Cloud.

"I didn't know." Wes wiped his perspiring hands down the sides of his shorts as he stood up.

"You didn't let me tell you." Harmony held her tongue as the trio of freshman passed in the gap between her and Wes. She knew they were freshmen because they toted the campus map from the Visitor Center given to all freshmen. "You popped off!" Harmony yelled. "What did you think I was doing all day.... fucking Cairo!"

"No! Don't say shit like that!" Wes tried to shake the image of Cairo buried in between Harmony's thighs out of his mind. "He's just always around! Every time I see you...he's there! Right by your side!"

"Did you ever think about why Cairo's by my side?" She held her finger to her temple. "Because you're not."

Wes pressed his palms together and held them to his chest, "I have practice and I have class."

"I didn't ask you to defend yourself. I trust you." Harmony gasped. "You see that." She smirked. "I. Trust. You."

"I...trust...you too." He slipped his hands into his back pockets.

Harmony narrowed her eyes, "Your teeth should fall out. You liar."

"I do trust you." Wes stepped off the last travertine step of the monument. "I don't trust him."

"You don't have to trust Cairo." Harmony folded her arms uncovered in her pink tank. "He's not your friend. He's mine." Her hand found its way to her heart. "And I...I trust him."

"I believe you." He reached for her hand and she let him have it. "Can we just move on?" He pulled her into him and she laid her hand on his hard chest, his heart thumping in her ear. "Tell me about your father." It was Samuel who told him during Saturday practice and he'd been kicking himself ever since.

"Which one?" Harmony asked her voice muffled by his t-shirt. "The one I knew all my life or the one that gave me up?" She wrapped her arms around his waist.

Wes stroked his hand up and down her back, "Whichever one you want to talk about." He kissed the top of her glossy head as the coconut oil stirred through his nose. He loved that she always smelled like she came back from the Caribbean.

"He just came out of nowhere and wants me to call him Dad!" She looked into his hazel eyes getting lost in the glitters of gold that shimmered under the moonlight that burned overhead.

"That's insane." Wes dug his hand underneath Harmony's heavy mane and massaged the bundled muscles around her neck.

"I know." A low moan escaped Harmony's closed mouth. "Cairo thinks I should get to know him."

Wes rolled his eyes after Harmony stopped staring up at him, "What do you want?"

"I don't need the extra drama right now." She tightened her arms around his waist. "Crawford has a new case and I have tons to research for that...and the paper for Russell's class then add in Alyssa's recovery and Safiya's pregnancy." She groaned. "I don't have time to get to know a new father."

"Then don't," Wes said. She looked up at him again. "He put you on hold. You can put him on hold until your life calms down. Until you have time."

"Maybe you're right." She faintly smiled.

He placed his finger under her chin and raised it, then lowered his mouth to hers. Caramel and mint, that's what the delicate flesh of his lips taste like. 

"I am." Wes unwrapped Harmony's arms from around his waist. "Let's go back to my place. I need to show you something."

"I bet you do," Harmony grinned as he led her to his car.

Did Harmony forgive Wesley too quickly?