Can't Let Go

Chapter 2: Youth

Summer of 2006

All the kids in the neighborhood used to all come together at the park. Your aunts Leah, Mia, Shawntay, and I would play on the swings but Shawntay would mostly hang out with her friends because she was older than us. But one day everyone seen a moving truck pass up the park, we weren't used to new people coming to Jansonville because it was such a small town, everyone knew everyone and everything. Everyone followed the truck and its stopped next door to my house. All of us wanted to see the people who were moving in but when the streetlights came on, all the kids had to be at home so we didnt get to see until the next day. The next day when I went to the bus stop , that's when I met him...Zen Hudson. I decided to be nice and introduce myself and he was really nice, we has a regular kids conversation. But after time we became the best of friends but one day my grandma wanted me and Shawntay to stay and live with her for awhile so we can have an experience of meeting new people. So at the end of the school year we left to go to Chicago. I never got a chance to say bye to Zen because he went to the Boy scout camp for the summer that morning but his parents surprised him it so he didnt know he was leaving.

I liked Chicago but it wasn't Jansonville, its wasn't the place where I was born in and where my best friends Leah and Mia were. We lived in Chicago until I was 16 and Shawntay was 20 so she could live on her own which she did. We couldn't handle the fact that our grandma passed away of old age. Thats the reason why I moved back to Jansonville. Nothing had changed much in the neighborhood but everyone grew up, some moved away, and others died of old age or tragic accidents. When I went into my old room its was different, its was plain but I liked it better than my old Hannah Montana covered room. I always would sit in my bay window, I forgot I could see  Zen's room from my window. Our windows were right across from eachothers. When I looked out my window into his room, his room changed so much. I remembered that he loved the Power rangers. He had the power ranger everything. The bed set, toys, curtains, rug, etc. We even used to play like we were the power rangers, he was always the red ranger and I was the pink ranger and the others kids from the block would be the other rangers and the villians. But as I looked out my window it was no power rangers in sight. There was no color, now its was just plain like mine but with red and black from each corner of the room. As I was daydreaming, I didnt realize that Zen had entered his room. He didnt see me until he looked up and seen me sitting there. I didn't notice that he saw me, I must have looked like a creep. But our eyes met and his smile was so amazing, he had the most perfect teeth that I have ever seen. He must of had braces while I was gone but it really paid off. He signaled me to open the window. We opened our windows at the same time. And he looked at me , smiled and said I'm about to go to work but at 5 this afternoon meet me at the park Ok!?!?. I just smiled and nodded. So at 5 thats what I did, the park was so empty. There are no kids to play in it anymore. We just sat on the old swings and talked about all kinds of things. He told me he was working at Little Ceasars and that he planned on moving to Chicago to be with me until he saw that I moved back. I told him about Chicago and my grandma's death, he told me about his parents accident. They were going on a couples vacation and on their way there a drunk driver hit them and they died. We both had tears coming out of our eyes. We got ourselves together and talked even more, we never talked to eachother this long... Ever!! But it felt right, we both needed someone to talk to who would understand. He was a very attractive guy, we always had a crush on eachother but we never told eachother but we both knew we did. He was muscular, he had alot of swag, but he was different. I could tell he was a smoker because I could smell alittle smoke on his clothes. He was pretty much a bad boy. But what girl doesn't want a bad boy at times. We were so different but we were the same at the same time. But as the time went by, We became exactly the same. We hung out a whole week before he asked me out on a date. We sat in the old oak tree that we used to play in behind our house and thats where he asked me to go on a date with him. On our first date we went to a diner that had the best burgers in town. We also went to the movies to see " Lights out", I was so scared because I wasn't used to watching scary movies but he comforted me. He put his arm around me and pulled me close to his chest, when I heard the screaming in the movie, I dug deeper into his arms then I could hear his heart beat. After the movie we got on his motorcycle and we went to the arcade. By the way, we met up at the diner and the movie that was across the street so we just walked. I didnt know he had a motorcycle. He sometimes would drive his dad's old car. He sat on his Harley and put on his all black helmet and told me to hop on. But I was a little nervous. Then he grinned at me and said, Your scared aren't you?  I rolled my eyes and said with sass, No. He was holding out a red helmet for me to wear and Zen replied, Well then..Get on. I snatched the helmet out of his hand and put it on as I got on the back of his motorcycle. Then he said, Put your arms around my waist and hold on. Zen started up the motorcycle and kicked up the kick stand on his bike and we started to move. The weather was so nice that day. It was so romantic as the wind was blowing through my hair and my arms glued around his muscular abs and my head rested on his muscular back. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was in love. When we arrived at the arcade, we had so much fun. He won us so many tickets, we got the biggest prize....the "dolphin"!! He let me keep it the prize. We rode home and said goodnight to each other.