Raising Echo

10

"Wait a second, let's back track. He pushed you?" One of Desiré's friends said. She had brown skin and braids that framed her perfect features.

"Girl did you not hear her JUST say she kissed Chris Brown? The Chris Brown?" Said the younger one with a lighter skin tone and long curly hair pulled back in a tight ponytail.

"Who pushed her. I don't like this, Dez. Look at that man's track record."

"And, what about it, Nova?" Desiré finally stated, taking the conversation back. "I told you he didn't mean it like that. If your ex did what she did to him to you you'd have trust issues and then some. And the push wasn't even hard. He said I reminded him of her and he just got scared, that's all."

"Mm, a grown ass man, scared of you?" Nova snuck in a last remark.

Desiré rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair, sipping on her lemonade. She knew deep in her that she shouldn't have told her friends but she also needed to get it off her chest. She'd been harboring it for days now. Of course the situation with Aeko was to be kept a secret so this to her was only one of many weights lifted off her shoulders. "I really like him," she confessed, staring off into space. Her friends looked at her like she was from another planet, blinking with their mouths ajar.

"Girl, and what about Derrick?"Lyberti asked. Her friends didn't know about the abuse she endured in her marriage and she decided to keep it that way for now. No one knew besides her journal. She only had told Chris a small part of her story. "I don't know. I'll figure it out," she shrugged.

"Uh oh," Lyberti said, "cutie at five o'clock... and he's looking over here."

"Where?" Strategically, Desiré looked back and her eyes fell on the subject, narrowing them. She got up from her seat and walked over to him leaving her friends in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"I'm just getting lunch, is that a crime?" He said brazenly.

"No, but stalking is. Syrus, are you following me?" She rolled her neck, crossing her arms.

"You just get feistier by the day, don't you?" Syrus chuckled. " Don't flatter yourself."

Syrus made her blood boil. It was evident why he felt so strongly against her. It's obvious to her but she saw Chris as oblivious. She stormed away back to her table where her friends looked at her waiting for an explanation. "He's Chris' body guard."

"Well, invite him over here," the brownskinned friend smiled and waved to him flirtatiously.

"Bitch I saw him first," Lyberti protested.

"You didn't call dibs."

"Fine. Dibs!"

"You can't do that."

"Just did."

"Oh my God, shut up," Desiré groaned. "I'm not calling him over."

"And why not?" Nova pouted. "Is he more twisted than Mr. Brown?"

"First, stop saying rude shit about Chris before I reach over this table and pop you in the mouth. And second, actually yeah. He's an angry ass man. But I'm pretty sure his anger just stems from some deep-rooted child hood trauma. And I'm also like fifty percent sure he's a closeted gay crushing on his boss."

"Woah ha hooo," Nova laughed wildly as Lyberti choked on her long island iced tea.

"How'd you come to that conclusion?" Nova asked, leaning closer to her friend. She was always in the mood for some good gossip, no matter who it was about.

"I can just tell. At first I thought it was about him not trusting me because of what happened with ol' girl but...the way he looks at Chris," Desiré trailed off. For a minute she started to actually listen to herself. Even though she thought Syrus was a complete dick, she still felt bad for outing him like that. These girls really did have a way of bringing out the worst in her but they're her longest friends and she wouldn't be able to function without them.

_

Back at Chris' home, Aeko was resting after a long morning of Chris trying to get him to learn to crawl. It was weird for him knowing that one day Aeko would possess certain abilities that he couldn't even dream of so he kept these small, innocent moments close to him. Desiré was coming over any minute and so Chris devoted his free time to tidying up.

"Hey," Desiré spoke as she entered the living room, "where's my baby boy?"

Chris smiled, placing one of Aeko's books into a corner of his library. "I'm right here," he smirked.

Desiré rolled her eyes playfully, "I mean Echo."

"He's down for a nap," Chris grunted as he stood up, walking over to Desiré.

"Be careful there old man, those knees aren't as good as they used to be," She chuckled, as he wrapped his arms around her torso.

"Oh so you got jokes, huh," Chris towered over the woman, raising his eyebrow.

She looked up at him, not being able to help but to smile, "yeah I do."

Effortlessly, Chris lifted Desiré off of her feet and placed her onto the couch, tickling her. Giggled erupted from her and she shrieking, begging for him to stop but he wouldn't let up.

"Not until you take it back!" He wagered as his large hands tickled at her sides.

"I take it back! I take it all back!" She yelped, grabbing his hands, as a few tears rolled down her cheeks. He wiped the droplets away softly as she caught her breath, placing a soft kiss on her lips.

This was their new routine, somewhat. Chris would spend time with Aeko in the morning and on most days Desiré would come over and spend time with the both of them. They learned more about each other together and the attraction between Desiré and Chris grew stronger. Neither of them were sure if it was love yet. They both had secrets and baggage locked away. Both afraid that if any of it were revealed it'd send the other one running. They would bask in the blissful stage of this new found romance as long as they could before the ugly of their lives reared its head.