A Familiar Ring

CHAPTER 8: Be Better Than What You Remember

Cadence awoke early the next day to Prosper's morning wood poking at her and his hand firmly gripping her left breast. This was a forgotten yet familiar feeling that she relished in for a few minutes more than she probably should have. She didn't want to move or risk waking Prosper and being out of his grasp. This was her comfort. She was at home.

She couldn't recall the last time she was close to Prosper in this way. Their levels of intimacy fizzled out long before their relationship actually ended. Though she was the one to make the final decision to end things, she was also the one left wishing they had made love just one last time. That maybe that last time would be different enough that they'd decide to stay together. She wanted to know why that never happened. She was ready to talk. As she was deep in her thoughts figuring out how she would approach the two major topics of discussion for the day—her and Prosper's breakup and her relationship with Duke—Prosper cleared his throat and spoke.

"You good?" his voice was still raspy, evident that he was still sleepy.

"Mmhmm. Are you?" Cadence placed her hand over his that was firmly grasping her breast.

"My bad, shawty. Old habits," Prosper lazily dragged his hand away from her breast and dragged it across her body seductively.

"Mm-hmm."

Prosper missed Cadence, a lot. He definitely enjoyed the sex that he was having with Nola, and occasionally with other women he'd meet on his own or Nola would bring into their bedroom. Truthfully, Nola was more than enough for him and definitely satisfied him sexually. Before he found himself laying next to Cadence, he was considering monogamy with Nola but wasn't sure if she'd be receptive to it. He struggled with the concept of monogamy himself but as he was now in his thirties he was slowly coming around to the idea of committed partnerships between just two people; he figured it was time to make room for a family. However, Prosper realized that he lacked true intimacy with Nola—they lacked the kind of intimacy and vulnerability that he had with Cadence. This was no fault on Nola, she was more than willing to be vulnerable with Prosper but the walls around his heart were impenetrable steel.

If the women were switched, if it were Cadence he was considering a monogamous relationship and family with, he wouldn't hesitate. Not only did speaking to her come very natural to him but opening up to her was even easier. He felt comfortable being vulnerable around her in a way that, in the end, made him stronger. He felt that she was the woman solely responsible for teaching him what love is, how to receive love, how to give love, how to be love. Of course, it took years for him to realize this.

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Senior Year, Second Semester

Prosper decided that he'd finally ask Cadence out for Prom. They had actually hung out and spoke at Miss Joanne's quite a bit over the winter break and he'd found himself completely fascinated by her. But there was a lot he wasn't sure about. He was friends with her older brother and didn't know if dating her would be a violation of the G-code. She got dumped embarrassingly when Aaron Jones left her for Kenya Parker at the Homecoming dance and he wasn't sure if she was over it just yet. And he would be going away to college in the Fall. So while he really liked Cadence and really wanted to be her boyfriend, he was kind of feeling like the time wasn't exactly right for that. But at least he could take her to Prom. Maybe.

In school, she was a bit quiet unless she was performing on the drill team or engaged in the school's forensics debates—which most students, and Prosper, considered to be nerd shit. Plus, he was an upperclassman so he didn't really have many opportunities to get to know her outside of the ninety minute studio art class. Early last semester, they would make small talk about Miss Joanne. So during the winter break, Prosper stopped by Miss Joanne's house a little more frequently than his scheduled Saturdays in hopes of catching Cadence helping her with chores around the house. And sometimes he did.