The Countdown to Thirty (2 page)

“
Sonya you’re too pretty to be single,”
or the
“You’re gonna let that body go to waste?”
comments are all I seem to hear
from Saundra and Nina but I just roll my eyes and said “anyways” changing the subject
to something else.

My ex-roommate Natasha – a diehard party girl who ditched me
two months ago to move to Miami
in the name of love -
was the main
proponent of the old maid theory. But I never took advice from her. Tasha was a
gold digger…not my style. Thanks to her I’ll never trust another woman who
wears brand new Christian Louboutins but can’t afford to go to the dentist….can
you say
priorities all fucked up?

“Good riddance,” I’d thought when she told me the news by
phone.

However, she stuck me with the job of getting rid of her
tawdry bed and paying the full amount of rent until the lease was up. As far as
I was concerned the bed could sit until I was ready to move. But on the bright
side, I had my peace back in my home.

I changed the channel to Fox 5 Las Vegas news and listened
to the commentators talk about the Nevada Unemployment rate dropping less than
half a percent, home prices slightly increasing in the month of June, American
journalist being held hostage in Syria, a late night shooting in the valley and
finally a study that claimed chocolate actually helps you lose weight. I
laughed out loud and wondered where’d they get that mess? Everybody knows
Skittles help you lose weight.

Kaia

It was six thirty in the morning and Malcolm and I just
finished having some of the most amazing sex ever. It was his first night back
in town from his trip to Santa Barbara for the 10k run he participates in every
year to raise awareness for the cure. He text me nearly the whole time he was
there and told me how he couldn’t wait to get back to see me. Okay, maybe not
the whole time but definitely on his last day. He warned me that he’d be busy
with the run and catching up with his friends so I didn’t think I’d hear from
him at all.

When he came over last night which was actually closer to
midnight the poor thing was so tired he just led me back to the bed and fell
asleep as he clung tightly to me for the rest of the night. It took a little
while for me to go back to sleep since I was overly excited to see him. I’d
stayed up waiting for him to come which broke my normal sleep pattern.

“I don’t want you to go to work, stay here with me instead.”
I whined as I lay naked on top of his body. I missed him, Lord knows I did. He
was only out of town for three days but I haven’t seen him in weeks.

“You know I have to go to work. They’re a lot of fat people
out there that want to be as fine as you,” he said placing a gentle kiss on my
lips.

I slapped his chest and chuckled, “Don’t be mean.”

Malcolm and I met at the gym last year when I responded to
an ad in the mail about a free week long trial. He was my personal trainer
during the trial period and when I saw him it was practically love at first
sight. We hit it off when he found out I use to be a track athlete at UNLV and
I gained his respect when he noticed I could keep up with his rigorous workout.

I threw on an oversized t-shirt and walked Malcolm to the
door before kissing him good-bye.

“Call me later baby,” I said as he walked down the stairs
towards the parking lot.

He nodded his head in agreement.

Locking the door behind him I let out a “Thank you God,”
feeling truly blessed to have him in my life. I went back to my room, threw my
t-shirt in a corner and turned my ceiling fan on. It was getting hot already
and it was only seven in the morning. I hated the dry sweltering summer heat.
Nonetheless, I threw myself on the bed and went back to sleep, I was tired.

When I woke up it was eleven a.m. and I felt much more
rested. My morning nap felt so good that I didn’t want to leave my bed but my
morals wouldn’t allow me to sleep all day. I jumped up and put on a fresh pot
of strong coffee instead of lying there and delaying the inevitable. Opening my
kitchen cabinet door to reveal an array of mugs I’ve collected over the years,
I reached for an oversized turquoise one I bought on impulse at Wal-Mart that
read “
Life is too short not to enjoy it and too long not to be happy
”.

“Amen to that” I said to myself.

When I entered the workforce full-time several years ago I
was forced to drink coffee to stay awake at my desk after a night out clubbing.
I partied so much back then extra strong coffee became a morning ritual and now
I’ve morphed into a proud self-proclaimed coffee fanatic. I sat my mug on the
countertop while my coffee brewed in my three year old thirty dollar coffee
maker that had worn lettering and a propensity to leak water.

It looked odd in my kitchen which was upgraded with granite
counter tops and stainless steel appliances. I adorned it with picturesque
images of wine and vineyards detailed in my dish towels, kitchen mat and an oil
based painting. I had plans on retiring her for a brand new Starbucks coffee
machine but made a promise not to invest in that until I finally purchased a
house.

I returned a call from my real estate agent who I was
meeting up with later on today then went into my bathroom and prepared a cool
shower. Taking steaming hot showers was my thing but in July with a hundred and
ten degree weather, it would be like committing suicide.

I stepped into the shower and let it rain over me from my
face to my toes. I closed my eyes and let the earlier week’s frustration slide
right off my body and flow down the drain with the water. Marrying Malcolm is
the one thing that would turn my life from great to amazing. The only problem
is that since we’ve been dating I haven’t been able to get him to fully commit
to me yet. He labeled our relationship as a
friendship
even though we
had sex and I had to tell him if I was planning on being intimate with someone
else - which I never was by the way. These happened to be his rules for our
friendship but if you ask me it sounds more like rules for a relationship so I
basically consider him my man.

But I’m patient and when he comes around and realizes how
amazing I am I know he’ll be ready to build on something solid.

Travis, the guy I dated before Malcolm turned out to be a
loser. We met at the mall three years ago and only dated for five months. He
caught my attention after attempting to sell me a cell phone plan that I didn’t
need. I thought he was cute and funny however, so when he asked me for my phone
number I didn’t hesitate to give it to him. But he just turned out to be
another guy with no plans and nothing going for his life. Then before him was
Kamari who I found out was an undercover thug. He fooled me with his intellect
and kind voice up until the moment we hung out with his
homies.
He
showed me just how ignorant he could get. I quickly had to scratch him off the
list before we got too involved.

Malcolm was a much better catch than the two of them put
together. In all of my years I’ve never been in a super serious relationship
before, I was hoping Malcolm would want to be my first and my last.

When I stepped out of the shower I felt alive and
rejuvenated. After applying lotion from head-toe-with St. Ives Shea Butter and
Oatmeal lotion, I went to my closet and decided on a nice long flowy yellow
summer dress to suit my mood. I returned to the kitchen and poured myself that
cup of coffee and mixed it with vanilla creamer and three sugars. I prefer my
coffee to taste more like cocoa.

Riding around with Joanna – my realtor – wasn’t really how I
wanted to spend my Saturday afternoon. Sure, the first week of house hunting
was fun, but after viewing the forth, then the fifth then the sixth home it
quickly became routine.

“Kaia you’re going to love this house, it’s so you.” Joanna
said as we pulled into the driveway of a newly developed two-story.

She fiddled with the lockbox momentarily until it opened and
revealed a set of shiny new keys. She opened the door walking in first and
immediately began pointing out the vaulted ceilings, plant shelves, storage
space, etcetera, and etcetera.

I could appreciate those features but I withheld my dislike
of how narrow the house seemed. The living room was small, considering I want
children one day, and the backyard had no privacy or shade. We walked upstairs
and she showed me two identical bedrooms that I figured could be used as a
child’s room and an office for my design studio. Further at the end of the
hallway she led me to the master bedroom.

“Now for the piece de résistance!” she exclaimed with
dramatization.

“Okay let’s see it!” I said trying to match her excitement
even though I wasn’t nearly as excited as her.

She opened the double doors revealing a large master bedroom
big enough to comfortably house a Cal King bed set and sitting area. The high
ceilings and plant shelves from the rest of the house flowed into the room and
the cathedral arched hallway leading to the master bath created a luxurious
feeling.

“So what do you think about this one?” She asked
confidently.

“Wow,” I said truly surprised. “It’s actually very nice.”

I headed for one of the large bay windows in the room and
reached for the mini blinds. After tugging on the strings, that’s when I saw
the ultimate deal breaker.

The barren desert field behind the house was unappealing and
blah and not what I had in mind when I added a view to my wish list. And the
piece
de résistance
that she was talking about had to be the large billboard with
flashing lights advertising the adult movie store in the nearby distance.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to work. Besides, the house next door was
literally within an arm’s reach if I stuck my hand out the window. I bet if I
flushed the toilet the neighbors could hear it.

I turned to her giving her a wry smile, “I don’t know
Joanna. I think I’m going to have to keep looking.”

“Well what’s wrong with this one? I thought it’d be a great
starter home for you. There’s plenty of space and it’s in a new development.”

After going over a list of things I didn’t like about the
home, careful not to offend, Joanna just sighed then told me she needed to go
back to her office and re-coordinate her game plan for me. She seemed a little
annoyed that I could possibly be wasting her time. She was after all referred
to me as a no nonsense realtor.

“Don’t let her walk over you. She works for you, remember
that.”

I replayed Christian’s voice over and over again in my head
reminding myself that I wasn’t doing anything wrong by wanting what I wanted.

“If you need me to go with you I will, but you know
you’ll owe me.”
He’d said not joking in the least bit. He wasn’t always the
sweetest person.

Hearing Christian’s sour voice in my head reminded me that I
had to meet-up with him in a few hours. Christian is my mother’s best friend’s
son, the big brother I never really had and a bona fide ladies’ man. He wants
me to meet yet another one of his girlfriends in a few hours. Originally it
annoyed me to meet every last one of his women; the ding backs, the
bourgeoisie, the ghetto and occasionally the smart. Then it became fun to place
bets with myself as to how long they’d last. Every time I was right I treated
myself to something, unbeknownst to Christian of course.

After parting ways with Joanna I pulled back into my
apartment complex
Chateau Oasis –
a moderately priced plush compound
located more in the North West part of town. Its south of the Centennial Hills
area but north of Summerlin.
The two-way driveway was lined with tall
exotic looking palm trees that I figured were imported. Being that I was from
L.A. all I grew up around were palm trees, but not these type. They twisted and
turned into each other and were beautifully manicured and trimmed, not like the
ole neighborhood palm trees I was used to.

I stopped at my mailbox located at the front office to check
my mail then drove to my building, C3, and parked my black Toyota Avalon in
covered parking. As I briefly sifted through the mail I realized the mail lady
delivered my neighbors mail to me again. Sonya-my next door neighbor with the
high pretty cheekbones and smile to die for- had come knocking more than once
to exchange mail in the past.

I switched into a pair of light blue jean shorts and brown
chiffon top speckled with hints of gold. My top cut low but still looked
tasteful since I was only blessed with a B cup. I applied a little concealer to
even out my light complexion and hide the tiny heat bumps that had popped up
around my forehead area. I personally didn’t like to wear a lot of makeup and
didn’t have time to keep up with the latest fashion trends so I looked like my
normal casual self with just a little flare.

“Curls or straight?” I asked myself before deciding to
plug-in my flat iron and just get it over with.

Before I walked out of my apartment and headed to PT’s Pub
to meet Christian and…I forgot her name already, I fed my fish Lucky and Nemo
and put a note on Sonya’s door letting her know she had mail.

v
 
 

“We met at the mall.” Desiree said holding tightly onto
Christian’s arm. “He couldn’t resist me.” She said laughing as she took another
sip of her martini.

Me, Christian and Desiree were sitting in a booth at PT’s
over chicken wings and fries. At the moment I was going over the figures in my
head, trying to guess how long this one was going to last. Desiree was cute.
Actually she was beautiful but I think a little too possessive for Christian’s
taste. We’d been sitting here at least ten minutes and she hadn’t managed to
let go of his arm yet.

Christian was a 6’2 brown sugar type of brown with charming
light brown eyes. He works as a Staff Sargent in the Air Force and attributes
most of his bull like physique to
genetics
if you let him tell it. But I
knew better than most that he loves his protein shakes and supplements.

“So Kai Kai, are you seeing anyone?”

I shot them both a surprised look. Kai Kai was my nickname
growing up and normally only used by the people who were closest to me. Being
called Kai Kai by anybody else felt like an invasion of my privacy. And when
Christian called me Little Kaia from time-to-time I felt like a child.

“Yea, she got a little boyfriend or something. What’s his
name?” Christian said sarcastically.

“You know his name,” I shot back. Then turning to Desiree I
replied, “Yes I’m seeing someone. His name is Malcolm.”

“You should have brought him along. This could have been a
double date.” She said.

“He just got back in town this morning. He’s really tired
but that’s a nice idea Desiree.”

“She knows how I feel about oh boy. She did the right
thing.” Malcolm said reaching for a chicken wing.

I wasn’t surprised. I knew Christian wasn’t a fan of
Malcom’s from the first day they met.

I just sighed and ignored his comment, “So Desiree what kind
of work do you do?” I asked taking a sip of my Sprite.

“I’m an associate at Victoria’s Secret. That’s where we
met.”

I nearly choked.

“Christian what were you doing at Victoria’s Secret?” I
asked purposely putting him on the spot. I knew the only reason he could be
there was to buy something for one of his other girlfriends but I wanted to see
him sweat. Not only for the Malcolm comment but also for telling
Desiree
it was okay to call me Kai Kai.