Smile for Me

It was a beautiful spring day, the sun was beaming and the birds were chirping in the trees. Irene sat on the park bench reading her book enjoying her afternoon off, one she desperately needed. Between work, school, and trying to make her relationship with her boyfriend last was starting to take a toll on her. She finally had time for herself and she wanted to spend it at the park on her favorite bench next to the river. As Irene sat people watching and reading she smiled at the happy couples and the children chasing after each other without a care in the world, but was oblivious to the fact that she too was being watched.

Garrett combed the park with his camera in hand taking pictures of the couples that passed by and the children running about on the playground chasing after butterflies. He continued to get beautiful shots of nature when he spotted a gorgeous girl sitting next to the water on a bench reading a book. She looked absolutely stunning in her sun dress, the yellow fabric made her dark brown skin glow even more under the sun's rays. Garrett couldn't help but try to get closer so he could get a better view. He smirked as he inched closer walking up behind her very coolly.

"Excuse me, miss?" Irene looked up from her book searching for the voice that summoned her. She looked over her shoulder to find a tall, rather handsome guy walking in her direction with a friendly smile on his face.

"Yes?" She said holding her book to her chest. Ooh he's kinda cute. She thought to herself as she looked him up and down.He closed in on her extending his hand

"Hi, my name is Garrett, I'm a photographer for UT's art department" he said holding up his camera "and I saw you sitting here, and I was wondering if I could take a few pictures of you?"

Irene sat confused for a second but shyly said yes and allowed him to take a few photos.

"Fantastic, well for starters do you think you could look out towards the river?" He said holding up his camera. She did as she was asked and looked out into the river trying to seem fixated on something.

Garrett paused before letting the shutter close looking at her profile she's even more beautiful up close he thought to himself. The sun's rays seemed to make her chocolate-hued skin gleam. Her lips were plump and kissable, brown just like the rest of her except for a tiny patch of pink in the middle of her bottom lip begging to be nibbled on. Long eyelashes bordered her bedroom eyes which were a deep mahogany that captured his attention immediately. They made her seem sweet and innocent but had a feeling there was something else, something more profound other than innocence behind them. Snapping out of his trance he forgot he hadn't taken the picture yet and tried to break the silence.

"So what brings you to the park on this fine day?" Garrett asked as the shutter sounded.

"Oh, well I thought I'd try and get away for a little part of the day, I've been so busy with school and work I haven't had time for myself lately." She continued to look out as she heard the continuous sound of the shutter.

"Oh yeah? Where do you go to school?"

"UT" she said as matter of fact turning her head to look at him and smile. The shutter snapped again

"Oh yeah? How come I haven't seen you?"

"How come I haven't seen you?" She said with a smile.

"Ha probably because I spend most of my time in a dark room developing photos for ad's for the school. I finally got the chance to come out and do some work for the university and shoot for the new catalog they're putting out in the fall."

"Ah I see, so do you make it a habit of taking pictures of random girls?"

Garrett just smiled "No, just the pretty ones" he said winking at her playfully. Wow he has a gorgeous smile. She thought. Garrett was definitely a looker! He had welcoming green eyes to go along with his beautiful smile, short black hair cut into a faux hawk, from what she could tell he had a nice body too, broad shoulders with a great set of pecs paired with pulsating biceps. Oh yeah he was a looker alright. Garrett cleared his throat and stood upright revealing his full height of 6'2.

He stuck out his hand "Well miss..."

"Oh, Irene" she said placing her hand in his palm standing up simultaneously.

He flashed a smile at her and licked his lips, "Well Irene, it was nice meeting you and thank you for letting me shoot you."

"Oh it's no problem at all."

"Hopefully I'll catch you around campus?"

"Hopefully," She said with a coy smile. With that Garrett walked away with a content smile pressing the display button on his camera flipping through the few pictures he took of his mystery lady.

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Irene walked back to campus and then to her apartment where she lived with two roommates. She turned the key in the door accessing her suite when she heard a girl moaning. She stopped in her tracks listening closely thinking it was her roommate Rita getting busy with her boyfriend. Irene continued to turn the corner into the hallway heading to her room as the moans proceeded to get louder. She cut the corner into her room only to find a naked girl sitting on her desk with her hair everywhere with Drew in between her legs going at it like he hadn't seen a lick of pussy in his entire life.

"DREW!?" Drew stopped mid stroke and looked over his shoulder at Irene.

"Oh shit....Irene, babe, babe it's no-"

"It's not what it looks like!?" Irene stalked over to him and started wailing on the man. Drew pulled out of the girl and stood there naked with his cock in the air arms shielding his head trying to block the hits from Irene.

"In MY room!? In MY apartment!?WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!?" she was punching and slapping at him so hard her head was starting to hurt.

"I'M FUCKIN SORRY!"

"FUCK YOU! YOU PIECE OF SHIT!! TWO FUCKING YEARS DREW!" Between all the screaming and punching, the redhead saw her opportunity to escape slowly pulling on her underwear and bra and tried to sneak out of the room struggling as she tried to hop into her jeans. Irene saw her out of the corner of her eye and turned her aggression to the poor girl. "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING!?" Irene grabs a clump of the girl's fire red locks yanking her back causing her to fall flat on her ass. Drew ran to her rescue and tried to part the two females knowing that Irene was fully capable of doing serious damage. Drew's efforts from trying to protect his mistress proved to no avail, he only found himself back in the mist of Irene's fury. Nothing but screaming and yelling was echoing through the apartment but finally Irene had grown tired and halted her assault on Drew's skull. Her chest heaving, trying to fight back tears she backed away far enough to look at the both of them.

"Get out." She said firmly

"Irene baby I lo-"

"Don't you even think about lying to my face Drew, you don't love me"

"Babe, I, just give me another cha-"

"Get...THE FUCK OUT!" Drew stepped close to her and tried to take her cheeks in his palms but Irene slapped his hands away before he could even lay a finger on her. Her breath was becoming regular again but her eyes held a gaze that not even the devil himself would want to come head to head with. There was nothing Drew could do other than leave. He slid his boxers on and then his jeans, he grabbed the redheads hand and guided her out of the apartment.

Irene just shut her bedroom door, tears slowly streamed down her cheeks as she slid down to the floor pulling her knees into her chest. Her sobs rang out through the entire apartment she couldn't stop thinking about how much she had gone through with Drew in the last two years. She thought he was the one, they had recently talked about getting their own place, and even getting married after they both graduated college. She wanted so bad to understand why she always got the short end of the stick, she thought Drew had finally put an end to her heartbreak when it came to cheating bastards, but it only proved temporary. Her sobs quieted down and she tried to compose herself wiping her tears from her bloodshot eyes sniffling loudly.

"Well, Rene there's no point in crying over spilled milk girl get it together" She said to herself. She sat quietly staring at her closet looking at the clothes that Drew left there over the months since she had moved into the apartment with the girls. His favorite sweatshirt was sticking out of the rest of her clothes and the sight of it infuriated her. She got up and found an empty box and proceeded to stuff anything that had belonged to her now ex boyfriend into it. Sweatshirts, dress shirts, even underwear, he practically had his own wardrobe at her place whenever he came over and spent the night, all of it was stuffed into a box. After taking out his clothes her closet and draws were half empty and it satisfied her because this meant she could go shopping without the worry of trying to figure out where she was going to put her stuff, the thought of that seemed to bring a smile to her face but only for a short time. She grabbed the box and a barbeque lighter, and lighter fluid and proceeded out of the door, when her phone started to ring, dropping the box she pulled her phone out of her back pocket looking at the caller ID. It was Ronnie, her boss from the bar.

"Hello?"

"Irene!"

"Hey Ron what's up?"

"Irene I really need you tonight can you come in and cover Jodie's shift?"

"Again? That's the third time in two weeks, what the hell is she getting herself into?"

"Ha well this time got arrested for fighting her boyfriend,"

"Hmph, well ain't that something" She said the thought disgusting her in a sense.

"What?" Ron asked not hearing her, Irene just sighed and rolled her eyes

"Nothing," She said dismissing her thought "I'll be in later tonight at the usual time."

"Thanks Irene I owe ya one, that's why you're my favorite bartender"

"Ooh do I sense a raise in my future?"

"Haha hey I don't love you that much" Ron said with his hardy laugh

"Very funny, I'll see ya tonight bud"

Closing her phone and shoving it back in her pocket she finally got outside and dropped the box where she stood. Drenching the contents in lighter fluid she didn't notice a car pulling up into an empty parking space in front of her with Lydia in the driver seat and her best friend Reese as the passenger. Both girls looked puzzled as Irene hadn't even glanced up in their direction since they pulled in. Reese and Lydia hopped out of the car calling her name.

"Irene?" Reese called out to her but she ignored her. "Irene!" Lydia cried, the girls just looked at each other confused. Reese looked over the car door as she noticed a box full of clothes and picture of Drew and Irene in a black frame that said forever on it. Irene lit the box on fire and stepped back as the contents were engulfed in flames.

Irene turned her head to look at her roommates as they stared back at her still confused.

"He cheated on me" was all she bothered to say.