There Will Be Time Ch. 02

Thank you for the comments!

I have made a number of changes. Par exemple, someone mentioned that I jump around... This seemed to be the problem for most of you. On my word processor, I know that time has elapsed because of double spacing. So, to solve that problem here on the site, I decided to indicate a time change by capitalizing the first three words of a new section. This should resolve confusion and so forth, I hope, and I will continue to do this for the duration of There Will Be Time.

If you had no problem at all following Chapter 2, then by all means, you don't need to reread this edited version, unless you want to. There is one added conversation between Adina and Stephanie and corrections, but that's about all. I'm in the process of writing Chapter 3. :)

Bonne lecture, (my French professor seems to be rubbing off on me :))

LeoCharmer

*There Will Be Time*

Chapter Two: The Body and the Mind

SCHOOL WOULD START that next week and Adina could honestly say she was ready to get it over with.

Otherwise, while still fresh in her mind, she took it upon herself to visit the dorms' gym three times a week in the mornings. She tried to spend ten minutes running a mile on the treadmill once, but that was a catastrophe, for she got tired so quickly. So, instead, she ran, pacing herself for twenty minutes. She purchased herself some ten pound dumbbells and ankle weights, and was delighted that the Herbalife diet was working in her favor.

Adina found that she could slip into her pants a bit easier and when she weighed herself the previous week she was nine pounds lighter.

After completing her third set of lunges, she decided it was time for her to go back to her room and shower. The sun was out, but there was a breeze when she walked out into the cold January weather. Despite that, she was sweating profusely, had aching, burning muscles, and she felt energized.

"Shower time," she sang to herself as she made her way up the stairs.

The dorm Adina shared with her roommate was more like an apartment set with its own kitchen and breakfast bar. It came pre-furnished with plain oak furniture and a plain brown couch that was comfy at times. The dining room and kitchen had been decorated in red apple designs, courtesy of her roommate, but not overly done—the placemats and towels with a porcelain red apple sitting in the middle of the table, and cream colored curtains printed with... more apples!

As for the living room, it was clad in zebra print—again, courtesy of her roommate. Stephanie Burk had purchase a really nice lime green fur rug to put the coffee table over, throw pillows of eggplant purple, lime green and hot pink—zebra printed as well. And Adina's favorite things that she purchased were zebra printed coasters to set on the end tables. She wondered when she first saw them where in the world you would get those.

Next to the T.V. stand was the lizard tank for Stephanie's pet given to her by her grandparents before they went back to Michigan. Adina had brought two televisions when she moved out of her foster parents' home, setting the bigger one on the T.V. stand against the wall. There on the couch in front of that television, the two young women had many nights dedicated to chicken enchiladas and tequila and sometimes woke up the next morning in the same place.

In the hallway Adina's mother Laveda had laid out a long eggplant colored carpet, and on the walls had hung up two weaved angels to remind Adina of home. She could only smile and shake her head as she'd helped the plump woman who couldn't stop chattering about how she would try and drop by once or twice a week. She swore to her mother that she acted as if she were moving out of the state of California or something, reminding her to call beforehand if she decided to pop up.

To the left was the toilet, which was a separate room from the rest of the bathroom, but Stephanie somehow managed to get a matching purple rug in there too. Needless to say, the colors in the bathing rooming were the same as in the living room minus the purple. Lime green and hot pink. Adina didn't mind the color scheme one bit. It was bright, happy, and girly.

Once one walked into the apartment, they would be able to see the door to Adina's room straight down that hallway while Stephanie's bedroom was adjacent to Adina's. Both rooms came complete with a twin-sized bed, a small bookshelf, a desk and chair, a small dresser, a file cabinet, and a small walk-in closet.

Unlike the loud and vibrant colors of the rest of the dorm, Adina's room contained subtle and soft colors. She'd always liked the way baby blue looked with baby pink and so decorated as such. The curtains she hid the windows with were sheer and baby blue and she made it a point to buy little accessories that matched the color. Her bed—she wished it was full-sized at least—was dressed in a baby pink comforter with dark brown twisting loops, matching pillows, and a baby blue thermal blanket that she kept half folded.

It looked very inviting when she entered her room, but she didn't want to soil it with her bodily grime and sweat. The phone in her pocket began to vibrate and she groaned in annoyance. Adina had just gotten into her dorm and already someone wanted her.

Begrudgingly she pulled out the device and glimpsed the time and the number before picking it up. It was a number that she didn't know and it was only half past ten. It was probably someone from Craig's list.

"Hello, this is Adina, your personal beauty consultant and weight managing consultant, how are you today," she recited the greeting in a chipper voice as she made her way down the hall to her room.

"Hi Miss Richards, how are you?"

The man's voice sounded vaguely familiar but she just couldn't quite place it. She frowned trying to remember. "I'm well sir and how are you?"

The man chuckled slightly and she smiled at the pleasant sound. "I'm doing fine. This is Detective Greene by the way."

"Oh, Detective Greene! Wow," she exclaimed genuinely surprised. "This is definitely a... shock," she said as she tossed her gym bag onto the floor beside the bed and paced over to her desk. It was nice to hear his voice after such a long time. He had always been pleasant.

Adina could hear his smile through the phone when he said, "Yeah well, I was just going through some case files and then you crossed my mind. I just thought I would check on you."

The ease she'd had just felt before he said the word "case" disappeared completely as she plopped down on her desk chair. Reaching down she undid the ankle weights and then tossed them to the side. "Oh," she said somewhat stoically.

"Oh God, I'm sorry for saying that, Adina. I know that was a difficult time for you," Detective Greene said apologetically.

"No it's alright," she said pushing away strands of hair that stuck to her skin. "You're my hero after all."

From what Adina could remember about Detective Greene was that he put everything he had into her case and it all paid off at the end. She was extremely grateful for having him take on her situation. He was pretty much the one person she could depend on during that time. And it was a very dark time for her.

She remembered the last time she saw him. It was after they had won the case and her parents and Caleb were talking about taking her out for a dinner celebration when all Adina wanted to do was sleep peacefully for once. He'd walked up to the group in his pressed blue suit, his brown hair brushed out of his handsome tanned face, and placed a hand on her shoulder. She'd jumped and glanced up at him and calmed at his familiar face and smiled. He'd hugged her and congratulated both her and her family, kissed her cheek and then he left. That was about two years ago.

"Why, thank you, Adina. That means a lot to me. So, how is school going?"

"Good. We'll start back up next week. This is my last semester," she said.

"Really? Well I'm glad to hear that. I hope I'll get invited to the graduation."

"Of course, I will see what I can do." She smiled. "So how is work Detective?"

"It's work. Oh, please call me Andrew," he laughed.

"Sure thing, Andrew."

"How is your family?"

"Oh, they're wonderful." There was a slight pause. "So," her eyes wandered to the ceiling.

"Oh, I'm sorry to keep you. I know you probably need to get to work Miss Consultant." Adina giggled and made her way to the bathroom. "Your little greeting was cute by the way."

'Little?' She recklessly turned the corner as she laughed humorously at the word, "Yeah, well—"

"But I was wondering if you were free on Friday."

"Geez!" She hissed when her knee collided with the sink cabinet. "Mmh," she shuddered trying to shake the pain away.

"Adina, are you alright?" he shouted, voice drenched in concern.

"Yep, I'm good," she breathed and squeezed her eyes shut. It was bad enough that her body was sore, but walking into the cabinets she could have lived without. "What's happening tomorrow?"

He cleared his throat. "Well, our department is having a chili cook-off and I thought that maybe you'd want to come. It's been awhile since I've seen you and to be quite honest it's taken me this long to actually call you."

"A chili cook-off sounds fun. Do I have to make any chili?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. You just have to show up," he chuckled.

She smiled. It was nice of him to invite her to his job's potluck. "Okay, well I'll be there. Thank you," she replied gratefully. Spending an entire day just working wasn't exactly her idea of a good time.

"Really?! Okay," he said in an excited voice. "Well, goodbye then."

"Bye-bye."

It would be good to have something fun to do before having to go to another show later that night. Being at the club with just the band was not necessarily a grand idea to her. She used to enjoy going to the club because that meant dancing to good music and having a few drinks. But you couldn't dance to good music if some of the people performing on stage weren't that great. Basically, it was like another job.

However, she did enjoy watching Caleb and Robert collaborate. Robert was a good singer, not a great singer when he tried to go above and beyond. She preferred that he remain in a key comfortable for him and less strenuous on his vocal cords. He loved to sing and equally loved to push his limits. And she knew Caleb loved to play the piano as it was second nature to him. He'd loved it ever since he discovered the giant instrument could emit sound.

She and Caleb were children of the preacher and first lady of Amos' Temple and that put them under a microscope. They had to be perfect children. Caleb had been subjected to learning the piano while Adina, who had refused lessons, had no choice but to join the choir at her father's church. She was brought up Methodist, a branch of Protestantism, but claimed no denomination to the frustration and regret of her parents.

They had to be perfect young adults. Caleb went to theological college as soon as he graduated from Village Christian High School, while Adina had been placed there as soon as she had graduated from junior high. He met the woman, Melanie, who would soon be his wife while at Village, finally proposing to her when they were twenty-one. And then Caleb decided that being a deacon wasn't his true calling.

They've been married for four years and have managed to conceive three children, whom Adina adore and wished she could spoil rotten.

Ernest and Laveda Richards were good, God-fearing people. They were honest, telling Adina that she wasn't their biological child when she was eleven years old. After they'd had Caleb, there were complications in which her mother wasn't able to conceive anymore. So, they'd decided to adopt a little baby, and they were lucky to find her. But she knew that she was the lucky one to have received such supportive and loving parents. She was still their little girl, they'd informed, and it was better for them to tell her then instead of her finding out later, and for that she thanked them.

After hearing that her birth mother was a prostitute and had given her up and that no one knew who her biological father was, Adina decided it wasn't worth it to go looking for what she had already.

Smiling at just thinking about her mom and dad, she decided she would call and check on them after she got out of the shower. Setting the phone on the counter away from the toilet she opened the shower curtain marveling at the invitation and the little visitor she found waiting for her.

"What are you doing out of your tank, Emilio?" Gently she picked up the iguana out of the bathtub and set him into the sink. A chill of discomfort went through her; she still wasn't used to touching its rough skin.

Usually Adina didn't like anything that had more legs than she did, but she had to admit that the lizard grew on her. That was probably because Stephanie always had him out around her. "Be a good boy and stay there. Your mommy is terrible for leaving your tank open like that."

She grabbed her phone and sent a text to Stephanie to let her know that her lizard got out... again. It was the fourth time this week. "Bad mommy," she wrote at the end. Adina knew that the reason Emilio was out is because Stephanie most likely forgot to lock the tank. That seemed to be happening quite frequently.

Emilio was sneaky. Once, she found his molted skin next to the patio door in the dining room.

"Come on," she said picking him up again, another chill shooting down to her feet, to let him cling onto to her shirt. It was better than holding him, although his little talons tended to poked her flesh. "Back into the tank you go. And into the shower I need to go."

After making sure the latch was secure, Adina removed her shirt and tossed it into the bedroom and then closed herself in the bathing room, the low humdrum of the fan lightly reverberating in her diaphragm.

That night, after all the phone calls and party planning, Adina was finally able to breathe and relax. She had a nice healthy meal of arugula salad with balsamic vinaigrette with simmered chicken breast cut into chunks on top. Afterwards, she washed her dirty dishes, knocked on Stephanie's door to wish her good night and secluded herself in her room.

With a slight smile, her eagerness spiked as she undressed for bed. She lay her tired body down in her bed and stared at the ceiling. And with a sigh, she allowed herself to think about James.

The images of him, thinking of the way he made her body feel was irresistible. It was at night that she could allow herself to think of his warm embrace.

"Look at my skin and look at yours. What color are we?... What nationality are you?... Are you sure that you are Black?... But our skin is brown. Let me ask you another thing..." James had been so insistent with his questions and so perplexed by the answers she gave, most of the time frowning at her lack of awareness.

"If you believe that you are one with Jesus Christ and that you come from his body and blood, then who are you? Are you Black? Are you African American? Aren't you just like him, an Israelite from the tribe of Judah? Aren't you just like me?"

Back then, Adina couldn't understand why she'd gotten so emotional, but after much thought, she understood perfectly why she was saddened. It was a sense of betrayal that she'd felt, betrayal of setting aside her beliefs and questions, and James seemed to have all the answers.

The longer she thought about it the more reality began to stab at how much her people had been dumbed down. She even believed that she was Black, while most people insisted black wasn't a color. Black signifies nonexistence. 'No wonder he said I was too young to understand. There's still a lot I don't understand.'

Yes, for her, it was profound information. Nevertheless, she couldn't ignore he knew more about who she was than anyone else. And he had said the words as if reminding her of what she was at some point in her life, she realized.

Something tugged at Adina's chest every time she'd fleetingly thought of him. She felt as if they were connected somehow, more than humanly; spiritually. She was ashamed that he had such a powerful effect on her. She couldn't even bring herself to tell her roommate about him and she was her best friend in the entire world.

It had been two weeks and she couldn't get his hands or brooding face out of her head. And his lips, oh God, those lips! She missed them, missed him, and guessed that it was okay that he hadn't tried to talk to her after the show that night. They couldn't exactly carry on as if nothing had happened if they were near one another, so, she figured that separation was best.

'But he could have taken my number,' she thought bitterly.

'And then what? Do you think that he would be yours? Get real!'

Her parents had always told her that no man wants to be with a woman who can give it up so easily: and though she hadn't gone that far, she'd gone far enough. It probably turned him off.

Even still, she would have liked it if he'd asked her for her number. Starting something serious with a man like him would be nice. Hell, starting something platonic with any man would be a start.

'Not to mention that he's so much older than you Adina.'

After some convincing and self-searching Adina finally came to the conclusion that he, someone who piqued her interest, could be her little secret.

Adina closed her eyes and moved her hands along her naked body beneath the covers, imagining that it was his hands. The skin of her plump breasts tingled and she ached to touch them, but somehow she knew that James wouldn't oblige by caressing her in that area. He would drive her crazy by touching everywhere else, torturing her until she begged.

His remarkable copper eyes watched her the way a man watched a woman he adored. She could picture his nose rubbing against hers; feel the warmth of his breath on her tingling skin. His teeth tugging at her hardened buds, and that caused moisture to pool between her thighs. Arching upward she trailed her fingertips over her rib cage and abdomen and came into contact with her scars, deep and jagged, sensitive to the touch.

Those scars. Adina bit back a cry of sorrow as she traced the horrific marks, coming to focus behind her eyelids. She hated recalling how she'd gotten them. It was a nightmare that Adina always had trouble waking up from. The worst part was she had to live with them every day of her life, always reliving the pain and the fear of being attacked, dumped and left to die in the middle of nowhere.

When James had touched her in the restroom at the Wicked Vine, he made her forget such things as cruelty even existed. She wondered if he had taken her number, if he had called her, and if they began a relationship, how he would react to seeing her body.

Would he be aloof and act like it didn't matter that she wasn't what he was expecting? Or would he be openly repulsed by the sight and completely change his mind about being with her?

Maybe it was better that way, with no contact.

Suddenly, it became too painful to think that James would ever want to look at her or even touch a body like hers if he ever saw her naked. She bet that his body was beautiful and strong, no marks or scars marring his beautiful chocolate skin.

Who'd get sexually aroused looking at a body like hers? Looking upon them herself was most times unbearable.

Adina ceased feeling the mutilations on her torso and grabbed for her large t-shirt at the foot of her twin-sized bed. A tear trickled down her face as she yanked the worn shirt down over her body and then plopped back down onto the pillow.

She turned onto her side and huddled into a ball facing the wall.

"I have to love myself," she recited over and over until her bottom lip stopped trembling and she stilled herself for a moment to think of him again. This time she thought back on the way he had kissed her, his warm succulent tongue stimulating her lips, shutting down all but one sense. With that, her eyes grew heavy with sleep.