She was my girl. We became
inseparable. People began to ask us if
we were sisters. We were almost the same
height, same brown color, and both had medium length hair. We helped each other a lot that year. I assisted her with some of her toughest
classes and she coached me through some tough life problems and taught me a lot
about men. Crystal could spot a dog a
mile away. I remember this one guy in
particular. His name was Shawn. Shawn was fine. I’m talking double-take fine. He was tall and muscular with a deep brown
skin tone and sexy goatee. The problem
was that he knew he was fine, so he played it to the fullest. I couldn’t see that in him. But, Crystal was
never fooled.
“Girl, look at him. He is just too fine. Look at him, Crystal.”
“I’m not trippin off him. Chantal, he’s a dog.”
“Girl, look at his lips. Do those lips look like the lips of a dog to you?” Crystal closed her book and gave me her full attention.
“Yep. They look like he howls at every full moon.”
“You trippin…don’t talk to me for the rest of the day.” I pouted.
“You just mad cause you know I’m right.” She laughed and went back to reading. I couldn’t help myself, I laughed too.
Sure enough, Crystal was right. Within weeks I find that not only did Shawn have a son back home, but he was working on baby number two here at school. He thought that he could get any girl on campus, and he tried. He even tried to get me.
I remember the evening in particular. I was lounging in my room reading for class and Shante was on the phone talking to one of her multiple men. Shawn came by with his friends Darryl and Greg who lived in the tall white dorms across from ours. Guys were always stopping by to see Shante. I was used to it. But when I saw that it was Shawn this time, I was shocked.
“Hey, is…” Shawn said and stopped to look me over in my short shorts and tank top. “Is… Shante here?”
“Yeah,” I was irritated. I stepped back so that he could walk in.
Shante ended her phone call. Shawn asked her to walk with him and his friends to the cafeteria. She said yeah and they left.
I was slightly pissed and jealous. Shante was constantly talking to some guy that she’d met, why’d she have to go after Shawn too?
Twenty minutes later, my phone rang. I almost didn’t answer it, because I didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Chantal?”
“Yeah. Who’s this?”
“Oh, so you don’t know who this is? You just saw me. ” I wasn’t in the mood for guessing games. I was too busy fuming over Shante and Shawn.
“No, I don’t know who the hell….” I was about to go off, but then I realized who it was, “Shawn?”
“Yeah.”
I was sure that this had to be a mistake...how’d he even get my number?
“Shante isn’t here, but I’ll tell her you called.”
“I didn’t call to speak to Shante. I want to talk to you.”
I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t help but think it was a joke.
“You still there?”
“Yeah, what makes you want to speak to me?”
“I never get a chance to conversate with you one on one.”
“Have you ever tried?”
“Nope, but I’d like to. Can I come over?”
I knew that Crystal would go off if she found out I let Shawn come over here. But, I didn’t give a damn. He wanted to come over to see me.
“Sure.” After I hung up the phone, I changed out of my shorts into some jeans. I didn’t want to give Shawn the wrong impression.
He knocked on the door a few minutes
later. I let him in and he sat on my bed.
Damn, he was fine without even trying.
I sat down in a chair at my desk. I
didn’t know what to say to him. My shy
side was kicking in big time. I was
trying to think of something Shante would say to a guy. She was never at a loss for words when it
came to men. Luckily, I didn’t have to
initiate anything. Shawn started talking
first.
“So,
Chantal, where’re you from?”
“Newcrest.” He looked like he was waiting for me to say more, but I swear I was tongue-tied or brain dead.
“I don’t run into many people from Newcrest here.”
“Me either.” This was getting to be a bit embarrassing. The windows were closed and it was getting extremely hot in the room. I had to get out of there. “Excuse me Shawn. I’ll be right back.” I hurried out the room and went into the bathroom. Diane and Sara, who lived in the room across from Shante and I, were in there talking loud about nothing. For once, I had too much on my mind to let them irritate me with their dumb rich girl talk. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not biased, but the things that rich girls talk about are just not the same as what us regular girls talk about. Rich girls sit around comparing the latest gifts from daddy, or if some boy, who’s equally as rich, thought that they would look better as a blonde. Regular girls talk about how we’re going to afford to get the car that we want, while convincing our mothers that we’re responsible enough to handle the payments. Or we gossip about who did what to whom and where and sometimes how we can get some of it. You know, important stuff.
Anyways, I ignored them and went to the sink. I had to calm myself down and breathe. “Chantal, you’re being ridiculous. He’s just like any other guy that you’ve come across.” I collected my thoughts and headed back to my room.
When I entered the room, I found the lights off and the radio on...playing soft music. Shawn was still on my bed, but he had taken his jacket and sweater off, leaving him in his T-shirt and sweats. He motioned for me to sit down next to him. “I found this good station on the radio. Come listen with me.”
I was too busy staring at the muscles under the T-shirt. Every time he’d pat the bed, his muscles flexed.
“Come on. I don’t bite.” I immediately thought about what Crystal said about him being a dog. Dogs bite. I convinced myself that Crystal didn’t know what she was talking about. I went and sat down beside him and allowed him to put his arm around me.
I wasn’t there thirty seconds before he started kissing my neck. I don’t know why I didn’t stop him right away. He started rubbing my thigh. Still, I just stayed there, but I wasn’t really into it. He then tried to put his tongue in my mouth. I suddenly felt nauseous. “Stop, Shawn.”
He acted like he didn’t hear me. He continued groping and rubbing. I was completely turned off.
“I said stop it!” That just made him try harder. “Stoppit shit!” I pushed him away. He looked like he didn’t understand what I had just said.
“Stop?” He was looking confused like I had just given him a mathematical formula that I wanted him to solve. “What do you mean, stop?”
“What the hell do you think I mean?”
Shawn jumped up. “Damn that. I ain’t gone beg for it.” He grabbed his clothes, slid them on and left. I was pissed.
