| Sunday, October 30, 2005 |
| CHAPTER 14
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Paula left after she and Kourtnee made plans to meet after their classes on Friday to go get the food for the picnic. Kourtnee felt good that she had two new friends. It felt good that she had accomplished a goal that she had set for herself. Kourtnee liked being neat and organized, but more than that, she liked accomplishing goals that she set for herself. Kourtnee could rest easy tonight, knowing that she was going to accomplish some wonderful things this semester.
Colt was excited about his date with Kourtnee. He had even talked to his roommate about the date. His roommate seemed uninterested, but Colt shared his joy with his roommate anyway.
Colt beamed, "Man, she is fine. She has long hair. She knows how to dress. I’m telling you, dude. This girl is great. Man you should see her walk. That girl walks as if she is a queen or something. She smells great, too."
Colt's roommate grunted, "That’s cool, dude."
Colt laughed, "Dude, do you ever say anything other than 3 words at a time?"
Colt's roommate grunted, "No."
"Do you ever smile or laugh?"
Colt's roommate grunted, "Yea. Sometimes."
Colt laughed, "My girl is nice. I am glad that I met her. She has a great smile. She could be a model."
Colt's roommate plainly said, "Isn't this your first date?"
Colt glared at his roommate, "Why did you have to bring that up?"
Colt's roommate responded, "Because you sound like ya'll have been together forever. I was just asking, dude." Colt's roommate walked out of the room.
Colt shook his head. His roommate’s long black hair looked like it needed washing. The roommate always wore black. Colt had asked him why he always wore black. The roommate said, “Cause I’m colorblind, dude.” How in the world did a black kid from Absanie end up with a white kid that always wore black as a roommate? They were truly an odd couple.
Saturday morning, Paula woke up early. She was excited about Kourtnee’s date. Pl wasn’t sure shy she was excited, but she was excited. Perhaps, it was because she and Kourtnee were bounding.
Paula made it over to Kourtnee’s house at 7:01 am. After knocking on the door for a minute or two, Paula finally got an answer. Kourtnee opened the door still asleep. She rubbed her eyes and asked, “Girl, do you know what time it is?’ Paula smiled, “Yea, are you gonna let me in or what? Kourtnee moved out of the way and let Paula in. Kourtnee closed and locked the door.
Kourtnee looked at Paula, “I’m going back to bed. Don’t break or steal anything.” Kourtnee managed a small smile. Kourtnee went back into her bedroom. Paula smiled after she licked her tongue out at Kourtnee.
Paula sat on the couch. She turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. She watched a little bit of a cartoon, but it wasn’t interesting. Paula got hungry. She went into the kitchen and looked in the refrigerator. She ended up making a sandwich from the left over picnic food. Paula made sure to leave the kitchen spotless. She didn’t want Kourtnee fussing at her.
Kourtnee woke up about 9:00. She stretched and looked around the room before she got out of the bed. She heard the TV on and wondered why it was on; then she remembered that Paula was in the living room.
Kourtnee enjoyed having a friend, although she didn’t want to admit it. She liked Paula hanging around. Even with Paula’s pushiness and loudness, Kourtnee liked the company. Paula had been helpful in preparing Kourtnee for her date. Kourtnee was used to Ramona’s help when preparing for these kinds of things, but since Ramona wasn’t around, Paula was a big help to Kourtnee.
Kourtnee walked into the kitchen. Paula turned and looked at her. Paula said, “I see you finally woke up.” Kourtnee looked in the refrigerator. Kourtnee lifted her head above the door, “What did you eat?” Paula didn’t acknowledge Kourtnee. Finally Paula said, “What makes you think I ate something?” Kourtnee made a face at Paula, “The plate sitting on my end table.” Paula laughed, “My end table. I never thought I would hear a college student say my end table.” Paula shook her head. Kourtnee smacked her lips, “What did you eat?” Paula turned around in Kourtnee’s direction, “Chicken salad sandwich.” Kourtnee looked puzzled, “For breakfast?” Paula responded, “Yep.” Kourtnee shook her head, “You live like a college student.” Paula smacked her lips, “And you don’t. So what!” Kourtnee laughed as she rumbled through the refrigerator.
Kourtnee fixed a bowl of cereal. She sat down at the table to eat. After Kourtnee finished saying grace, Paula said, “You are so proper.” Kourtnee responded, “So, why are you bothering me?” Paula retorted, “Because you’re funny.” Kourtnee ignored Paula and finished eating her cereal.
Paula decided to bait Kourtnee to see what she would do. Paula said, “Have you ever wiped your mouth on the sleeve of your clothes?” Kourtnee ignored Paula. Paula laughed, “So, you’re just gonna ignore me, huh? That won’t help you any.” Kourtnee still didn’t say anything. Paula said, “Does everything you own match?” Kourtnee didn’t say anything.
Paula looked at Kourtnee, “Why are you ignoring me?” Kourtnee smiled at Paula, “because I want to. Why are you antagonizing me?” Paula smiled back, “whatever.” Kourtnee smiled, “What are you doing here again?” Paula looked at Kourtnee, “To help you get ready for your date and make sure you son’s mess your date up.” Kourtnee looked disgusted, “Why would I mess up my date? Are you being negative on purpose or just for fun?” Paula laughed, “Girl, please. I am just messing with you. I like chilling with you, that’s all.” Kourtnee smiled, “okay. I thought maybe you just liked torturing me.” Both girls laughed.
***
Kourtnee began getting dressed for her date at 12:00 pm. Paula sat in the living room yelling things out to Kourtnee.
“What are you all going to talk about?”
Kourtnee answered, “I don’t know.”
“Are you going to be flirtatious?”
Kourtnee answered, “I don’t know. Could you quit asking me questions?”
Paula kept bugging Kourtnee. Kourtnee kept responding in the same manner.
Kourtnee finally emerged from the room about 12:45 PM. She was fully dressed and ready to go. She was wearing a white blouse with a pair of dark blue slacks. She had on a pair of white trouser socks and a pair of dark blue loafers. She had on gold jewelry. Her hair was flawless and her make-up was pristine.
Paula looked at Kourtnee, “That’s not one of the outfits that I picked out.” Kourtnee smoothed out her pant leg, “I didn’t want to wear one of those.” Paula commented, “You look great anyway.” Kourtnee smiled, “Thanks.”
Kourtnee went into the kitchen and got the food ready for her date. She was a bit nervous. She was kind of bumbling around in the kitchen. Paula looked towards the kitchen, “Are you okay in there?” Kourtnee answered back, “Yes, I an okay.” Kourtnee finished in the kitchen. She went and sat down in the living room.
Ii was about 1:10 PM. Colt still hadn’t showed up to Kourtnee’s apartment. He hadn’t called or anything. Kourtnee was getting restless and upset, not to mention angry. Where was Colt?
Paula could see that Kourtnee was getting restless. Paula tried to calm Kourtnee down, but it didn’t seem to be working. Paula suggested that Kourtnee call Colt. Kourtnee called Colt’s number, but there was no answer. Kourtnee slammed the phone down on the receiver. Paula said, “That phone hasn’t done anything to you. Why are you taking your anger out on it?” Kourtnee huffed at Paula. Paula returned, “You need to calm down. You are starting to upset me.” Kourtnee huffed again as she headed to her bedroom.
At 1:32, there was a knock on Kourtnee’s door. Paula opened the door; a fine black guy with a light top lip and a dark bottom lip was standing at the door. The guy smiled at Paula, “does Kourtnee Adams live here?” Paula smiled back at him, “Yes, she does. Who are you?” Colt replied, “I am Colt Austin. I have a date with her.” Paula frowned at him, “You were supposed to be here at 1:00. I’m not sure that she even wants to go out with you now.” Colt said, “Is Kourtnee here?” Paula smiled, “Yea, she’s here.” Colt was getting upset, “Can I speak to her?” Paula said, “Yea, hold on.” Paula closed the door in Colt’s face, leaving him standing on the porch.
Colt was standing on Kourtnee’s front porch; upset, frustrated, and tired. He was wondering if Kourtnee really didn’t want to go out with him or if the girl who had answered the door was just being mean. Kourtnee had every right to be upset with him; he was a half hour late. It wasn’t like he had done it on purpose. It was an accident, rather a series of accidents.
Colt woke up at 9:00 AM. He had every intention of getting to his date with Kourtnee on time. His roommate was sitting in the living room with a couple of his friends, who look just like him. Colt wasn't sure if he shouldn't have been scared. Colt said hello as he walked to the bathroom. His roommate's friends grunted.
Colt turned the hot water on. It was as cold as ice. Colt turned the water off and went into the living room. He stared at his roommate, "dude, what happened to the hot water?" His roommate grunted, "Sorry, dude, we used it up taking showers." Colt made a face, "what, they don't have showers in their own rooms? Why they gotta come over here?" Colt rolled his eyes and walked off.
Colt decided, rather it had been decided for him that his shower would have to wait until later. Colt looked for the iron and the ironing board. Colt's roommate didn't have an iron, so Colt let the guy use his iron and ironing board with the agreement that it was supposed to stay in a common place where they both could use it. Somehow, the iron and ironing board ended up in his roommate's room all the time. Colt yelled, "Dude, where's the iron?" Colt's roommate pushed by Colt and went to get the iron. Colt's roommate brought the iron to Colt. Colt snatched the iron from his roommate, "Man, this is supposed to stay in here. Why do you always take it to your room?" Colt's roommate grunted, "Sorry, dude." Colt huffed and walked into his room.
Colt took the clothes that he was going to wear into the living room and laid them on the ironing board. Colt went into the kitchen to get something to eat. He looked in the cabinet for his favorite cereal. He picked up the Cheerio box and shook it. From the sound of the box, there were only crumbs. Colt looked in his roommate’s direction, "I guess you all got the last of the cereal?" One of his roommate's friends said, "Yea, and the milk, too." Colt slammed the cabinet door, cursed, and stormed into his room.
Colt emerged from his room a few minutes later in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.
It was 9:42 when Colt arrived at Franklin's Eatery. He figured that he could order breakfast to go without too much of a hassle; and then get back home in time enough to shower and change for his date. He thought he could even relax for a few minutes as well, but that didn't happen.
It took Colt almost 40 minutes to get his food. There weren't that many people in the place when he got there, that's why he went ahead and ordered. All of a sudden, the place got busy. People were coming in left and right. After Colt finally got his food, he went outside to get in his car. Well, someone had him blocked in. Colt got mad; opened his car door, and threw the bag of food in the car. Whatever he had in the bag was probably a big mess after he threw it. He went back into the restaurant. He tried to talk to the hostess to see if she could make an announcement, but she was so busy that she didn't have time to stop. Colt found a manager, who didn't seem to care. Colt tried several more times, without much success to get someone who worked at the restaurant to help him. Distraught and out of patience, Colt grabbed the microphone that was used to announce to go orders and yelled, "if you drive a black Ford Mustang, please come move you car. You have me blocked in! I need to get out! If you drive a black Ford Mustang, come move your car!" This caused most of the people in the restaurant to stop what they were doing. The hostess came over to Colt and grabbed the microphone from Colt, "sir, you can use this." Colt made a face at her, "well, you all wouldn't help me, so I didn't have a choice." A skinny blonde headed girl walked up to Colt, "my car has you blocked in." Colt and the girl walked outside. She moved her car. Colt was able to go home.
When Colt got home, it was 10:50. That meant that Colt only had 40 minutes to iron, shower, dress, and leave to go pick up Kourtnee. He had thrown the food that he bought from Franklin's Eatery in the trash. He had gotten so mad that he lost his appetite. Colt had made up his mind to leave in 30 minutes.
Colt's roommate and his friends were gone. Colt was glad. He didn't want to have to deal with them. Colt looked at the ironing board. His clothes were not there. Colt went into his room. His clothes were on the bed ironed. Apparently, his roommate had ironed them. Colt smiled. His roommate was weird, but he was nice on occasion. Colt looked at the crease in his pants. It looked as if the pants had been pressed at the cleaners.
Colt's roommate had knocked at least five minutes off of Colt's to-do list. Colt grabbed what he needed and went to the bathroom to shower. Although, he shouldn't have, Colt added the gained five minutes to his shower. He didn't know that he would need the five minutes down the line.
Colt finished with his shower and got dressed at 11:38. He was late. He had wanted to leave the house by 11:30. He shrugged his shoulders and left out of the house. He had spent too much time trying to look extra special for Kourtnee.
Colt let the negative thoughts he was having about his day so far leave his mind. Kourtnee only lived 10 minutes away from his apartment. He wasn't going to be late, so he thought.
Colt turned the corner to get onto the street that Kourtnee's apartment was on. There was an accident that had traffic stopped. Colt slapped his hand on his head. He was dazed. He hit his fist on his steering wheel. |
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