X.

“I just don’t get what you see in him,” said Aniyah, Medina Jade Walker’s friend.

“Good for you then that you’re not the one dating him,” said Medina Jade.

“But explain it to me. The guy lounges around all day in your parents’ apartment, not working, not going to school or anything. What the hell’s so great about him?”

Medina Jade sighed. She felt like they had this conversation every day. Instead of answering, she took a long sip from her coffee drink.

“Hello?” asked Aniyah.

“I’ve already told you a million times.”

“Yeah,” said Aniyah, stirring her own coffee drink, “and still, it makes no sense.”

Aniyah was one to talk, thought Medina Jade. There was little that Aniyah did that made sense. Just last week, she’d gone on this whole tirade about white men, how they were part of the oppressive patriarchy that kept women like them down, and then, later that exact same freaking day, Medina Jade had caught her making out with Peter, a white dude from their chemistry class. When Medina Jade asked her about it the next day, Aniyah said that all people are dualities, one part knows things, the other part wants things, and it depends on our mood which part wins. How it could be true that knowing didn’t lead to the proper wants, Medina Jade couldn’t understand. She’d left it alone, though, out of respect for her friend.

A respect her friend refused to extend to her.

“Why don’t you go through your reasons one more time?”

“Fine,” said Medina Jade, cross, “when we first met…”

“He made you laugh. OK, I got that one.”

“Uh huh. And he’s kind of sensitive, you know, inside, which makes him really sweet.”

“Makes him a pussy, you mean,” said Aniyah.

“It…does in some ways. But sweet, too. Like, for example, he writes me love notes and poetry and stuff like that.”

“And that’s something you like?”

“Shouldn’t it be?” said Medina Jade, defensive.

“I guess,” replied Aniyah, not showing a single sign that she cared whether or not Medina Jade was getting defensive, “go on.”

“He’s smart.”

“Smart enough to take advantage of you, that’s for sure.”

Medina Jade shook her head, her frustrations mounting. “No. He’s smart in that he sees things other people don’t see.”

“Like what?”

“Like…it’s hard to explain now…but like, he’ll notice my feelings, sometimes before even I do.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t take somebody smart to notice somebody else’s feelings,” said Aniyah, rolling her eyes. “What else?”

“I don’t know. That’s enough for me.”

“That’s enough? It doesn’t take much with you, girl.”

Medina Jade harrumphed. “Well, what do you see in Peter?”

“Peter?” asked Aniyah, incredulous, “I don’t see anything in Peter but arms and abs and what hangs beneath them.”

“Then why are you with him?”

“I’m not with him! I’m just having fun with him. Are you really that innocent?”

“No,” said Medina Jade, who really wasn’t. She had just lashed out, sought to say something to gain the upper ground in the conversation. “I guess I just misunderstood what was going on with you two.”

“Yeah, well, be careful with that. I don’t want rumors going around. Next thing you know, some guy I’m after won’t get with me because he thinks I’m committed.”

“Is that really a big concern with guys?”

“Ah, you never know with them. They’re dumb as dirt, every last one of them. It’s hard to predict what’ll make them pissy and jealous and all that. Best to avoid whatever road bumps you can.”

Medina Jade here went quiet. She’d run out of things to ask or say.

For whatever reason, this never happened to her friend. “And that’s what I’m trying to get at about Romel. You’ve chained yourself to this fool, while somewhere out there,” Aniyah pointed out over the balcony of the coffee shop overlooking their college campus, “there’s a set of arms and abs that have a lot more to offer you. I’m just saying.”

Medina Jade said, “Yeah, ok.”

Later, while she rode the bus home, she thought of how she should have responded. “You need to mind your own business, Aniyah. A long time ago, I fell in love with the guy. And I have every right to be in love with whoever I want, just like you have the right to sleep with white guys even though you think they’re evil. I’m a woman, a woman with my own mind and thoughts and desires, and I can make decisions for myself.”

This always happened to her. A gust of bravado would come just as soon as she was several miles from the conversation. She rolled her eyes and laughed at herself. She was so annoying.

She got off the bus at the corner by her apartment building. The sun above her stood proud in the sky, beating down on the day. She didn’t like it when it got this hot but she also knew well enough that there wasn’t much she could do about it but sweat. This she did as she half-jogged up the steps and fumbled for her keys. After stepping into the building, she took in air-conditioned air and breathed relief.

She went up to her floor and into her apartment. There was a bit of a mess going on in it since she’d been too busy to clean it lately. Oh, well, she thought, she’d take care of that later. Right now, she was looking forward to some alone time with her man. She needed it to scrub away all that negativity Aniyah tried infecting her with.

She dropped her keys on the counter and went looking around. Good, her parents weren’t home. Not that they were much of a bother or anything. They were, as far as Medina Jade knew, the only two straight up, bona fide black hippies in existence (besides Jimi Hendrix, who they idolized). So, they didn’t much care what she and her boyfriend did together. Still, alone time, it was just better alone.

“Babe?” she called out, coming into the hallway leading to her room. “You here?”

The reply dashed her excitement. In a stuttering, almost fearful voice, he said, “I’m…I’m…here…”

A swell of concern welled up in her. “Babe?” she repeated, and then asked, “Why are you talking like that?”

She went cautious to the room they shared, scared she should be worried. She found her love on the floor, knees pressed to his chest, staring off into space. He was trembling noticeably and there were tears standing at the corners of his eyes.

“I felt it all,” he said, “all of it.”

“What?” Medina Jade asked, rushing to him, dropping to her knees before him, touching him to soothe him. “I can’t understand what you mean.”

She saw now, now that she was close to him, that his eyes, they’d dimmed, the usually dark complexion of his skin, it’d grayed. He looked sickly, ugly even. And he was burning up. If she thought the outside was sweltering, it was nothing compared to his temperature. It was like leaving her hand hovering inside an oven at full bore.

“Babe…what’s wrong with you?” she asked, her voice all full of sympathy.

Romel’s eyes went up, met hers, pierced hers. “I felt what they felt while all of them died.”