Early fall 1996, the first year of college fro
some and the second for Brenda Warren and Marques Tate. The school was unfamiliar with the new faces
and familiar with the old. Brenda comes from a struggling family with two
brothers and two sisters. Her mom helped put her through college. Brenda got a night job as cocktail waitress
to help pay for school. Marques comes from a wealthy
family with one brother. Her father
left home several years ago. Marques rushes down the hall to his ten o’clock class. The first day of school and he is already
starting off wrong by oversleeping.. Not watching where he is going, he crashes
into Brenda whose back is turned d because of a blazing gossip conversation she
was engaged with her friends. “I am
sorry”, as he bends to pick up the young lady’s books. “That’s ok” says Brenda
bending to help pick up the books so he wouldn’t feel as bad.” “I am sorry.”
“That’s alright, stop apologizing.” they elevated themselves from the
floor. “My name is Brenda “ an introduction seemed to
be appropriate at the time to calm this unfamiliar face.” “Marques Tate” an
exchange of a handshake. “Are you a freshmen?” “Sophomore , but
I’ve never seen you around.” “We’ll
probably run into each other again.
Hopefully we can get more acquainted.” she said as she folded the books
in her arms and with a strong eye contact, they left and parted their separate
ways. By their senior year, of college, they had been dating on and off between
seasons. After graduation, they started dating seriously. They moved into a
small apartment to accommodate their budget. Later on August part of 1999, Brenda’s friend, Angel,
returns to New York from California where she went to school at UCLA. Brenda seems to give the time that she spends
with Marques and Angel, which causes a lot of conflict in Marques and Brenda’s
relationship. Brenda now works for a critic magazine in New York. She became
recognized and by her column , which acquired a large
leadership and following, she started going through offers from very popular
publishing companies. It hurt Marques when she hit him with the news that she
was going to Chicago to pursue a better career. They stayed in contact at
first but then the long distance relationship became difficult until they could
no longer maintain it. They decide to become friends and eventually lost
contact. Brenda has become ceo
of the sister company in Chicago
of the main office in New
York. She is
returning to New
York because
the stockholder of
the company have threatened to pull out their shares in the Chicago office. The
magazine has begun to get letters from readers complaining about bad editorial
reviews and it is not selling as well.
Brenda must return to the New York office to address some new ideas and get rid of some
of the personnel that has brought the magazine
down. In the process of business, she
could spend time with her family, catch up with her
friends, and maybe run into that man that she once could call her own,
Marques!!! Later on that evening the girls had got a couple
of outfits together and was ready to hang out. When they got to the club, it was not as
crowded as was expecting . They immediately sat at the
bar to order drinks. They got a feel of
the place and hit the dance floor. Brenda’s having such a good time that she
had forgot all about work. Brenda leaves Angel on the dance floor and
takes a break. While ordering a bottle
of water, someone bumps to the back of her. She turns around and is really surprised
to see Marques. Happy to see each other,
they greet one another with a long hug. Marques takes
a seat next to her and order her drinks as they catch up. By the look in their eyes you can see the
love once shared by the two was still there. So shocked to see each other they stumble to start a conversation. They started to tell
their story and in between Marques announces that he
is engaged. Brenda is hurt by the news but she is happy for him. While they were talking, two of his friends
approached. Charlie and Lewis were
friends of his from work and his neighborhood.
The four of them soon got a table together at the end of the club. They order some wine and started
talking. Lewis seemed very interested in
Brenda and paid much attention to her. He sees that Brenda has great business
since and admires her. He wonders how did Marques let
her go. While Lewis studies Brenda, she
was involved in a deep conversation with Marques. Soon after, the four decided
to order a late dinner and Brenda and Marques exchanged numbers. The next day Marques calls Brenda and they
makes plans , he offers to take her out but she
declines and decides to have him over to cook his favorite meal. Later on that
afternoon, Lewis calls Marq
