Rush the Wicked

“What do you mean, what do I want? I want to talk to you. You don’t come around. Whenever I’m at your house you’re either just leaving or you shut yourself up in your room.” Teri turned her head a little and let her eyes leave him as he exposed her standoffishness. “If I did something,” Curtis continued, “I just want to know what it is.”

Teri scoffed at his words and looked at him again. “Where the hell do you get off thinking that you must have done something wrong to keep me from coming over to your apartment at all hours of the night? Aside from the fact that my having a boyfriend may have slipped your mind, I never would have guessed that your missing my company would be keeping you up at night.”

“Well it is,” Curtis said to her. “A part of me anyways.”

“I gotta go,” Teri said to him indifferently. She turned and headed on her way. She barely made it a step before she felt Curtis take hold of her arm and put a stop to her exit. Teri spun around furiously. “What?” she said just shy of a scream.

“Am I gonna see you tonight?” he asked her.

“Fuck you.” Teri turned again and stormed off into the crowd. After watching her back disappear into the sea of people, Curtis started to make his way back to his own gathering of consorts.

“Something I should know about?” April said to him as they walked across the grass toward the crowd gathered around the stage.

“Nothing. I just bumped into Teri a few minutes ago.”

“I take it she didn’t bump back,” April said.

Curtis shot her a quick smile. Very intuitive, he thought. “No she didn’t. And that wasn’t all.” Curtis analyzed their encounter in his head. “There was something different about her. At first I thought it might have been the hours she’s been putting in over at the motel, but I seriously doubt that that much bed making and towel hanging could do that to someone. Not in the short time that she’s been there.”

“Yeah and it would be even harder to effect you if you never even showed up.”

Curtis looked at her awkwardly again. “What?”

“She stopped going,” April explained. “For about a month now, I think.”

“What’s she doing for money?” Curtis asked. His interest was more peaked now than he let on, though he seriously doubted he could conceal such a thing from April.

“Guess ole Benjamin’s footing the bill. Either way, I haven’t heard any complaints from anybody.”

Didn’t mean there weren’t any, Curtis thought, giving the whole situation that much more consideration. The music blaring out of the speakers supplied by the band on the stage began to grow louder as the two of them drew closer. Curtis decided not to burden April with any more of his thoughts on the matter. It would have undoubtedly dampened the mood and from what he could see April was growing more excited with each step they took toward the stage. He would keep his feelings to himself for the time being.

When the event began to let out later in the evening and Curtis caught another glimpse of Teri in the crowd he took advantage of the sighting to make an attempt at securing another meeting with her. “There’s this movie that I’ve been wanting to see,” Curtis said as he walked up behind her. If she hadn’t noticed him yet then the decreasing pace at which she walked after he’d spoken up let him know that she was surely aware of him now. “I figured that maybe if you weren’t in the mood for any indoor activities then there might be some outdoor ones I could interest you in.”

He continued walking behind her at an ever decreasing rate of speed until they both came to a stop and she did a one eighty to face him. “And what makes you think I’d be interested in even that?” Teri replied.

Curtis just stood there for a moment staring at this absolute vision of a young lady. The weight she’d lost had failed to diminish any of the features he’d found most attractive in her by much. He had no idea what could. “Because I can’t think of any reason why you shouldn’t be.” He took a step towards her, closing the distance between them to little over a yard. “So say yes and tell me you’ll see me tonight.”

“For your information, I can think of plenty,” Teri said to him in the toughest tone that she could pull out of herself at the moment.

Curtis turned his head from side to side then locked in on Teri’s again. “And I’m willing to bet that none of these reasons include Benjamin. So don’t sell me another line of shit that includes this so-called boyfriend of yours.” Teri’s lips moved and quivered in a manner that said she desperately wanted to respond to his accusation in some manner but had no idea how to, or any inclination to do so had she been in possession of one. “My company couldn’t possibly be that bad,” Curtis contended with a halfhearted smile.

“But I’m sure mine could,” Teri said in retaliation. She looked confused and angry as she spoke. She started backing away from Curtis with a sudden sense of satisfaction. “Stay away from me.” Teri turned and walked away from him, this time at a much quicker pace.

Watching her hurry off in the direction opposite him, Curtis had to admit that he didn’t like it one bit. For all sorts of reasons. But mainly because of the fact that he had a pretty good idea of what had put her in such a rush to leave. Teri didn’t need to rush. She didn’t deserve to. To rush the way she did was reserved only for the wicked. They were the only ones suited for such an endurance. The only ones who desired it; sought it out even; the sensation of such a rush. The wicked were the only ones that deserved to feel such a rush; to rush; to be rushed. And Teri was nothing of the kind. Hopefully she’d figure that out sometime soon.