Georgia On My Mind (9 page)

Rashawn stared at Peaches. He had to admit she did look tasty in her Yoga Gear, and he was officially hungry as hell, but he’d never let her know that. “Yeah, anyway... Here, put these gloves on and let's warm up on the speed bag.” Rashawn tosses Peaches a brand new pair of pink and white boxing gloves.

She smiles as they match her outfit perfectly. “Did you get these for me?”

“Yeah! Why?”

“I guess you realize I’m a girl after all.”

“Whatever! You needed boxing gloves and the pink ones were on clearance sale.” He lied. “Here let me help you lace those.”

Peaches stared at Rashawn as he methodically laced her boxing gloves. Helen Keller could see that Rashawn was as fine as the lint in an ant’s bellybutton and it didn’t go unnoticed by Peaches. Her Peanut had grown up to be an extremely attractive man.

Peaches estimated him to be around six feet to six one, with two hundred pounds of well defined, sexy muscles. Rashawn’s biceps had biceps and his abdominal muscles were ridiculously ripped. Momentarily losing her bearings Peaches eyes slowly roamed over Rashawn’s body like an MRI. “Damn Peanut is fine!” Her mine screamed.

“Peaches! Peaches! P-E-A-C-H-E-S!” Rashawn called.

“What? Why you yelling my name all loud?” She responded, embarrassed that he caught her looking.  

“Why’d I have to call you three times at all? Did you hear a word I just said? Try to stay focused!”

“I am focused.” She mumbled as she watched him finish the laces on her gloves. “Well, focus on my voice. Like I was saying, boxing is a good way to strengthen your arms and shoulders and your back. It’ll also give you an extra cardio workout. I noticed you hit Charles with a hell of a right, so I figured we might as well use it.”

“I should have followed with the left! If you liked my right wait until you see my left.”

“Honestly, I hope I never see your left coming at me. That right hand of yours is wicked.” Rashawn chuckled. “I have a few guys that are going to spar with you when you’re ready. So, save your left for them. Right now, we’ll concentrate on speed and accuracy.” Rashawn eyes met Peaches and they lingered there an uncomfortable amount of time. Coughing to clear his throat he broke their gaze. “Okay! Start off slow, like this. Concentrate on hitting the bag one punch at a time as you slowly build up momentum and speed.” Rashawn demonstrated

“Do I look like I can't fight?  Move out the way. These are not the first pair of boxing gloves I’ve owned.” Peaches declared as she shoved Rashawn out of the way and slowly began to punch the speed bag. Finding her rhythm, she quickly picked up speed before throwing in a few tricks.

Rashawn was impressed. He watched in silence as Peaches worked up a good sweat. “So, who taught you to box?”

“Who taught you to box?” She countered.

“Damn, that’s right! I forgot you gave me my first boxing lesson when I was ten.” Rashawn chuckled.

“Yeah! I have four big brothers and they taught me when I was ten. We had a speed bag, some punching bags, weights and jump ropes in our basement. We’d work out and spar for hours.” She laughed.

“So, they taught you to box?”

“No! More like they beat my ass every day until I learned to box. I wasn’t into all of that sweaty mess. I was a girl… A cute one at that! So, they made sure that I knew how to handle myself.”

“Judging by the way you laid Charles ass out, mission accomplished.” Rashawn laughed.

“I didn't need boxing lessons to whip Charles’ punk ass. After that monkey shit he pulled on me he's lucky to be alive. I should have killed his ass! He lucky I didn’t call my brothers.”

“Peaches, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, sure!” Peaches responded as she alternated hands on the speed bag.

“You two have been together for a long time, since high school as a matter of fact.  What happened?”

“I don’t know… I guess we just grew apart.  Charles became a wanna be uppity poser and I remained the same old Peaches.”

“Why did you stay with him so long?”

“It really wasn't that bad.  I mean, the sex pulled a Houdini almost two years ago and now I know why.  I guess I was too stupid or too proud to admit that he was just using me.  Hell, a piece of a sorry ass man is better than no man at all.  So, I stayed and spoiled him silly and prayed he wouldn’t leave me. Delusional, I pretended that he loved me as much as I loved him.  I can't believe that I was so fuckin stupid.”

“Yeah, well love will make you do some stupid shit.” Rashawn chuckled.

“Oh yeah, what stupid shit has it made you do?” Peaches countered.

Rashawn laughed. “Other than asking you to my senior prom, not a damn thing!”

“So, what?  You’re saying that you've never been in love?” She asked puzzled.

“Not really ... Apparently, love doesn't seem to love me.” He confessed.

“No, I don’t believe that. Apparently you have commitment issues!” 

“Who me?” Rashawn asked stunned.

“Yeah, you!”

“Hey, I'd love to be in love.  It's just never happened for me.”

“So what about the girl you're with now?  Maybe she's the one.”

“I don’t know… It’s too soon to tell.  We're just getting started.”

“Seems to me you're getting off to a bad start.” Peaches snickered.

“I’ll admit that things have been a little upside down lately.  Nothing I can't handle though.” He nodded in agreement. “We’re having some issues, but she’ll come around.”

“So what's she like?” Peaches pried.

“Who?” Rashawn played dumb.

“Michelle Obama!” Peaches joked. “Stop playing stupid.”

“What do you mean? What’s she like? She’s a woman.”

“Yeah! I figured as much. Tell me about her. Is she pretty?”

“Why do women always ask that question? Does it really matter?”

“Yes! We ask the question because we want to know the answer.  So just answer the question. Is she pretty?”

“Yeah, actually she's beautiful… Extremely beautiful in fact.” Peaches rolled her eyes. “I didn’t ask you all that. You didn’t have to elaborate. You could have just said yes or no.”

Rashawn stifled a chuckle as he realized that he had touched a jealous streak. “Sorry. Yes, she’s pretty. Pretty damn beautiful!” He burst into laughter.

Peaches swung at him and caught him with a hard right to the shoulder. “Keep playing with me!”

“What? What did I do?” He innocently asked.

“Is she skinny?” Peaches continued without acknowledging his question.

“What? Why you all up in my bizniz, Miss Peaches?” He joked.

“Never mind!  You don't even have to say a word.  I bet she's one of those two pound skinny bitches! She’s probably a white girl too!”

“No! See there you are wrong she’s a sista... And she's got to be at least four or five pounds!  You know that I like a little something to grab on to.” Rashawn laughed as he ran out of reach from Peaches grasp. “Okay, I'll admit that she's pretty and yeah, she's pretty thin too. Hell she's even rich. So what? None of that shit translates into love!”

“She’s rich? Seriously? How the hell did you meet a rich girl? With your broke, no job ass!” Peaches laughed.

“What? Peaches, I'm not broke... I told you I’m just between contracts.”

“Yeah! Whatever!” Peaches laughed harder. “Report that report to your broke ass car and your run down townhouse.”

“You know what? I’m not even going to try to explain my situation to you. Anyway… I don't know... it just happened.  And for your information I had a job when I met her! A damn good job!  I keep trying to tell you that I’m not broke.”

“Yeah, whatever! That’s exactly what a broke ass nigga would say.” Peaches laughed.

“That’s okay… You’ll see one day. I’m not going to say another word about it. You're going to be surprised when my new contract comes through!”

“Surprise me then, Peanut.  Hell, I love surprises!”

Offended, Rashawn rolled his eyes and mumbled beneath his breath. “Oh you're going to love this one, then.”

“What did you say?” Peaches giggled. “Don’t get mad. I’m just teasing. It’s rough out here, especially the way the economy is right now. I’m sorry. I promise I won’t bring it up anymore.”

“Look, don’t worry about it. So, what are you doing tonight?”

“I don't know. Nothing really, why?”

“I just thought of a way to burn some extra calories.” Rashawn’s eyes brightened.

“Oh hell, no Peanut!  I am not doing anymore damn exercises.  You've worked me so hard my pain has pain. It’s Friday night and I’m going to relax with a bubble bath and a good book.”

“So, you don't want to go dancing?”

“Now hold up, you didn't say anything about dancing!”

“You in?”

“Oh, hell yeah! I'm definitely in, but what about itty, bitty pretty one?  What's she going to say about it?”

Rashawn laughed as he took his turn on the speed bag. “That's real cute.  There you go minding my damn bizniz again! That's my problem not yours.”

Finally free and clear of Peaches and officially engaged to Mercedes, Charles was as happy as a fat pig in a barrel of fowl slop. In celebration of their daughter’s engagement, Mercedes’ wealthy parents threw the happy couple and impromptu engagement party.  In his element the relaxed and poised, Charles worked the crowded party effortless charming everyone he met.

“You see this is the type of people I've been trying to socialize with for the past ten years.” He said as he pulled his beautiful fiancé in his arms and sampled her lips.

“I understand your pain, but that's what happens when you try to teach a GHETTO bird to fly.”

“I'm so lucky to have a woman like you on my arm.  I can't wait until we get married.”

“Married?  I don't see a ring on this finger.  Do you?” Mercedes quickly cuts him off.

“Mercedes you saw the ring.  You know I have a ring for you.”

“I hope you’re not talking about that ring you proposed to me with. You remember… The one that your ex-girlfriend said was the ring she picked out… Yeah! You know the one I’m talking about. I can tell by the grimace on your face you know the ring I’m talking about.”

“That ring cost a lot of damn money! Peaches has the ring! I know she does… As soon as I…”

“Are you kidding me? I don’t want that ring! Let her have it and get me another one! Now, I told my parents that my one of a kind ring was at the jeweler being sized to buy you more time, but we both know the truth. So, I suggest you stop trying to get that gaudy ring from that plus size heifer and buy me a new one, before they discover the truth!” Mercedes holds up her left hand and waves it in Charles face. “Until there’s a ring on this finger, I don’t even want to hear you say the M word to me!”

“Mercedes, that was a really nice ring. It cost me a hell of a lot of money.”

“I don’t care! It might be a nice ring for a Peach, but certainly not for a Mercedes.  Both of you have horrible taste! In fact, I’ve just decided that I want to pick out my own ring.  I can't believe you bought that bullshit for me!”

“Look, I'm sorry baby. You are right. We'll go ring shopping tomorrow.”

“We'd better. I’m not in the habit of lying to my parents and I’m surely going to start lying to them for you.” Mercedes pouted.

“I’ll take you the jeweler and you can have any ring you want. Okay?”

Mercedes smiled as she realized she’d gotten her way. “Okay, but don’t think that I’m not going to keep allowing you to take my kindness for weakness.”

“Speaking of kindness… Do you think I can move out of the hotel and move in with you?”

“Oh no, no, no, no no! No! Hell no! That is not going to happen. My condo is too small for two people. Evict Plum and move back in your own house!”

“Peaches, her name’s Peaches… And I can’t because that’s her house. She brought it after she started her design business.”

“I don’t give a damn what her name is. Nor do I care whose name the deed to your damn house is in. All I know is that you cannot move in with me. We've already discussed this, Charles.  Besides, I need a husband not a roomy.  So, I suggest you start looking for a house, because you can't live with me.” Mercedes snapped.

“Baby, the hotel is expensive.  It'll only be for a little while until we find a nice house. Please, just for a week or two… I promise! Okay?”

“Yeah, I'm sure you conned Pomegranate into believing some nonsense just like that…  But I'm not having it!” She said as she discreetly wrestled her way out of his arms.

“Peaches… Her name is Peaches like the fruit. Anyway, Mercedes you know I'd never do that to you. Why would you even think something like that?” Charles assured her as he pulled her back to him.

“Charles, I know you won’t, because I'm not going to let you.  In the infamous words of Beyoncé Knowles, "If you like it you'd better put a ring on it.” Mercedes holds up her left hand and shakes her narrow hips as if she were dancing in the Beyoncé video.

Charles laughed, “I see my snow bunny got a little soul in her rump!”

“Just because I’m a white girl, it doesn’t mean I can’t dance,” Mercedes snickered. “But… It also does not mean that I’m a damn fool! You were with Pear for over ten years and never bought her a house or a friendship ring.”