The Countdown to Thirty Read online

  My ex-roommate Natasha – a diehard party girl who ditched me two months ago to move to Miami in the name of love - was the main proponent of the old maid theory. But I never took advice from her. Tasha was a gold digger…not my style. Thanks to her I’ll never trust another woman who wears brand new Christian Louboutins but can’t afford to go to the dentist….can you say priorities all fucked up?

  “Good riddance,” I’d thought when she told me the news by phone.

  However, she stuck me with the job of getting rid of her tawdry bed and paying the full amount of rent until the lease was up. As far as I was concerned the bed could sit until I was ready to move. But on the bright side, I had my peace back in my home.

  I changed the channel to Fox 5 Las Vegas news and listened to the commentators talk about the Nevada Unemployment rate dropping less than half a percent, home prices slightly increasing in the month of June, American journalist being held hostage in Syria, a late night shooting in the valley and finally a study that claimed chocolate actually helps you lose weight. I laughed out loud and wondered where’d they get that mess? Everybody knows Skittles help you lose weight.

  Two

  Kaia

  It was six thirty in the morning and Malcolm and I just finished having some of the most amazing sex ever. It was his first night back in town from his trip to Santa Barbara for the 10k run he participates in every year to raise awareness for the cure. He text me nearly the whole time he was there and told me how he couldn’t wait to get back to see me. Okay, maybe not the whole time but definitely on his last day. He warned me that he’d be busy with the run and catching up with his friends so I didn’t think I’d hear from him at all.

  When he came over last night which was actually closer to midnight the poor thing was so tired he just led me back to the bed and fell asleep as he clung tightly to me for the rest of the night. It took a little while for me to go back to sleep since I was overly excited to see him. I’d stayed up waiting for him to come which broke my normal sleep pattern.

  “I don’t want you to go to work, stay here with me instead.” I whined as I lay naked on top of his body. I missed him, Lord knows I did. He was only out of town for three days but I haven’t seen him in weeks.

  “You know I have to go to work. They’re a lot of fat people out there that want to be as fine as you,” he said placing a gentle kiss on my lips.

  I slapped his chest and chuckled, “Don’t be mean.”

  Malcolm and I met at the gym last year when I responded to an ad in the mail about a free week long trial. He was my personal trainer during the trial period and when I saw him it was practically love at first sight. We hit it off when he found out I use to be a track athlete at UNLV and I gained his respect when he noticed I could keep up with his rigorous workout.

  I threw on an oversized t-shirt and walked Malcolm to the door before kissing him good-bye.

  “Call me later baby,” I said as he walked down the stairs towards the parking lot.

  He nodded his head in agreement.

  Locking the door behind him I let out a “Thank you God,” feeling truly blessed to have him in my life. I went back to my room, threw my t-shirt in a corner and turned my ceiling fan on. It was getting hot already and it was only seven in the morning. I hated the dry sweltering summer heat. Nonetheless, I threw myself on the bed and went back to sleep, I was tired.

  When I woke up it was eleven a.m. and I felt much more rested. My morning nap felt so good that I didn’t want to leave my bed but my morals wouldn’t allow me to sleep all day. I jumped up and put on a fresh pot of strong coffee instead of lying there and delaying the inevitable. Opening my kitchen cabinet door to reveal an array of mugs I’ve collected over the years, I reached for an oversized turquoise one I bought on impulse at Wal-Mart that read “Life is too short not to enjoy it and too long not to be happy”.

  “Amen to that” I said to myself.

  When I entered the workforce full-time several years ago I was forced to drink coffee to stay awake at my desk after a night out clubbing. I partied so much back then extra strong coffee became a morning ritual and now I’ve morphed into a proud self-proclaimed coffee fanatic. I sat my mug on the countertop while my coffee brewed in my three year old thirty dollar coffee maker that had worn lettering and a propensity to leak water.

  It looked odd in my kitchen which was upgraded with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. I adorned it with picturesque images of wine and vineyards detailed in my dish towels, kitchen mat and an oil based painting. I had plans on retiring her for a brand new Starbucks coffee machine but made a promise not to invest in that until I finally purchased a house.

  I returned a call from my real estate agent who I was meeting up with later on today then went into my bathroom and prepared a cool shower. Taking steaming hot showers was my thing but in July with a hundred and ten degree weather, it would be like committing suicide.

  I stepped into the shower and let it rain over me from my face to my toes. I closed my eyes and let the earlier week’s frustration slide right off my body and flow down the drain with the water. Marrying Malcolm is the one thing that would turn my life from great to amazing. The only problem is that since we’ve been dating I haven’t been able to get him to fully commit to me yet. He labeled our relationship as a friendship even though we had sex and I had to tell him if I was planning on being intimate with someone else - which I never was by the way. These happened to be his rules for our friendship but if you ask me it sounds more like rules for a relationship so I basically consider him my man.

  But I’m patient and when he comes around and realizes how amazing I am I know he’ll be ready to build on something solid.

  Travis, the guy I dated before Malcolm turned out to be a loser. We met at the mall three years ago and only dated for five months. He caught my attention after attempting to sell me a cell phone plan that I didn’t need. I thought he was cute and funny however, so when he asked me for my phone number I didn’t hesitate to give it to him. But he just turned out to be another guy with no plans and nothing going for his life. Then before him was Kamari who I found out was an undercover thug. He fooled me with his intellect and kind voice up until the moment we hung out with his homies. He showed me just how ignorant he could get. I quickly had to scratch him off the list before we got too involved.

  Malcolm was a much better catch than the two of them put together. In all of my years I’ve never been in a super serious relationship before, I was hoping Malcolm would want to be my first and my last.

  When I stepped out of the shower I felt alive and rejuvenated. After applying lotion from head-toe-with St. Ives Shea Butter and Oatmeal lotion, I went to my closet and decided on a nice long flowy yellow summer dress to suit my mood. I returned to the kitchen and poured myself that cup of coffee and mixed it with vanilla creamer and three sugars. I prefer my coffee to taste more like cocoa.

  Riding around with Joanna – my realtor – wasn’t really how I wanted to spend my Saturday afternoon. Sure, the first week of house hunting was fun, but after viewing the forth, then the fifth then the sixth home it quickly became routine.

  “Kaia you’re going to love this house, it’s so you.” Joanna said as we pulled into the driveway of a newly developed two-story.

  She fiddled with the lockbox momentarily until it opened and revealed a set of shiny new keys. She opened the door walking in first and immediately began pointing out the vaulted ceilings, plant shelves, storage space, etcetera, and etcetera.

  I could appreciate those features but I withheld my dislike of how narrow the house seemed. The living room was small, considering I want children one day, and the backyard had no privacy or shade. We walked upstairs and she showed me two identical bedrooms that I figured could be used as a child’s room and an office for my design studio. Further at the end of the hallway she led me to the master bedroom.

  “Now for the piece de résistance!” she exclaimed with dramatization.


  “Okay let’s see it!” I said trying to match her excitement even though I wasn’t nearly as excited as her.

  She opened the double doors revealing a large master bedroom big enough to comfortably house a Cal King bed set and sitting area. The high ceilings and plant shelves from the rest of the house flowed into the room and the cathedral arched hallway leading to the master bath created a luxurious feeling.

  “So what do you think about this one?” She asked confidently.

  “Wow,” I said truly surprised. “It’s actually very nice.”

  I headed for one of the large bay windows in the room and reached for the mini blinds. After tugging on the strings, that’s when I saw the ultimate deal breaker.

  The barren desert field behind the house was unappealing and blah and not what I had in mind when I added a view to my wish list. And the piece de résistance that she was talking about had to be the large billboard with flashing lights advertising the adult movie store in the nearby distance. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to work. Besides, the house next door was literally within an arm’s reach if I stuck my hand out the window. I bet if I flushed the toilet the neighbors could hear it.

  I turned to her giving her a wry smile, “I don’t know Joanna. I think I’m going to have to keep looking.”

  “Well what’s wrong with this one? I thought it’d be a great starter home for you. There’s plenty of space and it’s in a new development.”

  After going over a list of things I didn’t like about the home, careful not to offend, Joanna just sighed then told me she needed to go back to her office and re-coordinate her game plan for me. She seemed a little annoyed that I could possibly be wasting her time. She was after all referred to me as a no nonsense realtor.

  “Don’t let her walk over you. She works for you, remember that.”

  I replayed Christian’s voice over and over again in my head reminding myself that I wasn’t doing anything wrong by wanting what I wanted.

  “If you need me to go with you I will, but you know you’ll owe me.” He’d said not joking in the least bit. He wasn’t always the sweetest person.

  Hearing Christian’s sour voice in my head reminded me that I had to meet-up with him in a few hours. Christian is my mother’s best friend’s son, the big brother I never really had and a bona fide ladies’ man. He wants me to meet yet another one of his girlfriends in a few hours. Originally it annoyed me to meet every last one of his women; the ding backs, the bourgeoisie, the ghetto and occasionally the smart. Then it became fun to place bets with myself as to how long they’d last. Every time I was right I treated myself to something, unbeknownst to Christian of course.

  After parting ways with Joanna I pulled back into my apartment complex Chateau Oasis – a moderately priced plush compound located more in the North West part of town. Its south of the Centennial Hills area but north of Summerlin. The two-way driveway was lined with tall exotic looking palm trees that I figured were imported. Being that I was from L.A. all I grew up around were palm trees, but not these type. They twisted and turned into each other and were beautifully manicured and trimmed, not like the ole neighborhood palm trees I was used to.

  I stopped at my mailbox located at the front office to check my mail then drove to my building, C3, and parked my black Toyota Avalon in covered parking. As I briefly sifted through the mail I realized the mail lady delivered my neighbors mail to me again. Sonya-my next door neighbor with the high pretty cheekbones and smile to die for- had come knocking more than once to exchange mail in the past.

  I switched into a pair of light blue jean shorts and brown chiffon top speckled with hints of gold. My top cut low but still looked tasteful since I was only blessed with a B cup. I applied a little concealer to even out my light complexion and hide the tiny heat bumps that had popped up around my forehead area. I personally didn’t like to wear a lot of makeup and didn’t have time to keep up with the latest fashion trends so I looked like my normal casual self with just a little flare.

  “Curls or straight?” I asked myself before deciding to plug-in my flat iron and just get it over with.

  Before I walked out of my apartment and headed to PT’s Pub to meet Christian and…I forgot her name already, I fed my fish Lucky and Nemo and put a note on Sonya’s door letting her know she had mail.

  v

  “We met at the mall.” Desiree said holding tightly onto Christian’s arm. “He couldn’t resist me.” She said laughing as she took another sip of her martini.

  Me, Christian and Desiree were sitting in a booth at PT’s over chicken wings and fries. At the moment I was going over the figures in my head, trying to guess how long this one was going to last. Desiree was cute. Actually she was beautiful but I think a little too possessive for Christian’s taste. We’d been sitting here at least ten minutes and she hadn’t managed to let go of his arm yet.

  Christian was a 6’2 brown sugar type of brown with charming light brown eyes. He works as a Staff Sargent in the Air Force and attributes most of his bull like physique to genetics if you let him tell it. But I knew better than most that he loves his protein shakes and supplements.

  “So Kai Kai, are you seeing anyone?”

  I shot them both a surprised look. Kai Kai was my nickname growing up and normally only used by the people who were closest to me. Being called Kai Kai by anybody else felt like an invasion of my privacy. And when Christian called me Little Kaia from time-to-time I felt like a child.

  “Yea, she got a little boyfriend or something. What’s his name?” Christian said sarcastically.

  “You know his name,” I shot back. Then turning to Desiree I replied, “Yes I’m seeing someone. His name is Malcolm.”

  “You should have brought him along. This could have been a double date.” She said.

  “He just got back in town this morning. He’s really tired but that’s a nice idea Desiree.”

  “She knows how I feel about oh boy. She did the right thing.” Malcolm said reaching for a chicken wing.

  I wasn’t surprised. I knew Christian wasn’t a fan of Malcom’s from the first day they met.

  I just sighed and ignored his comment, “So Desiree what kind of work do you do?” I asked taking a sip of my Sprite.

  “I’m an associate at Victoria’s Secret. That’s where we met.”

  I nearly choked.

  “Christian what were you doing at Victoria’s Secret?” I asked purposely putting him on the spot. I knew the only reason he could be there was to buy something for one of his other girlfriends but I wanted to see him sweat. Not only for the Malcolm comment but also for telling Desiree it was okay to call me Kai Kai.

  When he kicked me underneath the table I had to use all my strength to keep from laughing.

  “You know, your mom’s birthday. I bought her some lotion and stuff, remember? Baby, Kaia’s a graphic designer and she’s real good with Photoshop and that computer shit. She can hook your modeling pictures up.” Christian turned to me smiling proudly as he smoothly changed the subject. “She’s a part-time model.”

  Desiree’s eyes lit up and the next thing you knew she was talking non-stop about her portfolio and a few nonexistent flaws she’d like edited. I humbly listened to her and determined they’d last one month, maybe two.

  Three

  Sonya

  Last night before I curled in bed with a murder mystery novel I’d been meaning to start for the last month, I promised myself to never again shut myself in the house all day and sulk. I wasn’t that depressed and naïve little girl anymore. So this morning when I woke up and the spontaneous idea of working out popped in my head I made up my mind to go.

  I’d driven to Majestic Park right after sunrise and plugged in my earphones while I listened to 90’s R&B on Pandora to get me in the mood. I swear music just isn’t what it used to be; real R&B and real voices! (I just wish they would cool it on all the commercials…damn). I walked and ran a few laps before calling it quits and taking a seat in the bl
eachers of the baseball field.

  Majestic Park was situated on a hill and had an awesome view of the valley. I could see the whole city from the north to the south. The mountains in Las Vegas were beautiful and seemed to surround the city like a fortress. While taking in the breathtaking view I wondered how many people there were out there like me. How many people were there who knew they were capable of achieving more but haven’t made it to that next level yet? Ever since I could remember I’d always envisioned myself as being a top CEO or this professional businesswoman or something. I wanted to walk into the office with my expensive and jaw dropping suits on and make important decisions and be in control of my surroundings. One thing I was sure of was that life had a way of turning out completely different from how I thought it would when I was young.

  I ran my hands through my short cut black hair that I had styled completely identical to Megan Good’s new look then rested them in the back of my neck. I sat there in the bleachers in deep thought, mentally going over the things I’d done wrong in past that brought me to my current situation. It was easy for me to blame the economy or Alliance America for keeping me down, but the good Bishop TD Jakes said that in order for a person to learn from their mistakes they first needed to accept responsibility for their own actions.

  After graduating from high school top of my class, I was accepted at the University of Nevada Reno. I was so excited for my freshman year; that was all I talked about that summer. My mom and sister were happy for me to even though my sister was a UNLV Alumni. I had their full support and they even flew to Reno with me for freshman orientation and dorm check-in. Unfortunately, I got pregnant right after receiving my first AA degree and my then boyfriend Lamont, the love of my life, didn’t want much more to do with me after that. He was six years my senior and had been training to get in the NFL.