*Title is also the name of Alkaline Trio's 1999 EP.
“Kenya!” Nate called after her. He’d broke into a bit of a run to catch up to his girlfriend, who was walking, almost running, down the street. Kenya stopped in her tracks, surprised to hear someone call her name. And then she saw who was calling her.
“Nate!” she exclaimed at the sight of her boyfriend standing in the middle of the sidewalk with his arms crossed over his chest. Kenya had no idea what Nate was doing in Seattle, let alone within a ten minute walk from Ashford’s apartment building. But here he was. Looking… not exactly angry, but this wasn’t Nate’s happy face that was for sure.
“We need to talk.” Nate struggled to keep his voice level. Because once he’d gotten close enough, he realized that Kenya smelled like sex. She might have tried to cover it up with perfumes, but the scent on her jacket, and the bundle she was carrying in a bag were like spotlights for Nate and his senses. A distinctly feline smell.
Nate pulled Kenya around the corner to a back alley were they could talk in private. They kept their voices low enough so that passers by wouldn’t hear, but they could just fine.
“What are you doing here? Well?” Nate furrowed his brow as Kenya took her sweet time to reply.
“I’m sorry for lying to you.” she said at long last.
“That doesn’t answer my question, what are you doing in Seattle?” Nate pressed. Right now he didn’t really care how sorry Kenya was. He wanted to know if she had been lying to him this entire time about giving up her other life as Kendra Smythe, or if that was all a ruse to get him to stay.
“Was any of it real?” Nate wondered while he waited for an answer.
“I… I was with someone. You’ve obviously figured that much out.” Kenya said.
“Who is this guy?” Nate demanded, all sorts of mental images floating around in his head. He kept dreaming up some guy twice his age and size, far more interesting to Kenya than Nate would ever be.
“There’s no need to bring him into this. This is between the two of us.” Kenya said.
“No, I think it’s between the THREE of us. You’re my girlfriend! Why did you lie to me about stopping the whole escort thing?” Nate didn’t have a better term for Kenya’s alternative profession.
“I didn’t. I have every intention of keeping that promise. It’s just, this particular customer requested me specifically and paid a high fee to…”
“So that’s all it takes for this guy to get you in bed? A few lousy dollars and asking ‘nicely’?” Nate’s fists were balled up at his sides, and he was fighting the urge to shift. His rage was building, and everything Kenya said was just making him more and more upset.
“It’s not like that. Nathaniel Anderson you’re the only man I have eyes for. You must know that by now. I’d never do anything to intentionally hurt you!” Kenya said, walking closer to him. Nate held out a hand to stop Kenya. She was sad to see him do so, but understood why Nate did. So she continued to talk.
“Listen, I’m sorry I did what I did. I should have told you from the beginning what was going on. The other night, my agent called me. She said there was a client who wanted me to spend the entire night with him. And he was offering a substantial amount of money.
Now, I’m not saying I’m broke. But having some extra cash doesn’t hurt. So I said I’d come. Which I foolishly did. I’m sorry, you have every right to be mad at me.” Kenya hung her head in shame. She’d never seen Nate so unhappy or disappointed.
“Did you tell the guy you weren’t available anymore?” Nate asked, his voice low and almost inaudible even to Kenya’s sharp ears.
“Yes.”
“And what did he say?”
Again, Kenya hesitated to reply. Because Ashford’s response was proposing. The small black box in her jacket pocket felt like it was burning a hole in her side.
“I made it clear I was in a happy relationship.” Kenya finally said.
The two stood in silence, each processing what had just happened. Kenya felt guilty for not being upfront with Nate and sneaking around behind his back. While Nate felt so disappointed. And he was starting to wonder if this would work out. Because all of a sudden, he didn’t know if he could trust Kenya. Nate wanted the relationship to continue, but only if he knew nothing like this would happen again.
“Alright,” Nate began slowly, “I’ll forgive you this one time. But I really don’t want you to see this guy ever again. And this better be the last time you take a… job. Because if I find out you’ve lied to me about that, you’re on your own.”
“Thank you.” Kenya said. Nate caved, and went to hug Kenya. But when he did, he felt something hard against his body. It was whatever was in Kenya’s pocket. When they pulled away from each other, Nate asked Kenya about it.
“Geez, what are you carrying in there? Rocks?” Nate didn’t know how right he was.
Kenya just shook her head and said a dry “no”. Nate’s brow furrowed again, and he asked Kenya again, why she had something that felt like a brick in her pocket.
“It’s nothing.”
“If it’s nothing then show me.” Nate said.
“I don’t think…”
“Kenya just tell me. It’s not anything bad right? You don’t have like a crack pipe or something do you? Holy crap you do!” Nate tried to joke with Kenya but her face made it painfully clear this was no joke.
“Hey, you’re not pregnant or anything right? That’s not why you’ve been acting so weird?” Nate started to assume the worst. And in his mind, that was the worst possible scenario. To his relief Kenya shook her head, and tried to walk back to the sidewalk. Muttering something about how she DID have to go to work before it got much later.
“That’s not the problem.” Kenya assured him. But then she began to walk away,
Nate made a split second decision to make a move for the contents of her pocket. Nate’s hand slipped inside, and touched something hard, but covered in what he identified as velvet. Kenya pulled away, but Nate’s grip on the little black box didn’t waver. And when Kenya finished tearing herself away,
Nate’s mind went blank. Like blanker than blank. He might have gone brain dead for a second when he saw the box in his hand. He just looked at it, and then Kenya. Nate didn’t dare open it, he didn’t need to. Kenya’s insistence he not know what she had in her pocket, and now the distraught look on her beautiful face were enough.
“Tell me you said no. Don’t lie to me. Tell me you said NO.” Nate breathes. Nate told Kenya not to lie to him. So she couldn’t tell him she said no. Because she said she’d think about it. Which was as good as saying no but most standards. But weres don’t really follow human standard when it comes to romance.