Three Magic Words

Character, Setting, Exposition, One Shot!

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Buko
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Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2018 1:49 am

Three Magic Words

#1

Post by Buko »

Mike’s Melodies: Bob Marley - Jammin’

The bass was a little too intense on his speakers but Michael Ortega was not in a state of mind to get hung up on the little things. This week had been tough--it had started bad with him losing 500 bucks taking the Cavaliers over Golden State in a boring as hell NBA Finals that ended in a sweep. That was merely the cherry on top of a shit sundae. It had gotten worse by his recent A/C job that had him stuck in an attic for four hours and then up on a tar roof for another four. He was beat! He felt all 38 of his years in times like this.

Needless to say Mike deserved some respite, some R&R, some me time.

His son hadn’t lived with him the last seven months and was going off to play big time college football at the University of Memphis in August. He was proud but very aware of how spacious and lonely his two bedroom condo was. He was looking forward to football season though, he had bought a brand spanking new television and sound system for that purpose as well as two lazy boys and a couch! His man cave was ready and all it needed to do was be decked out in Memphis Tigers' gear--there was even a spot for a Heisman Trophy or a Doak Walker at the very least, y’know, if voters had a Power 5 bias.

Ace hadn’t been to the house in 3 months and so he didn’t really know his room had been converted to a home theater. The kid had one foot out the door as is, he wouldn’t miss his crappy twin bed and magazine clippings on the walls of his pops condo. Not when college football glory and the NFL awaited. Also why worry about his dad's crappy condo when he’d likely have his own beachside one in Miami in three years. Maybe four. Depending on the numbers he put up on the field. The kid was gonna light it up on the next level and make big bucks! He knew it!

A man can dream. He's gonna only thank Jackie when it happens though, just watch! Dad gets no love.

He chuckled to himself as he cracked open the can of Corona and took a healthy sip before working his thumbs down the middle of a Swisher Sweet. 38, dead tired and with a kid on the way to college…

Didn’t mean he couldn’t smoke a blunt, drink a beer and jam to some Bob Marley while watching his Chappelle Show DVDs. He was going to go with Season 2 first, just to mix things up.

Chattanooga, Tennessee
June 9th, 2018


The front door opening and slamming quickly, viciously and violently, accompanied him exhaling a large plume of smoke from his mouth courtesy of a sloppily rolled cigar. He jolted up from his lazy boy and shoved the blunt in the ashtray with terror. He was too enthusiastic and the ash tray slipped into the corona, tipping it and spilling beer onto his coffee table.

“Fuck! Shit! Goddamn it!”

“Mike! Where the hell are you!”

The voice was high pitch, shrill and familiar: Jaclyn Jackson. She had stolen his heart his Senior year, she had only been a Sophomore but she had a certain confidence and maturity even then. She had given him a kiss when he graduated high school --he repaid her by knocking her up as a graduation present 2 years later.

Not a worthwhile trade, he knew, but you’d think eighteen years would soften someone’s heart to past mistakes.

“I was in my entertainment room Jack, what’s up? Why you busting in my house unannounced like this? Aren’t we too old for this baby mama drama bullshit?”

“Don’t come at me with that shit Mike, not now--you smell like a goddamn pound!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, tell my PO! I’m a grown ass man, I can smoke at my house! Why didn’t you call me? Give me some warning, huh? Think of that?”

“I did call you! 25 times! Why didn’t you friggin’ answer, asshole?!”

He blinked. Reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone. Stared at the screen and then blinked again.

She stared at him with big brown eyes and dark chocolate skin, she stood equal to him in height but she was much more slender. She wasn’t eighteen anymore but she still looked good, she always did, even when she was angry. They had a good relationship, always had even when they weren’t seeing each other. They had history, you couldn’t fake that.

“Probably because I was high Jack, you got me.”

“Ha-ha! Very funny--except not funny at all! There’s a goddamn crisis going on!”

He sighed at that one…

“There’s always a crisis going on, that’s the way of the world chica.”

She shoved him at that one.

“Listen! Dumbass! It’s Ace! He still isn’t back from DC, none of the kids are! They were supposed to be back hours ago and the bus company or the school or anybody can’t get in contact with anybody!”

Oh shit.

He hugged her at that, not because he thought it was the right thing to do, but because he didn’t know what to do.

She relented to his touch, she always did. She was hard to the world but there was kindness that she reserved solely for him and he often wondered if he deserved it.

“Relax Jackie, relax, you’re worrying over nothing.”

“Weshouldaneverlethimgo,” she was crying now, “He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s gone. They took him and he's go--”

“Chill! Jackie! Chill! This is a case of bad cell signal not a terrorist attack, don’t be crazy. They just left DC, they’re safer than any school trip in the country.”

“A few,” she gasped, “Of,” she snorted, “The other Moms,” she gasped again desperate this time, “Are going to call the police," she pleaded with him,"Mike, we can’t wait. We can’t. We can’t.”

“Don’t call the police Jack, c’mon don’t be silly, sit down, let me make you coffee and we’ll wait for news together.”

“I’m not being silly Mike, you’re being naive. I know my son. I know something is wrong. I feel it.”

“That’s paranoia Jackie.”

“That’s mother’s intuition Michael.”

He kissed her forehead. Then her eyes. Then her lips and then he wiped her tears. She relented, she always did.

“When we get a call in a few hours that they got lost in backwoods Virginia and are on their way back,” he said with a smile, “I’ll only laugh a little when I say I told you so.”

“Fuck you,” she said and then shook her head, “What coffee you got?”

“Folgers.”

“Yuck Mike, yuck.”

“Take that to mean you want yours with a lot of milk and sugar.”
Chattanooga, Tennessee
June 10th, 2018


“Hey Jackie, look, I’m sorry. Please. I want to see you. I need to see you...I’ve called you like 30 times, I get it, you don’t want to talk to me. This year with you has been great, let’s not turn on each other again when the chips are down. That isn’t what Ace would want right now…



I guess that’s fucked up for me to say. I dunno. I’m desperate. Call me back. Please.”

He sighed and hung up the phone, sliding it on the kitchen table in frustration.

He didn’t know what was worse, the situation in general…

Or the coldness in her voice when she spoke to him before he dropped her off late last night. Three words spoken without a hint of laughter or tears, as if all the emotion she was capable of producing had spent. It dripped with venom and disdain.

He closed his eyes and heard her saying it still, her eyes glazed and lips thin...

“Told you so.”
"My man got too familiar and I’d ended up having to whoop his ass, man, you know. Because he would step across the line. Habitually. He’s a habitual line stepper.” -Charlie Murphy
[+] Ace of Hearts
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V8 Relationship Thread

Slidin'
Lookin' for the opps, they been hidin'
I grew up 'round drugs, sex, and violence
We turnt off they street, we heard sirens
Since a juvenile, I been wylin'
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