Crash And Burn

THREE WEEKS LATER- Philadelphia,PA.

Gus watched as I came out of the jewelry store on Philly's Jewelers row with the rock in my hand...It was sparkling....His eyes lit up when he saw it....

''Holy Moly boy....that rock could light up a city block at dusk....Whoaaaa." said Gus..

"Yeah man...I hope Brittany likes it..." I said.

"How much did that set you back?" asked Gus.

"Nine G's Gus...and I still owe some more money on it." I said.

"You aint giggin...How you set for cash?" he asked.

"I still got a little cash...I made a down payment last week on a nice little place that I'm rentin...Chris and Chess showed it to me...Clerow helped me move my stuff out of Mabel's house and into it....and with this...I'm almost broke man." I said.

"I heard the new guy who took your place in Reed's band..He's pretty good...but he's got some solo recording work in New York soon...so he's gonna be leavin...You might want to join the band again.." said Gus.

"Yeah...My teachin gig doesn't start until the fall...so I might call Reed and see if I can set in for a few gigs until then...I need the dough, after all ..I will be gettin married soon..." I said.

"You told her yet?" asked Gus...

"I'm plannin to tell her when I pop the question and flash this engagement ring." I said.

"So she don't have a clue of your intentions?" asked Gus...

"Well..uh..She ought to...I been hittin it pretty regular for about a year now." I said.

"That's just sex boy...That aint love....Do she feel the same way about you?" asked Gus...

"Oh, sure...sure..she knows what's up." I said.

"I hope you're right." said Gus.

"Hey....you seen Mabel? How is she doin?" I asked.

"Yeah...I seen her...Clerow, Kevin, Kool Kat,Sean Jackson and my guys helped her move into her new place...It's nice..and Clerow and Corrie and the kids moved into their new spot...They all had a big party at Josies....Mabel came with this guy...A guy she was seeing when she first come up here...They had a good time...Mabel was dancing and cuttin up with her sisters, Corrie,Anita and Victoria... and Paris ,Blake,Chance Howard and all of them was there too...Had a blast!" said Gus.

''Well, uh, it's good that they all had a good time." I said.

"By the way...Where's your chippy? I aint see her but once since you got back." asked Gus.

"Oh she's in London...Went back to finish up some business she had...She'll be back next week."I said.

Gus got a peculiar look on his face....

"London??? She's already moved back here?" he said.

"Yeah I know...I guess she had to finish up something with the school.." I said.

"Okay." said Gus...

We got in Gus's car and we drove back to Josies....Chess was playing chess in the corner with somebody and Chris Thompson and Donald Smooth were at the bar drinking wine and talking quietly...They looked up and smiled when Gus and I arrived...

''Hey 88 , you like that spot I showed you?"said Chris..

''Sure did.. My girl is going to love it too when she moves in....Look at this rock I bought her?" I said as I showed Chris and Donald Smooth the engagement ring..

''Wow man...so you gonna do this huh....get married?" asked Chris..

''Yeah man ...It's time for a brotha to settle down." I said.

''Yeah well I saw Brittany yesterday in town and I know that's gonna knock her socks off " said Donald Smooth.

"Yesterday??? You saw her yesterday?? That's impossible....She's been in London for a week." I said.

"Well ,she must have gotten back yesterday because I saw her yesterday." said Donald Smooth.

"I saw her too" said Chess who had finished his game and had joined us at the bar.....

"Huh?" I said.

Gus and Chris Thompson looked at each other...I shrugged and got up...I tossed a couple of dollars down on the counter...

"I'll see you guys later" I said as I exited the bar.

II-

I had left my car in the parking lot....I went to the parking lot and retrieved it and headed over to Brittany's apartment  in South Philly...If she had gotten back yesterday, why hadn't she called me? I wasn't expecting her back until next week..The end of next week...Maybe she had finished up her business early...

I got to her apartment complex and walked down the hall...it didn't take long to understand what was going on...I clearly heard her voice through the cheap paper thin walls..

"Oh God...Oh God...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh God...It's sooooooooooooooooo  goood...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Nigel...oHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...I think I want to have your babies...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh , do me...screw me...slap me...beat me..ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" she hollered...

I heard a deep male voice....

''Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmphhhh...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
let me rock youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu,Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....
Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

"Ohhhhhhhhh Nigel...I love you so muchhhh....ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh rock me , rock me....ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

The headboard of the bed was slamming against the wall...the springs were squeaking loudly....There were some Puerto Rican guys in the hallway who could hear the entire thing  laughing and shouting-

''Aye papi...Go papi go.."

"Hahahahahahahahaha, go papi go...go papi go....hahahahahahahahahaha.."

"Oh God...Oh God...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh God...It's sooooooooooooooooo  goood...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Nigel...oHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...I think I want to have your babies...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh , do me...screw me...slap me...beat me..ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" she hollered...

I couldn't believe what I was hearing....Not Brittany...Not my Brittany...I had changed my life for her!!!!

I couldn't take it anymore....I kicked the door in and there on the bed was Nigel, hammering Brittany and hammering her well...They both saw me, but they didn't even stop.....Brittany's eyes were glazed...and Nigel was in the throes of passion...He turned and looked at me and snapped angrily-

"At least do us the courtesy of stepping outside and closing the door until we are finished...I'm almost through."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh don't stop...don't stop....give me moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu
it's soooooooooooooo goooood...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." screamed Brittany...

"OPUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..OHHHHHHHHHH, I'm comingggggggggggggggggg,
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
NELLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
screamed Nigel....

''Go Papi go..." screamed the on lookers....

"HEYYYY, get the hell out of here." I screamed as I closed the door and stepped into the hall.

"Is that your girl?" asked one of the men....

I didn't say anything, but they could see by the look on my face that it was...

"Well she aint no more..she's his now...ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha." laughed one of the men.

I walked away.

III- A day later


"I wanted to tell you a long time ago "88" , I'm sorry." said Brittany who met with me at Jewelers row...I returned the ring and got at least some, most of my money back...She never saw it..she never knew how close I came to making a damn fool out of myself...

"How long had this been going on?" I asked.

''Nigel and I were lovers when I was at Penn...Then we broke up and he got engaged.. I went to London a year later and his engagement had been broken off and we were living in the same apartment..We started up again and we broke up again..but then when I saw him in Tokyo that night...all of those old feelings came back and well...Here we are." she said.

"Here we are.."I said.

"When you told me you broke up with your girl and quit the band...I felt so bad...because by then, Nigel and I had already slept together once...but I couldn't bare to disappoint you one last time on a day like that." she said.

"Damn" was all I could say.

"What are you going to do?" she asked...

"Oh..What am I going to do? I ruined my life for you.." I said.

''You ruined your  life for what you saw..an image, a mirage...You never really asked me how I felt...It was never as strong for me as it was for you...For me it was just good sex." she said.

"Just good sex???What??" I said.

"I thought , you bein a musician, that that was all it was for you too..." she said.  "I didn't know you was gonna fall all in love with me." she said.

"You , you are a trip....So that's it...You are going to be with Nigel now huh?" I asked..

"Well uh...Yeah...I am in love with him..and he's in love with me..." she said.

I looked at her and just shook my head.

EPILOUGE: One Year Later-Philadelphia PA.

I rejoined the band....and I also took the teaching gig with Cock Robbins at his school....During the fall,I teach...When Reed Needs me, I do some dates with him, tours and recordings...When he tours in the fall, another keyboard player sits in for me...It works out great...I bought another house of my own on a nice tree lined street...I was happy....

I had a nice house warming party....Reed Nelson, Debbie, Downtown Rob Brown, Delores, Bone Hampton,Meek Rollins, Gus, Kevin, Sepia, Clerow and Corrie ,Sean Jackson, Sheila and the rest of the band and their girlfriends all came by and we ate and drank and carried on into the wee hours of the morning..
It was around three o'clock when they all finally left...

I cleaned up and was ready to turn in when the doorbell rang...Who was it at this time of night?? Maybe somebody left something, I thought....

To my surprise...It was Mabel ...Mabel Jenkins...!!!!!!

"Wow, how long has it been?" I asked.

"You gonna let me in or are you gonna make me stand out here?" she asked and then smiled....she still looked great and smelled great too...

''Wow..you missed the party, everybody's gone." I said.

"I missed more than the party...I missed you 88." she said.

"I've missed you too Mabel.." I confessed...We sat down at the table...I poured her a glass of wine...

"I guess I was a fool." I said...By now, everyone had heard and was laughing both behind my back and in my face about how I'd bought a nine thousand dollar rock and caught my girl in bed with her ex-boyfriend in her apartment..It was months before I could come in Josies and not get laughed at and teased.

"We all make mistakes 88...I've made a few of my own.....I-" she said...

''It's okay Mabel...The past is the past." I said.

" Can we start over? Fresh... like none of this never happened?" she asked.

"You mean you'd still have me?" I asked.

"If you'd still have me." she said...

"Damn straight...cheatin on you and breakin up with you was the stupidest thing I ever did." I said.

''I cheated on you too , twice , while you were away." she said.

"I don't care and I don't want to know with who...We were both bad...It was my fault...but with a house and a teaching gig, I'm gonna be home more...and if I go away...I'll take you with me.." I said.

"You don't have to do that..." she said.

"Let's start over Mabel...take it slow." I said.

''Yeah..I'd like that." she said.

"Hey Mabel...It's July....Why are you wearin a trench coat in this heat?" I asked.

"Well, if we did make up...I thought you might want to celebrate ,so I came prepared " she said and she opened up her trenchcoat.......

All I could say was ....it was going to be a longggggggggggggggggg night!

For Carleen