#SampleSunday - Flagrant (Paul Owen)
Kendra
This new guy only lived a few blocks down the street from me, so it didn’t take long for me to make it to his front door. I knocked and waited, letting my gaze slip from the white door down my body, my eyes gliding over my long khaki skirt to my pristine white sneakers. I jumped when the door opened to reveal a tall, chocolate woman with sharp cheekbones and dark, thick lips. Her eyes were large and round, kind of like mine. She was beautiful, like an African Barbie doll.
“Good morning,” she said in a pleasant voice. “Can I help you?”
“Uh…yes, ma’am. I’m Kendra, Pastor Doll’s daughter. She wanted me to meet Paul, walk him to the bus stop?”
“Yes! Just a moment. Paul Owen!” As she spoke, she never took her eyes off of me, adding, “I’m his mother, by the way. It was so good to meet your mother. Such a good, strong Christian spirit!”
I just smiled in response, hoping it looked real, but the smile faltered when a guy appeared behind her in the doorway. Dark-skinned, same facial bone structure as the woman of the house. His eyes were almond shaped and smaller than hers, but he was just as handsome as she was beautiful. He was tall, much taller than me and his mother, and she wasn’t short by any definition of the word. Added to his height was some serious bulk. I watched as he gave me a disinterested look while sliding a boar bristle brush over his neatly cut hair. The navy-blue polo shirt he wore that matched mine told me this had to be Paul Owen.
“Paul, this is Reverend Doll’s daughter. She’s gonna walk to the bus stop with you and show you around today,” his mother said.
He nodded, expressionless eyes on me. “Okay. Bye, Mama.” He kissed her cheek, stepping around her. “You ready?” he said to me.
Unable to speak, I nodded and turned to leave.
“Bye, kids! Have a good day!” his mom called after us.
I turned to give her a smile and a wave, my eyes bumping into his along the way. So I thought to say, “I’m Kendra, by the way. Paul, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Hey, if you show me to the bus stop, I’ll be good. You ain’t gotta show me around the school and all that.”
He was walking beside me now, his proximity to me making me jittery. Still, I managed to lift my eyes from the sidewalk, glancing at his profile, an action that made my heart jump in my chest. “Oh, okay. I mean, I really don’t mind.”
“I’ll be cool. Thanks, though.”
I nodded again, thinking that the one time I actually wanted to play tour guide, I couldn’t. It was probably for the best. On top of him looking like he looked, my mom had mentioned that he was an athlete. So there was no sense in me developing a crush on him when it would only make me feel worse than I already did.
We walked the rest of the way in silence, and after we climbed on the bus; he chose a seat several rows behind where I sat. Other girls on the bus were in his face talking all over each other, trying to get to know him, and I was quickly forgotten.
Kendra and Polo were first introduced in Let Me Hold You by Alexandria House.
