An Unusual Beginning

Shayla stood in the middle of Hartsfield/Jackson airport, watching as two men walked toward her. One of the men she expected to see walking towards her, he was the reason she was at the airport, the other she never expected to see again in her lifetime. Seeing David coming towards her with William shocked and surprised her.

"Hey, baby," William said with a big smile on his face as he walked toward Shayla. He fought the urge to take his hand and cover his family jewels the closer he came to her because the look on Shayla's face said that he was in danger of her kicking where it would hurt him the most.

Shayla didn't move nor say anything when William kissed her on the cheek. She stood like a statue staring at the man standing next to him. Then she turned to William, put a hand on her hip, and gave him a look that said she wanted an explanation.

"Hello, Shayla," David said, speaking before William could say anything.

"What're you doing here?" Shayla asked, ignoring David's greeting, and asking the question she needed an answer to.

"I'm here to see Arlene," David replied.

"Is she expecting you?" Shayla asked.

"No," David replied. "I came hoping that she would see me, and we could talk about what happened in Vegas."

David watched as Shayla cringed when he mentioned their trip to Vegas knowing that she was thinking about the part she played.

"Can I get Arlene's phone number from you, please?" David asked. "I want to call her, let her know that I'm here and that I want to see her.

"No," Shayla replied. "I'm not going to give you her phone number, not without Arlene's permission."

"Will you dial it for me?" David asked, holding his cell phone out to Shayla.

"No," Shayla replied, knowing that if she used David's phone to call Arlene that her number would stay on his phone, and he would, then have Arlene's phone number.

"Use your phone to call her," David suggested.

"She won't answer her phone if my number pops up on the caller I.D. screen," Shayla said sadly.

David trying to think of a solution looked around the airport and found the answer he was looking for when he saw a public phone across from where he, William, and Shayla were standing.

"Call her from here," he said, taking Shayla by the hand and leading her over to the phone.

"Arlene might not want to hear from you," Shayla said as they made their way over to the public phones.

"That's why I'm calling her," David said, picking up the receiver and passing it to Shayla, "to let her know that I'm here and that I want to talk to her."

"Back up," Shayla told David and William making sure neither of them would be able to see the numbers as she dialed them.

David and William did as she said and backed away from the phone.

'I wonder why she wasn't this protective of Arlene when we were in Vegas.' David thought to himself as he watched Shayla dial Arlene's phone number, wondering about the sudden bout of protectiveness she was showing for her friend.

"It's ringing," Shayla said.

"Let me have the phone," David said afraid Arlene might hang up if she heard Shayla's voice on the other end of the phone probably ruining any chance, he had of getting her to talk or see him.

(((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))

The sound of her phone ringing awakened Arlene from a deep, sound sleep, wanting the noise to stop, she reached over to her nightstand, and picked up the receiver answering the phone without first checking her caller I.D.

"Hello?" Arlene said the grogginess in her voice letting the caller know that they'd awakened her, and she wasn't happy about them doing so.

"Arlene?"

The voice she heard on the other end of the phone almost caused her to drop the receiver. It broke through the cloud of sleepiness that had surrounded her and caused her to become fully awake and alert.

"Arlene?"

It was him. She could only recall hearing his voice once or twice, and this was the first time she'd ever heard him speak over the phone, but she knew it was him.

"Arlene?"

His voice held a hint of panic in it when he called her name for the third time, causing Arlene to almost do what had become a natural response to her when anyone connected to her trip to Vegas called her and hang up the phone. She probably would've done it if she hadn't been so shocked that he was actually calling her.

"Arlene, please say something," he pleaded, the fear he felt that she wouldn't talk to him coming through in his voice.

"How did you get my number?" she asked, saying the first thing that popped into her mind when she was able to think once again.

"I don't have your number," David said. "My friend William came to Atlanta to visit Shayla, she met him at the airport, and she didn't know I was with William until we got off of the plane. I asked her for your number...

"I can't believe Shay..."

"She refused to give me your phone number because she didn't know how you would feel about me having it," David said, cutting Arlene off before her anger became more intense. "As a compromise, she called you on a public pay phone so that I could talk to you."

"May I speak to Shayla, please?" Arlene asked.

David passed Shayla the phone.

"Hello?" Shayla said.

"Thank you," Arlene said to her.

"You would've done the same thing for me," Shayla replied. "He wants to see you. Should I give him your address?"

Arlene thought about Shayla's question. She knew and understood that she and David needed to talk. She just wasn't sure she was ready to see him. "Pass the phone back to him, please," Arlene said.

"Hello?" David said.

"Are you sure you want to see me?" Arlene asked.

"I am sure," David said. "We need to talk."

"I don't know if I'm ready to do that, David," Arlene told him her nervousness coming through in her voice.

"Please, Arlene," David said. "I flew here specifically to talk to you. I can't return home until you, and I have spoken in person."

"I don't think we have anything to talk about," Arlene said knowing that she and David had to talk about but was trying to avoid talking about them.

"We have a lot to talk about," David said, "there things that we need to settle. Please, Arlene, I need to see you."

Arlene held the phone not saying anything as she thought about whether or not she wanted to see David. Knowing that putting their talk off for another time would only be delaying the inevitable outcome, she agreed to see him.

"Do you have a pencil and paper?" Arlene asked.

"Yes," David replied happy she agreed to see him.

She gave him, her address. David told her he would be there within the hour.

((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))

Arlene hung up the phone, got out of bed, went into the kitchen, started some coffee brewing, and then she made her way back to her bedroom, went into the bathroom to prepare to take a shower. The entire time trying to wrap her mind around the fact that David was on his way to her condo. After setting the water temperature in her shower the way she liked, she went back into her bedroom and laid out fresh underwear and clothes after doing that she back into the bathroom stepped into the shower.

'He's here,' she thought to herself as she moved under the spray of the shower. She closed her eyes and let the water rain down on her wondering what was going through his mind, if he'd been told about the other part of the so-called joke, their so-called friends pulled on them and how he felt about it.

Married, the word sent a chill through her body. 'It's probably not legal,' she told herself. Tears flowed from her eyes as she thought of another special moment that had been taken away from her.

'Stop it!' she scolded herself mentally cutting off her tears because she knew they wouldn't help her situation. 'You have to get control of yourself and this situation and you won't be able to do that if you start blubbering like a child over things you can't change. Now, get yourself together.'

Arlene's mind flashed back to two weeks ago when Brenda called her and left her a voicemail message that sent another wave of destruction through her life. She couldn't bring herself to talk to any of the people, who went to Vegas with her. The pain was still too fresh, so she didn't answer her phone whenever one of them called her.

"Hey, girl, I know you're still upset with us because of what happened in Vegas," Brenda said a slight chuckle in her voice. "So, the fact that you're not answering your phone doesn't surprise me."

The nonchalant tone of Brenda's voice as she mentioned their trip to Vegas made Arlene want to strangle her. She held her breath as she listened to the words that came from Brenda's mouth because knew that she was preparing to drop another bomb on her; she just didn't know how devastating it would be.

"I'm calling because something else happened in Vegas that I think you should know about and since no one else will tell you, I decided that I would tell you. You and David were married that night."

A gasp escaped Arlene's lips as rage and panic overwhelmed her body.

"She has to be lying," Arlene said out loud to an empty room.

"I know you probably won't believe me," Brenda's message continued bile collecting in Arlene's throat at the chuckle she heard in Brenda's voice as she spoke, "and that is your choice, but, you can't say you didn't know. I don't know if the marriage is legal or not, but I talked to a friend of mine who's an attorney, and I was told that if you and David signed your actual names on the marriage license, and the Justice of the Peace considered himself to be performing a legal ceremony that the marriage is legal. Well, that's all I have to say. Have a good life, goodbye."

"That's all she has to say!" Arlene screamed wanting to pull Brenda through the phone so that she could feel her hands around her neck as she slowly choked the life out of her. "She calls me, drops a bomb like that in the middle of my already messed up life and that's all she has to say!"

'I don't believe her,' Arlene said to herself as she picked up the phone and dialed Callie's number, 'she has to be lying.'

Arlene paced back and forth in her living room as she waited for Callie to answer her phone, praying that she was home.

"Hello?" Callie said.

"Brenda just called and left me a voicemail message," Arlene said her voice and body shaking, "claiming that David and I were married that night in Vegas. Is it true?"

"Yes, it's true," Callie said shame falling on her thinking about the part she played in ruining her friend's life.

The dam burst and the tears that Arlene could no longer keep at bay flooded from her eyes.

"When were you going to tell me?" she asked her former friend.

"When you started talking to me again," Callie said her voice showing that she was trying to control her temper. "Arlene you wouldn't answer your phone when I called, and you wouldn't answer your door when I came by to see you. Telling you that you and David might've been legally married in Vegas isn't the type of news I wanted to tell you over the phone."

"So you're saying that all of this is my fault?" Arlene said her voice filled with anger and her mind reeling from what she'd just learned. "People whom I considered friends as well as family betray me, set me up to be humiliated, with a man that I know nothing about, and I'm not supposed to react. I'm expected to just understand that shit happens and deal with it. And, the fact that I woke up in bed with this strange man, who took my virginity, which I now find out I might be married to, isn't a big deal. How am I expected to deal with all of that Callie?"

"Arlene, if you'll let me, I can be there in a few minutes, and I can help you get through this," Callie pleaded.

"Where were you when I really needed your help, Callie?" Arlene asked her voice losing the restraint of trying not to scream at Callie. "Where were you when I needed you to put an end to this mess before it began?!"

"Arlene..."

"Do you know how you can help me now?" Arlene asked cutting Callie off. "You can help me, now by staying, the hell away from me!"

Arlene slammed the receiver down onto its base. That was two weeks ago. Arlene wasn't sure then what she was going to do then, and she wasn't sure what she was going to do now that David was here in Atlanta to talk to her.

She didn't believe that she and David were really married; she wouldn't believe it until she was shown some proof. But, just in case it was true Arlene went online that same day to find out what steps, she would have to take to have the marriage annulled in Georgia.

The process was pretty straightforward only one thing could complicate the process and Arlene had that complication.

She wondered how David would react when she told him about it and the problem it could cause them, when they went to have their marriage annulled. She didn't think he would welcome the news not when he planned to marry someone else.

She also wondered if his friends even told him, they might've been legally married that night.

'Of course he knows,' she told herself. 'That's why he's here. He wants to discuss having the marriage annulled so that he can marry the woman he loves and get on with his life.'

Arlene closed her eyes in an effort to block out the thoughts and questions invading it.

'Too many questions,' she thought to herself as she turned off the shower, got out, reached for a towel, and began drying herself off. She went into her bedroom, got dressed then went into the kitchen to prepare for David's arrival.

Arlene realized that she was both nervous and relieved at the same time when thought about David's pending arrival. Nervous because she didn't know how he felt about the situation or how he would react to the news she had to tell him and relieved, because all those questions would be answered when he arrived, and she wouldn't have to speculate any longer.

((((((((((((((())))))))))))))

David was pacing in front of Arlene's condo trying to figure out how he should greet her when she answered the door. He was torn between shaking her hand and giving her a hug.

'Giving her a hug might be considered too forward,' he told himself, 'and it might send the wrong message. Shaking her hand might be too formal and make her think I came here to tell her off, and I don't want her to think that either.'

Deciding he would take his cue on how to greet Arlene from her, David turned and knocked on the door.

Arlene almost dropped the tray with the coffee pot, cups, saucers, sugar, and cream on it that she was about to carry from the kitchen into the living room, she was so startled by the sound of someone knocking on her door.

She put the tray back on the kitchen counter and left it there because she was too nervous and shaking too badly to carry it knowing that David was standing on the other side of her door.

"Who is it?" she asked from the doorway of the dining room.

"It's me, David," David said.

"Just a moment," Arlene said taking a moment to get her emotions under control.

Thinking that she was moving Arlene wondered why she wasn't getting any closer to the door. She looked down at her feet, her surroundings and she realized that she hadn't taken one step towards the door. She was frozen in place, unable to move, because she was afraid of what could happen to her life once she opened her front door and spoke with the person on the other side.

'Get control of yourself.' Arlene said to herself. 'He's here to have the marriage annulled, so that both of you can get on with your lives. That's all he wants. Now get over there and open the door.'

It took David knocking a second time for Arlene's feet to finally move towards the door. She took deep breaths to try and calm her nerves and to get control of herself once again as she went over and opened the door.

When she opened the door, neither she nor David said anything, they both stood in the doorway of her condo, just staring at each other neither of them saying a word.

"Hello," David said speaking first.

"Hello," Arlene replied stepping aside to allow him to enter her condo. "Come in, have a seat."

Arlene closed the door and led him over to her couch.

"Would you like a cup of coffee, something to eat?" Arlene asked as he sat down.

Surprised by her offer of something to eat, David turned it down but said a cup of coffee would hit the spot.

Arlene went into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee for David and a glass of chocolate milk for herself. Then deciding that cinnamon buns would be nice she removed all the things she had placed on the tray earlier and put the cup of coffee, the glass of milk and the plate of cinnamon buns on the tray in their place. At the last moment, she decided she wouldn't a good host if she didn't share her favorite doughnuts with him, even though she really didn't want to.

As she neared the living room with the tray in her hands, Arlene took the time to get a good look at her guest/husband.

David stood six feet; six inches tall; she put his weight at about two hundred ten to two hundred-fifteen pounds. She could tell from his tanned skin and toned body, that he was a very active person and spent a lot of time taking advantage of California's warm weather and beaches. His body had defined muscles, but not bulky. His face featured a strong chin, full lips, slightly wide nose, the darkest brownest eyes Arlene had ever seen and wavy dark brown hair. He was as handsome as she remembered.

He must've felt her eyes on him because he turned his brown orbs on her. As she neared the couch David stood and ran his hand through his hair and a big smile appeared on his face.

"Do you need any help with that?" he asked noticing the tray she was carrying was shaking slightly as she lowered it towards the table.

"No, I'm fine," Arlene said as she eased the tray down onto the table.

David sat down. Arlene was still leaning over the table as she handed him the cup of coffee, she offered him earlier. As he reached for the coffee he noticed that the opening of the top she was wearing gave him a tempting view of the top of bra she was wearing, which gave him a view of the tops of her breasts.

'They look nice and firm,' David thought to himself as images of him taking her breasts into his mouth flashed into his mind.

'What's wrong with me?' he asked himself shaking the image out of his mind. 'I've got to keep my mind on the matter at hand not her body parts, no matter how tempting they look.'

"Are you alright?" Arlene asked bringing David out of his thoughts. He turned and looked at Arlene who was now standing over him a concerned look on her face.

"I'm fine," David replied smiling at his host/wife. "Why do you ask?"

"You seemed to have left the room mentally," Arlene remarked.

"I was just wondering how we're going to handle the situation between us," David said picking up his cup of coffee and taking another sip.

"I was wondering the same thing," Arlene said taking a sip from her glass of chocolate milk.

"That's an unusual breakfast drink," David remarked changing the subject because he wasn't ready to talk about what happened in Vegas yet.

"I'm told that pregnancy can cause a woman to have unusual cravings," Arlene said feeling the need to get the white elephant only she could feel and see standing in the room out of the way, "but I've had chocolate milk for breakfast for as long as I can remember."

She watched David from the corners of her eyes, trying to gauge his reaction to what she said.

When she made her announcement David was about to take another sip of his coffee, the cup was resting against his lips, and he hesitated as she said the word pregnancy. When she finished what she had to say, he completed the action then he placed the cup back onto the saucer and put the cup and saucer back onto the tray, sitting on the coffee table.