Part 5
Heather's birthday came and her mother threw her a huge party. Darnell stood in the outskirts of the party. He watched Heather and chatted with Dawn, enjoying every moment. He hadn't been to too many birthday parties or social events over the years.
Heather and her friends spent the day and far into the night dancing, talking, and enjoying themselves.
Dawn noticed Heather had changed a lot in the past year, since she'd been assaulted. Not so much physically, though her breasts had gotten larger, her curves had deepened and she'd grown several inches. She was now six feet tall, as tall as her mother, and was having a hard time finding clothes that fit.
The biggest change, however, was that she no longer paid much attention to boys and young men. She thought they were fun to talk to, fun to dance with but she didn't flirt with them, and she didn't notice any of the things they did to get her attention. Heather had eyes only for Darnell. Short, fat, ugly Darnell was all she would talk about. Dawn just put it down to a case of hero worship and decided it was a phase she'd get over when the right boy came along.
Heather tried to hide her feelings from her friends but they noticed, though they didn't say a thing. They were embarrassed and thought she was weird for liking and wanting to spend so much time with the janitor. Even if he had saved her, the guy was old and ugly as hell and he wasn't very cool. They chose to ignore the whole situation.
Until recently, she felt conflicted. Torn.
How could she possibly be attracted to the janitor, of all people?
He wasn't handsome, he wasn't rich, he didn't have much of a future so why was it that just the idea of never seeing him again or not having him in her life caused her throat to constrict, brought stinging tears to her eyes, and caused a deep, despairing pain in her chest, in her heart.
She wondered if there was something wrong with her. She had always felt there was something different about her, she just didn't expect it to be her attraction for a certain man.
It was at this moment that she stopped thinking and analyzing and looked deep into her heart. In that brief moment of stillness and clarity, that blink of an eye, she realized she had fallen totally and completely in love with Darnell.
What are my friends going to say? Heck, what's my mom going to say? I know there was a big age difference between her and dad so I hope she'll understand that much at least.
Do I really care what anybody thinks or says? Well, honestly, I do and I yet I don't. I do want to be happy and I want Darnell to be happy and I think that we could be happy together. It just won't be easy. Then again who said anything worth having, I mean really worth having, is ever easy? Mom's always said the things you work for, the things you fight for, the things you didn't have handed to you in a silver platter are the things you value most. Maybe this is one of those things?
But how could it be so wrong for her to fall in love with him when it felt so right? When every fiber of her being cried out for him? She thought about him constantly, she dreamed about him almost every night, he was almost an obsession to her. Whenever she saw some someone who even slightly resembled him out of the corner of her eye, her heart would race and her heart would fill with joy at the thought that he was there.
Alright, I've admitted it but now what do I do? I know he stares at my body all the time but how does he actually feel about me?
She had confided her feelings about Darnell only to her best friend Kim, a short, chubby Asian girl she'd been best friends with since kindergarten.
"Kim, I know you're going to think I'm crazy but you know Darnell, the guy who saved me?" Heather asked.
"Yeah?" Kim said. "He's really nice, strange, but nice. What about him?"
"I like him. I mean, I really, really like him," Heather answered.
Kim looked at her closely. Heather couldn't meet her eyes. She looked down at the floor, around the room, anywhere but at her friend.
"But he's so old! And he's black!" Kim exclaimed with her face screwed up with a look of distaste. "And he's so short and fat, and he's ugly!"
"He is NOT ugly," Heather said defensively. "He's just ... different that's all but he's not ugly!"
"You just need to be realistic, Heather. He's the janitor, he's, like, 60 something and you only just turned eighteen," Kim had said.
"I know, I know but I just can't help it," Heather had replied. "I actually think I love him."
"Are you serious?! I mean come on, Heather!" Kim exclaimed. "You're, like, the prettiest girl in school and you always have all the cutest boys drooling all over you. Why don't you forget about the fat little janitor and date one of those cute boys?"
"I don't want any of those boys," exclaimed hotly, tears brimming in her blue eyes. "Every time I even look at them, I see those other boys' faces leering at me, slapping me, tearing my clothes, touching me like a bunch of animals. I don't want anything to do with them."
"They really messed you up didn't they?" Kim asked. "Well, you're my best friend and so if he's what you really want, I guess I'll stand with you no matter what," Kim said. "I guess he is a really good guy."
"So what are you going to do?" Kim asked.
"I really don't know," Heather answered. "I'll just have to see happens and just take things as they come. Besides, I don't know how he feels about me."
"Are you kidding?" Kim said with a giggle. "He looks at you like a love-sick puppy ... the same way you look at him. I noticed it before but just didn't want to admit it but now, after everything you've told me, I can see it plain as day."
They talked a bit more and after a few minutes, arm in arm, they rejoined the party.
During the party, Heather occasionally glanced around to see what Darnell was doing. Just knowing he was there gave her a warm feeling deep in her belly, she felt comforted and reassured ... safe.
Heather couldn't believe how lucky she was this day. She realized she was in love and when her mom had her cover her eyes and walked her to the garage, her day was truly complete. A little white car with a huge pink bow wrapped around its middle was parked in the driveway.
Her mom had actually bought her a car! Sure, it was only a Prius, but it was all hers, and now she could go where she wanted, when she wanted. She'd also gotten tons of clothes, shoes, electronic gadgets and money. She was ecstatic. It was by far her best birthday ever.
She'd only gotten her license earlier this same day and now she had a car to go with it. She was in seventh heaven.
But where's Darnell's gift? She asked herself, looking around. Where is Darnell?
She looked all over the house until her mom told her he'd left. He'd wished her a happy birthday and he'd like her to come over to his place so he could give her his gift in person.
Disappointed, she went back to the party, but it wound down fast. It was midnight and her friends were bone tired. Fifteen minutes later, they were gone and she and her mom sat alone on the couch, exhausted.
"Mom, I'm going over to Darnell's," she said, standing quickly. "He said he has my birthday present and I want it. I don't want to wait 'til tomorrow."
Dawn laughed.
"Fine, just be careful, you don't want to get a ticket on your first day as a licensed driver."
Darnell had kept her gifts at his place because he wanted to give them to her himself. They were personal and he was embarrassed to have her open them in front of a bunch of people, especially the kids she went to school with. He knew they'd be critical and judgmental. He wanted to avoid that scene so he figured he'd give her his gifts whenever she next came by, maybe sometime tomorrow.
He'd been in bed maybe ten minutes and was just drifting off when Heather jumped on his bed.
"What the hell!" he yelped, rolling sideways to land with a thump on the floor. Clumsily, he stood and watched as Heather jumped on his bed grinning from ear to ear, her hair a heavy veil of gold and silver that bounced and shimmered with a life of its own.
"I've got a car now so I can come by at pretty much any time I want," she said with an impish dimpled grin. "Now ... where's my present?!"
Darnell turned on the lights and watched her, entranced, as she bounced on his bed. She was wearing her birthday outfit, a shimmering topaz dress that matched her eyes perfectly. It was formfitting, cut low in the back and front with small ribbons at the shoulders. It left an incredible amount of cleavage visible, her rounded breasts seeming ready to pop out every time she bounced.
"Come down from there, white girl, before your bazooms fall out of your pretty dress," he said gruffly, wishing it would actually happen.
Smiling her lovely, dimpled smile, she climbed down off the bed and stood eagerly bouncing up and down on her toes, clapping her hands excitedly in front of her, looking for the entire world like an eager young puppy.
