Private Property: All I've Wanted Pt. 2

“Mel, I don’t care what you say, we are not having that—that thing at my house!” Desiree told her.

“It’s not a thing, it’s a party…and Jeremy is coming, so we are gonna party like it’s your birthday girlfriend!” Melanie said.

Desiree looked up from her computer.
“Yeah…I’m so sure Melanie.”

Melanie stopped fixing her hair in the mirror and swung around to face Desiree.
“Okay, you called me Melanie, something serious is going on!”
“Wow Mel Pft, I can’t believe you just noticed that!” Desiree said sarcastically. “Great job!”

“Fine, the party will be at my place—wait I forgot, my Nana is living with us now!”
“Mel…why do you do this to me?” Desiree sighed. She put a hand to her head and logged off.

“Come on…it’ll be fun, just send your parents out for the evening…”

“Don’t have to…they’ll be out for the evening, at a friend’s birthday party.”
“See? Two parties in one night, come on Desi, it’ll be fun! Just a few friends, dancing, house music and of course Jeremy…”

“Again Mel, resistance is futile.”
Melanie shrieked in anticipation. “Okay, I am gonna invite all the girls! Megan, Teresa, Katrina…”

“And no booze!”

But Melanie didn’t hear her; she had already walked out of Desiree’s bedroom.

****************************************************

“Look who it is! Taldez’s poet extraordinaire!” said Chelsea happily from her locker across the hall.

Sean smirked and turned to her. “Chelsea, it was just a little sonnet for the newspaper.”

“A sonnet of beauty and glory…love and retrospect on the grandeur of life’s easel…”

Chelsea said dramatically as she, Sean and their friend Alexandra sauntered off to the basketball racks.

“Hmmm and I thought I was the poet,” Sean answered playfully.
“No doubt about it, the poem was good…” said Alex.
“The poem was gay!” someone shouted from afar.

The three of them turned to see Kira Harrison, an upperclassman, looking haughty behind jade-hued eyes and hair like sunbeams. Next to her was a darker girl, Shantae Graves, who looked like she could cause just as much verbal damage as her former.

“Kira, save your homophobic crap, no one wants to hear it!” Chelsea said hotly, as if she were going to pick a fight with this girl.

Alex grabbed her by the arm, “Chelsea…what are you doing?”

“Don’t try and stop her Alex…she’s just another straight girl, protecting a homo to look good!” Kira laughed.

Shantae cackled.
“Let’s go Chelsea, ignore them…” Sean whispered in her ear. “We’re in eighth grade remember?”

“So? Sean, you can’t let people talk to you like that—”
“Chelsea! Let’s move on…” Alex interrupted.

The funny thing was no one knew he was gay except Alex and Chelsea, maybe the words Homosexual were written all over his face.

“Remember…silly faggot, dicks are for chicks!” they called.

A crowd of grade nines jeered as they left.
“Sean, what was that back there? You just let them walk all over you?” Chelsea asked as they walked out to the Bike Yard.
“What was what?” questioned Peter from the doors.

“Nothing…Peter, we were just talking,” Alex said nervously.
“I hope it was good things…anyway, Sean you wanna go and head over to Ryan’s real quick? He’s got some “exclusive rentals” for us…you know… porn.”

Sean swallowed hot saliva.
Alex drew a face of disgust and punched his arm. “Peter!”
“Ouch! What?”
Chelsea saw the look on Sean’s silent face and intervened for him. “Peter, Sean and I were planning to go study for that Bio Quiz…”
“Yeah we were!”

He and Chelsea raced back up the steps of Taldez, abandoning their two best friends.

********************************************************


“Do you think he’ll actually notice me? Do guys even look at this stuff?” asked Desiree, worried in her bedroom as Melanie shuffled around in a violet Angel shirt, with hip-hugger jeans.

Desiree looked around at the cosmetics, crèmes and lotions which were scattered across her bookcase, bed and chest of drawers.

“Yes hun, they do…I told you I was gonna hot you up, and I will,” said Melanie.
She applied another layer of gloss to Desiree’s dry lips.

“I’m just worried…I have a feeling one way or the other, I won’t like this night.”
“Desi, close your mouth for a sec, so I can add this…”

Melanie smoothed over the clear gloss with a layer of bronze lipstick. She propped Desiree’s head back and patted her cheeks with foundation, followed by a little blush that glowed on the end of the brush like mocha dust.
“When Jeremy sees this…coupled with that stunningly hot, sunflower dress…He’s gonna flip.”

She turned Desiree’s chair around.
“Here she is…Desiree Gazallah Qalat, live from Melanie’s House of Hair.”
“I’m taking my hijab off.”
“Why, it’s the perfect dark brown colour, it matches everything!”
“No one is gonna want to see Osama’s daughter-in-law…Jeremy wants to see hot, I’ll give him hot.”

Desiree untied the lengthy cloth, the insignia of her faith, and threw it to the ground. Long, thick, dark hair fell behind her back in a lustrous flow that glinted in the lava lamp and moonlight like liquid obsidian.
“Wow…I wish I had hair like yours!”
Desiree grinned slightly, knowing full well by the end of the night, that Jeremy would be hers.
****************************************************

Sean watched as everyone walked out of the spare classroom, the Environmentalist’s Club Meeting had drawn to a close.
It was half past eight now.
Suddenly Nathan appeared at the door, and approached Sydney, the Club President.
“Sorry I was late, is it over?” he breathed.
“Yeah…next week we’re all meeting at the Beanery though,” Sydney smiled.
“Oh that’s good, I guess everyone’s gonna order something then?” Nathan said.

Sydney, Sean, Chelsea and a few others laughed.
“No, we’re protesting…the Beanery uses those little bendy straws that get caught in a whales’ blowhole!”
“Oh…sorry…”
Sean felt his manhood growing as Nathan blushed.
Chelsea looked at him with a look of mingled glee and alarm.

Nathan shook hands with Sydney and approached Sean and Chelsea.
Chelsea coughed and cooed, “I think I’ll just…go help Heather with putting those extra flyers away…”

Sean and Nathan stood there, looking at the ceilings, walls, floors…anything to not gaze upon each other.
“Hey umm do you wanna go to that new Art Gallery at the Brooklyn Museum this weekend?” Nathan said suddenly. His question broke the awkward silent mode.
“How did you know I like Art?”
“I didn’t…well, I kinda did, I just…thought so, since I read your poem, it was amazing, just like you…” said Nathan deeply.

Sean cleared his throat and smiled.
“Is that a yes?”
Sean nodded.
“Awesome! Well, could I have your uh…n-number, not that I like you like that, I just—”
Sean went for his bag, and bent down to retrieve a pen and paper.
Nathan folded the note carefully and, put it in his pocket, with a beam. They shook hands, which sent a jolt through Sean’s stomach.
*********************************************************************


Desiree sat in the kitchen, with Megan and Teresa by her.
Plastic cups full of Pepsi and Fanta lined the dining room table, as Melanie put the last family jewel away in Desiree’s bedroom for safekeeping.
She came back down, looking around checking things.
“Mel, relax…it’s just a party with just us…”
“Coming from a Bisexual girl, I feel so much better!” Melanie replied.

The doorbell screeched.
“Finally!”
Melanie ran to the door, as grade nines entered with mixed expressions and bodies waiting for the music to begin.
“Bailey…Chris…Gheri…Adam…Adrienne and…Ki...ra.”

Melanie stormed to the kitchen. “What the hell is Kira doing here? Who invited her and that Shantae girl?”
“Don’t look at me…she’s not my type,” said Megan in her light, English accent.
Desiree moaned as more fists beat upon the door.

Melanie ran back to the door, but it flew open as a great group of unrecognizable faces rushed in. The Medic Droid and “Fersuuuure” blasted suddenly. The bass ran through the house, and as nine turned to nine thirty, everyone was having a wild time…
Once or twice Melanie thought she heard a glass break. Desiree just sat there, frozen, not socializing, horrified that the gathering of friends soon turned into a nightclub infested with drunken minors.
“Okay we need to take control!” said Melanie.
She walked into the bumping and grinding crowds, and saw Shantae collapsing against the china closet with a group of boys around her, grabbing her ass.
“Typical Seniors—oh my…”
A wiry-haired senior looked up at her wearing a Madras shirt and a leather jacket. “Melanie…”
He touched her arm, but she pulled away quickly.
“Chase, what are you doing here, who even told you about this party?”
“Mel, you know we seniors can’t resist knowing what’s going on in ninth grade lives…”

“I have to go and do something…”
“Yeah, like kill another baby?”

Melanie turned to face him on her heel. “Look! I didn’t wanna do that—my parents made me!”
“So you couldn’t stop them?” said Chase.
“I was thirteen!”
“He was our child Melanie…Remember when you named him?”
“Chase! Just get away from me! I made a few mistakes in my life, and one was ever having sex with you!”
She pushed him against the wall, and watched as Shantae barfed all over the carpet.


Desiree walked up the staircase above the Pantry, and entered the small trapdoor to her bedroom. It was a sanctuary, free of intoxicating Vodka-stained breath and sweat.
Her door opened.
“Get out!”
“Oh sorry…” said a deep voice.
Jeremy stood there in a New York Giants Jersey.
“No wait! Its okay!” she assured him. “I thought you were one of them downstairs.”

Jeremy scoffed, “No I’d never let myself get that stupid.”
“Tell me about it…”
“So this party, was it your idea?”
“Heaven’s no…never, it was all Melanie’s…it’s hard to combat a social butterfly, bent on hooking people up!”
She gasped, realizing what she had just done.
Desiree bit her lip in the silence.
Jeremy got up from the bed and walked up behind her.
“People like us?”
His scent…Versace Blue Jeans and peppermint…she couldn’t resist it. They were now face-to-face…so close that a spectator would think they were kissing, but they weren’t, not yet.
“I thought you wouldn’t like me, because of my Muslim heritage…”
“I don’t care about that Desiree…”
“Now I know…”
“I do too…”
Jeremy grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer to his body…their lips touched for a brief moment. They breathed and kissed again, forgetting everything.
*****************************************************************************


“So I hear you have feelings for Nathan Goldberg? How does that make you feel?!” Alex sang from the other side of Sean’s locker.
“Stick to Cheerleading Alex, you make a lousy Psychologist…” Sean replied, as he put his books away.
“So tell me what did you guys talk about last night?” said Chelsea.
“You know…the usual, food, music, politics…and snoring…we both fell asleep, we were up to after midnight!”
“Sounds great, if only you could share that with Peter Wu-Men,” said Alex.

Peter came up to them, smiling and red-faced.
“Sean my man you missed it! A night of Pamela Anderson on wide screen at Ryan’s place! He’s got stashes of DVDs in his room! It was awesome!”
Sean’s nostrils flared in annoyance. “I’m sure it was but, we have an English Quiz, don’t we guys?”
“Yeah, and I don’t think a blonde, big-chested slut is gonna help us with Prepositions!” Alex said harshly.
Peter sucked his teeth and walked off, alone.
***********************************************************************

“How did things go last night?” said Melanie across the stone table.
“Fine…it was just…magical.”
Melanie and Teresa grinned.
“Sounds good,” said Teresa. “What did you guys do?”
“We kissed…”
“This calls for major celebration—”
“No more parties for awhile, okay? We were able to clean everything up and throw everyone out before my family got back in…”
“So are you two official?”

Jeremy walked over to them and kissed Desiree on her forehead. She smiled and touched his hands as he walked to the Bus Loop.
Melanie and Teresa’s jaws dropped open, because Desiree’s smile was all they needed.
******************************************************************************

…The rain fell in long, cold sheets, and the two boys were caught with no MetroCards…

“I didn’t know they closed the Museum for renovation!” Nathan exclaimed.

“Do you wanna go under that cherry tree?” Sean yelled over the roar of the wind, rain and five o’ clock traffic.

They sat beneath the foliage, huddling in one large jacket.

“Stupid weathermen,” Sean spat.

Nathan let out a high laugh, and blushed.

“I like it when you blush,” Sean blurted suddenly.

Nathan’s face froze, as their hands touched.

“I…” said Sean. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say it that way—no I didn’t mean it at all, it’s just I’ve never, Nathan you’ve gotta listen—“
“Shut up, you talk too much,” Nathan cut sharply.

He leaned in and planted a light kiss on Sean’s lips.

That day, something blossomed between the two.

Romeo and his fair Romeo.