Mommy

They were so tempting, so full and juicy. I just wanted to grab them then eat them. How did one get such perfect lips? How could I resist them?

I inched closer to him, close enough for his sweet breath to tease my lips. They parted on instinct.

Just one kiss. I needed just one kiss to know how those lips felt like.

Only one centimeter apart. I held my breath to not wake him up. My heart raced at the thought of a kiss from Joseph. Even if it was a stolen kiss. I closed my eyes when my lips touched his.

He whimpered then moved his head. I hurried to the other bed. I'd have to settle for not touching him if I wanted to watch him sleep longer. With my legs crossed under me, I quietly sipped my tea.

I couldn't believe that I had a boy sleeping in my bed. Not just a boy, the most devilishly handsome, the funniest, the most stylish, and the most adorable of the boys. He was sleeping in my bed, warming my sheets and embedding his scent on them.

Last night, he gave me a date that will forever be engraved in the front of my mind. I needed to stop calling it a date. He said it wasn't a date, he was clear on that but my brain wasn't having any of that. I wanted it to be a date. It seemed like a date, at least till the effect of the ecstasy began to show.

What was he thinking? How could he just put his life at risk like that? Didn't he know there was people whose life will be greatly affected if something bad happened to him? Who the hell took pills from strangers? Why would he do something like that?

After we left the restaurant last night, it took us two hours to retrace the path we had just done in a couple of minutes. He was running around in the other direction, shouting and embracing strangers. At one point, he was singing single ladies to a group of girls passing by us. I couldn't help being jealous that other girls were seeing him like this too. I was scared they would find him adorable too then take him.

It was a miracle that we even made it to my room. Putting him to bed was even worse. He refused to lay down. He was bouncing off the walls which caused my neighbors to come knock at my door at least three times. One of them warned me they were going to the building manager if we didn't settle down. When his energy was finally beginning to drain, he took off his shirt and went to sleep without much effort from me.

Now, I was sitting on Carmen's bed, waiting for him to wake up so we could have breakfast together. That was what I'd been looking forward to ever since I woke up. My inside were giggling like a school girl, even worse than when I saw him half naked last night.

"Who the hell is that?" Carmen snapped.

I was so engulfed into Joseph's world that I didn't hear her come in. She was standing in the threshold with sandals in hand, blue highlight in her disheveled brown hair, and dark spots on her clothes.

I jumped off the bed to put a hand on her mouth. "Shhh, he's sleeping."

"I don't freaking care," she said louder. "Who the hell is he?"

The strong smell of the liquor lingering in her breath almost knocked me out. "Are you drunk?"

"No, I was drunk last night. Now, answer my question."

"It's Joseph," I answered sheepishly.

She raised her eyebrows at me, "What the hell is he doing here? I thought you got rid of this idiot?"

"Irene?" Joseph's deep voice echoed in the room, still rusty from sleep. "What are you doing here? Where am I?"

I rushed to him, grabbing a cup of water in my desk which was waiting for him. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Better, I guess," he held on to his head. "I can still feel like life is a bowl of sunshine but this headache is doing its best to make me stay rooted to earth."

I laughed, "Yeah, it takes a couple of days for the effect to completely wear off."

My gaze dropped to his lips as he brought the cup towards them. Then it followed the water's path from his mouth, through his throat, and down his stomach. I stopped there, my mouth went dry as I slowly trace his tone muscles with my gaze. It was my personal piece of delicious chocolate staring at me.

I had to blink so I could stop myself from drooling. When he caught my eyes, he smirked. I blushed such a deep red for openly checking him out. Then, I remembered his words last night and my face colored even more. The pills had boosted his ego to the point of overconfidence and I couldn't say I didn't like it. I liked the easygoing way he walked when he was so sure of himself. He was hot and knew it.

"Romeo and Juliette," Carmen called. "What the hell you think you're doing?"

I got up the bed, "Joseph this is Carmen. Carmen this is Joseph."

"Hi," he walked up to her with his hand outstretched for her to take. "It's nice to meet you. It was really nice of you to help me stay in contact with Irene."

She ignored the offered hand. "I wasn't trying to be nice," she stared down at him. "I was trying to give Irene an opportunity to discover who's right for her and who's not. Apparently, she sucks at it."

"Carmen," I pulled Joseph to me. "I think you need to go cool off."

She had never acted like this before. She was usually cool with my boyfriends. She used to say as long as he's the one making me happy, she was there. Why would she object to Joseph? He was making me happy. Despite not being remotely similar to my previous love interests, Joseph was as good as them.

She closed the door and moved to her bed. I thought it was over but turned out she was just getting started. "Where do you parents even work? McDonald's?"

I wanted to walk to her and shake her but Joseph answered. "My mom is maid at a hotel called Ocean Reef."

"I've hear of that hotel. One of my friends stayed there when she came to South Florida for a summer. Where's your dad? Let me guess...in prison, right?" She laid her head on the wall, a sly smile displayed on her lips.

"I don't know where my father is. He left a long time ago."

She laughed, "Figures. You black folks have the same story – the absent father, the slutty hard working single mother, and the poverty that makes you hungrier than ever for money."

"Carmen," I warned, "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting to know your friend. Stop interrupting."

"My mother's a hard working Christian woman. You don't know her, don't talk about her like that."

"I'm sensing a little bit of mommy's boy in you."

"I love my mother and I don't want people to discriminate us based on what others do. If that makes me a mommy's boy then yes I am and I'm proud of it."

"Oh, come on. I'm just joking, don't get your panties in a twist. I just want to get to know you better. Why don't you tell me about yourself?" She moved to the edge of the bed. "Come sit with me so we can talk more. I won't bite, come on."

"I think Joseph has other things to do," I said, afraid of what next will come out of her mouth.

"It's Saturday. What can he possibly have to do?"

"I actually have work in one hour," he replied.

"Oh, you work? That's awesome. How's that working out for you?"

"Good, it's fun. I get to earn money to spend on things my scholarship doesn't cover."

"A scholarship kid, how fun," she threw me a meaningful look.

She was reminded me of the conversation we had when we first got here. The one about all scholarship kids wanting to attain the peak in the quickest way and won't be afraid to manipulate a rich kid to get it.

"Basketball or football?" she asked. "Come sit with me Joseph."

He turned to me for an answer. When I nodded he went to sit on my bed, facing her. I followed him and sat there quietly. "It's an academic scholarship."

"How unique," she giggled. I could see that the liquor hadn't disappear totally from her system. "An African-American on an academic scholarship instead of a sport one."

"It's not that uncommon," I argued.

"And I'm Haitian-American not African-American," Joseph corrected.

"What's the difference? It's still black."

Yep, I was going to punch her once Joseph is gone. What had gotten into her? I knew she was always sensible about her status in society but not that sensible. She was practically crushing Joseph, making him into an insignificant parasite who was out there to suck us dry.

"The difference is that I have more immediate ties in Haiti than Africa. My parents are both Haitians born and raised."

"Isn't Haiti that poor little Caribbean island? The one with a lot of diseases and malnourished people? I thought you people were banned to come here, why would the government let a bunch of sick people immigrate in here? So us tax payers don't only have to pay for your daily living and your education, we have to live with the diseases you guys are bringing here. "

"That's enough," I stood up with my hands on my hips. "Joseph has way better things to do than listen to your stupid insinuations. We're leaving."

"You can't leave," she said. "You live here."

"Keep this up and I won't be."

"You wouldn't. You need me."

"Keep saying stuff like that and we'll see." I grabbed Joseph hand, a tingle ran through my palm when it settled on mine. "Let's get out of here."

We walked out. "I'm really sorry about that," I apologized when we got out of the room. "She's not usually like this. It's the alcohol, I swear. She's a good person."

"I know, anyone who's friend with you has to be one." He took my hand between his, warming them with his heat. "Are you sure this girl is your friend?" He stared at me.

"Of course, she is. She didn't mean any harm about what happened in there. I don't even know where all that come from."

"She seems to care an awful lot about people's background," he said quietly.

"She's just being a good friend. It's a little on the rough side but she's just protecting me."

I saw his eyes drop for the briefest second before he smiled back at me. "I better get going. Thanks for letting me sleep here, I hope it didn't bother you much."

"It's fine," I brushed it off. "I'll see you in class."

I held on to his gaze, hoping he would lean in and kiss me. For about a second, I saw him hesitate. My breath hitched in anticipation. I longed for him to kiss me. The one stolen kiss wasn't enough for me. I wanted to be closer to him. I wanted to be with him.

I felt my world come to a stop when he turned around and disappeared behind the exit door. He didn't even say goodbye. He just left me alone in the empty hall.

A girl passed by me with her towel in hand. She walked straight into the shower room.

I went back into my room to face Carmen. She was laying on the bed with her legs dangling down.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I said.

She didn't move to face me. "I was doing you a favor," she mumbled in her pillow.

"You were attacking him," I shout. "What has he done to you for you to hate him so much?"

"I don't hate him," she sat up. "He has nothing to offer you, Irene. He can only take from you."

"Why are you being so difficult? Since when do you care about who I date?"

"We're in college now. There's a higher risk that whoever you date here might end up your husband. Trust me, you don't it want to be this guy."

"What's gotten into you?" I asked.

"It's call growing up, Irene. You should try it sometimes," she pushed her earphones in her ears then closed her eyes.

Now, I was left to wonder on my own about what was going through Joseph mind. I was left to worry about what he really wanted from me.