AJ cleaned up while he waited for Dawn to arrive. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He and Dawn were buds, at least they used to be until she started dating Anthony. He felt his blood pressure begin to rise as it always did whenever he thought about Anthony. While he never actually saw Anthony physically hurt Dawn, he knew he had. He just had that gut feeling.
‘Dawn deserves so much better’, he thought to himself. ‘I certainly hope it wasn't Anthony who talked her out of a singing career either’.
It was her big dream, and she certainly had what it took to make it; the looks, the voice, the personality, her whole presence, her aura, was just magical. He would often get goosebumps whenever he used to hear her sing.
He sat on his loveseat and thought back on the times when he used to listen to her sing. She used to sing his favorite song, ‘I Still Believe’, by Brenda K. Starr, it was Dawn's favorite, as well. AJ just loved the way she sang it, the emotion she put into it.
"Wait a minute!", his eyes flew open, "What the hell am I doing??" he said to himself out loud. "I never used to think of Dawn like that, what is wrong with me??"
He thought for a moment.
"Maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic because I'm lonely".
He had broken up with his longtime girlfriend, Marissa, not too long ago.
"Not to mention, Dawn is spoken for". He told himself. "For all I know she could have changed a lot since I saw her last. What if she gained 100 pounds, or has no teeth now, or is bald or something??!" He started to panic. "Okay, calm down", he told himself, "she still has a great voice and that's what's important here".
Just then, in the midst of all the madness going on in AJ's head, he heard a car pull up in his driveway. It was Dawn. He peeked out the curtain to steal a glance so he wouldn't be horrified when he opened the door. Only then did he realize just how wrong his previous scenario had been.
"Lord have mercy", he said out loud. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all”.
He watched her walk up his driveway. She looked a lot like he remembered, but more beautiful somehow, more mature. She was medium height, about 5’6”, and slender, about 125 pounds, he guessed. Her long dark hair had been cut to right above her shoulders. It was a lot shorter than he ever remembered her having it before. It still looked good, though.
By this time Dawn was almost to his front door, but he was oblivious to the fact that in about two seconds she would be ringing his doorbell. He was still watching her, totally enthralled by her, for some reason. He found himself looking at her through the peephole in the front door.
"Those eyes...", he thought to himself as Dawn walked up his steps, heading towards the door. Her large, dark brown eyes always got to him. That was her best feature, he always thought.
Just then, as he was looking directly into those eyes, his doorbell rang and he almost jumped out of his shoes. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself then opened the door to see Dawn standing there with a big smile on her face.
“Hey, beautiful!” He exclaimed as they embraced tightly for the first time in 3 years.
They were happy to see each other after all this time. Something about the way she felt in his arms comforted him. Something just felt so right.
It was at that moment that AJ made an unconscious promise to himself that he wouldn’t let her go this time.


Chapter 3
Back