Kissing Cousins

He Saw…

  After returning home that night, Nyla lay in her bed and wept. She refused to answers any calls from Gia because she just wasn’t in the mood to do any explaining of something she was unsure of herself. The phone rang again and it was Chase.

  “Hey sexy.”

  “Gross! How can you call me that after what we know?” Chase could barely hear Nyla because she sounded as if she was talking through her nose.

  “Please…that doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I still love you.” Nyla could tell by the way Chase sounded that he wore his signature smile as he was talking to her. “Don’t pay them no mind. What did they say we were like third of fourth cousins? They’re lying anyway.

  “How do you know?” Nyla sniffed.

  “I’ve never seen you at any of my family functions or reunions, have you seen me at yours? Chase didn’t wait for Nyla to answer before he continued on. “This is just something our mothers concocted to make sure that I leave your virginity intact. Now you get you some sleep and don’t worry about it okay?

  With that, Nyla stopped crying and said goodnight to Chase.

  Nyla felt somewhat betrayed by her mother lying to her. She also had mixed feelings about if Chase was telling the truth. Knowing her mother, Nyla decided to go with Chase’s explanation of the whole situation.

  The next day, Nyla told her mother that she was going to walk down to the corner store to get a soda. Of course Nyla had to walk pass Chase’s house before she got to the corner store.

  “Hey sexy.” Chase’s usual greeting towards Nyla. “I didn’t think you were going to make it. You want to come in?”

  “No. Can’t we just sit here on your porch? I really don’t want your mother to see me here. Nyla answered nervously.

  “Baby, relax. My mom is not even here.”

  With that Chase led Nyla to his room. Upon being in his room, he walked up to Nyla and put his arms around her and began kissing her. With every second of their kiss, Nyla fell harder and harder for her first love. He began to move his hand downward to touch her bottom. This is when Nyla began to freak out. She has never dealt with feeling like this and she was unsure of the way her body was responding.

  “Relax baby” were the words that Chase kept repeating. He then tried to lay Nyla on the bed. She resisted his gesture and stopped kissing Chase.

  “What’s wrong, don’t you love me?” Chase asked looking deep within Nyla’s eyes.

  “Yes. But I’m not ready for this.” All Nyla could think about at this time was her mother and the conversations that they shared about this subject. She wasn’t ready to deceive her mother in this way. “It’s getting late. I should go.”

  “Do you want me to walk you home?” Chase asked being concerned.

  “No. I don’t want my mother to know that I was here.”

  “Well, I’ll walk you half way then.” The two walked down the street and Chase kissed Nyla goodbye at the corner.

  Nyla felt nervous when she walked in the door and saw her mother.

  “Where’s the soda?” Her mother asked.

  “Umm… I drank it on the way home.”

  “What took you so long to get back?”

  “I saw some of the girls from school at the store and we sat there and talked for a minute.” Nyla’s mother just gave her a gaze that spoke, I don’t believe you. Nyla ran up to her room to get out of her mother’s eyesight just in case she asked her some more questions.

  “Girl! I can’t believe he’s your cousin!” Gia shrieked over the phone.

  “He’s not! So stop saying that.” Nyla decided to go with Chase’s version of ideas. The way he put everything was the only thing that made sense to her.

  “I don’t know, Nyla. If it was me… I don’t think I’d chance it. You guys baby gon’ come out deformed or something.” Nyla was laughing but Gia was dead serious.

  A few days had passed and Nyla finally got up enough nerves to ask her mother about some protection. Her mother was in the kitchen cooking dinner when Nyla walked up to her.

  “Mom, can we talk a minute?” Nyla said rubbing her hands together.

  “Yeah, go ahead.” Her mother continued to cook and gave Nyla a glance as if saying, “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

  “Remember when you told me that if I was ready to have sex….to come and tell you?”

  “Yes.” Her mother stopped cooking and turned to face Nyla.

  “Well…I think I’m ready.”

  Nyla’s mother instantly turned red from her blood boiling. “You are not ready to have sex! You are way too young!”

  “But…but…but…you told me to come and talk to you when I was ready to have sex.” Nyla was confused from her mother’s outburst that she didn’t even want to continue the conversation.

  I know you are still not talking to Chase like that after what you know!” Nyla’s mom didn’t wait for an answer. “How do you know that you are ready?! Huh?” She shouted.

  “I…I…I dunno.” Nyla couldn’t think for fear if she told her mother everything, it would make matters worse.

  “You are darn right you don’t know. Because it is not you who is ready to have sex, it’s that darn BOY! Nyla he doesn’t care anything about you. All he wants you for is sex. He probably heard that you were a virgin and he wants to take that away from you. Your virginity is something sacred and it shouldn’t just be given away.”

  Nyla’s mother was speaking from her heart because she loved her daughter and didn’t want to see her hurt. But Nyla felt betrayed. She felt like her mother lied to her again and just didn’t want her to be happy.

  “Fine mom.” Was all that Nyla said.

  A few days went by and Nyla was still somewhat bothered by her mother’s reaction. Fine then, Nyla thought. I won’t tell her anything else.

  That night at the usual time, Chase called.

  “Hey sexy.”

  “Hey Chase. What’s up?”

  “Nothing. Just laying her thinking about you.”

  “And what are you thinking about?”

  “I’m thinking about you and I getting married one day and having kids.” This made Nyla blush and hold a grin that was bigger than her face. She was glad Chase was on the phone and not seeing her grin in person.

  “You are so crazy Chase.”

  “Crazy about you. So you coming over tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know Chase….my mom is kind of suspicious already.”

  “Come on...pleeeeease… for me?”

  “I’ll try Chase.” Nyla stayed awake almost all night thinking of how she could get to see Chase.

  The next day after dinner, Nyla told her mother that she forgot her math book at school and wanted to know if she could go over Gia’s house to do homework. Of course there was no math homework and no forgotten book. This was how Nyla had planned to get out of the house to see Chase.

  At Chase’s house they went upstairs and continued where they had left off the last time Nyla was there. They lay in the bed making out, but still nothing serious to Chase had taken place. Nyla lay in his arms and they both drifted off to sleep. It was late and Chase and Nyla had forgotten the time. It was of no essence to them as long as they were together. All of a sudden Carter came into Chase’s room and said, “Hey Chase….the girl’s mother is here.”

  Just then, Nyla’s mother burst into the room and Chase slides under the bed leaving Nyla alone to contend with her own mother. Nyla didn’t know what to expect she just stood there with her mouth wide open, frozen and unable to move. That is until she saw her mother about to charge at her full speed. Nyla whizzes past her mother and heads towards the car.

  “How could you? You lied to me! You will never…as long as I live, be able to get out of the house! Get your butt in the car now, young lady!

  Nyla was so embarrassed. She was embarrassed for herself for forgetting the time and having her mother find her lying in the bed with Cha
se. She was embarrassed for her mother, and for Chase who she left under the bed.

  After she got home, her mother was still yelling at her. She wasn’t even sure if her mother ever took a breath. She told Nyla to get upstairs and go to bed. “There will be no phone calls… from anyone… the only thing you will be able to do from now on is go to school… do you understand me?” Nyla’s mother was hurt. She couldn’t believe that her daughter would do this to her. “How could you after all that we’ve have talked about?”

  “Nothing happened!” Nyla yelled back to her mother.

  “You expect me to believe that you lied to get over that boy’s house, laid up in his bed until two-something in the morning, and nothing happened?”

  “It didn’t! Why can’t you believe me?”

  Nyla’s mother looked at her as if she’d asked a stupid question that she already had the answer to. “It doesn’t matter… whatever you did, you might as well had!”

  Nyla lay in bed thinking about all the events that had taken place. It all happened so fast. One minute she was making out with Chase and the next minute he was hiding under the bed. She couldn’t understand how she managed to go to sleep at Chase’s until 2:30 in the morning. Her mother must have been worried sick about her. She began to worry about Chase. After she heard her mother get into bed, she decided to sneak on the phone and call Chase. Carter answered the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “May I speak to Chase?” She just wanted to make sure he was alright and not mad at her.

  “He’s not here.” The voice said on the phone. After that all Nyla could hear was a dial tone. She hung up