Familiar

“Familiar”

               Julien sat in his back yard. The book seemed magnetized, as he brought it to his stomach, it pushed away as if there were two magnets with opposing polarities. He thought it was weird. He felt the push against his stomach as he kept lowering the book. He wasn’t sure why this was happening, was there a magnet in the book? Was the magnet in his stomach? Then he thought “There must be two magnets. One is in my stomach, and one is in the book”. He lowered the book again. He felt the push as the book moved forward. He looked up and Kevin from work was standing in front of him. “Man you’re going to get in trouble you keep doing that.”

Julien didn’t know Kevin was even at his house. A quick thought ran through his mind, “Kevin never leaves his house, especially on the weekend. Internet must be out over there.”

               Julien messed with the book a little more, he didn’t care about Kevin saying he was going to get in trouble, “shit; I’m at home. Who is going to yell at me?”

               Julien looked in the sky; it was magnificent, the purplish- pink hues looked beautiful. The summertime always made Julien relaxed. He loved this time of year. He looked for Kevin but didn’t see him. His backyard seemed bigger, but he did just mow it. Maybe that’s it. He heard his name called. He turned. Kevin was in the next yard over. Julien looked at the fence and Kevin’s head was peeking over. “You coming? Food is almost ready.”

               Julien looked down. He looked back at Kevin. “I ain’t got food to bring.”

               Kevin waved his hand, implying—" forget it.”

               Julien walked inside; he looked in his fridge. He had nothing. His fridge was bare, not one thing in it. He felt a big pit in his stomach. He can’t go to a cookout and not bring anything. He wasn’t that hungry, maybe he would just go, to see what’s going on, meet his neighbors. He could always go shopping later.   Julien walked by a mirror that was in his kitchen. He looked into it; he looked good. He looked good in purple. He doesn’t ever remember wearing purple before, but he looked good, so he decided to head over.

Chapter 2

               Julien walked into his neighbor’s backyard. It was crowded, people everywhere. He looked for Kevin. He didn’t see him. He saw a guy that looked familiar. He walked up to the guy. “Hey, have you seen Kevin?”

               The guy looked at him. He blew out of his mouth in disgust. “Kevin.. He left….. Good.”

               Julien squinted his eyes moved his head back like a bug was around his mouth. “Alright…. I guess.” He wasn’t sure how to take that. Julien looked around. Everyone was standing. He wasn’t sure where to go. He looked at a woman. He walked closer. “That’s my neighbor.” He thought to himself. “Or maybe not…… Yeah it is”, he just knew it and felt it.”   He walked over to her.

               “Veronica. Hey.”

               She was with a group of friends. They all stopped and stared. Veronica was wearing a red sundress. She looked beautiful. Her Brown Shoulder length hair stayed in position as she leaned in for a hug with Julien. She looked happy to see him.

               Julien felt happy. He saw her friends look at him as they hugged. They looked jealous or mad, Julien couldn’t tell. Julien looked to both sides of himself, to make sure there wasn’t anyone next to him, because these women were looking at him like he stole something. Veronica grabbed Julien’s hand. His dark skin looked darker as he was holding Veronica’s hand. Julien felt the love as she introduced him to her friends. The women smiled at Julien, and their whole attitude changed. They were talking to him like it was his first day on the job. (You know that feeling when you start a new job, and it seems like everyone is so happy that you are there. Then a week later you are just another factory worker.) Yeah, that feeling is what Julien was feeling.

               Veronica looked at Julien. Julien stared back. He was in love. 

               “So last night, what were you going to say to me?” Veronica asked as she grabbed both of Julien’s hands.

               Julien’s mind raced. He smiled. He had no idea what she wanted to hear. He looked at her, her brown eyes were staring into his, her smile was breathtaking. He couldn’t let her down. “I will tell you later baby.” Julien replied, trying to figure out what he was supposed to say.

               “Oh, it’s a surprise?” She gave him a kiss on the lips. She smiled at him as she pulled back. She let go of both hands. “Okay promise you will tell me after everyone leaves?”

               He smiled. “Promise.”

               She leaned in again; she kissed him again. She was more passionate this time. He felt his heart start racing. She pulled back. “Okay I will be back.” She let his hands go, and walked back towards her friends, or at least where her friends were standing before. It seemed another group of friends were there waiting now. 

               Julien took a breath. He inhaled the cigar he had in his right hand. He exhaled. He saw Kevin sitting on a chair against the fence. Julien walked over to him. “Where did you go?” Julien asked Kevin. Kevin had changed his clothes and was now wearing shorts and tank top, his hair was long, Julien had never seen Kevin without his hairnet from work on. 

               “Oh, I just went to get some beers.” He handed Julien one. 

               Julien opened it and took a sip. It tasted like water. Julien almost spit it out.

               “What kind of beer is this?”

               Kevin looked at him. “Dude this is some strong stuff. Just let it kick in!” Kevin started dancing as he said that. 

               Julien laughed. Never in his life did he think that Kevin would be dancing like that.

               Julien turned around. He saw Veronica talking to another group of her friends on the stage. Julien looked again. The backyard was lit up with all these small white Christmas lights. The backyard was still crowded with people. Julien decided he better check his self in a mirror or something before he talked to Veronica again. She looked so beautiful, he wanted to make sure he looked good. He walked over towards the stage. He could see a hallway that looked like it would lead to a bathroom. He walked down the hallway. People were all around, they weren’t paying Julien much mind and he wasn’t paying them much attention either. He walked into the bathroom. One man was standing in front of him, he was staring into the mirror. There was a white sink, that had the water running, and the man kept putting his hand under the water and then placing it on his head, he was fixing his hair. Julien stayed patient. He looked around, trying not to rush the man. The man looked sharp. He was wearing a black suit, with nice black shoes. His hair was dark, and looked too short to be doing whatever it was he was doing with the water. Julien waited a little longer. He could see part of his reflection, but the man was blocking most of the mirror. Julien finally had enough after the man placed his hands under the water for the fiftieth time. 

               Julien pushed the man. He pushed him hard. Julien usually didn’t have that type of anger, but this man pissed him off. The man turned around. He pushed Julien back. Julien fell against a wall. The man walked towards Julien. He got in Julien’s face.

               “You want this to happen?” The man said calmly. 

               Julien looked at him. The man was good looking. He looked like a man you would see in a move about Wall Street. His short brown hair and tight-fitting business suit. This man looked like he had it all. 

               Julien threw a punch and hit the man right square in the face. 

               The man didn’t budge. Julien swung again. He felt the connection, he felt his knuckles hit the man. 

               The man laughed. He turned around and walked out. 

               Julien was angry. He wanted to chase the man and hit him again, because the next hit, oh that next hit would hurt him. Julien knew it. 

               Julien took a breath. Kevin was standing next to him. 

               Julien looked at Kevin. Kevin held his arm out. “Go ahead man, I’m after you.” 

               Julien looked at him. Then looked forward. He walked up to the mirror. His purple shirt looked too big for him in this mirror, but it still looked decent. He did feel a little underdressed after the guy he just ran into, but it was a cookout. Julien looked at his hair. He forgot that he just cut his hair, he had been wearing braids for years now. He looked at his reflection. He stared for a second, thinking about Veronica. He loved that girl. He glanced at himself one more time. He looked good. He turned around. He wanted to go find Veronica. “Oh shit….What was I supposed to ask her?”

                                        Chapter 3

The party had died down. There were only a handful of people there as Julien walked back out to the yard. The stage was empty, and there were only a few Christmas lights on. Julien scanned the remaining people left for Veronica. He saw her. He started to walk towards her when Kevin stepped in front of him. “Hey, you ready to go?”

               Julien looked at him. “What?”

               “You ready to go?”

               Julien looked at Kevin. Still wearing his tank top and shorts. “Nah man go ahead.”

               “What, why?”

               “I am waiting for Veronica.”

               “Veronica who?”

               Julien looked at him. “My girl Veronica.”

               “Whatever man. Have fun. I’m out.” Kevin said as he walked away.

               Julien walked towards Veronica. She met him halfway. 

               “Hey Baby.” She said as she walked up and gave him that familiar soft kiss.

               “Hey.” Julien knew what he wanted to ask her. He kissed her again. They split apart. They grabbed each other’s faces, then hugged.  Julien felt the love, this was special. The butterflies were there. He could tell her butterflies were there. They looked at each other. Their eyes were so connected. They couldn’t be separated. 

               Julien bent down on one knee. He looked at her in the eyes. “I love you more than anything in this world.” He started to feel like he was going to cry.

               Veronica started to wipe her eye. She started to cry. She was filled with joy and happiness.

               Julien felt the same. It felt like the love he had for her was about to split his chest wide open. His eyes had tunnel vision. This woman but his mind, his eyes, his soul in a zone.

               “Will you marry me?”

               She screamed “Yes!”, as the tears let loose.

               They hugged. Nothing else mattered. He picked her up, swung her around.

               She looked at him. “Let me go change so we can take pictures!”

               Julien thought it was weird, but he nodded his head. He was so happy as he saw her walk into her house, knowing he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. He saw the door shut. 

               He stood there for a second. Then he felt this deep pain. Something felt bad.

               He saw the man he hit earlier…

               “Where is Veronica?” Julien asked as the man walked past him.

               He stopped. He walked over to Julien. He gave him a hug. “Sorry man. This was all a dream.”

               He walked away from Julien. 

Julien tried to follow

Julien woke up.