Dahlia

Connection

It was 6:00 in the morning and Buckey was headed into his brother’s house to get some food before school. Cortez had given him a key and ever since Dahlia moved in there was usually some quick breakfast foods waiting for him. This morning he was just so hungry that he couldn’t wait to get to school. He unlocked the door and didn’t smell anything cooking so he assumed his brother and sister in law weren’t awake. He glanced at his watch, realizing that Cortez would be on the schedule at their job today so he wasn’t surprised that he was sleeping in today. Buckey went into the kitchen to warm up the banana nut muffins that Dahlia left out for him. He was trying to keep the noise down so that he wouldn’t wake Cortez and Dahlia. 

Meanwhile, Kal woke up about a half an hour before Buckey got there. She put away the sofa bed and then went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face.  She was creeping around so that she wouldn’t wake Cortez and Dahlia. When she came back into the living room she didn’t notice Buckey’s backpack sitting on the side of the couch. She was hungry so she decided to go to the kitchen and make some breakfast for everyone. As she was going into the kitchen Buckey was coming out and they ran right into each other. Kal stared up and the person she ran into. Though it was only for a split second, she saw the most beautiful human he had ever seen. He seemed to tower over her but he was only about 6’3. He had the smoothest butterscotch toffee colored skin. Jet black hair that he wore in four big braids, two down the sides of his head and two down the back of his head. His eyelashes were so long they looked like falsies. He had beautiful dark brown eyes and perfect facial features. He looked like he worked out but he wore semi baggy clothes so she couldn’t really tell but she certainly hoped that she would be able to find out. 

But in that moment, she did the only thing she could think of.  Kal let out an ear piercing scream and Buckey let out a yell that could have woke up the whole neighborhood. “Who the hell are you?!?!?” Buckey asked her. “Who the hell are you?!?!?!” Kal shot back. Cortez and Dahlia came running out of their bedroom. “Kal, are you all…” Dahlia stopped in mid sentence and doubled over with laughter. Cortez was also laughing and Kal and Buckey were in a state of utter confusion. “What the f**k is goin on here?” Buckey asked. “What’s so funny?” Kal stood frozen beside Buckey. Dahlia smiled at both of them. “Buckey this is my cousin Kalmia but we call her Kal, this is my soon to be brother in law Buckey.” Buckey looked down at Kal and noticed how beautiful she was for the first time. She was about 5’7 and she had long light brown microbraids. Her hair was so light brown it was almost blond. She had light brown eyes to set off her caramel skin tone. She was a slim build with nice curves. “I’m sorry miss.” Buckey said slowly. “You just really freaked me out.” “I’m sorry” Kal said as she scrambled to put on her sweatpants. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Cortez was watching Buckey and noticed that he wasn’t quite acting like himself. “Well,” Buckey said as he cleared his throat. “I’m out, I’ll see ya’ll at school.” He hurried out the door, leaving his muffin. He had to get out of there before anyone could see him turning beet red.. Cortez smiled at Kalmia and said “I think my brother is feelin you.” Kalmia’s cheeks turned red. “You think so” she asked shyly. Dahlia laughed. “Yeah, he’s never at a loss for words AND he left his muffin.” “Buckey never forgets his food.” 

A week later, Kal was all settled in on the sofa bed and she was getting bored just staying in the house all day while Dahlia and Cortez were working or at school. Plus, she was consumed with thoughts of Cortez's beautiful brother. She was dying to see him again but she didn’t think that he would be interested in seeing her. Dahlia seemed to notice that Kal was getting restless sitting in the house all day so she invited her to campus one day when she didn’t have school. Kal had never had the opportunity to experience anything like this before so she jumped at the chance. She also hoped this would be an opportunity for her to see Buckey. Kal’s time spent on Dahlia’s campus was like sensory overload.  Dahlia took her around the campus to look at all of the buildings, academic halls and the libraries. She saw all kinds of different people with all different backgrounds. Kal had never left their small Virginia town so this was a completely new experience for her. For lunch Dahlia took Kal to the chill spot. “Tania this is my cousin Kalmia.” “She’s coming to stay with me and Cortez for a little while. “You can call me Kal.” She said smiling. Tania and Kal hit it off immediately and the three of them sat talking and laughing for about an hour and a half. “Oh, look at the time.” Tania said. “I’ve really gotta get going.” “I’ll see you two at the house tonight before we go to the club right?” “Yeah girl, we’ll see you later.” Dahlia said. 

Kal waved to Tania, turned to Dahlia and said “So, is she talkin to anyone?” Dahlia raised an eyebrow at her. “Why you askin that question, you like someone?” “Or is it her you like?” Kal threw an ice cube at her cousin. “Now you know good and well that’s not the case.” “Hey,” Dahlia said, “You never know these days.” “You always gotta ask.” “But no, she’s not talking to anyone you know.” “Her boyfriend’s name is Antonio. Kal felt relieved because she thought that Tania might be interested in Buckey. Since that morning she met him, she couldn’t get Buckey out of her head. She didn’t want to tell Dahlia because she didn’t feel like getting teased. She didn’t know if Buckey had even noticed her. That morning when they saw each other, she felt like he was rushing, almost running away from her. “I’m going to get another soda Dee.” Kal said as she rose from the table. “Ok,” Dahlia said, “I’ll be here.” Kal wandered into the food section of the chill spot taking her time and looking at the people walking by her. “Damn, there are a whole lot of sexy men at this place.” She thought to herself. As she wandered around aimlessly looking for the kind of soda she wanted, someone bumped into her from behind. She whirled around quickly ready to curse someone out when she heard “My bad ma.” It was Buckey. Her heart jumped to her throat and she immediately started stammering. “Umm, it’s ok.” She laughed nervously. He smiled at her. “You know,” he started, “You and Dahlia look nothing alike.” Kal smiled. “Well, we’re cousins but that don’t mean we have to look alike.” Buckey smiled, “Well ma, you’re beautiful.” As he walked away Kal stared at him. “Why is that man so fine?” He turned around as he walked away and winked at her. She could have melted, and she almost did. What was this feeling? Her heart beat sped up every time she thought about Buckey. When he was around her palms were sweating and her knees went weak. What was this feeling? Was it a crush? No, Kal didn’t crush. What was Buckey doing to her? Whatever it was, she wasn’t sure if she wanted it to stop.