Dahlia

Meeting Up

Dahlia looked at herself in the mirror. “Ugh” she thought. She turned around, examining herself,  not sure if this outfit was appropriate. A week had passed since Cortez informed Dahlia that she would be meeting his family. It was early April and a little on the warm side. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Tonight was the night that she was going to meet Cortez’s parents, it was really happening.  She was so nervous that she was nauseous. Cortez came into the room with his towel on. “You look gorgeous, why are you trippin out?” “I dunno, I’m just so nervous.” “What if they hate me?” “Buckey says that they don’t like it when you guys date out of…” Cortez put a finger to her lips. “Everything is gonna be fine ma ma.” “I promise you everything will be fine.” He kissed her softly on the forehead. “Listen Dee, all you have to do is worry about showing everyone that ring that your fiancé bought you.” 

Dahlia smirked. “Now, you know that is not my style.” “I just want to make a good impression babe.” “You know I don’t have a conventional family and I have no idea how to act around one.” “I just really hope I don’t f**k up.” Dahlia was hypersensitive to the fact that she did not come from the best situation. It was bad enough that she was the offspring of a 36 year old unwed mother and had no living clue who her father was. Her nerves were beginning to get the best of her. Cortez tried to downplay what Buckey had said about his parents feelings on interacial dating. She didn’t think that it should be as big of a deal as Buckey made it but she did know that there was some degree of colorism within the Latinx community. But because she wasn’t a part of the community she really had no idea what to expect. She had experienced colorism herself back in Virginia as she was a deep milk chocolate complexion. Society wasn’t kind to her growing up. Though she had found her social identity in college, Dahlia had her own thoughts and feelings about her place in society. She was quite active and passionate about race relations on her campus. She and Cortez were both active members of the Black Student Union on their campus and the minority equality councils set up for Latinx, Asian and Black Americans. Dahlia Dennis was a proud Black woman who was in love with a proud Puerto Rican man. Dahlia found it quite hard to believe that Cortez’s parents would have a problem with him dating her because she was black. His family must have had a similar struggle to Dahlia’s living in the United States of America.

Cortez was Puerto Rican though, which some people tended to forget is very much American. He was born on the island. The Flores family came to New York when he was 9 years old. Buckey was 8. His sisters were not born yet. Dahlia would later find out that they were a late marriage accident but still very welcomed and still very much loved. Dahlia was lost in her thoughts when she heard “no better time than the present gorgeous.” Cortez’s voice sliced through her thoughts and she heaved a heavy sigh. She took a last look at herself in the mirror.  “The dress is not too short is it babe?” Cortez laughed. “Babe.” He said. “You know that dress is not too short.” “Its knee length.” “If my Titi is there she will  probably tell you the dress is too long for you.” He let out a chuckle and snaked her arms around Dahlia’s waist. “You look gorgeous, please stop second guessing yourself.” He kissed her cheek and went to get dressed. “I know, I just want to make a good impression babe” “Ugh, let me go get myself together.”  She said as she hurried into the hallway. Cortez smiled as she walked out of the room. He listened to her singing in the bathroom and wondered “How did I ever end up with such a beautiful woman?” He had been in love with Dahlia since the day they met.

Cortez was walking with a few of his friends at one of the cafeterias at school. He was laughing and joking around with them when he felt someone run right into the back of him. “Oops, I’m so sorry.” He heard the sweetest voice he had ever heard say. Cortez turned around to see a girl kneeling to pick up her books. She looked up and their eyes met. Her dark brown eyes reminded him of dark chocolate. After a few seconds she quickly snapped out of her trance and continued to gather the books that she dropped. “Yo, look at this clumsy broad right here!” His friend Johnny said loudly.  Cortez immediately knelt down to help the girl gather her belongings. Dahlia thanked Cortez and stood up. She held her chin up, looked directly at Johnny and said “I’m nobody’s broad.” Cortez stared at her. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was short, maybe about 5’4, making her a foot and an inch shorter than he was. She had short, black hair that stopped just below her chin. Beautiful almond shaped eyes, a small nose with a tiny hoop ring in it and small but full lips. Her face was round and adorably chubby. Her skin was the color of milk chocolate and she smelled as good as she looked. When she stood up Cortez got a good look at her body. She was thick with beautiful cures. She had a full chest, an average size waist and beautiful, strong legs and small feet. She was wearing a simple pair of jeans, a fitted black shirt and a pair of Concord Jordan 11’s, his favorite pair of Jordans. Cortez was imagining how soft her legs might feel when Johnny interrupted his thoughts by being his usual obnoxious self.

“Yo,” he said. “You mad disrespectful.” “You need to watch where you goin’ you fat ass bitch.” Cortez shot Johnny a look. “Johnny, chill, don’t be disrespectful.” “She’s a female, don’t do that.” Dahlia stood up and looked Johnny in the eye. “Oh, Johnny is it?” “So you must be the one all the girls talk about?” Johnny gave her a smug smile. “Ah, so you’ve heard of me?” “Too bad you won't ever get to experience it.” “You ain’t my type.” “I prefer my women to be able to see their feet over their stomach.” The crowd around them erupted with laughter. “Oh, shit.” someone said. Dahlia just smiled. “It must have taken you all day to come up with that.” “Apparently your brain is as small as your d**k is.” The crowd went silent.“I’ve heard of you before fam, but trust me… that was not a good thing.” Johnny’s face turned red and he clinched his fist. “You better get out of my face you fat sack of mayonnaise.” “Or what?” Dahlia spat. “Rather be a brilliant fat sack of mayonnaise than a dumb prick with a little d**k” It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Johnny’s face was priceless. “Oh, did I strike a nerve tiny?” “Don’t let a fat girl do that to you.” “Come on bruh.” “Tighten up.” She looked him up and down in disgust and shouldered past him. Johnny attempted to go after Dahlia but Cortez got in his way. “What are you doing J?” He asked, trying really hard to hold back his laughter. “Let it go.” Johnny shrugged away from Cortez and stormed off in the other direction. Corez just stared after Dahlia for a second watching her walk away. Her southern drawl and firey attitude immediately attracted Cortez. Her ass didn’t hurt either. He hurried off in the direction that she went. When he caught up to her he put his hand on her shoulder and said “Excuse me miss, may I talk to you for a second?’

Dahlia whipped around half expecting to see Johnny but saw Cortez instead. “Listen, I want to apologize for my friend back there.” “It was rude of him to speak to you that way.” Dahlia nodded her head. “You seem very well mannered.” “How could you be friends with someone like that?” Cortez shrugged. “We’ve known each other forever.” “He was the first person I met when I moved to N-Y.” “He’s kinda always had my back.” Dahlia nodded her head. “I can respect that.” “But if you are anything like him, then I choose not to speak to you.” Cortez smiled. “Trust me, I’m not.” “My name is Cortez Flores.” “May I have the privilege of knowing your name?” “Dahlia.” She said. “Dahlia Dennis.” “Well” Cortez said, “Can I walk you to class Dahlia?” “If you want to I’m not gonna stop you.” She said as she began to walk. As they walked Cortez asked the usual questions like where she was from and what made her come to New York. By the time they finally stopped walking Cortez realized he was at his next class. “I know I was supposed to be walking you to class but this is where my next class is.” He leaned against the door frame and smiled. “So, where is your class?” He asked her. “I can meet you there after if that’s ok with you.” Dahlia smiled. “I would like that.” “And lucky you won’t have to go far because this is my next class too.” “Word?” Cortez said. “I can’t believe I never noticed you in here before.” “Well,” Dahlia said. “I just transferred into this class. “I changed my major to counseling and I needed the pre req psych class.” The two of them shared a smile. “Well, I guess we better head in.” Dahlia said. “Can I sit with you?” Cortez said with a smile. Dahlia smiled back. “I would love that.”  The two of them sat together in class for the rest of the semester.

The more Cortez talked to Dahlia, the more he became interested in her. When he called her they spoke for hours. They talked about everything. She was quickly becoming one of his favorite people to hang out with. She was intelligent, passionate and witty. She could shoot the s**t with his boys and be soft and vulnerable when they were alone. She did make it a point to stay away from Johnny as much as she could. Throughout the semester Cortez learned a lot about Dahlia. She was an athlete and loved sports. She didn’t participate in any collegiate sports because she was on scholarship and had to maintain her grades. In high school she was a three sport athlete that earned a letter in varsity Cheerleading, Indoor Field and Softball. He also learned that she did this on her own with very little support. Dahlia of course felt as if she had gained a new best friend. She found herself telling Cortez things that she had previously only told Tania. She told him all about her life in Virginia. Her mom and her aunt and her sweet cousin Kal. Cortez shared a lot of things with Dahlia too and there was just a genuine connection between the two of them. Cortez knew that he had to make a move to be with her before he lost the nerve. So one night at the end of the semester, he mustered up the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend. They were at dinner after they had finished their final exam. “What’s the matter Cortez? She smiled at him. “You weren’t this quiet since that time New York beat Philly.” “Being a Philly fan is your only flaw I swear.” She chuckled. “What’s up?” He was so nervous he couldn’t get the words to come out of his mouth. “Well” he started. “I wanted to ask you something.” He took a sip of his water. “Ok, what?” Dahlia was becoming more anxious and also a little aggravated. Cortez was never at a loss for words. She figured that this was going to be one of his many questions about how to impress some random girl. “Umm, you know you’re one of my best friends.” “I love hangin out with you and you’re just so easy to talk to…and you’re just so beautiful.” “Thank you” she said as she blushed. “So I was just wondering if you would do me the honor of being my girlfriend.” Dahlia almost dropped her fork. “Wow, you want ME to be your girlfriend?” She couldn’t believe it! This one really threw her for a loop. “Yeah, you’re like my best friend Dahlia.” “I want to be with you.” This was the last thing Dahlia expected to happen. She thought about his question for a moment. Then, on a chance, she leaned over the table and kissed his lips softly. “That answer your question?” He smiled and said “I’ll take that as a yes.” He then grabbed her face tenderly and pulled her into a long kiss.