Tangled Love

~ Chapter Thirteen ~

I woke up the next morning at 8:15 am and jumped out of bed in a panic. I had thirty minutes to get dressed and make it to Manndible café to grab the speaker’s coffees and pastries. I quickly jumped in the shower, washed my body and brushed my teeth and washed my face before getting out the shower. I didn’t have time to do my hair in a neat ponytail, so I sprayed it with conditioner and water and let it form its natural curls. Once I was dressed, I grabbed my bag and phone and walked out of my dorm. As soon as I was on the street, I called Omar and asked him if he could start a fresh pot of the Manndibrew Blend for the speakers and pour them into twelve-ounce cups with lids. He was more than happy to be able to help. I walked into the café at exactly 8:50 am.

           “You’re a lifesaver Omar, I love you. See you after the conference!” I said grabbing the drinks and pastries from the counter and heading to the Speaker’s dorm rooms which was a quick five-minute walk.

           “My god you’re on-time. Give me a minute to put my shoes on.” Dr. Nick said when he opened his door, a second after I lightly knocked.

           “It’s okay Dr. Nick, take your time. Please meet us at the dormitory entrance when you are ready. Here is your coffee and pastry.” I said handing them to him with a smile, then walked three doors down to Ty Bennett room.

           Ty was also surprised that I was on-time, and he quickly grabbed his bag and stepped out of his dorm then grabbed his coffee and pastry I had ready for him. When we got to Kindra Hall’s dorm she was walking out as I was getting ready to lightly knock.

            “Oh, my I wasn’t expecting us to meet here. I was just about to go grab some coffee.” Kindra said but quickly ducked back inside her dorm room to grab her bag and coat.

           “There is no need. I have coffee and a pastry right here for you.” I said as she stepped out and closed the door.

           “Wow, thank you. I wasn’t expecting that either. You have been an amazing guide. Thank you, Miss Jones.” Kindra said with a bright smile, and we started to walk towards the entrance.

           By the time we got to the entrance, Dr. Nick had already joined us, so we walked over to the small conference room where the roundtable discussion was scheduled to take place. As we walked up to the conference room, both Dr. Piper and Dr. Ward, were standing just outside of the door. They quickly greeted the speakers and I handed Dr. Piper her coffee and pastry. I was glad to see Dr. Ward already had a cup of coffee otherwise I would have had to apologize for not thinking of him.

           “I’m going to go get the senior VIP students and have them sign both the confidentiality statements as well as the Non-Disclosure Agreements. We shall all be back by 9:55.” I said with a smile toward Dr. Piper, and she smiled back with a nod as I turned to walk away.

           “She’s amazing! Can I take her back with me? I can use someone so efficient around my office.” I heard Kindra say just before I got out of ear shot of them.

           As I was walking over to Breakout room A, I noticed Elias walking in the same direction. What are the odds that he is the same Elias Jordan that I emailed? When we both reached the greeter station at the same time, I smiled and introduced myself.

           “Good Morning everybody, I’m Kelsey Jones you guide for the remainder of the conference. Let me do a quick roll call just raise your hand if you hear your name. Carmella Wright, Jonathan Clark, Elias Jordan, Timothy Cooks, Dana Brown, and Emily Clocktower. Great, it looks like you are all present. Before we walk over to the conference room where the roundtable is being held, I need each of you to read and sign the confidentiality statements as well as the non-disclosure agreements, provided by the speakers. Once I collect all the forms you will be given your name badges and we will be on our way.” I said and they all smiled and nodded.

           At 9:50 exactly, I collected the last set of forms and handed them all their name badges. When I went to hand Elias his he smiled and whispered thank you with a small sparkle in his eyes. I couldn’t help but smile back but I quickly turned on my heels and started to walk in the direction of the conference room. We arrive at 9:54 and Dr. Piper smiled when we all walked into the room.

           “Hello everyone, please take a seat at the roundtable. Kelsey you may take a seat also.” Dr. Piper said with a smile, and we all took our seats.

           “It isn’t our normal practice to have a mandatory conference for senior communication students nor is it our normal practice to solicit seniors for a discussion like this one. But before I tell you all why you are here, Miss Jones did you collect forms from each of our VIP students today?” Dr. Ward asked and I smiled and pulled the forms out of my bag and handed them to him.

           “I already have forms from Miss Jones, she has been the speaker’s guide since day one of the conference.” Dr. Piper said to Dr. Ward, and he smiled and nodded.

           “Well then, this roundtable discussion is for the purpose of our speakers getting feedback on some future products, and events in the works. They wanted to talk with some of our best and brightest students before launching several new concepts and prototypes. If you read these forms, I’m holding in my hand then you understand clearly that anything spoken of in the room will remain confidential. There will also be no mention of anything discussed or disclosed even among members of this group outside of this room until said disclosed or discussed information is publicly disclosed by the individuals and or their team. Lastly, any ideas generated by a student that is accepted by a discloser would also remain unmentioned and confidential until all contractual agreements are complete. Any questions?” Dr. Ward said and all the students including myself shook our heads.

           “Very well, we can now proceed. Good morning Students. For those of you that don’t know me. My name is Dr. Nick Morgan and I am a well known Communications Theorist and Coach. Kindra and I have been working on a new marketing strategy that we think will put almost all marketing strategies to shame. We have introduced this strategy to Ty and he seems to agree with us. We understand that communications students come out of college with back dated concepts and strategies because that is what the textbooks are teaching them, so we have decided to beta test our strategy with one hundred students going into the field within the next twelve months. During this roundtable discussion we are going to share our strategy and allow you all to ask us questions or make suggestions to improve what we have developed. We all have thick skin so don’t hold back on us. We understand that we have some of the most brilliant minds in this room right now and well our minds are getting older.” Dr. Nick said looking around the room at each of us and we all nodded.

           The roundtable discussion was scheduled for four of the six hours of the conference with an hour scheduled for a lunch break and the closing Keynote session with Kindra Hall scheduled for the last hour. After the first two hours we took a lunch break, but since it was on our own and the speakers were invited to a hosted lunch by Dr. Piper and Dr. Ward, I didn’t need to escort anybody. As we were all leaving for our break, I heard my name being called but I didn’t recognize the voice. When I turned around Elias was jogging up to me, so I stopped and waited for him to reach me.

           “Hey, do you have a minute to chat?” He asked and I smiled then nodded.

           “Yes, what can I do for you Mr. Jordan?” I said in my formal tone not expecting his reply.

           “Well Miss Jones, I was wondering if you would be my date tomorrow night. Some friends of mine are throwing a Spring Mixer and I genuinely would like to get to know you a little better.” He said with a big smile and my eyes went wide.

           “Oh, yeah I heard about that. It’s at the Argos Inn, right?” I said and he nodded.

           “That’s the one. So, will you be my date?” He asked with his head tilted at me which made him look adorable.

           “The flyer said it’s from 5:00 pm until 1:00 am. I don’t get off work until 10:30 pm and by the time I get home and get freshened up it will be close to 11:30 pm. I don’t want to be a cause for you to be delayed to the event.” I said and he chuckled.

           “You’re the only person I would want to see there, so I don’t mind. I can even pick you up from work and drop you at home. I will just wait outside until you come back out and we can head over there then.” He said with the sexiest smile I had seen in a while.

           “Umm… Okay, I guess if you are okay with it then I will go with you.” I said and his smile grew larger.

           “May I ask you something else? It bothered me for a while because every time I wanted to ask you my ex was present, or you would disappear but why do you not wear a name tag at Manndible café?” He said and I laughed.

           “I used to wear one when I first started working there, but after Amanda and I had a few guys pop up at our dorms, the management told us to not wear them anymore. None of the ladies at Manndible café wears name tags. Janelle says it’s for our protection. My nickname is always written on the receipt though with a heart or smile and a thank you.” I said and his eyes snapped to mines in embarrassment.

           “Really? I always toss the receipts, so I never noticed. What’s your nickname?” He asked and I smiled with embarrassment.

           “Doll or Doll Face, depending on who is saying it.” I said and felt my cheeks heat up.

           “Doll Face, I’ve heard Omar call you that and your friend Annette calls you Doll. Amanda is the only one who calls you Kels.” He said and I laughed.

           “Damien was being honest when he said we’re both always looking for each other. That was stalkerish at all.” I said looking at him with a serious face then we both burst out into laughter.

           “My boys are a mess. When did you talk to Damien?” He asked shaking his head.

           “Yesterday, an old acquaintance introduced us. Myra his boo according to her and the rest of you are free agents.” I said with a chuckled and he smirked.

           “Myra, Myra, Myra, you just got to love that chick, but at least she got it right this time. Damien is the only one in our group boo’d up. What about you are you seeing anybody?” He asked with a charming smile, and I shook my head.

           “Umm… no.” I hesitated but finally said.

           “Why?” He asked softly and I looked him in his eyes but quickly batted my eyes to the ground.

           “Umm… it’s getting late. I need to get to Manndible to grab some lunch.” I said hoping he would ask to come, and I smiled when he did.

           “Why don’t I walk with you, and we could finish our chat?” He said and I smiled and nodded my head before starting to walk in the direction of Manndible’s.

           “My last relationship was a disaster and it fell apart at a very vulnerable time in my life.” I said softly while still walking forward.

           “Did you give up after that or is your life still a little vulnerable?” He asked and I couldn’t look at him, but I nodded.

           “Both actually.” I said and he exhaled deeply.

           “I understand, if you don’t want to talk about it.” He said and I nodded.

           “It isn’t really like that. I’ve just been dealing with both of those situations in my life the last few days and both make me a little emotional.” I said and finally looked at him.

           “Say no more but I’ve never met a black girl name Kelsy and since Amanda has already taken the name Kels, would it be okay if I called you Keke?” He asked with a hopeful smile, and I nodded.

           “It may take some getting use to so if you say it and I don’t respond use whatever name I’m called to get my attention. I don’t want you to think I am ignoring you.” I said softly and he smiled.

           When we got to Manndible’s we still had almost forty minutes left of our lunch hour and Jacob was in the kitchen, so I knew our food wood come out quickly if I took it to the kitchen.

           “What would you like to order?” I asked him and he looked up at me and shook his head.

           “You’re not buying my lunch but I’m willing to buy yours, Doll Face.” He said with a smirk and I rolled my eyes.

           “I wasn’t asking so I could buy your lunch, or you buy mines. I work here remember? It will be much faster if I took our order to the kitchen but since I’m off the clock, Ricky would check us out.” I said with a smirk and raised eyebrow and he laughed.

           “You’re a feisty little thing aren’t you, Keke?” He said with a laugh, and I looked at him with a straight face.

           “Alright, Alright, I will have a chicken club sandwich and fries, with a bottled water.” He said and I nodded then smiled and walked to the kitchen to put our order in.

           “Hey Jacob, we have about thirty minutes left for lunch, and you already know how slowly I eat so please put a rush on it.” I said to Jacob, and he smiled then nodded.

           “Five minutes Chica.” Jacob said and I smiled then walked back over to the table Elias was sitting at.

           “So, you have a nickname for me, can my nickname for you be EJ? I liked the way it sounded when Damien called you that yesterday.” I said with a small smile, and he looked at me and nodded slowly with a small smile also.

           “Yeah, I would like that. He doesn’t normally call me that, nobody does actually. So that can be your name for me.” He said as his smile grew on his face.

           Right on time, Omar brought out our meals and set them in front of us.

           “Lunch is on the house.” Omar said as he was walking away.

           “Thank youuuu, Omar.” We both sort of said in unison dragging you and Omar turned back around and winked at us.

           Lunch was surprisingly pleasant, he told me the reason he broke up with the girl that use to come here with him, and I told him how I met Myra. As we finished our meals, we gathered our belongings and walked back to the conference room. We were the first two back before everybody. We took our seats, this time next to each other and the others started to arrive shortly after us.

During the last two hours the discussion became more interactive and I kind of felt like I was a little out of my league. This group of seniors were really the crème de la crème of the communication students. They were all very knowledgeable and insightful. I sat back and absorbed all the information flying around in the room. I was really amazed at how articulate Elias was and how when he spoke his voice commanded the attention of the whole room. Finally just before the end of the discussion, Kindra asked me if I had anything I wanted to add to anything any of the other students suggested.

“I liked all the suggestions but I’m only a junior. That is why I remained quiet, but Mr. Jordan’s Veteran Salute Program did stand out a little in my mind. I think it’s great that our Military should be recognized, I would love to see that same energy focused on our medical professionals, and emergency support men and women in uniform like EMTs, Police Officers, and Fire Fighters. I think they also sacrifice a lot for the people of their communities.” I said looking at Kindra and she smiled and nodded.

“I agree, my husband is a Fire Fighter, and my father is a Retired Police Officer.” Dr. Piper said with a smile.

“My father was a Heart Specialist and Surgeon, and my mother was an EMT.” I said and looked down at the table.

“Was?” Dr. Nick asked and I nodded my head.

“Yes, they were both in a freak plane accident almost seven months ago. There were no survivors.” I said sadly and the room went somber for a second.

“Wait, are you telling me that you are the daughter of Renowned Heart Specialist and Surgeon Dr. Johnathan Jones” Ty Bennett asked, and my eyes snapped to his as tears begin to form.

“Yes, I’m Kelsey Elizabeth Jones, daughter of Dr. Johnathan Jones and Mrs. Karen Jones.” I said and the tears formed fell slowly down my cheek.

           “Wow, let me quickly share something with you about our family’s history. My father was the OB-GYN that delivered you almost twenty years ago and your father saved my mother’s life after she suffered a major heart valve blockage on your birthday eight years ago. This is crazy. I have been looking for you ever since that news article circulated.” Ty said with a huge smile then stood up and walked over to me and gave me the most comforting hug I have had since the death of my parents.  

           “It’s a small world and it’s about to get a little smaller but your father is also the doctor that performed open heart surgery on my dad, eighteen years ago. My father is still alive today because of him.” Dr. Ward said with a smile and more tears fell from my eyes.

           “Kelsey, I will escort Mrs. Hall to the main stage, so you can compose yourself. This is the end of the roundtable discussion; you should all head over to the main stage for the closing keynote being delivered by Mrs. Hall.” Dr. Piper said with a smile, and I nodded as everyone stood to leave the room, everyone but Elias.

           “I’m here Keke, tell me what you need.” He said gently and placed his hand over mines.

           The gentleness of his touch caused tears to flood my face and I begin to sob lightly as memories of my parents flashed in my mind. I completely broke down when I felt his arms wrap around me and he held me tightly in his arms.

           “I just miss them so much; nothing has been the same since they left me here.” I said while I sobbed, and he just remained quiet and held me.

           After a few minutes, I finally composed myself and apologized for my break down.

           “You don’t need to apologize; this is probably the first time you have actually really wept for your parents. I’m sure you cried and grieved when it first happened, but this is probably the first time you really let it out.” He said gently with a smile then released his grip on my body and grabbed my hand.

           When we walked up to the ladies bathroom, I stepped inside and quickly put water on my face and dried it with a paper towel. As soon as I walked back out, he grabbed my hand and we walked to the main stage. There was something about him that was comforting and I was glad that he was with me today.