Extraordinary Love

Chapter 23

Song: Poison by Bell Biv Devoe

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde

Christopher

"Robyn knew she had me right from the beginning."

When Chris finally got Robyn's attention, he felt like the big man on campus. He had this beautiful, exotic Barbadian twenty-year-old goddess on his arm; his own Aphrodite. Every guy on campus wanted Robyn in their wet dreams but Chris was the one that made love to her. They weren't either of each other's first sexually, but she was his first love. They were like a snake and its charmer. He was transfixed by her and her beauty and her charisma, and he played her game, entertaining her to keep her attention.

However, after a few months, Chris could feel her losing interest in him, getting bored with him. He would be in studying for a test on a Friday night and have to hear stories the next day of how his girlfriend was the life of the party the night before: how far gone she was; who she danced with; who she left with. She'd disappear for the night and not answer his calls. He couldn't track her down through her friends because he realized that he had yet to be introduced to any, and she hadn't bothered to meet his, though to be fair, he didn't really have any. He had his roommate and a few classmates he spoke to occasionally. Other than that, his world revolved around his job, schoolwork, and Robyn. Robyn didn't even bother to come up with excuses. She just distracted Christopher with sex until he forgot why he was upset in the first place.

Then Parents' Weekend came along. Chris hadn't seen his mother since graduation, and she was actually able to come to visit him. The Neversons were in NorthCal to visit Trey at Stanford. Chris was content just having his mom there. No matter what his upbringing may have been like, Chris loved his momma to the moon and back. She may not have been the best but she was the best she could be, and she loved him more than life itself.

Chris had told Joyce all about Robyn— the good stuff at least. Robyn's parents couldn't come and Chris invited her to spend the weekend with him and his mom. He'd never forget her response, the sound of her laugh.

It was light and joyful but mocking.

"No."

She rolled over in her twin bed to ash her cigarette on the nightstand next to her. Chris didn't understand how she could smoke that, or smoke as much as she did in general. Betweens cigs and joints, she had a permanent smoke cloud hovering around her head.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"I mean, no, I don't want to meet your mother and I'm not spending Parents' Weekend with you." She laughed again.

"Why not? I just thought since your parents aren't coming—"

"That what? I'd want to spend my weekend with your boring ass and your country ass mother? I'm good." She sucked her teeth.

His feelings were definitely hurt. She hadn't just disrespected him but also his mother. If time and space apart from Christopher was what Robyn had been aiming for, she got it. He didn't want to be in the same room as her.

"Yeah, run out like a bitch little boy. Too fucking scared to even defend yourself. Did I hurt little feelings with yo soft ass? Don't know why I even bother giving you any pussy. Got a few niggas on speed dial to come break me off after you leave anyway."

Chris left her bedroom, shutting the door behind him in the middle of her antagonization.

It was clear to him that Robyn didn't respect him. She didn't take him seriously. She liked the idea of his innocence (or at least corrupting it) but was quickly bored by it.

Her words echoed through his head for the entirety of the weekend. His mom called not long after to tell him that something came up back in Virginia and she couldn't make it either. He knew it had to be something big. She wouldn't just miss this for anything. Joyce claimed it was a work thing but he knew better. Despite her insisting that there wasn't, he knew something was up even if she wouldn't admit it. Without Joyce there to distract him, he overthought. Every time he thought about her words, he just got more riled up.

The logical thing to do would be to stop messing with Robyn. She had shown him time and time again that she didn't care about him and wasn't good company. They didn't have anything in common except for that class they met in. He cared about school and his grades and she thought college was just one big party. Joyce and the Neversons wouldn't approve of her or her lifestyle. The list of cons out-listed the pros when it came to that girl.

Somehow he found himself in the Kappa Sigma Tau frat house that Saturday night. He knew she'd be there. She just couldn't resist. He found her in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by an entourage that was way past gone.

She was right though. He was too afraid to confront her. He went into the kitchen instead
to pour a few glasses of liquid courage. He didn't drink often but he needed one after the week he had. To be honest Chris didn't know what his plan was after he rolled up in there. He didn't know whether he wanted to beg Robyn to forgive him or end things with her. A few cups of Hennessy and Patron later, Chris was bold enough to go pull Robyn off the dance floor and into a nearby bathroom to talk in private.

"What the fuck?" She relaxed a little when she saw it was her boyfriend. "Oh, I see you finally grew some balls, huh?" She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Robyn shut the fuck up. What the fuck is your problem? All I've done is been caring and attentive and patient with you but it's just fuck me in return, right? You out here every weekend partying and fucking over niggas and showing your ass and I still stay with you. Fuck all that. I'm done witcho ass."

His blood was running hot through his veins, though it could've just been the alcohol in his system. Robyn looked him over, smirking.

"No, you're not."

She pulled a baggie and a card out of her pocket, spilling the contents out onto the counter. "You been drinking, huh? Here, try this."

Robyn picked the white powder into little lines, bending down to sniff it up. She gestured for him to do the same.

He knew that this was some out there shit. This girl was doing hard drugs; that's not Christopher. It was, however, the most attention she'd paid him in months. She was amused by his intoxicated self, the one that was "man enough" to stand up to her and called her out on her bullshit. Maybe it was that his judgment was already impaired, maybe it was that he felt so alone at UCLA and Robyn was here looking at him with a look in her eye that usually wasn't directed at him. Maybe it was the serpent in the Garden of Eden that made Adam take a bite of Eve's apple.

He snorted it up his nose. It burned his nostril, irritated him like he had bad allergies and had the tingle of a sneeze that just wouldn't make its way out. They brushed away the evidence and joined her friends back on the dance floor.

"Aye! It's Pretty Boy," Robyn's friend slurred, greeting them.

From there on out, he was no longer Christopher, the bright-eyed young man that arrived on campus the first day of the semester, the one that cracked jokes in communications class trying to flirt with the pretty girl behind him. He was Pretty Boy to Robyn, her friends and the rest of the partying student body. There wasn't a day that passed where he wasn't high or drunk. He used the substances as a crutch to deal with the hardships in his life. He felt like he was drowning on the inside. On the outside, he was the life of the party, serenading girls and busting moves on the dance floor. He was the man everyone wanted to be or be with.

1. What are your relationship red flags?
2. When is it time to call it quits?
3. Thoughts on Robyn?