Chapter 5: Tears.
"Thank you for coming, Valarie." Mrs. Lopez says, hugging me.
"I wouldn't miss this for the world." I tell her before I pull away.
"The pastor will arrive in an hour. You can help us set up." She tells me and I nod.
Walking into the church, I see the floral arrangement on the altar. It spells out "Baron."
I'm trying my hardest not to cry.
It's going to be a very hard and long day.
I walk over to a table where I see cards with Baron's face on it.
"What are these?" I ask the girl seated beside the table.
"There are cards with Baron's achievements on it. He wanted this to be at his funeral. We're gonna hand them to the guests with a dandelion. That's his favorite flower and he wanted everyone to have one in memory of him." She tells me and tears pool in my eyes, threatening to spill.
Blinking the tears away, I smile at her before speaking.
"Can I help you set them up?" I ask her and she nods. Drawing out a seat beside her for me to sit on.
"Thank you." I say, before I sit on the chair.
It's finally time for the funeral and I'm trying my best not to cry. I don't know how I'm going to react when I see the pallbearers carrying Baron into the church in a box. I'm sitting beside Mrs. Lopez, so I'm trying my best to keep my cool and not cry. But I don't think I can hold my tears in any longer.
The pastor starts talking and I tune him out. At the corner of my eye, I see Zachary sit down on a chair two rows down. I stare at him and he stares back at me, a frown on his face. I stop staring and I focus my attention on the pastor.
Thirty minutes pass and it's time for me to give my eulogy. I don't think I can do this. Baron's coffin came in shortly before the pastor called me upstage. I hope I can keep the tears in and deliver my speech without any slip ups.
"Good Morning." I say into the microphone.
Everyone is staring at me and I mean everyone. I can feel their eyes piercing through me. It's like I'm made of glass and they can see every organ in me. They see my pumping heart as it beats fast. They can see the sweat at the back of my neck, hidden by my long brown hair. It's almost like I'm see-through and I know they are judging me. I'm a young girl who was friends with a sixty four year old married man, if that doesn't scream sugar baby then I don't know what does. That's what they are probably thinking.
But why though, why couldn't we just have been friends?
Focus, Valarie.
The sooner you get some words out, the faster you leave this stage.
"For Baron." I start, staring at the paper in my hand.
"Baron was a friend. Through and through. He was the only good thing in my life in the past year. And I know our friendship was weird to many, hell I read the articles people wrote about it. But I didn't care. It didn't matter what people thought because I knew that for the first time in a long time, I had someone who had my back." I say, pausing to get some air in my lungs.
I'm on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Baron was happy. I know the circumstances of his death proves otherwise, but I can assure you, he really was. He was funny, he told dirty jokes...a lot of them. He was in love. With his wife of twenty five years, Esther. He'd say "Valarie, every time I see her it's like I'm meeting her for the first time and the world just stops, I see only her." I say sniffling as tears run down my cheeks. Mrs. Lopez wipes her eyes with a tissue.
"He was a father." I say as my voice cracks. Stepping away from the mic as I break down in tears. I bow my head as my hands hold on to the wooden podium.
I try my best to get it together, but I can't. I've tried to distract myself from this huge loss I just experienced, but standing here in front of all these people, the emotions that I have buried inside of me are taking center stage.
The pastor hands me a tissue and I thank him, wiping my nose.
"He loved his kids, all five of them so dearly. He always told me that his only regret was working too much because he didn't get to see his kids very often. But he also told me that he did it for them. He worked his ass off so that his kids would have a legacy bigger than him."
"I'm not going to bore you with things he said 'cause he sure did talk a lot." I say and everyone laughs.
"It's sad to see you go, Baron. Fly high." I finish, closing the white paper my speech is written on. I walk off the stage and go to my seat.
The funeral ends at three in the afternoon, the most painful part was seeing Baron's lifeless corpse in that coffin. That image will definitely haunt my dreams.
I'm currently at the Lopez home, his children decided to throw a little party in his honor. Baron's will and testament will be read tomorrow, but tonight it's all about celebrating his life.
"Thank you for the things you said about my dad." Earl, Baron's eldest son, says as he stands beside me.
"I didn't just say those words to say them, I meant every word." I tell him and he nods.
"It really gave me an insight on you and my father's relationship." He tells me.
"Yeah. It had to, because it was certainly different from the narrative being pushed around by the media." I say, grabbing a glass of champagne from the waiter passing by. Earl grabs one too.
"What narrative?" He asks me, biting his bottom lip as he stares at me.
My God, he's hot.
"Oh, as if you don't already know." I say, rolling my eyes at him.
"I don't." He say, chuckling as he stares down at me.
"Sure." I retort, bringing the glass to my lips.
"Just tell me." He says, smiling at me.
"You're really acting like you don't know about the rumors that were in the blogs." I say and he shakes his head. "Everyone thought that I was sleeping with your father. They said our friendship was weird and uncommon and an affair would be the only reason why we were so close." I tell him, downing the reminder of the liquid in my glass.
Well, that drink finished fast.
"You can't blame them though. You're gorgeous." He says, eyeing me down.
"Are you flirting with me at your father's wake?" I ask him, chuckling.
"It's not a wake and what if I am?" He asks, coming closer to me as he looks me in the eye. His green eyes staring into my brown ones.
"Earl Lopez." I hear an all too familiar voice say and I roll my eyes.
Not this douche again.
"Zachary. It's been what? Three years?" Earl says, smiling at Zachary.
"Something like that." Zachary says, smiling at him.
Way to cockblock, Henderson.
Placing the glass in my hand on the nearest table, I walk away leaving the two of them to talk to each other.
Quickening my steps, I head to the nearest bathroom. Once I'm inside I place my purse on the marble counter and I wash my hands. The bathroom door opens and I see Zachary.
What does he want from me?
"You look good." He says, walking towards me.
I dry my hands with the towel beside the sink, ignoring him.
"So, you're still doing that, huh? Ignoring me." He says, standing behind me.
I stare at him through the mirror and he smiles.
"What do you want?" I ask him, irritated.
"You know-" He pauses, brushing my hair away from my neck before he kisses it. "Exactly what I want." He says and my legs feel like jelly.
"Stop." I say, but it comes out as a moan.
"What was that?" He asks, biting me.
Is this man giving me a hickey.
"And this dress." He says before he pulls it up and stares at me through the mirror. He grabs a handful of my bare ass cheek and smirks.
"No panties, Vee. Is that what we're doing now?" He asks, his cool breath fanning my neck.
"I-" I try to speak as he slips two fingers inside of me. "Shit." I gasp.
"Huh?" He asks, staring at me through the mirror.
"Zachary, we shouldn't." I tell him, biting my lip as I try to stifle a moan.
"You like that? You like how I make you feel?" He asks, pumping his fingers inside me.
"I-" I say, trying to speak. Letting out a loud moan, I let the pleasure take over me.
"Good girl. Louder." He says into my ear.
"Zachary!!!" I moan as I try to stay on my feet. My knees have already given out and I am holding on to the counter for dear life.
I am almost at my climax when he slips out his fingers, licking them.
"I'll see you out there, Vee." He says before he leaves the bathroom.
What the fuck was that?
Pulling my dress down, I fix my hair which Zachary's hands messed up. I take a deep breath before I exit the bathroom, heading back to the party.