Today's 20 Days of Love demonstrates a love between best friends and the frustration that sets up when one of the actors is pledged to someone else. Read Eartha Watts-Hicks, Love Changes... Mia Love is struggling with a newborn baby, a live-in commitment-phobe, and a handsome, flirtatious best friend, trying to ease his way in. Torn between the father of her baby and her male bestie....LOVE CHANGES. At the curb, I threw my arm up to hail a taxi, wondering if I had enough for the fare. Reaching into my purse for my wallet, I noticed I didn’t feel my keys. I ran my hand across the bottom. Nothing. I realized where they were. Taking a deep breath, I looked to my left. Less than half a block away a peanut vendor was roasting nuts from the cart, releasing a honey-sweet aroma, but the thought of eating the peanuts was not as appealing as the thought of hurling them at Romell and sending his ass into anaphylactic shock.I looked back at the doorway of Pookie’s just as Romell came stepping out, hands in the pockets of his black slacks, two plastic bags hanging at his left. Because he works out a lot, his posture’s erect but his swagger seemed looser than ever. Still, I saw tension in his face. No dimples now, he had lockjaw. He looked at me, cockeyed. “No cab? Or did you just realize you left your keys?” I didn’t answer that, and I didn’t say a word to him in the cab; I tossed my head, flinging my hair back over my shoulder, twisted my body away from him, and crossed my legs. Romell tried to get my attention by whistling Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You.” When that didn’t work, he started pelting my feet with pellets of used chewing gum wrapped in foil, seven pieces in about ten minutes. I figured he was chewing all that gum and spitting it out just to annoy me, but I kept my back to him the entire ride and walked ahead of him into the building. We rode up to the thirty-seventh floor in separate elevators. As soon as he unlocked his door, I bolted into the living room. Even in my slim skirt and croc pumps, I was Flo Jo. My leg banged into his marble cocktail table, sending it spinning around on its axis until the halves formed a circle. I dented my shin, but I wasn’t rubbing my boo-boo. I jumped right on his Slinky sofa, leaned over it, reaching until I snatched my keys up off the rug. Then I made a beeline for the door, hoping I could run right out, but he blocked my exit. When I stepped to the left, he stepped to that side. When I tried to veer to the right, he kept right in front of me. I knew then he would not let me past; I had no choice but to get in his face, “What?” “You don’t wanna be with me?” I shook my head. “You don’t wanna be with me?” “No, I do not!” “You show up in stilettos and a little skirt, and you expect me to believe you don’t want me?” “I did this for Spider.” “Well, Spider isn’t here now. Is he? And, what about your poem?” “What about it? I wanted you to know how I feel.” “Oh, so you admit you have feelings for me?” “Pah–leese, Romell! That poem is about your situation.” “My situation, huh?” “Yeah, that’s the perfect solution.” “If you think you and I hookin’ up would be the perfect solution, why don’t you just say you want me?” “Are you mental?” “How long have you wanted me, Mia? How long?” “Now, I know you’ve lost it. What makes you think I want you?” “Your poem! I’ve got it right here.” He patted himself down, pulled a page out of his back pocket and unfolded it in front of me. “There! You say all through this how you’re gonna melt my fears away and how you’re gonna make me feel.” I looked, reading aloud halfheartedly, “Chocolate Love every day can melt your fears away and have you feeling new. That’s what Chocolate can do.” Then, I shook my head. “And?” He smacked his baldhead, paced and then, banged the back of it into the wall. “Chocolate, your last name is Love!” “So? I wrote this to motivate you to embrace black love.” “Stop it. The only black Love you want me to embrace is you.” Now, I read the whole thing through. I could see how he could make that assumption. The words “Chocolate” and “Love” were both capitalized all the way through the poem, but I didn’t do that intentionally. That connection didn’t even occur to me when I jotted the lines down; my mind was in a totally different place. I laughed, but he didn’t see humor in this, at all. His face was as stiff as steel. I tried to explain. “I know how this looks, Romell, but that wasn’t the meaning behind this. I meant chocolate as opposed to vanilla or any other flavor. Chocolate is a metaphor for black, and Love is just love, the emotion. Not my last name. That’s just a coincidence.” “This ain’t no coinki-dink! I told you once before. You won’t be happy until I’m with a woman who’s your height, your weight, and your complexion. What I should have said is you won’t be happy, until I’m with you. Why won’t you just admit it?” “Hello! I am in a relationship with Spider. Remember him? Real tall, kinda goofy, I love him. Seriously, I was not coming on to you.” He stood, huffing and puffing for a moment, then looked at me hard. “Did you eat any peanuts?” “No! What the hell kind of question is—” I didn’t finish my sentence. The next thing I knew, I felt his warm tongue, stroking mine and tickling the roof of my mouth.... (To see where this scene leads, please purchase the Complete Revised Edition of LOVE CHANGES). CLICK HERE to PURCHASE www.tinyurl.com/LoveChangesNovel Eartha Watts-Hicks is the founder of Earthatone Publishing and Earthatone Books. Former director of publications for Cultivating Our Sisterhood International Association (COSIA), she is a NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) artist, a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and the legendary Harlem Writers Guild. A fiction fellow of the Hurston/Wright Foundation, Center for Black Literature and North Country Institute and Retreat for Writers of Color, Eartha’s writings have appeared in several online publications, including Harlem World Magazine, TheUrbanBookSource.com, and Future Executives.org. Her writing advice has been featured in The Writer’s Guide to 2013. In June of 2013, she received the Just R.E.A.D. “Game Changer” Award in the fiction category from the NYCHA branch of the NAACP and was named New York City literacy ambassador. In 2014, she was featured in the Congressional Black Caucus as part of the Write It Down panel discussion. A PR writer and affiliate of BlackPR.com, she specializes in press releases for entrepreneurs, ministries, and nonprofits. Eartha is also a NYFA affiliated artist/entrepreneur. She leads writing, self-publishing, and publicity workshops for the New York Public Library, The National Writers Union, and The New York City Parks Department. Eartha is currently editor-in-chief at Harlem World Magazine. CONNECT WITH EARTHA: PREVIEW LINK: www.tinyurl.com/APlannerPreview SALES LINKS: AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Planner-Girls-Best-Friend-Perpetual/dp/0991489276/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-planner-is-a-girls-best-friend-eartha-watts-hicks/1127790675?ean=9780991489275 Contact LinksFor more information, visit www.earthatone.com or connect across social media @Earthatone. Thanks for joining us for another 20 Days of Love! Please leave a comment below, Eartha would love to hear from you!
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June 2019
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