“Lorenzo what are you doing?” I inquired trying to peep over his shoulder to see what was on the table. His diversion tactics were quick like they were when he was on the basketball court. He grabbed me around my waist and spun me away from the table in a quick maneuver and I could only see the top of what looked like a tall square-shaped black box.
Innocently he smiled at me before responding, “When did you get here GG?” I knew I was in for a surprise by the name he called me. My name is Mercy but GG is who I am to him. I am only his GG. “Don’t play with me Love. What’s in that box?”, I asked able to get one arm free to point toward the table. His smile turned contemplative as his arms relaxed some.
“Mercy, baby, I have a gift for you. Do you know what today is?” My face must have registered confusion. Our official one year anniversary wasn’t for another two months. He then begin to explain as he realized I didn’t know where he was going with his question. “It was the day I told you something. I hadn’t told you I loved you then even though I knew that’s what I felt.” I nodded in acknowledgement. I remembered the first time I thought he was going to say he loved me. But he said something generic like “I’m glad I met you”. I was getting a little frustrated because he was taking too long to express himself.
“Calm down Mercy and just listen. That was the day I told you I was glad I met you.” I remained quiet, eager for him to get to the point. “Well, I honestly knew I felt more”, he continued. “I knew I started to care about you and it worried me some since we both weren’t where we needed to be to start a serious relationship. I also didn’t want to open myself up to loving someone and losing them.” I knew he was referring to losing his dad, grandmother, and friend. “There was and is something different about you, about the way you make me feel. I knew I couldn’t lose you.”
By this time we had broken our embrace and sat at the table facing one another with the box in the middle. He grabbed my hand and gently caressed it while continuing to speak. “I wanted to give myself reminders of why you were important to me. Telling you I was glad I met you was not easy for me as you know I have struggled with expressing my emotions verbally. So I started to write one thing on the 15th of every month to commemorate that day.”
I was nervous. My stomach felt uneasy and my leg began to shake involuntarily. He placed his hand on my knee to still my movement. “I got you a gift to show you how glad I am that I met you. A year of my appreciation.” By this time he had lifted the box from the table and was handing it to me. My eyes went from the box to him back to the box. Was he proposing to me? No he couldn’t be. The box was a little too large for a ring. All these things played over in my mind as he sat waiting for me to open it. Whatever the box held really didn’t matter. Lorenzo had just told me his feelings. These rare times always made me tear up. He had such a beautiful heart when he softened his defenses.
I slid the top off and inside was a small folded paper in the shape of an envelope. Underneath was a flap covering the contents of the box. I carefully unfolded the letter. The words typed on the paper read ‘To My Token of Sunshine. Keep Your Face Toward the Light’. I almost dropped the box as the tears started to fall. He remembered. I told him that I loved sunflowers because they were like big faces searching for light. They reminded me of mini suns. Through blurry vision I removed the flap and inside was a small display stand with a bracelet on it. It was a clasping bangle with a nicely sized sunflower at its center. Each petal appeared to have words etched into them. In the center of the flower were the words ‘You are a sunflower - with love, Lorenzo’.
I imagine I must have had tears and streaks all over my face. My nose had gotten stuffy because I couldn’t help myself. I was really crying. This man, sitting next to me, really loved me. He found a way to communicate what he couldn’t verbalize. There were 12 petals, each to represent a passing of a month. One said ‘your smile comforts me’ and another said ‘you actually beat me, once’ and so on. It was the last twelve months of our relationship commemorated in words and etched into a bracelet that was more perfect than a ring at that moment.
I pulled him close to me while doing my best to wipe my face on my shirt. It wasn’t pretty and I am sure it looked gross. He didn’t seem bothered by my appearance, tears and all. I could tell he could tell how much I appreciated and loved him. “I love you Mercy and when I said I was glad I met you I knew right there. I couldn’t tell you then. We needed to situate our lives individually first.” He was right, a year ago him saying he loved me would have only complicated things. Now the timing was spot on.
“I love you Lorenzo. You are my heart Love. Thank you for seeing me and listening to my needs.”
“That’s what I’m here for baby. I’m here to make you happy and give you what you need.”
I then saw my opportunity. The moment was one of my happiest and I literally wanted to jump all over him but I didn’t want to make it obvious so I came up with a challenge. “Love, one of these petals say I only beat you one time but my recall of us playing the game was different. I remember I won twice.” A smile spread across his face in response to my comment. I was referring to us playing NBALive on a video game and I won twice. Well, I kind of used an illegal tool (my body) which distracted him from a couple plays and I stole the ball from his players and did ‘in yo face’ moves.
“You want a rematch GG?” and with that he had me just mushy all on the inside and aroused. I loved this man and he knew it. “Yes, Love, I would like that.” Our unspoken words were heavy in our exchange. We had switched to the pet names we had for each other. Names which spoke of our intimacy. We got situated on the couch while the game loaded. He lifted my face to him while I stared at him. “I love you GG. My GG.” The look in his eyes were of determination and hunger. I knew I had to bring my A game. I was prepared.
I won the game and I doubt he let me although he tried to elude to doing so. I am his Gorgeous Girl and he is my Love. And now we are both finally open to sharing our hearts with each other.
your smile comforts me; you actually beat me, once; your intelligence is sexy; you taught me to love again; your touch feels like home; your presence lights up the room; you make me happy; you have a beautiful soul; you are creative; your optimism is healing; your drive is inspiring; you are more than beautiful
