Pain Is Love

Chapter Three

Rose had a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach as she sat at CeeCee's Coffee Shop. She had agreed to meet Jack there at noon. It was already 12:05 P.M. She sighed, leaned back into the booth and lit up a cigarette.

"Hey, no smoking in here," a snooty waitress said, walking past her.

Rose rolled her eyes and continued to smoke. No middle class waitress would tell her what to do.

It had been a week since Jack had saved her. They had kept in contact by phone. Rose kept telling herself that all she felt for this man was gratitude, but she knew herself better than that. This was like the feeling she had when she had first met Cal...but more.

Finally, Jack walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, girl," he said, taking the seat across from her. "I had to take my mom to the grocery store."

"It's quite alright," Rose replied, putting out her cigarette. "What's up?"

"I have a question for you...but, I don't want you to answer right away."

Rose's heart began to beat faster. What could it be? "Well...what is it, Jack?"

"I can't tell you now...but, when the time is right I will ask. I promise."

"So what are we going to do today?" Rose asked. She had promised Jack she would repay him for saving her life. He suggested spending a day with him, getting to know him better. Rose was happy to oblige.

"You'll see." He stood up and reached out his hand for her to take.

"Jack where..."

"Do you trust me?"

She thought back to when he had saved her life. "I trust you."

He smiled. "Come on!"

As he and Rose walked down the streets of Chicago, Jack started to laugh quietly to himself. Rose raised her eyebrow at him and asked why. "A rich little thing like you smoking my brand of cigarettes," Jack said, referring to before in the coffee shop. "Never judge a book by it's cover."

Rose thought about this and realized what he was talking about. At first she had found Jack a disgusting, poor, unrespectable man. And now...well, she thought so much more of him. In a way...he was her hero.

Their first stop was at Jack's friend house. It wasn't ghetto looking at all, although it wasn't in a nice neighborhood. If Rose didn't know any better, this house could have been built right next to hers.

Sam was about the same age as Jack. Rose would have thought that they were brothers, except that Sam was black. They acted like family.

"This is Rose," Jack said, introducing her.

Sam looked her up and down and Rose felt nervous. "Is she your girl?"

Jack smiled. "We'll see." Rose couldn't help but smile back at him.

After a few minutes of talking, Rose found Sam intriguing. Rose and Jack sat around his kitchen table, while he told Rose his life story.

"Oh my gosh!" Rose said smiling. "You've had like a million lives! I can barely make one life interesting."

Sam gave her a wink and a smile. "Everything will work out for you, girl." He asked her for one of her cigarettes. "What do you want to do with your life?" He asked, lighting his cigarette.

"I haven't really thought about it," Rose said, both Jack and Sam listening carefully. "I mean...my whole life I've been living in this small box. I know nothing about the real world, you know?" She sighed. "I don't know...maybe be an actress...or become a doctor."

Sam nodded. "Those are good ambitions."

Rose knew they were good ambitions, but they would be hard to make come true. Listening to Sam's story, how he grew up in the projects and how he changed his life around, becoming a music producer, made her want to change her life around, too. Starting by hanging out with different kinds of people. She was sick of the normal "country club crowd".

"Well, we've got to go," Jack said, rising. "I've got a few places I wanna show Rose."

Sam smiled. "You two come by again soon, aight?"

Jack hugged him with one arm. "Will do, bro."

As soon as Jack and Rose stepped outside, they felt the wet, cold rain hit them. Rose looked worried and let out a little yell. "These are brand new shoes!"

Jack just laughed at her. "You don't like the rain, eh?"

"No!"

He smiled, but took his coat off and held it over Rose, trying to shield her from the rain as much as possible. She seemed appreciative.

"Now I'm takin' you to a battle," Jack said.

"Like a war battle?"

Jack laughed and Rose continued to look confused.

They reached a big brick building with graffiti and a line of people going into it. "Come on," Jack said. "I know the guy who owns this place."

"Yo Chad!" Jack said. "Who's up tonight?"

Chad, a tall, muscular mixed man, looked down at his young, blonde friend. "Dude, we got Ice-Fifty and Double G. You see these people in line?" He held up some of the money he had made that night. "And there's more comin'."

"Cool. Holla at me later."

"Alright, G."

Rose put her hands over her ears, trying to shield out the loud rap music. "There is so much noise in here!"

"That ain't noise," Jack said. "It's music, baby. That's hip-hop."

Hip-hop. A term Rose had never quite fully understood. She didn't know why people listened to it...it wasn't music. It was just people talking fast. The only rappers she knew were Eminem and Will Smith.

"Let's try to get to the front, I really wanna see this shit." Jack pulled her through the crowd of people, most of them black.

Rose thought she would need a gun to shoot herself before the night was over, but in a matter of minutes she was into it. These two guys dissing each other back and forth with a rhythm that seemed to make her want to get up there herself. She hated admitting to herself that she was enjoying it.

Jack noticed the smile on her face. "I knew you'd like it." He stepped closer to her. "But, I still got one special place to show ya."

An hour later they were at, what Jack called, the hottest club in town, Isle Seven. "There are some fine looking ladies here, believe me," Jack said as they walked in. "But...of course...none of them even compare to you." Rose blushed.

They sat down and ordered drinks. "What would you like?"

"Cosmopolitan," Rose replied, her usual drink. She wondered where Jack had the money to pay for all of this.

"Do you wanna dance?" Jack asked.

"To this music?"

"Come on...this is a tight song. " It was "Bump, Bump, Bump" by B2K. "Please?" Jack gave her his best childish face. "For me?"

"Fine." Rose said it rude, but Jack knew this was what she wanted.

"I don't know the steps..." Rose said.

"Just go with the music. Don't think."

From watching Rose dance, Jack could have sworn she'd be good enough to be in a P Diddy music video. Things became clearer when she admitted that she had taken dance classes as a child.

"I've seriously never had this much fun in my entire life," Rose said, laughing, as "Play" by Jennifer Lopez was coming to an end. "You have such a fun life, Jack. You're so lucky." They sat back down at the bar. "You live your life to the fullest...and I respect that. I do."

"You know..." Jack said. "You can have this, too...total freedom." He leaned in closer.

"No...no...I can't." Rose sadly sighed. "Jack...you're such a great guy...but, I have a boyfriend. I have a life that is just so different from yours." She ran her fingers through his hair. "This will never work."

"Why?"

"We're so different..."

"That's what makes us so good together."

"Jack...I..."

"Shhh," Jack replied. "This feels right, baby."

He leaned in and they shared a warm, passionate kiss. Everything was perfect. "Do you know what I want to ask you?" Jack whispered, kissing her neck.

"No." Rose was clueless.

"Leave Cal."

Rose allowed herself to laugh. "That's not a question."

Jack shrugged. "You and me...this is right...I know these things."

"You do, huh?"

"Yeah, I do." Jack pulled her closer. "I know I've got no money to offer you, but I'm too involved now. You jump, I jump, alright?"

Rose stared at the ground.

"I love you, Rose. This ain't no playa thing...I promise you." He kissed her hand. "I really do love you."

Rose felt weak to her knees. Perfect timing...she saw Cal walk into the club.

More coming soon!