FLASHBACK: ORPHANAGE

Ivy's & 3rd POV

It was 7:30 p.m. when Ivy began getting ready for a night out on the town. She got in the shower, lathered up her body, washed her hair with lavender scented shampoo, rinsed it and applied a conditioner to her hair. This particular conditioner had to remain on the hair and scalp for 20 minutes to be effective.

As she stood underneath the scolding hot water, Ivy's mind began to wander. She was thinking about Len and how it was back in the day.

Even back then, Len oozed with an aura of deadly confidence; some would mistake it for arrogance, but that wasn't it. The last time she had interacted with him was shortly before Miss. D died.

FLASHBACK

It was the Fourth of July and Miss. D decided to have a barbeque. Bar-B-Q was food that many children in the orphanage had never experienced.

Everyone was excited, all the children were allowed to invite their friends. Many of them gathered in their clicks just hanging out and enjoying themselves.

Some of the boys were on the court playing basketball. Girls wearing their absolute best summer outfits hoping to be noticed by the neighborhood boys.

Some were in the pool or just simply lounging around. Old School R&B was playing loudly through the 5 ft. speakers; but it was soothing, yet calming music. At that moment, you just felt like, all was right with the world. Everything was perfect.

I, on the other hand, sat far away from everyone; in my own little world. I was lying on my back underneath a tree, just staring at the clear blue sky. Tuning everyone and everything out, my mind drifted to the type of life I used to have.

I was trying to remember what my mom's cooking tasted like and the wonderful aroma that would wake me every morning. I was even missing how my mom's friend would always cook on the grill, every single day; even in the middle of a snowstorm.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts and on the verge of crying, when Len's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Yo', why you sitting over here looking all lonely?"

I immediately sat up, yanking the shades off of my face, "I'm sorry what?"

"I said, why are you over here alone?" Len asked again.

I shrugged with a sigh, and said, "I just don't feel like being around everyone."

He sat down next to me, his fingers playing in the grass, "You should be out there enjoying the day just like all of the other kids."

I did not like him referring to me as a kid. I am not like them. He has no idea, what it took me for me to make it out to Cali. Wanting to cut the conversation short, "I'll pass. I'm not missing anything."

"Well, are you going to come and watch the fireworks later on?"

"Probably not," I yawned and stretched.

"A'ight," as he began to stand up, "I'll let you get back to your quiet time."

"Thank you."

Forty minutes had passed, and I was starting to get hungry. The hunger pains seemed to be increasing by the second.

Because I suffer from social anxiety, it was preventing me from going and grabbing a plate. There were too many people near the food. II sat there debating whether to go and just line up like everyone else or starve. No matter how hard I tried; I just couldn't get up enough nerve to go and get some food. 'What am I going to do?' I thought to myself.

Just as my internal battle was about to spill over for everyone to see; Len appeared in front of me with two Styrofoam plates full of food and drinks.

"Here," he handed me a plate and a cold can of lemonade.

"You didn't have to but thank you so much." All I could think of was THANK YOU JESUS, I HAVE BEEN SAVED!! I AM GOING TO MARRY THIS MAN ONE DAY!

Len sat down and occupied the same spot he had sat in earlier. "No problem. I kinda figured you might be hungry right about now. I didn't know what all you liked; so, I got you a little bit of everything."

I was nodding in acceptance of his thought process and as humbly as I could, I said, "well I appreciate it."

Shortly after I began eating, I placed my plate down on the ground and slowly pushed it away, frowning internally.

If I wasn't such a snob when it came to food, I would, probably be, thoroughly enjoying this; it's so pretty, colorful and tastes like SHIGGIDY!!! The ants wouldn't even eat this stuff.

My mom was a single parent. I didn't have a lot of things growing up and I was okay with that. I never experienced going to fairs, carnivals, or even a concert. But, one thing that I did experience, that most of my peers never did, was gourmet food.

We may have been on food stamps, but my mother never bought cheap food nor ingredients; because of her eccentric taste buds. I couldn't even eat at the orphanage because the food was so bad. I even lost 30 pounds in two months. To me, everything tasted cheap or wasn't cleaned properly and had too much salt or sugar added to the recipe. But the other kids ate it like it was the best thing ever. The food wasn't good at all.

This, Fourth of July, meal couldn't compare to me and my mom's cooking. The potato salad was dry, I didn't know that that could even be possible.

Don't get me started on the ribs; it was a hot mess. Miss D. must have boiled them before putting it on the grill. Who does this to ribs? Pork or Beef it didn't matter, who does this?

In my opinion, no amount of barbeque sauce was going to fix this or even mask the fact that there was no smoke flavor to the meat. These ribs weren't washed, nor was the excess fat removed and there is no seasoning.

The ribs are dry as hell, which tells me that she kept poking it with a fork instead of using tongs!!!! Hell, it was so badly over cooked and burnt; it would've been better if she had turned it into jerky. Miss D's new nickname is "Queen Lighter Fluid" because I could taste was the cheap lighter fluid used on the charcoals. The taste was embedded in the meat. "Jesus, Take The Wheel, help me; I can't do this!"

The oven baked mac and cheese was the worst thing I had ever tasted. It was dry and you could tell it was made with government or imitation cheese. You know that cheese that no matter what you to it, it will never melt.

The corn bread was so dry. As soon as you bit into it, all the saliva in your mouth was absorbed. Your mouth instantly became as dry as the SAHARA desert. Reality hits, as you begin to chew, you can't swallow, if you try you will choke. You don't want to be rude and spit it out; what to do? Thank God for canned lemonade. Everything was just horrible, a pitiful, shameful, mess.

But got to love Miss D. though, she tried and I gotta give her an A for Effort. It is not easy cooking every day for a large group of people and add another 20; that leaves no room for complaints; but admiration. Because everything she did, she did with love in her heart; and that makes all the difference in the world

Len hadn't tried anything on his plate yet, he was too busy texting on his phone. He looked over and saw my plate was on the ground and must have figured that I didn't like the food. That should have been a tell-tell sign that he should've stopped and paid attention. But like most men/boys, he just shrugged his shoulders and took a huge spoon full of the mac and cheese.

The MOMENT he placed it in his mouth and began chewing he said, "AWWWH HELL NAW!" he quickly grabbed a napkin and spat it out into his hand and tried to use the lemonade as a mouthwash. I was so tickled.