ReemAfterDark: What You Love

What You Love

By Keith Kareem Williams

You love the things I say that eventually sit in your mind, possibly for days at a time or forever. You listen but you don’t hear what I whisper in your ear. If you did then it would be perfectly clear exactly what I’m doing here. You look forward to the “good morning” texts and the late night phone calls. You smile every time you get that mid-day call at your desk. It helps you get through that halfway point of your day. You love the fact that my words carry weight.

You feel safe because I’ve always been there, even when it seemed like no one else cared. I chased away just about everything that you feared. In your mind it’s undeniable that I’m reliable and always prepared to hold you down if needed. I’ve become what’s constant, expected or better yet a safety net. You’re comfortable with that because I haven’t failed you yet. I remember everything that THEY forget. In a world where we’re surrounded by the plastic and the fake, you can always reach out and touch me so that you know that this is real. I’m there when you cry and you can see in my eyes that I’ve never told you a lie…even the times when I knew the truth would hurt you. Even when it did you never complained because you knew I would find a way to make it go away. I’m the one who you run to when you need protection from your own circle.

The late night phone calls after the sun is long gone always mean that you’re calling for something that you need. Why me? I’ll tell you why. It’s because you’re sure I have it and you know that I know exactly what to do with it. You always decide to tease me and taunt me on the line, only to play with my mind. You want to make sure that I come see you so that I can prove what you already know. I have the talent to put that tingle in your spine and the buzzing in your toes, plus I know the nasty things you like to do that nobody else knows. Your secrets are the deepest but you feel safe because I know how to keep, each and every one of them. You say just the right words to manipulate the situation because on those nights you call, you’ve abandoned all forms of stimulation from masturbation. Your toys don’t feel the same as flesh & you can’t scream its name. You talk dirty on the line to open up the lane for me to drive you insane….for you it’s all a game. When I fall for it, it’s an ego boost for you because you believe that there’s no way you can lose it. “It” being exactly what you KNOW that I bring to the table. You think that is should be enough for me that you always choose me. Somewhere along the line you forgot that I’m really choosy. There’s really only one reason why you don’t want to lose me.

Basically, in every single way, I make you feel good in exactly all the areas that you feel that I should. This is why you linger. There’s only one problem with that. For me to stay, I only require that you love me right back. You don’t. It may seem, or sound like it but that’s not the case. If I ever made you feel bad you’d turn around and never look back. What you love is what I do to you and how I do it to you. You don’t love ME. The moment I stop making you feel good, you’ll be just about ready to leave. In my time here I’ve learned where that type of arrangement leads. It may seem like a tragedy but that’s the reason you don’t have me. You don’t love Keith, you don’t love Kareem and you haven’t looked deep enough to fall in love for real with Reem, no matter how it may seem.