the summer without carlo (frankee's story con't)
The summer before my junior year was the summer without Carlo. Near the end of my sophomore year, I got busy with softball and the spring musical and finals. I saw less and less of Carlo and we kept on having the same fight, I was too busy for him, he was tired of having a relationship with my voicemail, yadda yadda yadda… We ended up breaking up at the end of the year and I spent my first summer without Carlo, with Tikwon. Tikwon was a gay black guy from Detroit. He was in New York for the summer. He was enrolled in the NYFA summer program. I’ll never forget how I met Tikwon and all we did together.
It was about 2 weeks after I broke up with Carlo. Rickie was sick of seeing me not do anything all day. She finally came in one morning and started yelling at and undressing me. She said she was sick of this drama shit and that I and she were going to go spend the day in Manhattan, and we weren’t coming back till nighttime. She shoved me into the shower, threw my clothes at me when I got out, and shot me with a hairdryer till I got dressed. She did my hair super fast and stuffed a nutria-grain bar down my throat. When she was doing my hair I looked at her and just began laughing. I love how she acted to be pissed when she was trying to help me. Only a best friend would wake you up at 7 in the summer, start stripping you, shove you into a blistering cold shower, dry you off, dress you, and style your hair all in 20 minutes. That’s how you can tell what you really mean to you’re best friend. Of course, I would definitely do the same for Rickie. Anyway when we went out the door I was still laughing. “race you to the station” I said. “You’re on bitch! 1-2-3 GO!” It had been such a long time since we raced, no one ever won. Our bodies always went the exact same speed as one another. We always tied. I ran so fast. I felt the blood rushing all through my body. My hair breathed in the wind. I took deep full breaths of morning Brooklyn air. I felt so alive. We arrived with the train and just barely made it on. We tied. We were laughing silly. It felt so wonderful to be so careless for a few minutes. But then I remembered Carlo and the bliss ended. Rickie gave me a sympathetic look. I sat down on a bench and she sat down next to me. “Hey, It could be worse, babe. Listen today I want you to forget about him okay. Today, It’s just you and me in the greatest city in the world, okay. We are gonna go do whatever the hell we feel like doing. We’re gonna go to lady liberty, times square, the NYSE, The Empire state building, ground zero, Chinatown and little Italy. We’re gonna go everywhere okay? And we’re gonna be crazy and we’re gonna scream and run around topless if you want! C’mon Frankee! We’re gonna have it good today, okay? Just don’t think about him for today okay?” “Okay I promise” I said with the smile coming back to my face. We went down to the financial district to see all the business people and lawyers rush to work. We went into a courtroom and witnessed a hearing. Then we went to city hall to witness a wedding. The couple was eloping and they didn’t mind our presence. They were happy that someone wanted to see them get married. Around noon we went to Times Square and decided to sing on the street corner for money. We sang Motown favorites and Sinatra, even some Elvis. That’s where we met Tikwon. He asked to film us with his camera and we were thrilled. He was making a movie about street entertainment/vendors in the city. Instead he ended up following us for the rest of the day. I ended up making movies with him for the rest of the summer. He followed us to Ellis Island, up in the lady of liberty, also In Chinatown where we all had dinner. When night fell we went to the top of the Empire State building and looked at New York in all its glory. We talked and wondered…how many people were having sex, how many people are looking up at us right now, how many people are about to get divorced, how many cheaters were getting caught tonight, pretty much everything.
It was a great day. I felt so free and powerful. After the subway heart to heart between Rickie and me, I don’t think I gave Carlo a second thought.
That summer I spent a lot of time with Tikwon. We would always venture out into the city trying to get interesting pieces to make documentaries. We made many successful ones. Our footage was very interesting to get. We made a documentary about gun control and crime in our city- that was the riskiest and most exiting one to make. We ambushed politicians and tried to get their insights and asked what is actually being done. We were blown off a lot, but we actually got invited to the DA’s office so we could talk and interview. We took a walk through south Bronx to go around asking people how they felt about crime, and if they had ever been victimized or witnessed one. Almost everyone said yes. We even got chased because we got footage of an actual brawl where a man got shot. The guy with the gun began to shoot at us when he discovered where we were hiding. He chased us through many streets through a building into an apartment and down a fire escape. We finally lost him when we jumped on a bus. I never told anyone about that manhunt. But our footage helped the police catch the guy and put him away. Our other documentaries were people who struck our fancy, smoking, hookers, flea markets and lots of other random footage that was interesting and appealing. Tikwon wanted to do an interview with me where he asked me my life story. It took 5 hours to film. He asked me about my mother, my family, Rickie, Carlo, Everything. It was like one very big analysis of my entire life and everything in it. There were many tears and laughs throughout the process. In the end, I felt I had a better understanding of my own life and my feelings. And I think that’s what led me back to Carlo. All the questions he asked, all the feelings that went through in my head and my heart; It was like my whole life made sense to me for a little while, but only for a little while. It put one thing in perspective- I loved Carlo and couldn’t cut him out of my life. I cared for him and we belonged together. It was like one magnificent thing through two people. I feel like god brought Tikwon to me, to bring me back to Carlo. I knew I had to get him back.
It was about 2 weeks after I broke up with Carlo. Rickie was sick of seeing me not do anything all day. She finally came in one morning and started yelling at and undressing me. She said she was sick of this drama shit and that I and she were going to go spend the day in Manhattan, and we weren’t coming back till nighttime. She shoved me into the shower, threw my clothes at me when I got out, and shot me with a hairdryer till I got dressed. She did my hair super fast and stuffed a nutria-grain bar down my throat. When she was doing my hair I looked at her and just began laughing. I love how she acted to be pissed when she was trying to help me. Only a best friend would wake you up at 7 in the summer, start stripping you, shove you into a blistering cold shower, dry you off, dress you, and style your hair all in 20 minutes. That’s how you can tell what you really mean to you’re best friend. Of course, I would definitely do the same for Rickie. Anyway when we went out the door I was still laughing. “race you to the station” I said. “You’re on bitch! 1-2-3 GO!” It had been such a long time since we raced, no one ever won. Our bodies always went the exact same speed as one another. We always tied. I ran so fast. I felt the blood rushing all through my body. My hair breathed in the wind. I took deep full breaths of morning Brooklyn air. I felt so alive. We arrived with the train and just barely made it on. We tied. We were laughing silly. It felt so wonderful to be so careless for a few minutes. But then I remembered Carlo and the bliss ended. Rickie gave me a sympathetic look. I sat down on a bench and she sat down next to me. “Hey, It could be worse, babe. Listen today I want you to forget about him okay. Today, It’s just you and me in the greatest city in the world, okay. We are gonna go do whatever the hell we feel like doing. We’re gonna go to lady liberty, times square, the NYSE, The Empire state building, ground zero, Chinatown and little Italy. We’re gonna go everywhere okay? And we’re gonna be crazy and we’re gonna scream and run around topless if you want! C’mon Frankee! We’re gonna have it good today, okay? Just don’t think about him for today okay?” “Okay I promise” I said with the smile coming back to my face. We went down to the financial district to see all the business people and lawyers rush to work. We went into a courtroom and witnessed a hearing. Then we went to city hall to witness a wedding. The couple was eloping and they didn’t mind our presence. They were happy that someone wanted to see them get married. Around noon we went to Times Square and decided to sing on the street corner for money. We sang Motown favorites and Sinatra, even some Elvis. That’s where we met Tikwon. He asked to film us with his camera and we were thrilled. He was making a movie about street entertainment/vendors in the city. Instead he ended up following us for the rest of the day. I ended up making movies with him for the rest of the summer. He followed us to Ellis Island, up in the lady of liberty, also In Chinatown where we all had dinner. When night fell we went to the top of the Empire State building and looked at New York in all its glory. We talked and wondered…how many people were having sex, how many people are looking up at us right now, how many people are about to get divorced, how many cheaters were getting caught tonight, pretty much everything.
It was a great day. I felt so free and powerful. After the subway heart to heart between Rickie and me, I don’t think I gave Carlo a second thought.
That summer I spent a lot of time with Tikwon. We would always venture out into the city trying to get interesting pieces to make documentaries. We made many successful ones. Our footage was very interesting to get. We made a documentary about gun control and crime in our city- that was the riskiest and most exiting one to make. We ambushed politicians and tried to get their insights and asked what is actually being done. We were blown off a lot, but we actually got invited to the DA’s office so we could talk and interview. We took a walk through south Bronx to go around asking people how they felt about crime, and if they had ever been victimized or witnessed one. Almost everyone said yes. We even got chased because we got footage of an actual brawl where a man got shot. The guy with the gun began to shoot at us when he discovered where we were hiding. He chased us through many streets through a building into an apartment and down a fire escape. We finally lost him when we jumped on a bus. I never told anyone about that manhunt. But our footage helped the police catch the guy and put him away. Our other documentaries were people who struck our fancy, smoking, hookers, flea markets and lots of other random footage that was interesting and appealing. Tikwon wanted to do an interview with me where he asked me my life story. It took 5 hours to film. He asked me about my mother, my family, Rickie, Carlo, Everything. It was like one very big analysis of my entire life and everything in it. There were many tears and laughs throughout the process. In the end, I felt I had a better understanding of my own life and my feelings. And I think that’s what led me back to Carlo. All the questions he asked, all the feelings that went through in my head and my heart; It was like my whole life made sense to me for a little while, but only for a little while. It put one thing in perspective- I loved Carlo and couldn’t cut him out of my life. I cared for him and we belonged together. It was like one magnificent thing through two people. I feel like god brought Tikwon to me, to bring me back to Carlo. I knew I had to get him back.
posted by ~Shro~ at 10:08 PM
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