by Pepper Pace
“Sophie.” His voice was shaking but she straightened and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
“I’m okay now.” She looked at him with watery eyes but a half smile on her face. “I’m sorry about that.” Then she looked around quickly. “Come on, let’s get out of here!” She dashed toward the house and Lucas quickly scooped up the packages and darted after her. She reached the back of the house first and breathlessly unlocked it. She dropped the bread onto the floor and he saw her dash for the bathroom. She was in there a long time, long enough for him to put away the food and pull out the grill.
She came out back with an embarrassed grin on her face.
He placed the two Adirondack chairs that he had been carrying down by the back stairs. “Better?” He gave her a concerned look.
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure? We can grill tomorrow.”
She came down the steps. “Yeah, I’m sure. Once the dairy is out of my body I’m good as new.” She cleared her throat and scratched her neck, still embarrassed.
“What is…dumping?”
She grimaced. “Oh, that. It won’t digest.” She shrugged. “It has to come out, either from the top or the bottom.” She chuckled mildly.
“I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
She frowned at him. “Why are you sorry? I’m the one that ate double what I should have.”
“If I had known it would hurt you like that I’d have never offered it to you.”
She shrugged again and lifted the charcoal. “That’s probably the worse attack I’ve ever had. I won’t be drinking milk for a while.” Lucas took the bag of charcoal from her hands.
“How much do you want me to pour?” She instructed him to pour half the bag into the smaller side.
“We’re going to smoke it. You’re going to love it.”
“I know I will.”
While Lucas got the fire going, Sophie prepared the meat for the grill. He came inside and washed his hands at the kitchen sink and watched her prepare the baked beans and boil the potatoes and eggs for potato salad.
He grinned. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait for dinner.”
While the food cooked they sat out back and dragged the radio with them. It was nice. Sophie admitted that it would be nicer if it was fixed up.
“We should go to Home Depot sometime soon. Then you can show me what kind of fence you want.”
She gave him a surprised look. He really wanted to do this. Yeah, he was probably getting bored with waiting on her hand and foot. Well if he did it, she would pay him for it.
“You decide.” She said. Lucas smiled.
By the time dinner was ready, it was full dark. They’d already started on the dogs because Lucas couldn’t wait. He ate four of them along with baked beans. He promised to save room for the ribs so waited patiently for them.
Sophie watched him inhale rib after rib. He had sauce smeared all over his face. Damn that boy could eat! He gave her an appreciative look.
“This is the best barbecue I’ve ever had!” Sophie smiled in pleasure. She had thawed out greens and they had that along with more baked beans and the potato salad that Lucas had helped her to prepare.
After dinner, she finally dragged herself back into her office. The deadline was tomorrow and she had had about two or three more pages to write. She could do it if she focused. The story was rolling out of her. The white man was really white and the black girl was proud to be black. Candace would like this. She listened to Lucas finishing up the dishes and put away the leftovers and she smiled comfortably. It was nice to have someone else in the house. Sophie happily tapped out the last few pages of Chapter 3 of her submission.
A while later the slush had gotten both Sara and Eric feeling mellow. Some drunken guy was in the middle of the floor dancing and they were both trying not to laugh at him. He was doing some karate moves that made him look like an Elvis Presley impersonator, and they weren't the only ones trying not to laugh.
The guy got down on one knee and rotated his pelvis suggestively. Sara covered her mouth and giggled.
Bryan came from the kitchen and stopped when he spotted them on the sofa. He looked behind him into the kitchen and frowned a little. Then he put on a smile and went to them.
"Hey." He said loudly. "See I told you you'd have fun," he said to Sara.
"I knew I'd have fun, Bryan. I didn't doubt it for a second."
Bryan sat on the arm of the sofa next to his friend. He leaned down quickly and whispered.
"Karen and Rachel are here."
Sara felt Eric tense at whatever Bryan whispered to him. She looked at them both curiously, but Bryan had turned his attention to the dance floor and was hooting loudly at the dancer. Eric flashed her a brief grin, but she knew something was different.
Bryan wandered away and another of Eric's friends took his place.
"Hey, Man. I didn't know you were here."
"Hey, Mike. What’s up, Man?"
"Been upstairs most of the night. How long you been here?"
"Not long." Eric turned to Sara. "Mike, this is my Girlfriend, Sara." She watched Mike closely to see if he would lo
Ok surprised that the All-American jock was dating a black girl; and not just a black girl but the black girl that had skin the color of polished mahogany. If he cared, he sure didn't show it.
He held out his hand to her. "Ah. You got a good guy, Sara."
She smiled and again began to relax. "I know. Nice to meet you."
Mike turned back to Eric. "Come upstairs. That’s where the real party is." Mike left.
Eric explained. "There are three floors to this house; the living room, a bathroom, kitchen and bedroom are down on this floor. Upstairs is another TV room, more bedrooms and a deck. And the third floor has another patio and the last bedroom. Pretty nice layout."
"Oh, I’d love to see it."
"Okay." He took her hand and they stood up. They walked through the kitchen that held one of the many stairwell
She thought it was real clean and pretty. It surely didn't look like some male love shack, which is what she had pictured when she thought of a group of college guys all living under one roof.
Upstairs the mood was a little different than it had been downstairs. Sara smelled the acrid scent of marijuana. There were candles lit and the lights were dimmed. The music was more retro and mellow. Some girls were dancing with each other, not like lesbians, but as friends. But their dancing was still very sensual and provocative.
Eric looked at them a moment and then turned to the French doors that led outside. "Come on. I'll show you the view from out here."
Sara caught her breath as she looked out at the skyline. The view was magnificent!
"Oh my, god. It feels like we're sitting on top of the world." Her eyes were large and glassy with pleasure.
Eric watched her silently. His hand moved around her waist and kissed her lips gently.
"Did I tell you today that I love you?"
She looked at him. "This morning I think we told each other...repeatedly."
"Sara, being with you like this..." All he could do was smile.
She stared into his blue eyes, never imagining that there would be a time when she’d look at a man so different than her in this way. "I'm happy I came, too, baby." She silently promised herself that she would never again allow the ignorance of others to interfere with what she had with Eric.
The patio door opened. "Eric?"
They turned to see the beautiful red haired girl that had been doing the sensual dance just a moment ago.
Eric straightened, from where he was leaning forward to kiss Sara again.
"Hey. What’s going on?" To Sara, his voice sounded a little unsure.
She studied the pretty girl. She was tall, but not as tall as Sara. She had on tight fitting jeans that belled out at her knees and scraped the floor. Her long sleeve sweater stopped short at her midriff and Sara could see flashes of her pierced belly. Sara examined her face w
hich was pale and beautiful. Her lips were full and her eyes were slanted enough to appear Asian even though they were a vibrant green. Her wild red hair ran long down her back and was like a massive beautiful mane.
"I haven't seen you around." The girl smiled. She looked at Sara still smiling. Hi." She offered her hand. "My names Karen." Sara wondered what she would see when she looked at her; a tall, curvy, dark skinned black girl with hair cut short and tapered down her neck wearing a dress that was too fancy for this college party.
Sara accepted the hand. "Hi Karen. I'm Sara."
Karen's eyes quickly darted over Sara. "Man. I love that dress."
"Well, thanks. I like your belly ring."
Karen suddenly flashed her pierced tongue, allowing her upper teeth to catch it. "Matched set." Her attention shifted back to Eric.
"So, Eric, where you been hiding out, you old hermit?"
Eric tightened his grip around Sara's waist. "With my Girlfriend."
Karen looked at Sara again, still smiling. "Oh." She smoothed a stray bit of hair behind her ear. "Well you guys should come to the St Ann's festival this weekend. I'm working the beer booth and I'll hook you guys up."
"You're working the booth?" Sara hid a grimace that he repeated the simple statement.
"Yeah, you know how that goes; work for about two hours and then you get free beer." Karen looked down at the cell phone attached to her waist. "Well, I'm being summoned." She headed back to the set of French doors. "It was nice meeting you Sara. And Eric, don't be a stranger." She disappeared while speaking into her phone.
"So...is that your ex-girlfriend, or something?”
Eric's mouth opened in surprise. "Why do you ask that?"
Sara shook her head. "Woman vibes."
"Oh. No. She wasn't my girlfriend."
"A lover?"
Eric hesitated. "Not quite." His face began to turn a little red. "We fooled around-"
"Fooled around or had sex?"
Eric tried to laugh. "Man, I feel like I'm being interrogated."
Sara walked back to the French doors. "It’s cold out here. Let’s go back inside." She waited for Eric to follow her then led the way back into the house.
END CHAPTER 3
Sophie laughed. She stood up and threw her hands into the air. She was finished and it was good and she had made her deadline with time to spare! “Yeah!”
Lucas poked his head into the room. “What?”
She turned and smiled at him. “I’m finished.”
His brow went up. “Three chapters and the synopsis?”
She laughed and jumped up and down and grabbed him in a big hug. “Yep.”
“You act as if you doubted yourself. I had complete faith that you’d do it.”
She released him but his hands lingered on her hips. “You did, huh?”
“Yes; especially with me plying you with cups of hot tea and high carb foods.”
“Oh so that was your game plan?”
He grinned and allowed his hands to fall from her hips. “We should celebrate tomorrow.”
“Yeah? Doing what?”
“Dinner and a movie?”
“That sounds like a freaking date.” She laughed. He didn’t. “That’s cool. You pick the movie.”
“No, you pick it.”
She squinted. “Are there any movies with black casts currently playing?”
“I’ll check,” he moved to the computer.
“Lucas?” He turned to her. “Would you like to read it?”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Hell yeah!” She smiled at his enthusiasm.
“Only if you give me your honest opinion, okay?”
He paused. “Sophie, I know you wouldn’t ask me to critique you if you didn’t want my true opinion. I’ll be honest.”
“Get up,” she shooed him from her seat. “I’m going to email it to you. You read it tonight and I’ll email it to Candace tomorrow--if it meets your approval, that is.”
He blushed. “Okay.” He hurried downstairs to open his email on the laptop. It was midnight before he finished, and he could hear Sophie walking around upstairs; something he wasn’t used to. He got up from the bed and went upstairs.
She was in the kitchen, looking as if she was prepared to come downstairs. He had a serious expression on his face.
“Did it suck?” She asked with a nervous chuckle
“It was amazing.”
A relieved breath gushed from her chest. “Okay.”
“I almost wished I wouldn’t have read the synopsis to see how it would end. I don’t know how you write the characters so clearly. I felt like I was there with them. And then the way Eric fought so hard to make Sara understand that they could be together, only to discover that he still had feelings for Karen. It’s so…real. How do you do that?”
She smiled and shrugged. “Imagination I guess.”
She opened the fridge for bottled water.
He continued softer. “And The Story of Me, was that really your story?”
Her eyes flicked to his. “You’ve answered that question on the blog for me ten times already. It’s just fiction.” She handed him a water and he twisted off the top slowly.
“I know its fiction. But even fiction is based on some fact.”
She went to the living room and cut on the light, sinking down onto the couch. “I do pull from personal experience. Some of the characters have my traits.” Lucas sat down on the other end of the couch, but turned his body to face her.
“Mouse was very…” Lucas searched for the right word, “lonely. If I met a girl like Mouse, I’d be sure to let her know that she shouldn’t be afraid to let people in. Most people just want to be happy. They aren’t out looking for ways to hurt each other.”
Sophie watched him steadily. “You’ll meet someone some day, fall in love and they won’t be anything like Mouse. They won’t be hurt and need someone to show them how to open up.”
“Then I wouldn’t want to fall in love with them.”
Sophie’s eyes flitted away.
“How much of that story is true, Sophie?”
She shook her head and sighed. She thought about Lucas’ open honesty with her. She considered her words carefully before speaking. “I was never molested, and my mother was never a nutcase like Cherry Ann but my mom did die of cancer.”
“And what about Vincent?”
“That was based on some fact. There was a Vincent and he did die, and his mother died about two or three days after she talked to me and my mother died about six months later.”She gave him a defiant look. “And I did have an abortion. But in the real story,” she glanced at him, “the real story about me, there was no man after. But I had to write an end to the book, so…”