Cutting Loose

by Dash, Jayson

  Brett held her tighter and said, “Don’t worry about it. Everybody sucks their first time.”

  “Oh, God,” laughed Sabrina as a dirty image of herself and Brett making love on the floor passed through her mind, making her think about how their first time being intimate would be. Seeing that she never in a million years saw herself sleeping with a white guy, the thought intrigued her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said nonchalantly, still not looking at him. She knew if she took that chance she would be igniting the fire that was slowly building inside of her that was yearning to be set free. She stood up and said, “Let’s finish this game while the night is still young.”

  Brett stood up as well and said, “Okay. Don’t start crying when I beat your butt.”

  “Puh-lease!” she laughed out loud. “I’m a big girl—and big girls don’t cry.”

  Several moments later, Sabrina held onto what little remained of her self-esteem after getting her butt kicked.

  “I thought you said big girls don’t cry,” said Brett after they game was over and they were back in his car heading off to their next destination.

  “I’m not crying,” Sabrina said coolly. “I think something flew in my eye.”

  “Let me get it for you,” he said, cupping her face in his hands. He gently held her eyelid open with his thumb and blew into her eye lightly. “All done.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  Sabrina couldn’t help but feel like she was starting to like Brett much more than she expected to, given the fact that she was scared out of her mind in the first five minutes of their date. Then there was the point in which she got her ass handed to her when Brett beat her effortlessly in bowling. She kept taking glances at him from the corner of her eye as they drove to wherever, wondering what it was that in store for her.

  Sabrina relaxed and put her thoughts aside once Brett told her that he was taking her to a nearby art gallery. Once there, they walked around and looked at the paintings in the show room that were from famous painters and some artifacts that had been preserved over the years.

  Since Sabrina wasn’t that much into art or anything culturally near it, she sipped on the free wine that was available and tried to have a good time. Satisfaction came from seeing the excitement in Brett’s face as he eyed the artwork and asked questions about this and that.

  After the art gallery they went to and ice cream parlor and shared a couple laughs and small talk about nothing in particular.

  It was a quarter after nine when Brett finally dropped Sabrina off at her doorstep.

  “Thanks for a wonderful evening,” Sabrina said, slipping her key into the keyhole and turning to face Brett at the same time.

  He smiled and replied, “You’re very welcome.” He inched his way closer to her and closed the gap between them.

  “Um,” Sabrina started to say but lost her train of thought as she found herself staring into Brett’s green eyes as he stared back into hers, predicting her next move.

  In one instant she was thinking about pressing her lips against his, and in the next she was locking her door and running upstairs to her bedroom.

  Chapter Nine:

  House Call

  As if her life wasn’t complicated enough, she had to deal with the constant naughty dreams she had been having ever since the night she went out with Brett. She felt like a schoolgirl who had never been kissed before. She knew it had been a while since she felt the touch of a man’s lips on hers, but damn it, Brett took the cake. He had to be the best kisser she had in a long time.

  Just thinking about the way he put his hands on her waist and pulled Sabrina into him and pressed his soft, luscious lips onto hers made her head spin. Constantly throughout the day she had to remind herself that it was only a kiss that lasted five seconds, maybe even longer, that she interrupted when she freaked out and lost her mind. She didn’t even know why she freaked out the way she did but she did know that she was mad as hell at her own self for being so irrational.

  “Should I call him first or should I wait for him to call?” Sabrina asked as she shuffled in a circular motion around her desk at work.

  “It depends,” said Raquel. “See, if you call him back, you’re going to seem desperate to see him again. But if you wait for him to call, then it will be a lot easier, that way you don’t look clingy, you know?”

  “Yeah,” said Sabrina coolly. “That’s true, and I don’t want to seem clingy.”

  Raquel pondered for a minute. “He sounds like a really nice guy. And where did you say you met him?

  “At the grocery store in the wine aisle, and then I ran into him again at a club.”

  “Wow. Talk about fate.” Why did everyone keep saying that?

  Sabrina looked at Raquel and said, “You don’t actually believe in that crap do you?”

  Raquel looked as if she was offended and said, “Heck yeah, I do. Are you serious?”

  Sabrina laughed. “Girl, c’mon. I bet you be reading those horoscopes and living by every word they say.”

  “I do,” she said matter-of-factly. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and asked, “What’s your sign?”

  “Why?”

  “Just tell me. Please?”

  Sabrina paused and said, “Libra.”

  Raquel scanned the paper she was holding and said, “Today you should not hold back and take risks because that certain someone will be waiting for you.” Raquel looked up from her paper and squealed, “Oh my goodness that was so sweet!”

  “Raquel,” said Sabrina, “I pay you to be my assistant, not give romantic advice.”

  “I know,” said Raquel. “But does it hurt to take a little advice?”

  “Last time I took your advice, my hair started falling out.”

  Raquel laughed. “Oh, yeah. Well, that was different. Anyways, I think you should wait a couple days and if he doesn’t call you first, call him up with some fake excuse just to see him. Trust me, I’ve done it plenty of times and it worked most of the time.”

  Sabrina smiled. “I’ll think about it. Meanwhile, I have work to do and so do you. Is Camille in her office?”

  “Um, I think she went out a while ago. She said something about needing fresh air or something.”

  “Okay. In that case, I need you to call up the photographers and have them confirm the photo shoot tomorrow with Tyson Beckfrod and Iman at ten A.M. Also, I need you to reschedule the meeting with Tyra Banks from three-fifteen to two-thirty then I need you check with Sean about tomorrow’s staff meeting.”

  “All right, I’m all over it, chief.” She smiled and added, “Can I get you some coffee or anything while I’m out?”

  “Um, that’s okay. Thanks anyway.”

  After she was done at the office she didn’t get home until after nine thanks to Camille being a bitch by making the meeting they had scheduled for two hours go on for an extra hour and a half because she wasn’t satisfied with the way things weren’t turning out in her favor and she had a millions things on her plate and not close to being finished.

  She hated getting home late but she really couldn’t do anything about it. She went upstairs to her room and peeled off her clothes and took a hot shower. She wanted to stay up and read a novel to help her sleep but she passed out before she could even think about what book she wanted to read.

  ***

  Most people spent their Saturday’s at home cleaning up their place or even relaxing and taking it easy. Then again, most people weren’t like Sabrina who spent her Saturday’s working from her laptop. She knew she didn’t need to be working today but she was still waiting to see whether or not Brett was going to call her first.

  Cassandra and Larissa both called her up and begged her to go to Key West with them for a weekend of partying but Sabrina wasn’t up for that game anymore. Not when she had Brett on her mind 24/7 invading her thoughts. At first she tried to fight it but then she decided to just go
with the flow and let whatever was going to happen between them do just that.

  She put her laptop aside as she listened to a song off of her copy of Mary J. Blige’s latest album, Growing Pains and fell in love with the track “Hurt Again.” She rocked back and forth and was crooned by the smooth, slow beat and found herself singing aloud, “I’ve been there, and I’ve done that and I promise never to get hurt again. Never again.”

  After about the tenth time of playing the song back to back, she thought about how she was going to protect herself from enduring the bullshit she had to put up with in the past.

  A teardrop fell from her eyes and she regretted even thinking about Carl. So she drowned her tears in the loud music that was thumping from the speakers of her laptop, Mary J. Blige telling her not to be moping around and that she was liking what she saw when she walked past the mirror.

  Instinctively, Sabrina got up and stood in front of her own mirror and said aloud, “Do I like what I see when I walk pass the mirror?”

  It would not have been such a hard question to answer if she really did like the reflection that stared back at her, showing her bloodshot eyes rimmed with tears. She sniffled and wiped her eyes. She went upstairs to her bedroom and straightened herself up. She was sick of torturing herself for no apparent reason at all.

  She went into the closet and stumbled across a box labeled Carl’s Junk and immediately grabbed it off of the shelf and heaved it down stairs to the living room. Then she dumped everything out of the box and stared at the contents that made her want to vomit. All the gifts and other material things she gave to Carl over the years stared at her and exasperated her even more. Months ago Carl had agreed to pick up the rest of his crap but since he neglected to do so, he left Sabrina no other choice but to dispose of it.

  She didn’t hesitate at all to toss it all in a garbage bag and put it outside. She didn’t need anything reminding her of her past with a liar and a cheater when she had a new beau in mind. When she was back inside her spirits were lifted and she felt like she was ready to make the first move instead of waiting on Brett to come around.

  She picked up the phone and listened to the dial tone for a few seconds as she pondered what she was going to do to get Brett to come over and how she was going to do it. Then she had a brainstorm.

  She remembered Raquel’s suggestion and found herself messing around with her seven-year-old desktop computer that she put in the garage ever since it crashed years ago and never had the time to throw it away or try to get it repaired. She remembered reading Brett’s business card and seeing that he was a computer technician and knew just about everything about computers.

  “Hi, Brett. I didn’t catch you at a bad time did I?” asked Sabrina after she called him up some ten minutes after building up enough confidence.

  “Uh, no, not really. What’s up?”

  She sighed. “Nothing is up with me, but my computer is acting up and I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Do you think you can come over and take a look at it?”

  He paused and said, “Um, sure. When is a good time to stop by?”

  “Now would be fine, if you can work that out in your schedule.”

  “No problem. I’ll be there in about half an hour.”

  “Perfect.”

  She hung up and jumped for joy.

  Immediately, she went upstairs and took a quick shower, fixed her hair into a nice ‘do so it fell to her shoulders, she sprinkled on a dash of perfume, tossed on a cute top and a pair of skimpy jeans.

  When the doorbell ring some moments later she jumped up from the couch and peered through the curtains in the living room and saw a blue-and-white van with the words “Service by Deltour” written in bold black letters across the side.

  She looked through the peephole and saw him standing at her door dressed in a white dress shirt and navy blue slacks.

  Sabrina opened the door and said, “I’m glad you could make it.”

  He smiled and said, “I’m off the clock right now so consider this as a favor.”

  Sabrina smiled back and stepped to the side. “Come on in. It’s hot today.”

  When he came inside she led him to her office where her piece of shit desktop computer sat. She intentionally left it unplugged to add a little more drama, but hoping not to make herself look like a fool.

  “How long have you had this computer?” he asked with a wrinkled faced. “It looks outdated.”

  She suppressed a laugh and replied, “Uh, I’ve had it since oh-one. Is that bad?”

  He scratched his head and said, “I’d say so.” He walked over to the computer and started examining it. He mashed the power button and waited for it to respond.

  “You might want to plug it in first,” Sabrina said coolly.

  He looked at Sabrina and said, “Hey, I am a professional.”

  “Sure about that?” teased Sabrina. “You could have fooled me.”

  She could tell he wanted to say something but she walked out of the room and went to the living room.

  After a good fifteen minutes or so she went back to the office to check on Brett, or just to be nosey.

  “Any luck figuring out what’s wrong with it?”

  “Not even close.” He straightened up and turned to Sabrina and asked, “Do you remember when the last time was that you used the computer?”

  “Um, about a couple months ago,” she lied quickly. “I was checking my email and then the screen turned black and some words came across the screen.”

  He looked at the monitor and said, “From the dust it has collected, I can tell it’s been a while. So, you say you saw words on the screen. What did they say?”

  “I don’t know what it said verbatim. I think it was something like the system has reached a critical level and something else about rebooting the system.”

  “Hmm,” Brett said as he stared at Sabrina and scratched his chin. He took another looked at the computer monitor and back at Sabrina and asked, “Did you have any virus protection software installed on the computer?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Why, you think it was a virus that attacked the computer and caused it to crash?”

  “That’s my diagnosis at the moment.”

  Fearing that he was about to give up and leave she said, “Maybe it is something else.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know.” She waited a beat and added, “You’re the ‘Professional.’”

  “Are you mocking me?”

  “Would you like something to drink?”

  “Don’t answer my question with a question,” he said crossing his arms over his chest before adding, “And yes, that would be nice.”

  When she was out of the room she went to the kitchen and laughed her ass off. She had him right where she wanted him.

  After she raided through her refrigerator she went back to the office and handed Brett a glass of lemonade.

  “Thank you,” he said, taking the glass and taking a quick sip. He frowned and asked, “It this homemade?”

  “Yes,” beamed Sabrina. “How do you like it?”

  “It’s um,” he eyed his cup and looked back at Sabrina before saying, “It’s a little tart I guess.”

  She rolled her eyes and asked, “Are you almost done yet?” with a hint of impatience in her voice.

  “Almost.”

  She pivoted on the spot and said, “I’ll be outside on the patio if you need me.”

  That said, she went to the living room, grabbed her laptop and went outside to the patio, where she sat in a lounge chair under the shade. She wasn’t doing anything in particular on the laptop, just making herself look busy in case he came outside. She stopped what she was doing and glanced at the pool that looked daunting with the heat making her want to jump in.

  She obliged to the brilliant idea and ran upstairs and changed into a Dior two-piece bathing suit. Outside, she dangled her toes over the edge and tested the temperature of the water. It was nice and warm, perfect, even. She sat dow
n on the edge of the pool and prayed like hell that she wouldn’t fall into the water, because she didn’t want her hair getting ruined.

  As she sat there, she envisioned Brett walking outside wearing a pair of swimming trunks and asking if he could join her. She imagined herself saying yes and seeing him dive into the pool, splashing water all over her in the process and not giving a damn about her hair getting wet because she was blinded by the perfection of his rock hard muscles and his washboard abs dripping wet. She also imagined him emerging from the pool, brushing his wet hair from his face as he stretched out on the chaise lounge as the sun’s rays tan his tanned skin.

  She could imagine herself rubbing sun tan lotion all over his body and laying on her back as he did the same to her.

  She snapped from her vivid imagination when she heard Brett’s voice calling her name. She got up from the pool and walked over to where he stood.

  “Sorry I was in my zone. What’s up?”

  He couldn’t help but notice the way the sweat was trickling down the crevice of her breasts and immediately diverted his eyes and said, “I figured out what’s happened to your computer.”

  “Oh, really? And what’s that?”

  “It killed over because it was old and the operating system was attacked by an unknown virus.”

  “That’s interesting. And it sucks. So, how much do I owe you for this favor?”

  “Absolutely nothing.”

  “Okay,” she grabbed her towel off of the chair and began to dry off her legs. She pranced back inside. She turned around to find Brett momentarily dazed.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” said Brett coolly. He waited a beat and asked, “Do you work out a lot or are you just naturally fit?”

  Sabrina laughed out loud. “Thanks for the compliment. I think it’s a little bit of both. My mother has good genes.” She walked over to him and rubbed her index finger over his chest and asked, “Do you work out?”