Running From Love

by J. Nichole

  “Yeah, actually I was.” I throw the facial wipe in the trash and lean against the wall taking the phone off of speaker. “I was just going to tell her I had to give her details tomorrow. This guy I met kept me out all night and now I’m exhausted.”

  “What? Tomorrow? You weren’t going to gush about our date to her tonight?” Laughing, I listen as he continues describing the night. “I just hung up with my homeboy telling him that I couldn’t wait to see you again.” Aiden seems to have a good sense of humor, he doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously, but I don’t know if he’s joking right now. “He asked why we were waiting till Thursday.” He pauses.

  Without looking at my calendar, I offer, “I may be able to squeeze in a lunch before Thursday.” I hear his car door open and I assume he’s made it to his house.

  “Let me know. I can clear my schedule.” I hear him walking. “I’ll even let you pick the location.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me. I’ll let you know tomorrow which day works.”

  “I could stay with you on the phone all night, but I don’t want to ruin your sleep schedule.”

  I thank him and hang up. Looking at myself in the mirror, I shake my head at the silly smile across my face.

  Chapter Six

  Quick counter-service, or a food truck, is my usual M.O. for weekday lunch breaks. As the server pops my napkin and places it in my lap I consider a change to my routine. “I hope you don’t mind my choice for lunch,” I say as I browse the prex fixe menu. Aiden scrunches his eyebrows and shakes his head. “During our morning meeting my co-worker reminded me that it was Restaurant Week.”

  Aiden looks around the restaurant before saying, “Is this your first time coming here?”

  “It is.” The Mediterranean restaurant is not far from my office but not a place I’d frequent for an after work happy hour, and not some place I’d consider coming back downtown to visit. “You?”

  “I’ve been here a couple of times.” He takes a sip of water from his crystal glass. “My office isn’t too far from here.”

  “Oh.” Our offices must not be far from each other. “I know you work in technology, but what do you do exactly?”

  He begins describing his work in technology and he could easily be speaking Greek. I nod my head as he describes the work he does, and when he comments, “Yeah it’s as exciting as you are imagining right now,” I smile.

  “It’s amazing how I use technology all day to do my work, and obviously I use it outside of work, but it’s not one of those things that interests me enough to learn the inner workings of it.”

  “Just as long as you don’t call asking for me to help troubleshoot your computer problems, we’ll be straight.” I cock my head in his direction. “You’d be surprised. I get calls like I work for Apple Support.” I promise not to call him next time my internet slows down.

  When the calamari is placed between us we continue talking about work as we share the dish. Thankfully, my afternoon is clear because our lunch takes over an hour to finish, and when we are finished neither of us is in a rush to get back to our offices.

  “Back to work?” he asks unenthusiastically. I take a deep breath and nod my head. “You have your dance class tonight, right?”

  My mood perks up thinking about dancing tonight. “Right.” I nod my head. “I just hope these girls have been practicing on their own. I’m fully committed to teaching them I just wish my passion would rub off on them.”

  Aiden pays our bill and stands, waiting for me to join him. As we begin walking out of the restaurant he laces his fingers around mine and I try to calm the excitement that tingles through my arm to my chest. Walking hand-in-hand until we reach the end of the street where we must go our separate ways. Gazing at me, he asks, “Happy hour tomorrow?” I agree just as a lady walks past us and turns around to give me a thumbs up. My eyes scrunch together and she smiles. “You okay?”

  Laughing, I tell him about the lady’s gesture and he shrugs his shoulders pulling me closer to him. Wrapping his arms around my shoulders, warmth surrounds me and I inhale his scent. The crisp, citrus smell invading my memory. I’m not shuffling like I was after our first date; instead of my hands fumbling they are firmly clasped behind his back.

  “I should get back to work before they send someone looking for me.” He laughs and pulls away from me, only slightly. His head bows down and his lips land on my cheek softly, lingering longer than the last time. Biting my lip, I say, “Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.” Walking in the direction of my office, I look over my shoulder to see he hasn’t moved. He’s watching me walk away. He smiles and wipes his hand across his lips, and that tingle that made its way from my hand, up my arm, to my chest has returned.

  “Girl.” Bri’s eyes are wide when I round the corner to my desk. “Where have you been?”

  “I told you I was going to lunch.” I lay my purse on my desk and get ready to take my seat, ignoring the dramatics that come along with Bri.

  She rounds my cubicle wall and says, “And ignoring your phone, obviously.” I stop moving and dig my phone out of my purse. “We had an impromptu meeting.” She keeps talking as I unlock my phone and realize I had multiple missed calls, voicemails, and texts. My phone is always on vibrate but if I’m expecting a call I usually place it in my lap. When I got to the restaurant my phone was the furthest thing from my mind. “Anyway, I emailed you with the details. It’s going to be a long night.”

  “Long night?” I snap, mostly at the idea and not at Bri, necessarily. “Since when have any of our reports had a day turnaround?” Running numbers, getting lost in data, and creating reports has its benefits because it’s not life or death. To date, I’ve only had to work late one evening, and working weekends has never been a thing.

  Bri waves her hand in the air and says, “Something about an acquisition and our competitors bidding for the new store.” She sighs. “Just check your email.” She leaves me to myself, nearly pouting because extra work on a night like tonight means it’ll be the second night this week where I’ll be missing out on sleep.

  Rolling my eyes at each sentence I read from Bri’s email, I taper my mood and respond to the email so that our manager will know I’m on the task as Bri has described.

  Opening the spreadsheet to begin my report, I realize the store we are acquiring is one of my favorite boutiques. And by favorite boutiques, I clearly mean one that I like to browse because buying anything is beyond my budget. From the numbers in the spreadsheet I see I wasn’t the only one just browsing.

  My phone dings a couple of times and I take a break from my computer screen to read the messages.

  Dear Mother: Don’t forget you are coming over this weekend

  Dear Mother: And bringing a dessert

  I respond, confirming that I’ll be at their house with a beautiful, store-bought dessert. She must have forgotten that my baking skills are not on par with my cooking skills. Bringing a meat that I’ve soaked in marinade as my daddy taught me would be more up my alley, but considering Daddy doesn’t recognize anyone else’s meat, that’s not necessary.

  Getting back into this report with only a few minutes before I need to head to the dance studio would be worthless. Instead I close my laptop, load it into my bag, and call over my cubicle to Bri. “I’ll see you tomorrow. The report will be in an email tonight. Probably pretty late.” She doesn’t break her typing stride and grunts in response.

  “Five, six, seven, eight…” my fingers snap to the beat and my head nods as I watch each girl hit her moves on cue. “Y’all got it.” My heart beats faster each time they nail a piece of choreography. My message for them to practice at home was heard or the dance gods are shining down on these girls today. When they finish I applaud them and say, “Now, that’s how y’all should be dancing every practice.”

  As they grab their water bottles to leave, one of the girls lags behind and rubs her elbow against my arm. I collect my duffle bag and get ready to leave behind them when Janice says,
“You looking extra happy tonight Ms. Kelly.” Her eyes pursed and eyebrows peaked, she looks at me while I roll my eyes. “I may be young or whatever, but I know that lovey dovey glow when I see it.”

  Lovey dovey would be exaggerating. Maybe had she seen me earlier after my lunch date with Aiden she’d be right. But now after this class, and knowing I have a long night ahead, she may be mistaking my look of delirium for a look of lust. “Not at all, youngin’. Actually, I have a long night of work ahead of me.” I turn the light off and close the door behind us. “Gotta hurry out of here.” She walks behind me to the lobby. “Well, since that’s not it, my brother is still asking about you.” She says with a wide grin. If her brother isn’t paying her a commission off of this hookup I don’t know what has her this damn persistent on his behalf.

  “Okay, Janice.” I shake my head as she winks at me. “See you next week.”

  My stomach growls as I open my apartment door. Great timing belly, should have spoken up on our way home. You know there won’t be anything in the refrigerator. I’ll be lucky if I have some Ritz crackers to snack on while I pound out this report. While my laptop powers up I rummage through my cabinets and manage to find a sleeve of crackers and peanut butter. This will have to hold me over till the morning.

  Hours into the data and the report still isn’t done. My eyes burning from staring at the screen gives me a strong desire to just lay my head on the pillow. For just a few minutes. Just a few. My phone rings and I don’t even care if it’s Derrick, I welcome the distraction.

  Thankfully, it’s not Derrick. It’s Aiden. I sit up straight and slap my cheeks. Not sure why, cause it’s not like Aiden can see me through audio. “Hello.”

  “Did your girls get it together tonight?” Aiden’s voice is deeper on the phone than in person. He’d do well as a radio personality.

  “They were awesome, definitely on point tonight.”

  “Their teacher is awesome. I was thinking you’d sound half sleep by this time.”

  “I wish I was fully sleep, but instead I’m up working.”

  “Up working?” His surprise mirrors mine when I found out earlier today. I mumble in response. “Did you have time to grab dinner?”

  My stomach churns as the crackers and peanut butter didn’t put a dent in my hunger. “No, I should probably order something but I’m hoping this report will be done soon and I’ll worry about food in the morning.”

  “Don’t let me keep you from your work. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”

  I’d much rather be chatting with Aiden but this report won’t finish itself. With my phone on the other side of the couch I concentrate on the multiple spreadsheets now open on my laptop. Charts with monthly sales and product type breakdowns will definitely plague my dreams tonight. If I ever get to sleep.

  My eyes are heavy as I send the email with the promised reports attached. I was tempted to announce my late arrival in the email, but I’ll wait to see how I feel in the morning. As I close my laptop and turn off my lights I hear a knock at my door. It better not be my nosey neighbor. I’ve been cordial in the past, but if it’s her I may have to curse her out tonight.

  Before I can get to the door I hear the knock again. Through the peephole I see Aiden. Aiden? I open the door and ask, “What are you doing here?”

  “I tried calling.” He looks behind me then lifts a bag up and says, “Waiting till morning to eat sounded like torture.” The familiar smell of Velvet Taco lingers even after he lowers the bag and my stomach, for the first time tonight, doesn’t hate me.

  With a slight smile I say, “My belly appreciates you.” I move out of the doorway and welcome him into my apartment. He begins unloading tacos on my kitchen counter. “Goodness, you plan on feeding my entire floor?”

  He shrugs. “There were too many variations.” As he unloads the last taco he says, “Hopefully you like at least a couple.” As he moves around the kitchen I realize he’s wearing a grey pair of sweat pants. Grey sweat pants. Suddenly, another body part is happy with me too. I try not to stare at him as he walks around. I sit at my kitchen counter and grab a taco, any taco, and unwrap it.

  I wrap my mouth around the corn tortilla and take a bigger bite than necessary. With my mouth full Aiden says, “See, waiting till morning was going to be a horrible idea.” He leans against the counter and asks, “The lights were out. Did you finish your work?” I nod my head as the rotisserie chicken and queso inspire my taste buds.

  Between bites I say, “Thank you for bringing food.” I look at the remaining tacos on the counter. “You aren’t eating?” He shakes his head. “You really bought all these tacos for me?” He nods his head. He brought food wearing grey sweat pants and doesn’t plan to eat… not the Velvet Tacos, anyway.

  Two tacos down, and I feel like I should quit while I’m ahead. I don’t want to sleep with too much food on my stomach, and I need to be sleep soon. My mind has already started calculating how many hours of sleep I’ll get if Aiden exits now, and I can get to sleep in the next ten minutes. Five hours.

  I crumble my taco paper into a ball and gather the uneaten tacos into a pile. “I’ll have tacos for lunch and dinner for a couple of days.” With a couple of tacos in my hand I offer them to Aiden. “Sure you don’t want to take some for lunch tomorrow?”

  “I’ll let you keep those.” He stands up, moving away from his place against the kitchen counter. “Just in case you have another late night this week and forget to eat.” He moves in front of me and grabs my hand. “Come lock the door behind me.” My fingers comfortably intertwine with his. With his free hand on the doorknob he looks to me and says, “Sleep tight.” My eyes, barely open, steal another glance at his grey sweat pants.

  “Thanks again, Aiden.” I manage a weak smile before Aiden leans down hovering near my lips. Our eyes connect, and I maintain the stare before his lips meet mine. My lips part and he drops my hand moving his to behind my head. His tongue strokes mine and my arms wrap around his waist.

  Our kiss lingers until it’s dizzying. Aiden pulls away and says, “Just so you know, I have no problem standing here, in this very spot, kissing you all night long.” His tongue licks across his bottom lip. “But you should get rest for work tomorrow and our date tomorrow evening.”

  My eyes blink a couple of times before I say, “You’re right.” He opens the door and walks out. I stand there, looking at the closed door, and thinking about how my head wants to hit the pillow but my body is fully awake. After locking the door I walk to my bedroom and pull back the covers. With my head on the pillow I look at the alarm clock before closing my eyes tightly. Four hours and thirty minutes.

  Chapter Seven

  “Three dates. In one week?” Nicole laughs into the phone. “Who are you?” Nicole is supposed to be giving me details about the bachelorette weekend we are planning for Laila. Instead she’s revering my lack of energy after my week of late nights.

  “Tonight would technically be date number two.” I continue packing my bag to leave the office.

  “Oh semantics, Jennifer. Look, whatever it is this dude is doing, let him keep doing it. It’s about time someone wears your ass out.” The motivation she’s trying to deliver is falling short. If the multiple cups of tea I had today did nothing to wake me up, I’m sure her words aren’t going to deliver some magic. Dragging myself to the happy hour is going to take an act of God. “I can’t believe you let him leave after he kissed you. I would have had him all in my bed. Waking up early be damned.”

  “Nicole.” She keeps rambling on about how many different positions she would have been bent into. How she would have rolled into the office this morning like she had been on a yoga retreat. “Girl, are you going to give me these details about the trip, or naw?”

  “Right.” I hear her speaking to Bryan in the background. “I had to make sure he wasn’t listening in.” Although Nicole and Bryan don’t live together, I don’t know if there’s ever a time when they aren’t sharing space, either at her apartment
or his. “Chris has agreed to get Laila to the airport for her flight. Then when she arrives in Miami, we’ll be there to surprise her before we fly together to Jamaica.”

  Laila didn’t want a typical bachelorette party. She strongly condemned ideas of strippers and nightclubs. “I coordinated a ride from the airport to the resort.”

  “Good, Monica is supposed to be working on our itinerary.” Undoubtedly the busiest person in the bachelorette party volunteered for the most tedious task. “I won’t be surprised if we wing our itinerary,” Nicole snickers. “You know she doesn’t have time to do anything outside of her residency.”

  I sigh. “Just as long as my toes touch blue water I’ll be content.”

  “I’d rather my toes to be curling in Jamaica,” Nicole mumbles under her breath.

  Laughing, I ask, “What’s that, Nicole?” She dismisses me and tells me just to make sure I call her after my date tonight.

  The heat that slaps me in my face when I open the car door appears to be the act of God I needed to get myself to a happy hour. Yeah I know, an oxymoron, but God’s still working on me. A cold alcoholic beverage would help me recover from the day and this random heat wave we are experiencing in October.

  I tap out a text and inform Aiden that I’m en route to the happy hour. By the time I get to the bar I hope the drink will have my energy level where it needs to be. We pick a location near our offices to meet. It’s a popular restaurant that’s famous for their rooftop bar, but on a day like this I don’t want to bake in the sun. I hope Aiden doesn’t mind staying inside.

  Aiden: Meet you at the bar

  Happy hour is in full swing. Conversations coming from every direction as people try to speak over the sound of the DJ spinning the latest pop hits. When I hear Cardi singing, I sway to the beat while I wait for the bartender to deliver my frozen strawberry margarita.