When they stopped in front of Delia’s cabin to part ways, she realized she didn’t want to part. Just the idea that she was attracted to a man other than Jason excited her. Not only was she attracted to him, but he seemed to like her as well. Maybe she wasn’t as worthless as she thought.
***
Chase’s heart nearly stopped when they reached Delia’s door. He didn’t want to leave her, but he also didn’t want her to invite him in. Though he wanted her badly, he couldn’t afford a relationship at this point in his life. But maybe it didn’t have to be a relationship, maybe just a … He shook that thought away. There was no way he could use her like that. After the night they’d had, the conversation, the long looks into her emerald eyes, he thought he might be …well, he wasn’t going to use the L word yet, but he did know that something very special had happened to him.
“Well, this is me,” Delia said, nodding to the door.
“Right, of course,” Chase jammed his hands into his creased black pants in order to resist the urge to scoop her up into his arms. “So, will I see you again?”
“Yeah, sure, do you want to do breakfast?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Chase looked down at his shoes and kicked at an invisible stone like a shy teenager on his first date.
After Chase had kicked the invisible stone to death, he began to awkwardly pick the paint off the door frame as he waited for his confidence to surge and give him the needed boost to make a move. Finally, he took in a deep breath and said, “Can I kiss you now?”
After a cute, demure smile crept across her face, she nodded her head and he leaned in to claim his prize.
Chase teased her lips with two or three soft, endearing pecks before pressing his mouth firmly to hers. Then he wrapped his arm around her and brought her body so close to him that he could feel her heart racing. A warm, velvety tongue parted her full lips and began to slowly, tenderly and erotically probe the depths of her mouth. Delia moaned as she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the passion of his kiss.
They stood there, lips and bodies locked, until they were both hot and breathless. Then, Chase remembered his position. This was not the time, he said to himself as he pulled away. For God’s sake, she lived in D.C. What would happen if they met after the cruise?
“I better go,” he breathed.
“Yeah, you better go,” she repeated as if delirious.
He tasted her lips one more time before relinquishing his hold. Even after she’d closed the door behind her, he couldn’t escape the image of her eyes, her smile and her lips. Chase rested his forehead on her door. What have I done? he thought.
Chapter 3
“Honestly, I think I was born in the wrong decade,” Chase said two days later at lunch. “I mean, how cool would it be to live in a time when people got dressed up to go to the supermarket? Men wore suits and ties and hats and just looked sharp all the time.”
Chase took a bag of nacho cheese Doritos and crumpled them all over his shrimp salad. Delia noticed he added Doritos to nearly every meal. At first she thought it was odd; now she thought it was one of his many adorable quirks.
“And the music. Don’t get me started on the music. Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Perry Como, music that is timeless and just plain … beautiful.”
He smiled and looked at Delia when he said the word ‘beautiful’ as if he was referring to her as well. Then he continued with endearing child-like exuberance as he said, “I mean, think about the music today. Are we going to be talking about it like this fifty years from now? Probably not. Young people today don’t listen to music with such simple, pure, yet honest, relevant, and poetic lyrics.”
Then suddenly, he was out of his seat and singing the lyrics to “Embraceable You”. He took Delia’s hand, stood her up and started swaying to the imaginary music and continued singing the incredibly romantic lyrics. He actually had a pretty good voice. Other people in the restaurant began to smile and stare at the two young lovers dancing around the tables to no music at all. Then someone sat at the piano and began musical accompaniment.
Chase wrapped his arms around her and dipped her. Normally, Delia would have been mortified with this sort of display. She would have needed to bring out her allergy medication for the fit of sneezes it would have caused, but something about Chase put her at ease. She just let herself relax and enjoy the moment. When he finished, the restaurant erupted in applause.
“There are two fatal flaws in your desire to return to the fifties and sixties,” Delia said once they had sat back down to their lunch.
“Really, what?”
“Well, in the fifties, our relationship would not be accepted.”
Chase knew she referred to their different races, but what struck him more was that fact that she thought they were in a relationship. He had already let it go too far.
“Do you have a problem with my race?” she asked, noticing a change in his demeanor.
“What? Oh, no, of course not. I couldn’t care less that you’re … Actually, I don’t even know what race you are.”
“Honestly, neither do I. Since I’ve never met my parents, there’s no way I can be sure.”
“Have you ever thought about trying to find them?”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start. Besides, I wouldn’t want to upset the only mother I’ve known. I don’t want her to think she wasn’t enough for me.”
“I can’t imagine how hard it is for you not knowing where you come from.”
Delia looked down at her plate and started pushing around the pasta noodles as she had suddenly lost her appetite.
“So what was the other fatal flaw?” he asked cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.
“What? Oh, well,” Delia reached across the table, grabbed the half-empty bag of chips and dumped the rest of the contents on top of her pasta. “In the fifties, no Doritos.”
***
After lunch they went for a swim together in one of the ship’s outdoor pools. Completely self-conscious of her body, including her freakishly large boobs, Delia sat on the edge of the pool still wearing her bathrobe as Chase splashed around her trying to convince her to jump in.
Now he had a great body, Delia thought. He was built kind of like a soccer player with well-defined muscles, but nothing over the top. His muscles were natural, long, and lean. Not like Jason, who would spend hours a week in the gym, tanning beds, and waxing salons searching for that hunky look. It was a look that was attractive to the majority of women. Jason could take off his shirt and women would faint. For Delia, however, his beauty rituals wore her thin and made her feel even more inadequate about her body. Somehow Chase’s body turned her on even more than Jason’s did.
Looking around the pool didn’t help her self-consciousness. She felt she stuck out too much. There were sixty and seventy-year-old women strutting around in bikinis letting their wrinkles hang in all their glory. Meanwhile she was sitting there with a 34D bust and a 26 inch waist afraid to show her modest one piece for fear she’d look like a cartoon character.
After pleading with her several times to join him in the water, Chase decided to take matters into his own hands. He swam up to her innocently then grabbed her by the legs and dunked her underwater, bathrobe and all. Delia squealed and tried to kick herself free.
Her kicking and squirming proved fruitless as he was much too strong for her. After a few moments, she relaxed in the water and let him hold her.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered in her ear.
The weight of the bathrobe soon tired her so she took it off and laid it by the side of the pool.
***
Even though they had spent every waking moment together —even a few non-waking moments —for the past few days, he had never seen her in anything revealing. He loved her modesty. She reminded him of the classy women of the forties and fifties. But when she took off her robe and he got a glimpse of her true figure, he gasped. She was simply breathtaking. He had to
control his manly urge to grope her right there in public.
***
Feeling a little guilty for monopolizing all of Chase’s time, Delia suggested he spend the afternoon with his grandmother. Well, the real reason for the suggestion was that she wanted some time alone to shop for the perfect dress for their last night on the ship. She wished she had taken Donna Lee up on her offer to go shopping before she left DC. But she hadn’t anticipated meeting someone like Chase. He was absolutely the right guy at the right time. She didn’t feel insecure or invisible when she was with him. She just felt … alive.
While looking through the clothing racks at Becky’s, the ship’s dress boutique, she tried to imagine what Donna Lee would want her to wear. In fact, she wondered what Donna Lee would do if she were about to go dancing possibly for the last time with a handsome perfect stranger. She didn’t have to wonder too hard. Delia had memories of detailed Donna Lee exploits and one night stands. She never remembered her beautiful, confident sister ever crying over a guy. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad way to live, she thought.
***
Every night ended the same way. After dancing the evening away in one of the ship’s nightclubs, they would stroll along the deck and talk for hours then kiss in front of Delia’s door. Chase told himself that as long as he didn’t let it go any farther he’d be fine. He wasn’t too attached and he could leave the ship with no strings. In a few days or weeks he’d get over her. He looked down at the sexy black cocktail dress she wore. Okay, maybe months.
“I’m not wearing underwear,” Delia giggled, suddenly snapping Chase out of his thoughts about how to end their romance. She rested her head onto his chest and nestled closer to him as they slow danced to “Bewitched” by Frank Sinatra. His whole body tightened as he resisted the urge to run his hands over the smooth curve of her butt.
“Did you hear me? I’m not wearing any underwear.” Delia lifted her head and kissed the bottom of Chase’s chin. Then she kissed down his neck to the top of his chest, sending a thrill throughout his body that landed in his loins.
“Delia, I think you’ve had too much to drink.” For the first time in a week, he had seen her drink more than two sips of an alcoholic beverage. That night at dinner, she’d had not one, but two glasses of wine and he could see the effect it had on her.
“You’re probably right. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m not wearing underwear, does it?” she said in a singsong voice before giggling again.
He had tried to be a perfect gentleman all week. He had tried not to get too close to her even though their make-out sessions in front of her door lasted longer and longer each night. He only let the conversation dwell on superficial things, especially after he learned that she too was from Washington D.C. Even though Delia had revealed so much about her life including her sister, her failed marriage, even about being adopted, Chase hadn’t revealed anything about himself.
All she knew about him was that he and his grandmother were very close. Anytime Delia wanted to know more about him, he expertly directed the conversation toward the topic of Felicia or to his fascination with the fifties. He’d played it as careful as he could, knowing the feelings that were developing in him and knowing that if she found out the truth about him, she would probably run away screaming.
“Maybe we should go,” Delia said dejectedly after she received no response from him. She pulled away and ran her fingers over her long hair which she had recently straightened.
“Delia, I — ”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t know what came over me. I’m so embarrassed.” She turned and dashed out of the nightclub.
He had to be discreet. He had to use discretion.
“Delia, I just don’t want to take advantage of you,” he said once he caught up with her in the hallway.
“Chase, I’m a grown woman. I know what I’m doing.”
Discreet. Discretion.
“But there’s a lot you don’t know about me. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“This has been the most romantic week of my life, Chase. I just wanted … I just thought … ”
He sealed her lips with a kiss that made her melt in his arms. They stumbled around the corridor until he had her pinned against a wall. His hands caressed the silky contours of her dress until they reached her glorious panty-less bottom.
Screw discretion …
Chapter 4
“So, what’s his name?” Donna Lee asked as she licked duck sauce off each of her fingers with a disgusting slurp sound.
“I hate when you do that,” Delia said.
“What? It’s not like I’m sucking your fingers. Chill.” She continued to slurp.
“Donna Lee, please, we’re in public.” Donna Lee let out a ferocious man-sized belch. A few people in the Chinese restaurant turned around to see who could be so crass. Most people assumed it was the overweight white man sitting in the table next to them. No one imagined it would come from such a petite and elegant looking Asian woman. But they didn’t know Donna Lee.
“You’re so embarrassing,” Delia said as she put her head down and tried to hide her face. It was little things like this that made Delia wonder how they could have been brought up by the same parents. But Donna Lee was full of surprises. She loved obliterating the stereotypes people formed in their heads. She loved the looks people gave her whenever she mentioned that she and Delia were sisters. And she always found a way to mention it no matter what the situation.
Most people assumed there was no way Delia could be related to the petite, Korean Donna Lee. Especially since Delia was … well, no one really knew for sure what Delia was. They were both adopted when they were infants. Donna Lee came straight from an agency located outside of Seoul. She knew who her parents were and had even spoken to them on a few occasions. Lee was her real parents’ last name so her adopted parents kept it as her middle name so she would never forget her true heritage.
After finding out the truth about her infancy, Delia secretly called herself the “dumpster baby” or “nobody girl” whenever she got depressed. But she felt she was getting better. She had to make sure she never used those nicknames again. Even though she had started to gain some self-confidence, it still didn’t change the fact that she had no idea where she came from. With her olive complexion, green eyes, and curly dark brown hair, Delia had imagined herself everything from white to black to Spanish. For a while, she even thought she might be part Greek. She finally settled on telling people she was of mixed race and leaving it at that.
“I’ll stop, if you tell me about him. You know you want to. You haven’t stopped smiling since we sat down.” Donna Lee loved torturing her sister. She always thought Delia was too uptight anyway.
“Fine,” Delia said, actually happy to have an excuse to tell her about Chase. Donna Lee took a napkin and cleaned her hands like the polite young woman her sister always wanted her to be. She tossed her waist length jet black hair over her shoulder and got prepared to hear the juicy details.
Smiling uncontrollably, Delia started to describe every detail of Chase’s appearance from his sexy well-maintained facial hair to his full dark pink lips to his perfectly sculpted legs. Delia always had a thing for men’s legs. She remembered the first time she saw Jason’s legs as he played ultimate Frisbee on the mall in D.C. She never imagined that she would date, let alone marry, such a perfect physical specimen of man.
Donna Lee nodded her head impatiently, waiting for her sister to get to the good stuff, but Delia kept rattling on about his penetrating blue eyes with the long dark lashes, his luscious hair, his movie star smile. It was downright sickening in Donna Lee’s book.
“Did you screw him or not?” she asked finally when she couldn’t take anymore of Delia’s romanticized descriptions.
“Donna Lee!”
“What? I’m sorry, but you needed a good lay. I mean, really, how long has it been?”
“It hasn’t been that long. My divorce isn’t even final.”
&n
bsp; “Well, the last three years of your marriage weren’t much of a marriage, now was it? Even in the beginning I bet that selfish bastard, Jason, never loved you properly.”
“My sex life —”
“— or lack thereof,” Donna Lee interrupted.
“My sex life,” Delia started again as she glared at her sister, “is none of your business.”
“Since when?”
“Since now.”
“Whatever.” Donna Lee rolled her eyes then grabbed a handful of noodles with her bare hands and stuffed them into her mouth even though there was a perfectly good fork right next to her. Delia cringed. “So, have you spoken to him since the cruise?”
“No, and I don’t plan on it. I don’t think I’m ready for a serious relationship. He was what I needed when I needed it, but I’m happy with leaving him as a precious perfect memory of summer.”
Nobody Girl Page 3