Over the Hedge

by Minerva Vesta

The fact I didn’t know much about him to answer her questions was embarrassing. I tried to relax. “Calm down. We haven’t officially met yet. He’s Dr. Barnes’s new lab manager. I see him just about every day. He passes by my cubicle at least three or four times, but I haven’t gotten up the nerve to speak to him.”

  “Say what now?” I could almost see Crystal cocking her head to the side as she spoke. “You say, ‘hi’ to everybody and their momma when we’re out in public. What’s holding you back from speaking to this guy?”

  I let out a heavy sigh and curled up further on the couch. When I laid my head back on the armrest, I spotted F.B. staring me down from the kitchen. It was about time for his late-night snack.

  “I don’t know, Crystal. Whenever I see him I get nervous, and I can’t think clear enough for the words to leave my mouth.” I paused. “What did you mean by ASL? I don’t know his age, he’s a guy, and I guess he lives in the city?”.

  Crystal laughed loudly in the phone causing me to pull the headset away from my ears. “I didn’t mean age, sex, location. I meant area, stamina, and length.”

  “Crystal—What? Where did you get that from?” Her blunt tone made me laugh right along with her. “I think I understand the last two, but what’s area supposed to mean?”

  “You know, the area! As in girth, how much circumference he has.”

  “Well, I don’t even know if he’s single. At the rate we’re going, I doubt I’ll ever know those other things,” I grumbled. I was too old to be crushing on a man, but this one had me all up in knots.

  “You never know. Hey, remember you promised to make yourself more available to men. Why don’t you get dressed up for him? I know you’re not a makeup wearer but put some color on your face. Give him a reason to stop. You’ve got a beautiful smile. Use it to draw him in. Just act friendly and wait for him to bite.”

  Crystal could be ridiculous, but her advice was solid. The next time he passed by my desk, I was ready for him.

  I had taken extra time that morning to dress up more than usual. My hair was perfect. I even put on some mascara and eyeshadow to make my almond-shaped eyes pop. The light brown color was perfect for my dark skin. The tiny flecks of shimmer in the lip gloss were enough to add a subtle hint of sensuality to my already pouty mouth. As usual, I heard him approach, pen tapping a quick beat on his leg. His dark hair stood out as he made his way closer to my cubicle. I licked my lips and cleared my throat. For once, I was going to be the one to speak first

  When he was close enough for me to make contact, Dr. Barnes appeared behind me, clearing his throat in that gruff manner that warned me that whatever he was about to ask me was something I didn’t want to hear.

  “Price, I need you to…” Dr. Barnes looked up from the stack of papers in his hand and paused mid-speech. The bushy grey hairs on his brow bunched together and his lips pursed in confusion. “What is that on your face?”

  My hand flew to the corner of my cheeks where I had spent far too long this morning painstakingly applying blush and a highlighter. The look on Dr. Barnes’s face made me feel like I had just haphazardly slapped on a ton of face paint like a clown at a kid’s birthday party. Did I really do that poor of a job? Unable to find an appropriate response to his questions, I chose to bite my lips instead.

  “Hmm…you look different,” Dr. Barnes said. With him, different could insinuate a whole heap of imageries. “Regardless, I need you to run these files over to Amanda Lassiter’s office. Her secretary is out sick, and I don’t trust the interoffice mail. Last time they sent me a pile of invoices that had nothing to do with my department.”

  “Actually those invoices were for you to review for your upcoming budget meeting. None of your mail gets to you before it goes through me,” I replied finally finding my voice.

  “Oh, well I threw those away. Be sure to get those to her by 3:00 pm,” Dr. Barnes replied with a shrug and walked away.

  My shoulders fell with a defeated sigh as I made a mental note to send an email to the accounting department for another copy of the invoices. His request couldn’t have come at a worse time. Just my luck, I had gotten enough courage to make first contact with the guy I’ve been crushing on for days now, and Dr. Barnes was putting a damper on all of my plans. Out of pure malice, I made my mind up not to assist him with his emails for at least a week.

  ☙☙MV❧❧

  I’ve officially gone off the rocker.

  It had been two days since I heard his very distinct gait pass my cubicle. Two days since I started holding my breath when the elevator sounded in the hall. Two days since I last heard the sound of his pen tapping on his trousers. Two days…and still nothing.

  I was beginning to wonder if Dr. Barnes had gotten him fired, and that scared me beyond normal reasoning. What if I had already lost my chance? What if he already has a girlfriend and I looked too much into his friendly smile? What if he was walking by to flirt with someone else? I wasn’t the only female on this floor, and not the only person either. I never thought about the possibility that he might be gay.

  “That’s it! I need to get out of here.” I dialed my sister’s number and waited for an answer, already packing my belongings into my bag. “Crystal—hey. Are you busy?”

  “No?”

  “Okay, good. Meet me for lunch in fifteen minutes. It’s a life or death situation.” I hung up and speed walked to the garage, not bothering to stop and tell Dr. Barnes I was leaving.

  As I turned into the parking lot of our favorite spot, I saw Crystal standing out front talking to a handsome, Middle Eastern man. She had her back to the building, and he was standing very close, his right hand placed above her head and his left wrapped around his cell phone.

  So much for her focusing on her marriage.

  I hopped out of my car and hit the auto-lock control on the key fob. I was parked a little crooked, but I was in too much of a frenzy to re-park. I approached Crystal and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the restaurant lobby. The hostess approached, and I held up two fingers.

  By the time we settled into our booth, Crystal was staring at me with wide eyes.

  “Okay, who are you, and what have you done with my calm, cool, and collected sister?”

  “I haven’t seen him,” I stated, regaining my tight hold on Crystal’s hand.

  “Who?”

  “Mr. Green Eyes. I haven’t seen him in two days, and it's driving me crazy.” I squeezed her hand to emphasize my point.

  “Ow! Let go before you break my hand.” Crystal snatched her hand away and rubbed at it, and I winced.

  “Sorry. I just—” Our waitress came by, interrupting my response. As soon as she finished taking our order, I told Crystal about not seeing the mystery man, and my silly attempts to get his attention days before.

  As I finished up, I took a long drink of my iced tea until the straw made slurping noises in the empty glass. I gestured for our waitress. “You see what I mean? I’m losing it.”

  “Lashawnda, you’re not losing it. You’re just crushing really hard for this guy.”

  “Is this normal? I don’t even remember feeling like this about anyone in high school. Back then it would have been appropriate for me to act like this.” I finished off another glass easily, stirring my straw around the ice.

  “It’s not that bad, come on. Let’s just have lunch and calm ourselves down so you can go back to work in less of a frenzy.” Crystal was able to keep me at ease, as usual. We spent the rest of our lunch talking about our father’s upcoming birthday party. It was the perfect distraction. I was excellent at planning events, so my mom put me in charge of organizing everything.

  As we exited the restaurant, Crystal pulled me in for a big hug. “Go back to work and think positive!”

  ☙☙MV❧❧

  A light rain began to fall by the time I pulled into the garage. I would have waited it out, but the four glasses of iced tea I managed during lunch needed a release from my bladder. I pulled out the umbrella I kept in the car
for situations just like this. Living in Florida, it was not uncommon to have sudden thunderstorms.

  The light showers picked up, turning into a torrential downpour as I made my way to the office. I quickened my pace, causing my heels to slip as I reached the crosswalk. I grabbed hold of the push-to-walk post to keep myself upright, but lost hold of the umbrella in the process, and it went flying down the street. My attempts to prevent a fall cost me the only covering I had from the rain.

  "Dang it."

  I was halfway between the building and the garage, so there was no point in turning back. Besides, my bladder was not going to be able to hang on any longer. The cool water spraying my face and legs were making me think about peeing even more. I bent down and removed my shoes before taking off on a fast walk, knowing better than to run in the rain.

  As I rounded the corner to enter the building the rain started to ease, but it was too late. I was drenched all the way through to my undergarments. I raced into the building and took the first right by the main elevators. There were visitor bathrooms located down that hallway, and the possibility of making it upstairs before utterly embarrassing myself was not an option. I saw the sign that said bathrooms and pushed through the door, dropping my purse and shoes on my way to the stall. Pulling up the bottom of my skirt before entering the stall; I just managed to get my panties past my knees before the remnants of four cups of ice tea, a bottle of water, and a small cup of coffee made its way out of my body.

  “Thank you, Jesus!” I exclaimed with extreme relief.

  I walked over to the sink and washed my hands, wrinkling my nose as the smell from the bathroom hit me. It hadn’t bothered me when I’d been desperate, but now it was overbearing.

  I grabbed a few paper towels, slipped on my shoes, and bent down to start retrieving my stuff from the floor. In my rush to make it to the toilet, some of the contents of my purse had spilled out. I slid onto my knees, grabbing the tube of lip gloss that had rolled near the sink. The deep neckline in my shirt caused my large breasts to spill forward, and I cursed under my breath.

  Today was not the best day to have worn a low-cut shirt and demi-bra. Sure, my cleavage looked marvelous, but spilling out in the middle of the bathroom was not a good look. I sat up in an attempt to stuff myself back into the barely there bra, and that’s when I saw them. A pair of enormous dress shoes pointed at me.

  Why is a man in the woman’s bathroom?

  My eyes traveled up the expanse of long legs until they reached a visible bulge. I swallowed at the view before me and unconsciously licked my lips. The owner of the bulge shifted his waist causing my eyes to continue their journey up past his stomach, over his chest, lips and nose, landing straight into the deepest set of stormy green eyes I had ever seen.

  Time stopped.

  I couldn’t move my left hand as it was gripping my right breast, and the man with the green eyes had zoned in on them. The sound of the door opening pulled me out of the haze. Two men I recognized from the fourth floor stepped through the doorway.

  “Whoa! Am I in the right place?” One asked.

  “Yeah, but I think someone else might be in the wrong place,” his companion responded. “Um…the ladies restroom is across the hall,” he said, smirking. The humor in his voice spurred me into action. I grabbed my purse, not caring about the remainder of the contents still scattered across the floor, and high-tailed it out of the bathroom.

  I paced around in the elevator trying to calm my frazzled nerves as it made its way to my floor.

  Oh, my goodness. Breathe, Lashawnda, breathe. It’s not the end of the world. I shrugged my shoulders. I’d only just embarrassed myself in front of the man I’d been lusting after for the past few weeks.

  Breathe. It’s not the end of the world. Maybe he didn’t recognize me.

  Breathe. Of course, he recognized me. There are only a handful of black women that work here.

  Breathe. It’s going to be okay. He probably thinks I’m obsessed with my breasts. Every incident has involved them.

  Breathe. This isn’t the first time you’ve embarrassed yourself in front of a guy, and it probably won’t be the last. But, why does it feel like this?

  Holy crap, I’m going to die!

  The elevator door opened on my floor, and I made a beeline for my desk. A few of my coworkers tried stopping me to talk, but I waved them off. My clothes were sticking to my body, and my wet shoes squeaked with each step. My desk was my life raft in shark-infested waters.

  I sat down and stared at my blank computer monitor, unable to concentrate. I reached for my phone to call Crystal, desperate for a lifeline, but stopped short at a knock on my cubicle.

  “Hey girl,” Jenny said. “Wow—I see you didn’t watch the news this morning. There was a sixty percent chance of rain, you know. Why didn’t you carry an umbrella?” She leaned against the cubicle wall. She adjusted her top and smoothed her hands down her hips to remove the invisible wrinkles.

  I sighed as I reached for a paper towel from a drawer. “I did have an umbrella. But, it decided it needed its freedom and jumped on the first heavy wind to escape servitude.” I wadded up the towels and started wiping my hair and arms. Maybe having Jenny here was exactly what I needed to help me forget the last five minutes.

  As we spoke, my back was turned away from the desk, but I felt the familiar tingle travel up my spine at the sound of a pen tapping. It had to be him. His approaching footsteps told me what my mind was wishing wasn’t happening. He was about to walk past my cubicle.

  Jenny looked at him and waved jovially. “Hello.”

  “H-hi,” he responded sounding a bit thrown off. It was evident he wasn’t expecting to hear anyone speak back to him.

  “How’s it going?” Jenny asked waving him around the barrier.

  “Good,” he replied in a monotone voice.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets of his slacks and continued to stand there staring at me. Those green eyes traveled over my face, like a physical touch. Something cold then hot slid down my spine as our eyes met. My world tilted a bit on its axis. As nervous as I was, I couldn’t take my eyes away from his. He was here—my mystery man with the green eyes was standing in my cubicle, less than three feet away from me.

  When his brows pulled together in an indiscernible expression my heart sunk a little. This attraction I was feeling was one-sided. “We’re doing pretty good, as well. So…what’s your name?” Jenny asked trying to sound coy. She looped a finger around a clump of her shiny auburn tresses and slowly slid it down over her shoulder.

  “Sean,” He extended his hand to her, “Sean Colcord.”

  “Hi, I’m Jenny. Jenny Reed. I work downstairs in human resources.” She reached over and shook his hand.

  “And, what’s your name?” Sean turned toward me. His expressionless face sent a chill up my spine.

  I was in shock. He was actually speaking to me. Unable to think clearly, I didn’t respond right away. Jenny realized I was at a loss for words and answered for me.

  “Oh—this is Lashawnda Price, she’s Dr. Barnes’s AA.”

  “I’m sorry, but what’s an AA?” Sean asked.

  “She’s his administrative assistant. Basically, just another title for secretary,” Jenny replied.

  Her dismissive tone was unwarranted. I had a degree under my belt just like she did. Not to mention working with one of the most demanding people ever born.

  “Well, very nice to meet you Lashawnda. Does anyone call you Shawn for short? Cause, you know, it would be really confusing if you and I were in the same room and someone said, ‘Hey Shawn.’ We would both assume they were talking about us and—never mind, that was—that wasn’t funny.”

  He stuffed his hands in his back pocket. I was surprised to see some color appear on his cheeks. He was corny, and a little bit shy.

  I’m the one that just embarrassed myself downstairs; why does he seem embarrassed?

  Interesting.

  “It was a little funny,” I res
ponded, hoping it would make him feel comfortable enough to keep talking. After the show I’d given him earlier, I didn’t expect to be the one trying to make him feel at ease.

  “It would be awkward, but at least it would be pretty easy for people to tell us apart. To answer your question, yes, I have a nickname, but only my dad uses it. No one ever shortens my name either. It’s always been Lashawnda.” I smiled brightly when his shoulders relaxed, and he took his hands from his pocket.

  “It’s a beautiful name, especially the Shawn part,” he replied smiling back at me. “I like it.”

  I was feeling a bit giddy and could only return his smile. He was beyond gorgeous. Where in the world do they make hot men like this?

  “Yeah, me too,” I said.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out my lip gloss and handed it to me. I felt a rush of adrenaline shoot from, the point of contact where our fingers met to the butterflies bouncing in the pit of my stomach. That frisson of awareness was palpable. I could feel the warm firmness of his skin. It reminded me how long it’s been since I'd been touched by someone of the opposite sex. Not a casual touch in passing or a handshake, but one built on purpose. I fought not to act on instinct. I wanted to curl my fingers around his large solid hand...hold on tight and never let go. I didn’t want this connection between us to ever end.

  “You dropped this earlier,” he said casually, not giving any hint about the humiliating circumstances that led him to be in possession of my lip gloss.

  Could this man be any more perfect?

  CHAPTER 7

  SEAN

  Three weeks of staring at Lashawnda, and I was finally in her presence. Nothing could ruin this day for me. While I was glad her friend Jenny had given me an opportunity to speak to her, I didn’t much care for the way she tried to degrade Lashawnda.

  I stared at the woman sitting in the chair before me, thinking of what to do next. I have her attention; how do I keep it? Everything in me said I had to be cautious with each step I took toward getting to know her. It had taken three weeks and a pretty hilarious bathroom incident for me to finally hear her name from her own lips. It wasn’t all in vain though. I took pleasure in passing by her cubicle every day. It was my daily energy boost.