by Tiana Cole
“Son of a bitch!” I cursed out loud and caused even more people to turn around. I had no other choice but to start walking. I looked down at my pumps, they weren't too high, I could walk fast in them. If I was quick and people moved out of my way, it should take twenty five minutes.
After twenty five minutes of walking as if my life depended on it, I found myself still a good fifteen minute walk away from my apartment.
“Arggggg!” I shouted again and started looking up and down the street for a taxi. Then it hit me what an idiot I'd been; looking for a taxi when I first had my purse snatched was what I should have done straight away. I could have paid at the other end but I just wasn't thinking right at the time. I was hot, flustered and frustrated. I needed to cancel all my cards and report my cell phone stolen. I couldn't remember if I had any other important documents in that purse. But it was too late to even contemplate what had happened, I had to get going. I had to get home.
Tears of anger were pricking at my eye lids and there was not a single taxi in sight for me to jump into even if I wanted to. “Damn it!” I yelled to no one as I rushed down the street.
I eventually got to my apartment building and made a half-hearted run for the main door. I was puffing and wheezing as I got into the elevator. The elevator seemed to take and incredibly long time to get to the fourth floor. I became flustered again, perspiration building on my back. I was wiping my brow when I got up to my floor.
As the elevator doors opened I saw Joshua sitting outside my front door with a four foot teddy bear next to him. He was holding a handful of helium balloons in blue, yellow, green and white. They floated above his head and on his face, I saw a massive frown.
“What the hell happened to you?” he said getting to his feet. How dare he be annoyed at me after all I'd been through to get myself home? But I was too exhausted for a fight.
“You wouldn't believe me if I told you,” I said, looking at my watch. “I'm sorry I'm late.”
“It's okay,” said Joshua. “But your security guard wouldn't let me in until you arrived. She told me I had a lot of explaining to do. Do you know what she is talking about?”
“As if you don't, Joshua” I said, knocking on the door when I finally realized that my keys were gone too.
“I don't know, Libby.” he said. “I have no idea why you two are so off with me. But I wish someone would tell me.”
Tracy put her head around the door.
“Hey, Libby. You all right? You look... weird” she let her eyes dart over to Joshua and scowled. “I thought it best if he waited out here.”
“Thanks Tracy. Look I'm so sorry I got held up again on my way home – literally.”
“What?” she said coming out into the hallway and closing the gap in the door.
“Never mind,” I said. “I'll have to explain it all to you later. Is Giselle all right?”
“She's absolutely fine, don't worry.”
“Listen, Tracy,” I said. “I know it's a lot to ask but I need to get to the bottom of something before this meeting can even take place. Can you hang on a little longer? Joshua and I need to talk.”
The truth was, enough was enough. I was sick to death of him acting all innocent and I needed to have it out with him once and for all. I wanted to see how he was going to squirm his way out of admitting he was engaged. He had to know how important it was to me to have complete honesty before he was allowed to visit with his daughter.
“Take all the time you need.” I was sure Tracy was reading my mind. “We're making dinner, Giselle and I and she's fine. I'll get her ready for bed. You two go ahead.” She looked Joshua up and down and then back at me. “Take as long as you need. I've got this.”
I kissed Tracy on the cheek and left.
Back down on the street I looked at the sad image Joshua made with his part time father gesture of presents for his part time child. With so many helium balloons to make Giselle float above the ground and a teddy bear that was twice her size. I was fuming inside if he thought that could make everything all right.
“What is all this?” I said swiping at a balloon.
“What does it look like? Libby, before we get into one of those crazy half argument, half weird conversations again – could you please just tell me what it is I've done wrong.”
I put my fists on my hips, took a deep breath and spoke as calmly as I could. I couldn’t believe he was still trying to pretend like nothing was going on. I knew and I couldn’t wrap my head around it, but he was living it and still pretending nothing was out of the ordinary.
“I know, Joshua.”
“You know? What is it you know Libby?” he asked, looking confused.
“The emerald engagement ring?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I'm sorry?”
“Miss young and perfect,” I continued. “I saw her coming out of your apartment the other week. Your fiancée, Joshua. Do I have to spell it out?”
“My...?” He stopped short of what he was saying. The dark look coming over his face told me everything I wanted to know. I couldn't wait to hear him try to worm his way out of this one.
“Libby,” he said after his face had taken on a million and one different expressions and eventually settling for one of his charming smiles. “I'm not engaged. Well not officially anyway.”
“And what the hell is that supposed to mean? Not officially? Engaged is engaged, Joshua,” I rasped.
“What I mean is, Selina is my best friend. She's staying in the city until tonight and rather than be booked into a hotel I invited her to stay with me. She always stays with me when she's here.”
“And conveniently she's going tonight? So I can't confront her myself?”
“Libby, there's no need for any kind of confrontation. I can assure you. Look, a friend of hers got married over the weekend and Selina was happy to stay with me because she didn't want to be with the rest of the wedding party. And now that she's done all the shopping she wanted to do, she's going home – tonight. It's not for convenience, it's all true.”
“But that doesn't explain your engagement, Joshua. Are you telling me that she has another official fiance somewhere else? Because I'm very confused right now. What are you to this Selina person? Tell the truth!”
“Look, Libby. I am her fiance but-”
“Are you deliberately trying to provoke me, Joshua? Who is she to you?” I was shouting by now. It had been the afternoon from hell and the move into early evening wasn't getting any better.
“Wait, I'll explain everything.” He balanced the teddy under his arm and got out his cell. “Selina, you still at my place? Good. Stay there for me, I've got someone I want you to meet.” He hung up and looked at me. “Okay, you. Come with me.”
Joshua grabbed my hand and started marching me to the main road. He had a giant bear under one arm, and, still clutching the balloons he managed to find us a taxi.
“We're going to meet her?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “It's the only way I can explain all of this to you. The engagement, about Selina – everything. You also need to hear it from her so you can believe what's really going on as I suspect you're not going to accept the truth from me. Are you?”
“You’re right, I'm not.” I folded my arms and sat well back in the seat. The balloons kept bobbing towards my head and I kept bashing them aside. In the end, Joshua opened the window and released the balloons into the sky. Shame, Giselle would have liked them. But this situation needed to be cleared up before I could even think about how Giselle would fit into all of the craziness that was going on around me.
In a little while we arrived at Joshua's apartment, we hadn't uttered a word to each other for the whole journey. Joshua opened the door and Selina came and stood in front of us, looking puzzled but trying to smile.
“What's going on?” she said, staring at me. “What's going on, Joshy?”
“Yes,” I said, turning to Joshua. “What is going on Joshy?”
He put the giant teddy o
n the sofa and sat down and let out a sigh. He spread his arms along the back of the sofa. I noticed a suit case by the door. I assumed it belonged to his fiancée, Selina.
While Joshua sat, she and I stood in front of him with crossed arms.
“Libby, meet Selina. Selina meet Libby,” Joshua said after taking a deep breath. Selina spun around and smiled at me.
“As in Libby, the mother of Giselle?” Selina said. Her smile was bright and looked genuine.
“You know about Giselle?” I asked her. I was very confused as she didn’t sound angry or upset with me at all.
“Yes, of course I do. Josh told me everything.” She hugged me. “It's so nice to actually meet you.” She held me by my shoulders. “But we've met, haven't we?”
“I was here the other day,” I admitted.
“I knew it. I thought it was you. Were you looking for Joshy that day? You could have said something.”
“I didn't know who you were,” I said looking over at Joshua.
“I see,” she said, now looking at Joshua too. “So Joshy, this was your first visit with Giselle. How did I go? I'm judging by the atmosphere I'm sensing a problem here.”
“Finally,” Joshua said to her.
“So you didn't get to see her?” Selina said, her smile sinking.
“Not yet. I need you to clear something up for me first. I've messed up again. Libby won't let me see Giselle because she thinks I've been withholding information. She thinks I'm engaged. Libby saw you and put two and two together.”
“Oh darling,” Selina exclaimed, turning to me again and placing her slender fingers on my arms. “This whole engagement business is all a red herring. You see, Josh and I came up with a plan. About six months ago. Both sets of our parents are vying for Joshy and I to get married.” It sounded too good and a little crazy to be the truth.
“To each other?” I asked.
“No,” she laughed. “Josh and I are good friends. Our parents don't know each other but somehow they all seemed to be at a stage where they wanted to hear wedding bells. So, my parents know I'm close to Josh and his parents know me fairly well so we thought we'd help the other out. We made up a little lie to keep them off our backs for a while. We told them we were engaged and would take the wedding at our own pace. Just to keep them quiet, so they'd back off.
“I couldn't breathe with mother asking about potential husbands every time I saw her or every time we were on the phone. And Joshua was constantly getting the same from his parents.”
“That's ridiculous,” I said. “How long did you both think you could lie to your parents?” I looked from one to the other. Surely both their parents couldn’t be that desperate for them to find someone that they’d believe such a lie.
“Well, Josh isn't lying to his anymore. He came clean. But I am, lying that is. You have no idea what my mother is like. That's why I kept the ring,” Selina said. “I bought it for myself. And it definitely keeps mother off my back. I don't know how I'm going to break the news without her having a coronary and getting back on my case about marriage again. I had six glorious months of her not fixing me up with a bunch of weirdos. It's been so nice to just get on with my life. Speaking of which, I have a plane to catch.”
She went to hug Joshua. He stood but all the time kept his eyes on me. Selina turned around and hugged me next.
“Don't be angry with Joshy. He can be an idiot at times but he's a lovable idiot for sure.” She put her lips to my ear. “And he loves you.”
Selina grabbed her case and whisked away without my even noticing. I was still staring, dumbstruck, at Joshua after she whispered those words to me.
“Now do you understand?” he asked me.
“Selina is right. Why didn't you just tell me before?”
“I would have when you finally got to meet her. I didn't think it was worth mentioning until then.”
“So why have you stopped pretending to your parents that you're engaged to Selina?”
“Because I've told them all about you, Libby. The whole truth; how we met, about Giselle, the picture – everything. Mom was in tears. But she's happy about it all. She wants to meet her granddaughter.”
“Really?” I said. I couldn’t believe they would be so understanding and welcoming. It was a huge relief.
Joshua walked towards me. “Really.” He held me in his arms. The warmth of his body surrounded me and I felt like I couldn't breathe. His arms were strong and he wasn't going to let go of me any time soon. I felt weak in his arms but in a good way. The day's events had taken their toll on me but the fact that I was so close to my happily ever after, made me want to cry. I held back the tears.
Joshua looked at me. His eyes stared almost through me like they could see into my soul and then he pressed his lips onto mine, his tongue sinking into my mouth and working its way around mine. The strength of his arms crushed me against him and I wrapped mine around his neck, pulling him just as close. It was like neither of us wanted to leave a space between our bodies because a feeling of overwhelming closeness and a new level of understanding had taken place in almost a blink of an eye.
I had to come up for air and, as my head tipped to one side, Joshua wouldn't let me far from his embrace or let his kisses move away from my skin. He kissed the side of my face, the skin on my neck and I felt that his breathing had quickened. The hot air brushed against the sensitive skin near my ear and I shivered from the feeling.
His hands fell loose from my waist and were at the buttons of my blouse, opening them hastily and pulling the front of my blouse wide opened. He grabbed my breasts in his hands and squeezed. Cradling them, he felt the weight of them before moving his fingers over my nipples poking through my underwear. I sucked in a deep breath at the sensation. He looked into my eyes again and placed a kiss on my lips before taking my blouse off completely. His eyes took my body in hungrily while his fingers traced the lace trim of my bra, running along the skin of my breasts and causing a warm liquid heat in my panties.
Joshua took my hand and led me to the bedroom where we began to take our clothes off while still maintaining an intense stare. I slid onto the bed on my stomach and lay my head on the pillow. I looked back at Joshua, his erection was large, pulsating, and I anticipated that feeling of its girth gliding into me.
Slowly, Joshua got onto the bed and slid my legs apart. I gripped the corners of the pillow. Then, from the inside ankle of one leg he began to kiss me. He kissed the back of one of my knees and continued to slide his tongue up the back of my thigh, sending shivers through me. I clenched and unclenched the muscles around the entrance of my pussy. He lay on my back and I could feel his erection throbbing against my skin as he moved my hair away and began to kiss the back of my neck. His dick was hard and it turned me on more that I was the one causing it to be that way. I was grinding my pussy into the bed trying to get as much friction on my clit as I could.
Joshua slid a hand under me and fingered my clit, bringing me to a point of heightened pleasure before flipping my body over and continuing to pleasure my pussy with his tongue. His tongue was searching but not hesitant. It circled my clit as I writhed; it slid up and down the wet folds along my entrance where it suddenly pushed inside me. I screamed and grabbed Joshua's hair pulling his head closer. My legs had dropped open so that he had full access to the center of me, my limbs far apart.
Eventually he removed his tongue and his hands explored my lower abdomen, sweeping up to my nipples as his body came up higher so that his face was close to mine. He placed a sweet kiss in between my breasts before looking into my eyes.
“I don't ever want you to leave me, Libby.”
The tip of his cock was at the entrance to my vagina. I could feel the heat radiating off of it, ready to enter me and join us in love.
“I'll never leave you,” I said feeling the first inch just inside, electricity sparking the nerve endings and lighting me up. “I love you, Joshua.”
“I love you, too Libby.”
He pu
shed his full length inside me, my juices sweeping over his cock as it pushed in deep. His thrusting was intense. In the waves of my excitement I was feeling the love Joshua had for me. There was no mistaking it. As we gripped onto each other the rhythm of our bodies moved in time. Perfectly fitting, in complete harmony. We became slick with sweat as we both worked hard towards release, the rise as delicious as the man in my arms. As Joshua thrust into me, my orgasm was close. I wanted the feeling of complete abandon to go on all night.
My orgasm was deep and overwhelming. As I came I could feel that Joshua and I had managed to come at the same time. It somehow made me feel even more connected to him.
We lay on our backs for ages afterwards and slowly it became dark and the room filled with shadows.
“I suppose I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see Giselle?” he asked.
“No.” I got up onto my elbow. “Let's go see her now. Even if she's asleep, you can look in on her.”
“I'd love that.”
We got ready and took another taxi back to my place.
Tracy was open mouthed when I knocked on my door for a second time that night and had Joshua with me.
Joshua was without the enormous teddy bear this time. I had managed to convince him that less was more. Just knowing she had a daddy would be enough for Giselle first of all.
“So,” Tracy said as I saw her to the door when she was leaving. “Does this mean what I think it means?”
“It does. I'll explain everything to you in the morning, Tracy. But for now, I have to thank you for everything you've done. Not just tonight but always. You're my best friend I couldn't have gotten where I am today without you.” I attempted to hold back tears of gratitude so I didn’t look completely crazy.
“Oh nonsense,” she said, blushing. “What are friends for?”
I gave Tracy the biggest squeeze I could and didn't want to let go. In the true tradition of our friendship, it would be right that we sat with a cup of coffee and go through everything blow by blow. But Joshua was waiting, awkwardly, in the living room and a new chapter of my life was about to begin.