by Leila Lacey
“So basically you are going to bring her a plate of fat chic a la mode?” Angela said still laughing hysterically.
“Yes, girl with a side of thunder thighs,” Toni said laughing.
CHAPTER 6
‘Why didn’t she say anything?’ Julian was thinking. He was on his way home from a pretty busy afternoon. First, he had lunch at Penelope’s with his sister-in-law. His brother was deployed and she was missing her husband something awful so he took her to lunch to get her mind off things for a couple of hours.
After putting her in a cab, he had gone to the YMCA for a few pick-up games of basketball and then picked up a bottle of red wine on his way home to bring with him to Angela’s house this evening.
Julian had noticed Angela as soon as she walked in the restaurant. Although it was loud and noisy with wall to wall patrons, he knew when Angela was in the room. For him, she lit up whatever room she was in. Her smile and her grace, the sexy way she walked in five and a half inch stilettos with such ease and grace.
‘I have GOT to stop thinking about this woman,’ he thought. It was starting to get a little pathetic.
‘Have you asked her out?’ Tom’s question rang in his head. He had to admit he had never said anything to her about how he felt, but it was not always that easy. Every time he was within five feet of her, he was tongue-tied and all he could think of was kissing those luscious lips.
‘I guess I am going to have to remedy that tonight.’
Julian decided he was going to ask Angela out on a date over dinner tonight. He just hoped things were ok between them. He still was not sure why she had not at least said ‘hello’ to him today.
‘Why didn’t you say anything to her?’ he thought. ‘Oh shut up,’ he told his sub-conscious.
He made a mental check list of things to do; make doctor’s appointment and get an MRI.
When Julian turned onto his street, he saw Angela walking down her front steps with some guy standing way too close to her for his comfort. They were walking to what must be his car.
Julian pulled up in front of the car and jumped out.
“Hey!” he said to her. “God, you look gorgeous,” he finished looking her up and down. Angela was wearing a red lace maxi-dress with a double slit in the front that went up to the top of her thighs. Her hair was all pinned on top of her head in a messy bun and she was wearing make-up, which she hardly ever did.
“Thank you,” Angela said looking at the man that was with her as he held the car door open for her. He nodded and went around to the driver’s side of the car and got in. Julian stepped closer to her and was enshrouded with the bright freshness of cherry orchid and lily blossom, infused with aloe vera and chamomile.
“I thought we were having dinner tonight?” he asked her.
“Oh, I saw you this afternoon. I figured you would be busy all day so I decided that I would go out with a friend that has been trying to get together with me for a while,” Angela said. The man she was with started his car.
“You know what? We have to be going, Julian. We don’t want to be late. Have a good evening,” she said. Once she was settled in her seat and strapped in, the guy took off down the street. Julian did not even have time to comprehend what had just happened. He didn’t know how long he was standing there staring after their car, but he was snapped out of his shock by the neighbor boy from across the street saying, “Just cause she kicked you to the curb doesn’t mean you have to sit on it,” before laughing and running in the house.
Turning and stomping back up his walk way Julian was furious.
“What the hell was that all about?” he said out loud as he was pacing his living room.
“’I saw you this afternoon’. Well DUH! I saw you too. That doesn’t mean I was going to be rude and break our date!” he was saying.
‘Date? What date? Isn’t she making you dinner to pay you back for letting her use your car?’ he thought to himself.
“Well yeah, but she has to know I want more right? How would she know that? All your sappy carrying of the groceries, shoveling her stairs, fixing her car? She probably thinks you are just a really nice man that lives next door and thinks that is pathetic.”
“I DO NOT!!! I think she is seductive, surprising, capable, and she is hilarious. One more time, how would she know that?”
“UGGH!” Julian said. He needed to work off some of this energy. Walking into his weight room, he sat down on his combo weight machine and started to lift the two-hundred and sixty pounds he had been lifting the night before when the power went out. ‘First things first, I have to stop talking to myself. Then I have to quit being a chicken shit and ask her out,’ he was thinking. He stopped lifting for a minute and picked up his phone looking at the time. ‘Eight-thirty; well, it doesn’t look like I am going to get a home cooked meal today. I better go and get something to eat,’ he thought. Lying back down on the bench, he thought, ‘after this set, I am still too emotional. What is was this woman doing to me?’
********
It was a little past midnight when the limousine pulled up in front of Angela’s house. At the last minute, Toni had asked her to stand in as her brother-in-law’s date for the SBA, Sports in Broadcasting Awards. Toni’s husband and his brother Shane had their own sports cable show they produced and directed and it was finally getting some traction and notice. They were up for Best New show tonight and Shane needed a date. Shane was gay and very private about it because he knew if it was known then his opinions and abilities would come into question when it came to the “manly” world of sports. The woman that was originally supposed to go had gotten the flu and couldn’t make it. Angela figured that Julian would be calling any minute to say he had other plans so she had gladly agreed to go when Toni had called her and asked and she had had a wonderful time.
“I really had a ball tonight you guys. Thank you so much for letting me come along. I needed this,” Angela said to Toni, Mike and Shane.
“Oh girl, please; thank you for being willing to drop your evening and come with us,” Toni said.
“Oh please believe me, I would be watching re-runs of Law and Order tonight if it was not for you guys,” she said finishing the last of her champagne.
“What about that guy that was looking like a lost puppy when I came to pick you up earlier? I think he would have liked to spend the evening with you,” Shane said to her.
“WHO?” Toni asked.
“Julian,” Angela said. “I am sure he was on his way to tell me that he had other plans and to offer me a bottle of wine to drink alone. Trust me, Julian is a military man, a smart man and he is sexy but insecure, he is not. So if he wanted to “date” me, as everyone keeps saying, then he would have said something by now.”
There was a quiet moment in the limo as the chaffer came around and opened her door.
“Congratulations again, you guys I am so happy for you,” Angela said to them. Opening the door on his side, Shane jumped out of the limo. “Let me walk you to your door,” he said as he got to the other side of the limo and reached his hand in to take Angela’s. She smiled at him and they shared a private moment. Then he walked her to the door, gave her a long hug after she opened her front door, kissed her forehead and dashed off back to the limo.
Next door from his picture window Julian was watching the entire thing. ‘He kissed her,’ he thought angrily.
“She LET him kiss her,” he said aloud to himself as he started to pace.
Julian went to his bar and in the dark poured himself a scotch.
‘I don’t need light for this,’ he thought sitting down in his recliner with the bottle in his lap.
It was like Patti all over again. Six years ago, Julian had been head over heels in love with Patti Adams. Patti was the daughter of a Brigadier General. When they met, it had been love at first sight. They had spent every free moment together until her father had found out about their relationship. The moment he had told her that Julian was not worthy of her “station” Patti
had changed. She became distant and cold. Then one day he had gone to her family home to talk to her father like a man and to let him know he loved his daughter and do all that he could to be the best husband to her that he could ever hope for and to ask him for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Engagement ring in tow, he had knocked on the front door only to be greeted by Patti and her fiancé. She had accepted a proposal two weeks before but had not “gotten around” to telling him yet.
Julian promised himself that day that he would never let another woman into his heart. He would never give another woman the upper hand over him.
Julian had thought long and hard about his relationship with Patti and he knew he had shared and given too much too soon. That is why she had treated his heart like trash. Well no more, the next time he said the L word to another woman it would be because she said it first.
‘Lot of good that theory did you,’ he thought to himself. Pouring himself another glass of scotch, Julian sat there brooding and drinking his pain away.
*******
Angela went about getting herself ready for bed. She put away the groceries she had bought earlier, took a shower and changed into a long black satin nightie she had from her days of being a rich man’s wife. She was on her way up her steps to her bedroom with a plate of strawberries and cheese when there was a banging on her front door.
BANG, BANG, BANG
“AHH,” she screamed dropping her plate.
BANG BANG BANG
“ANGIE, OPEN THE DOOR!!!” Julian yelled from the other side of the door.
CHAPTER 7
“JULIAN?” she yelled still terrified that someone was banging on her front door at one o’clock in the morning.
“Yes, open the door!” he said.
Angela grabbed her door knob yanking the door open forgetting she was still only in her nightie. Julian walked past her into the house as soon as she opened the door.
“Julian, have you…?” she started to say but was cut off.
“Is he still here or can we talk?” he said abruptly.
“What?” she said confused as to who HE was and why the hell the “talk” could not wait until a decent hour.
“You heard me. Is he here? Is he still in your bed?” he said. They had managed to end up in her living room through all the commotion. Julian was fuming; Angela had never seen him angry. ‘Why is he so hot to me right now?’ she was thinking.
But she did not follow those thoughts. Instead she said, “Julian, you have about five seconds to tell me what you are talking about before I kick you out of my…” Angela started to say, but was cut off by Julian grabbing her and forcing her against the wall as he leaned in and kissed her. It started out as a hot, hard kiss and ended up has a leisurely, ardent, stimulating coupling of their lips. Angela was taken by surprise. Initially she fought his tongue entering her mouth, but with his soft sensual lips pressed against hers, she could not resist anymore. Angela relaxed against him. His lips were firm yet tender and his tongue probed the inside of her mouth. The kiss deepened and Angela could feel his hands move along her body. First sliding down her side to her hips then back up to her chest where he cupped her right breast while his other hand kept her pinned closely to him. Julian placed his hands on her hips and gently squeezed them wanting more.
Suddenly Julian broke the kiss and looked at her for a moment. Both of them reeling from the kiss, they stood there without speaking trying to catch their breath.
“I...I...I’m sorry,” Julian said stepping back from her. Angela was still glued to the wall.
‘Did he just kiss me?’ she was thinking. As pissed off as she was that he had just barged into her house at one o’clock in the morning yelling at her, she couldn’t focus on the anger because the desire and pleasure of the kiss had been more than she could have ever imagined and she had imagined it more than once.
“Angie, I am really, really sorry,” Julian stammered. “Are you ok?”
He was stepping close to her but stopped when she moved away from the wall and held her arm up to indicate to him he needed to keep his distance. She walked over to her fireplace putting at least ten feet between them.
‘Julian, you asshole, you probably just terrified her,’ he thought.
“I am fine,” she said quietly with her back to him. “The question is ‘what is your problem?’ and the answer better be really good,” she finished turning back toward him with her arms crossed.
Running his hands over his head, Julian started to pace back and forth looking at the floor. “I don’t know. I was so frustrated that you cancelled on me at the last minute and then I saw him with you, touching you, kissing you and I just lost it, I guess,” he said.
Angela stood looking at him for a moment; the look on her face spoke volumes.
“Ok, first I am a big enough to apologize for the last minute notice for dinner especially since it was to thank you for helping me out,” Angela said.
The longer she spoke the more irritated she was getting.
“But why would you care who I was with and what we were doing? That is none of your business. Wait, did you say you saw me? Are you sitting in your window watching your neighbors like a little old lady named Sally Mae?”
Julian stopped abruptly in his pacing and looked at her. They both stared at each other shocked before they started to roar with laughter.
“Umm… Who is Sally Mae?” Julian said.
“You know what I mean,” she said to him. “What is going on with you?”
“I don’t know,” he said shrugging. “I guess I was jealous.”
“Of what?” Angela said to him. She sat down on the couch finally realizing she was only in her nightie.
Julian sighed and said, “I have been trying to get your attention for months. Just when I thought I was getting close, I see you with another man with his hands all over you.”
“Wait!” Angela said. “You have been trying to get my attention?”
Julian could see that she was genuinely shocked. Julian walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. He hesitated a little at first, making sure it was ok. She didn’t protest so he sat down.
“Really, Angie?” he said to her. “You didn’t realize I liked you? Scratch that; you didn’t think you were all I thought about all the time every day?”
Angela sat there staring at him dumbfounded at first, then said, “What would be my indication you were interested in me? And where does the woman that I saw you with this afternoon fit into all of this?”
“It always amazes me when men, women, and adults in general think that other people can guess what they want or are thinking.”
“Well, excuse me for trying to show you some respect and taking it slow! Also the woman you saw me with this afternoon is my sister-in-law. Maybe you should have asked before you assumed you knew what was going on,” Julian said. He was starting to get pissed off. He would admit he shouldn’t have assumed she would know. ‘But give me a break. It’s not exactly easy to know what women are ok with and what they are not ok with these days. They are all a mess and confusing,’ he thought.
Angela could not focus on the fact that she was being hypocritical because all she could hear is that the gorgeous woman he was having lunch with today was his sister-in-law.
‘Oh what a feeling... Toyota!’ she thought to herself. If her boobs were not so big and she did not fear knocking herself out, she would jump in the air like the people in the old commercials.
“Well, how about asking?” she said to him sarcastically.
“FINE,” he said. “Would you go on a date with me?” He was now standing over her.
Standing up Angela said, “First, don’t you dare talk to me like that ever again. Next, no, I will not go out with you until you ask me properly.”
She stood up and walked toward her front door with him hot on her heels. Angela opened the door. “Goodnight, Julian. Come back when you are ready to treat me with the respect I not just deserve but demand!”
“I am not angry with you Julian. If I was angry believe me there would not be a chance in hell that I would go out with you,” she said leaning against the door.
“I refuse to be one of those women that accept disrespect from a man because she is afraid of being alone. So if you want to ask me out, if you want us to be anything other than neighbors, you need to do it the right way, and this is not it.”
Julian was so glad that he had not lost his chance with her. He knew he should get out before he pushed her over the edge. He started to leave and stopped in front of her.
“Angie, I have nothing but respect for you, and I am going to sweep you off your feet to prove it,” he whispered before walking out.
She watched him walk down the steps and stroll next door to his house with his hands in his pockets whistling.
CHAPTER 8
“Oh thank God!” Toni shouted jumping up from her desk and doing a church praise dance as she went running over to Angela and hugging her. “I am so proud of you, Angie! Finally, you stand up for yourself and demand the love and respect you deserve,” she told her friend as she went back to her desk.
“You are completely crazy, woman,” Angela said to her.
Angela had told Toni about what had happened between her and Julian the night before.
Angela could admit in her first marriage she accepted anything Andre was willing to give her, including cheating, as long as he kept it discreet. When he had come to her saying that he might have AIDS and they both needed to be tested because he had slept with a transgender model, it had been the final straw. First, the idea of him getting AIDS because of disrespect and being irresponsible, then to know that her husband’s sexuality was in question. That was a little more than any woman should have to endure. When she had told him she wanted a divorce, he had finally admitted he was gay. With the promise that if she did not stay in the marriage and continue to be his beard, he would make sure she never got a dime of his money.