So Different

by Robinson, Ruthie

  “Nope. I’ll help,” Casper said, grabbing the end of his t-shirt and pulling it over his head.

  “Nice chest. Good muscular definition,” Good & Plenty said, pointing to the top half of his body and tracing the curve of his abdominal muscles. “Shows that he works out.”

  “What are you, our anatomy instructor?” Sally said.

  “You can be so harsh sometimes, Sally,” Reagan said.

  “You’re one to talk,” Sally replied.

  “You think he has underwear on under those jeans?” Lisa asked, bringing the attention back to Adam. Sally lifted the waistband of his jeans, taking a peak.

  “Yep. Boxers. So let’s go,” she said, unzipping his pants without batting an eyelash. She glanced around at the others, who seemed shy all of a sudden.

  “When did you all become such women,” she said and laughed. Casper reached for his jeans at the ankles, helping to pull them downward. She looked up at Adam to see if were still sleeping. Yep, dead to the world. She and Sally removed his jeans. They stood there for a second, all twelve of them admiring his body.

  “Wow. He’s really got a nice physique. I can see why Mariah was here all the time. Why she was always leaving with him,” Lisa said.

  “Me, too. I’m impressed,” Sally added.

  “Wonder what that part of him looks like?” Ms. Nomer said, turning her head, taking in the looks of speculation in a few of their eyes.

  “Mariah didn’t ask us to find that out. She knows already, anyway. Let’s just put the cap on him, take his picture, and go,” Lisa said.

  They stood there debating the merits of leaving without getting a look. “It wouldn’t be ethical to look,” Lisa added, catholic schoolgirl to the end.

  “We don’t have to remove his underwear to get a good look. We can get a look from the outside,” Ms. Nomer offered up, not ready to give up getting a look yet.

  “What?” Dirty South asked.

  “How?” Sally asked.

  “Get out,” Dee said.

  “Here, watch,” Ms. Nomer said. Their eyes followed her as she walked around his room looking for something, they weren’t sure what. She found a string bookmarker in one of the books that lay on the floor. She removed it from the book and dog-eared the page before walking back over to the bed.

  “What are you going to do with that?” Sally asked.

  She took the ribbon and ran it slowly over the part of him not visible, but underneath his boxers. You could make out the indention and she moved the string back and forth, up and down was more like it. “I wish I had a feather,” she said, as they watched him grow, eyes widening at what they saw developing.

  “Girl,” Sally said.

  “Dang,” Good & Plenty added.

  “I can’t see this,” Lisa said and fled the room, but stood peeking back in from the doorway.

  “Come on, let’s go,” Casper said, chuckling, getting her own eyeful. “Where’s the hat?” She accepted it from Dirty South’s hand and stuck it on his head.

  “Take the picture,” Sally said, smiling at the picture of Adam, reclining on the bed with a clown hat perched on his head. They adjusted his body so it would look more like he was reclining and took two pictures, one for him and one for Mariah. Lisa had one of those old Instamatic cameras, way old-school and Barbie pink in color.

  “We should cover him, don’t you think?” Lisa asked, after they’d readjusted him to a more comfortable sleeping position.

  “You cover him. I’m out of here,” Casper said, the final task complete. They gave him one final look and left.

  “Mariah owes me big-time,” Sally said.

  “He’s a nice guy,” Lisa said, pulling part of his duvet over him.

  Casper locked the door and they made their way to their cars.

  * * *

  Adam woke up with a groan and checked the clock. It was approaching 4 a.m. His head pounded and his stomach felt queasy. Overall he felt awful. He laid there as images from the night before flashed through his mind. Dinner, roller-skating, dancing, and the worst of it was the drinking. He couldn’t remember getting here, turned over and onto his stomach, had to lay there for a second, allowing the nauseous feelings to pass.

  He opened one eye, looked over his bed and found a picture. He turned it over and laughed, then groaned. It was a picture of him dressed in a ridiculous clown hat. And what had happened to his shirt, his jeans? He grimaced at the peaceful expression on his face. He turned back over onto his stomach.

  He knew better. He hadn’t done that kind of drinking in so long, since before dental school. Last night’s drinking had knocked him flat, which explained his current condition.

  What day was it? Sunday and he had nowhere to be, which was great because he wouldn’t be able to get there this morning. He closed his eyes and pulled the cover over his head to block what little sunlight had filtered through the window. He let himself drift back to sleep.

  * * *

  “Girl, I wish you could have been there,” Casper said, sitting next to Mariah. Lisa and Sally were the first to put in an appearance at Joshua’s Sunday afternoon. Mariah had promised lunch for the teammates. It would be her treat for participating in their date with Adam.

  Mariah took a sip of water as she looked over the picture of Adam stretched out in bed. He had such a nice chest. She remembered how it had felt next to hers, seemed like ages ago. His eyes were closed and he had on a silly little clown’s hat. She laughed. “How much did he drink?” she asked again.

  “At least ten sake bombs.” They all broke out in laughter again.

  “He paid for it all?” she asked.

  “Yep, all but the drinks. I was starting to feel bad by then and put a halt to Sally’s drink-down,” Casper said.

  “So how was he?”

  “When?”

  “All night,” Mariah said.

  “He seems like a good guy, Mariah. He was surprised that all twelve of us showed up instead of you, but he went with it, answered our questions, except for our questions regarding his engagement. He didn’t talk about that one until he was drunk,” Lisa said.

  “He called it off, and what a bitch she must have been. Crazy, too,” Sally said. They’d already recounted to Mariah Adam’s tale of his fiancée gone bad and her problems with his ethnicity.

  “He’s better off if you ask me. And as much as it must have hurt, he’s lucky he found out before he married her. It’s women like her who make it hard for the rest of us,” Sally said.

  Shock didn’t begin to describe Mariah as she took in this change of heart from Sally, hater of all men.

  “I know what you’re thinking, but I can be nice when they’re nice. There’s just not a lot of nice ones in the world.”

  “So he’s biracial, white and Latino, who knew?” Mariah said, feeling a little guilty for calling him a white guy. Seems she harbored her own brand of assumptions. He’d just let her talk without ever correcting her.

  “He grew up white, I bet,” Mariah said.

  “What difference does it make?” Lisa asked.

  “It makes a big difference. People always have these preconceived notions about you,” she said.

  “Not like your preconceived notions about other people,” Lisa said, giving her a pointed look.

  “Whatever,” Mariah said, sticking out her tongue.

  “Why did you care about what people think, anyway?” Lisa asked.

  “I don’t know. I get tired of everyone’s assumptions about black women. We are angry, overweight, great in bed, all baby mamas, pick a stereotype or a generalization,” she said.

  “I don’t think that about black women,” Lisa said, serious.

  “You don’t count, you grew up around all types. You know people are crazy, or nice, in all colors.”

  “That’s true. But you want to know who gets a raw deal,” Lisa said.

  “Who?”

  “Catholic priests.”

  “What?” they all said in unison.

&
nbsp; “The good, innocent priests, the ones who haven’t harmed anyone’s child.”

  “Huh?”

  “My priest, Father Davis, told me just the other day that he can see how people react to his presence. He sees the way that mothers clutch their children tightly to them when he comes around. And if he talks to a child, their mothers are next to them immediately, like he’s going to have them for lunch.”

  “Some did. You forget.”

  “Yes, but not all, right? Not every black person driving an expensive car is guilty of being a drug dealer, not every black man dressed in baggy jeans is going to steal your purse,” she added. “Assumptions,” Lisa said, sitting back like an attorney, having made a case to the Supreme Court.

  “I hadn’t thought about them. People look at me and assume that because I’m blonde, I’m dumb. I may be, but could you at least talk to me first before you come to that conclusion?” Sally said. “So you’re not the only one.”

  “Don’t get me started about the gay thing. Not all of us are effeminate snappy dressers who are good at accessorizing,” Casper said.

  Mariah sat there processing their comments. Here she’d thought she’d been the main target of stereotypes, of generalizations. She’d worn her attitude sometimes as a barrier against others’ expectations and assumptions of her. What did that mean? Did she have to give people the benefit of the doubt?

  “He can’t skate. That’s the only flaw I can see,” Sally said, bringing Mariah’s attention back to the conversation. They all laughed at some shared memory.

  “So are you going to see him again?” Lisa asked, giving her a smile. “I like him, plus that was terrible about his fiancée.”

  “I think so. It would be rude not to, after he’s gone to all this trouble.”

  “I think it’s sweet he’s willing to do this to see you again,” Lisa said.

  “Don’t think he really wants to date me. It’s more like he likes the sex and doesn’t want to lose that yet, so he’s willing to date me if that’s what it takes to keep me.”

  “Don’t fool yourself,” Lisa said with a smile. “I don’t buy that. He’s one fine man. He doesn’t need you for that. He could get that anywhere, so he must be interested in you, and God knows if I know why.”

  “We’ll see. If he comes back. He may give up. It’s a whole lot of trouble for a piece of tail, although mine is exceptional,” she said, and they all laughed.

  “He’s not bad in that department, either,” Sally said, and she and Casper exchanged glances and laughed.

  “What?” Mariah asked, looking between them.

  “I’m not going to tell you. You’ll get angry,” Casper said. Mariah looked to Lisa.

  “I don’t know. I left the room,” Lisa said.

  Mariah looked over at Sally, who sat with her I-swallowed-the-canary look.

  “It wasn’t anything. We were just curious,” she said, uncertainty on her face. “Actually it was Ms. Nomer’s idea. She was curious. We just watched. It was hard not to, we were all standing there.”

  “Curious about what?” Mariah asked.

  “Curious about what keeps you coming back, every Tuesday and Thursday night,” Sally said.

  “And did you find out?” she asked, but her tone had changed. It had become more serious, and that detail didn’t go unnoticed by her friends.

  “Territorial, are we?” Sally said, smiling.

  “Ms. Nomer found the string and she used it to see just what our boy was packing that entranced you so. Lets just say, we have a better understanding of that now.”

  Mariah’s mouth open and closed. She ran a hand threw her hair and looked over at Casper, trying to determine if she should be angry. A chuckle escaped and then it turned into laughter. That’s what she got for asking them, especially Good & Plenty. She should be thankful they hadn’t stripped him or done something much worse. She smiled, laughing more.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Fourth week in July

  The following Monday Mariah sat in her cubicle at work. It was twenty minutes before lunch and she had been itching to call Adam. She owed him an apology for her misplaced assumptions regarding him. He was not quite what she’d expected, and with a crazy fiancée to boot.

  She grabbed her cell from her purse and headed outside to the courtyard reserved for those eating lunch or with smoking habits. She was crazy nervous and wanted a little privacy. She dialed his office number, hoping for someone other than Jupiter to answer.

  “Dr. Barnett’s office. May I help you?” Maggie said.

  “Hey, Maggie, this is Mariah Sullivan. May I speak to Dr. Barnett?”

  “Just a moment.” Mariah heard Chicago playing in her ear.

  “Mariah, he’s in with a patient, but asked me to get your cell number and he’ll call you back in about fifteen. Is that okay?”

  “Sure,” she said and passed along her number to Maggie.

  She checked her watch and decided to grab something to eat. The center’s cafeteria was almost always open, serving the residents who made it their home. She grabbed up a sandwich, along with something to drink, and returned to her perch outside in the courtyard to wait. Like always lately, her mind became occupied with thoughts of Adam, his search for her and his date with her girlfriends. It was a whole lot to do for friendship, and it made her hopeful. He was going to call her back and they would try to be friends.

  Was that enough for her? Probably not, but it was enough for now. It was a step up from Tuesday and Thursday, and that made it more meaningful, right? That was more in the relationship realm, and that she could do for a while. Until she couldn’t, anyway, but she wasn’t going to worry about that now. She’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

  * * *

  Ten minutes later her cell phone beeped. DR. BARNETT’S OFFICE, her cell’s caller ID read. She took a deep breath and answered.

  “Hey,” she said, shy all of a sudden.

  “Hey,” he said, and waited a few beats before he added with a laugh, “I enjoyed our date.”

  “Me, too.”

  “So when can I see you again? Just you, though, not all twelve of you this time.”

  “How about Friday night? I was thinking I could spend the whole night this time. You’ve not had me in a while, and it may take you longer than usual to get your fill. Plus I don’t have to work Saturday, for once.”

  “Work where? At your brother’s place?”

  “Yep.”

  “That works. I’ll think of something for us to do. I may even surprise you,” he said.

  “I would like that very much,” she said, but didn’t voice how much he’d surprised her already.

  * * *

  Mariah reached for her purse. She was seated in her car, preparing to drive to Adam’s. It was Friday night and her nerves had been making her insane all day; it had been hard to concentrate at work. She packed her bag for her sleepover, smiling like an idiot in her excitement. She dug around in her bag for her phone and looked at the picture of her brother smiling back at her.

  “What?” she asked into her cell.

  “Mariah, you won’t believe this, but Angela quit,” he said, all exasperation.

  “The new, new girl,” she said, sighing at the time she wasted in training the revolving door that was Joshua’s wait staff. “Joshua, you have to leave them alone, they are not the problem. You are the problem.”

  “Whatever, Mariah, don’t need to hear that now. I need your help. Can you come by?”

  “When?”

  “Now?”

  “I’ve got a date with Adam. I’m on my way there now,” she said.

  “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need help. I have a large party coming in late.”

  “Joshua,” she said with a sigh.

  “Mariah,” he said, quiet while she sighed again.

  “Give me ten.”

  “I knew I could count on you,” he said, hanging up.

  She swallowed her disappointment; her brother’s tim
ing sucked. She’d looked forward to tonight, picked out this nice skirt and something more than a t-shirt with Adam in mind. She even went for her blond ‘do because he preferred it. She was all ready for what ever he’d had planned for her. All week she imagined the possibility of him again. It had been responsible for her week-long good mood, her fixed smile.

  She sighed again, turned her car around, and dialed Adam’s number as she made her way to her brother’s restaurant. He answered after the second ring.

  “Mariah,” he said. His voice sounded pleased.

  “Hey, you’re not going to believe this, but I need to help my brother out tonight.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yes, sorry it’s so last minute. He just called, has a big party coming in and he’s short a new waitress,” she said, silent and disappointed.

  “Will you have to work all evening?”

  “Don’t know, but more than likely, yes,” she said.

  “Oh.” Now she could hear disappointment in his voice, too.

  “Sorry.”

  “No, I understand, family comes first,” he said. He thought about inviting her over afterward, but was wary that she may get the wrong idea, think he was only interested in sex.

  “I’ll call you later, maybe tomorrow. We can work out something soon,” she said.

  “Sure.”

  “I’d better go, talk to you later.”

  “Sure,” he said.

  That wasn’t so bad, she thought, wishing it had been different. She would call him soon, she thought, and pushed her disappointment at missing her date aside.

  * * *

  Mariah grabbed her purse from her brother’s office and checked her watch; it was eleven, she could go now. Yeah, but, what about… Just go, she said to herself, before her internal debate kicked in.

  She pulled into his apartment complex ten minutes later, looked up at his apartment, thought his lights were on, opened her door, and got out. She’d leave her bag in the car, in case he was asleep. She quietly headed for the stairs, reached the door, and knocked softly.

  * * *

  Adam was on the couch, watching TV. He hadn’t given up on her yet, but he felt like an idiot for sitting here waiting, hoping that she would show. His heart did a double-take when he heard a soft knock at his door. He walked over to check through the peephole. It was Mariah. He opened the door and smiled. He stepped aside, watched her enter, and closed the door behind her.