Houston, We Have a Problema

by Gwendolyn Zepeda

  Her mother was busy, so they said good-bye and hung up. Jessica hugged Ricky, scolded him, then cleaned up his mess, hoping that his destroying the rue plant wasn’t bad luck.

  She sped back to work ten minutes late, thinking that it was a good thing she hadn’t made plans with Xavier after all. She’d e-mailed him several times, but Tech Support was so busy lately, he barely had time to write her back, much less have lunch. Which was annoying, because she’d been wanting to talk to him in more detail about the ASP coding she needed for the ALMA site. Plus, she hadn’t talked to him in forever, and she kind of missed him.

  But if they had gone to lunch, Ricky might have eaten more of the plant and been even sicker. So, Jessica told herself as she hurried off the elevator to her department, it was probably all fate.

  “Where’s Mr. Cochran?” she asked when she got in.

  “Oh, you know. Meeting,” said Olga.

  “And Rochelle?”

  “Dentist.”

  When Mr. Cochran did come in that afternoon, it was with Ted. They stopped in the middle of the room to finish their conversation.

  “So HR approved your request for another broker?” asked Ted.

  “Yeah. They weren’t overjoyed about it, though.”

  “What’s the budget?”

  “We have to keep it low. So, someone with less experience, who we can train,” said Mr. Cochran.

  Jessica focused on her monitor and smiled to herself. Mr. Cochran was obviously easing Ted into the idea of promoting her. Ted probably hadn’t even thought about her as a potential candidate. Most of the time he treated her and the other women more like pieces of furniture than people who might have the ability to learn new things.

  “Where are we even going to put someone new?” Ted looked around. “In the copy room?”

  “We’ll probably just clear some space right here.” Mr. Cochran waved his hand over Jessica’s head. “No use getting bent out of shape about it just yet.” He led the way into his office, where he changed the subject to one of Ted’s accounts.

  Jessica stopped eavesdropping and started filing. She might as well get all of it out of the way now, so her replacement wouldn’t have to do so much when Jessica started marketing her new accounts.

  That evening, Jessica sped back home to get ready for her date with Jonathan. After checking Ricky’s food and water bowls, she sat at her computer and checked e-mail while eating the salad she’d gotten from a fast-food drive-through. Then it was time to get herself into going-out mode. She turned on some music and went to her bedroom to undress.

  The problem, she realized as she stepped under the hot water in her shower, was that the thing with her parents was still bothering her. She had to stop thinking about that — at least until after tonight’s date. As Madame Hortensia had said, there was nothing she could do about her parents’ arguments. They were adults.

  Second, there was Guillermo’s stupid art show to worry about. No, she told herself. She would not think about that tonight.

  Third, Mr. Cochran hadn’t said anything directly to her about the promotion yet. If she were a negative sort of person, she’d think that maybe he wasn’t really planning to give it to her after all. But that wouldn’t make sense. She’d been in middle market for three years now. She could bind coverage with her eyes closed. And unlike everyone else in the department, she had never let a renewal slip.

  These thoughts swirled through her brain as she dried herself with a big lavender towel. She had to stop worrying about things. It was stressing her out, and she was supposed to be getting ready to enjoy herself. She felt wound up and out of order, like a yo-yo with a tangled string. If only there was some way she could relax.

  Guillermo’s face popped into her mind. His face, looking up at her from a pillow. With her hair hanging all around him as she sat on top of his —

  Stop thinking about that, she told herself sternly. But she couldn’t blame herself, at the same time. How long had it been since she’d last had sex? It felt like forever.

  Well, she reminded herself, tonight would cure that problem. Tonight was the night for her and Jonathan. She reached up and pinned her hair more securely at the top of her head. The thought of it made her nervous and excited at the same time.

  So far, Jonathan had been the perfect guy. She couldn’t deny it. The only thing missing, though, was that spark. But she could make that spark happen, she reasoned. She’d never tried it with a nice guy. Maybe it was high time she did.

  Jessica went to her closet to see what was there. Latin house thumped mutedly from the CD player as she pulled out the coral dress with the halter neck. She hadn’t worn this one since she’d bought it on clearance at Neiman’s Last Call more than two years ago. But it wasn’t wrinkled at all, and the coral looked good with the color her hair was now. If she could find the bra that went with it, she’d be good to go.

  Luckily, the dress still fit pretty well. She looked at herself in the mirror. Ricky watched her from the bed.

  “What do you think?” she asked him. “Nice, huh?”

  Now, which purse went with this dress? And which shoes? As she thought over her inventory, she suddenly remembered why she hadn’t ever worn it before: She hadn’t found shoes to go with it yet.

  An hour later, she emerged from her walk-in closet with a disaster area behind her. Orange, red, pink, brown, gold, silver, and bronze shoes lay all over the floor behind her like soldiers on the battlefield.

  On her feet was a pair of black sandals, because she’d given up. She was already stressed enough without freaking out over her shoes. The one good thing she’d found was the ocelot bag she’d bought a few weeks back. Somehow it pulled the dress and the shoes together and made it look as though she’d carefully planned the whole outfit. Could this be her sign? It was, she decided. This date was going to be something exciting.

  28

  Wow. You look amazing,” Jonathan said when he came to pick her up.

  Jessica felt herself flush with pleasure as he bent to kiss her. “Thanks,” she murmured against his ear. She could almost feel him flush in return.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked.

  She was. She closed and locked the door before Ricky could run out.

  Jonathan took her hand and led her down the metal staircase like a knight leading a princess. Jessica practically felt sparks between their hands.

  Jonathan’s compliments always sounded so genuine, she mused. Not as though he were just BS-ing her so she wouldn’t be mad about something he’d done, like someone else she could name.

  Jessica shook the thought from her mind. Tonight she was going to give Jonathan her full attention. He was dressed well, as usual, she saw as they walked around the apartment pool and out to his car. Cicadas buzzed in the trees, as if in anticipation. Outside the gate, Jonathan helped Jessica into the Audi, his hands at her waist. She felt a thrill go through her from the touch. Oh yeah, she thought. Tonight is going to be the night.

  As they made their way to the club, he concentrated on the road, as always. But she could tell he was excited. She could almost feel it through the air between them.

  “I hope you like this place. I think you will,” he said. “They’re having three DJs tonight, in separate rooms, and one of them is supposed to be really good. I’ve never heard of him, but I did some research online, and from what you’ve told me, his style should be something you’ll really like.”

  Jessica smiled. “You’re so sweet, Jonathan.” When had Guillermo ever gone through so much trouble for her?

  Jonathan went on, doing the same kind of random talking he’d done last week at his town house. “But let me know if you don’t like it, and we’ll go somewhere else. Wherever you want.” Jessica realized he was nervous again. Probably thinking all the same thoughts she was, about what would happen after the DJ show. The first thing she’d do when they got to the club, she decided, was get this man a drink. He needed loosening up.

  And the second thing
she’d do, hopefully, was get him on the floor and dance. When was the last time she’d gone dancing on a date, with an actual straight man? she wondered. It must have been months ago, way back in the winter, with Guillermo.

  She and Guillermo had gone to the Acapulco Lounge to dance cumbias. After two clumsy dances, during which he’d led too much and stepped on her toes, he’d parked himself at the bar and started with the tequila. He’d kept promising her another dance, right after the next drink. They hadn’t left until last call, when the bartender’s shouting startled her out of the half-sleep she’d fallen into on her stool. And because he’d drunk so much, Guillermo had ended up completely useless to her in the bedroom that night.

  Comparing that night with right now, she suddenly saw, plainer than ever, what a jerk Guillermo could be. Compared with Guillermo, she thought, Jonathan was Prince Charming.

  Why had she put up with Guillermo’s behavior for so long? Because he said funny things once in a while? Because he was a good artist? Or was it only because he was handsome? He wasn’t that good-looking, was he? Okay, he was, actually. The jerk. If Jessica hadn’t put up with him, some other woman would have been happy to take her place.

  Fine, she thought; let someone else learn the hard way for a change.

  When they got to midtown and found parking, only a few stars were showing through the cobalt blue haze.

  “It’s kind of early,” Jonathan said as he opened her door. “Do you want to stop at Mode for a drink?”

  While they walked the half block to the bar, Jessica people-watched her fellow clubgoers. As always, there were plenty of pretty women on display, their outfits ranging from modest to downright skanky. A blonde with giant implants packed into a yellow tank top tottered by on horrible gold Roman sandals. Jessica looked over to Jonathan to get his reaction. If he’d been Xavier, he would’ve made a very subtle funny face, like a fake gasp or drool. If he’d been Guillermo, she might have caught him staring right before he regained his composure. Toby would have said something catty. But when she checked, Jonathan was looking down at her and didn’t seem to have noticed the blonde, or her packages, at all.

  At Mode, they ordered a beer and an apple martini, and as usual, Jonathan handed over his credit card before she had a chance to pull out hers. She decided not to worry about it anymore.

  In their corner booth for two, her martini kicked in immediately and she became talkative and jokey. Their conversation was about nothing much at all. She’d planned to ask Jonathan for more advice about her job, but now that she was so far outside McCormick’s granite slabs, and starting on her second martini, she had stopped caring. She put her hand on Jonathan’s arm and smiled at him conspiratorially. “We’re going to have fun tonight.” He smiled back and caressed her hand a little before raising his drink in toast.

  By the time they made it to the House, things were just starting to happen.

  The club really was an actual house, originally. A big one, filling up fast with people who, like her, were ready to dance. Jonathan had been right about the music: It was just the kind of thing she liked. Loud, bass-y house tinged with disco and Latin beats. Everyone was crowded around the stage. Jessica couldn’t see the DJ, but she could hear his voice.

  “Y’all like that?” he called out. Yes, they did.

  “You want something to drink?” Jonathan said. He had to lean close to her ear to keep from shouting it at her.

  “Sure.” They were standing at the edge of the crowd. Her hips made slow circles of their own volition as the DJ mixed into the next song, warming his way up to a heart-shaking beat. In what seemed like mere moments, Jonathan pressed a martini glass into her hand.

  “Thanks!” she mouthed at him. It was already getting warm in the club, and the drink was nice and cold. And not as strong as the one at Mode had been, so she was able to drink it more quickly.

  Jonathan said into her ear, “You want to dance, don’t you?”

  She nodded. He took her glass and left it somewhere, then took her arm and led her away into the crowd.

  He wasn’t the best dancer in the world, she quickly found. But she didn’t mind. Straight guys never were. He worked the classic side-to-side move, and luckily the beer bottle in his hand kept him from clapping. And that was okay. She didn’t really need a guy to dance well — she just needed one to stand next to her so she didn’t have to dance alone.

  They went through one song, two songs, three songs, and then she really started getting warmed up. Jonathan stuck with his side-to-side move and kept his eyes on her. Jessica could tell he was enjoying watching her dance. And that was okay, too.

  “Girl, I thought that was you out there shaking your ass!” shouted a voice behind her. It was someone she knew — a friend of Toby’s everyone called Michelangelo. He was there with a couple of guys and a girl. Jessica knew their faces but not all their names. Jeff and Christine? Casey and Miss Julio? Didn’t matter. They were fun.

  “Hey, y’all,” she said.

  “Hi,” said Michelangelo to Jonathan, batting his eyes.

  Just as they would’ve done at Galaxy or Tropico or any of the other gay bars in town, Michelangelo and crew positioned themselves around Jessica and their other girlfriend and began dancing as nastily as they could. Jessica thought of it as their gay bang. She laughed and ground her butt against Jeff’s pelvis, as if it would do any good. She glanced over to check on Jonathan and saw that he was laughing. She was relieved that he could take a joke. He wasn’t possessive or homophobic. In fact, now he was pumping his fist in the air and cheering them on. She found, then, that she liked him more than ever.

  Then, suddenly, he was part of the freak nastiness, too, because Michelangelo pushed Jessica against Jonathan and then enclosed them in his arms and tried to hump them both at the same time.

  “Woo!” yelled Christine.

  “Yeah!” said Jeff. “Ride him like a cowgirl!”

  They were all watching and catcalling, so Jessica went ahead and gave them a little show. She shimmied up and down against Jonathan as if he were a stripper pole. The others screamed and clapped.

  “Damn, girl!” said Michelangelo. “That almost had me switching teams!”

  They all laughed, and then her clubtime friends melted away into the crowd. Jessica turned to Jonathan and smiled apologetically. She could tell by his face that he had been affected by their dancing and was trying to play it cool. She stifled a giggle. It was kind of fun to see the effect she was having on him. She fanned herself, trying to dispel some of the heat that was suddenly coming over her. “Sorry about that. I would have introduced you to those guys, but I can never remember their names.”

  He looked a little surprised for a split second but then laughed again. She echoed his side-to-side for a moment while pushing her hair off her face and shoulders. The House didn’t have its thermostat set low enough. She was almost perspiring.

  “You want to take a break?” Jonathan asked, leaning down close again. She felt his hand on the small of her back. The heat in the room intensified immediately.

  “Yeah. Let’s get some water,” she said.

  He led her back toward the bar very chivalrously, then ordered them each another drink and a bottle of water. They leaned against the bar for a while to rest.

  “So how do you like it here? Is the DJ good?” he said as loudly as he politely could. She moved closer to him so they wouldn’t have to shout.

  “It’s awesome. I’m glad you brought me.”

  “I’m glad you like it.” He looked down at his beer. It almost looked as though he were blushing. Jessica thought it was cute, the way he’d gotten shy all of a sudden.

  “You know . . . ,” he said. “I’m glad you’re here with me. At first I thought you wouldn’t be.”

  She could barely hear him over the music and the crowd. Cupping her hand over her mouth and pointing it up at his ear, she said, “Why’s that?”

  “You’re probably going to laugh at me, but I was kind of ne
rvous when I called you to have coffee that first time.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “You didn’t seem too interested in me when we met at your sister’s, I guess. I was worried that you were way out of my league.”

  “You were?”

  He nodded sheepishly. “But I had to try anyway. Even if you shot me down, I didn’t want to kick myself later for not taking the chance.”

  Now it was her turn to look down at her drink and blush. This was a side of him she hadn’t expected to see. Here he was, Mr. Smooth Businessman, admitting that she had made him nervous. When all this time she’d been worried that he was out of her league, because of his job and his money.

  Jessica couldn’t help feeling flattered. She let that feeling ripple through her for a moment. Then she decided to put his mind at ease. With a smile, she said, “You’re so silly. I’m glad you did take the chance.” And, she realized at that moment, she really was. Jonathan was the best thing that had happened to her in a long time. “Now hurry up and finish your drink. We’re letting good music go to waste.”

  They stayed until the club closed at two. She was still torso dancing, just a little, in the leather passenger seat of his Audi as Jonathan drove her home.

  “Now that I know for sure what you like, I’ll keep an eye out for more house DJs coming to town.” He sounded very serious to Jessica, as though he were making a mental note of something important he had to do. She laughed at that thought.

  “They don’t have to be house DJs. I’ll dance to anything, really. With a good beat, I mean.”

  He was watching the road so carefully, it seemed to her all of a sudden. Maybe so that he wouldn’t look as if he were driving drunk?

  Then again, he’d had only beer, so he most likely wasn’t driving drunk.

  Good thing he was the one driving, then. She’d had all those crazy apple martinis. And she was little, compared with him, so . . . It’d be safest if she just stayed in the passenger seat and didn’t drive. Instead, she’d just dance, very quietly, on the inside of her body only, so as not to distract him. She tried to do that and then laughed again.