The couples that look like they are just starting out are what my eyes are continually drawn to. Most seem so in love and are still touching and kissing each other. They are usually walking and holding hands or holding each other’s waist. I envy them, because I have never had that.
I continue my scanning of more interesting people to watch, when my eyes land on a man who looks to be down on his luck.
This guy is wearing a dirty red and black flannel shirt unbuttoned, his gray undershirt is stained with what looks like grease and dirt. His black sweat pants are white at the knees and torn around the ankles.
My first thought is that he’s homeless and that he looks angry.
But why does he have a cell phone? Okay...maybe he stole it from someone?
He’s pacing back and forth with the cell phone in his hand, his head down and his long, dark hair frames his face. I silently wish he would look up, so I can see his features, because they look liked they are covered by a beard.
Two men in black business suits walk out of the building near him and approach him. They stop right before they reach him.
Are they here to tell him to leave the building’s premises?
He abruptly stops his pacing and lifts his head to meet the two men. One of the men’s shoulders immediately slouches and he takes a step back. The other guy holds himself upright, but I notice his body goes rigid. It is as if he is preparing for a fight.
The homeless man runs his fingers through his hair to move it out of his face.
My God, he’s devastatingly gorgeous.
I force myself to take a long, staggering breath as I watch him move his hands around in front of him, while talking to the two men. No one talks back. They just kept nodding their heads in agreement.
He owns them, it is almost as if they are his minions.
I smile a little at the thought.
My smile drops when he turns with murderous rage in his eyes and looks directly at me. I know I should look away, but I don’t. I stand frozen in place, with my mouth slightly open staring back at him.
He turns back to the two men, he tells them something and they both turn around to head back into the building. He returns his gaze back to me, the murderous glare no longer present on his face. He then does something that takes my breath away. He gives me a shy smile.
He takes a step in my direction as the bus pulls in front of me along the curb. Everything inside of me tells me to stay and wait for him. But the coward that I am now, rushes to the bus door and climbs the steps to get to my seat. I feel his eyes on me as I walk down the aisle of the bus. I sit down and turn my head to face the window that is away from him and let out a deep sigh.
Walking into the front door, I hear voices coming from the living room. My other roommates are here. I set my backpack on the kitchen table and walk over to them. They are all sitting down on the sectional. Lola glances over at me and smiles.
“Hi, Angel. This is Aubrey,” She points to a stunningly beautiful girl with dark blonde hair. “This is Zoe,” She points to a carbon copy of Aubrey. I feel like Miss Plain Jane next to them.
Both girls give me a warm hug.
“We are going to have so much fun!” Aubrey exclaims. “You chose the right place to live.”
Zoe nods with agreement.
“Come here let’s talk, well more like gossip,” Aubrey says, while she pulls my hand to the couch.
“Okay, where were we on our gossip,” Aubrey looks up thinking about where she stopped at. “Oh, yeah, how can I forget about sexy Liam?”
“Liam’s Aubrey’s boyfriend,” Lola catches me up to the topic of conversation.
“Oh,” I say
“Oh. My. God,” Aubrey starts. “Liam is the most amazing man ever. On our one month anniversary, he took me to Bora, fucking Bora.” She looks directly at me to catch my reaction to her story. I stare back at her blankly, not sure if she wants a reaction from me or not. She shrugs and looks away to the other girls. From my peripheral vision, I see Lola’s head bent down and she’s smiling.
“So…have you and Liam gone anywhere else?” I ask to break the tension that has commenced into the room.
“No…but we do go out on dates every weekend. He’s just so busy now.”
“Well, I hope you two can get away again,” I tell her.
I hope I sounded sincere.
“I do too,” Aubrey smiles and she is back to her happy, go-lucky personality. “Well, Angel, we are going to Conti’s nightclub this Friday. It’s going to be epic! You have to come with us.”
“Is Lola going?” I ask.
“Yes!” They say in unison.
“Okay, count me in.” I smile.
“Yay!” They say in unison again.
We broke into a fit of giggles.
After our clubbing plans were sorted and planned, Aubrey, and Zoe left the living room to study in their own rooms. Lola and I decided to study out in the living room together.
“Aubrey and Zoe looks related,” I state.
“They are, cousins and they are best friends,” Lola says.
“They seem nice,” I finish.
Lola laughs and shakes her head while she is looking down at her text book.
“What?” I ask laughing, because she is laughing.
“Aubrey and Zoe…watch out for them. They have a bubbly personality up front, but if you cross them, they will cut a bitch.” Lola swipes her hand in front of her throat with her fist to legitimize her statement.
I stare at her incredulously.
Lola looks up from her text book and laughs when she sees my expression.
“It’s true, just keep them happy and bitch to me,” Lola says.
“Thanks Lola. Thank you for being so nice to me,” I say, sincerely.
After my Dad passed away, my friends turned their backs on me and Lola is the first person in two years that is kind to me.
“No problemo, where’s your phone?” She holds out her hand.
I retrieved my phone from my backpack and hand it over to her. She looks at it and hands it back to me.
“There’s twenty missed call from Mom, you should call her back.” She says.
I glance briefly at my phone and push it back at her. “I can call her back later.”
Lola shrugs and clears out the screen. She starts poking the screen of my phone and hands it back to me when she was done.
“I added my number to your phone. Call me, text me, whenever you need me, okay?”
I nod. “Okay, I’m getting tired. I think I’m going to go take a shower and go to bed.”
I had to excuse myself from Lola. I didn’t want her to start asking about my family. How do you tell someone you just met, your family hates you?
My phone chirps as I walk into my room.
The word Mom flashes green on my screen. I drop my phone like it’s hot burning coal.
The next day when I get to the lecture hall, my second class of the day, there is Kevin, standing conspicuously by the door.
Great.
“Well, well…look what we have here,” Kevin says, while looking me up and down.
“Do you have a problem with the way I’m dressed today?” I snap
“No…actually…I like how you are dressed, it makes you look approachable and maybe even nice,” Kevin teases.
Kevin didn’t know that I had stopped at a shoe store to get a pair of Chuck Taylors and that my heels are in my backpack. When I got to school, I headed directly to the campus store to look for a cute shirt with the logo UMN on it. My blouse is also in my backpack. I tug on the hem of my ¾ sleeve, v-neck shirt to look at the logo. I have to admit I look pretty cute in my new ensemble.
Back home, I had to dress up all the time. It was the way of life. I grew up being expected to dress impeccably. The society my parents were associated with looked down upon anyone that did not dress a certain way or fit in their uppity world. A bunch of shallow nitwits that had money to back up the way they treated people. No one
dared to go against anything they did. I was one of them.
“Are you ready to go in?” Kevin asked with a smirk on his face. He’s watching me, admiring my new look. I stop checking myself out and my face turns a slight shade of pink. I am embarrassed that he was noticing what I was doing.
“Yeah…sure,” I say not meeting his eyes.
“Don’t be embarrassed, it’s okay to check yourself out from time to time, just not when you have people around,” Kevin laughs.
I walk away, open the door to the auditorium, and move inside, without waiting for him. Kevin follows me to the seat I choose and sits his butt down right next to me. My death glare does not deter him.
Just like the day before, I try to leave as fast as I can to get away from Kevin. No such luck this time he was hot on my heels again.
“Why are you always leaving in such a hurry?” Kevin asks when he was finally next to me.
“I want to get to my next class and it’s another lab, and you know me…I want to pick out my lab partner.”
“What class is it?”
“Physiology.”
“You are probably going to hate your life after I tell you this…but I’m in that class too.” Kevin covers his mouth with his fist to stop his laughter.
“Ugh,” I sigh and walk a little faster to get away from him.
“Did you want to study together? Maybe we can pick a day out of the week to meet up?” Kevin catches up to me; he’s now walking beside me again.
“No, I don’t think I have time to meet with you.” I lie.
“Angel, don’t be an idiot and not study at all, you won’t pass the class. There’s a lot of info that you have to absorb into your brain before the quizzes and tests.”
Idiot.
My Mom’s favorite word to call me.
I inwardly cringe.
“Don’t worry about me.” I snap.
Kevin holds up his hands in defeat. “Fine, do what you want. I’m just trying to help you.”
He walks away leaving me in the dust.
This time when class lets out Kevin leaves before I even get the chance.
I watch him walk away, and push the building door open with both hands. I follow him out the door, he turns right onto the walkway. I walk left to the bridge.
The moment I get to the bus stop, I noticed the homeless man again right away. He was standing with his hands in the back pockets of his jeans, talking to the same two guys in their impeccably tailored business suits. He was dressed nicely today. He had on a blue polo shirt and lightly destroyed fitted jeans. His hair was styled and cut short, but still had the tousled look. My breath quickens at the thought of how sexy he looks right now. He’s not sporting a beard anymore but he has light stubbles framing his face. Stubbles I really want to run my hands over.
He turns away from the two guys and finds my eyes again. He turns back to the two men and tells them something before he makes his way across the street to me. I am frozen in my spot.
“Hi,” He smiles shyly, when he reaches me and is standing directly in front of me, a little too close for comfort.
“Hi,” I choke out, looking up at him. He’s a foot taller than me and I’m straining my neck to look at him.
Why is he standing so close to me?
“Why didn’t you wait for me to talk to you?” He asks.
“I…don’t know” I stammer.
He cocks his head to the side and studies me. My face flushes.
I am in big trouble.
His dark eyes forces its way into my soul and I let him in, there’s no way I can fight him. We stare, lost in each other, no one dares to move. Then he blinks and breaks the spell. I come back to reality with a gasp.
And, then he speaks.
“I was fixing my car…well restoring it, actually. And I can get pretty messy at times. The clothing I wore is what I normally wear when I’m on vacation and getting dirty. Yesterday was one of the messier days and I got a call from the office letting me know there had been an emergency, so I didn’t even think of changing, I was too much in the moment.” He tells me his story without breaking eye contact with me.
“I hope I didn’t scare you.” He continues.
“You didn’t scare me.” I whisper.
He smiles sheepishly and steps closer. I take a step back and at the same time, his hand comes up to lightly grab my arm. We both drop our eyes to his hand resting on my arm, and he releases me immediately.
He runs his hand down his face. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.” He finds my eyes again, and his face is filled with sincerity.
I’m speechless. The electric sensation that is still pulsing on my skin from just the simple touch of his fingers is overwhelming. When the words wouldn’t come out from my mouth after we stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like forever. I turned away, embarrassed.
“Did I just ruin everything for us?” He ask, his voice low.
I shake my head, and turn my attention back to him and smile.
His smile is back. It is a very sexy smile and that makes him utterly, irresistibly, handsome. It makes me want to do anything he might ask of me, right here, right now.
My face flushes crimson, but my body feels so hot too. I’m pretty sure I’m blushing everywhere.
At that precise moment, my bus decides to make its appearance, right in front of us, breaking me from my trance. He stares at it with a frown.
“So…my ride is here…” I tell him, hoping that I sounded less disappointed than I really was.
“Let me take you home…you shouldn’t be riding the bus…” He takes a step closer to me again, blocking my way to the bus.
“Thank you for offering, but I’m fine on the bus.” I give him my most reassuring smile.
He doesn’t say anything back as he studies the bus and everyone that is climbing on. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a card.
“This is my business card, and my cell number is on there as well. If you run into any trouble at all, please promise me you will call me right away?” He hands me the card.
I take the card from him and examine it, reading the front and back. “Roman Conti, CEO of Conti Investments.” I repeat what’s on the card out loud.
Roman chuckles nervously. “That’s me, and since you now know my name, may I ask for yours?”
“Hey are you getting on this bus?” The bus driver yells from his seat.
“Yes, I’m so sorry.” I rush over to the bus.
Before I take my first step to climb onto the bus, I turn back to Roman. “My name is Angel and I promise to call you if I run into any trouble.” I wink at him and wave.
This time I sit near a window that allows him to see me and I feel his eyes on me like I had the previous day all the way down the street.
I could still feel his fingers on my skin even after a thirty minute bus ride. That electric sensation that I felt on my arm was still there as well. It was like his touch was embedded on my arm. I rub my hand over the spot where his fingers had been in a gentle like caress and I immediately drop my hand. I shake my head; angry at the reaction I am having over a complete stranger.
As soon as I get home, I open the door to find Lola sitting on the living room floor doing her homework on the coffee table. She looks up and smiles. Her smiles are always so genuine, and so full of niceness. I smile back.
“Hey girl how was school?” She asks.
I walk over to the couch and fall into it with a sigh.
“That bad…huh?” She laughs.
I nod and giggle. Lola gets up and goes into the kitchen.
“Do you want some pop?” She asks when she opens the door to the fridge.
“What’s that?”
She turns slowly back to face me. Lola looks at me like I had just grown another head. I knit my brows in question. We stare at each other for a moment. No one wanted to say anything first. Lola decides to give in.
“It’s a carbonated, high fructose corn syrup drink. It burn
s your throat more than vodka.” She answers with laugh.
“I’ll take one?” I hesitate. I am not sure if I should take one or not. It sounds a little dangerous. She pulls out two cans of pop and walks back to me. When she reaches the couch I am sitting on, she hands me a can of Pepsi. I grab the can and burst out laughing. I have to lie on the couch in order to catch my breath from laughing so hard. She is standing over me with narrowed eyes.
“We call pop, soda in California!” I exclaim still trying to catch my breath from laughing. I finally pull myself up into a sitting position so she can sit down next to me.
Lola pops open her can of soda and takes a drink. She sits down next to me and glances over.
“Californians are weird,”
“No, we are not, you guys are,” I say pointing to her with a teasing smirk on my face.
“I’ve never been to California,” Lola says with what sounds like sadness in her voice.
“Sweetie, everyone has been to California, why haven’t you?” I say popping the lid on my soda.
“I’m a broke college student,” Lola explains, sadly.
“I promise to take you someday, okay? Maybe when the weather gets really bad here, we can fly to sunny California.”
“Thank you, but I don’t think I will have the money to go.” She shrugs.
“If I tell you the trip will be on me, will you promise to go with me to California?”
“I don’t want to be a burden on you, plus that’s a lot of money to spend on little ole me.” She says and sets her can down on the coffee table.
The mood between us turns somber and we both fall back onto the couch.
Aubrey and Zoe walk in the door a moment later.
“Hi,” Lola and I say in unison.
Aubrey and Zoe walk over to us, both of them crash in the living room with us. Aubrey takes the chaise lounge again and Zoe sits on the couch with Lola and me.
“I guess everyone had a rough day,” Lola says laughing.
Aubrey and Zoe passed a look between each other.
Lola and I look at each other, and wondered what is going on with these two?
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