A Dreamer's Today

by E. L. R. Jones

  She was walking around on the beach that day and stopped to see what all the commotion was on the other side of the beach. They’d closed a portion of the beach off. She didn’t know that they were shooting a movie there. She would’ve cursed more on her drive over. She hated when they shut down so much of an area for the length of time that they did, which was usually anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months. She was heading to the concession stand. She was waiting for her food when one of his assistants at the time came by and placed an order for him. The cook stopped making her order and began making Brad’s. This infuriated her. She screamed at the cook for making her wait longer for her one item to hurry and create some famous person’s order that was twice what she wanted. He apologized and gave the excuse that Brad was a V.I.P. She proceeded to say how much she truly didn’t care and that she paid first so her order should be completed first. The assistant began to sweat because during this time the preparation of Brad’s meal had ceased. They argued some more and the assistant tried to calm her, but she wasn’t having it. She guessed they had been at it for quite some time because there he stood before her asking his assistant what was taking so long. His assistant explained the situation and began to apologize to her.

  She evidently forgot how to speak or at least be cordial. She huffed some profanity and asked for her money back. Brad looked at her. He looked incredulous and then began to smile. He told the cook to prepare her order and he would pay for it and then prepare what his assistant had ordered. She must’ve looked as she felt which was deflated and flabbergasted. She began to speak, but he did before she could. “It’s the least I could do. Besides you don’t seem like the type who plays when dealing with being wronged,” he said with a bit of a smirk.

  “I’m not, but you really didn’t need to do that. I wouldn’t want you to think that a way to get at me was by throwing some money at a situation.” She spoke before she even thought about what she was saying.

  Was I flirting with the big time movie star? Oh my God! She wanted to just melt into a crack in the ground. He flashed her one of those looks and smiles that just said “You’ve got my undivided attention.” Just then her order came up and someone from the set was calling for him to return. Before he could turn and respond she slid out of sight. She had almost made it to her car by the time his assistant caught up with her. He told her that Brad wanted to meet her later if she wasn’t busy and gave her his cell number and the number to his Brad’s suite. She was shocked.

  She waited about 4 hours before she called his cell. It went straight to voicemail. It took her another hour before she got up the courage to call Brad’s hotel number. He picked up on the second ring.

  “Hello,” a brooding, deep, masculine voice said.

  “Hi. It’s me. The morality policewoman from the beach concession stand.” Why she felt the need to say all of that, she didn’t know.

  “Hi. Thanks for calling me. I figured it was a long shot with the way you coolly slid away and all.”

  “I didn’t slide. I walked.”

  He laughed one of those laughs that just calms every nerve in your body. “Are you busy now? I was about to have some dinner sent up and would really enjoy having some company.”

  “I bet,” she let slip. The words were out before she could catch herself. “Sorry. I’m a little…uhm…it’s a really weird feeling knowing that I am talking to you, Brad Waters. I mean you are famous and I feel like I’m dreaming or something.” What in the hell was she saying? Why was she even speaking?

  “I could see how that could be an issue. I am just a guy though. I just so happen to be on some billboards and some calendars in women’s homes. A lot of them know what I look like in my undies, but that is just my day job.”

  She giggled. “It’s one hell of a day job. I have to say that I am one of those women who has the calendar.”

  “So, would you like to come over and get to know the man behind the ads? I could send a car for you.”

  “Uhm,” she hesitated. Why was this so hard for her to do? “Okay. I have to change though. I’m in my sweats.”

  “Don’t get too formal. It’s just a casual meal.”

  They hung up and a half hour later, she was in his presence. They ate and talked more. They watched one of his movies, which he said that he usually didn’t do, but enjoyed doing so with her. They fell asleep on the next movie. She woke before he did. She slid out the door and left a note with the concierge. She left him her number, but didn’t believe he would call her. It was all so surreal

  He did call and they dated for about 6 months before they married in a quaint ceremony on the beach where they first met. Within a year, they had Brad Jr. and two years later they had Melanie and Mitchell. Wow, she couldn’t believe it had been 6 years already. B.J. was about to be 5 and the twins-3. Now she was 6 weeks pregnant with Greg’s baby.

  She’d known Greg for about 9 years. They dated for a year, but were good friends for a year before then. They met at a work function. Her job not his. He was there with one of her co-workers. Gillian and Greg weren’t an item, but she wanted them to be. He said that she wasn’t his type. Gillian was rail thin like a supermodel. Small breasts, barely there butt, and light brown hair (highlighted of course). She would fit right in to the Hollywood personification of what the perfect woman looked like. She worked hard at keeping that build as well. She would do anything to keep the perfect bone structure and those pouty lips. Gillian and Day’ja were really good friends, but she always felt like the ugly one when she was around her. That was until Greg chose to be with her and not Gillian. He said that he enjoyed a woman that looked like she enjoyed a meal or two. She knew it seemed harsh and cruel, but he meant it as a compliment to her. Truth be told, he enjoyed all of her meals both in and out of the bedroom. They hit it off immediately. Much to Gillian’s chagrin. She wanted Day’ja to like him, but only enough for them to get along while she dated him. He saw it differently. They all hung out, a lot. Greg would bring his friend Clark around trying to entice Gillian away from him so that he could get closer to Day’ja. She knows this now, but was clueless then. Gillian took the bait. Clark was built like a body builder and had the face of a model. His ginger complexion was a gorgeous compliment to Gillian’s mocha one. They hit it off and after a while it was Greg who?. Greg took his time asking Day’ja if she was interested in him. As she said, they were friends for a year before they dated.

  “Day, do you think I’m a good guy?”

  “Greg, you know I do. Why are you asking?” The conversation came out of the blue. She didn’t know what to expect from the way his voice kept trailing off.

  “Do you see…would you be…uhm?”

  “Gregory Darnell Mabins, what is going on with you? Why are you so, so at a loss for words? That is so not like you?”

  “I don’t want to mess this up. Why you did you have to go and use my full name Day’ja Renee Coleman? Look, I like, actually I’m lying! I’m in love with you. I have been for quite some time. I have been wanting to be with you for a while now, but didn’t know how to approach you.”

  “Wow!”

  “Is that all you have to say? I just…”

  “Greg, wait! I…it’s a lot to take in, that’s all. I really had no clue that you felt this way. I have always been attracted to you. I wondered what it would be like to date you but I figured you and Gillian would be an item. Not you and me.”

  “I have wanted to be with you since the day we met and have been working towards that all of this time.”

  They talked on the phone for what seemed like hours that night. They hung out the next day and just about every day after that. They were pretty much always together until the day she asked him where he saw the relationship going. He told her that he enjoyed them being the way that they were. At 29, she wanted more. She was ready to start a family. She was ready to move on to the next step. She knew that she was in love with Greg and could see them spending the rest of their lives together. He wasn’
t ready for that. He was comfortable with the relationship as it was. She began to make herself unavailable to him by not returning phone calls and saying that she was busy with work when she did answer. Eventually he gave up trying to reach her. She met Brad the following year.

  So how did she end up in a hotel room with Greg and not Brad? It started about 6 weeks ago, obviously. She was in Chicago at a sporting goods store looking around. She used to ride motorcycles and was thinking of doing it again since her kids were getting older. Her kids were with their grandparents and she had a two-week vaca from being mommy. Brad was in England doing a movie. He’d been gone for a month already and she was just about to lose her mind. She thought she would fly there and surprise him, but thought better of it. He was always so busy on set when she did visit. She felt like his well-kept secret and concubine when she was there. No one but his assistant and close friends and family knew that they were married. To the world he was dating Jasmine Taylor. This beautiful, brunette, beach bombshell type. They had been “dating” for about 3 years. She went along with it so that her family didn’t have to deal with the cameras and nosey paparazzi. They agreed that this was the best solution. Although it bothered her periodically, actually quite a bit, seeing them together. Well, he and his publicist stated and she’d agreed, against her better judgment. They were in the limelight and she sat in the background stealing moments with her husband.

  She was looking at a helmet and thinking about the design that she would put on it. As she made her way to the gloves and jackets, she heard it. The voice that still sent chills up her spine. His baritone and musical rhythm could be recognized even without her eyes resting on him.

  “Hello beautiful.”

  “Hey handsome.” Why was it so easy for them to fall back into that same old rhythm?

  “Long time no see, Day. How have you been?”

  “Good and yourself. Looking good. Lost a bit of that bear gut, huh?”

  “Yeah, I did. But damn girl, you’re lookin’ good as eva!”

  “Whateva bum! You’s a lie!” She turned and continued her journey toward the jackets.

  “No I’m not. From where I’m standing beauty and sex…I mean sexy is all I see and the view is spectacular.”

  “You need to stop it.” She giggled. “What you see is a married woman who has given birth twice to three children.”

  “That’s right. I did hear that you got married. I wasn’t invited to the wedding. What’s up wit dat? And where is your husband exactly?”

  “My husband is out of the country right now. I am home for a little while and my kids are spending some time with their grandparents, if that was your next question. As far as the wedding goes, there weren’t a lot of people there.”

  “Eloped? Justice of the Peace? Vegas?” He’d crept in closer to her pretending to reach for some gloves above her head.

  “No, none of the above.” She slid out from under his reach just in time to catch a glimpse of his eyes undressing her, which sent her mind into a freefall of their last time together.

  “What are you doing in town? And why are you here at my favorite store?”

  Damn! She forgot that he was the reason that she even knew the place existed. “Uhm…I just needed to get away from California for a while and I am thinking about riding again. I haven’t done it in a while,” she stated, trying to collect herself again.

  “Since the last time we went?”

  “No, actually…well wait. I guess so. I didn’t realize that was the last time.”

  “Hmm, that was a fun day, wasn’t it?”

  “It was. It was a very eventful day. A very satisfying one as well, if I remember correctly.”

  “It truly was. There was quite a bit of riding that day.”

  “Greg, stop it!” she pulled herself away from his gaze. “I am married and I can tell that you are trying to take this somewhere where it most definitely cannot go.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I am not alone in my quest. You were going with me for a minute there. So where can I reach you?”

  “Uhm, you can’t. I am not going there. I will not open that can of worms.”

  “Ooh. A woman who sticks to her morals. Well, I will leave you to your shopping. It was nice seeing you again.”

  “You too, Greg. Really it was,” she said as she watched him walk away. Whew, she thought. Dodged that bullet.

  Her cell phone rang as she finished paying for her purchases.

  “Hey sexy.”

  “Greg, how did you get this number?”

  “I overheard you when you gave it to the cashier.”

  “Greg, you are strange. I thought that you left. I didn’t even notice you lurking around the area still.”

  “I couldn’t just let you slide out of town without us getting a real chance to talk. I was going to try and get in touch with your mother and see if she would give me the number. I really want to have you…have dinner with you.”

  “Yeah. Okay. I don’t think so. I know what you’re after, remember. I saw you and the wolf looking at the steak glare you had going.”

  “Day, really I just want to talk.”

  “Greg, we really don’t need to…I gotta go. My other line is beeping in. Bye.”

  She clicked over before he could protest. She sat down on a bench outside to wait for her driver to arrive. Her husband hated her driving around big cities by herself, so he always arranged for a car service when he knew she was traveling. It was her distraught and distracted husband on the other end.

  “Hey baby. How are you? I miss you so…what’s up?” His exhalation caused her to stop her sentiments of missing him and waiting for him to get back.

  “Something happened.”

  “Okay, what happened? It must’ve been something serious considering your tone.”

  “It is and I really don’t know how to say it.”

  “So why not just say it and get it over with? It would be much easier than the suspenseful statements you’ve got…”

  “I screwed somebody else last night.”

  “…going. What?! Wait a minute. Did I hear you correctly?”

  “Depends?”

  “Depends, my ass. What the…how the hell could you deliver some news like this over the phone and then try and make light of it?”

  “I’m not trying to do that at all. That isn’t it at all. Baby, I was ju…”

  She hung up. Her phone instantly rang. It was a foreign number.

  “Hello!” she must’ve spoken the word with all of the fury and uncertainty she was feeling in that moment.

  “Whoa, sexy lady. What’s up?”

  “Greg?! I’m sorry. What…were you holding the line?”

  “Yeah, I saw you sit down and couldn’t pull myself away from watching you.”

  “You’re still here?”

  “Uhm…yeah. Sorry, I seem kinda…”

  “Where? Where are you?”

  “Blue motorcycle to your right.”

  “Be there in a minute.” She saw her car pull up. “Can you take these back to my hotel suite? I’ll call you later when I am ready to be picked up,” she told her driver.

  She walked over to Greg’s bike and asked for a helmet. He looked at her puzzled, but excited all at the same time. They rode for a while. He pulled off to the side of a rode and asked her where they should go for dinner. She told him that she wanted to see his place. They went there, but he was having work done on the house. It was too busy for her taste. She told him that they could head to her hotel suite. Her phone rang repeatedly that evening. Mostly with calls from Brad. She didn’t care. She wanted to feel something other than the betrayal she felt after hearing ‘I screwed somebody else last night.’ She wanted to feel sexy, cared for, and wanted. Greg was more than happy to oblige. They had sex in just about every corner of that suite. The first time was just purely animalistic. She attacked him when they walked through the suite doors. He’d barely crossed the threshold of the doorway. Every time after that was her trying
to compete with the inner battle going on between her heart and mind. She just focused all of her energy on getting to the pinnacle of pleasure, repeatedly. She kept going until she was too exhausted to think of anything else but sleep. By that time it was 5 am.

  The incessant knocking on the door woke her. She forgot that she requested breakfast by ten and it seemed the bellboy didn’t want to miss out on the tips that he had grown accustom to over that past week. She got the door, the food was brought in, and she placed an order for Greg. The bellboy obliged. She went to the bathroom and freshened up. When she returned Greg was stirring. She didn’t know what it was, but having him there, in that bed made her feel better and seeing that he was up in more ways than one made her ready for another romp. It was over quickly. He was still tired from the night into morning before. So they decided he would shower and they would eat. His food was delivered by the time he finished with his shower.

  “So, what changed your mind? Not that I’m complaining. But you were adamant about not going there with me, then something changed and I just had one of the best nights that I have had in quite some time.”

  “Nothing really. You know how much I crave sex. The fact that you were there and willing was an added bonus.”

  “First off, nice try. Second, yeah I do know how much you crave sex. I also know you well enough to know when you are hiding something. I know it has to be big if you are willing to open that can of worms that you didn’t want to open when we were in the store.”

  The tears began to fall and before she knew it, it all came out. He held her and wiped her tears way. He apologized on behalf of all of the assholes out there. He said maybe it was a momentary lapse in judgment. She told him that she had talked to him while he was in the shower and found out that it was with the Jasmine chick and had to explain who the Jasmine chick was. He sat quietly for a moment and then he kissed her.

  They made love all that week. They stayed at her suite for a couple days and then they went out to a couple places. She called and spoke with her kids, but refused to call Brad. She talked to Gillian who said that she should just walk away. Greg never gave his opinion. He just listened to her drone on about nothing and was there when she needed to release some pressure. He said nothing until the day she was to return home. They couldn’t get enough of each other that day. They knew that it was going to have to end. No place was safe: the suite, the elevator, restaurant restroom, his motorcycle, and finally the back seat of her driver’s car. He convinced her to delay her flight from a morning flight to an evening one. Her kids returned to the house with their grandparents, the day before. She told them she would meet them there. After the motorcycle romp, he wanted to take her some place.