Opening the Door

by Michael Roberts

  When I asked if Rico would be at Heaven for security she gave me a sly look and said there was somebody else who was going to meet us there but she wouldn’t elaborate. Each girl planned to tip me nicely to take care of their things like I did at Blackies in Ivor so that is always good. Plus I have been too busy to spend much time with her and I miss our hanging around together. I thought it would be an interesting evening.

  Dave was supposed to come by when he got off work so I went home soon and watched Netflix until he showed up. He still hasn’t asked me directly about moving to Wilmington, or even said when he would be going. This is definitely what people call a ‘friends with benefits’ type of relationship.

  Supposedly all some women want is a man who will marry her so she can spend the rest of her life as a happy little house wife. Popping out a new rug rat every year or two. Personally all I want is for some hot passionate man with ripped abs to push me up against the wall. Lean in to nibble on my ear and whisper “I’ll cook and do your house work.” I think that would be the perfect man.

  The next night Ann and I picked the other two dancers up from an apartment on Cunningham Drive. They have all worked together before but not in a while. I was driving while Ann turned half way in her seat to go over which routines they would do and in what order. The directions to get to the club were simple, finding parking was not. Even the side streets were packed. One of the women asked me to pull up front while she ran in and talked to someone. A large, stern looking woman came out and moved the orange cones that had been blocking the parking space by the bouncer’s door. Then she motioned me to pull in there and park.

  Her name was Sheila and her accent was foreign to me. She was our security for the evening. When we walked inside I could tell she was probably the closest thing to a male in the building. It took less than a second for all of this to sink in. I turned to look at Ann and she wildly grinned saying “Oh, didn’t I tell you? This club is for ladies only.”

  Sometimes I don’t know which is worse. Beverly with her little smiles, or Ann with that crazy look she gets in her eyes when she’s having fun.

  The set up for most of these places is about the same. I noticed that Ann had fun introducing me as her ‘girlfriend’. The only difference here was that this changing room wasn’t right by the stage. The women had to walk through a crowd to go back and forth. That is where Sheila came in as security. She may not have been the largest woman there, but nobody seemed to want to stand in her way. I know I wouldn’t.

  The female crowds react differently than the men. They tip different, they try to lightly stroke the women’s thighs instead of just grabbing them in inappropriate places. How they look at them is different too. They all want the same thing but seem to go about it in a different way.

  One of the waitresses brought me over a drink from someone which surprised me. (Too bad I like guys so much.) I told her politely that “since I was working I only drink water.” I also did the small smile, shoulder shrug thing so no one’s feelings were hurt. Definitely a much more polite clientele.

  There were hoots and hollering here too, especially as the night wore on. Not as loud as the straight clubs. This was my first gay bar so I don’t have anything to compare it to but I think they meant it more, versus just trying to make some noise to impress their friends.

  Finally the night was over and as soon as the other two women were dropped off I turned to Ann and said “You owe me for this.”

  She tried to feign innocence asking “Oh I’m sorry. I thought the other girls tipped you already.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  She tried to put on a southern belle type of accent “Why, I do declare. I am afraid I have no idea what you are talking about sir!”

  “I am not a sir.”

  “Yes, you are.” Looking right at me and grinning.

  “Dave would beg to differ.”

  “He is just one person. However every woman at that club tonight thinks I am your bitch.”

  I almost choked “What…Why would they think that? We’re not gay and I am not even close to being any kind of butch and you know it.”

  “I know, but they all think you are.”

  “WHY!!!”

  “Because I told them that you were my daddy and that while you may look femme in the streets. You were definitely Butch in the sheets. That and the fact that you absolutely knew how to treat a lady in bed to keep her satisfied. I believe I even said that you knew how to make my head explode.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “We could go back there tomorrow and you could find out. A lot of the women loved your accent and would like to get to know you better. I know for a fact that Sheila thinks you’re cute.”

  “I don’t have an accent.” Trying desperately to change the subject.

  “Yes, you do.”

  I drove the rest of the way home without saying a word. Sometimes you have to know when you are not going to win at something. (And people say that my sense of humor is a little warped)

  * * *

  Sunday morning came too early the next day. That meant both coffee and studying. My friends think I study too much. I am desperate to do as well as possible in school and will do what I can to succeed.

  The boys and Ann came over sometime in the afternoon. They walked up to me and closed the book I was reading.

  ‘WTF’…. I just looked at them.

  It was obvious who the ring leader for all this was. They were all grinning and looking at me when Ann spoke up. “We’re all going out. Do you want to come as you are, or do you want to change?”

  Currently I was dressed in some ratty shorts and a sports bra.

  “What if I say no?”

  “Then these guys will pick you up and carry you out to the car. You are coming with us either way. The question is how you want to be dressed.” Ann was getting that crazy glint in her eyes again. I decided that discretion might be the better part of valor.

  “I need to take a shower.”

  “No you don’t.” She actually leaned over where I was sitting and took a big theatrical sniff. Really?

  “Shall I pick out something for you to wear?” She is still grinning. “You might need to put on some clean underwear.”

  Whoa! WTF is going on here?

  “Can you at least tell me where we are going?” I was delaying for time. Trying to see if there was any way I could physically get out of this. Maybe barricade myself in my room?

  “Wear something pretty. You know honey child, I think your white dress would be perfect.” I hate it when she begins putting on a fake southern accent and gushing like that. It means she is up to something.

  “Okay, I will be right out.” Barricading the door then jumping out the window looks like my best choice.

  Unfortunately at times Ann seems able to read my mind and walked into my room ahead of me. The boys still hadn’t said a word and were just standing there grinning.

  Dave is going to pay for this later.

  It turns out that we were going to a place called The Green Turtle for lunch and to meet someone. That someone was Rico’s new partner. When we got there Ann and I went to “freshen-up” in the ladies room. Which is mostly girl code for talk. I do not know how I am going to get her back for how she did this – but I know I will think of something.

  No one has ever met any of Rico’s partners before so this is a big deal for him. It also shows the level of trust he has in us. Suddenly I realize that Ann is as nervous about meeting this person as I am. After all what if we don’t like him? What if he doesn’t like us? If we clash how do we keep Rico from being hurt or stuck in the middle of everything? What if? What if? What if? There is just no preparing for something like this. Ann said the only thing to do in these situations is to ‘freshen your lipstick and blot.’ I only wear lip gloss but the principle is the same. />
  Our group was sitting in a large high backed booth. Dave got up so Ann and I could both slide in on his side, Rico’s friend had arrived while we were ‘freshening up’, and was sitting next to him on the other side of the table.

  The ‘friend’ was Marie from Mr. Wendell’s office. I don’t know which of us was more surprised. Me, her, or everyone else when it became apparent that we knew each other. She stood up. We gave each other a quick hug and once again she was wearing a set of earrings that I would die for.

  ‘This is good.’ I was thinking to myself. ‘This is perfect.’

  I told everybody that we met when I was covering for her so she could go on vacation. I suddenly had a chilling thought. ‘She does all the back ground and legwork for her boss.’ Oh crap. ‘She knows about the property deal I am trying to do.’ I looked at her and she must have read my mind.

  She smiled and said she had “Enjoyed meeting me when I was covering for her and that we should get together sometime for lunch or whatever.”

  Inside I breathed a big sigh of relief. I had always managed to keep the different people and parts of my life separate. Never had I imagined that they could come together like this.

  The rest of the afternoon went wonderfully. I would have liked to have some wine but I am still under the magical age of 21. (Who dreamed up that number as the cut off anyway?) Rico left with Marie while the three of us went home. Ann looked tired from last night and headed to her place to sleep. Dave and I chilled out. I waited about an hour and a half before I went over to Ann’s place and let myself in. Time for a little Karma. I sneaked in to her room like a Ninja and jumped in the air to plop down as hard as I could right next to her on the bed. Yelling out her name.

  Her eyes popped open and she jerked straight up. She was fighting off sleep and trying to make sense of everything at once.

  I smiled sweetly at her and said. “Sis, why did you say to wear clean underwear today?”

  “Wha…”

  “I was just wondering why you said to wear clean underwear today.”

  “You should always wear clean underwear. After all what happens if you get into an accident?”

  Then she rolled over and tried to get back to sleep.

  “Okay thanks sis, I was just checking.”

  I waited a minute. Then “Sleep tight.”

  Waited another minute “Sweet dreams.”

  She is lying there hoping I would go away and let her sleep “Get some rest.” I said, I can keep this up all afternoon “Just relax.”

  I ducked out of her room in time to dodge the pillow she threw. What is it with her and throwing pillows?

  When I got back home I was grinning from ear to ear. Dave asked if this was something he wanted to know about. I told him “No. You don’t. You really, really don’t. By the way, why are we both still dressed?”

  When he left later that evening I lay there looking at the ceiling. That one question was going around and around in my head. ‘Where do I go from here?’

  Chapter Eight

  I did fine in school. By fine I mean that I get straight A’s in everything. I tried to order the text books I would need for next semester, as well as the instructor’s guides that go with them but there was a problem.

  St. Leo’s requires students to take one class on philosophy and one on religion. There was no assigned instructors guide for the philosophy course. (How can they expect people to follow rules that aren’t written down?) Does this mean that any professor can choose one answer as correct while another can choose something different? Is that philosophy?

  Not impressed with this system.

  I skimmed through the assigned book on philosophy, even without an instructors guide. Most of the people who wrote it did not have a good grounding in what I consider to be ‘reality’. They were either born wealthy and didn’t have to work, or else they died poor and hungry.

  Fortunately for me Ben took this course from the same professor, last semester so he gave me the low down and let me have his class notes. These notes were in the form of a memory stick for the computer. This professor wouldn’t let students openly record his lectures, so Ben had surreptitiously recorded them onto his phone. Then he downloaded them from his phone to a computer. I guess majoring in computers has some unexpected benefits.

  Ben promised to teach me how to do the same thing. I guess Beverly was right as usual. Her idea of making different contacts is already paying off.

  Thanks to global warming the weather was hotter than usual this time of year. Unfortunately winter is now truly here and snow with it. I hate winter. I hate ice. I hate everything about it. Except for Christmas.

  I began recording our Monday morning conferences. I brought a phone into the meetings and laid it on the table like it was no big deal. (No one noticed.)

  No one except Beverly of course. She called me into her office the second time I did it and asked why I brought my phone into the room on Mondays, but didn’t carry it anywhere else. I explained that sometimes they used terms that I either was not familiar with, or could not reconcile with what I thought I knew. After the meetings I would play everything back in private so I could look up the things I didn’t know.

  I am not sure if she was impressed or amused but she did say I could keep doing it, but only at the group meetings. I was never to record a client meeting without her express orders. Doing this has helped me put things in context that I might otherwise have glossed over and forgotten. I still don’t know where I am heading but the Accounting/Finance field will be the one to get me there and I intend to be the best at what I do.

  Finally this semester is over. That means I have a week off until classes start again. I have time to get ahead of the power curve and get a jump start on my courses and try ordering the instructors guides. Ann thinks I am obsessive. This is the same woman who will work out or run twice a day. Not to mention taking care of a house full of plants that need watering or weeding or something.

  Of course, as always something had to go wrong with my plans but it wasn’t what I expected.

  This time it involved the water heater in Ann’s place. It gave up the ghost and died right when she was taking a shower after coming back from Planet Fitness. I looked out the window and saw her stomping over to my place wearing only a robe with a towel wrapped around her hair.

  While she was finishing her shower in my bathroom I went over to see what was wrong. I have no idea how to fix a water heater, but when I saw water dripping on the floor I knew enough to shut off the valves to her half of the unit. Unfortunately this means that everything was shut off, not just the water heater but the sink and toilet too. She was far from happy. So was I.

  Having to replace a water heater just before getting rid of these units was not fun to contemplate. I tried calling the night time number of a couple of places that were closed for the evenings and finally got in touch with ‘Don’s Plumbing and Repair’. He told me the cost for him to come out there at night to look at it was $300. I almost choked.

  I looked at Ann and said that tomorrow morning at nine would probably be better for all concerned. Thankfully Ann understood. We gathered some of her clothes and brought them to my place. Until this gets repaired it looks like I have a new roommate.

  I sent Beverly a text explaining why I needed to be home at nine in the morning to wait for the plumbers. She told me to stay home but asked if I would check on Bill later. I told her that if for some reason I couldn’t be there, Ann would be glad to see him. I knew he would be glad to see her with or without me.

  Don’s Plumbing guy was supposed to be here by nine but it was almost eleven before anybody showed up. He measured the space for a replacement and called around to see who had one this size in stock. Ours was an older model in a non-standard size that wasn’t made anymore and the only one semi-nearby was in Richmond. This was Tuesday and they couldn’t have it he
re before Thursday at the earliest. The cost for obtaining and installing it would be around $1,300.00.

  When he said this my heart skipped a beat. That was over two months’ rent from here. When I lowered the rent on the others I had lowered hers too of course. After all if I had to give a break to anyone on the rent it would be to her.

  Ann listened to this and wasn’t happy either. This girl likes long hot showers and is irritable when she can’t get one. I called Dave and told him what was going on and that he shouldn’t plan on sleeping over here for a couple of days.

  Later in the day when Ann and I were leaving to go see Bill Ann asked what I wanted for dinner. My reply of “Anything I don’t have to cook” did not go over very well with her. I guess that’s what I get for telling the truth.

  Like Beverly, sometimes Ann wants to make me her project. Her major objectives seem to be teaching me to cook and getting me to watch my language around others. Not sure what’s up with that but I try to go along to make her happy.

  * * *

  On the way to Bill’s place we stopped to get quick things for him to ‘nibble on’. Ann also selected a couple of bottles of Ensure ‘for seniors’, she is the only one who can get him to drink it. I think he has a crush on her. In World War II he was fighting the Japanese on a navy ship in the pacific and looking at pin-up pictures of pretty women he had on his wall. I guess once a sailor – always a sailor.

  We didn’t bring anything for him to notarize this time. He was happy for us just to come visit. When we told him about the plumbing situation he said that he was sorry that he couldn’t come over and fix it himself. I believe he would have too. When we were leaving Ann gave him a peck on the cheek and went out to the car. She was already making a shopping list in her head of groceries for us to buy before we went home.