He walked over to a chair and plopped down as Alex turned to look outside again. He daydreamed of him and Nicole walking on the beach, hand in hand, with their children running all around them. It was complete bliss radiating between them, and he was determined to make that scene a reality.
Jerry finally caught his breath, “Ok, first of all, there is no Pichael. The guy’s name is Michael. Secondly, it’s not even her boyfriend; it’s just her friend and the word is, she doesn’t really even care for him. Currently, she is single, and you know what that means?”
Alex's eyes widened with excitement, “It means I have a chance!” He yelled out to himself with a broad smile plastered on his face.
The smile slowly began to fade away as he thought to himself; if she is single, what would make her tell me she’s not? He walked over to his desk and grabbed the stress ball, squeezing it in his hands until the veins in his arms began popping out. He had to find a way to get her attention, and he could tell that neither his money nor his looks would be able to get him over the hump this time. He had to go above and beyond what it normally took to get a woman. He glanced at the picture of his Mom and Dad on his desk, imagining a picture of him and Nicole sitting right next to it. I’ve found her mom, he said to himself, squeezing the stress ball, even more; I found her. Alex Rawlings had his eyes fixed sternly on a future between him and Nicole, and he would stop at nothing until he saw it come to fruition.
Chapter 6: long day, long night
Nicole walked into her home and let her purse fall to the floor as soon as she stepped inside. She had a long day at work and most times, she just wanted to come home and see the motivation behind her reason for working so hard. Moments later, he walked around the corner and into the front room with a bowl of cereal in his hand. “Hey Mama,” he said with a stream of milk dripping from his chin. “Boy, if you waste that milk on my carpet, you will have to eat from a straw for the rest of your life! Get outta here!” she said as he laughed and went back into the kitchen.
The two of them had a solid relationship. She took care of him on her own ever since he turned four years old. Her mother helped out as much as she could when they lived back in Dayton, Ohio and without her, she wouldn’t have made it this far. She took care of him during the early years when she worked late hours on her second shift job. They both would miss Big Mama on their move to California but at his age now, he had proven that he could take care of himself for a few hours until his Mom got home from work. For an eleven-year-old, he was very mature for his age. Nicole plopped down on her brown leather couch and kicked her shoes off, resting them on the corner of the table. Her son came back into the front room and sat down next to her, glaring at her feet, “Mama, I thought you said we weren’t supposed to put our feet on the table.”
“No, I said you’re not supposed to put your feet on the table.”
“Why can you do it?”
“Because I paid for this table and I pay the mortgage and everything else in this house so I can do what I want to do here.”
“But Mama, that’s not fair.”
“Oh, really? Well, this is not a democracy here Taylor, this is a dictatorship. I just happen to be a benevolent dictator.”
He grabbed the remote off the table and leaned back on the couch, “So, if I buy something, can I put my foot on it, too?”
She smiled, “Yes, you can put your foot on whatever you buy.”
He flipped through a few channels, “Mama, can I borrow some money?”
“For what?”
“I want to buy another living room table.”
She smiled and playfully tapped him on his head as he tried to avoid her swing. It was the moments like this that she cherished the most out of her busy life. The times when she could come home and relax with her son without worrying about deadlines or random guys hitting on her at work. She was one of the most attractive women at Saavy, and she didn’t think that of herself, it was due to the countless numbers of emails or offers to pay for her lunch whenever she was at work. Not only did she think the offers to pay for her lunch were insulting because she could easily purchase them herself, but she also believed it was a weak attempt at starting a conversation with her. There had to be better ways to get her attention than to offer her anything that had to do with money. It was just a nice gesture for the most part but for some reason, it just rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it had a lot to do with the way she came up herself, knowing that there were times that she couldn’t afford certain things. With that in mind, anytime someone offered to pay for anything that she could clearly handle herself, it was an immediate adverse reaction and most times; she was likely to sever hearts with her strong words and her coworker, Mark Floyd, found out the hard way.
“Hey, Nicole, is it?”
She didn’t even turn to make eye contact with him as they both stood in line, “Yes,” she responded as politely as she could.
“Hi, I’m Mark Floyd. I work on the same floor as you in accounting.”
“Yes, I am familiar. How are you, Mark?”
“I’m well,” he said as his perfectly trimmed mustache outlined his smile, “I just wanted to introduce myself formally to you.”
“Ok, well, it was nice to meet you, Mark.”
“Likewise.”
They moved down the line a little further as they both selected different items to place on their trays. The conversation was steady until that one fateful moment, “Let me purchase that for you,” he said, with the same smile plastered across his face. “Excuse me?” she asked, her eyebrows wrinkled. Mark’s smile stayed consistent, “Yeah, I mean, I just figured it-”
She cut him off, “You just figured, what? That I couldn’t afford it on my own?”
His eyes widened, “What? No, I was just-”
“You were just, what? Thinking that you could come in and save the day by paying for my $4.35 cent meal? Huh? Is that what it is?”
“No, no! Not at all, I-”
“You lack judgment; that’s what it is,”
People around them pretended to keep their original motions as they tried their best to listen in to the small commotion that was brewing right before them. She continued, “Instead of offering to carry my tray or something chivalrous as that, you decide to pay for my meal. Wow. Well, Mark, I just want to say thanks emphatically, but no thanks. You can hold onto your $4.35, you know because I’m sure that by you offering to pay for my expensive lunch that it will set you back a few days.”
“But, I was just-”
“You were just ending this unpleasant conversation, right?”
He looked around, cheeks slightly reddened from the embarrassment as people snickered. This was Mark Floyd, and outside of Alex, not too many would turn him down. He was a distinguished and handsome man in his mid-thirties, but Nicole wasn’t interested in him or anybody else at work. After she had walked away from him, there was a part of her that felt sorry for embarrassing him, but it was just a tiny part. He wasn’t the first one to offer to pay for her lunch so perhaps, it was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. She had only been working there a few weeks before Mark approached her but from that point on, not one soul dared to offer to pay for her meal. They still attempted to take her out on dates, but that approach was never taken again.
After the long day, she had fallen asleep in the front room and was woken by rings from her doorbell. Taylor ran to the front, “I got it, Mom,” he said as she popped her head up, struggling to regain her grasp on reality. Taylor opened it up, and Michael walked through the door, loud and obnoxious like he normally was. She had become accustomed to it but, none the less, it still annoyed her. Taylor slapped him five before he closed the door and ran back to his room. Michael plopped down next to her on the couch, re-shifting her from her comfortable position. He put his hand on her thigh as she peered down at it, causing him to remove it quickly.
“Hey, baby.”
“I told you about calling me, baby.”
&n
bsp; “Hey, boo.”
“Don’t call me that either.”
“What about bae?”
“Michael!”
“Ok, ok!”
He leaned back on the couch and glared at the TV with a smile on his face. In his mind, they were already happily in a monogamous relationship so whatever she said verbally didn’t affect him. His imagination was strong enough to push past all of it. She scooted a little further away from him and positioned herself in the corner of the couch and closed her eyes. Moments later, she could hear him scooting closer to her. She peered at him with her eyes barely open, “Michael,” she said calmly, “if you scoot any closer to me, I will take this pepper spray out of my purse and let you be the first man I use it on.” He immediately stopped, “Oh, pepper spray? That’s nothing, girl; I put that stuff on my cheeseburgers all the time.” She paused, then reached into her purse, “I’m kidding! I’m kidding!” he said as he scooted himself back to his original spot on the couch. “Man, you gotta learn how to take a joke!” he said as he picked up the remote control. Just then, Taylor ran back into the front room,
“Michael, you want a rematch in Madden?”
“Maybe later, Taylor. I want to spend a little time with your Mom, you know? I don’t want her getting jealous.”
“No,” she said abruptly, “It will be impossible for you to make me jealous. Go ahead and play Madmen, I’ll be fine.”
“Uhh,” Michael said delicately, “It’s Madden.”
“Whatever it is, go ahead and go! I need to get some rest.”
Taylor ran back out of the room as Michael slowly rose from the couch, wanting to touch her but too afraid to go through with it. “I’ll, I’ll be back in a minute,” he said, stuttering through his sentence as Nicole shut her eyes. Moments later, he walked out of the room as she nestled into the corner of her couch. It wasn’t that she despised him because, after all, he was truly a good-hearted man, he just wasn’t her type, and she knew it. Taylor just didn’t have too many friends as it was and she didn’t want to keep away the one friend that he did have, even though it was slightly awkward for her. She wasn’t asleep long before her phone rang. If it weren't for the fact that the person called back to back, she wouldn’t have reached forward to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, girl.”
“Oh, Hey Charlotte.”
“What’s wrong? You sound like you were asleep.”
“Girl, I was. I need to get up anyway and make this boy something to eat.”
Michael yelled, “Touchdown!” from the other room as Nicole shook her head at how loud he was.
“Who was that?” Charlotte asked.
“It was just Michael. You know he is like a big kid. He’s in there playing some Mad man game with Taylor.”
“Oh, ok. But girl, this is going to be quick. I think Jerry is trying to talk to you.”
“Jerry?”
“Yeah, Jerry. The one that hangs around Alex. He came into the café today asking all these questions about you.”
“Oh Lord, what did you tell him?”
“Girl, I just said that you weren’t interested.”
“Oh, thank you. Thank you so much, girl. The last thing I needed was for Jerry to come buzzing around me with his annoying behind.”
“Umm-hmm, I just wanted to let you know the daily gossip girl because you know that’s what I do!”
“Thank you. I’m about to go in here and make something to eat.”
“Ok, well, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Alright.”
Nicole pulled herself off her comfortable, leather couch and made her way into the kitchen. The cabinets and her refrigerator were mainly filled with junk food for Taylor to eat when he got home from school; pizza rolls, burritos, hot pockets, and oven pizzas. The things that she trusted him to use without burning the house down. She opened the oven and slid a pizza in, letting Taylor know to keep an eye on it. Afterward, she went to her room and laid down. Suddenly, she remembered the email she got from Alex and started to connect the dots on her own. Maybe Jerry wasn’t asking about me for himself, she thought; maybe he was asking for Alex. She shook her head in disgust. On her list, Alex was just a few notches above Michael in the, “no chance in hell,” section. With that, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.
Chapter 7: There is hope
The night flew by and before she knew it, it was time to get the next day started. It felt as if she had just closed her eyes when Taylor knocked on her door, “Hey Mama,” he said, “are you taking me to school today?” She rose up and glanced at the clock on her nightstand as it read 6:44 am.
“Yes, baby. I forgot to set my alarm, thanks for waking me up.”
“You’re welcome, Ma,” he said, closing the door behind him.
She would be lost without Taylor. She had sacrificed so much for him and at this point, he had grown into a young man that she had absolutely no worries about. Michael had given her much more of a headache than Taylor ever could have. She walked to her bathroom and began to shower and get herself ready for the next day at work. As she got dressed and walked out of her room, she glanced to the right to see Michael asleep on the front room couch. She sighed, even though she was slightly grateful that he at least stayed out there this time. In other instances, she found him asleep on her floor, balled up in the corner with a blanket over himself. The first time he tried to slide in the bed with her, she screamed and kneed him in the groin so hard that it took him about an hour to stop squirming around on the floor. That was the first and last lesson he needed to know what line not to cross.
She walked over to him as he snored on her couch, the velocity increased with each step closer that she took. When she reached him, she placed her hand on his shoulder, “Michael,” she said, gently shaking him. He didn’t budge, so she said his name again, shaking him just a bit harder, “Michael!” she said a bit louder. He stopped snoring and repositioned himself on the couch and immediately after that, his snoring resumed much louder than it was before. She huffed and shook her head, reaching for one of the thick couch pillows on the floor that he sat there to give him more space. She lifted it into the air and sent it crashing down into his head, “Michael!” she yelled as he opened his eyes just in time to see the pillow crash into his face again. “Ok!” he yelled, “Ok, ok! I’m up!” he said as he put his hands in the air to protect himself from the pillow. Nicole tossed it onto the couch, “come on, I need to take Taylor to school.” He wiped his eyes and got up from the sofa as Taylor stood just behind his mother, laughing at what she had done to Michael. He got up, stretched and headed out the door.
The sun was on its way up, sending the first, gentle rays of light across the city. Nicole’s neighborhood was saturated with a good mix of people from various cultures. Next door, there lived a couple of mixed backgrounds. The woman was Latin-American and in her mid-thirties and her husband was African-American around the same age. They had a twin set of girls, both 3-years-old, and they were getting them ready for daycare as Nicole, Taylor and Michael walked out.
“Good Morning!” Marianna said as she finished buckling in one of her girls.
“Good Morning, Marianna and Jacob.”
“Morning! I see you’ve got your family ready to go today!” Jacob said, looking towards Nicole.
Before she could respond, Michael spoke up, “Sure do, you know? We’ve got to get the little one off to school,” he said, attempting to put his arm around Nicole but she smacked it away. Jacob looked at them oddly as Nicole kept walking to her car. “Oh, don’t mind her,” he said, “We just had an argument this morning, you know how that goes. Women,” Michael said with nervous laughter.
Moments later, Nicole drove away in her car, leaving Michael in front of the neighbors. He yelled out, “alright, sweetheart, I’ll um… I’ll see you later this evening, ok?” Marianna and Jacob smiled at him, knowing that he wasn’t what he was pretending to be. His statement was ini
tially directed towards Nicole before Michael threw himself in the midst of it. A few awkward moments passed between them before the Johnson’s got inside their own car and drove off, leaving Michael there alone before he eventually took off himself.
Nicole got to work and resumed her regular, daily routine. She sat at her desk and scrolled through her emails and as she glanced at her computer, she stopped, and her jaw nearly hit the desk. One, two… four… six? Six emails!? She said to herself as she cupped her head in her hands. Alex had sent her some emails after their brief interaction when she got off the elevator.
“Hey,” the first one said, “I know that you’re probably away from your desk right now, I mean, wait. No, it’s 7:00 pm. You’re probably at home right now. I mean, I don’t want to say you’re at home if you’re not, you know? I mean, you could be out on a date or something I suppose. If you are, it’s totally cool, though, you know. Totally cool because it’s your life and Umm, you may have things that you’re doing that you don’t want anybody to know about. Well, not saying it’s anything bad or something, you know? Just your personal business and you can do whatever you want with it because you’re a grown woman, right? Right. A beautiful, mature woman with a... an intelligent mind, body and soul. Well, I just wanted to say that I had a good time talking with you outside of the elevator. Maybe one day we can talk some more. Well, I’m off to the gym. You know, I go there like five times a week to keep my guns sculpted,” she shook her head, “maybe you can join me? Well, see you later, hopefully.”
She closed that email and clicked on the next one, “Did I come on too strong? I mean, I’m not trying to, I just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed talking to you, that’s all. Yup, just a harmless, friendly umm… elevator conversation. That’s it! Well, you have a good night!”
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