by Naomi Niles
“Carrie, be careful with my script!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just get your ass in the shower and get ready!”
She took me to the strip on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. It was out of my price range, but Carrie said that she was taking care of everything today. That was one thing I could count on her for. She didn’t always pay her end of the rent, but whenever I covered her, she never hesitated to splurge on me and show her appreciation in other ways. She was a good friend, and if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to star in a major movie.
We arrived in Beverly Hills. The sun shone down on us as we perused the sidewalks. Palm trees blew in the wind as if they were waving goodbye to distant lovers. Everyone walked with bags hanging from their arms and a bounce that said they were important, even if they weren’t. I felt out of place, but Carrie wouldn’t allow me to show it. “Now,” she said as she slid her Dolce & Gabbana shades over her eyes while we sat in her car, “don’t go out here shy and shit. You see how they are walking,” she said, pointing towards a group of women. “That is how you walk. Rock your ass from side to side and make sure people see your confidence. You are a borderline movie star, and soon enough, you’ll be right out here with them on a regular. But for now, you have to act like you have already made it.”
She tapped me on my leg, “And I know you don’t have a problem with acting. You were born for it. Now, lights, camera, action!”
She opened her door and shortly afterward, we walked side by side down the strip as if we owned the streets we walked on. Our catwalk was in sync with each other as we hopped from store to store, trying on dresses that cost as much as a month of rent. “Oh my God, $900?” I asked, looking at the price tag.
She smacked my hand, “Fuck, Hannah!” she hissed. “Don’t fucking embarrass me. Nobody looks at the price tag out here, and besides, I’m paying for it, so who cares.” She took the dress off the shelf and handed it to me. “Go try it on.”
I snatched it from her and then headed into the dressing room. The small room was all white with body-length mirrors on each wall. The floors were polished to a shine bold enough to hold my reflection as I stood above. The slit on the two-piece dress stopped in the middle of my thighs and fanned out to the side from that point down, leading into a small train to the back. The top portion of the dress was white with gold patterns that covered my chest and left my arms bare. I felt beautiful. Sexy. It was something that I knew Ezra would love as soon as he saw it.
Carrie impatiently knocked on the door a few minutes after I dressed. “Come on, Hannah. Let’s see what you look like.” I took a deep breath and unlocked the door. It swung open like the door of a castle as Carrie’s smile widened from ear to ear. “Oh. My. God. You are fucking gorgeous! Yes! Yes! That is the fucking dress, Hannah! That is the fucking dress!”
I couldn’t contain my smile as I stepped into the hallway. It was full of mirrors on each side, and as I walked down the middle aisle, I got a good look at the way the dress fit me. The way it hugged my curves up top and still found a way to accent the little ass that I had behind me. It seemed like the dress was tailor-made for me as I spun back to Carrie. “I love it,” I said. “I absolutely love it.”
“It is yours, girl. That dress has your name all over it. Ezra is liable to rip that shit right off of you as soon as she sees you.” She paused, “But at $900, if he snatches that dress off, he better pay me back every dime I spent on it! I’m not playing, either. As a matter of fact, both of you will pay me back! Shit.”
As I walked back into the dressing room, I didn’t want to take it off. I felt like Cinderella the night she met her fairy godmother. I was already anticipating the date with Ezra, but now, I could hardly wait.
Chapter Nineteen
Ezra
It was 9 o’clock when I arrived at Hannah’s loft. I sent her a text as I sat in the parking lot to see if she was ready. “Can you come upstairs, please? I just need about 20 more minutes.”
“LOL – sure, no problem. Which floor?”
“Just go to the security desk and tell them you are here to see me. They will call my roommate, and she will let you in.”
“OK.”
I got out of my car and headed through the double doors of her building. The security desk was positioned front and center. Long, potted plants decorated the corners of the room as vines extended onto the walls like veins. The relaxing sound of water splashing into a wishing well danced throughout the room. “Hi,” I said as I approached the desk. “I am here to see Hannah Black.”
The older security guard was frail, and he didn’t look built to stop anyone if push came to shove. He seemed to be there just for show more than anything else. “All right, what is your name, sir?”
“Ezra.”
He phoned upstairs to their room, and once he received confirmation, he walked me to the elevator. “She is on the 8th floor. 826. Enjoy your stay, sir.”
“Thank you.”
Jazz music played throughout the speakers on my way up. Each floor lit up as I passed by, anticipating my date with Hannah. Jeff had made me nervous about what to expect the next time I saw Hannah. I didn’t know if she would clam up now that we had intercourse, or if she would be the exact opposite. I looked towards the top of the elevator as I inched closer to the 8th floor. Just then, the elevator beeped, and the doors opened like two arms releasing me from a momentary prison. I made a right and headed down the hallway until I got to her room.
I knocked twice and took a step back. Moments later, the door opened, and another woman stood on the other side. She wore a long white T-shirt that went down to the middle of her thighs. I couldn’t tell if she had on anything beneath her shirt, but it took discipline to keep my eyes leveled with hers. “Ezra?” she asked cautiously.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
She smiled. “Good. Come on in,” she said, stepping to the side, “Hannah is still taking her sweet-ass time getting ready. Go ahead and go straight down the hallway and to the right. You can have a seat in the front room.”
“All right, cool.”
As I walked past, I caught a glimpse of her body. Her ass found a way to show its thickness from beneath her T-shirt, and her breasts were tucked beneath the material. Wow, I thought to myself as I headed down the hallway. She closed the door behind me. “So, do you want anything to drink? I’ve got Corona and,” she paused, “more Corona.”
I laughed. “Do you have a Corona?”
“No, we are all out, you fucking wiseass.”
I sat down on the couch and looked around the room. The carpet had vacuum lines with a fresh carpet scent hanging in the air like mist. The glass table was polished to a bright shine, and on top of it, magazines were spread out like playing cards on a table. A candle flickered on top of the television as her roommate walked into the front room with two beer bottles in her hand. She extended one to me as the condensation dripped onto the floor. “So, Ezra,” she said as I took the bottle from her hand, “my name is Carrie. I am Hannah’s roommate, and I’ve heard so much about you that I feel like I already know you.”
She sat down on the arm of the couch as her T-shirt rolled up to her waist. I saw the jean shorts from the corner of my eyes, trying hard not to look directly at her legs. “Yeah,” I said, “I’ve heard a lot about you as well.”
“Good things, I hope?”
“Yeah, good things.” I popped the top off the beer bottle and placed it on the table. “I hear you are the one that helped Hannah get her role in this movie.”
She wrapped her full lips around the bottle and tilted it into her mouth. I stole glances at her while she wasn’t paying attention. “Yeah,” she said, lowering her drink, “I’d just say it was a gentle nudge. I was tired of her wasting her talent doing a bunch of shit that was going nowhere, so I introduced her to my photographer–”
“Oh, so you model?”
She looked at me. “Yeah. I model. I’ve been doing it for a few years now,
and I like it, you know? Good money. Free trips to different cities and shit. It’s a piece of cake job, and all I have to do is take my clothes off every now and then.” She laughed and took another swig of her drink as I undressed her with my mind. “Anyways,” she continued, “I took her to one of my shoots and introduced her to my photographer, then he introduced her to a guy named Leonard–”
“The movie director.”
“Yeah, I guess. But after that, the rest was history.”
I tilted the bottle to my lips. “Well, I guess I should be thanking you, then. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have met Hannah.”
“Yeah, I should be charging you two a finder’s fee or something.”
She chuckled just as Hannah stepped into the living room. Suddenly, the sexual attraction I felt with Carrie disappeared, and it was like she wasn’t in the room. Hannah stood near the entrance of the living room in an elegant dress that brought out her best features. The slit in the front of the dress showed her inner thighs, and my heart raced as it did during the first time we had sex. I scooted to the edge of the couch and placed my beer on the table. My chin hit the floor as she stood bashfully, like we were headed on our first date. “So,” she said, holding her hands to the side, “what do you think?”
I stood up, “You look amazing,” I said as my eyes scanned her body like a metal detector. “Wow.”
Carrie walked beside her and fixed the strands of her that dangled on the side of her head, “I told you, Hannah. I told you. This dress was going to do it.” She tapped her on the behind as Hannah playfully pushed her hand away.
“I’m sorry I took so long, I was just–”
“Nah,” I said, interrupting her. “Nah, don’t worry about it. The wait was worth it. The wait was definitely worth it.”
I walked beside her and looped my arm as she stuck her hand inside. We headed to the door as Carrie trailed behind us. “Well, it was good meeting you, Ezra. You have my daughter back before 12 am, understand?”
I laughed. “Your daughter, huh?”
“Shut up, Carrie!”
“Hey, I’m just saying. The freaks come out at night, and I need to make sure she is home before that happens.”
“She’s in good hands,” I said with a smile.
“I bet.” She winked at me. “All right you two, have fun! Be safe.”
I walked her to my car and opened the door for her to get in. Afterward, we headed to an upscale Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills. “So, that’s Carrie, huh?”
“Yeah. That’s my girl. She is a lot blunter than I am and her confidence is through the roof. I wish mine was that high, but she has a reason for it. She is beautiful, and her body is banging. She models, so, I guess she found her confidence while doing that.”
“You don’t have confidence in the way you look?”
She sighed. “No. Well, at least not like her. She walks around dripping confidence like she has a fucking leak somewhere.” She laughed to herself, then continued, “She helps me, though. I went to one of her shoots, and I saw her undress in front of the cameramen like it was nothing. She poses nude sometimes, and I was just like, ‘Wow. I don’t think I’d ever be able to do something like that’.”
I looked to my right just as a couple passed my car, holding hands, headed for the restaurant. The moonlight seemed to illuminate the brick pathway to the front door. I thought about what things would be like if we stayed together. If we would make it big in the movie business and become regulars out here in Beverly Hills and maybe even relocate out here. This is where dreams come true, and I was determined to make mine a reality. “But now, you’re about to not only do that but… possibly have sex in front of cameras and random people.”
She put her hand over her face, “My God, don’t remind me. I don’t even want to think about that until it happens, you know? That is kind of scary to me. I still don’t know how I will handle it once it happens.”
I grabbed her soft hand and held it in mine. She exhaled and looked out the front window. “Look, I can see why Carrie has confidence. She is a pretty woman, but you? In my opinion, you are a step above her. You are beautiful, Hannah. I mean, no, you are not beautiful. If I was smart enough to come up with a word that is stronger than ‘beautiful,' then I would say it right now.” I laughed as she cracked a smile. “But, whatever that word is, that is what you are. You should have that same confidence, if not more.” She tightened her grip on my hand as if my words drew her closer to me.
“And as far as the movie scenes go, this is my first time doing something like this on set, too. It will be a little weird at first, but I will do my best to keep you calm. Honestly, I think the fact that we are connecting right now will go a long way to helping both of us through that process. It is a road that we’ve never traveled before, but I am happy to be traveling the uncharted territory with you. I wouldn’t want it to be anybody else.”
She smiled. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds under the moonlight as she lowered her head. She was so shy at times, but that made me like her even more. It showed that she was human; vulnerable. It showed me that she needed somebody to come in and strengthen her. Somebody to help her see her strengths and help her evolve from a caterpillar to a butterfly, and I knew I would be the man to do it. “So, shall we head inside? I made the reservation for 10:30 pm.”
“Yes,” she said, calmly, “Let’s go.”
Just as she turned to get out of the car, I grabbed her arm and held her in place. As soon as she looked in my direction, I leaned towards her and softly pressed my lips to hers and slid my hand behind her head. She tilted her head to the side as her tongue passionately searched the depths of my mouth. Before she pulled away, I sucked her bottom lip and kissed her one more time as if to seal our connection. When her eyes locked with mine, I caught a glimpse of her soul smiling brightly like the stars hanging in the sky above.
Chapter Twenty
Hannah
“Um, excuse me? Where are you going?”
I walked into the front room just as Carrie was gathering her things to leave. “I have a photo shoot, hun. I didn’t tell you?” She wandered around the front room aimlessly, searching for the rest of her things.
“No, you didn’t tell me. It is your turn to cook breakfast, though.”
“I know, I know,” she said, as she looked inside the front room closet and then quickly slammed the door closed. “I will cook two times in a row, but I can’t talk about it now. I am running late, and I can’t find my goddamned bathing suit! I knew I threw it in here last night, but–”
I reached behind the couch and pulled her bathing suit from the floor. It took her a few moments to notice that I silently held it in my hand. She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you!” She took it out of my hand and held my cheeks as she kissed me on the lips. I pushed her away as she laughed out loud. “Now, I’ve gotta do 70 just to get there on time. I hope I don’t fucking run into a police officer because I don’t have time to show him my tits just to get out of a ticket this time!” She scooped her duffle bag into her arm and ran towards the door. “See you later, Carrie.”
It slammed shut before I could respond and a wave of silence swept through the loft. Oh well, I said to myself, more food for me, I guess. I walked to the kitchen and pulled the items out of the cabinet and refrigerator to prepare for breakfast when suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. I figured that Carrie had forgotten her keys in her rush to leave. I opened the door, “What did you forge–”
I stopped mid-sentence once I realized it was Ezra standing with a box of chocolates and a teddy bear. My eyes popped open. “Oh my God!” I slammed the door shut and threw my back against it as if he would try to barge in.
He knocked again, “Um, Hannah? If you just told me that you didn’t like candy and teddy bears, I wouldn’t have brought it with me.”
“No,” I yelled as I grabbed a small mirror from the table. “That’s not it!” I had just woken up 15 minutes ago, and I didn’t hav
e an ounce of makeup on my face, and my hair was stretched in each direction on top of my head. “I just wasn’t expecting you, that’s all. I’m not ready to see you yet.”
“Hannah, baby, come on, now. I saw you for a split second when you opened the door, and you don’t look like shit. I mean, your breath might stink a little bit if you didn’t brush your teeth, but we can work around that.”
“No! Just come back in about an hour!”
“An hour? Hannah, come on. Please. Just open the door. If you don’t, I’m going to keep knocking and then somebody will end up calling the police, and I will have to explain myself to them. Shit, that probably won’t help because I’m sure they will find a way to take me to jail. Do you want me to go to jail?”
“No, I don’t! But still, I look a hot mess!” I turned around and looked through the peephole as he stood there with the teddy bear and chocolates in his hand. My heart melted as I saw the bear cradled in his arm like a baby. It looked soft to the touch, and I had a thing for teddy bears. It had been years since I’d gotten one, though. I turned the handle on the door knob, quickly reached out to snatch it from his arms, then slammed the door closed again.
He laughed out loud, “Really, Hannah? Come on, babe. Look. I’ll close my eyes, and you can just hold my hand and walk me into the front room. I will keep my eyes closed.”
I looked through the peephole. “Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
“Well, close them right now! I can see you! I’m looking through the peephole!” I waited until he closed his eyes tight, then opened the door and led him to the front room. I checked to make sure his eyes were still shut as we walked through the hallway. “You better keep your eyes closed, mister.”
