Dating The White Navy SEAL (BWWM Interracial Romantic Comedy)

by MJ Monroe

  “No, Ella I don’t have a guy here. And if I did, I can guarantee you that it would not be Brandon. He can’t even tear himself away from his X-Station thing to take me out for dinner that tells me that he doesn’t want to be in a relationship. I’m OK with that, but then when I think about how much of a match that you thought we were, it scares me.” I’ve noticed that sometimes the best way to lie to someone is to make it all their fault. It’s an underhanded tactic but sometimes when push comes to shove, you have to use whatever you have at your disposal. In this case, I had Ella’s bad matchmaking skills to use. “Anyways what’s up? Didn’t you just leave work? You must be getting ready to see Eric.”

  “I was but he canceled on me again. I’m really starting to think that he is seeing someone behind my back. There is no other explanation as to why he is working this much and can never find the time to see me,” The hurt in her voice made me sad for her. Ella was about to get everything that she wanted, but she was too insecure to realize that the man she was in love with loved her back. “I’m thinking about going up to his work to see if he’s really there. I’m betting he’s not but I need the evidence to back me up when I confront him on it.”

  Panic struck me. What if she ruined Eric’s whole plan to surprise her with an engagement ring on her birthday? I had to think fast in order to keep her from doing something rash. “Ella, do you really want to be that girlfriend, who doesn’t trust her man? Remember how we used to make fun of Leah for constantly stalking her boyfriend and how desperate she seemed for stalking her boyfriend every single day.”

  “Yeah but...” Ella trailed off. She knew that I was right, there was no way now that she would bother Eric. I made a mental note to myself to let him know that he needed to spend more time with her and reassure her that he wasn’t cheating on her. “I think that we should go up to his office tonight and see if he’s there. I mean you don’t have anything else going on and I need someone to come with me, to help me keep it together when I get confirmation that he is with some tramp.”

  “Ella, be reasonable. Has Eric ever given you any reason to think that he would cheat on you? He’s one of the good guys, you need to appreciate that.” I was hoping that my words were sinking into her thick skull but somehow I knew that they weren’t. Ella had it in her mind that Eric was doing something that he shouldn’t and now she was hell bent on proving it. “He has never done anything that would make you feel that he would betray you?”

  “Yes, he keeps blowing me off! Come on I could use my best friend with me. Please, please, please Tam, come with me. What if he is cheating on me and I find out? I need you there to stop me from doing something stupid like killing the bitch,” The anger in her voice gave me pause but then I took a deep breath and remembered that she was upset over nothing. “Come Tam, it’s not like you have anything else to do.”

  For a second I was offended, my best friend really thought that I had nothing else to do. She thought that I was so pathetic that I could just do whatever she wanted and would be at her beck and call. “Sorry El, I can’t come with you. I’m going to yoga tonight, I’d skip it but I already paid for the class.”

  “That sounds like fun! Maybe I’ll skip stalking Eric and come with you. I mean you remember how good I was when we went to yoga before. The teacher was so impressed that she told me that there was no need for me to come back,” This was Ella having revisionist history. She couldn’t get into the simplest stretches and kept interrupting the class. The teacher in no uncertain terms told her to never return. The image of Ella trying to get her leg around her head but kicking herself in the nose was not one that would leave me for a long time. Even as the memory floated into my head, I had to stop myself from laughing about it. “I think that another class would do me some good, it would help me stop stressing out about this whole Eric thing.”

  “As much as I would love for you to come with you me, you can’t.” Why couldn’t she? I had to think of a reason to circumvent her asking me. Nothing was coming to my mind, which I thought was a good thing; it meant that I wasn’t a liar but in this scenario I wished that I could think faster. Before I knew what was coming out of my mouth, “I wish you could Ella but the truth is it’s kind of an exclusive class. A friend of a friend told me about it on Facebook, and I want to see what it’s all about.”

  “I want to know what it’s like too! Or are you scared that I’ll show you up again?” There were two options that I could take here, one was to be honest with her and tell her that she was completely horrible at yoga or I could be nice and tell her that she was right. The debate raged on in my head, both arguments were valid but I couldn’t stay quiet forever. Luckily she continued with her train of thought before I had to say anything, “I know what it’s like to be shown up by your best friend. I mean you are so pretty and smart that you have to be bad at something. Really in the scheme of things, being bad at yoga isn’t the end of the world. In fact it almost makes you even more perfect, I mean you are imperfect. It’ll make it easier for me to find you someone.”

  “You can't come because it’s Black yoga. Only black people can do it..” I have no idea why I said that. There was no logical reason for me to say it, and it made no sense whatsoever. Was there such a thing as “Black yoga”? Somehow I doubted it, there was some racist undertones with it. “I mean you know it’s a very selective class.”

  “Oh my God! I had no idea that they had classes specifically for Black women, I wonder if they have classes for just white women? You know I should look into it,” Confusion rolled around my brain for a second, how in the world did Ella buy this? She was a smart lady who knew her way around a negotiation and could tell when someone was bluffing. “Wait a second. I don’t think that you are being honest with me right now. I mean ‘Black Yoga’? Really? When was the last time you did anything that required you to bend into different shapes?”

  “I have a life outside of what we do together,” That lie was blatant that there was no doubt that she would call me out on it. Since I broke up with my ex, Ella and I hadn’t been apart except for when she was with Eric. A light bulb went off inside of my head and I knew that I had something; I would just tell her that those times she was with Eric I had gone to Yoga and stayed in shape.

  “Tell me the truth now. I mean I know that you are lying to me. What are you really doing? Are you seeing someone else?”

  “No, I swear that I’m not. There is no one else that I would rather spend a night stalking with but I’ve already paid for this class and I don’t want to be out of that money, you understand right?” There was desperation in my voice that I couldn’t explain. It was more than just wanting to spend more time alone with Aaron, it was something else completely. There was a part of me that felt bad about lying to her about what I was doing. Yet it was her own fault for telling me that she wasn’t comfortable with me going out with her brother. “It’s just one night, tomorrow we can do anything that you want.”

  “But tomorrow is so far away! Come on, please see me tonight. I’ll even pay if you want to get dinner or see a movie. You know that Channing Tatum has a new movie out; we can get popcorn and dream about him. Please we need to do something tonight,” Ella began whining. This was normally when I gave in to her, so that I didn’t have to hear any more. “Please, I’ll do anything that you want.”

  “I really wish I could but I can’t.” There was a knock on my door and I knew that it was Aaron. I had spent all of my time talking to Ella and hadn’t been able to get ready at all. Next time I saw her, I would have to hit her or something. “I have to go now.”

  “Fine, have fun at Black Yoga. I’ll be all alone since my brother thought it was more important to go out and see his friends than to spend time with his sister. I don’t know why you all abandon me on the day that my life is falling apart.”

  The guilt trip, I knew that it was coming. It was standard procedure for Ella when she wasn’t getting her way. I opened the door and mouthed that I was talking to Ella to Aar
on. He nodded and showed me his cell, which had three text messages from her. “El, you know that I’m usually down for a good stalking trip but first there is no reason to stalk your boyfriend and second I have that Black Yoga class to get to. I love you and will talk to you soon.”

  “Love you too.” I hit the end button before she could say anything else. One look at Aaron and I felt myself laughing really hard at the lie I had just told my best friend. The guilt was assuaged by the fact that her brother was also laughing, and that had to make it OK, right?

  “She was going crazy when I told her that I was having a guy’s night,” Aaron said between laughs. Suddenly he stopped and looked at me; it was a look that I hadn’t seen on his face before. It was serious and yet somehow at the same time it wasn’t serious. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, I didn’t understand it. “You look so beautiful tonight. And seeing as you’re doing Black Yoga, I think you just got a little bit hotter.”

  “I feel so bad about lying to her about what I’m doing tonight,” He was abnormally close to me and all I could think was that my bed was just a few feet away. Sure my bedroom was a complete mess but that wasn’t anything that would stop me from ripping this man’s clothes off and having my way with him. “I’ve never lied to her before.”

  “It’ll get easier with time, trust me. I’ve been lying to her since I was born. Eventually she either just doesn’t care or she doesn’t call you out on it.” That wasn’t the Ella I knew, she would always call someone out on whatever lies the person has told her. “Speaking of which, I am going to text Eric and tell him to go home and see his girlfriend. Man, all of the people that Ella loves have been lying to her for weeks. I’d feel bad but again it’s something that I’ve done all my life.”

  When Aaron put it in those words, I realized that he was right. Sure we were lying to her for a good reason and she would be happy but we were all still not being truthful with her. In that light it wasn’t funny but looking over at Aaron and the way he was smiling I thought that maybe I was missing some humor. “What?”

  “You look so worried, maybe you could use some yoga or some other body twisting to soothe your worried little head,” Heat flashed through my body as he moved closer to me. No other man had ever had that effect on me. He rubbed my shoulder gently before pulling out his phone and sending out a text to Eric. “There, now we are both off the hook for the night. I told him to act like he was trying to surprise her with dinner or something and that’s why he said that he was working late tonight.”

  “Will that work? I mean what if he doesn’t get the message and…” Before I could finish Aaron’s phone rang and he showed it to me. Eric had responded that it was a good idea and to have fun on his date. I raised my eyebrow in his direction. “Your date?”

  “I didn’t tell him with who. I just told him that I was going out with a really gorgeous girl and didn’t want Ella to be bothering me all night with her drama,” He grabbed my coat off of the rack and handed it to me. Then he pulled it away from me, and placed it over my shoulders. “I try to be a gentleman with the girls that I respect.”

  “You really know how to make a girl smile, don’t you?” He grinned at me and opened the door. The sun was shining brightly as I stepped out and I turned to lock the door but he took the key from me. He locked the door and put the key in his pocket. I gave him a look but thought nothing more of it. “Feeling a little confident are we?”

  “Nah, I’m just trying to save you some room in your purse. No one can say that I’m not a considerate guy,” He opened the car door for me and once I was in safely he closed it behind me. I closed my eyes and tried to remember a time when a guy opened the car door for me. Never. In all of my years of dating, there had never been a time when a guy opened the car door for me. I didn’t know if that was a statement on me or my taste in men. I was hoping that it was the latter but something told me that it was partly the first one. When he was safely in the driver’s seat, he looked over at me and said “You are something else. You seem to like being taken care of and yet your body language suggests that you are a little uncomfortable with it.”

  “I am a little. I’m not used to guys treating me like a lady. They usually pick me up for dinner and start pawing me before we get to the restaurant, and then they talk about sex or sports until they feel it’s time to go back to my place and try to jump me.”

  “That’s horrible and I wish I could tell you that I haven’t done that but I have.” The admission seemed to upset him, he kept his eyes on the road and wouldn’t look at me. Normally I would say this was a good thing, especially when one was driving but seeing as we were at a red light and he still wouldn’t look over at me I knew that something was wrong. “I’m ashamed to admit that to such a great girl. I mean if you were the typical girl that I went out with I probably would avoid conversation with you altogether and just try to have sex with you. But you’re not the typical girl, you’re special…”

  “How so? I mean we just met basically and you already think that I’m special.”

  “A guy knows when a girl is special. It’s like a second instinct on our part. It’s one of those things that we know when we see it. I’ve only felt this way once before,” He trailed off and I didn’t press him to say anything. It was weird to have a guy be so vulnerable with me and yet I liked it a lot. “I know this sounds strange and you are probably going to write it off, especially if we have sex, as just a line. But it’s true, and you’re not some bimbo who I’ll never see again if it doesn’t work out. You are my sister’s best friend, so that means that we’ll see each other a lot.”

  “Right now I’m just focusing on enjoying my time with you. Obviously there is a physical attraction and after talking with you this afternoon I am intrigued by your intelligence. Plus the whole forbidden, hiding the relationship thing is quite hot.” The truth was that hiding the relationship almost made me feel like a heroine in one of those Harlequin romance novels. A smile played across my lips as the thought crossed my mind, and then I looked over at Aaron, who was looking at me for the first time since his admission. Part of me wished that I could make him feel better, to make everything OK but I had learned a long time before this that every person is entitled to their feelings. Another thing that I learned was that the best way to validate the feelings was to say nothing, to allow the person to just have them. I wasn’t going to run away from Aaron just because he made a few mistakes; Lord knows that I made a few of them myself. “Plus I want to get to know you better. I mean maybe it will work, maybe it won’t. But we will never know if we don’t give it a try.”

  “That’s exactly what I was trying to say too. I mean I know how difficult it is to find someone to talk to, especially when you are attracted to the woman. I mean think about it, men become blathering idiots when they are in the presence of a beautiful woman. When they try to talk to that beautiful woman about something intellectual, they can’t because they are thinking with another part of their body,” He laughed uncomfortably. His eyes sparkled when they looked at me. I grinned at him and thought about letting him off the hook by giving a small chuckle as well but thought it was more fun to watch him try to get out of this. “You know what I’m saying right. You are the embodiment of both. You are a very sexy woman but I’m also comfortable enough with you to be able to talk to you. It’s a great feeling to have.”

  “Yes I know exactly what you’re saying. Believe it or not, women aren’t immune to hormones. In fact sometimes I think that we are worse than men when it comes to that because while you guys get what you want and go, we keep hanging on. This one girl that we knew had one conversation with a guy and she was ready to give everything up to be with him,” I was referring to Leah the girl that Ella and I had been talking about. She had stalked her boyfriend more than once, but before that she had been ready to give up her job, everything to be this dude’s wife and mother to his children. She was devastated when he put the brakes on that talk; he felt that it was too soon. “We may
be motivated by other motives but it’s all the same in my mind. I think that we are both mature adults and that we can things work if we really want to. What I mean is that we don’t have to resort to childish name calling if things go south,”

  Man I sounded like an idiot. Why in the world could I not get things out the way that I wanted them to come out. He smiled at me as if he understood every word I was saying. We pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and I went to grab the door handle but he placed his hands over mine and shook his head. He got out of the car and ran around to open the door for me. He grabbed my hand pulled me up. I fell into his body and one thing became very clear to me. I really liked his arms being around me.

  Chapter5

  “I had a great time with you tonight,” Aaron said to me. He walked me up the steps to my apartment and fished my key from his jeans. I had two glasses of wine with my dinner and that had put me in a great mood. The conversation between us had flowed very nicely and was just as stimulating as it had been when we had lunch together. “You are one of the funniest people that I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. The walrus straws really made me lose it.”

  He didn’t need to tell me, I was there. I took two straws, put them in my nose and made sounds like that sea creature. Throughout the restaurant everyone could hear Aaron laughing. It was so wonderful to make someone laugh at such an immature joke. At first I thought he had just been being nice about it, but then I realized that he had actually found it funny. I relaxed and showed him my true colors. Somehow that seemed to make things even easier between us. “I’m glad that you had as good of a time as I did. I’m still wrapping my head around you getting caught having sex in the parking lot of a White Castle.”