Both Sides Of The Fence 3: Loose Ends

by Pope, M. T.

  After I had served the last couple of students and before the next rush, I asked one of the other cooks to watch the line while I went to the back and inquired about the new hire.

  My boss was sitting in his office with his door slightly ajar as I knocked.

  “Come in,” he called out. I walked in and noticed the James look-alike sitting in a chair in front of my boss’s desk.

  “Hey, Wallace, what can I help you with?”

  “Uh—uh—uh—nothing, sir. I’ll talk to you later.” I tried to ease out of the door just as easily as I had come, but I was stopped by the sound of my boss’s voice calling out to me.

  “One second, Wallace. I’d like you to meet Alex Black, he‘s the newbie for the floor staff I just hired.”

  “We’ve met already,” Alex said as he smiled and I walked up to him and shook his hand. He had such a beautiful smile, just like James did. And his hand was so soft. Then I remembered where I knew him from, again. I felt kind of bad for the feelings I was getting for him seeing that I knew his father.

  “He’s one of our star football players and he has an impressive academic record as well.”

  “Well, that is awesome. We need someone like him on our team here too.” I was smiling hard, almost too hard.

  “I am going to need you to show him the ropes and answer any questions he might have.”

  “Sure, boss.” I smiled and walked out of the office.

  Within a couple of minutes Alex was out of the office and my boss was showing him his duties. He caught on quick because after an hour or so he was on his own in the cafeteria. Emptying trash cans, cleaning tables, and sweeping floors: He was good at it all. I smiled as I watched him from a distance. He was a strapping guy; though he wasn’t huge he was adequate for the job. I could tell he spent some time in the gymnasium as well. Again, I still felt kind of guilty about lusting after him. His father was a confidant in my life after James was killed. Shawn Black was James’s lawyer and I grilled him as much as I could about James and how he could have gotten himself into someone killing him, my estranged cousin Tyrone to be exact. I’ve only been in contact with my cousin briefly during our childhood. He was a cousin on my father’s side of the family. On the few occasions we did have together we did bond the best we could. But that was so many years ago. To this day I still don’t know how he found me in Baltimore.

  Anyways, Shawn and I would meet up a couple of times, over a year’s time, to discuss James and how I was coping with his untimely death. He was a real help. He would always just sit and listen and be attentive. Like a real friend should. I could tell by our conversation that James and he were friends as well as lawyer and client. I felt myself getting too vulnerable and attracted to him, so I cut off our little sessions for a while.

  A couple of weeks after I had cut him off, I saw Shawn’s car in traffic and I followed it to a gas station to apologize for not speaking to him for so long. I pulled up behind the car he usually drives, hopped out of mine and walked up to his. I tapped on the window only to find Alex sitting in the driver side of the car.

  “Can I help you?” He asked as he rolled down the window. I was so embarrassed, because at that moment I felt like a stalker of sorts.

  “Nah, I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.” I finally said as I looked at the James look-alike. I thought that I was going crazy then too, because like you see on television, all the guys I was seeing started to resemble James in some way.

  “You made me nervous,” he chuckled. “I thought you were a cop or something. Not that I’m doing anything. Cops are just pulling us over randomly with these unmarked cars all the time.” I smiled and looked toward my car.

  “I know,” I managed to get out. Here I was an almost fifty years old stalking someone for attention. Shawn was a family man and I knew it. I was lonely and clingy and I needed to get a grip. I didn’t want his wife to suspect anything that wasn’t there and cause problems for him. So I knew from then on I was going to leave him alone.

  “A brotha can’t even drive his father’s car without being paranoid about cops pulling him over for pushing a nice and classy car.” He laughed.

  “Oh, this is your father’s car?”

  “Yeah, my dad lets me drive his car from time to time when he’s home resting from all his cases during the week. He‘s a lawyer.” Alex smiled when he said that. I could tell he was proud of his father and what he did.

  “Mr. Black is your father?”

  “Yep, sure is. You know him?”

  “Yeah, he ... uh ... represented me in a case a couple of weeks ago. That’s why I followed you. I thought that you were him. I wanted to thank him for all his work on my case again. He’s a very good lawyer.”

  “One of the best,” Alex cosigned my last statement.

  “Well, I won’t be holding you long. Tell your dad I said thanks again.”

  “Sure will.” I shook his hand and walked off toward my car.

  I sat in my car for a few seconds with my phone to my ear pretending I was on the phone. He had no clue that I was watching his every move. I eventually pulled off and made my way back to my home. I cried the whole night and when I woke up I decided that that day would be the day I started to pack, tie up my loose ends in the drug game and move back to my hometown.

  That was about three years ago and now I was looking at that same face here again.

  After the rest of the cafeteria staff made their way out of the building, everybody spread out and walked toward their cars. I looked around and didn’t see Alex anywhere in sight, so I hopped in my car and pulled off campus and down the street. About a block down the road I saw Alex casually walking with his backpack on his back.

  I blew my horn and pulled over to see if he needed a ride or something like that.

  “Hey, man, you need a ride?” he kind of waved his hand like he didn’t, but I persisted anyway. “You sure? It’s not out of my way.”

  He walked over and got in and buckled his seat belt. I was smiling inside as I pulled off.

  “So, where to?” I asked.

  “I’m about a mile and a half down the street and on the left.”

  “So you remembered me, huh?” I asked and smiled. I was overzealous and it showed.

  “Yeah, it took me a minute but I figured it out.” He smiled too.

  “So, how is your dad doing?”

  “He is doing all right. He still does his law thing. He got his own practice now.”

  “Say what! That’s what I’m talking about. It’s always nice to hear nice things about black men these days.”

  “Yeah, it sure is. I’m going to be on the list soon enough. I’m going to be just like him.”

  “Now that is good to hear too.” I looked over and saw the proud look on his face. “Let me know when we getting to your spot.”

  “You got about four blocks to go.”

  “Okay.” I nodded my head as I paid attention to the road. “So what are you going to school for?”

  “I’m majoring in both genealogy and sociology.”

  “Man, that is deep. You really are going for it.”

  “Yeah, I am a nosy person by nature and I love football, but I knew that there is a chance I may not make it to the pro’s so, I figured I would use my nosiness as a springboard for my education.” He nodded his is head like he was sure about what he was saying. I was sure he was too. He had confidence and pride in the way he talked. Such a turn-on.

  “Well here we are,” I said as I pulled up into the parking lot of his apartment complex. “So, this is it, huh?”

  “Yep, this is where I lay my head.”

  “You live alone?” I took my turn being nosy.

  “Nah, me and my twin sister lives here together.”

  “Oh, you got a twin?”

  “Yeah, but we nothing alike.” He chuckled. “But, that’s not a bad thing. We even each other out.”

  “Oh, that’s good. You got any other brothers and sisters?”

 
; “Yep, I have three sisters and a brother.”

  “Wow, I know what your father likes to do.” I laughed. He did too. I felt glad that I didn’t pursue Shawn when I was in Baltimore. What I thought was there wasn’t and I would have felt real crazy when he rejected me.

  “It’s a long story and you would believe it if I told you.”

  “Well, here’s my number. Call me and tell me about it sometime.”

  With that he got out of the car and made his way to his apartment building’s entrance. I pulled off toward home.

  Chapter 13

  Ashley

  A Bad Bitch

  April 17th 1:34 P.M.

  I was driving down the palm-filled streets of Inglewood with the top to my convertible down and my hair blowing in the wind. I had decided to skip my classes today and take my new toy for a ride today. The sun was out and I was feeling quite lovely. I had on a sleeveless blue sundress that perked up my C-cups just right.

  “This is the shit right here.” I turned up my satellite radio player as my anthem played. “Spotlight” by Jennifer Hudson was still a classic even after all these years. She was my favorite singer to say the least.

  I looked at my jump off next to me and smiled.

  “You having fun, babe?”

  “Yeah.” She looked like she was scared to death. I would be too if I was in the position she was in. Ebony was a thirty-five-year old deaconess at her parents’ church, but she had a wild side. And we know how preacher’s kids can be. Off the fucking chain. But, I was far more advanced than her even though she had me by some years. I met her when I started going to her church, Blessed by God Ministries, about six months after I moved here to Cali. She was in the choir and so was I. I was a lead singer for many of the songs and she would stare at me in amazement whenever I did so. I loved to sing and I hoped that one day it would be a career for me, but that was another subject for another time.

  One day after a rehearsal Ebony came up to me and asked me if she could have my number so we could work on her voice and a couple of songs she was having problems with. I said okay. I thought it was innocent until she forced herself on me. I was a little shocked to say the least. We ended up getting it on in my bedroom that night and she had to sneak out in the middle of the night to go home. She had a husband and she said she was just experimenting with her sexuality. From then on, she has been my orgasm queen. I told her that her secret was safe with me.

  I pulled into one of my favorite restaurants, Benson’s Bistro and put the top onto my car up. I stepped out of the car in an all-black cat suit underneath my dress. One would say it was too hot for all of that, but I was working it anyway, with some four-inch pumps to match. Ebony had on some cute tan capris, a frilly shirt with tan open toes wedge clogs. We walked into the restaurant with her leading. She knew I was in charge though.

  “Can we have a table for two in the corner?” I asked the greeter as we stood at the greeter’s desk.

  “Sure, follow me this way.” I followed her ass as we walked toward our table. I was so entranced that I almost walked up on her heels when we got to the table.

  I pulled out the chair for Ebony and then I sat down myself. I didn’t want to be a man, but I played the part as best I could, because as you know by now, I’m a bad bitch.

  “Your server will be right with you,” the waitress said as she walked away.

  “You okay?” She must have saw that I was looking at the waitress’s ass as she walked away, because she looked heated.

  “Do you really have to disrespect me like that?”

  “Like what?” I asked, playing dumb.

  She just looked at me with a pissed-off look. “Oh, you talking about that ... her ... I was just looking ... What? I can’t admire another chick in front of you?”

  “I wouldn’t do that to you.” she said in a serious tone. I didn’t care though.

  “I’m not you,” I stated. “We are not exclusive, remember, you have a man.”

  “That’s beside the point,” she huffed. “It’s just disrespectful.”

  “Look, I need you to play your position. I like you, but we not in a relationship and that was your call, not mine.”

  “I know I said that, but—”

  “But nothing,” I cut her off. “You had your chance to be exclusive, but you wanted to be a punk bitch about it, so I decide that it is what it is. You not the only one I’m doing and frankly, I like it that way.”

  She sat back and folded her arms and pouted like a baby. It just proved to me that age is nothing but a number and maturity can’t be based on age, because some people’s age and maturity didn’t always coincide.

  “Look, let’s just enjoy the meal and our time together.” By the time I said that the waiter had come to our table and we ordered our food.

  “I have to use the bathroom,” I said, getting out of my seat and walking toward the bathroom. I wanted to eat my food without an interrupted break so I decided to go now instead of later. The restaurant had a U-shaped design and we sat on one end and the bathroom was around the other side.

  “Okay,” I heard Ebony say as I got up.

  On my way to the bathroom, I noticed Grace and her husband sitting in the corner just like me and Ebony had done. I decided to have some fun and walk over to the table to say hello.

  “How are you doing today, Professor Andrews?” The look on her face was of pure surprise.

  “I’m doing well. And you?”

  “Well, I can’t complain. Life is good. I’m sorry you couldn’t make it to class the other day. I was so looking forward to your lecture.” I had to make sure I covered all my bases. I didn’t want to be associated with her in any way.

  “I’m sorry too.” She smirked and looked at her husband. I looked at him too. “I had some personal things to take care of. I had a pain in my behind that I had to get checked out.”

  “Oh, I hope everything worked out for you.” I smiled. She was trying to bitch me right in front of her husband. “Be careful because you never know when those pains come back at you. Sometimes they can get worse and they even can put you in the hospital.”

  “You got that right,” her husband interjected. I just looked at him in pity. He didn’t have a clue.

  “Well, I got to be going to the bathroom. I was just stopping by to say hi.”

  I walked off with a satisfied smile on my face and made my way into the bathroom. As soon as I got in the bathroom I went to a stall and locked myself in. I put down one of those toilet seat protectors and took a piss. You never know who’s been squatting or what they may have left behind. I wiped myself and was about to pull up my underwear when there was a knock on my stall. I hurried up and pulled up my panties and opened the stall to see who was on the other

  “The walls have mirrors on them,“ was the first thing she said to me.

  “Excuse me?” I said in confusion.

  “I saw you checking out my ass as I showed you your table.” She was the greeter that showed us to our table. She was bold as shit. A complete turn-on.

  “So?” I shot back at her.

  “I’m bi and I’m on break. I was wondering if you wanted some dessert before your meal.” She smiled. And put her hands on her big hips.

  “Shit yeah ... I got a couple of minutes.”

  “A couple of minutes?” she questioned.

  “That’s all it’s going to take. I got this.” I flickered my tongue and pulled her into the stall. She had on a short black knee-length skirt that I just pushed over her head as I bent her over the toilet. I pulled out a female condom, because I didn’t know this bitch at all. I learned how to give orgasms through the female condom. Again, I was a bad bitch. I immediately went to town and within minutes I had her juices running down her legs and on to the floor.

  We finished up and then cleaned up and exited the stall. As we walked out the stall, Grace was at the sink pretending that she was washing her hands. From the look she had on her face I could tell she had heard our litt
le session, but I didn’t give a fuck because we weren’t exclusive either. I let the waitress walk out first and I followed suit within a minute’s time.

  I walked back over to the table with a serious look on my face; I didn’t want to give away what I just did in the bathroom.

  As I sat down the waiter was coming toward our table with the food. It’s amazing what a bitch could do in less then fifteen minutes.

  “What took you so long?” Ebony was pissed off again. Her ass needed to be on the altar more, because she sure does have a possession problem.

  “Excuse me?”

  “It’s took you almost fifteen minutes to go to the bathroom. That is not normal.”

  “Neither is licking pussy but you do that shit too, don’t you?”

  Her mouth hit the floor, because the old couple at the table was staring at us. They heard every word I had said. Their mouths were open too. They shook their heads in shame, but I was comfortable with who I was, but she wasn’t. I had to keep her in her place. “For your information I had diarrhea. Is there anything else you want to know?”

  She shook her head no and started to eat her food. I did the same.

  After the meal, I let her order some dessert while I prepared her for what I was about to ask her for.

  “Ebony, I need you to pay my insurance bill on my car until I get a job.” I had no intentions on getting a job right now, besides I had two sponsors and a possible one in the greeter I just did in the bathroom. Juggling people and school was a job in itself.

  “What?” She almost choked on her cheesecake.

  “You heard me.” I had a stone-cold face.

  “Ashley, I live paycheck to paycheck and you know me and my husband have a joint account. I can’t just spend what I want to out of it. He would kill me.”

  “I know all of that,” I said matter-of-factly.

  “So how was I supposed to get it then, if I was going to do it?”