A man who I assumed was the football player announced his presence with a wave and a smile “Hey there, I just need to take a quick shower; you don't have to clean the bathroom. Thank you!”
Before I could respond, he had disappeared into the bathroom. It all happened so fast that I couldn't get a good look at him. I was just thankful that I had one fewer bathroom to clean. I could hear the shower running as I finished making the bed, smoothing out the top sheet and putting the pillows at the head. I went to my cart to retrieve my vacuum, and began vacuuming the carpet. I could barely hear the bathroom door open over the sound of the vacuum cleaner. When I was done, I turned off the vacuum and walked over to the windows to open them.
“You can keep those closed, I don't want anyone to see me,” I heard him say. I pulled the windows closed, my back to him, and turned around to leave, finally getting a good look at him. I tried hard not to stare but my eyes lingered long enough to take him all in. He was tall, about six foot two and he was solid yet limber. He stood before me wearing nothing but a hotel towel while he brushed his teeth, water dripping off of his porcelain skin.
My eyes kept traveling down, from his damp, short, dark brown hair; to his eyes, deep blue and sparkling like the sea on a sunny day; to his wide pink wet mouth, his strong chest and arms, and his rippling six pack. I looked longer than what was appropriate to what was long and bouncing under his towel. I averted my eyes and focused on the door,
“I'm finished. Enjoy your stay,” I said hastily as I made my way out of the room, quickly closing the door between us. That was the cutest white boy that I had ever seen in person and his body, he was built like a Greek god. I laughed at myself for acting like a star struck groupie. Shaking my head, I began pushing my cart away as his room door reopened.
“Excuse me, I'm sorry to be a pain but do you think that you could give me some more towels?” I heard him ask from behind me.
“Sure!” I answered without turning around. Walking backwards, I parked my cart up against the wall and grabbed three towels. I finally looked at him. He was still in his towel, shooting me a charming smile. I smiled back politely and handed him the towels. He stared at me expectantly as he took them.
“Thanks. Could you wait here for just a moment while I get you a tip?” he asked. He didn't wait for an answer before dashing back into the room. I awkwardly held the door open while he disappeared to get what I assumed was his wallet. He stopped at his desk for a moment, then returned and handed me a one hundred dollar bill. I couldn't hide my surprise.
“Thank you so much!” I exclaimed graciously. He smiled back pleasantly at me.
“It's no problem. See you tomorrow.”
He went back into his room, shutting the door behind him. This was the biggest tip that I had ever received. Today had turned out to be a good day. I checked the time on my phone. It was 3:45pm. Only forty-five minutes remained before I could go home.
I drove my cart onto the hotel’s service elevator and pressed the button for the seventh floor. I parked my cart in the seventh floor closet then began stocking it for tomorrow. When I was done, I headed downstairs to the employee bathroom. Thankfully, no one was in the bathroom. I entered an empty stall, closed and locked the door behind me, and sat down on the toilet. I retrieved the one hundred dollar bill out of my pocket, unfolded it and stared at it. What to do with all of this money? That was the question. I smiled, thinking at all the possibilities.
Absentmindedly, I turned the dollar bill over. On the back, a phone number was written. Was it his? My mind flashed to when he had briefly stopped at his desk before giving me the money. Was that when he had written down his number?
I thought about calling the number, but quickly changed my mind. If it was his, I didn’t want to seem eager. But what if it wasn’t his number?
I checked the time on my phone. 4:20. Carefully, I folded the bill back up before stuffing it deep into my pocket and leaving the bathroom. The housekeeping office, the employee cafeteria and bathrooms, and the employee lockers were all located in the same hall on the same floor. I decided to stop by the housekeeping office first to turn in the clipboard with my room assignments for the day, before going to my locker. Technically, we were not supposed to go to our lockers while we were on the clock, but most of us did anyway, myself included. I opened my locker, put on my sweater, slung my purse on my shoulder and clocked out.
*****
The sun was still shining when I left work and I was feeling pretty good about the day. I took my time walking home, basking in the nice weather. When I got to the rooming house, the front door was already open so I headed straight to my room.
Usually, after work I took a nap. Today was no exception. But first, I wanted to take a shower. Before I got undressed, I made sure to place the one hundred dollar bill securely into my wallet, and then checked the copy of my work schedule that I had taped to the outside of my closet door. I was off of work for the next couple of days! This day was just getting better and better. I wrapped myself in my robe, grabbed my towel and toiletries, and slipped into my slippers.
I took a long shower this time. Closing my eyes, I let the warm water ease my mind. My thoughts took me back to the one hundred dollar tip with the phone number on it, back to the football player wearing nothing but a towel. He had a nice smile and a really nice body. I licked my lips as I ran my hands over my soapy body. His arms were so big and strong. I imagined them wrapped around me; him lifting me up as I wrapped around him. I let my head roll back as the water hit my neck. I caressed my large breasts, lifting them up gently and then letting them bounce back into place as I squeezed my nipples. My mind wandered to what his towel had barely concealed as my hands wandered down my stomach and between my legs.
I was definitely going to call him. But when? And what if it wasn’t his number? I shrugged. If it wasn’t his then I will have dialed a wrong number and that would be the end of it. But if it was, then… I grinned at the thought. I had never been with a white man before. How exciting! I turned off the water and climbed out of the shower. Grabbing my stuff, I returned to my room, took off the robe, and plopped naked on my bed, just in time to answer my ringing phone. It was one of my best female friends, Zion. My other best friend was a guy named Paris. I had known Zion and Paris since we were kids and although they had moved further away, we were all still just as close.
“Hello,” I answered, rolling onto my back.
“Hey! What’s up?” Zion responded, upbeat as usual.
“Nothing much, just got out of the shower, about to take a nap.” I told her. I could hear her suck her teeth and I smiled.
“A nap?!” she asked incredulously.
“Yea, a nap!” I snapped. “I’m tired after work.” She sucked her teeth again and I sucked my teeth back.
“You’re a big ass baby.” We both laughed. “You work tomorrow?”
“Nope!”
“Me neither! You should come over tonight,” Zion suggested.
“Okay, but after my nap.” Zion sucked her teeth and I sucked my teeth back, laughing again.
“Okay, sleepy ass. Call me when you wake up.” Zion instructed. We said goodbye and hung up.
I pulled the cool covers of the bedup over my bare skin, snuggling and curling up into the fetal position. I was fast asleep in no time.
*****
It was past 7 o’clock at night by the time I woke up from my nap. Still under the covers, I grabbed my phone and called Zion.
“Finally,” she answered. I giggled.
“I’m up,” I informed her.
“Obviously. I’m leaving now.”
“Okay.” I hung the phone up, but stayed under the covers. Zion lived about twenty minutes away, driving. There was no need to rush. After a few minutes of just lying there, reveling in the feeling of doing nothing, I crawled out from under the covers. What to wear what to wear? Zion liked to party, and even though it was only Tuesday, Zion could be counted on to find a party anywhere, anytime,
so it would be wise for me to pack accordingly. But for now, I put on a pair of black leggings, a long, fitted white t-shirt and a pair of Converses. If we did end up going out tonight, I packed a long-sleeved, fitted, camel-colored, suede dress, a pair of brown, suede, thigh-high lace-up boots and a cream colored fur vest. I felt that these colors would go great with my hair. I also packed a t-shirt and comfy shorts to sleep in, my robe, slippers, and towel. For tomorrow, I packed my favorite pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. I threw a couple pairs of panties, socks, and bras into my overnight bag along with my make-up and toiletries. I was ready to go in less than fifteen minutes.
Checking my phone, I realized that it was dying, which reminded me to pack my charger. Double checking to make sure that I had everything, I grabbed my bag and jacket, keys, phone, and wallet, and locked my room door before leaving my room. There were a couple of guys, who didn’t even live here of course, lounging on the living room couch. I tried my best to ignore them as I hustled outside. Luckily, no one was on the stoop of the building. It was nice out; I decided to wait for Zion on the porch. The sun was setting and the sky looked beautiful in shades of purple and pink. I felt better than I had all week.
A few minutes had passed, when a white SUV pulled up in front of the house. I jumped up and grabbed my bags. Zion waved at me from the driver’s seat. There was a guy sitting in the front passenger seat. I recognized him as I got closer to the truck.
“Paris!” I exclaimed as I tossed my bag into the backseat before pulling his door open and embracing him. I hadn’t seen Paris in a long time. He and Zion lived together; sharing a two bedroom apartment but Paris was hardly ever there, having gone away for college. Recently, he had studied abroad in Ethiopia and had just returned at the end of the summer. The African sun had baked him at least three shades darker than his usual chocolatey self.
“Hey beautiful!” Paris exclaimed as he kissed me on the cheek. He looked me up and down and all around. “Butt is definitely fatter. Aye!” I started shaking my butt while Paris spanked it playfully. We all laughed as I walked around to the other side of the truck and climbed into the back passenger seat.
*****
Once I had my seat belt on, Zion put the car in drive and sped off. Both of the front seat windows were down, and a nice breeze came in. I put my window down and let the cool air caress my face. Zion turned down the music so that we could all talk.
“So how was Ethiopia?” I asked Paris.
“Amazing!” he answered. Paris began going in detail about his once in a lifetime experience in the motherland, while we listened in awe.
“I gotta go before I die,” I said.
“Let’s all go! We need to travel!” Paris suggested.
“How? You know Lele’s terrified of planes,” Zion remarked, using my nickname.
“I am not terrified of them; I just don’t like them. We could take a boat,” I suggested. The conversation drifted to the different places we’d like to travel to and then to silence as everyone got lost in their own thoughts.
Zion turned the music back up and we rode the rest of the way to her apartment singing to the music. Once we got to the apartment, Zion parked and everyone hopped out of the car.
“So, what are we doing tonight?” I asked, breaking the silence.
“Nothing.” Zion answered without looking at me. I raised an eyebrow.
“Nothing?” I asked, not masking my surprise. Zion grinned and I knew that she was lying. Zion let us into the apartment. The smell of food cooking greeted us at the door. Zion’s fraternal twin sister Asha was in the kitchen cooking. Asha had been staying in Paris’ room while he was away. I wondered where she was going to go now that he was back. Zion and Asha were like complete opposites. Zion had large round breasts and no butt and Asha had no breasts and a big butt. They both had long, bone-straight black hair that they wore down to their waists. They both had doe-shaped brown eyes and the most beautiful clear dark brown skin.
“Hey Asha!” I exclaimed, genuinely happy to see her. I hadn’t been over in a while so it been a long time since we had last seen each other. Asha beamed at me.
“Hey Lele! What is up?!” Asha asked as she exited the kitchen and gave me a warm hug.
“I’m trying to figure that out myself,” I told her as I plopped down onto the couch. Paris sat down beside me and Zion sat on his lap. Although Paris was a self-proclaimed homosexual man, he and Zion were always flirting. I suspected that they wanted to hook up with one another.
“So I got a one hundred dollar tip today,” I said, pausing for a moment before adding, “from this white football player.”
“Drinks on you tonight!” Asha exclaimed.
“You sure that all you did was clean? Is there something that you’re not telling us?” Zion teased. I rolled my eyes.
“Was he cute?” Asha asked.
“Yes girl. And he had a super nice body too. There was a phone number written on the tip.”
“Did you call it?” Zion asked.
“No, not yet.”
“What are you waiting for?” Zion prodded. “Call him, call him!” Asha joined in and then so did Paris, all three of them chanting ‘Call him, call him!’ I wasn’t sure that I wanted to call him while they were around, so I resisted.
“Food’s ready!” Asha announced from the kitchen. Asha had prepared pork spare ribs with barbecue sauce, boiled corn on the cob and mashed potatoes. We each fixed ourselves a plate and poured tall glasses of one of two bottles of wine that Zion had surprised us with. We kept drinking long after we had finished eating.
We really didn’t go anywhere that night, but we all got drunk as hell. We had all taken turns dancing with Paris and then Zion and Paris ended up making out like drunken fools. Zion took Paris’ hand and led him to his bedroom. I suspected that they would end up having sex, finally. Asha fell asleep on the floor. I lay on the couch, not yet tired. I took out my wallet and pulled out the hundred dollar bill. I stared at the phone number. Feeling a surge of confidence from all of the liquid courage that I had consumed that night, I took out my phone and dialed.
*****
It was late, I was drunk, and I was calling him. After a few rings, I started to lose my nerve, but then he answered.
“Hello?”
“Hello?” I repeated.
“Who’s this?” he demanded. I smiled awkwardly; glad that he couldn’t see me. I didn’t even know what to say or how to go about this.
“I got your number today at the hotel,” I began, hoping that he would remember and understand. I closed my eyes and held my breath. There was a long pause filled with silence as he thought.
“I was wondering when you were going to call,” he finally said. My face broke into a smile.
“When?” I asked.
“Yeah, when,” he answered cockily. I liked his attitude, although it caught me off guard. Asha started snoring so I decided to take this conversation out onto the balcony.
“So what took you so long?” he asked.
“Took me so long for what?”
“To call.”
I closed the screen door to the balcony behind me and sat down on a rocking chair. The night was cool, the wine coursing through my veins kept me warm. I stared at the clear, starlit sky.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to. I didn’t even know if it was your number or not,” I admitted. Another pause.
“Well I’m glad that you did,” he told me.
“Why is that?” I asked, wondering if he could hear that I was smiling.
“Because I’d like to get to know you.” I bit my lip and stood up. Energy was surging through my body and I couldn’t stay seated. I needed to pace.
“Do you usually give out hundred dollar tips with your phone number on them to unsuspecting innocent housekeepers?” I teased.
“Innocent?” he teased back, faking incredulity.
“Yea, innocent!” I snapped. He ignored me.
“To answer your question, no. To be honest, I d
on’t usually tip housekeeping at all,” he admitted. I gasped and we both laughed. “Hear me out! I know you noticed how clean my room was. I feel like, that is my tip.” He was dead serious. I sucked my teeth.
“So why me?” I probed.
“I want to see you again,” he said seriously. My heart was pounding in my chest. “What are you doing?”
“I’m at my friends’ house. One of my best friends just got back from overseas so we were celebrating.”
“Oh, so you’ve been drinking?” I could hear him smiling now.
“Maybe.”
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Why?”
“Because I want to see you.”
“Now?” I asked, caught off-guard by how forward he was being.
“Yes.”
“No.” I said firmly.
“Why not?” he asked. I could tell that he wasn’t used to being told no. I rolled my eyes.
“Because I just met you. It’s the middle of the night. I’ve been drinking. Shall I go on?” I said, attitude seeping into my words. I hoped that I hadn’t turned him off but I had to be honest. He was quiet again.
“I respect that.” I smiled. “How about brunch then?” I laughed. I admired his persistence. He didn’t even give me a chance to think about it. “I could pick you up in the morning.”
“No.” I said before I could stop myself.
“No?” he demanded. I quickly realized that I enjoyed telling him no. “Why?”
“Because I’m spending time with my friends.” To my surprise, he laughed.
“I like that,” he said.
“Like what?” I asked.
“You.”
I rolled my eyes. “Baby steps,” I told him.
“Baby steps,” he repeated.
“Baby steps.”
“Okay,” I could imagine him nodding. “I’ll call you tomorrow then?”
“I’d like that.” I told him.
“Goodnight beautiful,” he said.
“Goodnight.” I smiled and hung up. I did a little dance before heading back inside. I liked the way I had handled that conversation. I could tell that if I would have given in to his demands, he would have most definitely tried to have sex with me. I shook my head. No no no, he was going to have to work for this. It finally hit me that I still didn’t even know his name.
Alpha Vampire Romance: Vampire’s Mate (Paranormal Shapeshifter Alpha Demon Vampire Romance) (Coming of Age Werewolf BBW Shifter Women’s Fiction Short Stories) Page 25
