Cheryl's Secret (Two Stories Series) (3 page)

Oh
, my God! I’m going to have to re-evaluate any idea I ever had that this woman is “just O.K.”

Just the same, I still can’t have the hot woman who happens to be right there in front of me, in my apartment no less. God, if it weren’t for Richard…

Mark was wearing his dress pants and dress shoes, with a blue shirt and a black tie.
He had not worn these clothes for quite some time, but he wore them for her.

“You look great Mark
,” Cheryl said with a smile.

“
You look
stunning
.”

I
can’t make a move. God this is torture!

As
if she had read his mind, Cheryl responded, “I want to be absolutely clear: No having sex with me! So please, try to relax.”

Although
Cheryl’s words were
anything but
relaxing, he did his best to try. To ease the tension, he lit up a cigarette and offered one to her, which she accepted.

They ate their pizza and sipped their wine.
Mark thought her brave for eating pizza with a white dress on. He also noticed that when she ate, she had perfect table manners, and was graceful, neat and tidy. Mark had a near miss of getting pepperoni on his shirt, and with some embarrassment, picked the piece off the floor.

“Please be careful
not to stain my floor,” she said politely.

“Excuse me
!” Mark interjected. “This is not your floor.”

“My work
my floor. Don’t let me see the rest of this place messy the next time I come here!”

Mark was
charmed by this, but also taken aback.

Before Mark could wander further
into his own thoughts again, she continued to speak.

“Now that we
’ve eaten, we’re clean, and your place is clean, I can begin teaching you how to handle a woman.” She then sat on the couch and motioned him to join.

Cheryl
took note of his discomfort.

“Look,”
Cheryl said “You’re an intelligent, well-spoken man. You already know how to carry a conversation, so you don’t need much help there. But you need to learn to be just as relaxed and in control regarding what you do with your body.”

“I thought you said we weren’t
having sex
,” Mark said with a wink, suppressing his laughter with a half-smile.

“
Get your mind out of the gutter!
I’m talking about your hands.”

O.K.
, I’m going to have to give my wit the night off and refrain from my comments about groping or hand jobs, I suppose.

“Now the first thing we’
re going to do is hold hands. Put your hands on my hands, and I’ll hold them in my lap until you feel comfortable. During this time, we’re going to talk.”

Mark obeyed, and he put his hands on hers.
He felt
even more
nervous than before. After a few minutes, his hands started to sweat. Hers didn’t.

“
Now talk to me, Mark.”

Their conversation lasted about an hour or so, du
ring which she reminded him several times to put his hands back on hers while she faced him on the couch. To ease things, he made conversation.

He asked
, “I know you’re half Japanese, do you speak any?”

“A little.
My mother taught me some when I was a kid, but I’ve forgotten a lot of it. My half-sister Akiko is full Japanese, and she speaks it too. She was born over there where she grew up with her father. She’s only been in America for a few years. We speak some Japanese sometimes. You probably speak more Japanese than I do, from what I read on your profile.”

Mark felt relaxed, and continued the conversation saying,
“You know it’s interesting that you see more American men with Asian women than you do the other way around. You know why that is?”

“No, I never gave it much thought
,” replied Cheryl.

“It’s a cultural thing.
American men like women who are more traditional. Asian women like the fact that an American man is not as dictatorial as an Asian man would be. Now, on the other hand, you have an Asian man trying to be the boss of the relationship while his Cosmopolitan magazine flinging American woman is trying to reduce him down and cut his balls off, turning him into a ‘sensitive man’. It’s a total power struggle.”

“Well, don’t you worry, Mark
,” Cheryl said with a smile, “I don’t read Cosmopolitan magazine.”

“I could kiss you for that
.”

“Don’t kiss me yet!
You have more to learn.” She said, with an even brighter smile.

They
both laughed. Mark noticed his hands were no longer sweating.

Cheryl
noticed too, saying “O.K., now for the next step. I want you to hold me. Now remember, no putting your hands on my breasts. Got it?”

Mark held her for
a while on the couch, and they were silent for about twenty minutes. He felt a strange, euphoric feeling that was blissful and uncomfortable at the same time. He broke away for a moment to look at her, and started stroking her hair.

“Very good, you
’ve taken the next step yourself,” she said, pleased.

Mark gav
e a puzzled look to which Cheryl responded, “It’s very simple. You want to kiss me, but you’re not sure if I’m ready yet. The best thing to do is to start stroking my hair.”

“And then I ju
st kiss you right?” he asked, leaning in.

“No
!” Cheryl said emphatically, gently pushing him away.

Cheryl composed herself, and then continued with her advice
. “What you do is wait for me to smile and then kiss me. Give me a soft, gentle kiss, and with no tongue, that will come later. For now, just wait for me to smile, and kiss me,” Cheryl said.

“W
ait a minute, she may not smile, and she may do something else, I…”

“Even
you
will be able to tell whether or not she’s ready. Just watch me smile, and kiss me.”

So he wa
tched, and then he did. Their lips touched briefly. His face tingled. His heart pounded.

I wonder how it is for her…

She broke away.

“That was very good Mark.
I think we’ve done enough for tonight.”

Cheryl
quietly got up, grabbed her things, and walked toward the door. Halfway to the door, she turned around to speak.

“I’ll
be here tomorrow. I expect you to help me with Richard. Maybe you can tell me how to get to his heart. Maybe
you
can show
me
what a man wants.”

Picking up on his thoughts, she continued.
“Besides sex, got it? So keep those Trojans in your backpack for now.”

With
that, she walked out.

C
hapter 5

Thursday night Cheryl showed up for her “training session” as her and Mark agreed to (or as Cheryl insisted, depending on how you look at things).

“I can’t go through with it. There is
no way
I can tell Richard how I feel!” Cheryl blurted out.

Understanding
her pain, he was sympathetic, but at the same time, he knew he couldn’t be overly nice. Tonight,
he
was in charge.

“Then don’t
,” Mark said plainly.

“
What!
You’re supposed to be
helping me
, aren’t you? You’re supposed to be talking me into this and helping me through it! That’s part of our deal. I’m helping you with Tanya, so I expect similar help!”

Mark
couldn’t conceal his grin.

“
It’s not funny!” Cheryl yelled, facing him the same way she did the previous night. They weren’t, however, holding hands this time.

“Look, this is what you do.
Forget about this guy. It’s never going to happen between the two of you. You’ll ruin your friendship, and you’ll both be miserable, even if when you declare your undying love you end up sleeping together. You’re obviously not suited to each other.”

As calm
ly as Mark was speaking, he didn’t expect a calm response.

“How can you say that? He is the most amazing, handsome, kind, gentle and intelligent man I can think of!”

This is going exactly as planned. You haven’t a clue, do you Cheryl?

“You don’t think you’
re
worthy
of him. Maybe you aren’t. No, you’re not worthy of him. He is far better than you are. He
outclasses
you.”

Mark grabbed her wrist
in mid-slap. His face would be quite hurt were he any slower. Cheryl pushed him with her other hand, and he grabbed that one too.

If this were some chick-flick
, we’d be kissing.
Mark thought to himself, somewhat disappointed that this was indeed reality.

Disgusted,
Cheryl broke away, and tried leaving.

But Mark had anticipated this too,
and he firmly pushed her back on the couch.

“You
mother fucker! I cleaned your home, and spent all that time with you last night, and all I get back is this shit!
I hate you!
”

“Fine, hate me, but know this, if you can’t
show your feelings to him now, you’ll have problems later, even and especially if you get into a relationship with him. Part of the reason is that you
think
he is so much better than you are. Now I know that you’re just as good as him, if not better. You’re a strong, attractive and clever woman. Any man would be happy to have you,” Mark said to her, loudly but kindly.

“Oh fuck you and your flattery
,”
Cheryl continued with her scornful tone. Though it was strengthening in her
voice
, Mark was glad that at least it wasn’t coming through her
hands
.

“S
ave that bullshit stuff about being a
strong, attractive and clever woman
for getting down Tanya’s pants, O.K.? Or are you just trying to get down mine? ”

Cheryl
went silent, more out of exhaustion than anything else.

Mark took over.

“You need to give up, for your own sanity. If wanting Richard makes you unhappy, having him will make you unhappy too. It’s the ‘law of attraction’. You get what you think about.”

“That’s bullshit!
All I have to do is stop being scared, so I can be happy! How’s that
Mr. Zen Master?”

“So, if
you aren’t going to take my advice, then what
is
your plan, Cheryl?” Mark answered, ignoring the ridicule.

“It’s not
as if I’m just going to grab him and kiss him. I’m going to take him to lunch, I think Saturday will do. I’ll order an appetizer so that we start sharing food. I’ll ask him for a sip of his drink so that I can tell if he minds sharing his germs with me. I’ll touch him a lot, a hint that I want to be touched back. I’ll smile and wink. Only an idiot wouldn’t pick up on all my signals. But until then, I think I’ll keep playing hard to get.”

She sounds like she wrote this in her mind years ago.
How long has this been going on? Why on Earth is a woman like her playing hard to get? Who’s getting the real Cheryl? Am I, or is Richard?

“List
en carefully to me Cheryl. Women play a terrible game when they play ‘hard to get’. I mean, it’s bad enough that men have to face rejection from women who don’t like them, but it’s even worse that they face rejection from women who do. Do with Richard what you tried doing on your date with me, and you’ll be fine.”

Cheryl
laughed politely and lightened up a bit. “It makes sense,” she said. Then she got a curious, puzzled look on her face. “Why are you now advising me how to go through with it?”

“Because…” Mark collected his thoughts.
“You totally made your point, and you’ve convinced me that you’re doing the right thing by pursuing Richard.”

“You mean I won the argument?
See, you think you’re
so smart
, but I’m
smarter!”

“Don’t let your head swell up too fast, O She-guru-of-love-and-how-to-treat-a-woman you.
I already knew that pursuing him was the right thing to do.”

“Then
why did you argue so adamantly? Why not give me some encouragement,
God Damn it?”
Cheryl said through her teeth.

“If I told you t
o go ahead with it, you’d talk yourself out of it.”

“Explain
,” Cheryl insisted.