Hita (15 page)

Juliette asks me to ride down to Santa Cruz with her. There’s a big open water swim race she signed up for.

“Why didn’t you drive down with Nate?”

“He works every other Saturday. He always says he’ll be done by two, but shows up at four. Anyway, he’s working. I could ride down with some swim friends but….”

“Zach?”

She nods before explaining. “Zach and I are cool.  But Nate doesn’t know that Zach and I went out a few times last fall.”

“You don’t think Nate would be cool with you hanging with Zach?”

She flashes me a look before saying, “I wasn’t cool knowing his ex was in town trying to get back together with him. I don’t think he would be cool knowing I’m hanging with a guy I once dated.”

“I take it you believe you made the right choice.”

She smiles and nods before saying, “I’m lucky how things turned out. Zach’s a good guy. But Nate’s a great guy. I can’t imagine being happier.”

We drive for a bit in silence as I realize I’m happy for Juliette, though I feel a pang of jealousy that she has what I want. After parking we walk to the beach where everyone is registering for the swim.  Half the people are in wetsuits, half are only wearing swimsuits.

As Juliette hands me her sweats and puts on a thermal swim cap I ask her.  “Why aren’t you wearing a wetsuit?”

“Real swimmers don’t wear wetsuits.”

“I thought you hated cold water?”

“I do, but in the fall I challenged Kevin and Zach to do this swim.”

“So you’re going to freeze your butt off to prove some stupid point?”

She smiles and shrugs as she answers, “It appears so.”

The fog is starting to break when the swim starts. I watch as everyone swims around the pier. Juliette’s friends Zach and Kevin are the first two out of the water. Their finish is so tight I don’t know who won. Damn, Zach is a beautiful man. Nate’s a big, good looking guy, but as I watch Zach walk up the beach in only a speedo I wonder how Juliette turned Zach down. Now I’m wondering if it’s the sun or Zach’s body that’s making my temperature rise as I strip off my hoody and sweatpants.

Juliette gets out of the ocean with blue lips. She grabs my hoody and the towel I have for her. As we wait for Kevin’s girlfriend to finish the race I think I hear my name being called. I look around and don’t see anyone I know. Out of the corner of my eye I see a guy approaching. He’s got a wetsuit pulled down to his waist. He looks real good. He’s kind of tawny colored, with the body tall slim guys get when they lift weights -- well-built arms, shoulders, chest, and flat stomach that ends in a lean V. I can’t help but noticing he also has a big friendly smile. I figure he must know Juliette.

When he gets close he says, “Hey, Hita, I thought that was you.”

I keep staring, perplexed, that voice is so familiar. Finally I spit out, “Colin?”

He chuckles, “I saw you yesterday. What, you forgot what I looked like already?

I hope my jaw didn’t drop to the ground. I had no idea that under those T-shirts he wears his body was so spectacularly nice. Or maybe I realized it, but it never registered.

“Why are you here?” he says casually.

“Juliette did the swim. I’m her back-up team.” As I point to shivering Juliette.

He smiles and says, “sweet.”

I can tell he’s checking out my bikini clad body, which suddenly makes me feel exposed and naked. I feel at a loss of what to say next.

He tips his head, “Juliette who works with us?”

Nodding my head, I find the words to talk. “Yeah, you’ve met her.”

He looks at her and tips his head as she gives a little wave.

He looks back at me. “It’s nice running into you.” Looking me up and down again, he quirks his lips into a smile, “I should get back to my friends.”

He starts turning, then says, “Hey, I haven’t seen you or David at the Underground in a while.”

“Oh, yeah, David hasn’t been there?”

His eyebrows go up. “No.”

“We broke up.” Shrugging my shoulder I explain, “I was avoiding it since I thought it best to give him some space.”

“Yeah, sounds like both of you had the same idea.” With a smile, he looks over at some guys who are waiting for him. “My friends are waiting. I’ll catch you at work.”

As he walks towards the parking lot, Juliette elbows me, “I never realized Colin was so hot…and?” Juliette says.

I shrug, “What?”

“You’ve known this hot guy for what, two years. He sure went out of his way to say hello.”

Looking at her questioningly, I explain, “We work together.”

“Hita, you work at the same company. He’s not your boss; he doesn’t even work in our group. How many lunches do we talk about hot guys?” As we watch him retreat, she continues, “Damn, I’d put that boy number one on your prospect list.”

As I start walking with Juliette over to where Zach, Kevin, and Amanda are, I can feel my mind in a swirl as I move Colin from the guy I play ping pong with to the guy who might be my new fantasy.

Amanda asks, “Who was that?”

Juliette gets a real scheming smile on her face, “Hita’s ping pong buddy who sure went out of his way to say hello to her.”

I can feel the blood rush to my face, thank the Gods I’m too dark for anyone to tell.

At around five in the evening, Juliette walks up to my desk. She opens a new browser window on my computer and types in TechCrunch. The page opens up with an article on Google buying a young company for $1.3 billion dollars.

She then says, “Isn’t that your old boyfriend?”

The first article is all about Anil. He owns sixty percent of his company’s stock. There’s a picture of him standing next to Jennifer’s old boyfriend, Carter.

I gasp as Juliette leaves me stunned. I dated that guy, he liked me, he also thought I almost poisoned him and he had no sense of humor. But this guy liked me, he’s Indian, he would have married me. I, too, would be a billionaire now.

Picking up my phone, I text Jennifer: Did you hear the news?

She texts me back: That’s rather vague.

I text her the link to the article as I stand up and start walking back to the supply  room.

In the room I stare at my phone. It takes about one minute before she calls.

Shrieking into my phone she says, “Shit, can you believe those guys did that?”

“Shit, that guy liked me,” I say.

“Shit that guy liked me too,” she says.

“Shit, we could be living in the hills with a fancy car and a black credit card,” I say.

“Shit, we could be traveling anywhere, buying anything we want,” she says.

We both stay on the phone, I can hear her breathing, neither of us saying anything.

As thoughts of what I would do if I had a bottomless bank account run through my mind, I then think of Anil.

“I’d be married to a humorless guy who didn’t get me.”

Jennifer answers, “I’d be married to a guy who thinks my career is nebulous and beneath him.”

“I’d be miserable.”

“Yeah, so would I.”

“Man for about three minutes my brain went into overdrive thinking of all the possibilities wealth would bring.”

“Yeah, so did mine.”

“I could do so much with that money.”

“Yeah, not just for me, but there are all kinds of programs I could fund.”

“Think of all the lives you could change.”

“We’d be another Gates foundation saving the world.”

“Yeah, what could have been?”

“Too bad we really didn’t like those guys.”

“But can you believe that we actually knew guys who made it big? You read about people that make it big. But we actually went out with them.”

“Yeah, kind of blows my mind.”

Back at work my ping pong app notifies me. Shit, I’m up with Colin. I can feel my adrenaline rush and my face flush as I think about seeing him in twenty minutes. Damn, will I be able to concentrate on the game?

I see he’s already there. Even though his form is familiar, my mind works like an x-ray as I superimpose his nice chest over his shirt. How come I never noticed before how nice, straight, and white his teeth are? His smile alone wets my panties.

Trying to act cool and casual, something I’ve never been good at, I smile and say, “Hi.”

His smile remains as I can see his eyes look me up and down. Okay, this is as weird as it was on Saturday when I saw him checking me out. If he’s giving me that look to get me off my game so he can win, it’s certainly working.

As we start to play, my head is so not in the game. He finally stops halfway through, asking, “Is everything all right?”

I want to scream at him, “No, how can I concentrate with that body and panty wetting smile in front of me? Nothing is alright.” Instead, I smile, “Sorry, I must be in my head today.”

He looks at my sidewise and says, “Do you still want to play?”

“Yeah, definitely.” This is Colin, the same guy you’ve been playing with for two years. The two of you laugh and joke together, stop mentally undressing him, stop wondering what he kisses like, no, you cannot walk over there and smell him, no touching. Keep your senses out of it and focus on playing some ping pong.

He finally says, “Hita, lets change sides.”

Yeah, cause that will get my head in the game. Damn, why is my libido all over the place? This is Colin, nice, fun Colin.

When I finally lose big time to him, he shakes his head. “It was nice running into you this weekend.” He then walks over to the drink refrigerator, turning back he asks, “Orange mineral water, right?”

With a big smile on my face I say, “No, grape.”

His face has a shocked look. As he passes the grape to me, our hands touch. A spark runs up my arm, across my shoulder, and directly to my groin. I barely manage not to gasp as I look into his eyes and for the first time wonder if he felt that too. We don’t move for what feels like minutes, but is probably only seconds.

He finally clears his throat and says, “Well, then.”

Taking a big sip I stand there uncomfortably. “Yeah.”

He hesitantly says, “Well, I should get back to work.”

I stand there like an idiot. “Yeah, me too.”

He starts leaving, then turns around. He cocks his head and says, “Hey, on Saturday would you want to go to underground gaming with me?”

Totally surprised by this, I only manage to say, “Um….”

He looks at me for a couple more seconds and shakes his head. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to hit on you or anything.” He then turns to walk out.

Gathering myself, I call out, “Colin, yes.”

Looking over his shoulder at me, his eyes narrow, and I repeat, “It’s cool, yes, I’d like to go to the underground with you on Saturday.”

He gives me a big smile, tips his head, and says, “Sweet.”

Savi calls, and of course I tell her about Colin.

“How could I play ping pong a few times a week with a guy for two years and never notice him?” I lament.

She chuckles before giving me advice, “You need to calm down or you’ll be the lamest date ever.”

Covering my eyes I wonder out loud, “I know this guy really well. Why am I being like this?”

***

Colin IM’s me at work. “Do you want to eat something before gaming?”

Realizing I don’t want this communication on our work server, I write down my phone number along with a note—let’s use our phones instead of work systems for personal communication—and head over to where he sits. I’ve never even been over to this end of the building before. He’s sitting at his desk surrounded by monitors. I stand there for a couple of seconds before he notices me. Everyone in his group is now looking at me.

I smile, hand him my note, give him a chance to read it, and then say, “Sorry, I can’t make ping pong this afternoon.” He smirks then nods.

I get about ten paces down the hall when he calls after me, “You know you could have sent me an IM.”

I wave back at him as I continue to my desk. I’m glad my voice didn’t crack or my face didn’t give away how sexually charged I feel being near him.

I’m back working for about five minutes when my phone buzzes. It’s from an unknown number: I don’t think we’re playing each other today.

With a secret smile I text back: Then I guess you still get to play.

He texts me again: Dinner before games?

Didn’t I have lots of evenings like this with David? Then I reflect, that was the best part of our relationship. I’m hoping for more than round two of the same with Colin. I’m also hoping that David doesn’t choose Saturday night to show back up at underground gaming.

***

Changing my clothes five times does nothing to settle my nerves. It’s also rather futile since at the end, all I have is a pile of clothes that need to be folded and I don’t look any different.

Colin shows up at my door on time. He looks really good in jeans and a burning man T-shirt. He gives me one of his nice smiles, the energy between us is palpable. Was it only last weekend we ran into each other at the beach? Was it really only ten days ago I thought of him as another guy at work?

My body buzzes with adrenaline as I uncomfortably invite him in while I grab my purse. After locking up, we walk down to his car together and our hands brush against each other. The tingle goes right up my shoulder and down to my core. We both look at each other; I know he felt it too.

I’m usually casual with Colin, mostly we joke around or trash talk as we try to psych each other out. Tonight we’re both polite and nervous. He never said date; he only asked me if I wanted to go to the underground with him. Is this a date?

As I get in his car I realize I never even checked Twitter to find out where tonight’s games are being hosted. He starts driving down El Camino, finally pulling into Amber Indian Restaurant.

As he parks he gives me a half smile, “I hope you eat Indian.”

I chuckle and answer, “Yeah, a little.”

The restaurant is popular and crowded; Colin gives his name to the hostess. He must have thought about where to go since he made a reservation. The menu has a wide variety of Indian foods.

Colin asks me, “Do you want to share an appetizer? How about Aleppy Fried Prawns?”

Slowly shaking my head I say, “How about the Vegetable Samosa?”

He narrows his eyes, finally saying, “Vegetarian?”

I slowly nod my head.

“Your family’s from the South?”

I feel surprised, most Americans can barely find India on a map, let alone be able to identify southern and northern cuisine.

“Are you familiar with Indian food?”

Colin gets a funny smile, “Yeah, some, mostly northern food.”

“What, did you have an Indian roommate?” I question.

He chuckles again and nods his head. “Yeah, you definitely could say that.”

Feeling confused, I finally ask, “What’s the joke? I know I’m missing something.”

Our server comes over and we each order a Kingfisher Beer, some naan, and the vegetable samosa.

When she leaves I say, “Are you going to tell me about the Indian you lived with?”

He nods his head and squints at me. “I figured you already knew. My dad’s Indian.”

“What! Really?”

Then I contemplate before commenting, “Yeah, Seth is an Indian last name, merchants from the north.”

He nods. “Yeah, and my mom’s from Olean, NY. She’s Polish and Irish. They met in college.”

“And your dad’s from?”

“Hindu, from Uttar Pradesh, actually Agra, you know, where the Taj Mahal is.”

“Were you raised Catholic or Hindu?”

He chuckles, then answers, “My mom calls us CEO Catholics, while my dad has an Indian stomach.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ve never heard that before?”

Shaking my head he continues, “CEO, Christmas, Easter Only Catholics. My dad lives like an American, but eats like an Indian. That’s why I know Indian food. My dad likes to cook.”

Totally surprised by an Indian man who actually cooks at home, I have to ask, “Have you been to India?”

“Every few years we’d take an extra week off for Christmas break. I think December is the only time when the weather’s not beastly hot there.”

I stare at him before saying, “Well that blows my mind.”

“Don’t you think I’m a little dark to be a White boy?”

Holding up my much darker arm to his, “Yeah, but way too light to be an Indian, and the light brown eyes and bit of blond in your hair, that’s kind of misleading.”

“My mom’s very fair. She has two colors, white and red. Growing up she was always on me about sunscreen, wearing a hat, and covering up. She was convinced I was going to burn.”

“Did you ever burn?”

He barks out a laugh. “No, not even in New Mexico. I’ve got plenty of melanin to protect me.”

It hits me that I’ve known Colin for two years. I know so many things about him. I know how he gets a satisfied smile when he wins. How he tips his head and swears when he loses. That he’s a good sport, has an even disposition, and treats others with respect. But then again, I know nothing about him. This is the first time we’ve talked about families.

“Where did you grow up?”

“Albuquerque, New Mexico.”

“There’re not a lot of Indians there.”

He chuckles at my comment. “Plenty of Indians in New Mexico, just not East Asian Indians. Most people there are either White or Hispanic. I don’t think either group knew what to make of me.”

“I can relate. Back in Chicago everyone was either White or Black. The Black girls always asked me how I got my hair so nice and straight. They always acted like I wasn’t sharing some secret recipe with them when I told them it naturally grew that way.”

Our beers and appetizers come. All the talk has broken the edge off my nervousness. We’re back to being comfortable around each other though, there is still this simmering sexual heat.

When the check comes I grab my purse as I fish out my wallet.

Colin says, “You know I’ve wanted to ask you out for awhile. But then you were with David, and well, I didn’t want to get hauled into HR for sexual harassment.”

I smile because I’m glad this is a date, responding to his comment with, “You think I’d have said no?”

“I didn’t want to make it weird.”

He reaches over and threads his fingers through mine, causing me to shudder in response. Looking me in the eyes, he says, “If I said this was a date and not just two friends from work going out for dinner would you be cool with it?”

I look at our fingers and smile shyly even though I’m not feeling at all shy. “I think I would be disappointed if tonight was only two friends from work going out for dinner together.”

“If I pay, can I call this a date and you won’t blast me at work?” He says with an earnest look in his eye.

I look at our entwined fingers again. Finally giving him a serious look, I tell him, “I’d like this to be a date, but I’d also like the two of us to be outside of work. I don’t want the two of us to be secret, but I don’t want you and I to be a topic of conversation.”

He nods a couple of times. “Yeah, that’s cool.”

I let him pay; we walk hand and hand to his car. I feel like the world has shifted. For the first time I’m not looking forward to playing games. I would much rather do other things, like find out what it’s like to kiss him, what those muscles feel like, and how he smells.

At the underground we play for a while, though I feel the game is not what we’re playing, it feels more like a layer on top of what we’re really playing. The sexual energy between us is thick, making it really hard for me to concentrate. Every once in a while we brush against each other and my skin sparks and my brain literally goes blank.

When we finish the game we’re on, Colin says, “How come I don’t think you’re into playing tonight any more than you were into ping pong earlier this week?”

Giving him a mock surprised look I say, “Was I that bad?”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “Yeah, you usually give me a run for my money.”

Tipping my head and looking towards the exit. “Yeah, maybe we can skip the next game.”

With a knowing look he threads his fingers through mine as we walk toward the exit.

We walk up the stairs to my apartment, all my internal organs are rotating in my core as my nerves and excitement escalate to a level I’ve never felt before. Am I really going to do this? What is this we’re going to do? The only guy I’ve ever had a fling with was Gray, and that is not something I want to think about. I’d much rather wait, think about it, make sure I’m doing the right thing. I want a boyfriend, not a hookup or something unspecified like what Caroline is experiencing. It took ages before I slept with Brandon, not very long with David. I don’t know if it has to do with being twenty-five, or if it’s that I’ve known Colin for two years. Can it be that he’s so hot or that I’m too horny? I don’t want to wait. I want to touch his beautiful body and I want him touching me. This must be how girls get in trouble.

At the top of the stairs he watches me as I pull out my keys. I can tell by the way he’s breathing that he’s thinking the same thoughts as me. I can also feel that he’s letting me take the lead.

I feel my head tip to the side as I softly say, “You coming in?”

A small smile forms in the side of his mouth as he slowly nods his head. Closing the door behind us I look directly into those caramel colored eyes and say, “I have a roommate, we should move directly to my bedroom.”

His pupils fully dilate as I grab his hand and lead him to my room. I turn on my light since I want to see every contour and curve of his body, I’m not missing anything because it’s too dark. He watches me as I move over to where he’s standing. He’s a couple inches taller, so it doesn’t take much to tip my head up and gently kiss his lips. They feel soft as I take in his smell. He’s totally intoxicating. It takes until the second soft sweet kiss for him to move from casual participant to actively being involved. His hands come around me as our kiss moves from sweet and gentle to hard and fast. As we taste each other’s mouth, the tingle of sexual energy rolls down my neck lighting up my arms, causing my hands to clench his shirt as my crotch starts pulsing with desire.

After kissing long, hard, and deep for what feels like eternity I feel the need to touch his skin as I reach down for the hem of his shirt to pull it off. He breaks our kiss as our arms instantly release. Both of us are standing inches away, breathing like we just finished running a sprint.

He looks me right in the eyes and in rough voice says, “I want you so bad.”

With a big smile on my face, I grab the hem of my shirt and roll it off of my body and then start working on my jeans. He stands there watching me with eyes that have dilated so large they have lost their iris.

“You also need to take off your clothes.”

In one quick move he grabs the back of his shirt and rolls it off his head, his jeans and boxers are off and being kicked away from us. I watch, mesmerized. I’m now in my bra and panties while he’s naked. My eyes run down his well-muscled chest to his slim well-toned abs that run clearly into the V that leads to his very large hard-on.

Looking to his face, I can see his body is like mine, humming with anticipation. I reach behind myself to unlatch my bra, letting it fall down my arms and drop to the floor. I then use the tips of my fingers to pull down my panties. The entire time I find myself getting off even more knowing he’s watch me. We stand a couple of feet apart looking at each other’s naked bodies.

In unison we move together grasping each other as our mouths connect in deep kisses. Colin takes over as he leads us to my bed. Not bothering to move my blanket, we find ourselves on top of the covers, our arms wrapped around each other as my legs wrap around his hips. Colin’s hands feel like they are everywhere as they leave trails of sensations in their wake.