The Playa Chronicles (7 page)

“Hey!” I called out to her. “What am I drinking?”

“
Mojito
.”

“Thanks.” I grabbed the glass and began to stir it up with the straw. I took a long sip of the liquid courage. I began thinking about what I’d say: How I would have to be strong and overcome her objections. I was thankful that I was someplace that didn’t have a bed. It would make being strong so much easier.

I laughed out loud.

The ladies at the next table looked at me like I was crazy. I threw them a fake smile and took another big swallow. This stuff was pretty good. I’m a Long Island Iced Tea man from way back, but I could get use to this.

Before I realized it, I had finished half of my drink and Laura still hadn’t come back. I began to get the feeling that Laura wasn’t coming back. Then the waitress returned. “Hey, Laura said to tell you that she had to go to The Hard Rock Cafe.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I’m for real. She just called and told me to tell you that. She wants you come there; she said she’ll wait there for you,” she said, grinning ear to ear. “You want another drink before you go?”

“No, but thanks.”

I was pissed, but I tried not to show it. Hard Rock was right across the street from the Plaza. I finished my drink and left. By this time I knew that she was playing with me. Question
is,
how long would the game last? How many more places did she intend to run me to? Then
came
the more important question: Was I going to play the game at all?

I got the feeling that she was leading me back to the Plaza and she was waiting there in a suite. If that was the case, everything changed. I hit the street and made my way back up
Peachtree Street
. I could see where this was going, bottle of champagne on ice, little finger food prepared by her so-called personal chef, Laura laying there naked. Every fiber in my being was telling me to forget Hard Rock, she wasn’t there anyway. I should get my car and go home. I feared that I wouldn’t be able to control the situation if we weren’t in a public place. It’s always a whole lot easier to turn down pussy when the woman has her clothes on.

I stood outside Hard Rock, trying in vain to walk across the street and go home. But I was weak and I knew it. The whole scenario in the suite appealed to me. I wanted to fuck Laura, one last time.

I went inside.

I didn’t bother to look around for Laura; I knew she wasn’t there. I took a seat at the bar. I ordered a drink and waited for someone to approach me with new instructions. After a while, I wondered if I had spoiled the plan by sitting at the bar instead of waiting to be seated. I got up and went to the bathroom. When I came back, there was a key card and a room number written on a napkin lying on the bar next to where my drink was. I put the key in my pocket and ordered another drink. I don’t know why; I didn’t need another drink. I just needed time to think about what I was about to do. And besides, the idea of making Laura wait and wonder if I was coming had a particular appeal to me.

I called for the check. I wondered whether I could control my passion, say what I had to say, and jet. I could if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to. The bartender said the check was already taken care of. When I asked by whom,
like I didn’t know
, he just smiled and walked away. I finished my drink and left. As I got to the corner the light changed like it was giving me one last chance to go home. I knew Laura had been tracking my movements from place to place. By this time, she knew I had the key and would be there soon. If I didn’t show now, she’d be mad, but she’d get the hint. The light changed and I headed for the hotel.

I got to the room and let myself in. The room was dim. As expected, she had it laid out—champagne on ice, tray of shrimp and cocktail sauce, but no Laura. I sat down on the bed. I heard a noise and turned quickly. Laura seemed to appear out of thin air. “Hello, Rick. I’ve been expecting you.”

“I just bet you have.” She was wearing a full-length, black silk gown, which left nothing to the imagination. She started walking toward me.

“It is so good to see you. I’ve missed you so much.” She pushed me down on the bed and kissed me. I gently touched her face to end the kiss and sat up.

“Slow down, Laura.”

She stood up and went for the champagne. “You want some champagne?”

I stood up. “Yeah, pour me a glass. I’ll be right back.” I needed to get off that bed and say what I had to say. I went into the bathroom and threw some cold on my face. I had a good buzz going and I wanted to have my mind clear for what I was going to say, not to mention wade through her objections.

When I came out of the bathroom, Laura had made herself comfortable, sitting up on the bed with her legs crossed. I picked up the glass she had poured for me and sat down in a chair. “What you doing way over there? Take off your clothes and come lay next to me,” she said, sipping champagne.

“There’s something I gotta say.”

“Go ahead, you have my undivided attention.” She uncrossed her legs.

Wide.

“And you just made it that much harder.” I shook my head. Laura smiled.

“What did I do?”

“Never mind, it doesn’t matter anyway.” This time it was me who smiled. She knew what she was doing. Tempting me. Trying to make me weak for her. And it was working. “I’ve been trying to think of how I should say this. I even had a speech all ready.”

“I don’t like the way this is going already.”

“Laura, I can’t see you anymore.” I looked at her face, her eyes. Laura looked at me like she could have killed me, or like she had an I-had-shot-her-mama kinda look. I waited for a response, but Laura continued her cold stare. Finally it came.

“Just like that? Ain’t this a bitch? I had a feeling that’s what you were going to say.” Laura got up. She came over and sat on my lap. She put her arms around my neck. “Why, Rick? What did I do?”

“It’s nothing you did. I just can’t keep doing this anymore, that’s all.”

“This is about April, ain’t it Rick? She flex on you or something? Told you she was going to leave you if you didn’t stop seeing me?”

“Laura, I like you. But I love April. I’ve never made any secret of that.”

“I know all of that, Rick. I’ve heard all that before. What does it have to do with me? What does it have to do with us?” She tried to kiss me, but I stopped her. She got up, pouting like a spoiled child and laid on the bed.

“It has everything to do with us, Laura. Can’t you see that? This isn’t fair to either of us.”

“That never seemed to matter to you before!” she shouted.

“Well, it matters to me now!” I shouted back.

“Calm down, Rick, no need for all this yelling.”

Laura sat up in bed and poured another glass of champagne. She drank half of it; then refilled her glass and mine. “So, it’s over now, huh? Just like that. It’s over, because now, all of a sudden, you say it’s not fair to either of us. Well, what about me, Rick? What about my feelings? I’m just supposed to say okay and walk away like it never meant anything.”

I wanted to say yes, but I knew better. I was in no mood for her to throw that glass at me. I searched my mind for a better line, but nothing came. “Maybe if things were different; if I wasn’t in love with April. Maybe if we had more time for each other, things could have been different.” It was the best I could do. Then Laura looked at me.

“I love you, Rick.”

Somehow I knew before the night was through, she would say that. Women always come up with the more dramatic lines. What was I supposed to say now? Even if I did love her, I wasn’t going to start saying it now. I had no desire to hurt Laura anymore than I already had. Saying the “L” word now, would only complicate things. “I like you, Laura, you know that. And what’s more important is that I respect you. You deserve better than what I have to offer.”

“Stop it, Rick; just stop it. Trying to make it sound like you’re doing this for me. If this was about me, you’d be having this conversation with April.”

“You’re right, this is about April. It always has been,” I said flatly. I stood up and walked toward the door.

“Rick, please don’t go. Not like this,” she said softly.

“There’s nothing else to say.”

Before I could make it out the door, I saw Laura grab the champagne out of the bucket. She threw the bottle, but I ducked just before it crashed against the wall. The bucket was next.

I ducked that too and got to the door. I saw Laura grab her purse and move toward me. I walked out and quickly closed the door.

I got to the elevator as quickly as I could, hoping that since she didn’t have much on, she wouldn’t come charging down the hall with whatever she was trying to get out of her purse. When the elevator came, I got on and I leaned against the wall. I had mixed emotions about what had just happened. I hurt Laura and I was sorry about that. But at the same time I felt good. Very good. I did what I had to do and got out of there before we got to the one-more-time-for-old-time-sake fuck. Maybe there was hope for me yet.

It had been almost a month since April decided that we needed to take a break from each other. And I gotta tell you, it sucks. I mean, it’s like we are, but aren’t, together. We still talk every day—three and four times most days. The problem is she won’t see me. Now April is talking about going back to school to finish her masters. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad she’s finally going to do it; I’ve been encouraging her to go for it for years. But now, it will just give her another reason not to see me.

So, I spend my nights sitting in this house, alone, waiting for the phone to ring and wishing that April would give me another chance. All of a sudden the phone rang. “Hello.”

“Hello, Rick. This is Vanessa. We met a couple of weeks ago at Kroger.”

“Oh yeah . . . How you doing?” I asked casually, keeping my enthusiasm in check.

“I’m fine. I guess you thought I wasn’t going to call you, didn’t you?”

“The thought had occurred to me.” She ran me some line about meaning to call, but she lost my card and only found it just that minute. I let it pass without comment. I figured she was bored and didn’t have anything else to do, so let’s give the new guy a try. I didn’t care, she called me.

We talked for a while. Actually, it felt more like an interrogation, with her asking most of the questions. About where I lived and what I did for a living. She was sizing me up, trying to decide whether she wanted to be bothered with me. I knew I’d passed when she asked, “What are you doing tonight?”

“Nothing. What did you have in mind?”

“I was hoping I could cash in my rain check. You could meet me somewhere, get something to eat, have a drink or whatever. Have you eaten yet?”

“No. Actually, I was just thinking about going to get something to eat anyway.” I lied, hoping that she didn’t want to go someplace and have a big meal. I grabbed a couple of burgers on the way home, but I could choke down some finger food over drinks and conversation. “So that’s cool. Where do you want to meet?”

“Tell you what; why don’t you come pick me up in about an hour?” Vanessa asked and gave me her address.

“Sounds good.” I looked at my watch. “I’ll see you there.” I hung up the phone and headed for the shower, thinking about what the evening was gonna be like.

When I got to Vanessa’s house, she was standing outside. “I hope I didn’t take too long?”

“Not at all, Rick. Actually, you are right on time,” Vanessa said and got in the car.

Once we pulled off I asked, “So, what do you have a taste for?”

“You know what? I’m not really all that hungry right now. But it’s such a nice night, why don’t we just ride. Maybe will get something to eat later.”

“That’s cool.” So we simply drove around, talked, and got to know one another. We continued to drive around until we passed a liquor store. We picked
of
a fifth of Alizé and continued our trip to nowhere.
“Hey, hey, turn here.”

I complied with her request and turned on
LaVista
Road
. I didn’t ask why; I didn’t care. That’s just the way it was. I’d do anything she said at this point. Go anywhere, talk about anything, ’cause I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. As we passed the Fairfield Inn, Vanessa said, “Pull over here.”

“Yes,” I said softly. I turned into the parking lot and parked in front of the office.

“Why don’t you go get us a room,
handsome.
”

“I’ll be right back.” I quickly got out of the car and went inside to handle my assigned task. Even though we could be at my house in fifteen minutes, I thought it best to preserve the spontaneous mood of the evening. Besides, I didn’t want her to think I was cheap.

Once we got to the room, I tried to kiss her right away. “Slow down, handsome. We got plenty of time for all that. Why don’t you go get some ice so we can have a drink?”

I composed myself.

It wasn’t easy.

I grabbed the bucket and went for the ice. I left the room playing out several scenarios of how things would play out. On the way back, my enthusiasm waned. I stopped dead in my tracks. “I sure hope she got some skills. There’s nothing worse than getting all excited about the act and have to
lay
around rock hard, waiting to see if she can finish the job. And I sure hope she’s not a nibbler. Ain’t
nothing
in the world worse than a nibbler.”