Brophy

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Claudia couldn't understand it. She thought Lowry and her had a good first date. She thought she looked good and handled herself well. She didn't come off too strong or come off too meek. Claudia thought they had a good time. He even said it. Then what the fuck happened?

She called him later on that night and they had a great conversation. She was pleased at the way it all turned out. She expressed to him how much she loved the carriage ride and he said that was a whim thing that he thought it would try but he didn't know if it was corny or not. Claudia practically bragged about her date which is something she never did. In return, Angie bragged about her all night fuck session, which she always does. Claudia was real happy and real content with the date and with Lance Lowry in general.

She even went on the site and almost damn neared jumped and hit the ceiling when his profile was gone because that meant taken. She immediately called him which is something she never did and was surprised she was doing it again. She never makes the first, or the second or even the third call. Guys always called her. She never did the calling. But Lowry had her open.

But this time all she got was voicemail. She knew Lowry was a busy man so she let it slide and left a message. A couple of hours went by and still no returned call let her make another call. Voicemail again. By the end of the night she was frantic. What had went wrong? Maybe his profile had disappeared because he was taken but not by her. Claudia for the first time was sad. She was Claudia Mitchell. She had niggas trying to leave their wives and residences because of her. She was the shit and she knew it. She was the ultimate definition of what a lady should be. And she had found her Brophy. He fit all the qualifications. He was smart, sexy, and had great conversation. He made her laugh and made her feel safe in his arms. She thought not giving it up on the first night would have sealed the deal. Maybe show him she wasn't one of those stank girls that he was trying to avoid but a real classy lady. Maybe she had it backwards. All she knew was she was now getting voicemails and his profile was off the site. Something happened and she wanted to know what.

"You said he's a busy guy," that was Angie trying to comfort her on the phone.

Angie had invited Claudia to the club that King was doing security for and had asked if Claudia wanted to bring Lance along. Claudia was psyched even though she hated doing dates back to back but she thought it would be fun. That's why she was happy when she saw his profile off the site. She thought they had connected. Claudia was calling Lowry to ask if he wanted to go with her. But after no callbacks and leaving over four messages, she became more depressed at the situation.

She called Angie a little bit before she was supposed to meet up with Angie at the club to tell the news so far.

"Yeah, but I left messages," Claudia said. "I don't even do that. And I don't know what's going on because his profile is off the site and he hasn't called me. You think he got taken by somebody else?"

"That fast?" Angie said. "No, and if he did, it had to be you. You're the whole package. Ain't no chick competing with you."

"I don't know," Claudia said eating a bowl of Ben & Jerry's Cookies and Cream ice cream, another something she normally didn't do.

"Look, like I said he's probably doing a big project," Angie tried to reassure. "You know that sound and light shit got to be perfect and he may had to stay late or he caught another gig. He may not look at his phone like that. He runs a business. His own business. He's not some nickel and dime nine to fiver. He doesn't punch a clock. He makes the clock. So stop beating yourself up. He will call. In the meantime get dressed and hang out with your girl. You can even put on the dress from the night you was first introduced to Brophy."

"Shut up, stupid," Claudia laughed.

"Look, it would be fun," Angie promised.

"Can I ask you a question?" Claudia inquired.

"You already did."

"Shut up, heifer. Listen, did..um...did David take off his profile?"

"He was but I told him not. I want to see how well this goes before I jump to those steps."

"You playing a dangerous game. The way you tell it, dude is an Ebony God."

"He is. It would be stupid of me to say I'm not worried. But then again I'm Angela Waters. Who's better than me? Except my runner up, Claudia Mitchell. Now get your second place having butt up and get dressed. I'm coming to get you."

Claudia laughed again. "Alright, heifer. Bye."

Lance, the real Lance, looked at Claudia's picture that was on his computer screen. He smiled as he read her profile again and thought back to what Tyrel had said about the date.

Lance knew she was a special lady but he also knew she would have nothing to do with his kind. He took off his profile like Tyrel asked but thought about putting another one up maybe using another one of his workers.

Nah, truth be told, Tyrel only did it because he was paid to do it and offered a promotion. He was never any real friend of Lance. Lance knew that. He didn't have friends, he had employees and they only hung out with him because they were getting paid too.

Lance listened to the phone messages Claudia had left on his voicemail. He had given Tyrel a cell phone while Tyrel was playing the role of Lance and Tyrel's voice was on the voicemail machine recorder. Now that phone was back in his hands.

 Claudia had left four messages. Each one sounded  little bit frantic than the first. Claudia was worried about him. She was worried about Lance, but not the real Lance, the Brophy Lance.

Lance looked at the monitor and touched the screen showing Claudia's face. Her voice sounded enchanted. He wondered how she felt. He had asked Tyrel and Tyrel described it the best he could. But Lance wanted to feel that for himself. He was mad he never got that chance.

Lance played Claudia's first message. The one that was full of hope and promise. Claudia saw Lance's profile was gone and thought Lance had chosen her. Lance did chose her, just not the Lance she thought did.

Lance listened to the last message. Claudia said something about going to some club and if he wanted to come, to either call her or just come by. Claudia said something about her friend knowing the bouncer and all he had to do was say his name and he would get in with no problem.

Hmmmm, Lance thought, maybe I'll take you up on that.