It was scorching outside, so she couldn't wear a jacket to cover her house clothes. She had to completely change. Quickly, she threw on a skirt and fitted tee before heading out. Rodney was leaning by the side of her building, waiting for her. When he saw her arrive, he gestured they go. She sighed, not believing he actually meant to follow her.
It felt strange walking down the street beside him. As they walked, he walked with confidence—truthfully, arrogance, as though he were God's gift to earth. He kept his eyes straight ahead—he couldn't be bothered with noticing those around him. He just stood tall and unapproachable, even the air around Rodney moved differently. And women knew it. They looked. Many did double takes. Several looked at her, perplexed, silently wondering what was he doing with someone like her? Alicia wished she could sink into the concrete. They didn't know that she wasn't with him. She wouldn't be by a long shot. Rodney didn't seem to notice any of the women staring at him.
"How long have you been a construction worker again?" she asked.
"17. Fresh out of high school," he said.
"...did you ever think about more schooling?" she asked and when he frowned at her added, "Seriously."
He shrugged, "I thought about it, but...by the time I was a senior—I don't know."
She didn't want to push him to say more if he wasn't ready to, but she did want to genuinely know. What made him not consider college his senior year of high school? A math whiz like him was certainly gifted. He could've excelled while in college. Was it money? Or worst? They got to the train station and waited for the train in silence. It was a little awkward, but she thought it best not to say anything just in case they got into an argument again. As the train came, he folded his arms over his chest and jutted his chin out to her with that cocky, raised eyebrow of his and a bored expression.
"So, what's your story? How'd you started working at Electric?" he asked.
So, she told him about how she applied two years ago while she was still in school. How at first, it was a wonderful experience, but as time passed, it was like a veil was lifted from her eyes.
"Sophomore?" he asked, "You've been working at that magazine since you were a sophomore and they haven't given you at least a raise? Why do they still consider you an intern?"
"I don't know," she said, "Me and my partner on this project started around the same time. But the editor's son is starting next week fresh out of college and he's going to be the fiction editor. Next week, there's going to be a celebration for him at my job that my partner and I put together. It's not fair, but I get it, I guess."
"I don't. Why do people always say networking works when it doesn't? It's a waste of time to me. You work for a couple of years only for nepotism to occur. Life is a joke," Rodney said.
"You could say that again," Alicia rested her head on the window.
It grew silent between them once more as the train propelled on. Light invaded the car as the train emerged from underground and soared over Harlem. They were heading towards the upper west side. Alicia side-glanced Rodney and saw that he was already studying at her. A nervous pang struck her in the stomach and she sat up, rambling her head for things to say, but realized she didn't want to talk anymore about her job with him. He didn't have to know about her issues. Especially since she promised herself she wouldn't be seeing him after this day was over. They were going to stay strangers.
They got to Lotus about half an hour later. The building was spacious and jaw-dropping, just like the pictures she saw online. Someone greeted them and gave them a tour of the place. At the end, Alicia expressed her interest in the building for her event and the worker promised to have a contract drafted by end of tomorrow that she could pick up.
As they walked out of the venue, Alicia's stomach growled. Mentally, she cursed, clutching her stomach, and hoped Rodney didn't hear, but he did.
"You're hungry?" he asked.
"No, I—"
"Don't lie. It causes wrinkles—"
"That isn't true—"
"Come on, I saw a shake shack on the way here," he said.
She should've pushed and said no. She could save money since there was food at home and she wouldn't have to tolerate being around him, but he grabbed her by the wrist and led her to shake shack, leaving no room for her to put up a fight. Well, if this day ended up with them yelling at one another, it was his fault. She tried to leave as soon as she could.
They entered the mall before finding shake shack on the second floor. The store was empty so they got to order right away. When she tried to pay for her meal, he nudged her a little and shooed her aside, paying for her. She didn't thank him since she knew he had to have been doing this because he felt guilty. Instead, as their order was being prepared, she strolled around, spotting some green seats outside of the store.
"I'm gonna go find somewhere to sit," she said and he nodded.
As she made her way to the exit, a group of guys entered the store. Her head shot down to the ground. One of them was looking at her. He was about her age and holding a basketball in one hand, but he had a receding hairline. As his friends passed, he stopped and held the door out for her with a smile. She hesitated before walking through.
"Thank you," she said.
"Of course," he smiled again.
For a minute, she just stood there, watching as he joined his friends at the counter before noticing that Rodney was grimacing at her. Embarrassed, she quickly found a seat by the store.
A few minutes later, he joined her with a single tray with both their orders. She began eating her fries in silence as he ate his burger, regarding her still with a grimace.
"What?" she asked.
He shook his head coolly, cocked that arrogant brow up and said nothing. She didn't pay his stupid behavior no mind, just continued eating her fries, but after a minute passed, he spoke.
"Your face is so red," he said.
"No it isn't," she said.
"Yes, it is. You're blushing," he remarked.
Self-consciously, she patted her face with the back of her hand as he smiled at her mockingly.
"How cute," he said. "Did you like it?"
"What?" she asked.
"When that guy flirted with you. You kept staring at him after he held the door out for you. I was tempted to tell you to take a picture since that'll last longer," he said.
"I wasn't staring. I didn't even think anything of it," she said.
"Oh?"
"I'm serious....but he isn't too bad looking. He's pretty attractive," she admitted. "He seems nice. I like nice guys."
He was looking down at his food, but at her calling the stranger attractive, his head snapped up to her. He turned to the store to study the stranger again with a look of disdain. Finally, he scoffed at that.
"Attractive? You call that attractive?" He asked and she nodded. "What about me, then?"
"Eh," she said.
He snatched her fries away from her, hissing under his breath, and rose. Alicia had to lower her head and cover her lips to hide her smile.
"You aren't hungry, remember?" he said and walked away.
She caught him waiting for her outside of the mall, still with that cross expression on his face while he ate her fries. She reached for them, but he pulled his hand back and started walking down the street. She followed after him, still trying to hide her smile after bruising his ego.
"I'm sure that dude back at shake shack wouldn't have stolen my fries," she said.
"You don't even know him," he said.
"You don't know me either," she said.
He paused, contemplating this. Now, there was a hint of amusement in his brown eyes.
"Okay, I'll share these fries with you if you answer some of my questions. But you have to catch the fries in your mouth," he said.
"What?" she said and he grinned. "I'm not doing that."
He shrugged, eating another fry. She rolled her eyes and eyed him.
"Alright, what's the question?" she asked.
"When's your birthday? Mine is in July," he asked.
"Mine is in September," she said. He nodded and tossed a fry into the air, grinning when she caught it in her mouth.
"Do you like spicy foods?" he asked and she shook her head no. "That's awful. Okay...what songs do you sing in the shower?"
"I don't sing in the shower—"
Playfully, he feigned being appalled, "But you have to sing in the shower! Everyone does it. How are you gonna get rid of all the stress from the day before?"
"I don't. I let the stress consume me and feed off of the negative energy throughout the day. It's a real thrill and helps me work in a constant state of mania under tight deadlines at work," she said.
"You're a psycho," he said.
"Or a genius...you sound like you must be a cancer. I don't like guys with that sign."
"Hey, wait a minute," he complained. "Everyone's always giving us a real bad rep, but it's all stereotypes. Cancers are great people! It's actually Aquarius's you have to look out for—"
She laughed out loud, stealing the fries from him and running off. He chased after her.
He ended up showing her around the neighborhood for the rest of the day, pointing out cool places to eat and drink at in case her colleagues wanted to continue the night of fun once this Lotus event was over.
When the sun fell into the bed of the river, it was about nine o' clock at night. The two of them stood in front of the Hudson river on 49thstreet. Many people weren't around, but occasionally a car passed by them. They listened to the waves glide back and forth, splashing down below onto large rocks. Alicia snuck a peek at Rodney, in disbelief that they had managed to go the entire day without arguing. And still he was with her. She had long decided on Lotus for a venue, so why did he eat with her, take her all around the upper west side? Did he want the interview that badly? She sighed as a warm breeze caressed her face.
She guessed she could do it, if he behaved like this from now on. But a part of her was afraid to tell him since it meant they'd have to meet one more time. And another part of her kept replaying how he looked today when he smiled. Ah, so that's how it was when he was in cheerful mood, perhaps how he was too with whoever he dated. She only got to see that cheerful side to him because he wanted something from her. She was torn between helping him and not. She glanced at him, studying his jawline as an idea came to her.
"Rodney?"
As soon as he turned towards her, she punched him as hard as she could. The wind is knocked out of him and he dropped to his knees, holding his cheek.
"We're even. I'll do the interview," she said.
"Wow, you actually remembered the whole hit me thing, huh? Well, okay..." he said, trying to recover from her punch. "For a girl, you really do hit hard."
He decided to buy her tacos to celebrate and since it was dinner time. As they eat their meal, she emailed him an invitation to the Lotus event since those featured in the upcoming issue is invited to the 20thanniversary. As Alicia ate her tacos, she drank a margarita and then a mojito. Rodney, however, didn't drink.
"You don't want even a beer?" she asked him.
"No, I'm okay," he said.
"Didn't you drink with Maxine the night of that party?" she asked.
"I didn't drink that D'ussé. I was getting it for her since she wanted something. I don't really—I mean, well...I mean, I guess I could order just one thing," he said hesitantly.
"Let me order it," she smiled mischievously.
She ordered him one of those cocktails that came with an extra shot on the side. After finishing it, he ordered himself another. When they were through with dinner, they headed out, walking down the vacant street. Unlike earlier, the silence between them wasn't awkward; Alicia was comfortable by his side. When she checked her phone, she saw that it was almost midnight. Rodney started to hum the Latinx pop song he heard earlier in the restaurant before breaking off to laugh. Alicia stopped walking, wondering what was so funny to him. His face was a little flushed, too.
"Are you—are you drunk?" she asked.
"A little," he said, and stumbled.
"That's why you didn't want to drink earlier. You're a light weight," she laughed.
He tilted his head up to the sky with a smile on his face and began to hum the pop song again, guiding them down the street. When they get to a playground, she stopped him from walking.
"Maybe you should take an uber, instead of the train," she said and he nodded.
He managed to slip out his phone and select an uber, reciting his address out loud over and over to make sure he chose the right one. Alicia bit her lip from laughing out loud at him. The uber will be here in 15 minutes so she decided to wait with him.
She followed him through the playground, watching as he hooked his arm around a yellow pole and swung around and around. His humming turned into full-on singing and Alicia clutched her stomach, laughing out loud though she noted he was on key. When he spotted a swing set, he jogged over and hopped onto one.
"Hey, push me!" he said.
She shook her head and went over to him, pushing his back until he got the hang of it. She stood nearby as he flung himself higher and higher as though he were reaching for the dark sky. She chuckled to herself; his entertaining mood was contagious.
After ten minutes of waiting, the Uber cancelled on them. He had to order himself another one, but since he was drunk, he wasn't in a rush. After selecting another Uber, he shoved his phone into his pocket and asked her to push him again.
"Why don't we go to that store across the street and get you some water?" she suggested.
So they went to the 24-hour convenience store and browsed around. They bought some icees and water and decided to eat the icees in the store. As he sucked on his cherry icee, he stuck his tongue out, glancing at it in the reflection of the nearby refrigerator before laughing because it was now red.
"What flavor did you get?" he asked Alicia.
"I don't know the name. It's the blue one," she said.
He grinned, "Ah man, that's like the coolest flavor."
He tried resting his elbow on the snack rack beside him, but missed it and stumbled. Embarrassed by his drunkenness, he smiled at her, trying to play it off. She chuckled again and shook her head.
"I can't believe you're drunk off of only two drinks—" she said.
"That were almost fishbowl-sized and came with an extra shot each," he argued.
He sucked on his icee before speaking again, "Do you want anything else in here?"
"No, it's alright," she said.
And it was. He had bought her shake shack earlier and paid for the bill at the Mexican restaurant too. She didn't want him to spend any more money on her.
"Are you sure?" he asked and she nodded. "But there's so much this store has to offer!"
He stepped up to a row of face masks and dragged his finger across each one and back. Then he did the same thing to a row of toothbrushes before turning to her.
"There must be something you need. Get it and I'll buy it for you. Money's no object," he said. "We're celebrating you giving me a second chance."
"We already did that with some tacos—" she said.
"Whatever you want. Whether you want something in this store, you want the stars or the moon. I'll get it for you if you so desire," he said.
She paused, trying not to make anything out of his words since he was drunk, but she couldn't help but think about how the girl he eventually dates will be one lucky person with the way he can sweet talk.
"Why don't we get some fresh air?" she said, heading for the door.
They crossed the street and returned to the playground, waiting still. He was leaning against a pole nearby her as she played with the leaves from a baby Oak tree. It wasn't too tall yet. On her tip toes, she managed to feel them through her index finger and thumb. Suddenly, Rodney came behind her and reached up to do the same.
"These leaves are so smooth," he whispered.
She froze, not quite registering his words because of how close he is to her. He towered over her. She could feel the heat of his chest on her back as she became inundated with the fresh scent of him. It's hard to breathe, but her heart is racing so fast and her legs feel like grass flowing through the wind. She blinked and looked behind her up at him. He wasn't aware of the effect he had on her. He was too busy stroking the leaves with his fingers. And in the dark night, it seemed like his face was glowing. Finally, he looked down at her and to her surprise leaned in, wrapping his arms around her and tucking his chin into her neck. She caught her breath as her eyes widened.
"W—what?" she said.
He took the tassels on the sides of her skirt and began to tie them together because they became undone. She didn't even notice because she was trying to see that he got home okay. Quickly, she tried to move away from him, but his arms held firm around her. She couldn't breathe as the butterflies that flooded her stomach found their way into her lungs. His cheek beside hers was so warm.
"I called an uber for you too," he said. "I don't live near you otherwise you could've just came with me, but it's too late."
"You did?" she asked and he nodded.
He told her the name of the driver and the credentials so she got into the right one. She looked down at his hands as he attempted for the third time to tie her tassel. It was hard for him since he was drunk; his hands were so large. Anxiously, she looked away and studied the empty playground. When he succeeded in tying the tassel, he proceeded to rest his hands on her hips. Her skin felt as if it were on fire; it was such a strange sensation. How can a man's fingers touch her and even if she's wearing clothes, it felt like she was naked and burning? He chuckled softly.
"Hmm...my arms go around you so easily. Just like that I'm holding you," he said. "I guess it isn't too bad that your waist is so small."
Hurriedly, she stepped away from him, staggering back, just as headlights flashed onto them. Concerned, he frowned at her.
"What did I say?" he asked.
"I—it, is that my uber or yours?" she asked.
He checked his phone again for the details and gestured that she go inside the car. She hesitated leaving him here since he was drunk, but then thought about staying with him after the way he held her.
She cursed under her breath and quickly got into the car.