Muna
"Evening, Gia." I halted across from Georgia, leaning against the desk while my eyes darted around the lobby.
"It seems like someone had a great day today, huh." She said and I settled my gaze back on her, smiling. She mirrored my smile, inflicting lines at the corner of her eyes.
Gia was one of the nicest people I had met since moving here, and she had helped me with lots of things including the best places to eat. She was older than I was, looking to be in her forties, but she insisted we be on a first-name basis, saying we were friends now. Her dark straight hair was always in a tight bun and her face always held a friendly smile.
"You can say that, Gia." I shrugged, watching her reach for something.
"That's great sweetheart and here is a package for you." She placed a little box on the desk in front of me, and I slightly furrowed my brows staring at it.
"What is that?" I asked, confused because all my orders had arrived, and I was not expecting anything.
"I wouldn't know sweetheart but they sure are for you." She placed her hands on the desk, watching me, while I continued to stare confusingly at the package.
"Okay," I stifled the tired yawn that followed and glanced at her, "Goodnight, Gia."
I grabbed the box and was about to walk to the elevator when Gia stopped me. "Wait," I paused and turned to her. "Somebody asked about you."
"And who is that?"
"Mr Gray the sexy lawyer living on the floor above yours," she grinned, throwing me a wink after she mentioned sexy.
Who the hell is Mr Gray?
I chuckled, "I don't know anyone by that name-"
Gia pointed her face to the elevator and my gaze followed, sighting the elevator door that was about to close. The urge to run towards it pulled my legs off the ground.
"He just-"
"Gia, we will talk about that tomorrow, okay." I threw over my shoulder, with my legs darting towards the elevator. "Good night," I yelled.
Right on time before the elevator door closed, I pulled my body between the doors, almost tripping to the floor and the doors slid back open. A satisfactory smile spread across my face as I stood straight composing myself, and straightening out my dress. I raised my smiling face to the other figure in the elevator, and upon seeing who it was, the smile on my instantly disappeared.
The event from the coffee shop flooded my mind and I quickly lowered my gaze, inwardly feeling a little embarrassed. How did I manage to run into him three times just in one day?
As if the smirk on his face wasn't enough, it grew into a cocky smile and I couldn't help but roll my eyes to the back of my head. His manly woody scent which already filled the elevator whisked its way into my nostrils, intoxicating my mind and silently I exhaled, hoping to get rid of it.
"Are you coming in or..." he paused when I rolled my eyes at him.
Ignoring him, I made my way to the other side of the elevator and pressed the 20th-floor button. Neither did I want to be in the same space with him nor would I leave the elevator for him. All we needed to do was travel to our various floors in silence.
From the corner of my eyes, I could see his now ruffled hair and the smile on his face fading away. He was still in his clothing from earlier, with tiredness written all over his face. He stared at the elevator wall like he was lost in thought, but nothing about his state right now made him less handsome than he was.
Seeing that he got the memo about me not wanting to talk to him, I got a little comfortable and slightly turned my eyes in his direction. My gaze traced from his face down to his muscled arm covered in his shirt sleeve, which was now folded below his elbow. The tie was no longer around his neck, and the first button of his shirt was unbuttoned.
My gaze trailed down to his veiny arm and right to his hand, which was tucked into his pants pocket. As if being controlled by the wild thoughts that continued to flood my mind, the next thing my eyes landed on was the bulge in his pants. Quickly, I tightened my jaw which almost hit the ground, and my eyes widened at the size of what I was seeing.
Fuck! I swallowed, shutting my eyes in an attempt to erase the images that quickly flooded my mind. I had never thought about sex since my heart was broken, but the image of that bulge was getting my mind pretty dirty.
"You know you don't have to be subtle about it, eh?" His voice sliced through the air with traces of amusement in his tone. My eyelids flew open as I tightly grabbed onto the package in my hands.
A hot sensation flushed across my cheeks, and I swallowed trying to stabilize my tone. "I'd rather you don't talk to me, Mr Weirdo," I said, without moving my gaze from where it was.
It was silly of me to check him out after what happened between us, but I still didn't want to talk to him again.
"Mr weirdo?" he muttered and from the corner of my eyes, I saw him wearing a smirk with pride. "The name is Nicklaus."
Now, I would have to talk to him.
"Nobody asked-"
"I know you hate me, Love but-"
Love? The word rolled out of his tongue smoothly, like we had known each other for a long time. And oh, let's not forget about the effect it had on me. I hated that.
"It's Muna, don't call me that." I gritted through my teeth and he nodded, glancing at me. When he didn't say anything, I decided to address the other thing he said. "Hate is a strong word and no matter how bad I would like to admit to hating you. I would rather use the word 'dislike.' I dislike you, Weirdo." I said, and he breathed out a brief chuckle.
I cringed at myself, wondering why I bothered to explain that to him, but there was an eruption of Maya's voice in my head when he said that. Her voice each time I admitted to hating someone and she would always go, "Muna, hate is a strong word. Don't say that. Just say you dislike them." My lips twitched in a small smile at the thought of Maya, but Mr Rudeness's voice once again filled the air.
"I think we are gonna get along just fine, Muna."
"You wish," I glanced in his direction and met his gaze which was on me. He shrugged his shoulders, smirking and I swallowed a lump, shifting my gaze from him. The elevator door dinged open and I huffed, "Thank Goodness," I muttered, and without sparing Nicklaus another glance, I sauntered out of it.
"See you around, Muna."
I paused in my steps and turned to him, slightly rolling my eyes at the tease in his tone. And right as the doors were about to close I said, "Don't say that like we are friends." The elevator doors jammed shut, leaving the prints of his cocky smiling face floating in my head.
Damn, this man.
That face of his, stubbornly escorted me to my apartment, refusing to leave when I climbed into my bed. It guided me through my twists and turns until I finally fell into a long night's sleep.
__________
My eyelids parted to the beautiful view of the city, softly glaring at me through my window walls. The rising sun cast a rosy hue across the morning sky, pouring morning sunlight into my bedroom. Since I moved in, this was my first night waking at sunrise, and in a pleasant mood at that.
I couldn't help but wonder why.
My eyes darted to the nightstand, where my phone lay, but the package sitting beside it reminded me of last night. Last night, not only did Gia hand me a package I wasn't expecting, but I ran into a man, who even though did get on my nerves, I thought about his smug face until I fell asleep.
Even though I didn't like Nicklaus, I wouldn't deny how sexy and good-looking he was. But again, Carl was sexy and good-looking and see what he did to me.
My life before now was perfect, everything was going as planned and I was happy. I had my mom, my boyfriend Carl, Maya who had been my best friend since high school and Amelia, who joined our friend group in college. But a month ago, Amelia decided that a man would come between our friendship, and that man happened to be my boyfriend... now ex-boyfriend. Not only did I lose both of them, but there was also Maya, who was pissed because I moved to New York. She wanted us to stay together, and I wanted that too but couldn't. I needed this change.
I sighed away the thought of the mess going on in my life and rolled to the other side of my bed. I reached for the package sitting on the nightstand, and even though I almost fell to the ground. I successfully grabbed it, and the paring knife which I left on top of it last night.
I fell back to my bed, a satisfactory smile playing on my lips. I sighed, changing to a yoga sitting position, before running the sharp knife through the cover. When I opened the box, the contents inside it had me gaping before a soft chuckle escaped me.
A blue vibrator was lying perfectly at the centre with a card tucked to the side. I shook my head, smiling with only one person coming to mind.
Thank goodness she read all the text I sent her about my new place.
I pulled myself together, picked up the card and opened it.
Forgive me for being selfish and not understanding your feelings. I'm sorry Muna. I know you will be needing this, so I wanted to be the one to get it for you.
Love, Maya.
My lips spread in a smile and I reached for my phone. I unlocked it, and tapped on my call log, giving Maya a call immediately.
"Hello, Maya."
"Muna," I could feel her grinning hard right now. "Since you called, I guess you've gotten my gift."
"A vibrator? Seriously Maya?" I laughed, and she joined me laughing.
"Girl, don't act like you wouldn't be needing it. You don't fuck who you don't like, and you don't even fuck who you like except you're in love with them or whatever. We both know that your ass won't be getting laid anytime soon. So let my little gift take care of you."
I sighed, "Whatever." She was right. I knew it would be hard to get laid here, and that was why I had decided not to think about sex at all.
"You're welcome." She said and I chuckled.
"So, you're no longer pissed right?"
"No baby, I overreacted, acted like a dick and was selfish. I didn't consider how you felt and I am sorry about that." She said, sounding apologetic. "So how is life in the new city?"
"Bad, I miss you so much, Maya. I miss Atlanta, I miss home." I whined.
"Muna you know me, I would have told you to come home but maybe this change will turn out good for you."
"You think so?"
"You've been saying you wanted to live somewhere else, so take it as that. Give it time, you will come to love the place, and I will visit when I get the chance."
"I can't wait to have you here," I whined.
Thoughts of what it would have been like to be here with her flooded my mind, almost making me emotional but I shook it off my head. Maya loved me but there was no way she would abandon her nursing job, and her boyfriend Andre, just to follow me around.
"How is work?" I asked. "And Andre?"
"Work is fine, just getting off right now and sitting in the car talking to my best friend."
I smiled. "Night shift?"
"Yeah, and Andre is fine." There was a quick silence, "Muna, when are you going to start giving us bomb content to enjoy or are you still not over that shitty man?"
I chuckled at the way she addressed Carl, "I put something up."
"I know, we want more. Take us with you to see the beauty of New York City and when is the apartment tour coming up?" She asked. "I wanna see what the apartment looks like."
I glanced around my room looking at my halfway arranged space, and boxes which had been sitting there for two weeks now. It was the same in the living room and the guest bedroom, including the little office space which I wanted to set up for my work. I felt a rush of energy run through me, I was motivated. I needed to tidy up and create some bomb content.
"I will have them out soon," I said, smiling. Ideas flooded into me.
"You better."
"Thank you, Maya."
"What for?"
"For always being my motivation."
"You're a hard worker baby girl, it's all you." Silence again fell between us. I wanted to ask about Amelia and Carl but it's best not to say anything, No way would I have thoughts of them, ruining my already beautiful day. "I will have to go now, baby girl," She said.
"Love you."
"Love you more."
The phone beeped indicating the call had ended. I threw my phone on the side of the bed before falling back on it, kicking the box to the side. I was happy, my best friend was back in my life.
I needed to check my emails, and then finish up with arranging my apartment. I needed to shoot some videos and many more, but there was only one thing lingering heavier than the others.
I dragged myself out and sauntered to the bathroom. First, I needed to go to the coffee shop and I hoped not to ever run into Mr Rudeness again.