It has been a couple of days and Augustus has never let that moment leave his mind. He has completely ignored her texts to the point that she didn't even text anymore. He just couldn't believe he did that because he really liked her and she already believes that he doesn't really like her that much and he completely dodged her kiss, that just proved that he didn't like her as much as he says that he did.
Augustus heard his office door slam, he turns around in his chair and he sees Shania come stalking towards him. His eyes went wide and she leans over his desk, grabbing him by his tie and he lets out a sharp inhale. Shania eyes furrowed. "You have been ignoring her, are you stupid? Do I need to knock some sense in that head of yours?" Shania questioned and Augustus swallows hard. "No, I- Jesus, can you let go and hear me out?" He questioned and Shania stares at him for about two minutes, she was so beyond furious that she didn't know whether to slap him or just let him go and hear what he has to say.
Shania let's go and she sits down in the chair in front of his desk. "I'm listening." Shania stated and he sighs as he rubs his face. He said something but it was muffled. Shania leans forward a little and she squints her eyes just a little. "What?" She questioned and he groans. "She tried to kiss me and I dodged it by hugging her." Augustus groaned and Shania's mouth parted, she covers her mouth as she looks away from him. All he could hear was her wheezing and stifled giggles. Augustus shakes his head as he gets up. "I knew you were gonna laugh." He huffed and Shania stops, she sighs as she got herself together. "Boy, you tripping because Salma says that she honestly hasn't been stressing about it. It's you ignoring her that is making her feel some type of way."
Augustus runs his hands through his hair. "I'm embarrassed and it was a really stupid move." He says and Shania shakes her head as she crosses her arms. "Well, you still have a chance to go see her before her date tonight." Shania says and Augustus's head snapped his head towards her. "Date...?" He retorted and Shania nodded. "Yeah... they met at work so I better go get some flowers or something, change out of them... godforsaken clothes and ask her on a date and actually kiss her this time." Shania says then she gets up, he grabs his keys to his Maserati. Shania always asks him if she could drive it and he always said no but she has been so helpful to him lately.. "Here, I want you to go out and get some flowers, a nice big bouquet and whatever she likes while I figure out where I'm going to take her tonight." He says giving his keys, he reaches into his pocket for his wallet and fished out his card.
Augustus gives her card to him, Shania looks at him with shock. "You sure?"
"Yes, you can get yourself something and meet me back here at six." Augustus says pushing her towards the doorway. "That car is your baby, are you sure that you want me to-" Augustus pushes her gently out of the room and he shuts the door, he presses his hands against his chest then he runs them down his suit, straightening it out as he walked by to his desk.
He began looking up date ideas or really nice places to go to. He spent a while looking at a romantic restaurant and eventually he found one called One if by Land, Two if by Sea then he picked a really nice movie theater for them to go to and he even made some calls for this big surprise for Salma that would possibly make her cry and say yes to be his girlfriend, hopefully. He gets up and he walks into his closet in his office, Shania would sometimes come in and bring pieces of clothes for him. He literally could spend the night in his office in which he has before, he has a bathroom and his couch turns into a really comfortable bed.
Augustus looks around and he rubs his chin as he pulled out a suit that was not like his ten-year-old Prada suits that were given to him by his Dad. He liked wearing them even though they were a bit big, he didn't feel comfortable without them. He was emotionally attached to them. He puts it on and it was tight-fitting but very comfortable to move around, it was a silky black Tom Ford and his black loafers. He looks in the mirror and he was impressed but also he felt... pretty good, he felt a bit more confident.
"Okay, so I got the biggest and prettiest bouquet, I went by Godiva and got her some dark chocolate because she loves it and I went and stopped by Gucci for myself, they had a sale." Shania says as she sits the stuff down, not even looking at Augustus. Shania looks up and she dropped her purse and her Gucci bag right along with her jaw. "Damn, Augustus, you better get it!" Shania exclaimed and he chuckles but then he shrugs, he starts strutting towards her. Shania starts snapping while singing What A Man by Salt-N-Pepa. He stops at the end of the closet like the models do, Shania pulls out her phone and she starts taking pictures. "This is what I call... a man who is dedicated and ready." Shania says as she looks at the pictures.
Augustus chuckles as he looks into the mirror. "I don't know.. I like how it fits plus I'm really going all in with this. I'm going to go in and I'm going to take her to a really nice restaurant and I'm going to tell her how much I like her. I'm going to do my big surprise and ask her to be my girlfriend which I think it's too soon-"
Shania shakes her head as she crosses her arms. "It's never too soon, Gus. I can see it, the way you look at her and how much you want to better yourself just to be with her, it's never too soon. I knew your Dad, heck, he was the one who hired me but I saw how he kinda just took so much from your life. You gave him sixteen years and you were stripped from doing things that a lot of people did as kids or as a teenager even as an adult. He's gone and he will be missed but this is your life, you deserve this and you deserve to be loved and have fun. No one but you can control it, okay?" Shania says as she rested his hands on his shoulder and he smiles a little. "Yes, ma'am." He replied and Shania shakes her head because he was the boss and addressed her as if he wasn't because he respected her but not as much as he respected everyone else in this office.
"Now, I need a couple of more pictures." Shania says and Augustus groaned, she grabs the bouquet and the chocolate giving them to him. Augustus stood there with a pout as she snapped the picture, she looks behind her phone and her eyes furrowed. "If you don't straighten your posture and smile." Shania threatened and Augustus quickly straighten himself up and he forces a smile on her face. Just like a Mom forcing their kid to take pictures on the first day of school.
"My baby." Shania says looking at the pictures.
Augustus grabs his things also the chocolates and flowers, Shania walks behind him in the office and once he stepped out of his office. Everyone started clapping and he smirks as he walks through. "Okay, I see you, boss!" A black guy with dreads named Tyrese yelled from his desk. He hated that guy some days but he was kinda entertaining to be around. Augustus shakes his head as he walked down the pathway between their workspace. Greta who was coming down the opposite direction, Shania tilts her head because Greta was looking at him a bit too long plus she looked hot and bothered. Greta always had it out for Augustus but he completely anonymous to her flirty remarks and her constantly walking past his office just to try and get Augustus to see her in her tight-fitting pencil skirts.
"Keep it moving." Shania says as she shoos the girl away, Greta gasped lowly as Shania shoves her past them. Augustus looks at Shania with confusion. "What was that for?" He asked her and she presses the button to go down on the elevator. "Don't worry about it and you just go.. and be yourself." Shania quipped and she pushes him into the elevator, she has been giving him pushes ever since she started working there and that has been six years but only know her for three.
Augustus goes all the way to Salma's apartment building. Whilst he was on his way, he was thinking about what he was gonna say to her. Now, he was standing in front of her door. Too scared to even knock but he didn't have much time so he decided to just go for it. He knocks on the door and he waited for a moment then the door opens.
Augustus green eyes couldn't help but just soften, he fought back the urge to smile because Salma didn't look so happy but her eyes did kinda lingered up and down his tall stature because he looked different, dressed a bit different. "Hi." Augustus spoke and Salma leans against her door, she was dressed in a robe because she was in the process of getting ready for her date that she had. "Hey." She mumbled and she clears her throat. "What are you doing here?" Salma asked him and he swallows hard. "I... I'm sorry for ignoring your calls and your text." He apologized and she crosses her arms as she stares at him because it just wasn't enough for her. He breathes as he looks down for a moment then he got himself to look directly in her eyes. " I'm not like the perfect guy that you want or a really fun and spontaneous one and I just feel that I'm not good enough. I was scared to kiss you because it's been a long time since I have kissed anyone, I just really like you and I known you for about two weeks but it feels longer. You're the reason why I came to Salma's barbecue, I had so much fun with you at the fair and I haven't had hot chocolate since I was five years old. Lately, I've been a lot happier but not talking to you or seeing you kinda made me realize that. "
Salma grins as she tilts her head, looking up at him. "Auggie.. you're just enough for me, you are so much more because you're the first person that didn't question me why I laugh so much when it's just me being happy and that is a relief to me because I can be myself. I'm not looking for a perfect man, I don't know why you men think women want this perfect man. We just want someone to understand us and respect us, that's all. I wasn't tripping off of how you didn't kiss me, it's okay, really, it is. You were nervous and that's totally fine." Salma assured him and Augustus nodded, he closes his eyes and he sighs. He opens his eyes and he looks into her brown orbs. "I want to start that day over, I want to take you to a nice place to eat and at the end of the night I want to kiss you." He tells hers and Salma couldn't help but smile for a moment because he was actually making eye contact with her more than the past two weeks she has been talking to him.
Salma leans against her door and she nodded. "Okay, Big Boss Man, you want a redo? Then when we can have a redo."
"Good... um, I brought you these." Augustus says and he gives her the flowers also the chocolates.
Salma takes them and she opens her front door. "These are so pretty and I love dark chocolate, you can come in." Salma says and he follows behind her. Augustus instantly smelled vanilla, it smelled like a cupcake in her apartment and he loved it. He looks around and it was nicely decorated but very minimalistic. She had a few masks and different paintings on the walls. Her color schemes were brown, black and white. She sits the flowers on the table, she turns around and she looks at Augustus who stopped to look at a picture of her in Venezuela, she was holding a little boy on her back. He looked about eight or maybe nine. "That's Miguel, I met him and his family because they were one of the many families who didn't have electricity. I lived with them for a while and helped Miguel with school while I was help building houses better houses there." Salma explained and Augustus smiles as he looks at the picture. "That's awesome and very kind of you."
Salma smiles as she watches him sit down in her loveseat as he looks around, she walks over to him and he wasn't necessarily paying attention but once she got closer and he could feel the warmth of her body his eyes shifted up and he smiles a little up. "I'm going to get dressed, you can look around and I won't be long." Salma says and he nodded. "O-Okay, take your time." He tells her and Salma lifts her hand up, caressing his baby soft cheek. Wondering how this man didn't have a single blemish but his skin was so soft that it didn't seem like he ever had any. She pulls her hand away and she walks off towards her stairs, he watched her and he closed his eyes as he leaned back into his seat because he was still in shock of how such a gorgeous woman she is.
He waited for about twenty minutes and Salma comes down the stairs, heels clicking against her marble floor and Augustus turns around and his throat goes dry at this sight of her. Salma was wearing a strapless white tulle dress that sparkled even in the low lighting and her hair was in a low bun with glittery white hair pins. She looked like an Ice Princess sporting her all white. "Wow." Augustus says getting up and Salma gives him a twirl. "You like?" She questioned as his mouth parted, he claps his hands together and he sighs. "I don't know how I could put it into words." Augustus mumbled and Salma smiles as she reaches her hand, he takes her hand. "Lead the way." Salma tells him and they leave her apartment together.
They were now sitting in One if by Land, Two if by Sea. It was considered the most romantic restaurant but also the priciest. Candlelit, brick walls and floor to ceiling windows. A very whimsical place that it was. Augustus sat in front of Salma, a candle between them but still able to see each other. She smiles as she looks around. "This place is so pretty and wow, look there's like little cheeses-"
"I wouldn't eat that, it's a hot towel." Augustus chuckled and Salma looks at him then back at the what seemed to look like cheese that was sitting on a plate. "Why would they set it up on a plate? Anyone could mistake it for cheese? It looks like cheese." Salma retorted making Augustus laugh. A waiter comes and he brings a bottle of champagne. "Wine, sir?" The man asked him and Augustus shake his head. "No, thank you unless Salma you want any?" Augustus asked her and she smiles. "A little would be fine." She says and the man poured her some wine. He took their orders as well, Salma ordered a beef wellington and Augustus goes for a marinated quail.
"How was your Dad like? If you don't mind me asking." Salma asked him and Augustus drinks a little of water then he sits his glass down. "No, not at all. He was quite a shrewd but he was heck of a good Dad to me even though his ways were very strict but it was best for me. He surprisingly cared about people a lot especially people who came up the same way that he did. He was a man who didn't like getting dirty when it came down to it, meaning he rather just donate money instead of physically going to help people; a real famous philanthropist. He may have made a game company but has never picked up a game controller." Augustus remarked and Salma gasped, Augustus nodded as he stares at her. "Yep." He quipped and she thought that was interesting.
"I noticed that your company is majority of minorities." Salma says and Augustus nodded as he grins a little. "Yeah, it wasn't like that before and my Dad owned this company for thirty plus years. I watched him not hire people that would've done so much for us, who actually cared and worked hard but he rather not have that. He strictly was very prejudice and of course racist, that was his way of showing it to me. He only hired Shania a couple of years ago because of her accomplishments at such a young age and I was glad that he did. I decided when my Dad gave me his company that I was gonna give people that he ignored out of his foolishness.. the jobs then I started a Game Programming program at different high schools and Recreational Centers for kids then I do a yearly recruitment visits to Cornell, Rice, Brown, University of Houston, Grambling, Howard and Michigan State." Augustus says and Salma eyes popped out of her head and she claps a little. "Okay, I see you!" Salma remarked and Augustus laughed, he was glad someone besides Shania noticed his effort to try and give people opportunities.
Salma looks around and she smiles softly. "These old people in are looking so bitter right now and I love it." She giggles and Augustus looks around, it was just white people here and he eyes furrowed a little at a couple just shooting daggers at them but Salma hands press gently turning his head gently so he could look at her. "Don't worry 'bout them, they ain't bothering me." She assured him and Augustus nodded as his eyes drifted back to them again before looking back at her. "I'm curious... where and who were you going to go on a date with?" He questioned and Salma chuckles as she looks down. "His name was Javier, he works at the same building as me. He was going to take me to a three-hour opera show."
"Boring!" Augustus exclaimed making a couple of people look at them, Salma giggles as she throws her head back. "I know... I told him that I didn't want to go with him anymore and he was so mad but I don't care. It's my life and I'm obligated to say no or don't go on a date, no matter how mad or sad he seemed." She shrugged and Augustus just loves the way she thinks. "You are the most interesting woman, I've ever met in my life. It's scary but so exciting." Augustus chuckles and Salma lifted her shoulder as she gives him a wide smile. "Thank you, I'm just intolerant to bullshit." He loved it and he wished he was that way sometimes.
Their food came and the two adults began to eat, Salma uses her fork to hold down her beef wellington to cut it and she sighs as she struggled a little. "I'll help, if you want me to." Augustus says and Salma looks up at him from her eyelashes. "Could you? Please." She says and he nodded as he takes her fork then he cuts it for her. "Sorry, I.. tend to get really numb or weak sometimes. It's a life after chemo thing." Salma mumbled and Augustus frowns a little. "It's okay, I understand and there is no need to apologize." He assured her and she sighs. "Thank you.." She tells him and they both fall quiet, she ate her food silently and he does as well.
Salma clears her throat and she sits her fork down making it clink gently against her plate. "Sorry-I mean, can I just give you a heads up?" She asked him and Augustus nodded. "Of course." He answered, sitting his fork down and giving his full attention to her. "I um.. You know that I had Leukemia. I went through chemotherapy which caused me to lose my hair and made me really sickly and weak when I wasn't supposed to. Even though I'm cancer free, I still live with these long term symptoms. I don't get good sleep at night, I kinda get really irritated some days, I tend to lose focus sometimes or get distracted easily. There are some days that I don't eat, muscle weakness and I-I.. can't have any children well, that's what I was told but maybe it's possible but I-I don't know." She tells him and Augustus bites his lip, he nodded and he forces a smile because she seemed rattled by how she was telling him and he was glad she told him. "Thank you for letting me now and it's all good, it's okay. I will be there when you need me and I will support you no matter what." Augustus smiles and Salma looks away from him, she sighs as she quickly wipes her eyes. "I'm trying not to cry because I thought that was gonna scare you away, it scared a lot of people away." She sniffles and he gives her a napkin.
"You scare me but that's not the reason." Augustus chuckled.
"I don't understand why I scare you." Salma giggles, dabbing the corner of her eye gently.
"You're you and I'm me, I feel that you would get bored of me." Augustus shrugged.
Salma smacked her lips as she gives him a side eye. "I would never get bored of you plus you kinda level out my craziness because you're so calm and mellow, I need you just as much as you need me." Salma explained and Augustus nodded as he thought about that. "You're right." He smiles and she goes back to eating her food.
The couple leaves the restaurant and they walked down the street, they were going to catch a late-night movie at a movie theater that's not too far. Salma walks quietly as held his hand, she was humming very softly. "What are you humming?" Augustus questioned and she looks up from the ground. "It's a J. Cole and Missy Elliot song." She tells him and Augustus tilted his head. "Who?" He questioned and Salma gasped as she stops walking. "You're what? Twenty-six years of age and you don't know who Missy Elliot is? Okay, I will let you slide with J. Cole but Missy Elliot has been around for a while now." She tells him and he sighs. "No, I have no idea who that is." He tells her and she playfully puts the back of her palm against her forehead. "I'm gonna pass out." She jokes making Augustus laugh. "Sorry, I don't know who that is, gosh!" He exclaimed and Salma covers her face then she sighs as she uncovers it. "Do you at least know who Whitney Houston is?" Salma questioned and he shakes his head.
"You.. are killing me, Auggie!" Salma exclaimed,
"Well... sorry." Augustus grumbled and she pats his back. "That's okay, you will know and I will educate good and right." She tells him and he nodded. "Good, I feel like I have been living under a rock by the way you're reacting." He chuckles and they get to the movie theater. He stopped walking and she turns around to face him "What's wrong?" Salma questioned and Augustus bites the inside of his cheek as he fidgets a little. He looks at his watch and he quickly but gently grabs her by her shoulders, Salma looks at him confusingly and he kept looking behind her. Salma turns a little but he stops. "No, wait, don't look just yet. I told you that I never had a girlfriend and I want you to be my first and I hope my last, I wanted to do something really cool and grand like in the movies, especially since you like movies and wanted to be an actor so um, yeah you can turn around now."
Salma nervously turns around and she starts looking at the movie theater but her mouth dropped open, she looks at him as she clutches his hand. In the marquee of the movie theater.
Salma Abdulmajid, will you be my girlfriend?
-Auggie.
Salma chuckles as she looks at him, she looks at the marquee then back at him. "I would love too. For someone who has no dating history, you sure impressed me." She remarked and he nervously looks into her eyes. "I hope to impress you even more... If I can.. Kiss you." He smiles and Salma nodded as she walks closer to him. Augustus's heart was pounding so fast, he clutches her other hand and he pulled her closer. He took his hands from her and rested them softly against her cheeks, his thumb caressing one side and he leans forward pressing his lips softly onto hers. She softly grasps his wrist as she closed her eyes and he could feel her cheeks growing utterly warm as his lips brushed against hers.
Augustus pulls away and his lips lingered for a brief moment because he didn't want it to end, he opens his eyes as he pulls away. Salma bites her lip as she breathes, he lets go of her and she looks away from him, she was smiling. "Sorry, um... Jesus, wow." Salma says as she rubs her forehead and Augustus smirked as he crosses his arms. "I may be very inexperienced but I have a few tricks up my sleeve." He says cockily and Salma rolled her eyes as she looks at him. "Oh, brother." She muttered and Augustus wraps his arm around her waist. "I'm kidding, I didn't know what the hell I was doing." He chuckles and Salma laughs with him even though it still felt like his lips were still onto hers, the feeling lingered.
And it begins..
I wanted to give just one more update this week since people like this story so much already.