Cutting Loose (6 page)

 “You real lucky God just answered your
prayers and rescued your bony ass!” hissed Sabrina before leaving. What was
this? High school? She couldn’t believe she let herself get worked up over a
chair. Must have been the lemon drops kicking it with that liquid courage.

She tossed her purse onto the counter as
she plopped onto the stool. Not before long the same guy whom somewhat saved
her from giving a beat down out, came walking towards her.

Her blood pressure was already on the
rise and she didn’t need any more drama for the night. Before she had the
chance to say anything back she instantly recognized him from the grocery
store—the same guy who gave her his business card, in case she wanted to talk.
Of course, she never called him back because she had purposely forgotten all
about him.

“Sabrina Evans, right?” he asked he
moved closer to her and studied her face.

She turned to face him. “So, you’re
stalking me now?”

When he cracked a smile in the dimly lit
area, Sabrina could still see his pearly whites and dimples she thought were
sort of cute…

“Now why would I do that?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

He chuckled. “You don’t believe in fate?
Maybe we were meant to meet up again.”

“No, not really.” She paused and added,
“But I do believe in coincidences. But I told you before—you’re just not my
type.”

He leaned against the counter and said,
“Why? Is it because I’m white?”

In spite of herself, she leaned in close
to him and took in the smell of him—his cologne smelled amazing; the perfect
combination of Polo and…man. “You and I both know I would be lying my ass of if
I said it wasn’t.”

There was a twinkle in his kind eyes. “Okay,
I can live with that. What else?”

She looked him in the eyes and said, “As
I said before, I don’t know you.”

“We can do something about that right
now. What do you want to know about me?”

Up until that very moment, she really
thought he was being a jerk and was just as desperate as the next guy to get in
her drawers. Frat guys did it all the time, and not too long ago she would have
fell for it and followed him to a bathroom stall. She felt a good vibe from him
that told her he wasn’t that type of guy, and even if his skin color wasn’t the
same as hers, he was nowhere near the type of guy she usually dated in her
comfort zone. In the back of her mind, she knew how her mother and some of her
friends always forbade interracial relationships because they cause too much
conflict and they never work out.

She pushed her thoughts aside and said
to Brett, “First of all, are you straight, gay or bisexual?”

He laughed his ass off and replied,
“Damn, you’re straightforward aren’t you?”

“I can’t help it—it’s in my nature.”

“Trust me, I’m straight as an arrow.”

“Are you single with a decent job and no
mini-me’s running around with different baby mommas?” Sabrina was dead serious
with her assault and by the look on his face, Brett could handle a girl who
knew what she wanted in a man.

He cleared his throat. “I’m one hundred
percent single, employed, and I don’t live at home with my parents. And as far
as I know, I don’t have any kids.”

Sabrina thought about it and hesitantly asked,
“Have you ever dated a black girl before or ever dated outside your race?”

“Actually, yes, I have. They didn’t last
long because certain people got in the way of our happiness but that’s
irrelevant. Have you ever dated outside your race before?”

She swallowed hard, trying to figure out
if she was ready to answer such a question. She didn’t see a reason to lie to
him and answered nonchalantly, “Technically I have.”

Brett laughed so hard his chest shook.
“Technically?” he repeated coolly. “How can you ‘technically’ date someone?”

She couldn’t believe herself when she giggled
like a little schoolgirl. “Well, see what had happened was, this guy that I
dated during my freshman year at Columbia was mixed with black and Mexican. So
technically, I think it should count for something. But he’s been the only
one…so far.”

“Interesting.” He paused to take her in
with his eyes and said, “You have a beautiful smile.”

“Wow, I’m flattered.” Sabrina knew she
was smiling from ear to ear as. She was about to say something else when
Larissa and Cassandra both came over to where she was sitting and interrupted
everything.

Larissa, in her obnoxious drunken state,
noticed she wasn’t sitting alone and said, “Oh, God, do
not
tell me
you’re giving up on the black guys already.” She clicked her tongue and said, “Sabrina,
just step away and walk away while you still got your dignity.”

Cassandra opened her mouth to chime in
as well. “He is so cute!” She turned to Brett and asked, “Do you have a twin
brother, and if so, can I meet him?”

Brett loved the attention he was getting
and said to Cassandra, “Nah, I don’t have a twin brother. Sorry.”

“That sucks,” sulked Cassandra.

“Do you want to do dance?” Brett asked
Sabrina, despite Larissa talking to herself and Cassandra staring at him as if
he was naked.

“Sure.” She didn’t know why she answered
so quickly. Probably because she wanted to get as far as she could from Larissa
and Cassandra before they could say anything embarrassing to themselves or
about Sabrina for that matter.

They moved to the dance floor and began
dancing to a slow song. Sabrina couldn’t help but lose herself to the lyrics as
the chorus reminded her of Carl.

Sabrina knew she was dead wrong for even
thinking about Carl in the first place but she felt extremely discomfited
thinking about an ex in the company of another guy who she was starting to like
in more ways than she was ready to admit to herself.

She convinced herself that she had to
move on and stop letting memories of her and Sean invade her thoughts. That
told her right there that he was not worth all the nights she spent crying and
blaming herself for what? Not a damn thing. That bastard was nothing but old
news as afar as she was concerned.

“You must like this song a lot,” Brett
screamed over the loud music into Sabrina’s ear.

“Yeah, you can say that,” Screamed back
Sabrina, “I can relate to giving your all in a relationship and wanting to be
there for my man.”

After several songs, Brett leaned in and
asked, “Do you want to sit down and rest your feet?”

Sabrina considered his offer but
realized it was getting pretty late and she needed to head back home.

“Actually, I have to go round up my
girlfriends so I can get out of here. I have to go to work tomorrow bright and
early.” If she was living back on campus she would have gave in to his request.
Unfortunately, her bills weren’t going to pay themselves and her mother was going
to make sure she showed up on time.

“Aww, come on,” pleaded Brett. “You
can’t hang for a little while longer? How about one more dance?”

She couldn’t resist his pleading face
and succumbed to him. “Okay, fine. One dance and that’s it.” She could practically
hear her mother’s nagging voice in the back of her mind.

Momentarily the DJ came over the
speakers and announced, “I got another slow jam coming up for all the sexy single
ladies in the building.” The music slowed down to a Chris Brown song.

Brett pulled her body close to his,
despite the scared look in her eyes when he gently placed his hands around her
waist. “I love slow songs,” he whispered into her ears.

Sabrina put her arms around his neck and
looked into his beautiful green-eyed gaze. For more than one reason she was
beginning to lose herself in the music and the way his looks had her thoughts
on fire.

“I love slow songs too,” she managed to
whisper back, catching a whiff of his enticing cologne one more. He had no idea
the effect it was having on her. Who knew she could feel this way about a man,
especially one she had always was told was taboo growing up.

Not too long after, they swayed to the
melodic sound coming from the speakers and to Sabrina; it seemed as if it was
just the two of them dancing. She was surprised when Brett slowly slid his
hands from her waist to her ass and gave her a soft squeeze with his firm hands.
She couldn’t help but like the way his body felt pressed against hers and the
warmth of the heat between them.

Once the song came to an end they stood
in place, still holding onto each other. Sabrina stared into Brett’s eyes,
contemplating what it would be like to kiss on his luscious lips all night
long. The thought ran shivers through her body. Eventually they walked over to
the bar and sat down. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

Brett turned to her and asked, “Would it
be too forward if I asked for your phone number?”

“Well, I guess not,” she said happily
before reciting her cell phone number to him and receiving his.

“So, when will I be able to see you
again?” he quizzed, tucking his cell phone into his back pocket.

She was about to give him an answer when
Larissa and Cassandra rushed to her side reeking of too much alcohol; thank
goodness Sabrina was still sober.

Larissa said, “You won’t believe me when
I tell you I met this fine guy named Jordan from my job who wants to give me a
ride home. I don’t know if I should trust him or not.”

“You obviously can’t drive yourself
home. And you say know him from work so go ahead.”

 “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

Cassandra leaned her head on her
shoulder. “I’m ready to hit my pillow for some much needed rest. How about
you?”

 “Um I—”

Before she had the chance to think about
it, out of the corner of her eye she saw a figure that looked very familiar to
her. She looked towards the direction of the figure, which took the form of
Carl. Instantly, an alarm went off inside her brain that told her to quit
whatever she was doing and get the hell out of there, even if it was just a
figment of her imagination.

She grabbed Cassandra by the wrist and
said, “We have to go—like, now.” On her way to the door she yelled back to
Brett, “I’ll call you soon.”

She ran to the car, jumped in and sped
to her house and called it a night. Her heart was still beating once she was
able to lie down and pray that sleep would come and take over her.

Chapter Six:

Shooting the
Breeze

“Almost there,” cheered Sabrina to
Cassandra as they sprinted towards the end of the track that they had been
running their three and a half mile run on.

“Whew! I needed that run,” exclaimed an
out of breathe Cassandra when they began their cool down exercises. “Shit, I’m
so out of shape it’s not even funny.”

“Out of shape?” laughed Sabrina. “Girl,
you are not out of shape.” She turned towards her right and said, “See that hot
mess over there—that’s out of shape.”

Cassandra exploded with laughter once
she saw a guy as big as a house sitting on a nearby bench stuffing his face
with a greasy hamburger from a fast food joint and sipping from a large cup in
between bites.

Cassandra said, “He is dead-wrong for
eating that nasty-looking food as big as he is and at a damn park, no less!”

“If I ever get like that, please put me
out of my misery,” said Sabrina as she watched in disgust as the obese guy
continued to indulge in his artery-clogging burger.

Just looking at him made Sabrina cringe
and made her stomach feel like it was turning into a knot. It wasn’t the simple
fact that he was enjoying his food that annoyed her; it was the fact that he
was clearly overweight and had the nerve to be eating it at a park where most
people come to try to lose weight—not gain it. And he appeared to be in no
position to lose weight, hell; he wasn’t even dressed to go walking in his
orange t-shirt and black ketchup-stained jeans.

“Rina, please. You don’t even have to
worry about getting fat ‘cause it’s not in your genes to get fat; nobody from
your family that I’ve met is fat so you straight. You don’t even need to work
out with that killer body of yours; your arms are nice and toned like your
cellulite-free thighs and your abs—plain and simple, you have an amazing body!”

“Thanks,” said Sabrina. “If I didn’t
know you like I do, I’d take you for a lesbian.”

Cassandra gave her a tap on the shoulder
and snapped, “Hey, I’m not a damn lesbian!” She crossed her arms over her chest
and countered, “If I didn’t know you any better I’d think you were a thirty-two
year old virgin.”

Sabrina playfully bumped her shoulder. “Whatever.
Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

“I’m just letting you know I’m not a
lesbian. When was the last time you had any sex? Oh, let me see, months ago!”
She laughed and added, “I know you probably got cobwebs down there.”

“Well, that won’t be the case much
longer, thank you very much.”