Better Than Okay (11 page)

 
“Okay,” he breathed, tearing his mouth
from hers, pressing his face into her neck as he attempted to control his
breathing. “You’re making it really hard for me to leave,” he murmured. “And I
need to go...”

 
He
pulled back and looked at her. The desire she saw there almost made her beg him
to stay so they could finish what they’d started. But she knew she wasn’t even
close to being ready for that. He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the
door, then quickly dropped another kiss on her cheek.

“I’ll see you later,” he promised, opening the
door.

He walked out and she shut the door behind him
and locked it. She headed back to her bedroom and lay down, her body still
throbbing. She didn’t even feel like herself anymore. Her phone buzzed on her
bed and she picked it up and read the text.

“…We’ll
tiptoe to the sun and do things I know you like/I think I’m in love again/baby,
you are the prototype...”

Her breath caught in her chest and she had to
make herself exhale slowly.

“Outkast,
Prototype.”

 
She
released a breath and pulled the comforter over her, totally, utterly and
willingly consumed.

Chapter 7

“Hey Destined, come check out this layout.”

Chuck, the offbeat graphic designer at
UMusic
, poked his head around her tiny cubicle
wall, his eyes wide with excitement. He insisted on calling her “Destined” and
she’d stopped correcting him.

 
Even after twenty years in the business,
he still got excited about his finished product. She hoped she could say the
same thing one day. At the rate she was going though, she would be happy if she
were still excited about her job in twenty days.

She nodded and finished writing the last
sentence of her story on the self-absorbed R&B group from Hades and pushed
her chair back, standing to follow Chuck back to the graphic department. The
art team had the coolest office by far. There were no cubicles, just a
free-flowing space. The walls were covered with various prints from artists
like Jean Michel-Basquiat and Dalí along with some of
UMusic’s
best covers.

“I really had fun with this puppy,” he told her
proudly as she leaned over his desk, staring at the large computer screen.

 
She
grinned. He’d been working on her Jazz Festival feature for the past couple of
days and it looked even better than she’d hoped.

“You took some fantastic shots,” he told her
again, pointing to one particularly unique shot she was able to get of the
audience at one of the shows.

“Thanks,” she smiled. “This looks really,
really dope, Chuck.”

She resisted the urge to hug him. She couldn’t
have asked for anything more from her first big feature.

“Hey, Destiny,” Gabe said, poking his head
around the door. “Roc D is performing tonight at Viper Lounge, did you want to
go?”

She hesitated. She was supposed to be having
dinner at Dorian and Brian’s. They hadn’t seen each other since he popped up at
her house Tuesday night because he’d been so busy with work. She was actually
kind of glad. She needed the space. And the time. And she knew he sensed that.

“It’s cool if not,” he shrugged when she
hesitated. “We would only cover it in snapshots anyway if you did go.”

“Yeah, I do kind of have plans already,” she
said. “But if they change I’ll let you know?”

“Okay, cool, I’ll just put you on the list just
in case.”

Gabe walked all the way into the room, studying
the layout of her story over Chuck’s shoulder.

“Oh, this came out really nice,” he said,
nodding his head in approval. “Nice job, both of you.”

“Thanks,” she said grinning from ear to ear.
She patted Chuck on the shoulder and followed Gabe out. It was time to go home
and her stomach was already grumbling loudly. She made her way back to her
cubicle to grab her keys then headed out of the door.

 
She
planned to go home first to change, which she honestly felt a little guilty
about. She was changing her clothes to go see Brian. She still hadn’t talked to
Dorian about her and Brian’s situation and she didn’t plan on it. She felt bad
keeping something this major from him, but she wanted to stay quiet until they
figured out exactly what was going on.

She was embarrassingly aroused just thinking
about Brian and the kisses they’d shared. She rolled down her window, letting
the humid air fill her car. She wiped her brow, her thoughts still on Brian.
Even though they hadn’t actually seen each other, he called her every day.

Honestly, their phone conversations weren’t
really any different. Maybe because it was impossible for him to do his
intense, soul-peering stare through the phone. She pulled into her parking
space and bounded up the stairs to her apartment just as her phone rang.

“Yo, don’t forget to bring your blender so that
we can all partake in some margaritas,” Dorian said as soon as she answered.

“Dude, seriously. If you remind me again about
the freakin’ blender…” She held the phone between her ear and shoulder and
pushed open the front door. He’d called her at least three times today already.

“Shut up, dork. Alright, see you in a minute.”

She hung up and threw her bag on the futon,
heading back to her bedroom. She would’ve taken a quick shower, but she knew
they were waiting on her for the drinks, so she opted for body spray and a
quick face wash. She threw on a strapless, purple cotton sundress and applied a
little bit of makeup, braiding her hair to the side, so that it hung over one
shoulder. She stared at herself in the mirror. She was getting cute for Brian.
It was weird, but sort of exciting. She smiled and flicked the light off and
headed into the kitchen to grab the blender just as her phone rang again. She
sighed and answered.

“What, Dorian?”

“Don’t forget the blender.”

She rolled her eyes and hung up.

* * *

She could already hear noise as she approached
Dorian’s apartment. She’d assumed that it would just be the three of them but from
the sounds that were seeping through the door, Dorian was having a party. She’d
barely knocked when the door flung open.

“Hey, Tweet!” Nathan greeted her with a huge
grin. He pushed his thick-rimmed glasses up on his nose and quickly ran his
fingers through his dark brown hair.

“Hey,” she smiled, giving him a high-five as
she passed by him walking into the living room.

The game was on and she could hear music coming
from the kitchen. It smelled like chili peppers and tortillas. There was a huge
bowl of chips in the center of his huge dining room table and a bowl of salsa
dip. At first she’d thought it was weird that Dorian had decided to buy such a
big table as a single guy, but he was always entertaining and she eventually
realized it made sense.

She halted briefly in her steps when she saw
Pink Dress Girl from the bar sitting on the couch, a drink in her hand. Today
she was dressed in a pair of short shorts and a pink strapless top with heels.
Destiny could never figure out why women wore shorts with heels. It seemed
contradictory in its very nature.

“Tweet!” Dorian exclaimed boisterously,
rounding the corner from the kitchen. He had a spatula in his hand. “You
remembered the blender!”

She rolled her eyes at him. He laughed and
threw an arm around her shoulders.

“Hey, Amber, this is Tweet,” he said, gesturing
to where Pink Dress was sitting.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Destiny greeted her,
moving out of Dorian’s embrace so that she could shake her hand.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Pink Dress replied
politely, subtly skimming her eyes over her, the way practically every girl who
didn’t know they were cousins did. The only one in recent memory who hadn’t
done that was poor, thoroughly dismissed Nichelle.

“I’m Dorian’s cousin,” Destiny offered, mostly
because she sort of felt sorry for the girl.

She looked relieved and this time smiled at her
a little more genuinely. Dorian took the blender from Destiny and nodded toward
the kitchen.

“Get in here and help me, woman,” he said,
unintentionally sounding like a caveman.

Pink Dress giggled and got up to follow him. He
turned and smacked her butt loudly, causing her to jump and yelp before
giggling again.

“Tweet, who you got for the game?” Nathan asked
her, seating himself in the chair perpendicular to the couch.

“Probably the Clippers,” she shrugged. “The
Nuggets need to start rebounding.”

He looked impressed and Destiny tried not to be
offended. She knew he didn’t mean anything by it, but it was a little annoying
that she wasn’t expected to know anything about sports or music just because
she was a girl. She glanced around, wondering where Brian was.

“I’ll be back in a sec,” she told Nathan,
heading toward the kitchen.

“Hey, where’s Brian?” she asked, poking her
head around the doorframe.

“In his room I think,” Dorian answered,
flipping the chicken and peppers that were simmering in a large skillet on the
stove.

She would’ve offered to help but Pink Dress
was, of course, trying to impress him with her domestic abilities and had on an
oven mitt, fiddling with another pan on the stove.

She nodded and headed down the short hallway
toward Brian’s room. She could hear OutKast pouring through the speakers and
she grinned. His door was half-open and she knocked before stepping in. She
paused abruptly and stood there for a second, taking in Black Dress Girl
sitting at Brian’s desk, using his laptop, as he hovered over her. The girl was
laughing loudly when she glanced up at Destiny. She looked up at Brian when she
saw Destiny, as if she was the one that needed an explanation.

“Sorry,” Destiny mumbled, finally finding her
voice, meeting Brian’s eyes. “I didn’t realize you were busy.”

He looked shocked to see her or something. Her
heart was in her stomach and she backed quickly out of the room. Black Dress Girl
was even prettier than she remembered, and her sundress hugged her curves in a
way that made her boobs look like they could pop out of the top at any minute.
Destiny felt plain in comparison.

“Hey, where you going?” Brian asked, jumping up
to follow her, his brow wrinkled.

She kept walking but he stopped her in the
hallway, grabbing her hand. He didn’t say anything, just stood and looked at
her, waiting for her to speak like he always did.

“I was clearly interrupting,” she said, keeping
her voice low.

She tried to make her way down the hallway, but
he grabbed her hand again.

“Uh-uh,” he said firmly, shaking his head.
“Come here.” He pulled her toward him leading her back in the direction of his
room.

She followed him, mostly because Nathan had
looked up from his phone and could see them in the hallway.

“Hey, Tiffany, I want you to meet Destiny,” he
said when they entered his room.

Destiny tossed him a look. He had a lot of damn
nerve.

“Nice to meet you,” Destiny finally said,
hoping she didn’t sound as phony as she felt.

The girl looked her up and down. She wasn’t
nearly as subtle as Pink Dress. “Hi,” she said, as if uttering the single
syllable took every ounce of energy she had.

Destiny stared at her silently, her heart
thudding in her chest. She was pissed and Black Dress Girl wasn’t helping. What
the hell was she doing in his room? Brian glanced at Destiny, his expression
unreadable.

“You’re good here, right?” he said to Black
Dress Girl.

She smiled more widely than necessary and
nodded. “I really appreciate your help,” she said silkily. She sounded like
Marilyn Monroe or Dorothy Dandridge.
  

“No problem,” he said patiently. He quickly
glanced at the door and back at Black Dress Girl politely.

She got the hint and stood up. “Guess I’ll see
you out there?” she asked, pausing in the doorway.

Brian nodded. The girl’s smile faltered a bit
and she exited the room. He shut the door behind her and slowly turned to face
Destiny. She kept her face expressionless. At least she hoped it was.

“What’d you want to talk about?” she asked,
feigning disinterest.

“Come on Destiny, don’t be mad,” he said,
seating himself on the edge of the desk.

“I’m not mad. I’m sure Black Dress Girl was
just in your room because she needed to be. ”

“Black Dress Girl?” he chuckled and raised an
eyebrow curiously.

She stared at him. “She had on a black dress
the first time you ogled her the night we went to the bar.”

She didn’t mean to sound jealous. But she
couldn’t really help it.

“The only person I was ‘ogling’ that night was
you, Tweet.”