Authors: Michael Malflic
Not much was said on the train on the way back,
Nadrea
kept thinking of him, what she had seen and maybe even a little bit of what she had felt. Vincent thought about how he was missing the 11:00 Sports Center and would now need to stay up until one
watching the midnight edition. The time came for them both to change trains, stepping off the Green line. “I’m going to head out and get a cab.”
“Ok”, he said stepping off the train with her, her hand by her side open to the air and then closing it on itself as she step
ped on the platform. He noticed
two trains and two seemingly meaningless gestures, perhaps some kind of superstition he thought to himself. Walking slowly
Nadrea
couldn’t help herself
again,
she had to ask “What happened back there?”
“We got off the train Nod, boy you have had a long night.” He was still avoiding her, but back to being that playful, infuriating character that drew her to him in the first place, or at least beyond the second sentence of the first conversation, which is where conversations with men who were not talking dirty typically began to bore her.
“She was right you are a…” but
Nadrea
couldn’t finish the sentence, he finished it for her “a damn good time!” there was such an emphatic tone in his voice, his fake assed positive attitude coming through again. Glaring at him words flowed out “FUCK! That’s” he interrupted her again, “Twice I’ve finished your sentences for you,
Actually
now it’s three times.” ARRGH, as arrogant and tormenting as he was… She stepped closer, he was taller than she had realized, he was also much broader than she realized too. Even in her heels he still towered over her, he was staring him squarely in the Adams apple, without her heels she would have been looking at him in the middle of the chest. “So what was her deal?”
Nadrea
pressed. “Fine, if you need to know
.” He responded his words some
where between feigned annoyance and actual irritation. “She was being a bitch, unless someone else is getting my attention she could care less about what I’m doing.”
Nadrea
going straight to the
point “
And the whole grinding into you thing?” In truth
Nadrea
could have cared less who was grinding into him, what she was curious about was how he answered the question and what he said. Vincent on the other hand placed no special meaning on his answer and without pause volleyed back with, “Well what can I say that Jim Morrison hasn’t already? I’m a back door man and what the men don’t know the little girls understand.” He said with a smirk.
Nadrea’s
claws came
back out “Well at least she’s found a good use for her fat ass.” This time both of them began laughing.
Soon they found themselves approaching the cab stand, the night sky half clouded over,
Nadrea
took one of her cards with the embossed “N” on the front, it have never actually occurred to her that there might be another person in the world whose name started with an N, it’s a thought she wasn’t about to have now either. As she handed him the card she turned it over revealing an address and two phone numbers written is shiny gray ink. The ink had sparkles of glitter in it that
were
catching the soft yellow hues from the street light. “I’ll be here tomorrow after 10:30, come by” she offered. Stalling and planning to politely defer Vincent responded “I’ll see what I can do, I have other plans earlier
” it
was true that he had other plans, he had planned to have dinner in and do nothing, he was not really interested in the idea of the club thing. “Well, if you do come” she paused making sure she could see his expression “it’s a leather masquerade ball.” Something in that actually caught his attention. “So what should I wear?” he asked. “Leather, dumb ass!” it was as if they had traded places, she was now the one laughing.
Nadrea
continued on “If you have it and a mask, if not wear black and a mask and come ready to party.” As she finished they were standing at the first cab, in a long line of cabs sitting idle on an otherwise desolate street. He stepped ahead of her and opened the back
passengers
side door, moving smoothly to the front door and sliding the cabby enough cash to cover her ride to any zone in the city, and a sizeable tip since he didn’t know where she lived. At this point in the night it would have been awkward to ask, it was the kind of small talk about residences and jobs that he preferred to avoid. She was standing by the back door waiting just outside the cab. “It’s taken care of, Goodnight” and as he leaned into kiss her, the very instant before he was about to make contact she leaned away. “Even!” she said then stepping into him this time it would be virtually impossible for him to avoid contact with her that was not an obvious and direct retreat. Being as calculating as she was she
knew
he wouldn’t back down if pressed, he was just not that type. It was a soft kiss, slow and gentle, swimming even if only for a few fading seconds in the other erotic possibilities. Just like that it was over, he placed a
hand on the small of her back pressing his right hip into her torso picked her up, and set her off to the right so he could pass. “Good night” he said again placing her back on solid earth. It was not like before when he had stepped to the side to avoid her, this time she could feel his strength, it should have been obvious by his appearance, but unlike so many people who were unable to use their own size and strength with purpose and intent, he was fluid and graceful. He moved her with such ease, as if his motions had been planned, choreographed, and already done a thousand times. “Get in he’s waiting.”
“Vin, where are you going?”
“Home, Nod. Just like you.” Turning and walking back toward the second cab in line. Open the door to get in, as he turned
Nadrea
called out “VINCENT!”, and when she was certain he was looking she turned her back to him and flipped up her skirt revealing the bottom third of
he
smooth round ass as it met her small toned thighs. A quick glimpse, a school girls tease and into the cab she went. Not unlike their first encounter she was frustrated, things in her mind had again not gone at all as she planned, but tomorrow he would be on her turf. She found herself on the short ride home was uncharacteristically swimming in his kiss. A kiss something so simple, so common never made her swoon, it was after all just one kiss. Unlike last time, he gave her a
second thought on the way home. M
aybe even a third then
came
the concerns over would he have time to get a snack before sports center started or would he have to wait until the first commercial break. Vincent was so busy socializing at the bar he hadn’t taken time to eat dinner.
He put in long
hours;
it was a common thing to do. Most nights it would have been easy to find him at his desk, working on this and looking at that well into the evening. That Thursday night he sat at his desk, in his building on
Capital
Hill, the building itself was far from empty as elected officials, interns, cleaning staff and mistresses and everything in between all filtered through the building going about their lurid business. Tonight his office was empty, all of his staff was gone and the only light left was in his private office, a single bulb floor lap casting light around the room but mostly on his favorite leather reading chair. His now nearly infamous two cell phones placed side by side on his desk. The phones, of course, were diametrically opposed. Both had essentially the same purpose. Yet they represented such different things. The old one stood for duty and expectation, the other stood for hopes and dreams. On second thought, it stood for so much more than that, it stood for friends and family and love, or at least the possibility of it.
The Husker thought to himself that most often the values of the first ideal did not necessarily interfere with the others, the needs of each physical device was not mutually exclusive. However the company that you pay your bill to thought it should be, the first wanted all of you minutes, in essence all of you time. That was the root of Christy’s
problem;
she wanted control, not for his benefit but for hers. So he sat and he thought. Continuing to reason that there had to be a compromise, a way for it all to work. Eventually he came to the conclusion that he had recently come to for himself. She needed a life, a distraction from the business of the day. The second conclusion he came to was one his mother had come to a long time ago, meddling in someone else’s life for your own benefit wasn’t necessarily evil. At times it certainly could be, but most often it was nothing more than self serving good intentions. With that he stood and began walking through his office, casting shadows as he moved like a dark mystic across the book cases. Picking up the desk phone and dialing. “Hello, its Robert” his silhouette showing clearly on the wall: crisp, and clear, and lean
As the old saying goes, turn
about is fair play. The Husker decided to turn the tables on his overly controlling assistant. He rearranged all of his meetings the night before. So when Christy came in to start the day she and he were in different places. The first meeting instead of having it in his office, he had moved it and sent a schedule update to her. She showed up to prep and when no one showed checked the location. It was now in a building 10 minutes away. Christy didn’t think much of it, a single meeting changing wasn’t odd at all, but as she looked out to the other events of the day, each and every one of them had been moved times changed slightly, places all different than what she was prepared. She arrived for the first meeting early as always. No sign of the Husker.
Both sides
, staff talked, no one knew why it was moved, it just was. Christy was starting to get angry. At the point the meeting was to begin both of the Reps came out of the good Representative from Michigan’s private office shaking hands and smiling the meeting they were all prepping for was over. The Husker just ignored Christy and walked out into the hall, headed to the next place. This one was at the cafeteria in his building.
Christy thought to herself why in the world would he set a meeting there. He didn’t even look at her, he just walked down the hall and left. She did not catch the same elevator catching the next one took forever, at least two minutes. By then he was outside the building and well on his way to being in his office where he was really holding the meeting. She arrived in the Café, looked around and he wasn’t anywhere to be found. She called and checked her listing. It was most definitely suppose to be where she was standing. No one dared to tell her he was in the office, but then again she asked where she was suppose to be but not where the Husker was. She sat and waited for 20 minutes before heading back upstairs to her office. By the time she arrived, he had finished with the Department of Agriculture briefing. She sat at her desk, checking the rest of the day. In addition to the changes in venue, he had booked her into a six with another Reps Head of Staff and an 8:00 that listed vaguely who she was meeting with and
where the meeting would be. After most of the staff left he went to his office still not speaking to her, he just turned his back to her talking jovially with the others about their plans for the weekend. It was as if she was invisible.
Going into his office Christy followed him, closing the door behind her. He sat in his favorite chair, as she stomped around waiting for him to speak. He just sat down like no one was there and started reading. “What the fuck is your problem!” She yelled
,
he just sat there reading like she didn’t exist.
After several more statements each and every one of them escalating in frustration, fear, and rage she sat down in the chair next to him.
He sat there blazing on the inside but without a modicum of an acknowledgement of his anger or her presence. Finally she had run out of gas. “Are you done?” he asked her. “No, I’m really upset.” She replied. He continued on completely indifferent to her emotional state. “Well, at least I haven’t been calling your mother to figure out why you’re upset.” She just sat there. He put both the office phone records and her government provided cell phone records which were of course a matter of public record. “Here’s the day you lied to me about calling her. And here’s where you called her Wednesday after I told you I’d call you back.” Christy just stammered, not sure what to say. He looked at his watch and got up to walk out. “The rest of the day’s calendar is correct. You also have two late meetings today that I expect that you will be at without me. Understood?” She was stunned, had he set her up with the phone conversation a few days back, was it fair warning that she should have heeded but chose not to. In a way it was. The late day meetings were intended to keep her distracted, while he kept his dinner plans.