Pretty Fly for a White Guy: The Complete Series Collection (2 page)

#Chapter2

“What a crock!”

Nicole

“
I’m so sorry that this happened to you,” Patrice said.

“Me too, but I can’t really say that I’m surprised,” Jasmine said in a soft voice, “Amelia is a slut and I bet she couldn’t wait for the opportunity to get with Kenneth. Shame on him for allowing her to use him like that, she probably did it just to get under your skin.”

My stomach felt like it was twisted in knots and the last few days had been torture. I keep seeing his arm around her waist and the stare that he gave me. I took another swig of my vodka and stared blankly at my friends. I understood where Jasmine was coming from but it was hard for me to feel sorry for her, I was too busy feeling sorry for myself.

I fought myself for the last few days, I wanted to drive to Amelia house and whip her ass. I would have never slept with one of her exes and I definitely wouldn’t parade around town with one. I have more self respect than that and I wouldn’t want to hurt her that way. I began to think deeply about the whole thing.

“Yeah,” I slurred, “I’m sorry too. I’m sorry that he has moved on and that he’s fucking that bitch.”

“Darlin’, how much have you had to drink?” Patrice asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve been drinking all day.”

“Okay, we’re going to put you to bed, it’s late and it’s time for you to sleep some of this off. You have a lot of stuff to do in morning,” Jasmine took my glass and poured out the contents in the sink.

She’s paying for my next bottle, what right does she have to bring her ass over here and throw away my liquor? I prepared to make a biting remark but then I got quiet. I knew that it would have been the liquor talking. There’s no need to lash out at my friends who love me. I needed to trust their judgment and take my trunk behind to sleep.

“Okay, I’m going to bed. Thank the both of you for coming over. I love you,” I said as I staggered to my feet and headed towards my bedroom.

“Good night heffa,” Patrice said.

“Good night love,” Jasmine echoed as they let themselves out of my apartment.

I plopped into my bed and tried to think even though my thoughts were hazy and affected by the alcohol. I need to move on because he obviously has. It’s crazy to sit and wait around for an entire year for a man that doesn’t mean me any good. He’s never coming back and at this point I have too much pride to ask for him back. All kinds of thoughts have ran through my head and I finally begin to drift off to sleep.

*

I wake up to the shrill of my alarm and I promise myself that I’m going to kill it one day. Its 6:30 a.m. and I feel like an elephant has been sitting on my head. I’m glad that I stopped drinking when my friends told me too because I couldn’t imagine feeling any worse than I already do. I head to the kitchen to get a glass of water and some pain killers. After downing them both I grab my phone and I see that I’ve missed 6 phone calls and three of them are from Joshua. He was blowing my phone up last night.

I wonder what the hell Joshua wants, because he’s Kenneth’s best friend. My heart slightly races because I figured he was calling to tell me something about Kenneth. Joshua is overall a pretty pleasant guy. He’s the typical side kick to an alpha male. He’s loyal, cute, funny, and a yes man. He’s very easy on the eyes too. I’ve had to stop myself from looking at him a few times. He has chocolate skin, a slender muscular build, a little less than 6 feet, a light complexion, sexy full lips, and hazel eyes. You can’t ask for much more than that.

I wonder what he will have to tell me and I hope it’s that Kenneth misses me and that he’s a wreck over us not being together. He is a part of the bank industries and he manages a lot of trust funds for the wealthy. He’s really down to earth and so I know that he’s not calling me for any kind of drama or gossip. I decided to call him back during a more reasonable hour; I can’t imagine that he would appreciate a phone call this early. So I text him and let him know that I got his calls and that I’ll give him a call back during the afternoon.

I dragged myself towards the bathroom and my phone began to ring. Damn, Joshua must really want to talk to me, what the hell? The only time he tracked me down like this was the time that Kenneth has gotten into a motorcycle accident two years ago which worries me.

“
Hello?”

“H-hey Nicole, I hope I’m not imposing on you,” he says in a timid voice.

“No not at all, I’m wide awake. What’s up, is everything okay?”

“Things are going just fine.  I was wondering if you had time today to meet me for lunch today.”

“Okay, you’re making me a bit nervous. You hardly ever call me and now you want to meet for lunch. Do you mind tell me what this is regarding?”

He gives a deep laugh that disarms me. I’ve always thought that he’s had a sexy voice and his laugh is even more intoxicating.

“Don’t worry Nicole, I’m not bringing any drama to you. I just want to talk to you. How does 11 a.m. sound?”

I think about my schedule and I have a meeting at 9 so 11 will work perfectly. I decide to move on with my day and agree to the time that he wants to meet. 11 o’clock isn’t too far away. I ask him where he wanted to meet and we settled on the location. I had to put our meeting out of our mind and set my attention on my first appointment of the day. I was able to catch up with the designer that I was looking for 3 days prior. It was my intention to snag her designs for 2 of my client’s boutiques.

He and I would be meeting soon enough.

*

I arrived at South City Kitchen in midtown Atlanta a couple of minutes late but I was riding high from my success. The designer was more than happy to sign on for the deal that I proposed. After meeting Joshua I would go to my office, draw up the paperwork, and send it to her in a fax. I knew that my clients were going to be over the moon when they found out who was going to be in their boutique. Sharia was a new designer but she’s hot, highly selective, and rightfully so. She protects her brand with an iron fist and so she’s exactly the kind of person that I want to work with.

I spotted Joshua at the table and he didn’t look irritated so that’s a good thing.

“
Hey Joshua, how are you?”

“I’m doing good Nicole,” he answered as he rose to meet me. He kissed me on the cheek and pulled out my chair.

“So what’s going on?”

“Geesh, I see that you like to cut right to the chase. You’re looking really good by the way. You work in that outfit? How do you keep the men from falling at your feet?” he asked playfully.

I forgot about what a big flirt he was, it’s one of his many charms. I cocked my head to the side as I evaluated him. He was beating around the bush regarding what he wanted to talk about and I couldn’t help but wonder why.

“Thank you very much Mr. Crocker, you’re looking pretty good yourself. Now please tell me what you wanted to meet about. My stomach has been in knots since this morning.”

“Well, I spoke to Kenneth yesterday and he told me about you seeing him with Amelia. I was wondering how you were doing because that couldn’t have been easy for you,” he shifted in his seat nervously.

I narrowed my eyes, “Of course it hasn’t been easy, it downright sucked. How dare he disrespect me like that, after all we’ve been through. When you talk to him tell him I said that he can go fuck himself.”

“Well, tell me how you really feel about it, don’t hold back. I don’t think that you got your point fully across,” he said sarcastically after he took a long sip of water.

His attempt at humor lightened the mood and made me laugh.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to explode like that on you but what he did really got under my skin. I’m still processing it all.”

“I want to take you out,” he said quickly.

“What?” I ask, as I stare at him open mouthed.

“I’m serious, I’ve liked you from the moment that I’ve met you and I didn’t want to say anything because I respected your relationship.”

“Yeah, with your best friend,” I said in a high pitched whisper.

“
I know, but I had to tell you how I felt or I would regret it forever. Please, just one date and if

I’m not for you then I’ll move on and never bother you again.”

I sat and stared at him blankly. He has a lot of balls to ask me out, especially seeing that I’m upset with Kenneth for doing something similar. Then again, why should I be loyal to a man that has had no respect for me or my feelings? I’ve always thought that Joshua was a cutie, not as hot at Kenneth, but cute. He’s everything that Kenneth isn’t, in a good way. He’s sweet, attentive, respectful, and I deserve it.

“

Hmmm, okay one date. But I’m better than Kenneth is; this is something that I’m going to have to discuss with him before we officially go out. I don’t want him to be gut punched the way that I was and it’s the right thing to do.”

A smile spreads across his face, “I can dig it, and I completely understand what you mean. I don’t want to hurt anyone; I just want the opportunity to get to know you.”

“Mmhmm we will see. Just so you know, this doesn’t count as a date and you’re still paying for lunch,” I laugh.

“What happened to that whole independent woman thing?” he joked. “Seriously though, there is no way that I would let you pay for lunch. I got you and hopefully I will be paying for a lot more in the future.”

“That’s yet to be determined.”

*

It had been a couple of days since I had lunch with Joshua. He and I had been texting ever since I left the restaurant. We had a wonderful easy going lunch and it was great to talk to someone about stuff other than fashion. He filled me in on his clients, family, and what’s been going on in his football league. He plays flag football and is obsessed with winning, I think it’s really cute.

He’d been making my life better over the couple of days. I haven’t had the time to sit around and mope and cry because he kept me laughing throughout the day. He seemed to be exactly what I needed. I called Kenneth the night after I saw Joshua and asked him if he had any free time to talk. He agreed to come over to my house tonight to talk.

Joshua is sweet and funny but I hoped that talking to Kenneth would spark jealously. After he sees that I plan on moving on with Joshua, he’ll be so jealous, and that should maybe start the process of us getting back together. I knew that it would ultimately hurt Joshua but him and I aren’t meant to be together and have never been together so he will get over it pretty quickly. Kenneth is the man that I really want to spend my life with.

I put the final touches on my makeup and made sure that not a hair was out of place on my shoulder length bob. I slipped into my comfortable off the shoulder shirt, and a pair of high cut shorts that showed off my nice round booty. He can’t resist me when my shapely legs are on display. I’m made sure that I looked sexy but comfortable. I didn’t want it to look as if I tried too hard.