Pretty Fly for a White Guy: The Complete Series Collection (7 page)

“As much as I would love to continue this mundane tit for tat conversation, I actually have to work. Are you going to leave or should I just go to another table?”

“No need for you to strain yourself, I’ll be going. I’m sure that I will see you around soon,” she said as she rose from my table. She was leaving right on time because my client had just entered the café.

I had less than a minute to shake off the remnants of the conversation and to get into work mode. I wasn’t sure if I was more upset about Amelia’s invasion or about the fact that I didn’t get to dive into my piece of cake. It looked so good but it would have to wait for me to fully enjoy it.

Damn that bitch.

#Chapter6

“
Take that asshole”

Nicole

My day was longer than I expected. I wanted to go home and relax for a little bit before I went out with Joshua. I needed a little bit of time to unwind before I saw him. He had been texting me all day and it was actually starting to annoy me. In the beginning it was a lot of fun because we were starting to get to know each other in a romantic capacity. Now, it was becoming a nuisance because I couldn’t answer them as fast as he would like. It’s a miracle that’s he’s able to get any work done with the way that he texts and calls.

I still appreciate how attentive he is because it’s a much needed change. However, I can’t deny that I still need my own personal space. I don’t want to call and text someone all day and then see them when I get home. Then there is nothing to talk about because you’ve spoken to them throughout the day.

I arrived at the pool hall about 20 minutes later than I was supposed to, it took me longer to get out of the door than I expected. When I walked in he was sitting at the bar and he looked pretty upset. I was hoping that his annoyance wasn’t geared towards me because I didn’t want to deal with an attitude especially after the earlier events. I walked over, kissed him on the cheek, and took a seat next to him.

“Hey babe,” I smiled brightly.

“Hi,” he said without looking at me before he took another swallow of his drink.

Okay I guess he was mad. I ordered my drink and decided to confront the issue head on so that we could get on with our night.

“
You seem pretty upset, what’s wrong?”

“First you pushed back the time that we were supposed to meet, then you wouldn’t let me pick you up, and now you arrive late. It all just seems very.... suspicious,” he said.

I was taken aback by his accusation. So I sat in silence and watched as the bar tender prepared my Long Island. When he handed it to me I ignored the straw and took a big long gulp. This seemed like it was going to be a long night. I was used to dealing with crap from men and this was my least favorite. I hadn’t even given any reason to be jealous or to act this way.

He and I were speaking to each other all day, so when would I have to time to do any kind of suspicious activity?

My earlier annoyance with him had returned and I just wanted to go home. The conversation with Amelia was also still playing on my mind. I didn’t want to ruin our night by meeting anger with anger so I decided to try to talk him down from the paranoid ledge that he was on.

“
Suspicious? Babe I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m sorry for arriving late but you already know how I am. I have time issues and I wanted to look good for you, but I see that you aren’t appreciative of all of this,” I grinned. “I took the time to squeeze myself into these jeans for you, that way you can get a good look at my ass as I bend over the pool table.”

His resolve began to soften and he looked at me in the eyes. He looked very intense and vulnerable and it broke my heart a little. There had to be something else going on with him, because this behavior wasn’t something that I was used to. Kenneth never once complained if I was late.

“
You do look pretty good, but I really don’t like it when you cancel or push back our plans. It makes me wonder what you’ve been doing and it makes it seem like you don’t care or respect me.”

“I understand where you’re coming from with that. But my job keeps me really busy and sometimes I need to unwind. I’m here tonight with you and I hope that our night isn’t ruined because of this. I’ve been looking forward to whipping your ass in pool,” I say as I stand up to

get us a pool table.

He and I had a good time as we played a couple of games of pool. I was right in my assessment because I was winning the games. I played a lot of pool in college, the pool hall was my escape and I made a lot of money that way. I always loved when new and unsuspecting men walked through the door. I would play halfway decent, keep the drinks flowing, and flirtatiously bet money on a game. They almost always took the bait.

“
I think I’m playing pool with a shark,” he said jokingly.

“You should have asked me bro, I would have told you that she was a pool master,” I heard a voice that I recognized say behind me. I turned around and saw Kenneth. Oh gosh.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” Joshua said excitedly as he walked around the pool table to greet Kenneth.

Kenneth wasn’t ceasing to amaze me at this point. I felt like my head was going to explode because he and Amelia were driving me nuts. What in the world was he doing here at the pool hall. I immediately began to think about my words to him at the event, I remember letting him know that we were going to shoot pool. Big mistake Nicole!

“Yes, what are you doing here?” I asked Kenneth.

“Hello to you too Nicole,” Ken said with humor in his voice. “If you must know, I’m here with a few of my friends,” he said as he mocked my voice from last night and motioned to some guys at the bar, “I hope that’s okay with you”

“Of course that’s okay,” Joshua responded. He was so fucking clueless. How could he be a jealous person one minute and then blind to an actual threat to our relationship? It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what Ken was doing here.

I placed my pool stick on the table and crossed my arms, “Joshua can we please leave now?

“
Babe, don’t be like that. We’re all adults here and there isn’t any animosity between anyone,” Joshua said as he closed the space between us and kissed me on the lips. His arms went around my waist and he held me close to his body. I was unable to return his level of passion because I felt so weird about the situation.

“Exactly,” Kenneth said, “We’re all grown here and we’re all happy. We may as well get used to seeing other because this situation seems very, er... permanent,” he said as his jaw tightened.

There it was, that raw emotion that he always tried the hardest to hide. I knew that he didn’t enjoy seeing Joshua kiss me but he wasn’t going to say anything. He was the king of cool. Since he seemed like he was going to hang around for a bit, I wanted to get back at him. I looked into Joshua’s eyes and pretended that Ken wasn’t standing there.

“
You’re right, I need to stop being so sensitive. You and I are together and we’re happy. You’re the best thing that has happened to me in a long time,” I leaned in and kissed him slowly and softly on the lips.

In my head I was thinking, ‘Take that asshole’. I was determined to put on a show for him since he wasn’t going to leave. Maybe if he saw how happy I was with Josh he would finally give up.

“
Where is Amelia?” I asked him, “We could have gone ahead and completed this little reunion.”

He laughed and said, “Amelia is busy tonight so I had to entertain myself.”

Two things ran through my head when he said that. The first was that I was a little jealous of Amelia because she had Kenneth and he’s very secure within himself. He never caused a ruckus when I wanted to go out and be with my friends. I didn’t have to try to appease him when I was late. He always understood that I had a life outside of him.

The second thing that ran through my head was that he’s still the same old Kenneth. His girlfriend is busy and so he chooses to chase a woman that’s not her. Instead of just having innocent fun, he’s out being an asshole. That was the part of him that I didn’t miss at all.

“You always seem to do a good job at that,” I said with more bite in my voice than I intended.

“
Ouch, just when I thought that you accepted all of my apologies,” he responded.

The tension between us was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. I was seething on the inside and it was making Kenneth bolder. The real problem for me was that the more he was around, the more that I realized I missed him. He was making me second guess my feelings for Joshua and that was what was pissing me off even more. My life has been happy and I’ve felt content. Joshua was safe, my oasis, and I always know how he feels about me. I’ve never had to guess with him or chase him.

Kenneth was always a conundrum, he kept you on your toes and he was exciting. I’ve realized that exciting isn’t always a good thing. I’m not looking for a challenge anymore; I finally want to settle for the good guy.

The choice of words in my head sent me into deep thought.

Was I settling for Joshua? I like him but is he really the person that I’m meant to be with, or was he just a rebound? And by settling for Joshua, am I settling for second best? I refused to acknowledge that possible truth in my head.

“I’ve accepted your apologies,” I told Kenneth, “And I’ve moved on. I’m glad that you’re happy.” I looked at Joshua, “Can we please go now? I’m hungry and I don’t want bar food.” 

Joshua had a confused look on his face but he finally took my cue and understood that I was ready to leave. It took him long enough. His cluelessness was annoying me further.  I understand that he and Joshua are best friends but we were all going to need some serious boundaries if this arrangement was going to have any chance of working. He seemed to be blind when it came to Kenneth, he wasn't just able to charm women it seemed guys would follow his every word too. Like he was some sort of feared Mafia boss.

“
Okay we can leave, I’m a bit hungry too,” he said to me before he looked at Kenneth, “I’ll see you later?”

“Of course, we’re still on for basketball tomorrow right? You can’t have us losing the way that you were losing to Nicole before I came in here,” he said with a smirk.

“Yeah I’ll be there tomorrow and whatever dude. You know that when I’m on that court, I’m a beast. I don’t play any games and it’s not my fault that she conned me today. I blame you, you never told me that she was this good,” he laughed.

I blushed deeply at Joshua’s compliment because I knew the way that Kenneth’s mind worked. In his head that last comment was sexual. Kenneth and I always had mind blowing sex. He made my body do things that I swore they never could. Him and I always seemed to be in sync and on another level. I had good sex with Joshua, but I had AMAZING sex with Kenneth. I never knew what I was going to get with him. One day he would be gentle and then the next day he would treat me like a slut. Call me weird, but I loved the variety and it kept me hooked.

*

We found a high end restaurant that was still open. We just beat the cut off time by 5 minutes. When we stepped in, there were patrons eating their meals. We walked in and no one came by to service us. A hostess finally came and told us that they were closed. I stood by and waited for Joshua to work his magic. There is no way that we should have been turned down for service because they were still supposed to be still seating for another 5 minutes.

Joshua responded by saying, “Oh okay, we’re sorry. We did come in at the last minute. Have a great night,” and then he grabbed my hand and walked us out the door. Speechless doesn’t even describe how I was feeling. I was pissed, disgusted, and annoyed all at the same time. What kind of man just lets this kind of thing happen? If I was out with Patrice, we would have been sitting at a table by now. Shit, if Kenneth was here we would not only be getting service but they would be kissing our ass too.  None of them would just let that happen.