Authors: Jesse Abundis
Finally the end of the day had arrived, she had finished all the paper work on her desk, e-mailed and faxed every important document to keep everyone updated and ready for the next day. She was the first out of the door, she said her goodbyes and told them all she would see them tomorrow. Perhaps she would return as an engaged woman. She smiled at the notion as she walked out of the elevator and headed to catch the train. She sent her love a text. “ I’m ready for tonight, I can’t wait for the surprise
*kiss*
“
Chapter 2
Hopeless Romantic
She looked outside her apartment window hoping to see Gerard’s blue Honda Civic pulling down the street, it was already eight, and no sign of him. She cradle her cell in her hand as she whistled out of nerves. As long as they've been dating he'd never been late, he was a very punctual person.
Gerard had gotten off from work at six, he never enjoyed working the graveyard shifts at the docks, even if they did pay the overtime. There were nights he would come home to her and just rant about how unfair they treated him and how they would always keep passing him up for promotions. She always felt the urge to tell him to quit, she knew how smart he was, and how gifted of a painter he was as well. It drove her mad to see his gift be wasted on such a place. But she knew it was better to let him realize this on his own, pushing someone never worked in life, and no matter what path he chose she would stick by him till the end.
She wonder if she should text him or not, the last thing she wanted to do was sound pushy or seem upset, but apart of her argued how could she not, she was dressed like a princess for this special night. She wore her red dress, the same one she had bought the first time they went dancing, she remember how he called her a goddess as they nestled together and slow danced to Michael Bolton. To top it off she wore her mothers favorite earrings, the same ones her mother wore as Lisa's father purposed to her. Her mother had passed them on to Lisa to wear when she felt the moment was going to come, for good luck.“ There's always something in the air, you can just feel it.” Her mother would always recount that story with so much passion when she was growing up.
Now that she stared so intensely outside, she could feel the tears crawling their way up. She had invested herself too emotionally for this night, she felt like she had no one but herself to blame. She let the thoughts of marriage over take her, when perhaps there was none at all. “ Nice going, dummy.” She kept glaring outside the window, she knew this wasn’t like him to just forget or even call if he was going to be late. She could only hope nothing had happened to him.
Sorry GOT CAUGHT UP, But look out at your window ;)
Her cell vibrated with the message, she fumble with the phone to see who it was , she smiled and thanked God for giving her this night. She stared out the window but didn’t see his car, there was a black Ford Focus parked outside, but no sign of Gerard. Lisa texted back, “ Where are you?”
See the Focus outside?
“ My baby has a new car !” she said out loud, loud enough that next store neighbor pounded on the walls. “ Stupid paper thin walls.” Lisa grumbled
She locked the door to her apartment and raced down the stairs to see her man's new car. She whistled at the brand new vehicle like a construction worker would whistled at a woman walking down his path. Gerard came out with his hair freshly cut, a nice black suit and tie. Lisa stepped back to soak in the image of him, he never looked more handsomer in his life, she could feel her knees go weak at the sight.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in, giving her a kiss and slowly caressing her face to see those cheeks turn red. “ You’re so easy to make blush.” He teased her as they pulled away slowly.
“ Shut up.” She covered her face into his chest trying to deny the truth. Once the blushing faded away, she slowly met his gaze. “ I could look at those eyes all day.” She said to him. There was excitement in them, Lisa could tell , they always seem to shine when he had something cleverly planned.
“ This is not the surprise.” He pointed at the car. “ I swear on my door mat.” He reassured.
It wouldn’t bother her if it was, just being with him seemed like the world got a little better and things weren’t all gloom and doom. She smiled and ran her hand through his black hair. “ I can’t tell you how much you mean to me.” she passionately let those words slip out of her mouth, they weren't rehearsed, they weren‘t meant to please him, they were just the truth and he could see that.
He swallowed his emotions, he was never good at telling people how he felt, but Gerard knew Lisa was different. He took her hands into his and said “ You mean the world to me, you have such a beautiful heart, I’m a lucky man, that you came into my life, you have no idea how many nights I spent looking for someone like you.” Gerard eyes began to tear up.
Lisa knew he was the one, there would never be anyone else like him, he was her soul mate, her missing piece to fill the hole in her heart. She kissed him, holding him tightly, never wanting to let him go.
They both laughed as they slowly pulled away. “ So, where are we going ?” Lisa asked, wiping away the lipstick she smeared on him.
“ Madam, if you get in the car, I will give you a night that you shall not forget.”
“ Then drive me away my good man. “ She said with a breathless voice.
Chapter 3
A Night Like No Other
Lisa was treated to the Everly brothers as Gerard drove down to a studio art complex in the Bronx, it wasn‘t the band behind the bushes, but it would do. Lisa was a bit confused as to what they were going to do in an art studio, she wonder if this was going to turn out like a scene from Titanic, her being swayed to undress as Gerard painted every inch of her naked body, she wouldn't be upset if that was the case, not one bit.
She tried restlessly to get him to divulge the surprise but he would not budge, even if she nibbled on his neck, which half the time worked in the past. Nonetheless she gave up and went with the flow, after all she was with the person she wanted to be with the most, what else could she ask for?
The car came to a stop, “ Here we are.“ He raced to get out, so he could open Lisa’s door as a gentlemen would, she felt like royalty from the special treatment she was getting, he even gave her a hand out from the car.
“ You're such a gentlemen, but I'm not tipping you.” She joked around.
They crossed arms and walked up the stairs to the complex. “We’re on the fourth floor.” He said to her.
The building was old and worn out, it was in need of a desperate paint job or a demolishing crew. When Gerard open the door to the building, it made a haunted mansion style creak and the smell of a dead animal carcass seem to loom in the air. Lisa prayed whatever Gerard had planned, was worth going through this. The halls of the complex was hot and musty, graffiti written every where and puddles of water on the concrete floor, no doubt from the leaking water pipe above.
They walked into the freight elevator, which seemed to be the only way to reach their floor. Lisa was a tad scared if they would make it to their destination alive in the old and rusty elevator. Even with all these faults Gerard just kept smiling at her.“ After you madam.” He closed the gate behind them and pulled the rope down to close the elevator doors. He pressed the button on the panel and the elevator hummed to life with an almost dying breath. “ Going up, hopefully.” He chuckled, which Lisa came back at him with a pinch on the arm. “ I'm kidding.”
He nestled with her and began to playfully kiss her neck. “ What’s waiting for me?” Lisa asked through her moans of pleasure, as his breath tickled her neck.
“ You’ll see.” He said with a devilish smile as he devoured her.
“ If your plan is to fuck me, we can do it right here in the elevator. I’ve always felt the urge to be a dirty girl and judging by the floor I would be one.” Lisa enjoyed her own joke.
It took the old elevator a few seconds until they reached their stop. “ Close your eyes.” Gerard said with a child like enthusiasm. She did as she was told, she wasn’t one to ruin his big plans for tonight.
Lisa could hear him pushing down the doors and opening the gate, he almost seemed out of breath, “ Babe, don’t faint on me.” She told Gerard, who seemed more eager for this night than her.
“ Okay, I did my best, I hope you like it. Now, open your eyes.”
Lisa was welcomed with a view of candles lighting up the entire studio, classical music playing in the background, and a bottle of wine waiting for her on a red cloth table. She slowly stepped in, amazed at the work he had done, the wooden floor had been waxed magnificently , the windows covered with red drapes. There were a few wooden crates and a bag in the corner, still none of it was enough to take from the beauty of it. This explained why he had made it so late, he was planning all this for her. “ I love it.”
“ I thought you would, I spent all day fixing this up just for you.” He softly squeezed her hand. He gestured to the table.
“ Baby, did you rent this place just for tonight ?” She asked
“ Yes I did, I just wanted to give you a night like no other. “ He kissed her cheek, “ Go have a drink, I think you’ll like the wine.” He devilishly smiled.
“ Care to join me?”
“ I will in a moment, but I got one more big surprise, so no peeking.” He wagged his finger at her.
“ Hurry up, I don‘t like to drink alone.” Lisa patted him on the butt, squeezing a little as he walked away. She made her way over to the table to give Gerard time to whip out his next surprise. Lisa examined the wine bottle before pouring herself a glass, she couldn’t believe what it was, “Cabernet Sauvignon. “ This was the same drink they had together on their first date, at the restaurant in Little Italy, Casa Cotti. “ Baby, I didn‘t think you remembered.” She said awestruck.
“ How could I not? “ He said to her.
Lisa could hear him fumbling with the crates behind her, probably miss placing her gift. She nibbled on her lip as the image of an engagement ring came to mind. She poured herself a glass and took one large gulp to calm her nerves.
She could hear Gerard walking back to her, she couldn‘t stop smiling, she knew this was it, he was going to pop the question to her, “ So, what‘s my next surprise? ” She turned around with a glowing smile shining so ever brightly for this moment, “ I‘ve been waiting all day for it.” Only to be greeted with the image of Gerard holding a wooden baseball bat in his hand, “ What are you doing?” She laughed out loud, not knowing how to react to this picture, it seemed like a bad joke. But before the reality of it could sink in, he swung the bat at her, sending her world into darkness.
Chapter 4
YOU’RE THE ONE
It felt as though water had been poured into her head, she could hear it sloshing back and forth. Lisa slowly began to open her eyes, but found it to be difficult as blood trickled down into her eye sockets. She tried to move, only to discover that she was tied down to what seem to be an operating table. Her first thought was that she and Gerard had been into a car accident and now she was laying on an operating table. “ Gerard !”
The moment She shouted his name, it all suddenly began to come back
“What are you doing?”
the image of him swinging the bat and knocking her out cold, how it stabbed like a jagged knife into her skull.
“ No.” She whimpered. “He wouldn’t do anything to harm me.” She refused to believe so, not after the moment they shared at the museum, the months they spend together, they had slept in the same bed, made love together, cooked for each other, they both wanted a life together, they wanted to grow old together. Every ounce of her body rejected the images flooding in her mind.
“ You’re so beautiful.” Gerard’s voice echoed through the apartment in a demonic tone. Lisa tried to fight from the restraints but he quickly advised her otherwise. “ I wouldn’t try moving, I had to strap you down nice and tight. Besides you’ll only do more harm to yourself if you got up. I‘d say you're hemorrhaging really bad right now, all that blood is going to start over flowing in your head, forming words is going to be tricky. I’m amazed you’re awake, I wasn't expecting that.” He brushed back her brown bloody hair. “ Then again you’re not like other people, you‘re special.”
Lisa began to shiver from fright. Gerard voice was getting harder to hear, he sounded muffle at times. “ Why ?” the word fought to come out of her mouth.
“ Because you and I are meant to be together, forever. You knew that the first time we met.”