Riding the Corporate Ladder (Indigo) (14 page)

She pressed her hips into him, grinding soulfully, and his chest began to hitch. She reached up and touched the side of his head, and then his neck. She put her hands on his chest so she could feel his quickening heartbeats. She felt strong, like she could take his power from him and consume it.

He was like a cornered rabbit, but his hands were still rubbing, and that was good.

Deena turned around abruptly and backed into him, still dancing smoothly. She closed her eyes and reached back for his hands. She placed them on her stomach, but it wasn’t long before they were moving again.

The dance floor was dim, but not totally dark. Deena knew strange eyes were on her, but she didn’t care. Quincy reached up and cupped her breast, and she felt a charge of electricity shoot through her heart. Her nipple stiffened under his fingers. She reached back and caressed his neck.

The DJ cut in another record, and Deena opened her eyes to make sure the twins were still around. Instead saw Yesenia and her date across the room. They were on their feet, headed for the exit. It upset Deena that her friend would leave without telling her goodbye. Darren certainly wanted to say something; he looked back several times before they disappeared through the door.

Deena stared after them for a while, and then she was suddenly ready to leave also. She all but forgot about the guy behind her until the fool became tragically bold with his advances. Deena never would’ve thought Quincy had it in him, but without warning he slipped his hand between her legs, and ran his fingers through her pubic hair.

Deena’s eyes snapped open, and she sent a sharp elbow into the stranger’s midsection. He screamed loudly and stumbled backwards with the queerest expression on his face. Deena turned on him with fire in her eyes, and from out of nowhere she had a pissed-off twin on her right side and another on her left.

“What…what the hell is wrong with you?” her dance partner asked. His face was crumpled up like she got him in the balls.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Deena spat. “You need to watch your hands!”

“I-I thought you liked me,” he whimpered.

“Please,” Deena said. “Not with that watch.”

“Or that shirt,” Natasha said.

“I’m surprised they even let you in here with them shoes,” Latasha tacked on.

The three ladies walked away then and left him wallowing in a rejection that was worse than the physical pain.

Deena knew she should probably call it a night after that, but it was only eleven o’clock and the twins didn’t have day jobs. Against her better judgment, she went back to the table with them and didn’t protest when Natasha called the waiter over for another round.

“Better make mine a double,” Deena told him.

Her conscience tried save her.

Why, Deena? Why do you need more alcohol? He almost had her, but that wasn’t the only voice reasoning with her.

Why the hell not?

That second guy made a lot more sense.

The next morning Deena’s head felt like a flesh-eating beetle crawled into one ear and was boring its way through her brain en route to an escape through the other side.

Boogie jumped onto her bed at 6:46 a.m. after she put the alarm on snooze a second time. The little dog sniffed her face curiously and grumbled something only Deena or his biological mother might find intelligible: Being late to work is not the behavior of someone who wants to be a partner one day. You did the crime, now you have to do the time. Get your butt up!

It seemed stupid to listen to a dog, but Deena sat up anyway. She moved slowly, but that didn’t stop her brain from sliding to the front of her skull with an unusually painful impact. She was nauseated. Even worse, her stomach was cramping.

She scooted to the side of the bed. It took her a full minute to pry her eyes open, but after that she was good. She knew she’d have to suffer with this hangover for most of the workday, but Deena was a trooper in those regards.

A long time ago her mother gave her a bit of advice on the subject of attendance, and Deena never forgot it: The least you can do is show up. That motto helped her get perfect attendance throughout her entire collegiate career, and it was going to get her through this day as well.

She stumbled to the bathroom mirror and wasn’t surprised to see that she looked like refried shit. Her eyes were dark and baggy with a highway of red veins stretched across the sclera. Her hair was a mess, her lips were ashy, and there was crusty saliva dried up in the corner of her mouth.

As she washed her face, Deena took a moment to reflect on her night and whether any of that partying was worth it. But for the life of her, she couldn’t remember much of what happened at the Coco. That was usually a good indication that she had a really nice time, but this morning she wasn’t so sure.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Deena was at work wearing a black pants suit with a turquoise blouse. She was clean and fresh. There were no outward signs of her hangover, but she sat behind her desk taking slow half-breaths as if she was in labor. The goal was to not throw up in her office. She didn’t know if her little breathing exercise was scientifically tested, but it did ease her stomach cramps a little.

When her phone rang, Deena jumped like it was a firecracker. No way had her ringer always been that loud. She snatched up the receiver angrily.

“What is it?”

“Good morning, Miss Newman,” Karen said. “I have a call for you on line one.”

“Who is it?”

“Someone named Ron. I think it’s personal.”

Deena couldn’t immediately place the name. “Who?”

“Ron. He’s calling from an outside line.”

“Whatever, send him through.” She waited until she heard a click on the line. “Hello?”

“Hey, Deena?”

“This is she. Who am I speaking to?”

“This is Ron; Ronald Baker. Don’t tell me you don’t remember me.”

Deena did remember him then, but the recollection did not put a smile on her face. Ronald was a good guy, a computer programmer for Wescoff Services. The firm brought him in when they revamped the mainframe six months ago, and Deena met him in one of the training classes he developed.

Unlike most computer nerds, Ronald was bold enough to ask Deena out before his business at the firm was concluded, but like most computer nerds, he was totally unimpressive on their date. Ronald was nice-looking and a good dresser, but a moldy slice of bread had more personality. Deena couldn’t even see herself giving him pity sex, even though Ron was quite interested at the time.

“How could I forget you?” she asked. “You’re probably the smartest guy I know.”

“Hey, flattery will get you everywhere,” he said, and then laughed at his own joke. That would have annoyed Deena even if his joke was funny, but it wasn’t. They almost never were.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I’m returning your call,” he said cheerfully. “Sorry it took so long, but I don’t check my personal emails very often.”

Deena had no idea what he was talking about. “Your emails?”

“Yeah, I’ve got two emails,” Ronald said. “One’s for work and the other’s my personal stuff. I usually get more messages on my work email. The other one just gets spam, but I check it every now and then so they won’t close the account. You never know when you’re going to need an extra email address. I’ve got a cousin in Michigan who—”

“I sent you an email?” Deena cut in. Her head was already thumping. She didn’t have the will or peace of mind to listen to one of his overblown and usually unrelated stories.

“Yeah, I’m looking at it right now,” Ron said. “You said you’ve got a virus on your home computer and you want to know if I can come and look at it.”

“Oh, yeah.” Deena did remember the message. She sent it two weeks ago.

“You didn’t get it looked at already, did you?”

“No,” Deena said. “It’s still jacked up. I’ve been using my laptop in the meantime.”

“Good,” he said. “Not good that you have a virus, but it’s good because I would love to help you. You know, I really enjoyed myself when we went out. It was the best date I’ve had in years.”

Deena wouldn’t doubt if it was his only date in years. They went to Bennigan’s for dinner and didn’t stay for drinks or dessert after their meal. Deena didn’t give him a kiss or a hug when it was time to leave, and she didn’t call him later on that night or the day after to say she had a good time. Their one date was over five months ago, but Ronald was talking like they went out just yesterday.

“If you’re too busy,” Deena said, “I can get somebody else to look at it.”

“Too busy?” Ronald laughed. “Woman, I would walk on hot coals to fix your computer. I just got your email, and I called as soon as I saw it. I can come over tonight, if you like…”

Deena actually regretted asking Ron for help altogether, but there aren’t too many people who will come to your house and fix your computer for free. Plus she didn’t want to discuss the very sensitive nature of her computer problem with a stranger.

“I’ll be home around seven,” she said. “If you want to come at seven-thirty, that would be okay.”

“I’ll be there with bells on,” he said and laughed.

Deena had no idea what that even meant, but she offered a polite chuckle.

“All right, Ronald. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay, well you have a nice day at work, Queen Deena, and I’ll see you tonight.”

“You still remember how to get to my house?”

“It’s ingrained in my psyche,” he said.

That was a little creepy, but there was always a propensity for creepiness with Ronald.

“I’ll talk to you later,” she told him.

“Wait.”

“Hmm?”

“You didn’t say what kind of virus you have,” Ronald said. “I can get rid of any of them…I’m just curious.”

“I don’t know,” Deena said. “I was looking up porn at the time, so it’s probably a Trojan.”

Ron laughed. “All right. I’ll see you tonight, honey.”

The honey part almost wrecked the whole deal, but Deena didn’t feel like arguing.

She hung up and checked the clock mounted on a far wall. It was only eight-thirty. Yesenia was at work by then, and she didn’t have a first period class to teach. Deena wondered why her friend hadn’t called yet to talk about her date. She made the call instead, hoping Yesenia had sense enough to put her phone on vibrate if she was in a meeting.

“Hello?”

“Hey, you busy?”

“Oh, no. What’s up, Deena?”

“What do you mean, ‘What’s up?’ ” Deena asked. “What’s up with you? I figured you’d call by now to say how your date went.”

“It was nice,” Yesenia said. “It was good.”

Deena took the phone away from her face and stared at it. “Hello?” she yelled. “Who is this?”

Yesenia laughed. “It’s me, Deena.”

“This doesn’t sound like my Yesenia.”

“Deena, I don’t want to get bent all out of shape like I usually do.”

“Bent out of shape how?”

“You know; I’m always the one thinking it’s something when it’s not. I get all goofy when they’re not even feeling me like that.”

“Oh, he was definitely feeling you,” Deena said.

“Really?” Yesenia’s hopes wanted to soar, but she was guarded.

“Girl, you know he liked you. Every time I looked over there y’all were getting closer, staring at each other with those goo-goo eyes.”

“We were not.”

“Yesenia, who are you trying to convince? I know what I saw.”

“Really? You think he likes me?”

Deena frowned. “Girl, you know he likes you. And you like him, too. It’s okay to say it. You’re not going to jinx it or anything.”

There was a pause and a loud sigh. “He’s so cute,” Yesenia said.

“That man is fine,” Deena corrected. “He’s real good-looking. We were wondering what he was doing in the personal ads.”

“He got divorced seven months ago,” Yesenia said.

“I figured it was something like that. He looks too good to be hopelessly single.”

“You really think he likes me?” Yesenia asked.

“I wasn’t sitting at your table,” Deena said. “But that’s what it looked like to me. You should know way more than I do. What did he tell you?”

“He said he had a really good time, and he would like to go out again,” Yesenia said.

“Did he try to kiss you?”

“No, but he gave me a hug before he left. And then he called later to make sure I got home okay.”

Deena smiled. “That’s good. When are you going out again?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you need to start thinking about it. Why do you sound so down?”

There was another big sigh. “I’m just worried, I guess. I’ve been here before, Deena. I’ve felt like this plenty times. It always seems to—”

“Don’t even say it,” Deena warned. “This time is not like the other times. Don’t go into this thinking about the others. If he likes you, and you like him, then just be happy with it. Whatever happens, happens. Don’t let your fears get in the way.”