10. Frankie
Frankie
T wo and a half years later…
“You didn’t even say anything about my new dress.”
I resisted the strong urge to roll my eyes as Barbie’s baby voice pitched higher. Yes, her name was Barbie. I’d only recently learned it was a nickname. Her real name was Bonnie, but allegedly her childhood love of Barbie dolls led people to call her Barbie instead. There was a fifty percent chance that the story was fabricated – I’d caught her lying to me about stupid shit before.
“It looks nice,” I said placatingly. “It really brings out your eyes.”
It was too tight and too short, making her look kind of cheap, but I wasn’t going to say that. As my girlfriend preened I tried to remember what had attracted me to her in the first place. Oh yeah, a nagging mother and the realization that my thirtieth birthday was looming over me. I was officially old, I might as well settle down, right?
Barbie was the daughter of one of my mother’s friends. I’d agreed to go out with her to pacify my mother who had been nagging me nonstop about my long-term single status.
Barbie was ridiculously girlie and shallow, but she was hot as fuck and had a great rack, so I figured, why not go out with her once or twice and maybe have some fun? I figured she’d be good for something casual. Then I woke up the next morning and she refused to leave my apartment. It was like feeding a stray cat – as soon as I’d let Barbie in, it was impossible to get rid of her. With a few days she’d informed me that she was my girlfriend now. I didn’t argue.
Yeah, I know, I was being passive. Inertia and my strong desire to avoid conflict had kept me dating her way longer than I wanted to. The truth was it was easier to date her than to argue about it, and if that wasn’t the saddest statement about my life I don’t know what was.
At least in the beginning the sex between us had been good – Barbie was the kind of woman who was up for anything in bed -- but the longer I spent with her, the more her annoying personality ruined that too.
I sighed. I really should break up with her…
“Frankie? Oh my God.”
I looked up in surprise as someone called my name. Someone who sounded a lot like the hottest one night stand of my life.
“Aurora?”
Like a mirage, Aurora stood there wearing a big smile. I leapt out of my chair to give her a hug.
“Oh my God! What are you doing here?”
“I just moved to Chicago,” she said. “Well, we just moved here. Together.”
I suddenly noticed the woman next to her, standing way too close to be just a friend. She was tall and broad, not really fat but definitely stocky in a butch kind of way. Her hair was cut short in a traditional man’s cut, parted on the side. She was totally not the type of woman I would expect Aurora to date, let alone move to another state with.
Then again, it’s not like I knew Aurora that well. Sure, I knew what it was like to kiss every inch of her body. I knew what it was like to have her ride my face until she came so hard she covered my mouth and nose with her juices. But I didn’t really know her as a person. Not when I’d only seen her once in like eight years.
“Hi, I’m Chris.” Aurora’s girlfriend lifted her chin but didn’t make a move to shake my hand.
“I’m Frankie.”
I heard a throat clearing behind me and remembered my own girlfriend. At least for now. I really needed to break up with her…
“Aurora, Chris, this is Barbie. Barbie, Aurora is an old friend of mine.”
I saw the corner of Aurora’s mouth quirk when she heard Barbie’s name and knew instinctively that she found it amusing. I didn’t blame her.
“Pleased to meet you,” Barbie said, her voice indicating it wasn’t true.
She hated to have my attention on anything else but her, even for a minute.
“Would you like to join us for dinner?” I asked, gesturing at our four-person table. “We haven’t ordered yet.”
Aurora and Chris exchanged a look that I couldn’t interpret, then Chris subtly shook her head.
“We appreciate the offer,” Aurora said, turning back to me with a gentle smile. “But we’re here to celebrate Chris’s new job.”
“Of course you want to be alone for that,” Barbie piped up a little too eagerly. “Well, it was nice to meet you both, enjoy your dinner.”
Aurora and I locked eyes for a long moment. I could sense her hesitation to walk away. I felt the same.
“Since you’re living in Chicago now, maybe we can grab a drink sometime,” I suggested. “It would be good to catch up.”
It would be better to recreate that night we had in her hotel room a couple of years ago, but I kept that part to myself. We’d had sex that night so many times that I’d lost count. When I’d slipped out of her room in the morning so I could head home and get ready for work, it had just about killed me.
Then again, I knew it was better to make a clean break. If I’d spent too much more time with Aurora, I would have fallen for her again, even if she did live three hours away.
“That sounds good,” Aurora said as she dug her phone out of the pocket of her pants. “Give me your number and I’ll text you tomorrow.”
I rattled off my digits and a few seconds later I heard my own phone beep on the table.
“Now you have my number too,” she said, giving me another big smile.
She reached out and squeezed my forearm. I could feel the heat of her hand through the thin fabric of the shirt I was wearing.
“I can’t wait to catch up.”
I could tell by her face that she meant it as much as I did.
“Me too.”