Chapter 5
Angel
“Oh my God. I forgot you were multi-talented. There wasn’t anything you couldn’t do.”
“Are you complaining, Mr. Paramedic? Don’t you have to take an annual fitness for duty test or something?”
“Yeah,” he replied in a weary tone and brushed sweat off his forehead with his forearm. “But damn, girl, you ain’t let a nigga sit down to breathe since we hit the ice,” he complained.
I laughed. “You’re fine. You can handle a little exercise.”
It was easier for me to keep us busy. I found that when things slowed down, Christian and I talked a lot, and it left me wanting more. More time around him and more time alone with him. That wasn’t okay. I couldn’t let myself get comfortable in that feeling, because it was wrong.
“Can I lie down and take a nap or something? Right there. That spot of ice is calling my name,” he pleaded, making me laugh as he pointed to a patch of ice in the middle of the rink.
I skated around him and danced and sang “Santa Baby.” I bumped him with my booty and smiled flirtatiously over my shoulder. “Come on, Mr. Holly. Keep up.”
Christian could skate very well, but I was a lot faster and could do more tricks. I had taken skating lessons when I was a child and only got better as I grew older. The next time that I passed around him in a circle, though, I underestimated him.
Christian grabbed me by the waist and pulled me closer. “You better quit playing with me, girl,” he commanded in a low tone that was smooth and smoky. I slowed up and stared into his eyes, shaking internally at the molten heat that I saw in his chestnut-brown gaze.
“Or what?” I asked, fighting fire with fire.
“Or you’re about to be in a world of trouble, li’l girl.”
“Little girl?” I giggled with a raised eyebrow. “There’s nothing little about me except my waistline, and the only girl attached to me is Belle. Trust me when I tell you there’s nothing but a full-blooded woman here.”
I skated away, tossing a smirk over my shoulder. For the remainder of the time at the skating rink, I tried to keep as much distance as possible between us. I didn’t know why I was behaving the way that I was around him. But he was inciting feelings in me that hadn’t been stirred in a long time.
If Christian had been another man, I wouldn’t have thought twice about becoming involved with him.
But the fact of the matter was that he was my ex’s best friend, and that was a no-no.
It made me think of all the times that Jeremiah had accused me of liking Christian, and how vehemently I had denied it.
And if I was honest with myself, I had to admit that there had been some truth to the allegations Jeremiah had tossed my way.
I had always been attracted to Christian, but I met Jeremiah first. Therefore, I never acted on it in any way, nor did I even fantasize about it. I just kept a respectable distance between us, treating him the way I did all of our other friends.
“You were always such a clown. I cannot think of a time that you were ever serious, Chris.”
“There comes a time when a man settles down. I knew enough to know when it was my time.”
“When? The last couple of years? Because before I moved, I remember you were never serious. Always the life of the party,” I stated quietly, twirling my pasta around on my fork.
“Was that a problem? Is that a problem?”
“It wasn’t, no, because it had nothing to do with me. You were my boyfriend’s best friend. I did think that sometimes you were trying to get way too much attention and needed to calm it down, just a little bit,” I stated, pinching my index finger and thumb together.
He laughed. “I was just showing out for you.”
“Whatever.”
“Man, almost every dude in our crew had a crush on you. We couldn’t figure out what you saw in Jeremiah’s bigheaded ass, because he definitely wasn’t good enough for you.”
My cheeks grew warm. “Thank you.”
“You said that wasn’t a problem for you that I was a clown because I was your boyfriend’s best friend. What about now? Is that a problem for you?” His voice was low, eyelids heavy, and mouth turned into a firm line. There was an air of sexual tension between us.
“Of course not. I mean, you’re you. Just because you’re accompanying me to the ball and spending time with me lately, we’re still friends at the end of the day. You be you, Chris. You don’t owe me any explanations.”
The way that he eyed me after that statement had me squirming in my seat. I looked around the restaurant to break the heated stare of his gaze. After skating, we went to The Fiesta Bowl for some good Mexican food.
“Let me ask you something. When you first hooked up with Jeremiah, did you think you would be with him for a lifetime?”
I sighed. “When I first met Jeremiah, I was at a space in my life where I wasn’t looking for love.
I just wanted to date and chill. That’s it.
But after a while, I found myself spending more time with him, and he was caring and romantic.
He seemed like he always cared about what was on my heart and my mind.
He could tell when I was down, even if it didn’t show in my attitude.
That let me know he was paying attention to me.
I stopped dating other men, and I told him that I was ready to be exclusive. ”
“Is that around the time y’all started looking for a place together?”
“Yeah. We moved kind of fast after that. I was all in with Jeremiah and determined to be the best girlfriend that I knew how to be. I was on some ‘great-girlfriend-tryna-be-a-wife’ type shit. God, what was I thinking?” I asked.
“We all make mistakes. I mean, you guys were young when you got together. Don’t blame yourself.
You’ll make plenty more mistakes before it’s all over with.
He was an experience to help you learn what you do and don’t want from a man.
Next time around, you’ll be more selective and wiser about those red flags. ”
“What about you, Chris? Do you have any red flags?”
He wiped his mouth and sat back. Chewing on his lower lip, he stared at me with his lids hanging low. “We’ve all got red flags, Angel.”
“What are yours?”
“I used to get serious too fast, and sometimes I can have a disregard for boundaries. I mean, when I’m with a woman, I become possessive.”
“Really? I never would’ve guessed that.”
“Yeah, I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m not the type that tries to keep her from being with her friends and family or tell her what to wear, eat, drink, and how to do her hair.”
“Jeremiah.” I said it through a cough and grinned as he replied, “Bingo.”
“But what I am saying is that I might tend to monopolize her time because I love being under my woman and spoiling her. I’m down for us having date nights with other couples or having our friends over, but I’m not good with her being friends with other niggas. I don’t trust them like that.”
“But if she’s faithful, then she’s going to be faithful regardless. It’s not like she’s just gonna slip up and fall into his lap and get impaled by his dick, right?”
“Yeah, but I’m not trying to entice her either. She doesn’t need to be hanging with another nigga when she’s got me. I’m not the guy who is cool with my woman having a male for her best friend. I’m her best friend.”
I smiled. “I can get down with that, seeing as how I’m the same way. I guess that’s why there was so much tension between Jeremiah and me. He often had female friends.”
Christian looked away, and I wondered if he knew something about my former relationship that I didn’t. But I also didn’t care enough to dig into that.
“What about you, Angel? What are your red flags?”
“I have poor conflict resolution skills. So, when issues arise, I tend to run and bury my head in the sand or give people the silent treatment. My other red flag is that I love bomb my man.”
“What’s that?”
“Overwhelming my man with love, affection, and adoration early in the relationship.”
“Elmira?”
“Exactly. Some men are okay with it, and others aren’t.”
“Jeremiah was cool with it in the beginning,” he declared.
“Yeah, but it became too much when problems arose.”
“Nah, it wasn’t you, baby girl. It was always him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s my best friend, but Jeremiah always wanted someone to be all about him. It’s never about the other person. He needs the world to circulate on him, and when it doesn’t, he bails.”
I tilted my head sideways and stared at him. “That makes sense.”
“What’s that?”
“When new opportunities opened for me from my channel, and I started getting contracts, that’s when things started going south with us.
I mean, I didn’t see him leaving like he did.
That caught me off guard, but I knew things weren’t perfect.
” My voice broke off in sadness. I didn’t mean to be a downer, but I knew this conversation was depressing.
“Aye, . . . it’s the holidays. How about we take a break from talking about Jeremiah?” Christian suggested.
“Sounds good to me.” I bit into my birria taco. I licked the oil and juice off my fingers, closed my eyes, and moaned.
I was here for the tacos and margaritas. I didn’t play about tacos; they were my favorite food, hands down. Give a girl some tacos and margaritas, and nothing could faze me. The only food that I loved almost as much as tacos was Mediterranean food.
“Why do females do that shit?”
“What?” I asked. My eyes popped open at the irritation in his tone.
“Moaning when y’all eat or drink something that tastes really good to you. I swear, y’all do that to get to men. Bet you don’t do that when you’re alone.”
I giggled, licked my fingers, and set my taco down.
I grabbed a napkin to wipe my hands before I gripped the edge of the table and leaned closer to him.
“Whenever I moan, it’s for one of two reasons: The food was just that damn good, and I don’t care whether a man is around or not, or it’s because he ate the cat out or dicked me down really well. ”
I sat back, pleased with the shocked look on his face while I bobbed my head to the live band singing “Feliz Navidad.”
A smirk slowly tilted his lips upward. “I’m trying to do everything in my power to keep things platonic between us because that’s what I’m hearing you say you want.
But if you keep talking to me the way you do, behaving the way that you are, and moaning like you just did, all that platonic shit is out the window, and you’re gonna see another side of this nigga you weren’t ready for. ”
“I hope you don’t think that you’re scaring me, Mr. Holly.” I licked and then sucked my lime, pinning my gaze on him.
He chuckled. “And here I thought you were a good girl, Angel Snow.”
“Again, . . . the only girl attached to me and my name is Miss Belle Snow. All woman,” I declared, running my hands downward in front of my body.
“In a minute, you’re gonna have me thinking that you’re flirting with me. Either that or I swear they did something to my tequila.” He pressed his lips against his glass, and he had me wishing they were pressed against me.
“Don’t blame it on the alcohol, Chris. I won’t.”
He leaned forward and rested his crossed arms on the table. “Let me start thinking you’re trying to get with a brother, Angel.”
Lowering my head, I dragged a finger across my taco before I lifted it and took a bite. I stared into his eyes and moaned.