Houston
Asking Teaghan out to lunch came out of nowhere.
My mouth clearly wasn’t being controlled by my own mind.
On a normal day that wouldn’t have happened for me.
I had no problem being around women and handling a job.
Not many of them were as gorgeous as Teaghan but I had self-control.
It wasn’t about mixing business with pleasure, it was all about me being shut down to the idea of a relationship.
We would be working closely so I reasoned with myself.
Lunch would allow time to break the ice.
She was already melting the ice around my feelings.
The more they melted the more I pulled back.
It would take more than that smile of hers to break me.
“Do you have a preference?”
“Nope, I’m just glad to be out that damn office,” she replied, covering her mouth, “Sorry, I didn’t think before saying that.”
“It’s all good. You surprised me,” Teaghan seemed like the
type of woman that was always on her best behavior. Shirt always ironed to perfection, outfit always matching with not one thing out of place and certainly no cussing. She alluded to having OCD, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she lived life within the lines and didn’t veer from them.
“You know what, Houston, I don’t know what gives you the impression that I’m some stick in the mud, but I can guarantee you that I am not.
I have you know that I used to be one party animal back in my day,” she commented crossing her arms over her voluptuous chest. Before I could even respond and tell her why I felt that way, my personal line started ringing.
“Hold that thought, stick,” I joked before answering, “What’s up, Luke?”
“I was wondering if I could borrow my nephew for the day?” Luke was Leslie's twin brother and a good friend of mine. Sometimes it was painful to look at him because he looked so much like her. I still pushed that to the side and maintained our friendship. Not just for Malone but for myself. Luke didn’t bullshit me.
It was Luke that introduced us in college.
It was one of those nights that he dragged me from the dorm room to a party.
Even back then, I considered myself lame and not enthused with college nightlife.
I was only in school to get my degree. All the other shit wasn’t needed.
Dating wasn’t even on my radar at that time.
That’s what hurt the most with Leslie being gone.
I had no intention of loving her or even entertaining her back then.
I got it and then lost it. Those were fucked up odds.
“Today is my day, but for the sake of our friendship, I’ll let you slide in,” I said, looking over at Teaghan.
Luke was the only one from Leslie's family still around.
It was important for Malone to spend time with what he had left of his mother.
Luke was the fun uncle, he let Malone do whatever he wanted when he wanted.
Malone was spoiled rotten with him and his wife, Shawn.
He would be in good hands and that would leave me with some alone time with Teaghan.
“I know he sick of you, so let’s meet.”
“I’m headed to lunch right now, so we can meet at Luigi’s if you in the area.”
“See you in ten, bro,” disconnecting, Malone started going crazy with excitement. It had always been like this. Malone would leave me in a heartbeat to see his uncle Luke.
“Sorry about that, Uncle Luke always trumps spending time with me.”
“We all have that one family member that we love to death,” she responded looking back at Malone, “Malone are you about to go get chocolate wasted without me?”
“Yes, ma’am, and guess what?”
“What?” she asked bright-eyed. I was moved seeing her interact with Malone.
It seemed like the only people that tried understand him were the people that he shared blood with.
But it wasn’t like that with Teaghan. I slightly blamed myself because he wasn’t around many people.
It was safer that way, but I thought maybe that was hindering him.
The more she was around the more my eyes opened to possibilities that maybe it was on me.
Keeping Malone to myself meant I was able to protect him and make sure that no one had the opportunity to break his heart or alter his thinking.
Malone was smart, but he was still impressionable.
He soaked up everything like a sponge. Him being around other kids and people could either help or harm him.
It was time for me to stop smothering Malone, so we could both live a full life.
“Uncle Luke also cooks good pasta. Can you cook pasta?” he asked.
I smiled but said nothing because that boy was up to no good fishing for information.
Even though he was fishing, I was carefully taking more notes.
A home-cooked meal sounded good one of these days, and I hoped she could, in fact, cook pasta or something other than take-out.
“I am a world-renowned pasta maker,” she answered proudly. “Actually, Massimo Bottura is, but I’m sure you are just as good,” he responded as we both laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes. No one understood how full of information he was until they were around him for a long time.
“I will just have to prove myself to you, Deal?”
“Deal,” he boasted as she turned to give him a fist bump.
Malone looked happy. Happier than he had looked in a long time.
It seemed as if I had made a good decision by asking Teaghan to come along.
Malone never smiled this much or sat quietly.
Some people had the magic touch with kids and that was Teaghan.
Pulling into the parking lot I spotted Luke and Shawn already there.
I was hesitant to introduce her because we hadn’t had to cross this bridge before.
As if she could sense my apprehension, she placed her small, warm hand on my wrist and smiled.
She exited the car and entered the restaurant as I made the swap.
It was a blessing that neither of them asked any questions.
I didn’t have any answers for what I was doing.
It didn’t seem like a date but without Malone, that’s exactly what it looked like.
Walking in, I spotted her engaged in conversation with some nigga in scrubs.
I sighed. I hadn’t asked for this to be a date, but just a few seconds ago, I had come to terms with it possibly being one.
Now she was all in someone else’s face. Providing me with another pain point.
Her beauty attracted men. I mean, it was the reason I was here in Luigi’s, feeling like someone was stepping on my turf.
I watched from afar until a hit to my gut came.
Teaghan flashed that beautiful smile at him.
It was the smile I hoped was only reserved for me.
Her back was turned to me slightly but from the look on the guy's face, I imagined her smile making feel like he won a prize; my prize.
It was that warm smile that could thaw out the artic and he was eating the shit up.
“Ready to start this date?” I asked stepping up and placing a hand on the small of her back. I couldn’t allow this to continue on. It was a straight nigga move, but fuck all that. For the next hour, I wanted her attention. So Mr. withdrawing hairline had to move around or get fucked up.
“No worries man I’m just an old friend,” he replied as I continued to size him up. Old friend my ass. He was looking at her the same way I caught myself looking at her. It was in the way he held her hand. It was the way he brushed his face when she spoke. Nah, he needed to flee or get beat.
“Well, I’m her new friend, and you’re cutting into my time, so you can leave now.”
The guy retreated with no pushback, and I chuckled.
Homie didn’t want these problems. His ass would be in the fire pit fucking with me.
I may have been playing and bullshitting, but I couldn’t let someone else come in and take the attention I didn’t know I wanted.
Her eyes were wide open in surprise. It was the first time I got a good look at her eyes due to them being slanted.
They were gorgeous, just like her. I stared, trying to find something wrong with her.
It would make me feel better about my trepidations.
The more I looked for them, the less they came.
If anything, I could only find more things that I loved about her face.
“Really, you did not just run a colleague off?” she laughed, sliding into her side of the booth. She was blushing. I didn’t know if it was from anger or admiration. I didn’t care. The minute Malone left my presence, this turned into a date.
“I bet you have men falling all over you?” I inquired, looking her straight in the eye. She was diverting her gaze and looking anywhere but at me. “Oh, she does have men falling all over her, it’s cool, but he looked too old for you.”
“You aren’t, so I guess not. And how old does he look?”
“Sweet Tea, stop it. You know, men from all walks of life are checking for you. And my nigga looked to be at least fifty-five,” I mentioned and laughed.
She didn’t have to play the radio with me.
I peeped how lil buddy was looking at her.
I couldn’t blame him. She was top-shelf shit.
Teaghan was bottle service type shit. Sparklers, bottles on ice, exclusive.
Shit, you wanted but knew better than to touch in the store.
“Who is sweet tea?” she laughed with a raised eyebrow.
“You are, your skin reminds me of sweet tea. I love sweet tea.”
“Is that so?” she laughed again.