Solace & Rosanna Ch. 07

1998: Solace moaned so loudly that she woke herself up. Her heart was beating as if she had just completed the New York City Marathon. To her delight, she was still experiencing remnants of the intense orgasm that had been induced by the passionate love-making she and Rosanna Romero had shared. She basked in the euphoric feeling of the contractions of her vaginal muscles. How strange, she thought hazily. I just met her. How could I be dreaming about her already? When she came back to her senses, she sat up and ran her fingers through her tangled auburn hair, which cascaded to the middle of her back. I haven’t had a dream like that in ages. A beatific smile formed on her heart-shaped lips. She closed her eyes and tried to recall the details of the dream sequence, but they were quickly fading like a fine mist. Why is it that nightmares stay with you all day and sexy dreams vanish in two seconds?

Solace pressed the button on her talking watch, which announced that it was six thirty. Oh, Solace, you are nuts! What are you doing up at this hour on a Saturday!

When Solace felt she could stand on firm legs, she rolled out of bed and walked lazily to the kitchen to put on the kettle to make a cup of tea. She then glided to the bathroom to attend to her morning ablutions. She looked in the mirror and saw that she hadn’t changed, but she did feel different. She left the bathroom and returned to her bedroom to find something to wear. She settled on a long blue jumper covering a white t-shirt.

I’ve got to call Jessie. She pressed her watch again; an hour had gone by. She should be awake. She plopped down in a cushion by the phone and dialed her best friend’s number. The phone rang several times and was answered.

“Solace, this better be good or I’ll shoot your ovaries off!” answered Jessie groggily.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Jessie. I thought you’d be awake.” Solace stammered in apology.

“Gotcha! I am awake. I’ve been up since five. I had an inspiration and I’m trying to work it out musically.

Jessie Davis was a pianist and composer who had a successful career transcribing works for various artists and their instruments. Her dream, however, was to compose the score for a musical, and she had often tapped Solace to sing the female leads. Jessie often complained that the music industry was too interested in pigeon-holing an African-American artist and she was out to prove them wrong.

“Cool. How’s it going?” asked Solace.

“Well, it’s going okay, but I’m stuck at this one part where the—“ Jessie didn’t have a chance to finish because Solace interrupted her.

“Jessie, I have got to tell you about this woman.”

“Not another one! Solace, you have more crushes than the sea has fish!“ Jessie said in mock exasperation. “But who is she and why is this one so special?” Jessie moved to a comfortable chair because she knew Solace might ramble on.

“She’s not a crush. She’s just…groovy!” she said with a distant tone in her voice.

“Groovy! Oh, Lord. You are the only person in Manhattan who says groovy, Solace.” Jessie retorted.

“I don’t care,” answered Solace.

“Well, how long have you known Ms. Groovy?”

“One night,” answered Solace. “And I dreamed about making love to her.”

“What?” Jessie sputtered and sat up. “Man, she really did make an impression on you. Could you see what she looked like at all?” she asked, her interest peaked.

“Not at first, but when we went down in the elevator together I got a fairly good look and, oh, what a looker. She’s Latin with short, dark wavy hair. I couldn’t’ see what color her eyes were. Do you think she’ll think I’m coming on to her if I ask her?” Solace asked seriously.

“Well, you might wait awhile. Are you going to see her again?” Jessie asked.

“I’m gonna see her next week at the ensemble rehearsal,” she replied and grinned.

“Oh. How did you like the group, Lace?” Jessie inquired.

“It was way cool, Jess. I can’t wait for next week’s rehearsal.”

“Gee, I wonder why,” Jessie said sarcastically.

“Well, I can’t say that hadn’t crossed my mind.” Solace felt her face grow warm with excitement at just the mere thought. “Do you think I should do anything special?” she asked.

“Like what--beat her over the head with your cane and drag her to your apartment?” Jessie snickered at her joke.

“Well, actually, she was here last night,” Solace whispered.

“My God, girl. You really do work fast! What did you do, pull out the old blind thing again?” Jessie rolled her eyes.

“Well, actually, she offered to walk me home. I wanted to be Miss Independence. Really!” Solace said in her most righteous tone.

“Lace, please! Don’t even try to lie. I know you and your act.” Both women laughed at this for it was a long-standing routine with them. “Well, you’ve got two options from what I can tell,” Jessie began. “You can either call her or wait for her to call you.”

“That’s the problem!” Solace rushed in. “She said she’d call me, but she doesn’t have my phone number. I wanted to ask you whether you think I should try to get it or not.”

“Now, Lace. You know, you are going to hunt down that woman’s phone number the way a cat hunts down mice,” Jessie said with finality.

“You’re right, Jess. I’m going to call Katrina and get it. I don’t think I can wait until she calls me. What if she doesn’t?” Solace asked in her most annoying whining tone.

“She might. You could give her the benefit of the doubt, you know. Haven’t you ever heard of playing hard to get?” Jessie said.

“I have and it doesn’t always work, so I’m going to grab the cow by the udders,” announced Solace.

“Oh, no! You didn’t say that!”

“Yes, I did. Now let me get off the phone so I can get to work.” Solace said impatiently.

“Lace, it’s not even nine yet. Give the woman a chance to wake up, get up and freshen up.”

“You’re right. I will. Bye, Jessie. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Oh, lucky me!” Jessie said, but finished with, “Good luck, Lace. I hope she does right by you.”

“Thank you, Jessie.” With those words, Solace hung up.

Jessie sat there, staring at the phone for a few seconds and then placed it on the piano because she knew she’d be receiving regular updates from Solace.

Solace put on a cassette of vocal exercises, which she commenced in doing with great enthusiasm. She had to do something to keep her mind and body occupied until a decent hour came when she could call Katrina. Before she knew it, her table-top clock was announcing eleven o’clock. She unceremoniously dumped her ensemble music on the floor, which fanned out in all directions, picked up the phone and dialed Katrina’s. She got an answering machine.

“Hi, Katrina. This is, uhm, Solace…Solace Tynan? I’m calling to uhm ask a favor. I know it’s kind of uhm early on for this kind of thing, but I was wondering if you could give Rosanna Romero my phone number?” She rattled it off. “Thank you, Katrina. Really. Thank you very much. I’m sorry for the rambling. I’ll see you on Friday. Thank you very much. Remember. It’s Solace Tynan.” She almost spelled her name, but decided that would be overkill. She started pacing around her living room, talking to herself. My God! The woman is going to think I’m an absolute fool! What was I thinking? Jessie was right! I should have waited! Solace, get a grip! You’re usually loose as a…a goose. A goose! That’s exactly what you sounded like just now! Well, what’s done is done.

Rosanna’s fingers were damp with perspiration as she dialed Katrina’s number. “Hello, Katrina? This is, ah, Rosanna Romero. I was wondering if you could give Solace Tynan my number. It’s ah…” Her mind went blank for a few seconds. “Oh, it’s 555-1217. Thank you.” She hung up the phone as if it were a burning torch ready to singe her fingers. Madre de Dios! Why did I do that? Well, you did that maybe because you told the woman you would call her and you didn’t take her number. You genius! Rosanna did not want to stop to examine her feelings as to why she wanted to see Solace again. If she had been honest, though, she would have admitted that the fact that Solace was blind intrigued her and she wanted to know more about how she functioned. She did not think Solace would respond to this fact too well. The other reason was the warmth. Solace emitted a warmth that drew Rosanna to her like a moth to a flame. Who would be burning whom remained to be seen. And certainly not last on Rosanna’s list for wanting to see Solace again was her drop-dead gorgeousness. The woman was sensuality personified. She was the kind of woman who made Rosanna’s mouth water, her fingers tremble and heart beat out of control. Yes. At least she felt an attraction. But what about Solace? Rosanna would have to force herself to take this one slowly.

“Hello, Solace?” Katrina’s voice came over the telephone line.

“Who-- Katrina?” Solace had fallen asleep and had been awakened by the insistent ringing of the phone and was still a bit sluggish.

“Yes. It’s Katrina. Listen, I've got Rosanna Romero on the other line. I thought you two could exchange info in person. How’s that?”

“Uh, fine.” Solace cleared her throat. The next sound she heard were the sultry tones of Rosanna.

“Sol?” Rosanna started. Let me have your phone number and I’ll call you back.”

Solace recited her number slowly and made Rosanna repeat it back to her.

“Thank you, Katrina,” Rosanna said.

“Yes, thank you,” Solace added.

“No problem. Think of me as the facilitator. I have to keep the women in my ensemble happy” That said, Katrina hung up the phone. Solace sat patiently waiting for the call. Upon hearing the first ring, she snatched it up.

“Hi,” Rosanna said.

“Hi,” Solace replied.

“Do you—“ Rosanna did not know whether it was appropriate to ask a blind person if they wanted to see a movie or watch television. She didn’t want to offend Solace. But she had seen a TV in her apartment. “Are you busy? Would you like to have lunch?” Rosanna’s voice sounded rushed to her, but she couldn’t seem to slow it down to her normal suave timbre.

Thinking of what Jessie had told her, Solace hesitated for a moment and then said, “Sure. Why don’t we do Sunday brunch?”

“Oh. Okay. That sounds good.” Rosanna said. She hoped Solace couldn’t hear the disappointment in her voice.

They made plans to meet at a trendy new café.

“Solace, should I pick you up?” Rosanna asked.

“No, I’m too heavy.” Solace replied before she could keep the awful joke from flying out of her mouth. Rosanna gave a small chuckle.

“I sincerely hope that your puns get better as the day goes by,” Rosanna said with a smile in her voice.

“Unfortunately, they don’t. Jessie calls me Princess Pun-Bad,” Solace said with a grimace.

“Who’s Jessie?” Rosanna tried to ask nonchalantly, but she felt a slight prickle of jealousy trying to worm its way in.

“My best friend,” Solace answered.

Deciding to let it go for now, Rosanna repeated her last question with a bit more emphasis. “Should I pick you up, Sol?”

“No. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you at noon on Sunday.”

“You’re sure.” Rosanna persisted.

“Sanna,” Solace’s voice took on a serious tone.

“Okay. Okay. I’ll learn. But I’m still taking you home.”

“Now that would be fine,” Solace said.

“Bye, Sol”

“Bye Sanna.”

They hung up the phone and both women headed to their closets to choose their outfits for the next day, both wanting to make a good impression on the other.