The Breakdown Ch. 02

As I walked through the door to her apartment, I could sense a change in the atmosphere. Ursula had changed into a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. The sweat pants she was wearing didn't do any justice to her figure, but did make her seem even more down-to-earth. Sitting down on the sofa she motioned for me to sit beside her. Sitting down I didn't know what to expect because she hadn't really said anything. So I decided to break the silence by asking her what she was watching. She told me that she was watching Comedy Central.

Then Ursula added "I wanted somebody to watch it with me, so I decided to invite you back over."

I laughed at the comment and then asked, "are you sure that is the only reason you invited me back over?"

She giggled, and then responded, "Just shut up, lay down, and finish watching this show with me," while motioning for me to lay my head in her lap.

Looking down at my watch I noticed that it was some time after 3:00 a.m. and I couldn't believe I'd nodded off. My great-grandmother always told me it was rude to fall asleep on your company, but I guess I must have been tired. Looking up, I checked to see if Ursula had also fell asleep. Just my luck, she was wide awake and greeted me.

"It's about time you wake up sleepy head. I see why your chat name is SleepyBrown now," whispered Ursula.

I quickly apologized and sat up. She accepted the apology. Standing up, I begin to make my way to the door, when she informed me that I could spend the night.

I paused for a second, thinking that maybe it was best if I did leave. But then I came to my senses. Before I thought about it enough to change my mind I turned around. She was standing inches away from me, looking into my eyes. So close it took a second or two for my eye to focus. Not wanting to make a fool out of myself again I took a step back. She smiled, the corner of her mouth doing that cute twitching thing again just before her lips parted.

"You're not an axe murderer or anything," she asked.

I told her no but thinking back to earlier, I'm sure she thought I was some sort of pervert though.

Ursula joked, "I'm going to let you sleep in the bed with me. But before your begin thinking evil thoughts, it's only because I don't want my roommate to come home and there's some strange man lying on the sofa."

So with that we walked back to her bedroom. I was nervous. I'd been in situations like this so many times, and usually sometime in the middle of the night we both awoke tearing each other clothes off. However, tonight I was going to be on my best behavior. To ensure that I was I climbed onto the bed, with every stitch of my clothes on, minus my shoes. She cocked her head and stared at me funny.

"Don't you want to get comfortable" she asked?

"I am," I responded.

Though there wasn't anything remotely comfortable about the situation. She turned and grabbed some things out of her chest and headed for the bathroom.

I could hear the water splashing against the floor of the shower. I thought about leaving as soon as she came out of the bathroom. I knew me. I'd be tempted, and any sign of weakness displayed by her was going to be an open invitation for the freak in me to show up and show out. At times I was as humble as a church mouse. I couldn't hurt a fly, but I had a knack for smelling temptation. I was like a shark; the scent of lust carried on a breeze was enough to peak my arousal. I always knew the predator in me wasn't far away. I could tell because I begin to notice subtle things like the tone of the water changing as it touched her skin, a muffled sound compared to the sound of water against the shower floor.

My train of thought was broken as I heard the squeaking noise that faucets make as they are turned. The sound of the water changed too. I knew she was about to get out the shower. I tried to act like I was asleep, hoping that she couldn't sense my thoughts. As the door opened to the bathroom, warm humid air filled with a familiar scent, that I couldn't put my hand on at the time, crept into the room. I knew the aroma had to be some sort of body wash, but I just couldn't figure out what. Backlit by the light in the bathroom as she stepped into the room, I watched her through my eyelashes, still feigning sleep. She had on a short t-shirt and some thongs. I prayed all kinds of prayers of intervention at that point.

Climbing in the bed she slipped under the sheets and turned her back to me. I had made it a point to sleep on top of the comforter to add that extra boundary between us. She mumbled something that I couldn't make out, so I asked her what she said.

She answered, "I asked were you sleeping. I see now that you're not."

All I could do was laugh. She asked if I was scared and then told me I could at least cuddle with her before we fell asleep. I wrapped an arm around her. The scent of her skin was so sensuous. It was so intoxicating that I was in danger of becoming a lush. I closed my eyes and cleared my head. She looked over her shoulder and whispered goodnight, and before I knew it we had both nodded off.

As the sun crept in between the blinds, my eyes cracked open. I watched as the speckles of dust danced on the beam of light. I attempted to move my arm, which was still thrown over Ursula's body.

She grabbed my arm, sort of startling me and asked was I trying to sneak off to.

Before I answered my eyes focused on my watch which read 7:48 a.m., which meant I had only twelve minutes to get to work.

I let her know what the deal was as I sat on the edge of the bed tying my shoes. Luckily today was Friday and didn't we actually have to be there on time, I just liked to be consistent. So I said my goodbyes and headed out the door, locking it behind me.

The next day flew by even though I didn't really have anything to do. As soon as I walked through the door I grabbed my cell phone and begin to check my messages. Two calls from my mom and one from Ursula. As I listened to her message play out, I thought about the events of the night before. I tried to figure out what I could have done differently. I laughed at her message as she ended it, telling me that she had enjoyed last night, and wanted me to stop by again tonight to watch a bootleg copy of The Bucket List. The last thing I wanted to do was watch a bootleg film of a movie I didn't really want to see, but the thought of just being around her again turned me on.

When she opened the door to her apartment, the scent of buttered popcorn hit me. I walked in and sat down on the sofa. As Ursula walked back to her room, I glanced down at my watch, just as her roommate emerged from the kitchen with a bag of popcorn and plopped down on the sofa next to me.

"So, you're Carlos I assume," her roommate said while digging into the bag and pulling out a handful of popcorn.

As she put it in her mouth, I nodded letting her know her assumption was correct. While she chewed, I wondered what kind of conversations they'd had about me. Being that I had several female friends, who confided a lot in me, I knew generally how these conversations went. I was just hoping I wasn't in the friend zone. The roommate wiped the butter and salt from her hand, onto a towel she had draped over her shoulder.

She then extended her hand and said, "Hey, I'm Keisha, and I've heard nothing but good stuff about you."

Just as I was about to ask what she'd heard, Ursula came back in and asked me was I ready to go, right before she threw in a comment to not pay any attention to Keisha. I hadn't planned on going anywhere, in fact I'd come over to see the movie. But Ursula told me on the way out the door that she'd explain everything when we got in the car.

Standing there in Ashley Stewart, I felt a tad bit out of place. It wasn't that I didn't feel comfortable in a women clothing store, but it was the fact that I felt like I was falling into the role of friend. I knew that if I didn't do anything soon I'd be that shoe-shopping, no booty getting, laughing at the thought of me touching her, guy for the rest of my life. But I knew that if what I did was too drastic, I could lose our friendship.

It was quickly becoming one of those situations that nothing could prepare you for. As I stood there thinking, the sound of the hangars sliding across the clothing racks was broken by Ursula's voice.

"I know you're over there wondering what was going on, right," she asked.

Before I could answer she began to explain that her roommate thought something was happening between us.

Ursula said "yea, Keisha was saying she was going to tell you that I like you. And that all I do is talk about you."

Before I even realized what I was saying it was out.

"But do you," I had asked her.

We both stared at each other for a second, speechless, before Ursula finally responded.

"I think I found something, now let's go home."