The Perfect Storm Pt. 01

He knew he could've asked her home then, but that wasn't really an option. He was not about to bring a girl back from the club to his mother's house, and he wasn't about to let his mom spend the night alone. Moreoever, truth be told, he was never one to pick up girls from the club, and he wasn't a fan of one-night stands. Nothing can be quite the cold shower as personal morals and duty.

You're an idiot, Jeff. He sighed and continued down the street. He made it home five minutes later. They lived in a small one story house just off Kingston ave. They never had much as a family, but their parents were still able to make the house look nice. The kitchen and the living room were in the same space, further back was the room he shared with his brother, Leon, back when they were kids. Of course now it was just his room since his brother moved out to pursue his MBA. Right across from their room was their parents room. Rather, his mom's room, his dad died five years ago.

"Baby, is that you?" his mom called from her room.

"Yeah mom it's me, I just got back."

His mother wheeled herself out from the bedroom. The car accident had taken its toll on his mother. She used to be one the heavy side, not heavy set, but a little more meat around the edges, now she was on the thinner side, and looked to be in her fifties rather than her forties (his parents had Leon when his father was eighteen, his mom seventeen). She wore thick glasses that shook slightly whenever she moved and made her eyes look gargantuan from the certain angles.

She smiled when she saw him. "Aren't you glad you went?"

He wasn't quite sure he was. "I'm really glad I went, mom." he said.

His mother examined him as she pushed herself into the living room. His mom looked frail, but she had much more strength than her appearance suggested.

"You met a girl tonight, didn't you?"

Jeff felt his jaw tense.

That was all the answer she needed. "Did you invite her home?"

"Mom! Of course I'm not going to invite a girl home!" he paused. Shit, I forgot to deny it. "And no I didn't meet a girl, I just hung out with Shonda and the gang!"

His mother snorted and strolled to the kitchen counter. "Did you at least get her number?"

He had to take a minute to stifle his frustration, which quickly fell into sinking defeat. "Yes, Mom, I got her number."

"Good! You need a woman in your life. Besides your mother."

"I'm fine mom."

His mother pivoted the chair. "Son, I know a man's got needs, and you are a man. You've sacrificed a lot for me and this family, but you gotta take care of yourself!"

He knew where the conversation was headed, but he didn't want to go there, not now.

"Mom...I wanted to come home tonight, I wanted to be here with you and I wanted to write, can we just leave it at that?"

His mom looked him in the eyes, her light brown eyes magnified to twice their size, and he prayed desperately that she wouldn't bring up anymore.

"Ok son, ok..." she smiled. "How's Shonda?"

He told her about the party, how everyone was doing, and what was new with everyone else. He left out the part about the girl, but when she pressed him on it he admitted it was Shonda's friend.

Shonda.

Oh no! He forgot to say goodbye! Forgot to say goodbye? You made out with her best friend! Amongst other things. He sat down on the couch in the living room and put his hands to his face.

"Is something wrong baby?" his mother asked.

"I just remembered I need to call Shonda, have you had dinner, mom? I can make it while I—"

His mom pointed to some empty pizza boxes on the kitchen table. "Tell Shonda I say hi." And with that she rolled into her room.

He pulled out his cellphone and punched in Shonda's number. It ringed once. Twice, Three tim—

"Hello?" Shonda voice never sounded right over the phone, but he could tell it was her.

"Hey Shonda, it's Jeff!"

"Nigga you got a lot nerve to be calling me after you ditched us!"

Jeff's heart sank. "Shonda I am so sorry! I didn't mean...I mean my moms and—"

Shonda laughed. "Jeff, I'm fucking with you."

Jeff paused, and then let out a nervous laugh. "Thank God. Say, I thought we agreed that we shouldn't be saying that word."

"Yeah, sorry, just kind of slipped. Apparently Cali didn't take all my bad habits, huh."

He had to smile at that. "Doesn't look like it. So hey, I'm sorry I ducked out before letting you know what was up, I really didn't mean to go without talking to you."

"I know, I know, you've got to look after your mom, how is Mrs. Smith?"

"She's fine, and she says hi." he looked in the direction of his mother's room.

"Good, tell her I can't wait to see her."

"I will, I will." Jeff took a deep breath. "Shonda, I think I need to tell you something."

"Does it involve Kiara?"

She knows! His heart pumped like a drum. "Shonda listen, I fucked up..." Shonda's laugh caught him off guard. "Shonda?"

"Kiara said the same thing, but I'm cool with it."

Jeff exhaled in relief, he thought he might really be in trouble with Shonda, but she was taking everything really well.

Too well.

Jeff remembered how quickly Shonda introduced her to Kiara, and the look in her eyes when they shook hands.

"Shonda, were you trying to set me up with Kiara?"

Jeff could almost feel her smile. "Maaaaybe."

Jeff chuckled. Since they were kids, Shonda had played the role of big sister and matchmaker for him. Since he was 16 he had two girlfriends, both of them were the result of Shonda's intervention. No small feat, considering she had been attending undergrad on the east coast, and he was still getting over his almost chronic shyness.

"You crazy girl." he said.

"You know it. Seriously, I thought you two could, I don't know, hang out."

"Are you trying to pimp me out?"

"No, no, I just..." Shonda hesitated. "Look, you were in jail for the last nine months, Kiara hasn't been with anyone for a while, I just thought maybe, I don't know, something could happen."

"Shonda, what aren't you saying?"

Shonda didn't answer right away.

"Shonda..."

Shonda sighed. "Ok, look, Kiara has...issues. She's been seriously hurt in her life, and is determined to not let it happen again. Ever since I've known her, she's only gone for the fun, cheap guys and throws them to the wayside when she's done. At first I thought she was just one of those girls, but as I got to know her I realized something. She's afraid, Jeff, and she's running. I thought that maybe you could get her guard down?"

"It don't sound like I should be getting mixed up with this girl." Jeff said.

"If by 'mixed up' you mean falling in love, than no. God no! I love Kiara, but when it comes to guys she is messed up. I just think spending sometime with a good man like you would do her a lot of good."

Jeff laughed. "I'm not that good of a man."

"Jeffery Smith!" Shonda's voice gained an edge of seriousness. Uh-oh, here comes big sister. "You are a great man. You're kind, sensitive, thoughtful, caring, and creative. I don't think you should fall in love with Kiara, she's just not ready for that, but I think that if she sees what a good man is like up close she might think about what she's been missing. Besides, you need to get laid."

"Shonda!"

"Don't even front, when was the last time?"

Now it was Jeff's turn to be silent.

"Exactly."

Jeff shook his head. "Okay, okay. But if Kiara just wants a one night stand, than what good is all that good man stuff?"

"Oh, I think she's gonna want more than one ride Jeff. I was thinking a friends with benefits with thing. Even if she just wants you for a night, at least you'll both get laid. It's a win-win scenario."

"I don't know Shonda, I'm not really into the whole friends with benefits/ one night-stand thing."

"Boy, you really got to experiment! Have some casual sex, it's the world we live in, you best know how to deal!"

She had him there. "I kind of blew her off, would she still even be interested?"

"Trust me, she wants you Jeff."

That got him going. He started thinking about the hunger in Kiara's kisses, the way she moaned when he put his hands on her, and the look of disappointment when he told her he had to go.

"Jeff?" Shonda's voice shook him out of his thoughts.

"Ok, I'll try and set something up, but I don't know if it's a good idea."

Shonda hesitated. "As long as you don't get too attached to Kiara, it will be fine. Do you think you can avoid that?"

"Like I said, Shonda, I'm not that good of a man."

Shonda sighed and muttered something.

"What was that, Shonda?"

"You're a big boy, you can take care of yourself." Shonda said with a hint of resignation. "Hey, Jeff, I've got to go, but it was real nice talking to you. I'll visit sometime and we can catch up."

Jeff smiled. "I'd like that."

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Jeff leaned back into the couch and mulled over their exchange. He did have a one-night stand once, but he was drunk and she was a co-ed. Truth be told, it wasn't even that fun. She was fine (both in appearance and performance), and given her vocal approval he thought he did alright too (though he knew that noise didn't always indicate pleasure) it just felt more like mutual masturbation than sex.

Kiara though, Kiara was something else. They had chemistry, a lot of it, and he had more than a little sexual energy to burn.

But what about Mom? He thought.

Mom could get by a few hours on her own, she didn't technically need a caretaker, at least according to the state, but a PCA made her life a heck of a lot easier. Besides, if something did happen their neighbors the Larsons and the Nielsons were usually around to lend a hand, and he had his cellphone if she wanted to call him directly. If worse came to worse, she had that wireless transmitter thing on her wrist.

What if you want to spend the night together?

He didn't have an immediate answer for that. No matter how horny he got, he would never, ever, bring a girl in his mother's house for the night. So that left her house. Of course if he spent that meant he would be spending more time away from his mom. He knew if he asked his mother she'd be more than okay with it, even though she wasn't a terribly big fan of premarital sex. His mother was an odd mixture of conservatism and reactionary liberalism, that's what you get when you're born to a Baptist minister father and a Black-Feminist mother. More than anything, his mother hated the idea of a man using a women as a sex object, it was both an insult to the solidarity of women and a sin in the eyes of the Lord. You know you done fucked up when you can get feminists and bible thumpers pissed at you at the same time for the same reason. But his mother had it in her head that Jeffery was too nice a boy to really use a girl. He didn't agree, but neither did he bend over backwards to enlighten her.

What about your writing?

Jeffery chuckled. What was holding him back from trying to get some? His mother and his writing. You're a real Casanova aren't you, Jeffery. Most people wouldn't guess by looking at him, but he was an author. That's right, author, as in published, in different six literary publications thank you very much. Granted, four of the five magazines were out of print, and his sixth publication was in lesser known online literary e-zine, but it was something. Not only was he published, he was paid. The pay amounted to less than two-hundred dollars, which wasn't very impressive considering it took him some ninety hours across four months to finish those stories (he wrote more in that time, but only the five were accepted) and would've made more working minimum wage, but it was the fact that he was paid for his writing that mattered.

Prison didn't stop him from writing, at least completely. He suspected only death could make him stop writing altogether. He kept his commitment of one thousands words a day, not that there was that much to do. He was able to buy pen and paper from his brother's donation, and he could always find an hour or two to sit on his bed and write.

Jeff pulled out his phone and brought up Kiara's number. He was tempted to text her, but thought better of it.

Aren't you suppose to wait 24 hours or something?

He never was very good with women. This irony wasn't lost on him. He knew women found him handsome, and people usually assumed that he was some sort of heartbreaker. Nothing could be more wrong. He was a shy child. Well a shy teenager. Ok, he was just shy. On top of that he was really bad at talking to women, especially before Millie, his first girlfriend. Even after both of his girlfriends he was still cautious when it came to approaching women. Turns out it doesn't matter how handsome you are, if you're shy and not good at talking with them women would rarely approach you on their own. Then again, he thought Kiara was a pretty safe bet. Then again, women he had a hard time predicting how women act.

He put the phone away and sighed. He decided he'd put his mom to bed tonight he'd write then go to bed. The mom part went fairly easily, despite the protest of his mother who made quite clear that she could make it into her own bed, and he put in his writing, but his thoughts always seemed to wander to Kiara as he typed on his old netbook. This continued well into the night as he attempted sleep, until finally he told himself he'd call Kiara tomorrow afternoon.

As it turned out, Jeff didn't make it to the afternoon. He woke up around nine to make pancakes for his mother and himself. After eating and dropping off his mother to her physical therapy appointment, he decided he needed to walk, and went to the local park. Clouds partially hid the sun, the few trees and plants disperesed acorss the park helped keep part of the city smell at bay, but some of it still got through. Finally he found a seat on the bench towards the middle, next to a medium sized fountain. After twiddling his thumbs an hour that felt like twenty, he finally punched in Kiara's number. He pressed the call button before all the excuses could come back up again.

The phone rang once.

Twice.

Three times.

Four times.

"Hello?"

Jeff mind went numb. "Hey Kiara?" he asked in a voice that he hoped didn't betray too much fear.

"Yes?"

"This is Jeff. Shonda's friend? We met at the club?"

"Oh hi Jeff!" she said warmly.

That gave him some confidence back. "Hey. So I said I'd call, and I keep my promises."

The fuck am I saying?

Kiara giggled. "I'm glad you did..."

Jeff cleared his throat. "Yeah, I just hope it don't look to bad that I called so quick." I'm an idiot.

"Oh yeah, you are totally creeping me out, I don't think I want to talk to you ever again." she teased.

An odd combination of panic and arousal rose in Jeff. "That's a shame, because I had a really fun time with you last night, and was thinking of asking you out for a drink or something."

A pause.

Shit! He thought. Shit! Shit! Shit! Too soon! Too soon!

"What are you doing tonight?" she asked.

"Nothing." Jeff said without thinking.

"Same, so why don't we get drinks tonight?"

"That...sure! I mean, yeah, that sounds good. When do you want me to pick you up?"

"Actually, I was thinking we'd have drinks at my place, big boy."

Jeff's mind spun. She wasn't even going for foreplay, she was virtually serving sex up on a platter. He remembered her exposed and ample bottom gyrating against him, the softness of her thighs, the feel of her breasts against his chest.

Yes, drinks at her place sounded very good.

You're in, but now you gotta be smooth, flirt a little, get the tension up.

"I don't know...I haven't seen your alcohol selection, how do I know you'll have my drink?"

He almost punched himself in the face.

To his infinte relief, she laughed. "Oh," she said. "I think we can find something you'll like..."

"I'm sure you will." He said with suave he forgot he had.

"Mmmmhh. I can't wait. I live in 2800 West Humboldt. Number 201. Seven o'clock sound good?"

"It'll be a tight fit, but I think I can make myself decent by then." he said.

"I'm sure you will. See you, Jeffery."

She hung up.

Jeffery sat at the bench for another thirty minutes, smiling to himself.

After relaying the (abridged) events to his mother, making sure she was absolutely ok with being left home alone for a few hours, that she could reach him if she needed, and after telling Raymond and Jenetta to check on his mom, he went to the liquor store, bought some champagne, and made his way to Kiara's place in 97 Ford Mustang.

Kiara clearly lived in one of the higher income neighbor hoods. The buildings were in markedly better condition than his neighborhood, and he saw more than a few sports cars driving through the streets.

You might be out of your league here, Jeff. He thought as he pulled up to the building. He was wearing some of his better clothes, a white button up rolled at the sleeves with dark gray jeans, but that didn't stop people from staring. Jeff tried to ignore the concerned looks being shot at him.

Still, he couldn't help but speculate their thoughts. Whose this nigga and why is he here? Is he trying to deal drugs?

Jeff shook his head at the irony and walked into the building and up the stairs. Each step left him feeling less and less sure that tonight was going to go well.

Cheap champagne from a guy who lives with his mom, she's gonna go wild for you, playa.

He shook his head. She had invited him here hadn't she? She wanted to see him, she was practically begging to sleep with him, what the hell did he have to worry about. Confidence started to burn away at his doubts, and he stood tall and put a swagger in his walk.

This lasted all of two minutes, which is incidentally how long it took him to reach the room 201. For a moment the thought of running straight home crossed his mind, but he quickly stamped it out. You came this far, you aren't backing out now!

He took a deep breath and pressed the door bell.

=

Kiara was checking her bust when she heard the doorbell to her condo. Her stomach churned in a nice, almost sugary way. She took a step back from the mirror and looked at herself. She went for a more modest dress this time, dark blue, little cleavage, below the knees. It was a trap. Underneath she was wearing a black lace lingerie and a garter belt. She planned to lull him into a false sense of security, and then when he least expected it, have her way with him. He wouldn't even see her coming. She tossed her hair and smiled as she walked to the door. She evened out her dress, made sure her straps were tight, and then opened the door.

He stood in tall in the doorway, broad shouldered with lean, chiseled muscles barely concealed in his shirt. His dark eyes lit up as he looked over her body. Heat deep within her loins spread throughout her body.

She smiled. "What up?"

He blinked, "Hey Kiara, how you doing?"

"Good, come on in." She leaned against the door to let him in.

He walked in. "So...where do you want me to put this?" He held up a small brown paper bag with what looked like a champagne bottle in it.

He actually brought drinks. That was cute.

He was cute.

Really cute.

Fuckably cute.

Then she was back in the club. His lips on hers, their bodies burning against eachother.

He put the champagne on the counter. And "Yeah you didn't tell me your drink so—"

Her mouth slammed into his. She clutched his shirt, the thin fabric doing little to stifle the heat coming from his hard chest. She hopped and put her legs around his waist, arms around his neck. He rocked, surprised, but there was strength in his body and he easily supported her weight.