07 Jan It’s A Business

“You smoke too much.” Ilene whispered in my ear as she came from behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist.

“You’re too clingy.” I replied as I untied her fingers from me and pulled the blinds open. The raging light blinded us both.

“Asshole.” She growled as she went to sit back on the bed and inadvertently open her legs.

“Blow me.” I inhaled slowly and turned towards her.

“Don’t tempt me.” She grinned.

“Just leave already, I have a meeting in an hour and I don’t want you hanging around.”

Her jaw dropped as if she had just seen baby Jesus falling from the sky and then anger filled her eyes. She started to rage at me in a high pitched voice that I managed to block out with the distracting view of birds catching seats on the window opposite my high-rise.

“You’re an asshole you know that!’ She picked up her bra and fastened it around her waist. ‘A complete asshole!’ She growled while putting her underwear on and then pulling on her stockings mid-way. ‘You think you can just use me for my body and throw me away? Is that what this is!?” She picked up the rest of her clothes and held them in front of her partially nude body.

“Well, I’ve got nothing else to use you for,” I said with a laughing gasp as I exhaled smoke “And you’ve obviously agreed to this so why the fuck not?” I said to her in an indifferent tone as I gazed at her almost desirable face–she was beautiful when she was angry, even more beautiful with her mouth shut. I snickered as her jaw dropped again.

“You know what dick!’ She flung a feathered pillow at me. ‘Go find someone else to sleep with ’cause it’s not going to be me!” She jammed her feet into her black heels. ‘Not anymore!” She shuffled to my door.

“Take it easy sweetheart!’ I called after her with a smile on my face. ‘You weren’t all that great anyways.” I said as low as possible.

“Fuck you Rick!” And the door slammed shut behind her.

It was 6:30 in the morning when I kicked her out, 6:45 when I took a shower and stood under the hot water, and 7:15 when the doorbell rung. I had been struck out of my trance just for a mere moment to shake the water from my face and run my fingers through my soaked hair. I turned off my private sprinkler system and pulled a towel around my lower body and stared down at my feet, in that instant I recalled a moment in my childhood when I was eavesdropping on a conversation my sister was having with a couple of her girlfriends on a Friday night–

“Have you seen his shoes!?”

“He’s a size 12!”

“But he’s only 17!”

“You know what that means!” They all said simultaneously and began to giggle uncontrollably.

I snickered as I thought to myself and shook my head, yeah, I’m a size 12 and I’m only 23. I walked casually to the door and peeked through the peephole… it was someone short, someone with black hair, and probably someone I didn’t want to look in the eye right about now. And then I opened the door but it wasn’t who I thought it would be, rather it was someone else. So there she was just the way I had left her: eyes as puffy as they had been several weeks prior, hair silky and shiny but with strands gone astray, and thumbs that fiddled nervously with each other. We just couldn’t seem to retract our fangs from one another and most seemingly, she just couldn’t seem to retract her fangs from me. Viola.

“I-I’m sorry.” She stuttered to me as her eyes began to well up again.

“Don’t be, I was being a… an asshole.” I snickered quietly as I stared down at her.

“It’s just… every time we get into some sort of fight you disappear,” She shook her head and put her forehead in her palm starting to cry again. “I j-just can’t figure you out sometimes!” And then the floodgates opened.

I took her in like a mother took in an orphaned child, held her to me and let her cry. Viola was a 17 year-old rebel that wanted a form of escape and I was the immediate source for when she wanted to “lose all control.” She was a gem of sorts something delectable but not enough to devour in one inning, something to savor for the rest of eternity. I just wasn’t ready to settle down yet, so instead I set her down and kissed her forehead. With her puppy eyes she nodded in compliance to me having to get out of the house and go to the airport and later attend a meeting on the Lower East Side. And thus I told her to stay, relax a little, and call for takeout–I left a fifty on the coffee table before I vanished. I had already prepared my attire the night before– my trousers, a white collar shirt, black tie, crocodile loafers, my glasses, my silver Rolex, my Topman pea coat, and my leather suitcase. By time I was ready Vie had fallen asleep on the couch; I kissed her on the cheek and went on my way. When I got downstairs I was greeted by Charles– the doorman, with a big grin and a sarcastic slur:

“Two in one day sir?’ His big belly jiggled as he laughed. ‘It’s quite-a surprise…”

I turned to him and stared him dead in the eyes; I approached him slowly and slid a fifty into his shirt pocket. “If I were you and wanted to keep my job I’d keep to myself and turn a blind eye to a rich man’s business.” And I walked away hoping I’d never see a large man perspire as much as he did, ever again, and I was satisfied. I hopped in my Cadillac and pulled into mid-morning traffic, lit up a cigarette and listened to Se Il Mio Amore Sta Vincino:

“If I’m what they say

How cruel is God

That gave me life

Believe me 

I’m just a poor woman

That desires his love

No

Even if no one believes me

If my love stays near me

I will gladly receive my punishment

Please, God

Listen to the prayers of this poor woman.”

She sings as she sets the entire audience aflame, almost tragic. I had only been 10 minutes into my drive when my Bluetooth rung and my Android began to glow. I stared down at the phone and stared into the eyes of the woman who looked at me with desire and I growled. In Serif font the name Jonsey glowed in and out,  I pulled a smug look on my face and clicked “Ignore” letting her ring until her heart’s content. I was driving smoothly down I-278 W when she texted me three 6 excruciatingly long pages of what the positive points to being a writer were and something along the lines about how she could easily talk to herself and ‘make valid points.’ Yep Jonsey, like you said “You can keep on talking to yourself.” She went on and on and began to assume that I didn’t want anything to do with her anymore… Maybe she was right but even if she were, I was in no mood to bother with her at this very moment. We all have to take what we take sometimes.

When I reached LaGuardia Airport I pulled up as slowly as possible to the airport pickup zone and there she was, as beautiful as ever without a bit of effort. I pulled up in front of her and rolled down my tinted window, she stared down at the car with a prude look about her face and pulled down her sunglasses.

“Care for a ride?” I asked her courteously as I grinned with my glasses between my fingertips.

She smiled and walked around to the back of my car tapping her gloved hand on the trunk, after say several minutes of getting situated in the back of my car she hopped into the passenger seat and put on her seat belt. She took off her largely brimmed floral hat and threw it to the back seat letting her hair unravel before my eyes and then she stared at me with a simple smile, she placed her hand on my shoulder and said “Let’s get the hell out of here, I’m starving.” and I put the pedal to metal and we drove off into the sunset. No, not really. She was my sister Erica, she had just returned from her honeymoon in Italy with a guy that I still considered to be her boyfriend. She is several years older than I and of course much more beautiful than I’ll ever be, she has the blue eyes that my brown eyes envy and a walk-in closet that as she would say “Is to die for.”

Yes, this had been the same sister of mine that I was eavesdropping on when she was having girly-giggle time about shoe-to-dick ratios, it’s amazing how people change, then again, do people actually change?

“So? How’s the boyfriend?” I questioned jokingly.

“Oh Honey, will you stop calling him that?” She took the glove off her left hand and wiggled her ring finger at eye level. “Come now, we’re married Honey, he’s not my boyfriend anymore, hell he’s not even my fiancé.” And then she propped her right arm on the armrest and placed her chin in her palm while pouting out the window of my Escalade. “I still don’t see what you have against him; it’s just so tediously unnatural to have an on-going tension against Byron.”

“I just don’t like the guy sis; he’s no good for you. I’ve never liked him; he’s just a shmuck that you’d be better off without. Is it the money? Tell me it’s not the money, ‘cause if it’s the m—“

“No, no, no! Honey it’s not the money. It’s…” She cut me off and rolled down the window to let in some cold air, and then silence flooded the car.

I rolled up the window and put the fan on low. “Well then?”

She stared at me with cautious eyes and sighed. “I’m attracted to him, I mean, well… I think this is going to be one of those marriages where one spouse loves the other spouse but the other spouse has hardly any feelings. I mean don’t get me wrong, the sex is great and he treats me like a princess and Honey you know how anal I can be about being treated.”

I stared at her from the side of my eye and sarcastically whispered. “Do I know?”

“Ass!” She blurted out as she slammed her hand playfully onto my shoulder.

“Ow! Ow! That’s my bad shoulder remember?” I took my left hand off the wheel to comfort myself and stared at her angrily.

“Pfft, your bad shoulder. What the one that Martha conveniently helped you break because she sneezed while you were holding her in the air mid-fuck? That shoulder? Whatever Honey, you’re a man it’ll grow back.”

I sucked my teeth and returned my focus back to driving. And then it happened again–my Bluetooth rang and my heart sank into my stomach, I felt my stomach become a crevice of emptiness as I glanced down at my phone. Jonsey was back to her same old game of lighting up my phone again, and on the third ring she hung up, hardly giving me enough time to reach for the ‘Ignore’ button. And then a message made the phone vibrate in my shifter tray. Erica stared down at the phone that seemed to be going haywire on both her and my time.

“Who is that?”

I said nothing and kept my eyes on the road.

She picked up the phone and pulled her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose. “’Jonsey’? Who is ‘Jonsey’?”

The name stung in my ears. “Put the phone down.” I told her in an assertive tone.

“’Should I stop trying then?’’ Erica recited the text out loud and stared at me with a questioning look. ‘Honey who is ‘Jonsey’ and what is all this about? You seldom ever ignore calls or texts.”

“Put the phone back where it was Erica.” I glared at her and dug my fingers into the steering wheel.

“’I’d rather know that you’re angry and will eventually explain to me why but this is obviously not going to get—‘”

“Put the fucking phone back where it was Erica!” And then she obeyed and we rode in silence the rest of the way back into the city.

It wasn’t until we were halfway off the Brooklyn Bridge when she opened her mouth again; the conversation was strangely awkward simply because I kept my mouth shut through a partial span of it. Staring solely at the road which unraveled before us, skillfully plotted with land mines of New Yorkers that had a severe case of afternoon road rage. It began with talk about Venice.

“Richard, when will you be traveling again?”

“Soon.”

“You should visit Venice Honey, it’s just the most fabulous place ever!” She smiled and put her hand on mine.

I shifted gears and moved my hand from under hers. “I’m going to Shanghai, a place of business lesser of romantics.” I stared at her–she seemed hurt but she was a strong girl after all, it couldn’t have hurt her little heart that much.

“You know what? Why don’t you just drop me off at the Waldorf? If you’re going to be this uptight then I might as well just say it wasn’t worth your time to pick me up in the first place.” She slid her glove back on her hand and twisted in her seat to retrieve her hat from the rear of the car.

I sucked my teeth and looked at her with a sideways glance and she sat back in her seat crossing her arms in front of her chest and ended it all with a childish pout. I snickered.

Her eyes widened and she stared at me. “What’s so funny Rick? ‘Cause I’d love to laugh right about now! You’ve been acting rude ever since your ‘Jonsey’—“

It stung incredibly. “Shh.” I shook my head and ran my left hand through my hair.

She stared at me and then set her eyes on the road finally accompanying me for the ride. She took off her hat again but this time placed it in her lap and folded her hands around it. The silence pushed on as did the traffic. It was 10:45 when our hearts were almost sent into cardiac arrest, while in the midst of taking a left on Chambers street some bimbo decided to run into the middle of the street with an inattentive mind and hands covering her eyes… Luckily it wasn’t one of mine. She came out like a flare, leaving tears in her trail and I having nearly hit her, was frozen in place. My foot was plastered on the break by time we came to a complete stop and Erica clawed into her seat belt with her eyes hidden tightly behind black mascara and gray eye shadow layered eyelids. The girl stood dazed in the street and stared us both in the eyes–like a deer in headlights she simply stood there with mascara rolling down her cheeks; the look was all too familiar. And there he was the perpetrator who had made her this way. He came running out after her merely minutes later with anger enshrouding his aura. He took hold of her shoulders and shook her furiously, screaming at her to the point where the words sounded like lightning bolts striking down trees. And then I stared down at my phone for a very long moment and imagined if this could be her and I in this exact predicament. I had inhaled deeply and shut my eyes bracing my fingers around the steering wheel, when I opened my eyes to exhale the couple had vanished behind parked cars and Erica was shaking my shoulder and asking if I was alright. I stared at her with a sincere smile and nodded. It took a while before we actually found parking, slowly but surely we entered Megu. We were greeted and checked in for our 11:30 lunch reservation and seated at a booth that was soothing enough to make us sleep even before our food had arrived.

“So Shanghai? Is this father’s doing?” She asked as she slipped a piece of asparagus into her mouth.

“No, it’s mother’s asking.” I responded as I cut off a piece of steak from my plate and deposited in my mouth.

“Hmph.” She didn’t seem surprised and then she lifted her wine glass to her lips, drinking slowly, and savoring each sip.

“I might move there.’ I chewed the rare bit in my mouth and paused for a moment. ‘Permanently.”

She sprayed her wine all over me. “What!?” With wide eyes she stared at me, I felt her delving into my soul without even trying.

“Now, now, that was very un-lady like.” I said to her as I ran my index finger across my eyebrow and then removed my napkin from my lap beginning to pat myself dry.

The waiter approached us. “Is everything alright?” He questioned in a gentle voice.

“Hai, okidukai arigatou gozaimasu.” She positioned her hands and bowed her head to the waiter who bowed his head in reply and walked away.

“Impressive.” I smirked as I looked at Erica and then returned to my food.

“Not bad for someone who has just returned from Italy huh?’ She smiled and then her eyes darted for something near me. ‘Passare il pepe por favore.”

“Show off.”

She smiled and then had a sudden strangeness to her eyes. “Can you tell me?’

I looked up at her and felt the cogs in my head revolve as if they had been out of service for a while. My fork danced around my plate as if it had a mind of its own with my hand as its partner. ‘I love her…”

Her eyes worried. “But…? There must be a ‘but’ in your sentence.”

I shook my head.

She started again. “Then is that all? You love her? Yet… You’re ignoring her?” Her eyebrows curved in an unnatural way.

“We’ve never met.” My fork lost its partner as my hand slipped away into my lap. The clank of silverware against Formica quieted the room.