Page 12 of Stroked Long
“Have a good night.” She brushes by me, and I catch a hint of lavender.
“Night,” I respond, shutting the door quickly and locking up when she’s out of my condo.
I check the locks three times, review my alarm panel and then go back around through the house, making sure everything is in order. I throw the leftover cookie in the trash. I clean the table with surface cleaner, making sure to scrub hard. Then, I take the vacuum and run it through the house again, spending extra attention near the dining room where cookie crumbs could have fallen.
I place the dishes in the dishwasher, clean the counters, check my food in the fridge—just to make sure it’s prepared for tomorrow—and then head to the shower where I wash my hair three times, shave, and lather up, cleaning every crevice of my body with precision.
After I’m dried off, I walk naked to my bed. I like how the cool fabric differs from the heat still coming off my body after my shower. As I sink into my mattress, I think about my night and how impossibly uncomfortable I was most of the time. Ruby thought my house wasclean. I liked that. But, she wasn’t dismissive.Weird.What would she think of my bedroom? My empty room bar the bed, dresser and nightstand. It’s . . . clean.Of course.
There is no doubt in my mind from my conversation with Eva, that she set the entire thing up.“Come on, Bodi. She’s pretty, she’s funny, and has a beautiful personality.”She hopes Ruby and I click, that maybe something will spark between us. She’s right. Ruby is pretty,veryfunny, and probably has a beautiful personality. Poor Eva, she’ll never give up until she thinks I’m settled. What she doesn’t realize is that my life right now is as good as it’s going to get. I’m able to function normally for the most part under the watchful eye of the media. I’m able to go out without having a mental breakdown like I used to, and my home is just the way I like it: quiet, peaceful, and secure.
I don’t need anything else in my life.It’s all I deserve.
Chapter Three
RUBY
“Hey, sweetie. How are you?” Eva pulls me into a big hug then sits across from me at a little table in the popular coffee house Eva wanted to meet at. “You look fantastic.”
“So do you,” I reply, taking in her skin-tight black jeans and white shirt that is tucked in the front like a cool kid. Eva has always been the epitome of casual style. She might have a loose-fitting boyfriend tee on, but her killer black heels and dangling silver jewelry make up for it, not to mention her long brown hair that reaches past her middle back. I’m not into the ladies but hell, Lauren, her girlfriend, has one hell of a catch. “I swear you get skinnier every time I see you.”
Eva passes off my comment with a wave of her hand. “Same old girl you know.” She leans over and puts her hand over her mouth as she whispers to me, “But I might have stepped up my Pilates routine. Got to stay limber.” She winks at me and then picks up the drink menu. “What are you getting?”
“Green tea. I was thinking about getting one of those Rice Krispy treats but now I’m second-guessing my decision.” I sit up and suck in my gut elaborately.
Eva peers over her menu and raises an eyebrow at me. “Are you kidding me now? You have the body of a goddess, all curvy and beautiful. If I could obtain your kind of curves, I’d be a happy woman. Instead, I was blessed with a twelve-year-old boy’s body: flat everywhere. Did you know that Lauren actually makes fun of me for the lack of ass in the back of my jeans?”
I’m by no means overweight. I’m healthy and thankful for my flat stomach, but Eva is right. I do have curves—big ones—hence the reason I wear dresses.
“If you want, you can have some of my ass. It’s impossible to find jeans that fit around my rear end that can still cinch around my waist without falling off.”
“Do you tailor your own clothes?”
“I don’t have much of a choice. I usually get dresses because it’s easier, but when I do buy jeans, I’m left with having to tailor each and every pair, which is such a huge pain.”
She shrugs and lifts the menu back up to look at it. “Hey, at least you can fill your blouse. If I wore a bra, no one would be able to tell the difference. I only wear one so you can’t see my nipples through my white shirts.”
“Nipples are fun,” I tease.
Laughing, Eva sits back and nods. “They really are. Lauren has the best nipples, all small and pointy all the time.”
“You know I love you, Eva, but I don’t want to talk about your girlfriend’s nipples.”
“You don’t? That’s odd. I thought you’d like to discuss how when she’s lying down they fall to the side, so far that I think they are trying to crawl up her arm pits.”
I laugh out loud and shake my head. “Nope, not on my list of things to talk about. Maybe next time.”
“For next time.” She points at me.
“What can I get you two ladies?” the waitress asks.
Eva orders for the both of us. “The minx across from me will have a venti green tea and one of those Rice Krispy treats, and I’ll take a venti of your dark roast with one of those cake pop things, red velvet.”
“They come in threes.”
“Perfect, I will take all three in red velvet.” When the waitress leaves, Eva turns her attention on me, places her chin in her hand, and leans against her side of the table. “Tell me, how did your meeting with Bodi go?”
“Good,” I answer, thinking back to three nights ago. It was an odd night for me. He’s VERY particular about things, like the distance of his pen from his notepad, or the way his glass of water had to stay perpendicular to the cookie he had one nibble on. Could that stem from his childhood? Maybe it’s just him. Or the fact that his house was completely devoid of anything warm or welcoming. There wasn’t one knickknack out, no curtains, not even a throw pillow in sight. Just a basket of throws organized by color. Every square inch of his home was white, with square furniture, cool surfaces, and not one single touch of a human being. It was a complete contrast to my tiny studio apartment, which is full of life.
