It was Monday evening and Christel was just getting home from work. It was a typical Monday when everything and anything could and would go wrong. Christel hated Mondays; they never seemed to work out the way she would have liked.
This Monday, everything that could go wrong did. She ran out of tea bags and had to resort to drinking coffee which she detest. Ms. Batch, her boss, dropped a stack of papers almost as tall as herself on her desk for her to proofread by Wednesday. The copy machine broke down causing her to miss lunch. She had to bring most of her work home if she was going to have any hope of finishing it by Wednesday. At least it's all over, she thought.
She retrieved her mail at the door and tossed it on the coffee table then went to her answering machine to check her messages. She had three messages. One from her mother, one from Ohniece and one from Kevin.
"Hey Christel sweetie! This is your Mommy I thought I should call and tell you that I am going on that cruise this summer and Victor wants to come down there and spend the week that I'm away with you. I hope that's ok with you. Call me back when you get this," she said. I should probably call her back soon, Christel thought. Next was Ohniece's message.
"Hey Chris, I'm just calling to remind you of our lunch on Sunday at 12:30 be there and be on time. Bye!" Christel rolled her eyes. So what if I'm late sometimes, she thought, I'm usually earlier than her. The next message was from Kevin. She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face when she heard his voice but, when she heard what he said her smile faded.
"Hi honey, I know I was supposed come over there and we were going to have dinner together but I can't tonight. I'm sorry sweetheart, I have some recording to do which will more than likely run late so I won't be able to come. I'll call you later tonight. Talk to you later." She knew there was a reason she hated Mondays; nothing ever went right.
She went up to her room to changed into something comfortable before returning her mother's phone call. She opened one drawer and pulled out her favorite pair of baggy sweat pants and a tank top. She went over to her mirror, pulled the pins out of her hair and ran her fingers through it as she searched for her ponytail holder. After locating the wayward ponytail holder she grabbed her brush and brushed her hair into a ponytail, securing it with the holder. She changed out of her work clothes and pulled on her sweat pants and tank top. Before leaving her room she grabbed her red hooded sweatshirt from the closet and pulled it on. She bounced downstairs in her comfortable attire and plopped on the sofa to call her mom.
"Sure, Victor can come down here and stay with me. What week are you going to be gone?" she asked.
"I'll be gone July 8th till the 14th. I leave on the eighth and I should be back on the fourteenth unless I meet a nice beach stud to keep me from making the boat," replied her mother.
"Mommy!! You're married," Christel said aghast.
"I'm separated. Why do you think I'm going on this cruise?" she said.
"Ok you are separated from Daddy but you're my Mommy you're not supposed to be talking like that," she said laughing about her last comment.
"Yeah whatever Christel. Can your little brother come down there or what?"
"Yes he can come down here. Wow that's just after his birthday. I'm sure I can find some fun things for him to do down here."
"Oh that's good. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that. So how are you doing?"
"I'm good!"
"That's all? You don't have anything else to tell me? The last time I talked to you, you were all broken up about breaking up with AJ. How are you doing?"
"Oh I'm good Mommy. I'm with someone else now," she said trying to hide her giddiness.
"Christel you're not telling me something and I can hear that sound in your voice," she said.
"What sound are you talking about?" Christel asked.
"That I just won the lottery but I don't want to tell you sound. You know what I mean. You sound like you're trying to hide some kind of excitement. I gave birth to you girl, I know you. Who is this someone else?" she asked. Christel took a deep breath.
"Kevin," she said simply.
"Kevin? Kevin Richardson? AJ's friend Kevin? I thought you and him were just friends," said her mother.
"We were. . . I mean we are but we're more than that now," she said sounding dreamy.
"Christel? You sound like you're floating on a cloud somewhere. Tell me what's going on." She told her mother everything. She told her about how Kevin told her he had feelings for her. . . to a certain extent. She told her about Sweden. She told her about everything that happened between her and Chinita. She told her about how she dragged AJ over to Chinita's place to tell her he had feelings for her. Her mother said,
"Well sounds like you've been busy."
"Yeah I guess you could say that. It's been an eventful couple of months. In a couple more months Chinita opens her new store on the beach."
"Really? That's nice. Well I have to go dear."
"Can I speak to the boy first?"
"He's not here. He's at band practice."
"Oh right, everyday after school right?"
"Yep, so I'll talk to you later, Chris. I hope you're taking care of yourself. Tell everyone I said �Hello'. And tell Kevin I want to speak to him. If he's with my little girl now, I have something to say to him."
"Yeah ok Mommy, I'll be sure to deliver your messages and I'll talk to you later. Bye."
"Bye baby." They hung up. Christel bounced off the sofa and went to the kitchen. She went to her calendar hanging on the wall next to the phone jack, flipped to July and marked the days off. Hhhmmm I wonder if Aaron will be around in July. Maybe he and Victor can hang out. It'll be good for him to have someone his own age around, she thought. Christel decided to cross that bridge once she got to it and started fixing herself some dinner when the phone rang.
"Hello?" she said.
"Hi Christel this is Chinita. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. Why are you in such a chipper mood?"
"Oh no reason," she replied.
"Oh ok so I have to drag it out of you? Things with you and AJ went well I suppose," Christel said.
"Oh things went great! Me and Alex are kinda together, we decided to take things slow. I don't want to rush into anything. I hope it's not a problem with you. . . you know this whole thing might be kinda weird for you." she said.
"Chinita, I am fine with you and him together. I was the one that dragged him over there remember? When did it become �Alex'?" she retorted.
"Oh I don't know it just feels right. What are you up to now?"
"Making dinner. I'm making spaghetti. I was supposed to be making dinner for two but my other half can't make it. He's busy recording. So I'm here all by my lonesome. What are you doing?"
"I'm still at the store. I'm hardly ever home. I was thinking about setting up a cot here in my office. Anyway, I got tired of reading all these papers piling up on my desk so I decided to call you."
"Oh I feel honored. Are you hungry?"
"Why?" Chinita asked.
"Well I have enough spaghetti stuff here for two. I was only going to make just enough for me but I guess I could feed you too," Christel explained.
"Well as tempting as that sounds I'm supposed to meet Alex after I leave here," she replied.
"Oh ok. . . well I guess more for me," she said.
"Well if I want to actually get to go to dinner with Alex I better get back to work here."
"Yeah and I should go too before I burn the house down." They both laughed.
"Well I'll see you. . . oh when we go to lunch with Ohniece."
"Yeah I'll be there and on time," she replied.
"Ohniece called you too I see," Chinita laughed.
"Yeah she did. Like she can talk, she's almost never on time. OH! Let me go my water is about to boil out of the pot. I'll see you later."
"Ok bye." They hung up. Christel ran to the stove and turned the fire down. She took the spaghetti out of the box and dropped it into the pot. As she cooked she started to think about all that's happened and all that came before her and AJ's breakup. Maybe it wasn't meant to last. She never did feel as close to AJ as she did to Kevin. She always cared for AJ and probably always would but the love she felt for Kevin was far greater. She wasn't sure when she realized her feelings for Kevin were more than friendly feelings. She knew it was before they slept together that night whether she wanted to admit it to herself or not.
As all that went through her head she had finished cooking her spaghetti dinner including some garlic bread. She started to set her place at the table. Before sitting down to eat she put some cat food and fresh water in her cat's dish. Christel sat down at her place to eat. Some how the sudden closeness between AJ and Chinita sparked something in Christel. She began to really think about her relationship with him. She couldn't understand what went wrong.
In the beginning they were great together. . . when he was around. After all the Backstreet Boys were just getting they're footing in the US so there were many times where they're relationship was based on a few visits and phone calls. Then as the year went on everything turned ugly. Phone calls and visits became few and far between and whenever Christel did decide to "visit AJ" it was mostly to see the rest of the guys. . . namely Kevin. The fights between them grew in intensity and stupidity. They seemed to fight over anything and everything, the littlest things would set one or both of them off. During that time it was Kevin that she turned to the most. She would vent all her problems on him. He even let her hit him a few times when she decided that all men were created evil.
Then there was the infidelity. She never knew exactly how much he cheated on her but there were two incidents that she definitely knew about. There were two women she knew of absolutely and probably countless others that she didn't. The two she did know about, Carmen and Vala, were enough for her, thank you very much. She always had her suspicions about his faithfulness but she never questioned him outright. She was sure that if she knew about the other women AJ would be a dead man and the Backstreet Boys would be a quartet.
The first incident involved some girl named Carmen. Carmen left a provocative message on his answering machine, one that Christel happened to hear. She confronted the girl on it and she went away, thankfully. The other incident was consequently the one that broke the camel's back, so to speak. When she saw AJ in the club with his tongue rammed down some girl's (Vala) throat it sent her into the waiting arms of Kevin, not that she was complaining.
Christel, why are you doing this to yourself? You analyze things too much. The moment you have a bad day you begin to think about everything else that's gone wrong in your life, she told herself.
She looked down at her plate and realized she hadn't taken a single bite. Trying to push her thoughts away she grabbed her fork and started eating. She got up and put some music on to have something to concentrate on.
She had finished eating and was in the middle of doing the dishes when her phone rang.
"Hello?" she answered drying her hands on a dish towel.
"Hey sweetie, how are you?" asked Kevin.
"Hi Kevin, I'm fine but I could be better," she said.
"How?"
"Well you could be here with me instead of wherever you are. In fact, where are you? I thought you were recording."
"I am recording but, right now AJ is in the booth doing his thing. I'm really sorry about our dinner. Things are running longer than expected."
"It's ok. I really wasn't up for cooking a big meal anyway."
"I would have helped you cook," he told her.
"In any case I was looking forward to your company more than the actual dinner," she replied.
"I know and if I could have been there I would have," he said
"I know so don't worry about it. I'm glad you called though," she retorted.
"So how was your day?" he said.
"Aaaahh I don't want to talk about it," she said. "I hate Mondays."
"What happened?" he asked.
"The usual stupid office stuff. It just wasn't my day," she answered.
"I wanna know what happened."
"It's nothing important. I ran out of tea bags this morning and had to drink coffee. Mrs.-"
"I thought you didn't like coffee," he said interrupting her.
"I don't but it was either coffee or fall asleep at my desk," she explained. "Like I was saying. . . Mrs. Batch gave me this huge stack of papers to proofread by Wednesday. The copy machine broke, I missed lunch and I had to bring most of my work home."
"I'm sorry you had a bad day sweetheart, I'll make it up to you," he promised. She smiled at that.
"How are you going to do that?" she asked.
"You'll just have to wait and see. I have some tricks up my sleeve," he replied.
"Will I get to see any of these tricks tonight?"
"You might." Christel smiled to herself. She knew he was up to something but she couldn't figure out what.
"Well I'm about to lounge on the sofa and watch some TV after I finish these dishes," she told him. "Then I'm going to start on some of that work I bought home and after I get some of that done I'm off to bed."
"Alright. Look I gotta go. They need me, so I'll call you back when I get done here ok?"
"Ok Kevvy I'll talk to you later."
"Bye baby." They hung up. She missed him more than she did before he called. She went back to washing the dishes which allowed her mind to wander. She thought about the differences in AJ and Kevin and what attracted her to either of them. Aside from them both being aesthetically pleasing their similarities were few.
She had finished the dishes and flopped down on the couch with remote in hand. She flipped through the stations absently and eventually settled on an old Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell movie. She knew she should be proofreading the papers her boss gave her but she figured after the day she had she deserved to just chill out on the sofa in front of the TV for a little while.
Marilyn and Jane had just started singing When Love Goes Wrong Nothing Goes Right when Christel's phone rang again.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hey it's me again."
"Kevin? Are you getting any work done?"
"Yeah we got some work done. What are you doing right now?"
"Watching an old movie."
"What movie?"
"It's an old Marilyn Monroe movie, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," she said.
"Oh ok. You think you can tear yourself away for a minute?" he asked.
"Why?" she asked suspiciously.
"Just come to the door," he said.
"But Kevin they just started singing When Love Goes Wrong Nothing Goes Right I love that part," she whined.
"Come on humor me. Besides you can always see it again. Don't you have that movie on tape?"
"Alright. I'm getting up off the sofa. And for the record I don't have it on tape my mom does," she said going to her front door.
"Ok are you at the door?" he asked.
"Yeah I'm there."
"Open it."
"Ok." Christel swung the door open and stepped outside. She looked around and saw him leaning on the hood of his car. Still carrying the phone to her ear she walked over to him.
"What are you doing here?" she asked incredulously. He handed her a grocery bag.
"Well I just got out of the studio with the guys. I kinda felt bad about missing dinner with you so I stopped by a store, bought you some tea bags and decided to swing by and visit you."
"Aaaawww you bought me some tea bags," she said taking the bag from him. "Let's go inside." She grabbed him by the hand and they went inside.
"I got you regular tea and green tea since I knew you like both," he said as they entered the house.
"You're such a sweetheart," she replied when she closed the door behind them. He pulled her to him.
"You sounded so upset on the phone that I wanted to see how you were doing," he told her dropping a kiss on her forehead.
"Well I'm fine. It was just a long day," she said pulling out of his embrace to put the tea bags away.
"Are you sure you're ok? You seem a little distant." he said taking a seat on the sofa. Christel came out of the kitchen and sat down next to him.
"I'm fine," she said simply.
"Christel, I know when you're fine and you're not fine. Come on tell me what's on your mind."
"I was just thinking."
"Uh oh. . . that's never good," he joked.
"Stop it," she said seriously.
"Ok what were you thinking about?" he asked.
"Well Chinita called and she was telling me how she and AJ are together and stuff. She told me that they were going to take it slow. I just started to think about my relationship with AJ and how it turned out. It was a little depressing," she said.
"Are you ok with Chinita and AJ getting together?" he asked.
"Yeah I am. . . I think. I mean it's going to take some getting used to but, I know I can handle it. It wasn't just the fact that they're together that was bothering me; it was the fact that they're together and seem to be making it work. I guess it's like that because they just started out. . . I mean me and AJ were pretty much the same way. It wasn't till later that everything went wrong. I was just thinking and trying to figure out what happened," she explained. Kevin reached out and lifted her chin so that she was looking him in the eye.
"Christel, you know what happened with you and AJ wasn't your fault right?" he asked.
"Yeah I know but, that's not it exactly. I don't want what happened between me and AJ to happen with us," she retorted.
"It won't, sweetheart. First, I would never cheat on you, no matter, how angry I got with you. Just because he cheated on you doesn't mean that I will. Second, you and AJ just weren't meant to be together that's all," he said taking her hand.
"I know but I feel like somehow I pushed him away," she replied looking back at the TV.
"Sweetie, look at me," he said. She looked up and locked eyes with him. "You can't push me away, I won't let you. I know that you just broke up with AJ and all and that you may still be hurting from that. . . I understand that. I just want you to know that I'm not going to push you but, I'm not going nowhere."
Christel cracked a small smile.
"Anywhere," she muttered.
"What was that?"
"You're not going anywhere. The way you said it was a double negative," she replied. Kevin rolled his eyes.
"Now I see how Nick feels when I correct him. It did get a little smile out of you, though," he said. "Come here." Christel closed the space between them on the sofa as she moved closer to him. She climbed into his lap. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her lips.
"You know I love you, right?" he asked.
"Yes and I love you too," she replied.
"I'm sorry you had a bad day. I said I'd make it up to you," he said nuzzling her neck and ear.
"Yeah you did but you never said what you would do to make it up to me. Unless you coming over here to bring me some tea was it," she replied.
"That was just part of it. I had some other things in mind too," he said as he a placed a few kisses on her neck and earlobe.
"Somehow I thought you would. You do realize I have to work tomorrow. If you're planning an all night session, the way I think you are, sadly I'll have to decline. As much as I want to I won't be able to spend the day in bed with you," she said.
"I'll make you breakfast in the morning to start your day off right," he said as he pulled her sweatshirt off and dropped it on the floor. He laid a kiss on each shoulder as he ran his hands up and down her arms.
"Will you make your scrumptious omelet for me?" she asked.
"If that's what you want for breakfast then I'll make it," he replied. Christel thought for a moment. She did want Kevin to stay with her. She really didn't feel like being alone but she had work she needed to do.
"Do you want me to spend the night?" he asked.
"I do but I have a lot of work to do and I want to get some, if not most, of it done tonight. If I don't get some of it done tonight then I'll be up all night tomorrow trying to finish it by Wednesday morning. So if you stay we won't be able to have much fun because I'll be working," she explained.
"I can just stay here and watch TV while you work. I'll be moral support. I don't want to leave you alone." Christel's eyes softened as she looked over her shoulder at him. He could be such a sweetheart. She almost felt like she didn't deserve him. . . . almost. She looked back at the TV just as Marilyn started singing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" which caught her attention. Kevin pinched her arm to get her attention again.
Christel tore her gaze from the TV and looked at Kevin.
"When are you going to start working?" he asked.
"I'm sorry that's my favorite part of this movie. You can stay, I don't want to be alone. I'll get to work after the movie is over and that's in a few minutes."
"Ok."
They settled comfortably on the sofa to watch the rest of the movie. When the movie was over Christel relinquished the remote to Kevin, grabbed her stuff from the coffee table and took a seat at the diningroom table. She dove into her work and he was actually a little help. He helped her find her dictionary/thesaurus and he caught a grammatical error she missed, it was small but greatly appreciated. She finally finished as much as she could without falling asleep in her seat. She went over to where Kevin was dozing on the couch and whispered,
"Kevin," he opened an eye and looked up at her. "I finished my work and I'm ready to go to bed." He stood up and stretched. She took the remote and turned the TV off. Together they headed for her room. When they reached her door Kevin encircled her in his arms and kissed her earlobe before gently sucking on it. She turned around in his arms and pulled him down to meet her in a loving kiss.
"I'm glad you stayed," she said between kisses. He reached behind her and opened the door to her room.
"I'm glad I came here in the first place," he replied. Kevin kissed her deeply as he walked her backwards to the bed. They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't notice the cat dozing on the floor beside the bed. They didn't notice her until Christel stepped on her tail. The cat shot under the bed with a loud screech and Christel and Kevin broke apart immediately.
"Oh!" Christel exclaimed. "Oh no, sweetie, I'm so sorry." She got down on the floor reaching under the bed. She pulled the frightened cat out from under the bed and cradled her in her arms.
"It's ok. I didn't mean it," she crooned stroking the cat's head.
"She looks ok, just a little frightened," Kevin said. She sat down on the bed still clutching the frightened cat.
"I'm sure she is frightened. How would you like to be sleeping when someone steps on you?"
"Well I didn't step on her, Christel. I think the cat will be fine," he said reaching out to stroke her head.
"I have to make sure she's ok," she said.
Kevin sat beside her on the bed. Christel continued to look the cat over to make sure no damage was done. She ran her hand over the cat's limbs, stroked it's head and tail before setting her down in her lap.
"I still haven't named her yet," she said to Kevin.
"Really? Why not?" he asked.
"I couldn't think of anything to name her," she replied.
"How about Quincina? Quincy 2? Oh I got one. . . Quincy the Sequel?" he asked jokingly.
"I'm not naming her any of those," she said flatly.
"Ok. . . well can we name her later?" he said nibbling on her earlobe. "I kinda had something else in mind."
"Stop that," she giggled. "I think we should name her now. . . together. She has gone long enough without a name. I shipped her off to Ohniece and Nick's Zoo while I ran off to Sweden and now I've stepped on her tail the least I can do is give her a name."
They sat looking at the cat, who lifted her head and starred back.
"Maybe I'll name her Jezebel after Chinita," Christel said jokingly.
"That wasn't nice."
"I was only kidding. I don't know what to name her. Why did you name Quincy. . . Quincy?"
"Honestly. . . I really don't remember."
"Well you're a lot of help," she said exasperated. They sat together silently looking at the cat again.
"Sweetie, we can name the cat later and I think I know what I can do to give you the inspiration you need," he whispered provocatively against her ear. Christel didn't answer she continued to stare at the cat as if they were communicating without words.
"I think I got it. I think I know what to name her," she said finally.
"Well what is it?"
"Aurora," she said holding her up and then placing her on the floor.
"Why Aurora?"
"Well Aurora is the Roman goddess of the dawn, thus Aurora means dawn, and that's when you told me you love me. Plus, I don't know. . . she looks like an Aurora to me," Christel said looking away. Kevin couldn't help but smile down at her. He reached out to lift her chin so she would look into his eyes.
"I think that's a great name for her," he replied as he leaned in to bestow a kiss upon her lips. "I love you."
"I love you too.
"******
That Saturday; Christel, Chinita and Ohniece were to meet at the mall for lunch.
They were sitting in the food court in almost the exact same place they sat more than a year ago.
"This is nice," Ohniece said. "I'm glad that you two finally talked and got past everything that happened between you."
"Yeah I'm glad too. I was beginning to run out of things to call her," Christel said pointing to Chinita.
"I'm sure you would have thought of something �clever'," Chinita mocked.
"Oh I would have. It just would have taken me longer than I would have liked," she laughed.
"You guys I'm trying to have a moment here and you're ruining it," Ohniece said.
"Aaaawww she's trying to have a moment," Christel joked.
"Aaawww. . . group hug!" Chinita exclaimed. She and Christel hugged as Ohniece glared at them.
"This is such a Kodak moment," Christel said dramatically wiping a fake tear from her eye.
"I know! Christel. . . I love you girl!" Chinita exclaimed holding her hand to her heart.
"Oh I love you too girl!" Christel said. Ohniece continued to glare at both of them. "Are you two done?" Ohniece asked mildly annoyed.
"What's wrong Niecey we were having a moment," Christel replied. Ohniece rolled her eyes.
She went back to eating her favorite treat of french fries covered in chilli, cheese and ketchup. Christel stuck her finger in her mouth pretending to retch. Ohniece glared at her playfully.
"You don't have to eat it, so stop complaining," she said.
"Oh believe me I'm glad I don't have to eat it, I have my own," Christel replied popping a ketchup covered fry in her mouth.
"Do either of you realize that you go through this little production every time we come here and eat?" Chinita asked.
"Uh oh we're getting chastised by the home-wrecker," Christel said rolling her eyes.
"If I'm a home-wrecker you're easy. . . all libras are notorious freaks and flirts," she said taking a sip of her Pepsi.
"I am not a freak or a flirt. I'm just friendly," she said.
"Real damn friendly," Chinita muttered.
"Ha ha ha very funny," Christel said. They sat silently eating and watching what was going on around them for a moment.
"Christel. . . I have a question. I wanted to ask before but. . . well things were kinda weird between everyone and I didn't see it as being the right time. I wasn't sure if you'd be willing to answer me either so I-" Ohniece stumbled.
"Ohniece stop dancing around it and get to the point please," Christel said.
"Uuuhhh. . . I really want to know. . . you know how is Kevin?"
"What do you mean �how is Kevin?'? He's fine."
"No, I mean how is Kevin?" Christel and Chinita looked at her like she was speaking Greek. Suddenly Chinita started to laugh.
"What?" Christel asked.
"I think she wants to know what Kevin is like in bed. You know how is Kevin," Chinita replied. Ohniece nodded as Christel started to laugh too.
"I'm not one to kiss and tell," she replied.
"Oh come on Christel I told you about Nick. Why can't you tell us about Kevin," she said.
"Ohniece, the difference between you and me is you can't keep anything a secret," Christel countered.
"Yeah yeah whatever. Point is, I still told you," she said.
"Uuhh I kinda want to know too," Chinita almost whispered.
"What for? Future reference?" Christel asked jokingly.
"He must not be all that good that's why she won't tell us," Chinita said hoping Christel would take the bait.
"Yeah good point. She loves him too much to embarrass him to her best friends," Ohniece replied.
"It's ok Christel we won't bring it up again," Chinita assured her.
"Yes you will, the only reason you're saying that is because you hope to bait me into defending Kevin's honor or something. I'm not that easily baited you guys," Christel informed them.
"Ok you caught us. Why don't you just tell us?" Ohniece said. Christel let out a defeated sigh.
"Neither of you are going to let it go till I tell you, right?" she asked. Chinita and Ohniece looked at each other, looked at Christel and nodded.
"Ok well this is all I'm going to say. . . he makes my toes curl every time," she said. Ohniece's mouth dropped open. Chinita just stared. While Christel seemed to drift off to another place as a satisfied smile crept across her face. Ohniece found her voice first.
"Seriously? So that's what took you so long to get here today. Kevin was at your place last night wasn't her?" she asked.
"I plead the fifth. Let me tell ya when we got back from Sweden we basically �christened' every room in his house then we did the same for mine."
"I don't think I'll ever be able to sit on your furniture and look at it the same," Ohniece said.
"Freak," Chinita muttered.
"Let's just say that all the neighbors know when Kevin is at my place," she laughed warming up to the subject. Ohniece laughed with her.
"See what I mean? Freak!" Chinita said. They all erupted into laughter. Ohniece sobered first and turned her attention to Chinita.
"So," she started. "fucked AJ yet?" Chinita narrowed her eyes at her while Christel burst into laughter.
"Even if I had I wouldn't tell you two," she replied.
"Yeah right. As soon as AJ lays it on her right she'll be calling us up on three-way," Christel whispered to Ohniece still laughing.
"I heard that," Chinita scolded.
"Chinita you gotta admit. . . I'm right. Remember when you were dating that guy. . . uuumm what was his name?"
"Craig! His name was Craig," Ohniece said.
"Oh yeah! I remember you had slept with him for the first time and called me the next morning when he was still there in your bathroom," Christel said.
"Oh god," Chinita said covering her eyes. "I hoped you wouldn't remember that."
"Oh I remembered. �Christel ohmygosh he was wonderful! I think he may be the one! Last night was. . . Wow!! I have to go he's in the bathroom.' Who's the freak now?" she said mimicking Chinita.
"Ok ok I get it. Well in any case I haven't slept with AJ, yet. Unlike some people at this table we're taking it slow," she retorted. Christel stuck her tongue out at Chinita.
"Don't be jealous because Kevin and I have an active sex life," Christel said.
"Active is an understatement, according to you," Ohniece said.
"No it's not. I said Kevin was good I didn't say we were ready to join the sex Olympics or anything."
"I'm not jealous. It's my idea to go slow. AJ said he would honor my decision and follow my lead. So everything is up to me," Chinita said.
"Ooohhh," Christel and Ohniece said together.
"What was that? What did you mean by that?" she asked looking from one to the other.
"Nothing," Christel said. "Just that we understand now."
"Understand what? What do you understand?"
"Your relationship with AJ. I mean I did drag him over there but he didn't tell me what happened and you didn't go into any details when you called me earlier this week. Of course I'm curious," Christel replied.
"I told him I wanted to go slow and he was fine with it. So we're taking things slowly until I feel I'm ready and he's ready to move to the next level," she told them.
"And when that happens she'll be calling us," Ohniece replied jokingly. They all laughed.
"Whoa! Look at the time. I'd love to hang around here with ya'll forever but I got to go," Chinita said looking at her watch.
"Where you gotta run off to?" Ohniece asked.
"To the new store, they're putting the sign up today and I want to be there," she replied.
"I have to go too," Christel said. "I gotta stop by my office to pick up some things and then Kevin promised to help me with some yard work."
"Oh no, don't you and Kevin go giving the neighborhood a visual of what they're hearing," Chinita said.
"Whatever I wouldn't do that," Christel said.
"I wouldn't put it past you," Chinita muttered.
"I heard that," Christel replied.
They all got up and took their trash to the trash can. They walked together through the mall to the exit.
"Ya'll are going to help me with the opening right?" Chinita asked them when they got to the parking lot.
"Yeah we'll be there," Christel said.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Ohniece retorted.
"Good," she said. "Well I'll see you guys later."
"Bye," Christel replied and hugged her.
"Yeah see ya around," Ohniece said as they hugged. They all went their separate ways.