She walked through the door and he smiled. He always gave her a hug no matter who was around every time he saw her.
�Hey boy.�
Before his sister�s love of calling him boy was just done to try and aggravate him but now that he was pushing up on thirty-one, he didn�t mind one bit.
�Sharlee.� He resigned. He still tried to act as if he didn�t like it.
They flopped down on the couch and she smiled at him, giving him the once over, �You look nice. What's the occasion?�
�Dinner.�
�Who with?�
�Vanessa.� She was good enough to not put some sour look on her face but he knew better. If she ever learned to play she would be good at poker; she could bluff with the best of them.
�What?� He asked her.
�Nothing really. I just thought you were going to wean her off.�
�Its not that easy.�
She frowned, �Why isn�t it that easy? What is it? Do you really like her? Is that it?�
�You don�t like her?�
She shrugged her shoulders, �Its not that I don�t like her. Its just that I don�t know her that well and�� She shrugged, �I just don�t know her.�
�And what?� he sighed. �Say what you got to say.�
�You�re a smart guy. You don�t need me trying to run your love life. You�ve never been duped before. And I�m sure you won�t now.�
�You think she�s trying to dupe me?�
�No. I really don�t. I think she genuinely cares about you. Well, she talks too much and she�s always trying too hard. Like if I like her then she�s in.�
�You and mom are like the radar. Chances are I'm not going to end up with someone my family doesn�t like.�
�Yeah maybe so, but just because I like her doesn�t mean you�ll love her and it will work out.�
**
He and Vanessa were sitting in the airport waiting for his plane to leave. They were sitting off to the side in a booth and she held his hand. Her body was snuggled up close to his. She didn�t give him any space when he shuffled to answer his phone,
�Hello?�
�Hey, where are you?�
�At the airport waiting to get on the plane.�
He would have smiled and been more relaxed but he couldn�t with Vanessa right there acting as if she wasn�t listening to his conversation. It was bad enough that he was talking to her, he didn�t need to make it worse by smiling and carrying on.
�So you know you lost and my team won?�
He grunted just a bit, �No, I didn�t know that. Must have been some lousy call by the ump.�
She laughed, �No, you got your asses handed to you; 8-2�
�That still doesn�t make up for �99 though.�
�Ouch, was that necessary?�
�No, no it wasn�t but it was fun.�
�Ass.�
He would have said something about that comment but he didn�t want to be rude to Vanessa. If he got started with Maleeyah who knew when they would have stopped giving each other a hard time.
�Hey, I have to go. I�ll talk to you later. Lucky game.�
�Please. It�s just a sign of what's to come. The Braves are on their way back to the top and the Yankees are doomed.�
�Keep thinking that�you and the rest of the world. It�ll never happen as long as I�m in uniform.�
He hung up and turned to Vanessa, �Sorry about that.�
She ran her fingers over his hand, looking down at the trail she made, �Who was that?�
�Maleeyah.�
�Hmm, how is the Nubian beauty?�
�She�s fine.� He knew Vanessa was no longer fond of Maleeyah, if she ever was to begin with. She asked him about the Post article regarding their dinner and when he told her who it was he could tell she wasn�t happy. He assured her nothing happened and it was just dinner. She even brought up the fact that the first few times they went out it was in a group. That was true but he reminded her they lived in New York; things were a lot different in New York than in Tampa, Florida.
�I thought she was Ben�s friend?�
�She is Ben�s friend.�
�But Ben wasn�t around when you guys were out at dinner and she�s calling you on your cell phone.� She looked around the room, �And Ben isn�t here. So why is she calling you?�
�Because she and I are friends.�
She stared at him with disbelief, �Friends. I remember when we first started dating you told everyone we were just friends.�
He sighed, �There is a difference between this and me telling the whole world you and I were just friends. I told the media we were friends because it wasn�t anyone�s business and we had just started out.�
And truth be told, they weren�t even friends. Even though they went out with a group of people, they slept together after the second group �date�.
�Have you slept with her?�
�Vanessa-�
She whispered heatedly, �Derek, I do have a right to know. We are sleeping together.�
�No, no I haven�t.� The only reason he answered the question was because honestly he felt she had the right to know�and because the answer was no.
�Why haven�t you?�
He looked at her, �Why haven�t I what?�
�Slept with her.�
�Do you want me to?�
�Don�t do that. You know I don�t want you to.�
He ran his hand over his face and rolled his eyes. He hid his frustration from Vanessa and anyone else who may be watching and reporting back to some tabloid.
�I haven�t because she and I are friends. It�s not an issue. It�s never crossed my mind.�
�That seems hard to believe. If you like the type, I guess she�s attractive.�
It hit him when she said that. She was attractive, no actually, as he thought back to her in those bikinis in Jamaica, she was more than attractive. She had a nice body, more than nice and she liked baseball; even if it were the Braves. One character flaw wasn�t too bad.
�Like I said�not an issue.� Thankfully, it was time to board his plane. They parted, giving her a kiss in the middle of a busy airport just wasn�t going to happen.
048 | No Ordinary Girl