The crisp wind caught me off guard as I rolled down the window to flick the butt of my cigarette into the night. It the temperature had dropped ten degrees since we left the club.
I turned up the heat to shake off the late February air. The roads were dry but that only made me wish for spring to come earlier. I had almost forgotten the cold until now.
I crawled on to the on ramp and made sure the borrowed laser radar detector was on before I jammed the Saab into third gear. It responded with a small lurch then exploded as the turbo kicked in.
Connie slowly rubbed the back of my head with her left hand. When she reached the nape of my neck I leaned my head back to caress her fingers. She moved her hand to cover mine as I shifted from fourth and then fifth gear. She slowly pulled my hand to her lips and kissed it.
"I think my boyfriend hates you," she said comfortably pulling back her thick black hair. "He thinks I spend too much time at work, too much time at school, and too much time with you." She pulled her left leg on to the seat of the car.
"Why would he hate me?" I asked feeling the slick smile cut across my face. "This isn't still from that one yoga class?" I felt myself cringe thinking about the body carpet.
"Could it be the monthly trips to Great Barrington? The massages?"
"Welllll," she said drawing out the word, "if he knew about any of that or what happened after yoga class then I'm sure he'd hate you."
I caught her smiling out of the corner of my eye.
"Goddamn Jagermeister, gets me every time." I said snapping my fingers in the air. "So what does he know about me?"
"Nothing really," she said looking out the window. "I may have mentioned your name once or twice in passing but nothing specific."
I knew it was a lie the moment she said it. I could hear the machine slowly starting to purr in my head. She was still very comfortable, almost too comfortable. So was I. Some moments of comfort you don't want to lose.
"Tell him you think I'm gay!" I said feeling the slick smile cut across my face again.
"What?!?" She said almost going through the sun roof.
"Tell...him...you...think...I'm...gay! Say I love men. Tell him you think I'm quick for the dick! Every woman I know has a gay friend they hang out with, I'll be yours. Tell him I'm in your yoga class."
"You've only gone once." She said laughing.
"Believe me once was enough! Tell him I've done lots of theater! Let him know my clothes always match! Let him know I get a manicure once a week..."
"You do?!?"
"I clip my nails but it's almost the same thing!"
"You are such an evil bastard. I can't believe I hang out with you." She said shaking her head.
"Trust me this has worked in the past. I knew a woman who always talked about me around her husband. He said if he ever met me he would beat the piss out of me. He approached me at a wedding ready to kick my ass. His wife saw what was about to happen so she introduced us and I said 'Julie you never said he was this cute.' He walked straight to the bar and hasn't said a damn thing about me since. Trust me this shit works."
"You make me laugh," she said. "I like that."
The light danced in her eyes and she kissed my hand again. I cracked the window to let the smoke from my freshly lit cigarette bleed into the darkness. This time the crisp wind felt refreshing.
That Beautiful Black Man
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