I woke up in my bed the next morning, wishing I was still lying next to Josie. I couldn’t get her off my mind, and after she walked me out and kissed me sweetly, I was pretty much done for. She had been so absolutely adorable while drunk, with her cute little quirks and the funny way that she pointed at me when she talked. She was completely different than any girl I’d ever hooked up with.
Normally, I went for the blonde bimbo with too much makeup and too much silicone. Josie was a natural beauty, with curves in all the right places, big beautiful natural breasts, and even after a drunken night and some really crazy sex, she looked hot as hell. I could still see her standing at her front door with messy hair and a sleepy face, leaning against the doorframe and smiling as I walked away. She was so different and so far out of my normal range of women, I couldn’t help but go against my normal routine and give her my number. I couldn’t bring myself to treat her like one of my normal hookups.
I sat up in the bed and ran my hands over my face, exhausted from how little sleep I’d gotten. However, after several hours of lying there, thinking about Josie, I figured I might as well get up and start my day. This girl was sweet, almost too sweet, and was the purest form of a woman I had met in a really long time, probably since my mother passed away. There was no way that I could put her in the same category as the other woman I’d been with. Josie was something special.
At the same time, I knew that I should make every effort to avoid her because I could already tell she was a threat to my normal, purposefully chaotic, lifestyle. She brought an order to things, just due to her presence. I sat there on the bed, thinking about how hot our sex had been, like we had known each other our whole lives. I read her body, and she read mine so easily. In fact, it had to have been one of the best orgasms I’d had in a really long time.
I knew there was no way that I was going to be able to move past this girl unless I just threw caution to the wind and went and saw her. I jumped out of bed and showered, knowing if I didn’t just go do it, I would lose the nerve and talk myself out of it. Besides, it could have seriously been the whiskey and the atmosphere. There was a very good chance that I would get there and realize it was a fluke, and that in the light of day, my interest dwindled quickly. Sadly, it wasn’t the fear of walking away that was bothering me. It was the fear of not being able to let go.
I got ready as fast as possible and jumped in my car, replaying the GPS from the night before. As I crossed over into West Palm, I could immediately see how different everything was. Instead of bodegas and fancy shops were convenience stores and specialty shops. The houses were smaller, the yards were minuscule, and the public transportation seemed to be moving triple the speed that it did on my side of town. When I pulled into her neighborhood, I could really see the difference in where I grew up versus here. The houses were tiny, and the yards were littered with cars and mowers that had been abandoned because they were broken and useless, not because they were showpieces like my car at my father’s old estate.
Several people were walking out to get their mail, and others sat quietly on their porch, sipping their coffee. All of them waved or smiled at me as I passed. I nodded back to them, pleasantly surprised by the warmth of this community.
Where I grew up, nobody sat outside, and the people were so rich, they felt as if the world owed them something. They would never go out of their way to greet someone from the other side, and at best, their hospitality was cold and condescending. I now understood why people from West Palm didn’t venture off to Palm Beach very often. The looks on the old, rich women’s faces would be enough to keep me away.
I pulled up in front of Josie’s house, which looked a bit more worn down than I remembered from the night before. I could only hope I didn’t have the same thoughts about Josie when I saw her. I parked the car and slowly walked through the overgrown yard to the front door. I knocked hard, stepping to the side as heavy footsteps approached. The door opened, and I stared at an older man, wearing a wife beater and shorts, round in the middle, with barely any white hair left on his head.
“Hi, my name is Blaine,” I said. “I am here to see Josie.”
I reached my hand out and waited for his response. He looked at me strangely and peered down at my hand, finally taking it and shaking.
“Right,” he grumbled. “Carl, my name is Carl. I’ll go get her for you.”
I looked around the neighborhood for a second, watching as Carl shuffled toward the back of the house, leaving the front door wide open. I felt slightly awkward not understanding Josie’s father or what role he played in her life. I did remember her mentioning that she had to take care of him, so I figured there was something wrong with him. Most men his age, that I knew, were pushing just as hard as they had at the beginning of their career and not even thinking about retiring yet. I made sure to take notice but not pass judgment, as I didn’t really know the whole story. Anything could have happened, and I could be making assumptions that would really hurt my chances with Josie.
I stood there for a second, staring at the open door before shrugging and walking inside. I assumed that he had left the door open to invite me in. I took a few steps inside and turned, closing the door. I looked around the room, trying to piece together a bit more about Josie. The place was small but cozy, and I could tell it had something of a woman’s touch. The couch was new, the television was relatively new, and the computer on the desk in the back corner had all the bells and whistles. As far as aesthetics, the floors were clean, but I could tell the carpet had been there a long time. To the right was a doorway into the kitchen, and I could see the off-white and gold tile on the edges. There was definitely some seventies influence in everything, and I assumed the large gold painted frame holding a velvet picture of Elvis was Carl’s influence, more than it was hers.
In all reality, I didn’t care what the place looked like as long as Josie was here, safe, and happy to see me. I knew I was probably intruding, not having called or texted before I just showed up. My mother had always taught me not to do that, but I didn’t really think about it until I had pulled up out front. Her father walked back out but didn’t even look at me. He sat down at the old desk and waved the mouse around on the surface. On the screen was some sort of online poker game, and he looked pretty gruff. I could hear the fake shuffle of the cards, and then I jumped. Her old man let out a loud growl and a few choice curse words at the screen, and I assumed that he had found himself with a bad hand. I never quite understood how the online poker thing worked, but I knew that if I were going to play a game, I much preferred the casino. Maybe, if Josie and I saw each other more than once, I could take her father out to the casinos, and we could have a little bonding time. I still wasn’t sure how all that worked, since I had stayed relatively single for many years now.
I stood listening to the ticking of a clock that I couldn’t seem to find on any of the walls. The house smelled like a fresh shower and leftover breakfast, what I assumed most houses smelled like. I usually picked my breakfast up and rarely cooked at my place, but I could still remember what my house smelled like as a child when my mother would wake up early and cook us all breakfast. She loved cooking bacon, and we definitely loved eating it. I wondered many years later if it was because that was all she knew how to make.
I looked up out of my daze to see Josie walk around the corner. She was clutching a furry pink robe closed in front of her that had seen better days. On her feet, she wore matching fuzzy slippers, and the rose color matched her cheeks. Her hair was dripping wet, and she wasn’t wearing a
stitch of makeup. I assumed I had pulled her from her shower, and I realized maybe I should have called, after all. Then I wouldn’t have gotten to see her in her all-natural state, which was beyond breathtaking. She looked absolutely amazing, even more amazing than she did all done up at the bar the night before. She smiled at me and slapped her dad on the shoulder as she walked forward.
“Hey,” she said, confused. “It’s good to see you. Did I leave something in your car last night?”
“No,” I said, laughing. “I came to check on you. I figured with as much as you had to drink last night, you might feel pretty hungover.”
A smile spread across Josie’s face when she realized I wasn’t there for any reason other than to see her. She pulled her robe a little tighter and glanced back at her father, obviously not wanting to be too candid in front of him. I still couldn’t believe just how gorgeous this girl was in her all-natural state.
“Oh,” she said, laughing. “Yeah, I was hurting pretty good this morning. I couldn’t even remember what I had drunk, but my mouth tasted like juice and gummy bears, so I’m assuming the girls went shooter crazy. Nothing a few aspirin and some serious amounts of water couldn’t cure.”
“You know what my secret cure always was?”
She walked forward as if I was going to release a huge, hidden secret. “What?”
“A big, greasy breakfast,” I replied. “There is a place not too far from here if you would let me take you.”
She looked at me for a second, her eyes glimmering brightly. I could tell she either didn’t completely trust the situation, or she didn’t trust herself, but either way, my easy stance and charming smile would do the trick. I reached over and plucked a piece of lint from her robe and smiled as she blushed.
“Unless you’ve already eaten,” I said, looking over at the kitchen.
“No, I cooked my dad breakfast, but at the time, I wasn’t hungry.”
“So,” I said, stepping forward again. “What do you say? Let me take you out to breakfast.”
“Okay,” she replied. “Let me change out of this robe and throw my hair up, and we can go. You can sit down if you like. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be out in a jiffy.”