I nodded and grinned. “Yes…my middle name is Ophelia.”
His eyes widened and glistened in amazement. “Allison…you’re friggin’ kidding me,” he said.
“No, I am not…what’s wrong with Ophelia?”
“Nothing at all. It’s absolutely beautiful…but when I tell you my middle name, well—”
“What…Cedric tell me…what is it? Oscar? Omar? O’Shaughnessy? Obi Wan Kenobi? Tell me!” I laughed, waiting in suspense.
Cedric put his hand on my headrest and moved in closer which startled me. I could feel his breath near my face when he said, “Allison…your middle name is Ophelia…”
“Yes…don’t tell me your middle name is Ophelia, too?” I joked.
Cedric shook his head. “No…not Ophelia…but—”
“But what?”
“You’d never guess it.”
“Give me a hint.”
He rubbed his chin and smiled. “Okay…it’s from Shakespeare too.”
My jaw dropped and I did guess it. “Oh my God…Othello? You’re telling me your middle name is…Othello?”
He nodded. “That’s exactly what I am telling you.”
This was really bizarre and hilarious.
“You mean to tell me we are both named after Shakespeare characters?” I stared at him in awe before thinking about it again for a few seconds. “Wait…are you shitting me?”
Cedric burst out laughing. “It would seem that way wouldn’t it, but unfortunately, I’m not. I swear on my father’s life,” he said.
Now, I knew he was being serious. You just don’t joke on someone’s life. “Wow,” I said.
Cedric seemed really amused by this coincidence too. “Wow is right…you’re telling me. My father was a huge Shakespeare fan and insisted on my middle name being Othello. The Othello board game was pretty big back then too. For some reason, he thought it was the coolest name. It started as a joke, really. My mom was dead set against it and one night, they were with some friends and she lost a bet and well…there you have it…Cedric Othello Callahan.”
“I guess maybe this is a sign we were meant to meet,” I said, immediately regretting the suggestive comment.
Cedric smiled, his white teeth glistening. “I think so, Allison Ophelia.”
He was so surprisingly easy to talk to and I didn’t want this night to end, but I was apprehensive about asking him to come upstairs.
No, there was no way I could do that.
Cedric turned the interior light on and reached across me to open the glove compartment when I got my closest interaction with his body yet, breathing him in. The heat beneath my ass from the seat was nothing compared to the warmth throughout my body as his hair sat inches from my nose. His arm brushed against me and I fantasized about pulling it towards me, putting his hands on me.
He looked frantically for something, eventually grabbing a pen. I spotted a pack of cigarettes in there as well. Strange…he didn’t seem like a smoker and I didn’t smell it in here.
Mmm…I think the cologne might be Cool Water.
“Aha…here it is,” he said grabbing a pen. “Do you happen to have a piece of paper in your bag?”
“Let me look.” I opened my purse and dug through all of the crap: hairspray, gum, mace, wallet, change…not one darn piece of paper?
“Ok, don’t worry about it. My phone is dead; otherwise I would enter your information that way. Here, give me your hand.”
Cedric reached out his palm and I placed my hand in his. He clicked the pen and began to write his cell phone number and email address carefully on top of my hand, while holding it steady with his. His hand was big, rough and warm. A wave of heat rushed through my body as he breathed out slowly and I felt his hot breath on my hand.