Going Down

“I’ll be right here.” Tyhedra smiled. “Unless you want me to go with you.” I momentarily forgot that I was trying to act like I was mad at her, and pushed the door open. “Now that you mention it.” I glanced inside.

Tyhedra laughed. “I was only kidding; I’ll be right here. Trust me.”

I stared at Tyhedra for a moment. “Wait here.” And in I went. It seemed to be taking an eternity to get it all out. Just as I was about finished, the door swung open.

“Hey, Chris. I’ll be at the bar.”

“No!” I shouted. But it was too late. I quickly shook out the remainder, a quick rinse of the hands, and ran out the door. I ran up the stairs two steps at a time and hit the lobby just as the doors to the auditorium opened and the lobby quickly filled with people. “Shit!”

I made my way to the bar. I was sure that I had lost her in the crowd. I made it to the bar and looked around. “Shit!”

“Chris! I’m right here.” She handed me a glass.

“Thank you,” I said as I grabbed her by the hand. We moved away from the bar, making our way through the crowd. “Now, what happened to you?”

“What?” She could barely hear me over the buzz of the crowd. I looked around and turned up my drink. “Come on.” I grabbed Tyhedra’s hand and led her up the stairs to the balcony. The landing leading to the balcony area wasn’t as crowded. Just a few people who had figured out that there was another bar there. I walked to the bar, got two more drinks, and led Tyhedra to the balcony where Ted and I had sat earlier. “Now,” I said.

“Now.” Tyhedra interrupted me. “How have you been, Chris. I kinda missed you these last few weeks. What happened to you?”

“What happened to me? What happened to you?” I asked.

“What are you taking about?” Tyhedra asked.

“Why’d you just disappear like that?”

“Hold up, Chris. I remember us playing phone tag for a week. I called you and missed you. You called me back and missed me. I left messages for you, you called and left messages for me. I didn’t disappear.”

As much as I wanted to deny it, that was what happened. My only defense was “You didn’t make too much of an effort either.”

“Well I . . .” she stuttered, because she knew I was right.

“Ah huh, see . . .”

“Okay, okay so there’s enough blame for both of us. I guess I could have made more of an effort. I just . . . you know, didn’t feel like being bothered with you trippin’. You know we agreed that what happened between us was mistake and it should never happen again. But that wasn’t the impression I was getting from your messages. I said to myself, “Give the man some pussy and he lost his mind.”

I smiled. “I didn’t lose my mind.”

“Anyway, it’s good to see you.” She stepped closer to me. “Did Kim tell you about Ted Keys?”

“Yes, she gave me the message, and thank you for that. I already spoke with Ted and I’m going to meet with his partners on Monday for dinner to talk numbers.”

“That’s great. I hope it all works out for you.”

“Me, too. That, and seeing you, makes this a great night. I really thought you were avoiding me.”

“We just kept missing each other, that’s all. How was I avoiding you?”

“It doesn’t matter. At least not now.”

“No.” Tyhedra moved closer. “It doesn’t.” Almost on queue the house lights dimmed. The commercials were getting ready to run. After a quick intro, the house lights dropped, only the foot lights remained.

“So you think you got me pussywhipped, huh?” I reached for her hand and pulled Tyhedra close. Close enough to kiss.

“I didn’t say all that.” Tyhedra touched my face with her hand. “All I said was you lost your mind.”

“Sounds like ‘yes’ to me,” I said, reaching for her face with both hands. “But that’s all right.” I kissed her on her left cheek and then her right, running my hands down her bare arms and onto her hips. Tyhedra’s head drifted back as I kissed her on her neck. She pulled me closer and pressed her body against mine. I knew she could feel me getting harder. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” she said between kisses.

“No, we shouldn’t,” I said, and I forgot where we were. And apparently, so did Tyhedra. Before I could say a word of protest, Tyhedra had my zipper down and her hand in my pants.