Katy’s mind was cluttered for the rest of the weekend. She could not focus. She now understood the meaning of the phrase “head in the clouds”. She had previously arranged to go to the Corral with Todd and the ladies Saturday night, and their plans didn’t change with a single kiss. Todd had agreed to meet them there, and Katy was going to pick up her friends on the way.
The ride to the club was spent recounting her tales from the carnival, and the girls were impressed to hear Katy so excited about a kiss. They were also a bit envious, and they laughed at how girlish Katy was acting about seeing Todd tonight. They arrived at the club with their usual flair, and Todd met them in the parking lot. The girls were also amused by the way that he made goo-goo eyes at Katy the moment that he saw her.
The evening was spent like any other at the Corral. The only difference was that Todd and Katy spent more time on the dance floor and less playing pool than they had in the past. He looked like a jumping bean moving around the floor, but Katy didn’t notice. She was simply reveling in the sweaty proximity to him, and nothing else mattered. The other women made their own ways in the club, alternating between the pool tables, the bar, and the dance floor. Katy and Todd were inclusive in their dancing, and laughter was the theme of the night.
At last call, Todd walked Katy and her friends to their car, and kissed her briefly goodnight. When she got into the car, the conversation focused on that kiss.
“I thought you might swoon,” Lindsey laughed.
Jasmine joined right in, “Or get the vapors.” All of the women laughed together. Katy knew that it was just good-natured ribbing.
Claudette said with her characteristic dry wit, “And he was all sweaty from the dance floor. Was it an eww moment or an mmm moment?”
Katy grinned, “Definite mmm moment.”
“Well, now, that’s a good sign. So, what’s he smell like?” Claudette asked.
Katy kept her eyes on the road, but answered the question frankly, “It’s pleasant. Manly and musky without being funky. He smells the way a man should smell.”
“What cologne does he wear?”
“He doesn’t,” Katy smiled.
Jasmine’s retort was quick, “It must be love.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, if you like his natural smell, there must be some heavy chemistry involved.”
“Oh, man,” Lindsey slipped into the conversation, “I guess it’s over for Tyler and me.” Tyler
“Why?”
“Well,” Lindsey responded, “He usually wears about a gallon of Polo.”
Claudette laughed and said dramatically, “Why do guys always think that more is better?”
“I know, but it’s a good thing that he does. The other day I got to smell his natural odor,” Lindsey crinkled her nose.
“It was bad?”
Lindsey’s lip twisted into a snarl, “It was way worse than just bad. It was one fantastic funk. It was so bad that it was absolutely funktastic.”
“Stank-nasty,” Claudette added.
“Eww,” the other girls chimed in.
Lindsey became serious, “So, I guess that it’s not love.” With that realization, the girls became introspective. They’d all decided that it was time to kick Tyler
When she arrived home, Katy thought long and hard about dating. She felt badly for Lindsey. She thought about how hard it was to have a man not turn out to be what you’d hoped. She wondered if it was as difficult for men, or if they had some sort of magical ability to just be interested without adding long-term hope to the equation. She thought about all of the things that bothered Lindsey about Tyler
Lindsey’s situation made Katy wary of her relationship with Todd. She’d made a big investment already, and wasn’t sure if she could handle losing that much again. She’d lost so much of herself in Alan, and she’d never even loved him. What if she did fall for Todd? How much did she stand to lose then? A broken heart must be so much worse than broken pride.
Katy was tired of thinking about it, and she was just plain tired. It had been a good night overall, even if the ride home had been a bit of a downer. She was too wound up to sleep, and too tired to read. She sat in her recliner and just tried not to think. She was tired of thinking about Lindsey’s relationship problems. She was tired of worrying about her own potential relationship problems. She just wished that she could shut her mind down, if only for a few minutes. She tried to think about happy things: puppies, children, flowers, and a warm wind on a summer day. Maybe she could calm things that way.
Eventually, it worked. Her mind stopped racing, and her worrying abated. Katy listened to her answering machine, for the first time in two days. There was little notable, a hello from her mother, reminders from the girls about their plans for tonight. The only interesting thing was another booty call from Randy. She smiled to herself realizing that she had never invested anything in that relationship. She’d had nothing to lose there. She wondered how many more calls she would have to receive from Randy before she finally got fed up enough to tell him to leave her alone. She wondered if it was cruel not to let him down easily right off the bat. She just didn’t feel like dealing with him right now. She decided to go to bed, and worry about Randy, and everything else, at a later time.
When Katy fell asleep, she dreamed of herself working at the stock market. She was buying and selling, buying and selling. All of the commodities were relationship related: Self-esteem, romance, ego, anger, love, and sensitivity. All of the commodities were costly, but none so much as self-esteem. The last thing that Katy remembered about the dream was that she was desperately trying to stock her portfolio with as much romance and self-esteem as she could afford. She never attempted to buy any love, although it was affordable, it was a rare commodity, and she was saving her money for the self-esteem.
Don’t own a Kindle, but would like to? The latest generation of Kindle is available at the following links: with WiFi only or with WiFi and 3G.
Christy Parker is the author of three blogs: Ruminations from and Unkempt Mind, Learn to Crochet - In Minutes a Day, and You Be the Editor.
No comments:
Post a Comment