Interracial Love Stories
Short Romance Stories
Romantic Short Stories
Two of A Kind
©Copyright-2004 by Steve Essjay
All Rights Reserved
Steve Essjay is a programmer for an actuarial software company. The father of four grown children, this 50 year old Chicagoan is a very active member in a local school council in the Chicago Public School system. Steve is also a strong advocate of school reform in Chicago who is not afraid to buck the system to make sure that all students get a fair shake. He and Janice plan to marry, they met this past summer and have been deeply in love since then . . .
CHAPTER ONE
The deep dreamless sleep was shattered by the sudden onslaught of Peter Wolf’s version of the William Bell song, Never Like This Before. Steve stumbled across the room to shut off the clock radio and head for the shower. “Great song”, he thought to himself. “A bit of hopeless fantasy or just bullshit, but a great song.”
He mechanically went through a shower and a shave. He decided to drive his car in to work. He had a few extra things he wanted to get done and this would give him about a 30 minute head start on his arrival time when he took public transportation.
A little after 8, his good friend Paul stopped by his office with the announcement, “Farmers’ Market in Daley Center today.”
Oh great … he had not brought any lunch. Now he could look forward to a lunch of some fresh peppers and tomatoes. He loved home-grown tomatoes …. You know, like that great old song by Guy Clark that goes .. well, nevermind.
He mentioned to Paul that he should remind him later because he had on many occasions a year ago, gone out to a restaurant on the day of the Farmers Market completely forgetting about it. It was east ay Decimal Systems, as busy as they all got.
About 11:15 in the morning, he put a $2.00 off coupon for a local sandwich place in his pocket and headed out to lunch. He got to the corner when he remembered the Farmers’ Market. So he kept the coupon in his pocket and walked the two blocks over to the Richard J. Daley center.
There were dozens of little tents and booths. Some selling fruit (there would be more fruit in a few weeks, some selling vegetables, some selling fresh fruit pies, and some inevitable hawkers selling whatever they could dream up to sell. He chose a vegetable stand way in the back that seemed less crowded and it looked like he could pick out individual peppers and tomatoes instead of buying some pre-packaged quantity. After he had picked out what he wanted to buy, he spotted some one taking money and he moved over towards him. A woman was heading in the same direction and they bumped into each other.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok, I wasn’t looking where I was going. . . you go first.”
It was then that it hit him … she was gorgeous … she was beautiful … the kind of beautiful that you find on magazine covers .. no .. not the slutty kind of beautiful, but the classy-without-being-above-anyone beautiful. And her eyes!. Those were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen in his life! Searching, penetrating and dark brown and so so pretty. He quickly came up with something to talk about …. Talk about vegetables … cooking .. anything but, my God .. keep her here!!!
“Hi, I’m Steve.”
“I’m Janice”
They shook hands and now he had a problem. How was he going to let go? Ok .. ok .. he did let go but he did not want to.
To his shock …she stayed and talked. Before long, they were walking around and talking. She sold real estate and was very motivated. And she was looking at him … I mean looking at him. She liked talking about her business but not the boring way that some people talk over your head about their business to make it seem like they have the most difficult job in the world. She was a regular person talking about her job in a way that interested him. And, in addition, she was so very pretty too.
He knew that he had to get to work but he did not want to let her get away without at least trying. So he mustered up his courage to stand another rejection and he said, “How about lunch sometime? I am leaving tomorrow on a four day weekend but maybe some time next week?”
What he heard next shocked him ….. delighted him …. Almost confused him …. She said, “Sure .. just call me after you get back next week.”
They traded business cards and for just that split second, their hands touched again. He felt the spark run through him and it weakened his knees. They parted company and he went back to work. No sooner had he gotten back when he sent her an e-mail. He wanted her to remember .. he wanted to go out, even if just for one lunch, with someone as gorgeous as she. But she was more than that … she was interesting .. she was really pleasant to be with, she was truly motivated at her job.
He had a great time on the trip but he could not get Janice out of his mind. When he got back to the hotel, he used his cell phone to check his e-mail. There, to his intense delight, was a return e-mail from Janice. She was also looking forward to lunch next week.
Now he really could not get her off of his mind the rest of the weekend. All weekend long he saw many things including a lot of interracial couples. Was he just noticing that more now?. After all, his daughter-in-law was African-American but he never really noticed interracial couples before. A couple was a couple. Oh yeah .. I did not mention it before because to Steve it never really mattered but, over the weekend, he became aware of the fact that it might matter to someone …. Steve is White and Janice is African-American.
CHAPTER TWO
So, now, here was Steve. Back at work and ready to call Janice to see if this was all just a dream or was he over-fantasizing or was this real? Did this goddess agree to have lunch with him?
He arrived at work around 5:45am and figured that it was a bit too early to call. She had mentioned that she had kids so it was safe to assume that some or all of them were home at this hour. So he got into the business of reading through all of the e-mail that had accumulated over that last three working days that he had been out of the office. He had figured that it would be safe to call her office number around 9:00am.
At 9:00am, he called and it rang until voicemail kicked in so he left a message identifying himself as the guy she had met last week at Daley Center and could they set up a date for lunch?
He got busy the rest of the morning and even ate at his desk as busy as he was. Finally, around 1:30 or so in the afternoon, his phone rang, caller ID showed a number that he did not immediately recognize so he answered in his best professional manner. OMG!! It was her!! They chatted .. mostly small talk and then got to the important matter … a day and time for lunch. She referred to it as their “first date” … a term that struck him with a pang of pleasure.
They talked for about an hour and he just kept getting a real good feeling .. but he kept telling himself , it is just your imagination. Stay grounded in reality. She asked him to call tomorrow and he did. He could hardly wait until the next day. He mentioned where they could have lunch and what time he would be free. She was fine with it all. That also struck him with pleasure since he had picked a dark place .. somewhat busy at lunch but dark .. a place with a bit of romance.
The day arrived and he could not wait. He called Janice and they made arrangements to meet at the restaurant. As he got close, it occurred to him that it would be better to pick her up since she lived so close to downtown so he called her again and told her to wait for him to pick her up.
So, there he was parked outside her house waiting outside his car for her. And then, she walked out. He remembered her as pretty and beautiful but he had not really remembered her as stunning. That was now added to his mental picture of her .. a stunning, beautiful woman. And here she was, getting into his car, and the greatest thing of all was that, as soon as they started talking, she was as he remembered her from the day they met. She was so down-to-earth and approachable yet she was a goddess!
They talked as they drove downtown and he let his hand slip a bit from his floorshifter. As soon as it did, she took his hand so they could hold hands. How could he concentrate on anything .. he was holding hands with her and her skin was so smooth and velvety.
They parked in a garage a few blocks from the restaurant and just talked for a bit. Mainly about how his upbringing had told him that interracial couples were wrong but that he had never cared. He had brought his children up never to see a difference.
He could not help it, his courage was up, probably because of the way she put him at ease. He leaned over to kiss her. She kissed him back. Not long .. not passionate .. but enough that, to this day, he remembers every delicious sensation of their first kiss.
They walked to the restaurant holding hands .. seeming for anyone who saw, to be a couple NOT on their first date but, rather, a couple in love. They were given an out-of-the way table which suited them both just fine. They kept on attracting looks .. was it her beauty .. or did they make such a good couple .. or did people sense the sexual tension that was building around them? They both agreed later that it was the last one. They also seemed to really feel it. It was probably about 10 minutes into lunch that he had the incredibly strong desire to go to bed with her. Funny thing was … she shared the same strong feeling.
They talked about what they were looking for. They both had a feeling that they might have found what they were looking for but they also knew that it might take a while to know for sure. But he knew as they held hands across the table, that he was falling in love. This guy who always kept his feelings back .. who never let them out was falling for this beautiful, bright, sexy woman sitting across from him holding his hand.
They both knew that he had to go to work but they also both knew what they really wanted. She had more sense than he did, so as they were preparing to leave the restaurant, he took her in his arms to kiss her, she gave him a quick peck and a HUGE warm hug.
He could not get that out of his mind as he walked her to where she could gat a cab home. No sooner had the cab pulled away when she called him to thank him for lunch. He floated back to work and sent her a text message on her cell phone with the only word that kept popping into his head all through lunch … WOW. She immediately sent him a reply … Ditto.
Did he see that right? This gorgeous woman said “wow” about him? HIM?? Steve??
He went to see one of the guys he had known for a long time and asked him “Do I look any different to you?”
“Yeah, you’re sunburned.”
“No … I mean do I look the same way as I did before? Is my face still the same?”
“Hell, yeah, you’re uglier than a truck load of mules.”
He went back to his office .. day dreaming about her. As he walked into his office, his phone was ringing .. it was Janice.
“Janice … that was terrific … may I see you again?”
Steve Essjay ©2003
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