“No,” Travis said quickly, though he promised Mystique he would come to the club that night since he’d been avoiding her all week.
“Do you want to meet me somewhere?”
“Yes, definitely. You pick the place and I’ll be there.”
“Okay. Why don’t you meet me at the Starbucks on Metropolitan Avenue?”
“What time?”
“Is six good for you?”
“That would be perfect,” Travis said gladly.
“Good, then I’ll see you at Starbucks at six.”
“Six o’clock it is. I’m looking forward to talking with you, Me’shelle,” Travis said as he started to walk away, leaving his shopping cart behind.
“Travis,” Me’shelle called to him. Travis stopped and turned around. “You forgot your cart.”
Travis walked back toward her. “Me’shelle, seeing you made me forget what I came here for. But I guess I can put it back where I found it,” he said and walked away again, leaving Me’shelle with a big smile on her face. For the first time since Trent told her that he thought they should start seeing other people, Me’shelle had a date.
As she continued her shopping, Me’shelle thought about what she would wear on a date to Starbucks. It’s only Starbucks. That means it’ll just be coffee and maybe some pastry. What does a lady wear to meet a gentleman for coffee and pastry? She giggled to herself.
Travis arrived at Starbucks a little before 6:00 and stepped up to the counter. He looked over the menu of coffees and ordered a Mocha Valencia then waited impatiently for Me’shelle to arrival. Six o’clock came and went without incident. By 6:30, he had finished his coffee. He stood up and was just about to leave when Me’shelle walked through the door.
“Have you been waiting long, Travis?” she asked as if she were only a minute or two late.
“About a half an hour,” Travis said. He wasn’t sure which emotion was stronger, the anger he felt about waiting half an hour for her to show up, or joy that she was standing in front of him. Travis settled on the combination. “I hate waiting, but you are worth the wait. You look incredible tonight.”
Me’shelle had decided to wear tight black jeans, a white turtleneck and her black leather jacket. “Thank you very much, Travis. You’re looking very handsome yourself. What time did you get here?” she asked.
“About a quarter to six.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” she said, looking at her watch. “It’s only five after.”
“Who taught you to tell time? It’s six-thirty.” Travis held out his arm so she could see his watch. She glanced at it and took a very deep breath. Hearing her breathe like that aroused Travis, but he maintained his composure.
“I’m sorry, Travis. My watch must be slow.”
“It’s cool. You’re here now. Don’t sweat it.”
“You forgive me?” Me’shelle asked.
“Only if you promise to be a fascinating conversationalist.”
Me’shelle smiled. She took another deep breath. Each time she did it, a chill ran through his body. Her sexuality was overwhelming. “I tell you what, Travis. I promise to be as fascinating a conversationalist as you are. You see, it takes two to tango. Just like it takes two to have an intelligent conversation. But I think it’s only fair to warn you that I’m a sucker for an intelligent conversation.”
“So am I,” Travis replied, trying to sound intelligent and sure of himself. They walked to the counter together and ordered. “I’ll have another Mocha Valencia.” Travis looked at Me’shelle. Her eyes were driving him insane.
“And the lady will have?”
“Caramel Macchiato.”
Once the coffee was prepared, Travis and Me’shelle took a seat at a table by the window. “I never had Caramel Macchiato before. What’s in it?” Travis asked.
“Foamed milk with espresso, vanilla and real caramel. It delicious. Have some?”
“No. I may try one next time I’m here,” Travis said as he watched Me’shelle take a sip of her coffee. The sight of her lips on the cup moved him in ways no woman had ever moved him before-not even Mystique, and she had ways of moving a man. This was different.
Travis tried to rationalize that he was probably feeling this way because he had dreamt and fantasized about this woman so much. Now that he was finally here, he was probably just making more of it than there actually was. Travis quickly dismissed that thought.
Me’shelle was different.
“So talk to me, Travis. Tell me who you are.”
“There’s not much to tell. I came up right here in the Bronx. I went to college at University of Connecticut and became a programmer. Now I work for myself,” Travis said, telling her as much of the truth as he could. He didn’t think it was a good time to tell her that he was the leader of a robbing crew. “So, who are you, Me’shelle? I want to know everything about you.”
“Well, let me see. I’ll give you the short version. How about that?”
“Okay.” Travis smiled.
“I was born in Queens, and my family moved to the Bronx when I was young. I’m a teacher. A third grade teacher, to be exact. But to be honest with you, Travis, I really don’t like talking about myself. If you stay around me long enough, you’ll find out everything you ever wanted to know.”
“I hope it’s a very long learning process. I think I’d enjoy getting to know you slowly.”
“So, you’re not one of those men who expects to have sex with me tonight? Who, after I sleep with him, slowly loses interest in me because my body is really all he was interested in?” Me’shelle asked, motioning with her hands as she said ‘my body.’
Travis smiled and leaned forward, taking in with his eyes all of the body he could see above the table. “Was that a question or a statement?”
“It was definitely a question and a statement,” Me’shelle said and smiled.
“Can I answer you honestly?”
“I think that you should.”
“Me’shelle, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. And I’ve known some bad ones.”
“Why thank you, Travis,” Me’shelle beamed.
“You’re welcome, Me’shelle. And to be very honest with you, I would love to make love to you. I’ve dreamed of making love to you.” Travis let out a little laugh. “And a few other things that I can’t and don’t want to explain.”
“But in time, I wanna hear about those too. I think that our dreams are an expression of what we really think and feel.”
“I think so too. That’s why I’m sitting here with you. But like I was saying, I would love to make love to you right here, right now.”
Me’shelle closed her eyes for a second and quickly got a mental image of herself seated on the table with her arms around Travis’s neck, her legs wrapped around his waist and Travis pumpin’ it to her slowly. She opened her eyes and smiled.
“But I think that I want to know you, Me’shelle,” Travis continued. “I want to know more about you than you know about yourself. And I want you to know all about me, so when I do make love to you-and I am going to make love to you-I’ll be making love with you and to you, Me’shelle. Not just Me’shelle’s body.”
“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you, Travis?”
“You said be honest. And besides, if I don’t believe in myself, how can I ever hope to get you to believe in me and what I say?”
“I guess you can’t.” Me’shelle raised her coffee cup. “Here’s to getting to know each other. I just hope that you mean what you say.”
“Me’shelle, trust me. I mean everything I say,” Travis said, pressing his cup against hers. “To getting to know you slowly.”
With the flirtation and statement of intentions out of the way, they talked their way through coffee, doing much more talking than drinking. After a second cup and more conversation, Travis walked Me’shelle to her car. She unlocked the door but didn’t get in. They talked at the car for another hour or so until Me’shelle attempted to drag herself away.
“I have to go.” She laughed as she leaned against the car. Travis leaned shoulder to shoulder on the car next to her. Standing this close to Me’shelle excited him.