After Larry and Tiara returned from Florida, they both spent the rest of the weekend in their own homes resting up for Monday. Tiara was peppered with questions when she returned to work. "Who is he?" "When do we get to meet him?" "Where did you go?" "Is he hot?" She did her best to avoid her co-workers, but eventually she was cornered and had to give enough information about Larry to get them to back off. But she left out the part of being at the Daytona Bike Rally and getting banged every night on a trash can in Pirates' Alley. She also didn't say anything about getting a tattoo or ending each evening getting laid on a picnic table and then smoking a cigarette while looking up at the stars.
Larry's co-workers weren't quite as inquisitive, but they also asked about how his conservative older black chick fit in with all the bikers at Daytona. Since they had all seen her when she visited him at the shop, none of them were surprised to hear that she had finished in the top three at the wet tee shirt contest even though she was probably twice as old as the other contestants. "Hey Larry. How did she look in that bikini you got for her?" Ray asked.
Larry grinned and said, "You wouldn't believe it, my friend. She was turning heads everywhere she went."
Ray said, "You know, I finally figured out who she looks like." Larry paused and looked at his friend. "I think she looks like Angela Bassett. You know. She's that woman who played Tina Turner in that TV movie." He pulled out his phone and hit a few buttons and then said, "See what I mean," as he held out his phone.
"Wow, you're right Ray. She does look a little like her. Anyway, she finished in the top three in the wet tee shirt contest. She wore Daisy Duke shorts all week. And we had more sex than I've ever had in my life."
Tiara and Larry met in a small restaurant for dinner. As they were eating, Larry knew that something was on her mind so he asked, "Is everything OK, Tiara?"
She paused for a minute and then said, "Yeah. I want to ask you something, Babe."
"OK."
"My book club is going to hear a nationally known poet rad a few of his poems at a small auditorium and I was wondering if you'd like to go. We're all allowed to bring guests, and I thought of you. You don't have to do it if you don't want to."
Larry was grinning from ear-to-ear and he said, "Sure Babe. I'd love to go with you. When is ti and what should I wear?"
She filled him in on all the specifics. It was going to be the next evening and would be a test for both of them. It would be a test for him to see if he really was as interested in poetry as he appeared to be. And it would be a test for her since it would e the first time that she had been with him with her friends. Quite frankly, she really wasn't looking forward to it at all.
The next evening, she picked him up in her small car and drove to the small auditorium. She wore a conservative dress that was knee length and he wore khakis and a new golf shirt. She noticed the shocked looks on the faces of her friends and co-workers as they walked in together. She introduced him to her co-workers and a few of her friends and they all smirked as they tried to picture their old friend having sex with this good looking younger white man. But many of her other friends tended to make themselves scarce whenever they approached. She was puzzled in the way some of her friends and fellow poet society members avoided her.
As they were waiting on the presentation, to begin, she was disturbed by the people who avoided her and Larry when they arrived. As she thought of the people, she realized that most tended feel they were better than others, so she didn't really think it was wasting any more time on.
