The wooden ceiling fan with the fake gold plating pushed the air down from the ceiling. The air that night was standing still outside. A yellow-orange incandescent light bulb flickered each time that the refrigerator turned on the compressor. The little living room had a low couch and an arm chair. Neat books were lined up in a shelf. The car key for a second hand BMW convertible rested in a porcelain bowl near the door.
"How is work?"
"My jackass is always checking on me. He doesn't trust me. I call my boss jackass. It's the end of the quarter. I have to put in a lot of hours to get enough billable."
"You are such a good worker. You got your MBA last year. You are always out meeting clients."
Lark didn't reply. She hugged her knees to her chest sitting on the armchair across the room. Because of the heat, she was wearing ballooning pink gym shorts. With her knees up, he could see the underside of her hamstrings. With her hamstrings pressed together, the thin strip of fabric between her legs disappeared. It almost looked like her butt was naked. Her skin was smooth, well cared for with lotion and protected by sunscreen. She was only 28 years old. There was not a sliver of fat from her hard near daily workouts.
"At my office, we signed these new musicians from Seattle. They are using non-traditional instruments. You wouldn't believe there are instruments that have been made less than 100 times a year. And then one of these guys walks in. And he is a master at it. I'm working out the contract with them right now. They are really reasonable. It's fun to..."
"I wish I were in Aspen right now. My friends from the entrepreneurship club own a vacation condo there. They are having a mixer with East Coast financial guys."
Dashiell's face grimaced at being cut off. He turned his face away into the half-darkness of the room, while he took long and slow breathes. He was tall 6'5". His shoulders were big, not so much from muscle. Simply his constitution was to be big boned. He was more of a runner. He loved running desert races. He loved the serenity of stomping up dust and pushing past barely alive, hardy, thorny bushes.
"Do you want something to drink, Dash?"
"Sure, it's a hot summer night. The sweat is sticking on my skin."
"Help yourself. The glasses are in the cabinet above the sink. There is a bottle of water in the fridge."
Dashiell looked stunned. He looked at her face with the highlights on the cheeks that made her look fresh. There was rouge blended in perfectly, a little lower, to make her look alive. The foundation gave her a radiant perfect look. She was a master at makeup. Despite the heat, she looked happy, alive, and gorgeous. He stood up.
"Haha, I was thirsty and made you get me a drink."
He walked around the coffee table with the Forbes magazines neatly fanned out like at a dentist office. Coasters were placed around the magazines to protect the wood. When he walked past her, his eyes gazed down in between her boobs. They were two perfectly round honeydew halves. He had picked her up from the surgeon, when she had them done. She had been groggy, softly growling in pain. Her chest had been bandaged thickly. They had to put the seat belt behind her. And now that they were healed, they were perfectly round and full. His heart beat faster. She hadn't bothered putting on a bra with him. Her nipples were poking out, those large things in the perfect center.
There were four glasses and a white bottle of St. John's Wort in the cabinet. Otherwise it was empty. The fridge was empty spare for the bottle of water, a bottle of wine, an old lemon, and a packaged Italian dinner. He walked up to her armchair from behind. The glasses had already sweat pearls compensating. She reached her arm up like a ballerina without looking. The wet glass slipped in his fingers a little. He could hit swiftly, so that only a sip spilled over and hit her top.
He smiled brazenly at his dexterity. She screamed out sharply. A quarter sized wet spot clung to her boob.
"GET THE FUCK OUT!" she yelled with rage in her face.
"Hey I'm sorry. It's only water."
"GET THE FUCK OUT!"
"I get it. It's pretty cold and startled you. I'm sorry."
"GET THE FUCK OUT!"
She stood stern with a red face. Her arm and face pointed straight at the door.
He swallowed. He put the two glasses down on coasters. He grabbed the gold plated door handle. One last time, he turned around and apologized. She yelled at him, "What did you expect for doing that?" Then, he walked out into the darkness of the night. The residential street was empty. Not even the streetlights cared much about shining light anymore. The cicadas belted out their songs.
He got into his Lexus, put hard rock music to the maximum, and drove through the empty streets of the night. There were a couple cars providing him with company, while he waited at a traffic light. Then, the cars stretched out again. He was the lone night rider, feathering the steering wheel like a race car driver for smooth navigation around parked cars and turns. His headlights almost reached the foothills, when his phone rang.
"Come on back."
"Lark, you kicked me out for no real reason."
"You know I had to kick you out for doing that."
"No, I don't know what the harm was about an innocent spill of water. It's not like it was wine."
"Don't be like that."
"You don't treat me right. Remember at McDonald's half year ago? You had diarrhea. Their restrooms had no toilet paper. You made me take off my undershirt to give it to you to clean. I understand that your stomach was hurting. But there is something just not right about that."
"C'mon, that's a long time ago. You have to forgive. Remember, when we wear waiting for Club Bam-Bam in the line out in the cold winter. I was wearing a little black dress. You didn't give me your jacket. You let me freeze out there."
"So, you think you are more important. And it's okay for me to freeze? One of us had to freeze."
"I'm a girl. Be a gentleman. Just come back. Let's have a good time."
Silence.
"Okay."
He turned the car around. His breathing was tight. He weaved through the lanes. He left his car under the cone for a street light. She waited for him at the gate to walk him into the apartment building. Only one window was still lit. The quiet was so deep that one could hear the car idling at the intersection half mile down the road.
"Why don't you let me sit on the armchair? That way, you are no longer in the flight path for drinks."
"The coach is a little dirty. My friend's dog pooped on it. Only the armchair is clean."
"What?! You want me to sit on a dirty couch?"
"C'mon, you are a boy. You are always dirty. Sit on the far end. I don't sink she got poop there."
He paused standing in the middle of the room. His face reddened. Under his breath, he mumbled, "well, I'm already here." He sat down way far in the corner of the couch.
"So, how's your dating life, Lark?"
"Ugh, I've been on a few dates from match. They are all douchebags. This one guy was wearing pink pants and brought me a big box of chocolate."
"What about the guy, who took you to his second apartment in Lisbon, Portugal? You seemed to like him."
"Oh, yeah, the Wall Street guy! It was really fun to spend the weekend. His loft was in Alfama. That's the neighborhood of Castle of Sao Jorge. Because he lived so close to it, he had a special pass to visit it afterhours. He took me to the top of a tower there. We had a red wine and cheese picnic under a full moon. After the snack, he snacked on me. He was panting so much. And then he came so quickly."
Dashiell looked at her feet in the high heel wedges. The wedge was covered with a rope-like looking material. Her feet were neatly manicured. The skin was so soft with a little pink. Her toes were neatly trimmed, painted blue, and high glossed, so that the light reflected in them like car paint. The toes were tiny round things. They were pressed back for the high lift on the back. Her arch was perfectly lifted. A strap went low across her ankle, snugly like a joker goes across the throat. The looked somewhat moist. They looked strong, powerful, willing to dominate -- luxuriously cradled by the designer heels. They softly tapped in the air, while she gazed into the air as if speaking to herself.
"Yeah, I haven't had much luck with the ladies. I've been working hard. It's hard to find a good girl in his big city."
"Tell me about it. I work so hard. I go to the gym seven days a week. My doctor told me to scale it down. He said that it is causing health problems."
She pulled her t-shirt up to show her belly. Her belly was small. He could have put his big hand across to cover all the way from the left to the right side. The skin was tender. The abs clearly stood out in the center. It was a mixture of a little girl's stomach and a hardened, sexy athlete's stomach. Her navel was a tender, delicate jewel in the center. She patted her belly with her hand.
"I want this to be more like Gina Carano, the MMA fightress."