My White Ex Soldier

Chapter 2

When Desiree woke up on Thursday morning, she was more confused than pleased with herself. She had met two great guys in the speed dating event and she was equally drawn to both of them. She had even been embarrassed to talk about it when Rochelle asked about it. A week after the speed dating, she still had not found the courage to tell anyone that she had met two great people.

“Why are you avoiding this? You tell us everything,” Rochelle said.

“I know, right?”  Cynthia said as she looked at Desiree who was rolling her eyes yet again. She looked at the two of them and sighed. This was so not what she signed up for. She always wanted a large family but if this is what you got for it, family members poking and probing their way into your life, then she most certainly did not want anything to do with it. She crossed her legs on the bed and looked at the two of them. She really did not want to be talking about anything. Especially the fact that she had met two great guys and had no idea which guy to drop.

“Okay, you know what? Thanks to my ingenious ways, we get to know exactly what happened last week,” Rochelle said as she grabbed her laptop. Desiree and Cynthia exchanged glances.

“What are you talking about? What are you doing?” Desiree asked. Rochelle was a woman to be feared. She was always someone who had something up her sleeve.

“I’m tweeting Alicia,” Rochelle said without looking up.

“Alicia who? My Alicia?” Cynthia asked looking at Rochelle.

“Uh huh,” Rochelle said. Cynthia looked at Desiree and shook her head.

“Who’s Alicia? Rochelle? Cynthia?” Desiree asked in a sudden panic. She did not like the look in Cynthia’s eyes or the grin Rochelle had.

“Alicia is one of the waitresses at my coffee shop. She was the hostess during the speed dating last week,” she said. Desiree reached for Rochelle’s laptop and slammed it shut.

“Fine. I’ll tell you. You don’t have to go all social media shit on me,” she said looking at Rochelle.

“Thank God. Because that Alicia can be a hard nut to crack,” Rochelle said as she winked at Cynthia.

“Okay so last night was fun except for the one or two idiotic people I met. But yes, I did meet some very interesting men, two to be specific,” Desiree said looking at the two women. She suddenly felt her cheeks flush when she said it. There was no way she could be interested in two guys. It was not like being spoiled for choice with cake or candy. She could not just settle for both flavors and just take them home.

“What do you mean two?” Rochelle asked looking at her closely.

“I mean two guys, really great I every sense of the word great,” Desiree continued. “They are both good looking. One in a Denzel kind of way the other one is like a geeky Tom Cruise. He is just sweet,” she added. Cynthia shook her head.

“You just went from no one to one too many men,” she said looking at Desiree. “So, what are you going to do?” she asked. Desiree shook her head.

“I have no idea. They are both really nice and I have no idea how I am going to handle this,” she said. Rochelle patted her knee and smiled.

“I say have them both,” she said. Cynthia shook her head again. Of course Rochelle would say that. That was her life; that was how she did everything anyway. She did not see any problem with having a string of men after her. It was almost as if she got off on it somehow. “What’s so bad about that? I mean you can always make a decision when you are sure about either of them,” she said looking at Desiree.

As much as she hated to admit it, Desiree knew that Rochelle was right. It was not in her nature to have two men in her life. What was she to do with the other one? Just string him along? And if anything, they both deserved to be with someone worthy of their time. Having been in a similar situation, the last thing she wanted was to rewrite history with her in the starring role.

Just then, her phone rang bringing a welcome distraction to the current grilling Rochelle and Cynthia were giving her. When she looked at the screen, she felt her heart skip a beat. It was Mark.

“What? Who is it?” Rochelle asked looking at Desiree who seemed to have been trying hard not to show her smile. Desiree mouthed Mark to her as she picked the phone up.

“Hello,” she said trying not to sound too cheerful.

“Hey there. I thought it was about time I called,” Mark said. Desiree smiled.

“Maybe it is,” she said as she avoided eye contact with Cynthia and Rochelle.

“So, I remember you mentioning that you live near Capriccio and I was just having a drive,” he said suggestively. “So I thought that maybe I could swing by your place and pick you up,” he finally said. Desiree smiled. Took him long enough.

“Well, as it turns out, I am just bumming around. So yeah, let me text you my address,” she said cheerfully.

“Cool. See you soon,” he said before hanging up. Desiree looked up at Cynthia who was grinning widely.

“Did you just get a booty call?” she asked.  Desiree frowned and shook her head.

“No! God, why the hell would you come to that conclusion?” she asked.

“Let me text you my address?” Cynthia asked looking at her.

“Come on. It’s nothing like that. He just wants us to take a leisure drive. Nothing more,” she said as she got off the bed and then carefully stretched out the wrinkled covers. She looked over at Rochelle and Cynthia and wondered how she would get them off the bed. They never made the bed after sitting on it. It drove her mad. She had a system or as Rochelle liked to so fondly put it, OCD complex. She looked down at what she was wearing and then looked at the girls for approval. Rochelle rolled her eyes.