Some Things Never Change

“I’m a major art buff, I love anything to do with speech, drama, dance, literature and so on. I’m still undecided as to what I want to specialize in, so I just been kind of just taking classes that interest me and letting the credits accumulate. I feel like I’ve spent so many months at this humanities college that I should have at least three degrees.” She joked.

“I love all forms of art but acting is my passion, it is what I love. It has kept me grounded whenever I fretted about the rent I barely made, and the fact that I didn’t have enough to send to help my folks at home when I can barely feed myself. This is a dream come true and I feel like all my efforts have finally paid off. Someone has recognized my talent for what it’s worth and the feeling is awesome. I’m really glad about this opportunity and I can’t afford to let it slip through my fingers” She gushed.

They had managed to eat through two platters of Buffalo wings and the beer bottles stacked up as the night progressed. Between them no topic was sacred they discussed everything from music to movies and the debates got heated between them. She was old school hip hop, he liked to keep things current, and she argued that current music could not compete with back in the day. He disagreed, and they both had good arguments and respected each other’s opinions and agreed to disagree. He was into trap music and she thought it was garbage. At the movies he loved action/suspense. She would have dragged him to watch mostly romance/comedies. He knew with her by his side he wouldn’t mind that much. Wayne doubted he would be able to focus on the movie anyways.

“Thanks for a great evening, got to get up early for my final day of work, can’t afford to leave in bad form in case this doesn’t pan out and I need a reference.”

“Not a problem. Just let me settle this bill here and I’ll take you home.”

Even though it had been a long day, and they had spent a few hours at the bar, he still didn’t want the night to end. Reluctantly, he paid the bill and then escorted her to his car. He searched his brain but couldn’t come up with a time he found a woman’s company so pleasurable and they hadn’t even had s*x. He had even taught her how to play darts. The night had flowed smoothly as they took turns and threw darts, shared jokes and real life stories.

He knew she caught the other women that stared at him. She even laughed and drew his attention to some of them that moved like vultures that circled their prey in behavior. When she went to the bathroom at least three of them swooped down on him. She hadn’t seen the other women as competition and it didn’t seem to annoy her one bit.

To him he had to be the nice guy because these women could turn out to be his next client. His dates always had troubled grasping that concept and their jealousy shone through but Lou here was unperturbed and it bothered him. Here he was already getting in over his head, thinking of this as a date. She looked like she wanted him to keep things strictly professional, could it be that she wasn’t interested in a relationship outside of work.

She felt something he was sure of it. He could have sworn that the mutual attraction they shared wasn’t one sided, he refused to believe or accept anything less than that fact. He’d seen how her eyes lingered over his body when she thought he wasn’t looking. He was no saint, but his mother, whenever she was sober, had impressed upon him to not be like his worthless dad and always treat women well. Treat them like how you would want a man to treat your own daughter when the time comes. He could never fathom how a man could molest a child and feel that he should get away with it. Prison and the fires of hell was far too good for those monsters as far as he was concerned.

He never played women against each other and was always firm and did straight talk with them. He let them know from the get go how he got down.  He informed them that he wasn’t into long term relationships. He never tricked a woman into s*x, nor did he drug them or cheat on them. He figured it all out on his own from having watched the mischief his friends got themselves into from the outset.

Figured that if he was precise and direct from the beginning of the relationship he could avoid the unnecessary drama that accompanied mistreated women. He saw the pitfalls men set for themselves when they set out to deceive and he considered himself smarter than that. He exchanged numbers with Lou before he stopped by her apartment. They would make arrangements to meet later on so that she could help with his acting and perfect their chemistry both on and off stage.