Nine o’clock came and Natalie was awakened by her cellphone ringing. Shit. She was late for work but when she tried to get up it was like a construction site was taking place in her head. She answered the phone on the fourth ring.
“Hm Hello.” She cleared her throat.
“Damn,” came the deep voice from the other end of the phone “you sound like you had testosterone shots for breakfast, I was going to offer some pancakes but…”
Natalie took her phone away from her ear to give the number another glance. She still did not recognize it.
“Who is this?!”
“Damn Ms. Redbottoms forgot me already.” She then vaguely recognized the voice as belonging to Travis, the guy she had only met last night. She contemplated just hanging up but didn’t want to be rude.
“Shut up. I’m late I’ll have to talk to you later.”
“Cool, I won’t hold you up. Have a good one pretty lady.”
Natalie rolled off the couch and ran into the bathroom. She rushed to get showered, applied lotion sparingly, and got dressed. She barely had enough time to fix up the messy bun she wore out last night before jetting to the front entrance to grab her keys. She did one last check in the mirror and ran out the door. After putting on her seatbelt and putting the car in reverse she returned it to park as she realized she forgot her cell phone inside. She sprinted back through her front door. It didn’t take her long to locate her phone as it was lit up on the side table. She swiped the screen of her iPhone down and realized she had missed quite a bit of messeges from Dwight. She read over them quickly even though she knew it would just throw her further behind.
<Dwight> I miss you
Blah blah blah, she thought
<Dwight> Sorry for being an asshole
Yadda yadda yadda.
There was one voice message in the mix that she could barely make out. Something about being a sweet girl and not deserving of the fuckery.
Ok ok ok. She glanced at the clock on the wall and sped up the pace.
<Dwight> I’m dealing with a lot please answer me.
He’s dealing with a lot? What about what I am dealing with because of him, she thought.
<Dwight> I’ll make it up to you.
<It is my fault for letting this go so deep.>
<I wish I would have met you at another time. >
<This is the happiest I’ve been in months.>
You just don’t understand what I’m going through.
The texts were sent individually causing a chain of messages in Natalie’s phone.
I swear 44 is entirely too old to be playing these type of games, Natalie thought, deciding not to text back right away.
Included in the text messages was a music link. She decided to hook her phone up to the radio and play the link in the car. It was a Bruno Mars song, ‘If I Knew’, and she knew the song well.
Finally in the car, tears threatened to dampen her cheeks as she got lost in thought at a red light. She was thinking of the first time she heard the song in Dwight’s presence. It meant next to nothing to her then, playing softly in the background of the studio where he instructed art courses and occasionally hosted events. She remembered every inch of her body, including her vagina, being covered in goosebumps as twenty pairs of eyes dissected her nudity. The fan was always on its job, blowing briskly overhead. It never did take long for her nipples to come out and greet everyone in attendance. The good old days, she thought to herself turning onto the highway, trying to focus on her drive and simultaneously become lost in her memories. Sometimes she would lay with her head resting on top of one arm and the other bent slightly over her head, so Rose Dawson of her. Other times she would stand, arms crossed vertically over her small breast barely hiding the nipple, her hands meeting right between her thighs c concealing her genitalia.
She would lay stone still, as instructed, her thighs pressed firmly together, nervously awaiting the alarm to sound. The fifteen minute poses always felt like sixty. Every now and then she would catch Dwight’s eyes lingering on her as he walked around, coffee cup in hand, assisting various students in the class. Occasionally, after their relationship began to flirt with informality, he would throw her a wink, a crazy face here and there that would no doubt throw the students off should they ever catch glimpse of it. They never did.
She signaled to get over into the right fast lane and let her mind wander some more. She remembered the first time she was brave enough to take him up on his constant invites to join him after class. She always dressed behind the wall divider at the back of the classroom near the tall brown door. Because of the nature of the class, the doors were built really tall where the window to allow light in was at least 8 feet from the ground. She always knew when the room was completely empty because she would hear the heaviness of the door as it forced its weight inside the frame. It never took her more than a few seconds to slip the short maxi dresses over her head. Still, she would wait, slightly impatient, while others tried to soak up a little more of Dwight’s attention. Then she would slip out, fully dressed and they would laugh for hours behind the locked door protecting them from others. She smiled just thinking about it.
She remembered the extremely long day of specials class. It was one of the one-day classes they held for couples or people that were not taking the course but just wanted to get away and have a good time doing something different. This particular session was one in which her assignment was to wear latex paint. When she arrived, she was both surprised and elated to find Dwight would be the artist to apply the paint to her while guests mingled and were lead to their seat by the hostess. The poses that day were all short and sweet. The many backgrounds they had spent sunrises to sunsets creating made the session even more imaginative and, Natalie would argue, successful. The post surveys revealed that attendees were highly satisfied with the class and the words “I got my money’s worth” was written verbatim quite a few times. Some bought gift certificates for their loved ones afterwards. Dwight made more money from this session then he had made during the whole eight-week course. After everyone cleared out they spent the rest of the time dancing to music and celebrating as they cleaned the room up. She remembered him requesting that she return to model for him again when he taught the class as an expedited three-week session. She agreed. He asked if they could get together the following night for drinks. She excitedly agreed to this as well. She could still feel the excitement that took over her body knowing she would not have to wait too long to be back in his presence.
Pulling into the parking lot she was reminded how quickly the honeymoon phase of their relationship lasted and the exact moment things got real. Their dates were fun for a while and then the first class of the new session came along. She remembered cleaning up the classroom after that heavy door closed. She welcomed the memory of sitting on the counter as Dwight’s hand ran up the side of her body, slowly over her breast and seductively up the side of her neck as he pulled her into a kiss. Pulling away he tilted his head to nibble and suck on her neck as she stared at the ceiling trying to will him inside of her. While his cologne fornicated with her senses he caressed her backside, he caressed her front side and as she sat on that counter he slid his right hand in-between her thighs ever so slow. He kept traveling until his index finger was close enough to feel the heat from the fiery want burning between her legs. A tad bit more and he had softly touched her clitoris. The suspense had built up enough tension to make her want to scream and she gasped when they connected. She enjoyed the feeling of what she had always known, that his hands were talented beyond reason. She’ll never forget how he felt so right inside her that first night. The sense of urgency was slightly heightened due to the expectancy of the cleaning crew. Her adrenaline used to pump whenever she thought of it. Now, walking into the emergency room to clock in, her muscle memory in her heart wasn’t the only placed that ached.
D's Quest for Extraordinary Pebbles 