Rendezvous at Silver Lining

Divinity's POV: Escape artist

The word shocked is an understatement to describe how I’m feeling right now. Why was my boss here, while I’m half naked and my nosy ass friends are on the way. I needed this situation to end before it began and for damn sure before snoopy and goofy shows up.

"May I come in?"

Damn! I wanted to say absolutely not, but I do have his laptop so, I’ll make this quick. He walked in and passed me after inviting him in. He stood near the island. I go to the stove to stir my greens and calm my nerves, tryna think of a way out of this awkward as hell situation. I walked back over to him and offered him a seat at the island. He apologized for the inconvenience, but this asshole didn’t seem the least bit sorry. Our small interaction cut into my rushing him out of here time, and I needed to take out my food. My skills in the kitchen were on display, and Mr.McCoy was complimenting the smells of the dinner I made for me and my besties. We exchanged some banter, which was surprising to me. In all my years, I’ve never been comfortable around him in the slightest to even make small talk. If it wasn’t work related, it didn’t exist between us. It could be my being home or my half nakedness that's giving me some courage… Thank god I haven’t been drinking. I wind up offering him some food, and he accepts. Finally, getting the chance to go get his laptop, I do just that. I swear everywhere I go, I can feel his eyes on me. This man is burning holes in the back of my head, and I can’t take much more. Coming from my room, I hand over his laptop, and my mind blazes through the scene from today. All that faux confidence from earlier immediately evaporated. My body began to heat up at the thought of him doing all those things to me. Those sounds, his grunts, the climax… f**k!! I need him to go.

Our hands linger on the laptop together and I pull away. I scramble to the kitchen to keep myself busy. Yeah… It was time for him to go. He got a plate and his laptop back. It's a good ass Friday for him. After we said our goodbyes, I headed to the door to escort him out. But of course, s**t aint never that easy.

"Oh, um, Ms. Loore. I have something like a favor to ask of you."

Come the f**k on man!!! What is it now? I stopped to look at him.

"What's that?"

"Well, you know of the Blakfield’s charity event they host every year, correct?"

"Yes, I do."

"I was hoping for you to accompany me tomorrow. I understand that it's last minute but I would be honored if you could come with me."

I know you f*****g lying! He tryna take me to that event? First off, Sarah will have my f*****g guts. I know I interact with Mr.McCoy’s clients practically all day long, but it’s another thing to be in their environment. I’m not good in situations like these.

"Don't you usually take Sarah?"

Your girl was panicking. I was not trying to go. Take that hoe, Sarah.

What? She’s good enough to f**k and take the last 3 years, but all of a sudden, he wants to take me? I’m starting to think maybe Robin was right. If that’s the case, he can go screw himself.

"Yes, I have, but I wanted you to escort me this year. You've done such excellent work and you have always impressed me with your capabilities and work ethic. But this last deal, you have exceeded any and all expectations. Not to say, this is some kind of award for your labor. I want to show everyone the glue to my company, so you can receive just as many accolades as me, if not more. Mr. Becker was the one to propose this, and I must say I agree. I wish I had thought of it but I would be remiss if I didn't ask you. So please, say yes you'll come."

Why is he doing this all of a sudden? He ain't even come up with this idea himself.

"I don't know. I'm not really good in situations like that and I don't even have a dress for that type of occasion. I wouldn't want to cause you any embarrassment or say the wrong, or use the wrong utensils. Hell, I'm not good with table manners… and, and, what if I say the wrong thing to the wrong person and smack a b***h cause she's talking cra…"

I threw a hand over my mouth. I needed to stop talking. The more I think about it, the more pissed I become. You want to show me the slightest attention because some other guy comes into the picture and will do what you wouldn’t?

"You will be fine because I will be there every step of the way. Don't worry about what anyone has to say. You’re wonderful. You’ll do an excellent job. If it's about clothing, I will send someone tomorrow morning to pick you up and take you to a shop. There, you can pick out a dress and get your hair and makeup done. You’ll do great and I'm sure you will look spectacular as well."

I know I’ve said this a few times already but I KNOW YOU f*****g LYING!! The hell he thinks this is, Pretty Woman? Cause I for sure ain’t no prostitute for sale and if he thinks giving me a makeover and some 3000 dollar cloth is gonna make me melt, he got another thing coming. I was on my way to tell his ass off, when he opened the door and of course Robin and Kris are at the damn door. I swear they're always wearing those damn smug smiles of theirs, that I want to cleanly slap from their faces.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

THIS… is what I was trying to avoid. I did not need him here and for them to show up. Now, I gotta explain this s**t away so they won’t jump to conclusions. And here comes Kris’s big mouth.

"Hey Vinnie. What's up?"

Too late.

Kris had the biggest smile on her face, while Robin looked between me and Mr.McCoy. They had bags in their hands from the food, drinks and stuff needed for the next day. This nightmare day just will not end, will it?

"The sky. Are y'all gonna come in or do you like holding bags at other people’s door, gawking inappropriately?"

I wanted to move this along and get Mr.McCoy outta here. He just so happened to pick up on the vibes and started fishing for answers.

"Good evening Ms.Manzitto. Is there a problem? Everyone looks kinda shocked and/or suspiciously surprised."

He looked between all of us and could tell, I was pissed and uncomfortable, Robin was confused but entertained and Kris was simply enjoying the f*****g show.

"G-good evening Mr.McCoy, everything's alright… uh, how bout you?"

"I’m well. I was having a lovely chat with Ms.Loore here. I’m sorry. I don’t think we’ve had the privilege of meeting? What’s your na-"

"Kris! No, we've never met before, and I’m sure as hell happy we're meeting now. I oughta slap my friends for keeping such a diamond in the rough to themselves."

Mr. McCoy reached out his hand for a shake and Kris eagerly took it with all smiles. I rolled my eyes at her foolishness. He smiled as well.

"Diamond in the rough, am I? I’ve been told I had good rugged looks, not too sure about that diamond part. Although, I do have an eye to pick em."

Mr. McCoy glanced at me and I looked away. This man can make a statue swoon, I swear. Right now, all I want to do is eat and drink. Hopefully, the drinks will help me forget this crappy day.

"Ok, ok. You two come in and you, I mean, Mr.McCoy, have a good night. Please get going so jump 1 and 2 can come in."

He looked confused by what I said.

"What do you mean? Jump? Do they like bungee jumping or something?"

Me and the girls all burst out laughing. I figured I’d give him the know how.

"Not at all. They don’t bungee jump, skydive, nor jump off buildings, but they sure do jump to conclusions. The moment they see, hear, or even sniff something close to gossip, they pounce on it like a pack of wild animals."

"Hey!! Only gossip concerning you or Binny is what I’m interested in."

Kris folded her arms over her chest and did her famous pout. I looked over at her and smiled.

"Right. Well, I’m going in. You both have 10 seconds to enter or leave cause I’m closing this door. Have a goodnight Mr.McCoy. Get home safely."

I turned to go further in my apartment and was stopped by a hand.

"I’ll see you soon Ms.Loore. I’ll have a car here by 10am and then I’ll pick you up myself at 8. Remember, I will not take no for an answer. Have a wonderful night Ms.Loore."

With that, he held my hand, kissed the back of it and left. We watched him walk away. I, ever so slowly, turned my head back around to see the devilish grins. I rolled my eyes and walked into my apartment. Binny and Kris walked in after me, closing and locking the door. They threw their belongings on the couch and the snacks and drinks on the island. I went over to the stove, unwrapped the food, grabbed plates and utensils and prepared a plate for myself. I picked up my phone and turned to my “vibe playlist” and played “Conversation Pit” by Junetober and took a seat in one of the island chairs. Kris and Binny just watched me, I'm assuming to address the whole situation, which I was not gonna do. I looked at them both, while placing another fork full of food in my mouth.

"So, y'all gonna stand there all night or y'all gonna get comfortable and eat?"

Kris rolled her eyes, went to the bags and took hers and Binny's to my room. She changed and came back out. Binny laughed and grabbed some wine glasses out of the cabinet and poured all of us a glass and took a seat on the long section of the couch, adjusting her body to look at me. Kris made herself a plate and grabbed one of the glasses and sat at the island with me. We sat in silence to see who would break first and of course it's always Kris.

"So, we playing the quiet game now?"

Binny took a loud ass sip and cleared her throat.

"It would appear so, considering Vinnie ain't tryna spill no tea? I know we got some wine, but this glass can fit tea too and I'm tryna sip on both tonight."

She was all smiles and stared daggers into the side of my face. I was too concerned with the delicious food in front of me to even be bothered to answer her.

"Oooh ok. So now we ain't answering nobody? We just deaf out here huh?"

Binny raised an eyebrow at me and took another sip of her wine and sat it down on a coaster. She got up from her seat and moved around it to lean against the back of the couch. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at me.

"DIVINITY!!!"

I jumped at the loud noise, and dropped my fork on the plate. I turned to her, pissed off.

"What the f**k is your problem!"

"You're the one with the problem."

Kris interjected, looking at me with the look that said say I'm lying.

"You weren't answering so I thought you went deaf for the last few minutes. Had to make sure you were good."

Binny had the nerve to say that to me, still smiling, which was beginning to annoy me.

"No I'm not deaf or at least I wasn't. But since people yelling, maybe, hell!!!"

Neither of them gave a crap about my weak attempt of avoiding the conversation we all knew would happen sooner or later. I glanced at both of them, seeing as though they weren't letting up, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

These grown ass women squealed so loud and clapped their hands. I rolled my eyes at their childish behavior but couldn't say s**t cause I'm the same way.

"About damn time you stopped tryna hold the goods. I need to know everything and I mean everything. You and Binny work together. Your poor girl here on the outskirts struggling and s**t and y'all got me thirsty as hell to hear the tea. I got a mop. Now spill."

Laughing at Kris’s nonsense, I turn my attention to her.

"Where do I start?"

"Start at the offi-"

"Naw, naw… let's start with tonight."

Binny interrupted Kris, just to start with the bullshit.

"Binny, can we not speak about that tonight?"

At this point, I was definitely whining but I did not wanna rehash tonight's events.

"Why not Vin? What happened tonight that you don't want us to know about? You spread something or were you sucking something?"

Kris was smirking, sipping the hell outta her wine looking at me above the rim with squinted eyes, tryna see if I was hiding something. I cut my eyes at her cause she knows damn well she's wrong for that.

"Now see, this the s**t I be talking about and exactly why I ain't wanna bring it up. Y’all's perverted ass minds think everybody out here hunching on folks. Make me sick!"

We all began to laugh because they knew what I said was true.

"Whaaattt? What I say?"

"Stop playing dumb K, you know damn well what you said."

"Hey… It is what it is over here."

Binny raised her hands in mock surrender because she can't deny a thing. I love my besties so much.

"Yeah I know you can't Binny. Anyway, nothing happened. He came here for his laptop. We chatted for a second, made him a plate then he left. I honestly thought it was yall I was ringing up. I forgot to look at the camera or ask who it was."

"Girl are you crazy?! You can't just be buzzing people up and not knowing who it is. You're gonna let a Dahmer or someone up like that, keep playing around."

Kris looked at me after saying that like I slapped her in the face. I smiled at her reaction.

"I know. I was thinking the same thing. I usually do but today was not my day."

I finished my food and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Binny finally got herself a plate and took my seat and I took hers with my wine in hand. We kinda all did our own thing for a bit. I laid my head back on the chair listening to the music and letting the wine soothe me. My balcony door was still open, allowing a gentle breeze to flow through my place. I pulled my knees to my chest and pulled the shirt down over my legs. Kris and Binny both finished eating and put the dishes away, grabbed the snacks in the bags, the wine and took a seat beside me on the couch. We sat huddled up and Binny brought a throw blanket to put over us while Kris topped off all our drinks.

We sat in comfortable silence for a few more minutes before I decided to speak up.

"Neither of us spoke of the scene from his office today. I don't know why he didn't but I was super grateful for it. Tonight was the first time we had a casual conversation, of sorts."

"I would hope so. You saw him f*****g. At this point yall should be braiding each other's hair."

I snickered at Binny's words and reached across Kris to slap her knee.

"Shut up Binny, damn. I'm tryna hear this s**t. Go, go, continue Vin."

I looked at Kris, who was smashed between Binny and I. She pulled the blanket up to her neck, locked into the conversation, waiting for me to finish. I nudged her with my shoulder and continued."

"Y'all both goofy. Anyway, he complimented how the food smelled, and I offered him some and made him a plate."

"Ooh, you made him a plate?"

"Now look who's interrupting."

Binny said as she glanced at Kris with a bored look.

"Shush, bitch."

Kris looked at Binny with her finger over her mouth to silence her and Binny looked over at me with a look at this s**t face. These two are always cracking me up.

"Yes, I made him a plate to go. I got his laptop and gave it to him quickly. Those images started flooding my mind and I needed to give us space. By then, he was here too long for me and was tryna get him up outta here. Then, he asked me for a favor. THIS MAN asked if I could go with him to the Blakfield’s charity event. I almost choked."

"GET THE FUC- He asked you to go with him? Doesn't he usually take that hoe?"

"Ha, that's what I asked Binny. He just said yep, but you're going."

"What and who is the Blakfield’s charity event?"

I almost forgot. Kris doesn't know what it is.

"It's some big ass event for disgustingly rich people to give back to a bunch of charity's in order to ease their consciousness. Mr.McCoy usually takes his secretary but now, especially since Damien, another sexy billionaire has made his interest in Divinity fully known, he now, wants to be doing the most. You don't even like things like that. He's funny for real and I told you he was feeling you, Vinnie."

Binny looked annoyed.

"Girl, why you upset? I thought you wanted me and him to get together?"

I was genuinely confused by her reaction. I swore she wanted me to get with him.

"I do, if that's what you want. It just irks me that, if he indeed has feelings for you, why wait all this time? After confirming he definitely does feel something for you, it's pissing me off because you were thinking you weren't his type and something was wrong with you. Don't mess with my friend like that. It takes another man to come and do what you won't? And now, you gonna- no scratch that- WE, gonna have to deal with Sarah because she probably thought she was end game. When in reality, she was just a placeholder."

Kris and I were cracking up, but I honestly felt loved. She was angry for me and I appreciated her for that. Kris looked over at Binny and threw an arm around her and laid her head on her shoulder. I looked deep into her eyes.

"Thank you for being angry for me. I thought the same thing to be honest. I don't know if he really wants to be with me or not but it won't be as easy as inviting me to some event that we ALL know I won't be comfortable attending. Me going to the event was Mr.Becker’s idea, so I don't know if it's even what we think. I'll go, especially for Mr.Becker. You know I love him."

Binny looked over at me not buying any of what I was saying. I still wasn't sold on him actually being into me, but she was.

"Who's Mr. Becker?"

I turned to Kris. I definitely need to fill ole girl in. She might be right… We were starving her from the tea.

"He's Damien's father. He's who I interacted with at B&M Tech. He's the CEO and is the sweetest man ever and his wife. Damien is taking over for him by the end of the year. Today was the first time I've ever seen Damien."

"So, let me get this straight. Your boss has ignored you up until today, and that's because this Damien guy came into your life, d**k swinging, claiming you or at least trying to. Your boss been screwing his secretary… I mean… cliche much, who's always accompanied him to this big event, that he now wants to take you to?"

Kris looked between me and Binny a few times after her statement then went quiet for a second. She then howled with laughter.

"Girl this some s**t right here. Now see, yall gonna make me wanna go work with y'all so I can stay updated. Yeah there's no if’s about this. Your boss def likes you and doesn't want no one else to have you. But, this Damien sounds real determined to have you. If I was you, I'd date both. Especially since your boss was f*****g another b***h and s**t. This could be your payback. He wants to have his cake and eat it too, why can't you?"

I was speechless. My friends are definitely clones cause they damn near be thinking the same thing. I smiled at Kris and Binny as they continued to converse. My friends were super loyal and loving. They were absolutely gorgeous too. Binny is Italian and Kris is my Puerto Rican/ black baby. She's this gorgeous caramel, with dark curly brown hair with blonde highlights. Her hair went to her mid back. She's 5’4 and another thick girl, except she has a flat stomach. She has small breast with wide hips and a big ole booty. Kris has the most beautiful eyes. One green and one green and brown. She was truly a beauty, they both are. After I finally stopped checking out my friends, I decided to break up their lil gathering.

"He's sending a car over in the am to take me to some shop to get a dress and my hair and makeup down for the event."

"ITS TOMORROW?!!"

Kris yelled so loud in my ear, I screamed too.

"DAMN b***h! Yes. My bad, I thought I said that. Now stop YELLING IN MY APARTMENT!!"

Then here comes Kris’s smart ass.

"… as you yell."

I looked at Kris and Binny and we all laughed.

"Heffa, I don't care. It's my apartment."

We laughed some more and started in on the snacks and got more wine.

"You know you're going to do that shopping/ makeover thing tomorrow, right?"

Binny looked at me, waiting for me to oppose.

"Yeah I know. There's no point in fighting him. I just hope I don't embarrass myself or anyone for that matter."

"Girl, bye. You're amazing at what you do and you're beyond gorgeous. Who are you really gonna embarrass?"

Kris folded her arms waiting for me to tell her who we may have beef with. These girls are like bodyguards and I love me some them.

"Hahaha. Ok, y'all win."

We talked more about the whole day and the craziness that went on, when our conversation was interrupted by my phone going off from a message.

"Who's that messaging you this late. The only two who would be, are sitting here."

Binny pointed to both herself and Kris, as they smiled at the implications. I looked down to see it was Mr.McCoy.

Phone Messages:

Mr.McCoy: Sorry to bother you again. I was just sending over things you need to know for tomorrow. My driver, Tom, will be at your place at 10am sharp to take you to Carrina's. Everything is booked and ready for you. You can also invite Ms.Manzitto and Kris to go with you. Everything will be on me.The colors are green, gold, and black. Please make sure the things you pick out have those colors or one of those colors in them. Then, you will head to Georgia's Spa to get your hair done. I will send a makeup artist to your apartment complex. She will be there around 5:30pm. I, again, will be picking you up from your place tomorrow at 8pm. I look forward to seeing you, Ms. Loore. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Me: Thank you for your generosity. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a goodnight.

End of phone messages.

I read aloud his message to the girls and they were excited. I, on the other hand, was a little nervous. Too much was going on at once. Binny brought me out of my thoughts.

"Ooohhh, so we can go and get dolled up too? And it's on the boss?"

Binny was super excited she got to get a spa day and it's free.

"Hey. Did you ever message Damien?"

Damn. I was so close. I thought Kris didn't remember.

"I didn't. I really don't know what to say and I don't have it in me to do it tonight. I may just message him tomorrow. I'm gonna see him anyway at the event. Maybe I should surprise him at the banquet and not tell him."

I was thinking hard about what I should do, although I found myself a little excited at surprising him. A small smile crept onto my face. I looked up and saw Binny and Kris smiling at me.

"What?"

They looked at each other and said nothing, then back at me. I don't even care enough to deal with what's in their heads. We finally put on a movie, pigged out and drank. I was silently praying for tomorrow to run smoothly.