Drizzled (BWWM)

Dancing

Blake

I had three days before my third date with Addy. I drove myself crazy waiting for the days to crawl by so I chose to distract myself with the wedding.

I found myself wondering if getting married was what Addy wanted. Ophelia once said that marriage was the ultimate goal for women but I got the sense that Addy wanted more than that. She was ambitious.

I tried my best to resist seeing her but I couldn't stop thinking about her. Eventually I asked her to take a walk with me on Thursday. She hesitated but said yes.

It was hard to walk and talk to each other as people silently judged us. For the first time in my life I put myself in black people's shoes and it left me feeling hatred for my own kind. I also felt horrible about the way I treated the help in the past. From time to time I'd been disrespectful to even Ophelia and she was the closest person I had to a mother. She had raised me like most maids raised rich white children.

We walked back to the bakery after her 30 minutes break was over. It was obvious that all the looks affected Addy when she pushed me away when I tried to kiss her outside of the bakery. She hurried into the bakery, I followed her inside and pulled her to me.

In her eyes was this horrible look of fear and I just wanted to kiss it better. To hold her until all her fears felt like they were outside our embrace. I hugged her until she melted against me then pulled back enough to kiss her nose.

"I'll see you on Saturday at 8pm," I whispered into her ear. She shuddered against me.

"Bring your dancing shoes," she said as she pulled away.

~

Ophelia caught me getting ready Saturday night as I flung the clothes she'd set out for me to the side. Her choices were okay but I wanted to wear a suit, something that showed I put in more effort.

"You men don't listen when ladies speak," Ophelia was leaning against the doorframe to my room. "I overheard Miss Addy tell you to put on some cool clothing and dancin' shoes."

"I want to put on something nice not just a dress shirt, suspenders and slacks."

"If she's taking you where I think she is, you better put on what I put out or you'll be looking like a sweaty fool," Ophelia shook her head, pushing herself from off the doorframe and closed the door behind her.

I stared at the clothes she put out and sighed because she was probably right. I was so desperate to impress Addy I was losing sight of why I was going out with her, to have fun and not die of a heat stroke.

Addy

I got to the bakery at around 7:50 and I couldn't stop fidgeting. Before I knew it I was pacing back and forth, wondering if it was a good idea to take Blake around black folks.

When I saw a black car pull up I decided it was too late to do anything about it. Blake got out of the car and that funny feeling down there started again the second I looked at him.

He was wearing a white form fitting shirt that showed off his muscles. His slacks were brown and his suspenders and bow tie were red. He looked delectable as I walked up to Blake and he reached for my hips. When his lips found mine, the kiss was gentle.

"We should get going if we want to have some time to talk. It gets very loud at the venue," I explained.

"Sure, should we take the car?"

"No, it's pretty close. Just tell your driver to be back at 11:00," Blake looked at me puzzled but went to the driver and gave him the instructions.