Strings Attached (On-going)

11. HEAT

The weather was finer and clearer than it had been throughout the previous week. The Sunday breeze was fulfilling. The blue sky was adorned with a mild sunshine, touched by the brightness of the silver linings of beautifully shaped clouds.

I decided to grace the occasion with a simple peach midi dress, a pair of black stiletto heels and a black clutch bag. I put on a nude make up ignoring Beth's obnoxious sentiments, as I enjoyed the feel of my beryl earrings, Beth had gotten them for me on my twentieth birthday, I coifed my afro  hair up into a top knot.

The drive from Inglewood to Culver city was less than thirty minutes. Nourishing our souls with heart calming tunes from Kat Cunning, the tips of our fingers were slightly laced. Dave fused about how excited he was to see his friend again after a long while. According to him, Matthew was one of his closest pals at work until he was transferred upon his own insistence.

We found an appropriate spot on the parking lot. Right before we exited the car, Dave planted a soft kiss on my lips and whispered, "have fun"
"I'll definitely do", I replied. Stepping out of the car, we were welcomed by the presence of a handful of other guests who had just arrived too.

On the upper front of the house, the word  "MASHELO" was beautifully crafted with blue balloons, lit with twinkle lights. Apparently, MASHELO was a blend of Matthew and Botshelo. We crossed the oblong lawn walking between hyacinth and rose flowers, rooted in gray pots. The scents of the flowers had engulfed the entrance.

Walking majestically hand in hand, we entered the house as I clung to his arm as if the midnight navy blue tuxedo he wore gave me some security. We were welcomed by the Couple, I immediately recognised them, from a picture Dave had shown me earlier. Matthew's beard was cut down to the lowest level, unlike the thick and grown but sharply shaped beard I had seen in the photo.

He wore a simple dark turquoise blue Kaftan with stripes of gold stretching from his left shoulder, to the bottom of the hem of his shirt. I couldn't keep my eyes off the bride, she was tall, but a little lower than her groom, slim and and her skin tone darker than mine, mid to light brown. Botshelo, wore a blue net lace gown, her drapes falling off her shoulders gracefully, her dress fitting enough to reveal her round bottom and firm waist. She wore a smile that shone even brighter than the holographic eye glitter she wore around her almond eyes. Sitting upon her loose curls was was a golden rose flower crown. Her amethyst earrings towered over her shoulders silently.

That was a perfect couple right there.

At the far end of the hall was a long charcuterie table. The dish covers probably hid under them assorted meats, cheese, fruits, bread and other mouth watering foods, that made my stomach churn at the sight. Right opposite the table was another long table stuffed with drinks of different kinds. Guest tables were arranged in a perfect circle in the elegant and vast hall, leaving a bare middle under the gigantic cascade chandelier.

After what seemed like a forever, we exchanged warm pleasantries introducing ourselves. From our conversations, I got to know that Botshelo was from Botswana, she came to the United States three years ago to acquire her doctorate degree.

Dave gave them a present he had brought along for them before we headed to the vast unoccupied space in the hall where a few other guests stood chatting indistinctly over the solemn music. He went ahead to introduce me to a few more people from his workplace who had also come from Inglewood.

About an hour later, the "MASHELO night", as they had dubbed it, began. Everyone was seated at tables with their name tags. We sat with two other couple, Micah and Janice, who never stopped touching her face.

Matthew told his story of how he met Botshelo at Gospel concert in Arizona. After the show, he and his friends had gathered in front of the podium chatting, "they all lived in Arizona and I was the odd one", he said, "so I wanted to stay an hour more, with them cos I had to return the same night" he turned to smile at someone in the back, "y'all, appreciate my man for me, Flynn, he invited me to the concert guys, and that's the reason I'm married to this heavenly body right here", his statement caused smiles across the room as we applauded, all our eyes directed to Flynn as he waved back. He continued, that as they talked, he spotted Botshelo standing alone, looking around as though she was searching for someone. He excused himself from the group and went over to her. They had talked for some minutes and exchanged contacts. "Our friendship began the same night", he said. "So today I want to thank God, first of all, and then thank my friends, for inviting me to the concert, and- thank you babe", he turned to Botshelo who was blushing profusely behind him, "thanks for attending the concert, I'll forever remember that night", he raised his glass, "to Botshelo!"

"To Botshelo", we all chorused, raising our glasses in the air.

After food and drinks served by ourselves, the couple had their first dance of the night. Slow dances were not really my thing, neither were wild ones, so basically, I didn't like to dance, my sister was rather the opposite, who had always wanted to go broadway with her dancing career.

Few couples joined them in the middle after a while. "May I please have a dance?", Dave asked stretching out his hand to me. I took it and we both stood up. We walked up to the middle and joined the other couples. I placed my left hand on his left shoulder and held the other. He slid his left hand around my torso and held my right hand too.

We moved slowly to the rhythm of Savage Garden's "Truly, madly, deeply."
When Adele's "make me feel your love" came through I couldn't help but allow memories to crawl in and whenever I closed my eyes, all I saw was Oscar, the love of my life-not long ago.

In order to give reality a chance to humour me, I placed my head on Dave's chest, right then, I felt I was in the right arms. We moved slowly-left, right.. left, right, and when the music came to a stop, Dave pressed his lips onto my forehead ever so passionately.

We spent just a few minutes saying our goodbyes to the couple, and headed back to Inglewood as the night was still young. We got to my apartment before 10pm. The street was so alive, it felt like daybreak had just began. "I had an awesome time", I said,

"your dancing skills are dope", he replied sarcastically, but knew I tried, than I would normally do.

Ambling into the bathroom, I took off my lashes and wiped my face slowly with my face wipe. I quickly freshened up and changed into my flowered night shirt. I retrieved my phone to look at some photos Dave and I had taken at the dinner party. Just then my doorbell rang. I wondered aloud, who was at my door at 10pm. I walked to door and looked through the peep hole.

There was Dave.

I shuddered with both excitement and confusion at the sight of him, wondering why he was back. Had something happened?. I quickly opened the door for him, "Dave?..did something happen?", I asked, locking the door behind me.

"No, nothing.. nothing happened, it's just-" he trailed off, heightening my nervousness and confusion. He came closer.... and closer ....and closer till our bodies were touching. He stared squarely into my eyes, with a palpable intensity.

"If something happened-", before I could finish my expression of concern in a full essay, our lips collided. Mild heat emanated from his moistened lips. His lips grazed over mine slowly, shooting ripples through my body. His left hand cupped by face as the other rounded my waist, pulling me even closer. I put both of my arms around his neck caging him. As if to ask for permission, his tongue pushed even deeper.

I broke off trying to be sure everything was fine,"Dave you know you can-", he cut me off ubruptly, deepening the kiss,"It's you I want, Lisa, just you", he mumbled.

Okayyy!

I smiled against his lips, butterflies in my stomach. He slid his hand under my night shirt, over my bare thigh. He had already taken off his suit and bowtie, so I found it easier unbuttoning his shirt.

We started moving our feet in unison further from the door. Managing to keep our titillating posture,we paused after every two steps until we finally found ourselves in my bedroom. He undid my buttons hastily as I undid his, the heat between our bodies intensifying each passing second. We climbed onto the bed and got under the covers of my thick blanket, the printed yellow birds smiling down at us. Dave straddled on top of me, as I unbuckled his leather belt. He removed my night shirt leaving my bare body. He ogled at me for a while and reunited our lips in sync motion.
His powerful hand travelled over my body slowly, stopped in between my thighs. I moaned.
Asking for permission, he slowly unnerved the walls of my moist channel.

I steadied my mind, as if I was listening to my favourite music, I closed my eyes and allowed the atmosphere to clothe me.

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