Bloom

Bloom Part 1

"Victoria," my boss called.

"Yes?" I perked up, turning my attention away from the Billboard magazine on my lap and onto him. Seeing who was standing there with him made me gasp an "oh." The warmth from their laughter was felt.

"Victoria, come meet our new artist Whitney," Clive said.

Part of me wanted to run over there like a child, but I knew better. I didn't want to make a fool out of myself nor make a bad impression. So I chose walking over racing. My smile could eat my face alive, that's how big it was.

Whitney was smiling too. She was causing a lot of buzz in New Jersey and some circles in New York knew about her too. Her voice was next level and Clive was convinced he struck gold with her. Plus her musical ties included her mother who is notable in the gospel community and her godmother is Aretha Franklin and her cousin, Dionne Warwick.

When Clive showed me a video of Whitney singing, I was paralyzed. All it took was one video to get that kind of reaction out of me. I wasn't expecting that huge voice to come out of that delicate being. What's more is that she's gorgeous.

We shook hands.

"Nice to meet you," she said in a soft, velvety, yet slightly hoarse voice.

"Likewise," I returned, grinning, still holding her hand.

Even though she was still smiling, it seemed like she was also thinking "you can let me go now," so I did, not wanting to come off like a creep.

"Clive told me a lot of good things about you," she said.

I glanced at Clive. "Did he? Spill the beans, Whitney."

They laughed again. I'm truly not a funny person, not characteristically so, but it feels good to make the people laugh sometimes.

"Oh girl, we'll have to talk it over lunch or something," she said, playing along.

I tried to suppress another massive smile. Did she want to have lunch with me? The Whitney Elizabeth Houston?

"You know how Clive is," she added, elbowing him carefully.

Pink-faced, he just laughed again, walking to his desk. "That's a good idea. You two should do lunch or dinner. We're all going to become very close with each other."

The inner me squealed. But outwardly I just nodded. "No, of course. Just let me know when you're—"

"How's tomorrow? Noon," Whitney smoothly interjected.

I felt Clive look at me.

"Sure," I accepted. "Yep, I can do that. Where should we—"

"Put your info in my phone," she interrupted once more, filling my hand with her black cased device. She topped this off with a reassuring smile. Then she walked past me, talking to Clive about something.

I had to compose my shock over the fact that I was inputting my contact information in Whitney's phone by her request. She was still talking to Clive as I realized what this lunch outing meant for me. I had to worry about an outfit, the location, how to not seem like a groupie...everything.

Her regal scent was near again and so was the flawless, soft skin of her slender arm. It rubbed against mine as she came to gently collect her phone from me. She didn't react, she just kept her eyes on her phone. A few seconds later, her eyes found mine.

"Okay, Victoria. Don't stand me up." She looked me up and down with playful sass, making me laugh this time.

"I won't, I promise."