Lena
I finally made a decision. I would tell Gabriel that I was willing to become more intimate with him, but we had to keep a friend with benefits type of relationship strictly. That was all that I could offer.
It’d been two weeks since the hot air balloon date, and I couldn’t deny the physical chemistry between us got to me. I would talk to him later that day when I went over to No Sweat for lunch.
Proud of myself, I stood up from my desk with all of my production equipment on it and stretched my hands overhead.
A grin crossed my face as I rubbed my fingers across the keys of the keyboard on my desk. While I hadn’t come up with any new music, as a practice, I’d done some rearrangements of a couple of my favorite songs. One of them was my song, “Broken Kisses”.
I always wondered what it would sound like with a slower melody, but my production team at the time overruled me. Nate added his opinion by reminding me that while I was good enough at the lyrical side of things, I needed to be hands off when it came to production.
“Know your strengths. Producing ain’t one of them.”
Over the past few days, the curious side of me had won out over the ghosts of his voice. I let the song play for the fourth time in a row. I listened wistfully, swaying to the slower pace of the song.
While the song was about the missed opportunity of lost love, it still held the sweetness of love’s possibility. Before I knew what I was doing, I danced around my makeshift studio to my song, singing along with it. I felt uninhibited. And when I closed my eyes, I wasn’t surprised to see an image of Gabe staring back at me.
I danced and sang as if I were performing for him. For a tiny moment, I let myself feel all of the hopefulness of a relationship that I wouldn’t allow myself to fall into. In my own space that I’d created into a studio, I let myself be free.
The background bass guitar ramped up the song's mood, and I swung my hips from side to side. I remembered the joy I felt while writing that album, but this time it was coupled with new freedom.
“This is good,” I said when the song ended. No, it wasn’t a new song per se, but it felt energizing to produce something without any help from anyone.
But then the doubt moved in.
I was the only person who’d listen to the song. Maybe it wasn’t as good as I thought. Possibly, it was only my desire for it to be good that it sounded good to me.
My phone buzzed with a text message.
Wolf:1:00. You, me. Lunch at my office.
I rolled my eyes but grinned.
Lena:I remember.
Gabriel had gotten his car back from the shop. He’d sent me a picture of it, and it looked brand new.
This visit would be my first time going to No Sweat.
That reminder brought me back to the decision I’d made about our relationship.
Friends with benefits made the most amount of sense. We would both get our physical needs met and keep our emotions out of it. That way, this thing wouldn’t blow up in both of our faces.
I was pretty confident Gabe would go for it since he’d made it pretty clear that he was physically attracted to me. We could both have our desires met and then move on when the time came.
Exhaling, I lifted my chin, resolute that I’d talk to him during our lunch to clear the air.
I turned off all of my equipment and changed into a floral-patterned romper. While it wasn’t summertime officially, the temperatures had reached as high as ninety degrees. Almost everyone I talked to warned me to brace myself for the Texas summer and the potential triple digit temperatures.
I made sure to purchase extra summer clothing.
As I locked up the house to head to lunch, my phone rang. “Hey, Demetria,” I greeted. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” my assistant said. “I’m just checking in with you to make sure you’re okay.”
I got in the car and waited for the BlueTooth system to connect to my phone. “Everything’s peachy.”
“That’s good to hear. Well, I did want to follow up with you about a few things.”
