“Smart lady.” I walked out of her closet and then out of her room before I took a seat on the new couch that was delivered today. She still had a few more pieces of furniture coming over the next few days, but the place looked good. I loved her style. It wasn’t too girly at all. In fact, it felt homey. The furniture was all black, but there were pops of aqua blue and gold through the apartment. I liked that she kept everything the same instead of each room having its own theme. Arielle seemed like anorganized woman who knew what she wanted, and I loved that about her.
It didn’t take her too long to come out dressed in some tight ass jeans and a white crop top with a pair of casual gold heels. My dick bricked up, and I ran a hand down my face as I counted to ten before I stood up.
“What’s wrong?” I heard her soft voice ask.
I held my finger up to let her know I needed a second. Finally, I stood and gathered her in my arms. This woman had no idea that she was literally my dream. From her ebony skin to her curvy hips and juicy booty, down to her French manicured toes.
I kissed her forehead before I grabbed her hand. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong, baby. Let’s get out of here.”
I held her hand the entire way down to my car. After I made sure she was situated in the passenger seat, I hopped into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the parking lot.
My phone connected to the Bluetooth in the car, and R&B played through the speakers. Arielle hummed softly to the songs as I rested my hand on her thigh. I enjoyed the ride to our destination more than I would have expected without any words exchanged between us. Most women would have asked a million questions by now, but my baby was okay with vibing, and I loved that. It made me want to surprise her every single day because she wouldn’t make it hard.
When we pulled up to a restaurant off the beach, her brow rose. Still, I didn’t say anything. I got out of the car and rushed to her side to help her out.
Inside the cozy restaurant, an instructor greeted us and guided us to a table. “Grab one of each item and then choose your table. Sit across from each other and get started when you’re ready. You can scan the menu on the cards left on each table and order right from the link if you’d like any food ordrinks. I’ll be walking around to give pointers, but please let me know if you need anything.”
As soon as the instructor walked away, Arielle clapped excitedly. “A sip and paint?”
“Yeah, but we paintin’ each other,” I replied as I grabbed two canvases, two water cups, a roll of paper towels, two packs of brushes, and two packs of paint.
“Oh, this should be good.”
Her smile stretched across her face. I wondered if she knew how beautiful she was as I followed her to a table. We sat across from each other. I couldn’t see her canvas, and she couldn’t see mine. The instructor came over and helped us set up before we got started.
“Better make sure you do a good job too,” I teased.
I’d never done no shit like this before. Hell, I’d barely taken a woman on a date before, because it normally made them read more into the situation than what it really was. This was new for me, but it felt right. It felt like this was exactly where I needed to be.
She kissed her teeth. “Boy, please. I know what I’m doing.”
“Yeah, aight. We gonna see. You want anything to eat or drink?”
“Let me see what they got,” she said as she used her phone to scan the code on the table. I did the same, and after a few minutes, we decided to share a pizza and get some wine.
Once that was settled, we got to work on our paintings. I studied her face and knew there was no way I would be able to capture her beauty. I wasn’t an artist. I actually wasn’t even creative. Denise got all those genes out of the two of us. Mama had her little arts and crafts and shit. Pops and I were more into sports or counting money, real talk.
It didn’t take long for our food to come. We put our paintings to the side while we ate, and I teased her about her painting,though I couldn’t even see it and knew mine was failing. She looked more like a scary doll on my canvas than anything, but I would never admit that.
“You must not know I know how to draw.” She giggled and then took a sip of her wine.
“Stick figures don’t count, Mermaid.”
She tossed an olive that had fallen off her pizza and onto her plate at me.
“Aye, she over here dirtying up the place,” I shouted.
Everyone in the room looked startled at my deep voice. Shit was funny to me. God forbid a Black man have some bass in his voice. I lived to make people uncomfortable. They’d better look at their fuck ass paintings and stop looking at me before I really caused a scene.
Arielle burst into laughter. “You are too much.”
No lie, I loved the fact that she didn’t get annoyed by my outburst. Her amusement for my antics was why she stood out to me in the first place. She was different from any woman I had ever encountered.
The instructor walked by, and I chose that moment to loudly say, “You was sayin’ my dick was too much last night too.”
“Oh my . . .” The instructor scurried away, and Arielle giggled.
“I absolutely was not. I’m a big girl. I was taking it just fine, thank you very much.”
