The Baker And The Queen Pin

11.) Kindred Souls Unite

~~~Maria

I see his eyes drift to the scar on my right hand, I see his eyes look at it and then focus on me. I was driving my same Chrysler 300, 'A beautiful car,' he says to me 'Though not as beautiful as I am,' I blush, feeling myself tingle like a high-schooler again. I wore a long-sleeved white turtleneck sweater, black jeans, and white slips. He was wearing a black button-down shirt, khakis, and black Nike boots. He looked good and he wore a light jacket. Maryland has always been fickle about its weather, it was 80 degrees yesterday and now it's barely over 60. The weather may be fickle but I refuse to be fickle.

'How are you?' He says with a smile. I reply, "I've been better," I say, indicating the bump I have on the back of my head. He gets in the car and the faint smell of beer is obvious. Was he drinking because of me? Was he nervous to meet me? It's then that he gets in the car and says, 'I'm sorry I smell of beer. I was having a conversation with my son,' I smell him and say, "Was it too intense that you had to grab a beer?" 'No,' he says but then he corrects himself, 'Yes, my children and I have a strained relationship,'

I nod and say, "I understand, I had one with my dad," He looks at me, curiously and says, 'Same if my dad ever showed up. He showed up to go to a party and he was almost always drunk as a skunk,' I laugh as I say, "Drunk doesn't even compare to my dad. This man was on every drug in the world especially when he wanted to try something new,' He looks at me sympathetically and says, 'Damn, that bad?'  I nod and say, "Yes but it could be worse. At least he tried to be a dad when he wanted to be,"

I nod at him and say, "We should go get something to eat, something flavorful," I say with a smile. He then laughs and says, 'Except Chipo's. I don't want to get shot again,' I laugh and say, "Of course not," feeling a twinge of guilt, "I'm sorry that happened to you," He looks at me and says, 'It's not your fault. I chalk it up to Bodymore Murderland,' We both laugh as we drive this time, we go to a good chain restaurant.

"So how about we go to TGI Monday's?' He says with a smile. "They work like it's Monday, slow and unreliable,' He laughs and says, 'Not the one out Timonium, they work like it's Friday especially if you tip well plus I know the manager,' A smile formed on my face as we both drove off to Timonium, the car ride was silent for a few minutes before he says, 'I'm a rather blunt man so I have to ask, what happened to your hand?' The one thing I was dreading he would notice, the one thing I had to accept.

"Unfortunately, I cut myself cooking a few days ago. It was a pretty deep scratch," He nods and says, 'I understand. It happens all the time. Do you have any medicine for it?' I then say, "Medicine? I don't need that. The doctor says it wasn't too deep," As we keep going, I notice his worry getting more and more apparent and then I finally break the silence, "We can go to a pharmacy if you want," He spoke up and said, 'I'd appreciate it. I just want to change the bandages,' I found myself, blushing.

We detour and go to the pharmacy. As we go to the pharmacy and I see him grabbing all kinds of medical equipment. The EMTs at my job said I would be okay but I didn't see them use all of this extra medical equipment I think to myself. Maybe it's because it's stronger medication, he gets to the point where I look at some of the prices of these things and think no way in hell I'd paid this much money. Even though I have this kind of money, bulk is always better I think to myself.

He walks to the register and I see what he got: high-grade bandages from what I could see. Everything rang up to a price I wasn't comfortable with looking at. "You don't have to pay for this," I say to him. He looks at me with a stern face and says, 'But I want to,' I then try to assert myself, "I said you don't have to pay," He turns to me, his eyes were caring but strong and I found myself, submitting to him.

After he paid for everything, he asked the cashier for a unisex bathroom and I saw his tall stature. He made me feel small but safe, he made me feel like I could do anything. We walked to the unisex bathroom and I see his warm eyes as he undresses the wound. He sees how deep and ugly it is and before he does anything else, he looks at me and says, 'This is a rather deep cut,' I say to him, "Well, I was very busy and I wasn't paying a lot of attention," I say it, trying not to reveal just how nervous I really am.

It's then he says, 'It's okay, I completely understand. Sometimes these things happen,' he says in an understanding voice. He begins to clean the wound gently, scraping all of the dried blood off of my skin. As he cleans it, I see how he takes time to stop me from bleeding, to clean up the excess wounds and how he takes time to wrap it. After he's finished, I feel almost relieved, the pain had gone down considerably. He also kissed the bandage and said, 'It'll get better soon,'

I grab his face with both hands and kiss him, his soft lips comforting me and each time, it was deeper until I pushed my tongue in his mouth. I take my time, coiling it around his as he follows my lead all the way up until he gently pulls me away and sucks on my neck. He uses his oversized soft hand on my face as he sucks on my neck and I moan a little bit in pleasure. It's then that he stops himself and he says, 'We should go to TGI Monday's I walk out of the bathroom, my hair down and I was clearly flustered.

My bandages were new and he cleaned up everything and my hickey was apparent. The cashier then said, 'I hope you all found our bathroom to be of good standards,' with a smile. He was an old man and it seemed like this was a part-time job. Some part of him must have enjoyed this. It's then that Booker smiles and says, 'The best clean bathroom I've ever been in,' 

We walk to the car as my face is beat red, it's then that I hand him the keys. "I can't drive like this, I'm too flustered," We sit in the car as we drive, I look at his body, I look at how it's slightly out-of-shape but well-maintained. I look at how he's calm and yet focused, I don't know if it was because I didn't feel pain anymore or the fact that I found myself almost ready to frisk him. Before I do anything, I say to him, "I think that we should go to my apartment and order food," He turns to me and then says, 'Are you sure?' I nod and tell him, "I'm Russian, do you think I'm not?"

He nods and I give him directions to my apartment and he slowly shifts to the fast lane. I slowly find myself, looking down at his area and then I stop. Part of me is surprised that I'm so attracted to him, I've never dated a Black man before and any of the men that are around me, I wouldn't let them touch me with a 10-foot stick. Gregory and Gregor don't even like me like that and they're not even my type.

It's then that I have an unpleasant thought, Did that girl I kill have a man like this? I find myself, gripping my hand. I grip it and then I feel some blood leak out. I killed her, just for doing the right thing I think to myself. It's then that I take a deep breath, I notice that he's slowing down to the slow lane of the highway. His speed dropping considerably as he then says, 'Are you okay?' I look at him and he sees I'm bleeding.

'Are you okay?' he asks in a gentle voice again. I then speak in a somber tone, "No but I want to pretend that I am. I want to pretend that I'm happy," He holds his hand out and I hold it, I find myself feeling extremely unhappy as I then say, "Can I hold your hand longer please?" I say, wrapping my fingers around his hand. He smiles and says 'Yes though it's been a long time,' His soft hands wrapped around mine and for a moment, I thought about how my dad and how he used to feel safe. I think about how he stopped making me feel safe when he did the things he did to me. The fact that he was my father and he could hurt me in such a way, a tear comes down my face as I look outside, holding his hand even tighter.

I didn't find myself saying this with no problem, "Thank you for being here for me even though you hardly know me," He smiles and says, 'Thank you for having me,' It's then that he slowly pulls his hand from mine and he pulls out a pack of tissues. 'It's not good for a beautiful lady to cry,'

End of Chapter 11: Kindred Souls Unite