Minnelli Love Stories

Bounce Back

One month later

"You going to the bar tonight?" Sierra's coworker stopped by her office with a question. She thought about it and shook her head.

"Nah, I'm gonna go home tonight." She lied. Sierra was going to the bar, just not with them. "Y'all go head."

"That southern accent of yours is so cute." The woman laughed. "Y'all..." she chuckled and closed the door.

And that's exactly why I'm not going to the bar with them, she thought. An hour later, she locked her office up for the weekend and headed down the stairs.

Over the course of the month, she and Everest were texting at least once a week. That was more her speed. But it was nothing more than pleasantries. Why when this man knows her inside and out, literally.

She sighs to herself as the cold wind whipped around her curly haired weave.

"My usual sis." Sierra slides in one of the tall tables at the bar. She liked to decompress here in the company of people, but not socializing before going home.

"Of course..." the bartender got to it because she was a good tipper. The room got unexpectedly warm, despite the heat being on.

"Don Equis beer." A raspy voice she hadn't heard in weeks dropped her heart. Just when I was fine, Sierra thought to herself.

"Here you go pretty girl." The bartender delivered her drink herself with a playful wink.

"Thank ya love." Sierra decides to play it cool. Everest turns in surprise at her. With a stealth she hadn't noticed he had, it felt he'd zeroed in on the 5'1" tall woman with his crystal grey eyes and full 6'3" height.

"Si-erra..." he plays on her name as he takes a seat at her table.

She takes a thinking sip of her drink. "Ev-er-est."

"You petty...how you been?" he chuckled.

"Busy, tired. I moved from Ice Cliff to down here." Denver had been her goal anyway.

"You like it?"

"Too loud. Too busy but nothing I can't get adjusted to." She evasive. "How's Phoenix?"

"He good..."

"Aww...I miss him." she smiles.

"You saw him once!"

"And we had a good time that one time!" she chuckles. Their impromptu meeting at the bar had them looking like old lovers, rather than newly acquainted "friends".

Everest kept her laughing with one-liners and she kept scalping him with witty retorts and comebacks.

"My biggest pet peeve?" She repeats Everest's question. "That would probably be when people keep things from me." She shrugs.

"Why?"

"Because, say for instance, I get involved with somebody right? And like, again this is just an example, but I'm really feeling this guy or whatever...then he turns out to not be who he's portrayed himself to be. That would hurt me. Like that would cut me. Unless..."

"Unless what?" His hand shakes just a little.

"The man happened to be a billionaire. Then I'd understand. Heh, bitches be tryna scheme their way into a payday. So that's the only reason I'd be cool with it. But that shit happens every blue moon."

"Meeting a billionaire? They're closer than you think."

"Sure..."

The more the drinks flowed for Sierra, the more she looked at Everest. The more she found herself openly attracted to him. But that was just sober thoughts making themselves known.

"The more I look at you, the more you look like a younger Forrest Minnelli. Maybe I'm trippin but, yeah you do. Maybe it's the hair." She thinks out loud.

"If I got paid for every time I heard that, I'd be a billionaire."

"I guess we all have a twin somewhere." She squints a little harder. "I lowkey feel like you hatfishing me too."

Everest straight faced her. "You know I got hair dude."

"Hmph. Niggas lie all day b." She takes her last sip and stands up. "Why you let me have more than one drink."

"You had three. I didn't think you were that much of a light weight." He chuckled, grabbing her elbow gently. The pair left after both tabs were paid.

Everest tailed her to her apartment.

"B3." She hands him the keys. She wobbled a little while waiting for him to open her door. "Thank you." She retrieves her keys from him.

"My pleasure." With them both buzzing, Sierra notices that Everest is standing very close to her. Her heart is pounding wildly again.

Boldness in her yet again, Sierra reaches up for him, colliding her lips.

Everest recieves her tongue before taking over the situation. Every twist and turn. Lip bite, stare down. Twist of a tongue here and there. She pills him closer. FWB relationship or not, she missed the feel of this man and Sierra was willing to admit it tonight, but only tonight.

A car horn from the street below brought them back to reality. Sierra jolts first.

"Thanks again. You're welcome to stay..." the opportunity hangs in the balance.

"I probably shouldn't. I have to go handle business tomorrow." And he doesn't lie. Sierra is disappointed but understands.

"Well, wait here." She goes inside and comes back with a water bottle. "Drink this before bed."

Everest thanks her with a kiss on the cheek and closes her door for her. Her insides buzzed.

She touches her lips gently. Mhm.

One week later

"Did you check your email for the day?" Sierra looked up at the secretary in her cubicle. The woman's eyes were wide with fear.

"No, should I?" she chuckled.

"Yes! They're calling an all-staff meeting. Meaning, even I gotta go." The woman pulled on Sierra's arm. "Let's go! We're already late!"

"Damn! Let me get my heels on first." Sierra stalled just a little. An all-staff meeting? I was just hired on...her anxiety kicks up quickly.

She and the secretary are the last to trickle in. The head boss, Jones himself, stood at the head of the conference room.

"I regret to inform you that Minnelli Brothers Foundation has bought us out."

"What?" a woman yells out. "What does that mean?"

"It means everybody in this room is without a job as of this moment." The man's face is regretful. But that's all a lie. He was given a hefty payday to sell his company to the highest bidder.

"But you've been bought out so that means that you gotta help us find jobs. Who's to say that the Minnelli Brothers thingy would even hire us!" it was well-known that getting hired on to any of the Minnelli sectors was a hard feat. They rarely hired and people that do get in, damn near die out.

The chances of getting in were slim to none.

Sierra knows this.

"That we will. We will have free training sessions starting this morning for those who wish to go up for a Minnelli job." The owner nods his head. Almost everybody in the room stayed put.

Sierra left. Most of her colleagues were worthy of a job like that. She was not, in her mind anyway. Cleaning out her desk, Sierra left her dream job in search of something else.

Her mind drifted to Everest, just for a moment before she zoomed home.

Her first order of business was to place an online ad for a freelance tax preparer and then update her resume. I don't have time to be a weak bitch, she thought.