Forever and a Day

chapter 13

“Well, I’m here to prove you wrong. I mean if you would give me the chance.”

-Kris

Brielle decided that she would leave work early and go get some lunch and get her nails done. It was Thursday so her usual nail salon shouldn’t be crowded if the kids were at school and most people were still at home. She had almost a twenty-five minute drive from Secaucus to Newark.

Her mom and her lived in Newark all of her life until she went off to college. She never would forget where she came from because that made her the woman she was today. She was so focused on getting out of Newark that she didn’t realize that she would miss it when she finally left.

Just as Brielle was walking in the nail salon her cell phone began ringing and Kiyan’s picture popped up.

“Hey Light Bright,” Brielle smiled.

“You’re gonna stop calling my ass that,” Kiyan laughed.

“Yeah right. I’m going to always call you that. If you were any lighter, you would be transparent.”

Kiyan began laughing, Brielle was funny on the low and he loved that about her. The fact that their friendship was strong bought a smile to his face.

“Yeah iight, but what are you doing tonight? Are you trying to go out?”

“Aww that would be cool, but I have plans for the night.”

“Oh iight, we’re still on for the game tomorrow night right?”

“Yupp, I can’t wait. My Knicks are going to beat your Nets ass and you know it.”

“Sayless. We’ll see tell your girls I said wassup when you get with them later.”

“I’m actually not going out with the girls tonight,” Brielle said while picking out a new color nail polish.

“Oh!”

“I have a date with someone I met at the gym,” Brielle said realizing that this conversation was getting awkward.

“Cool, have fun. Call me if you need or want me to handle ole boy,” Kiyan said.

“Okay, talk to you later,” Brielle said hanging up the phone.

To say that Kiyan felt some type of way was an understatement. He was straight confused as to why Brielle was going out on dates, but she wouldn’t even give him another chance. He decided that he had no right to feel some type of way because if she was willing to move on, then he was willing to let her go.

~~~~~

Brielle was at home getting ready for her date. She was trying to decide if she would go causal or dressy causal. She decided to text Kris to ask him about where they would be going tonight.

Me: Hey Kris. Just wondering where we would be going tonight.

Kris: Hello Miss lady. I figured we could have dinner at Masina Trattoria.

Me: Never been there. How is the dress code?

Kris: No real dress code, maybe you could go casual. Whatever that means for you.

Me: Okay, cool.

Kris: Would you like to give me your address now? So I could pick you up?

Me: No need. I’ll meet you at the restaurant. I’ll google the address.

Kris: If that’s what you want to do, I won’t complain. Meet me there at 7?

Me: 7 will be perfect. I’ll meet you there.

After reading this text message, Brielle decided she would go simple and wear a pair of light blue jeans, a peach cami tank top, a brown knitted sweater, and her brown knee high boots. She decided to put a little make up on to enhance her face. She put on her clothes and began to comb out her hair. She looked at the clocked and noticed that it was 6:20. Since the restaurant was about 20 minutes away she decided if she left in 10 minutes she could make perfect time.

~~~~~

By the time Brielle pulled up at the restaurant, she noticed that Kris was standing on the side next to valet parking. Brielle noticed that he didn’t know the definition of casual because he had on a navy blue suit with a white buttoned up shirt and a navy blue tie. Now she felt underdressed and she wanted to go home.

“Hey you,” Kris offered a hug.

“Hi Kris, Brielle hugged him and asked, how come you told me casual and you went dressy?”

“I’m sorry for that, a meeting at work ran over and I came straight here from work.”

“I feel underdressed.”

“Don’t, I will take off the jacket and tie,” Kris offered.

“Maybe that will work”

Brielle and Kris went into the restaurant. Brielle was impressed. The restaurant was very nice for this not to be fancy. It had a shiny, black walls and a hell of a view. You had the option of going outside to dine, but being that it was unusually chilly for it to be an early October night, the waiter didn’t even give out that option.

Brielle took her seat across from Kris. The two looked over their menus and soon after that conversation started.

“So Kris, how old are you,” Brielle began.

“I’m twenty-seven, and I won’t ask you how old you are because my mother told me that it’s rude and disrespectful for a man to ask a woman her age.”

“Your mother raised you right. However, a woman can offer her age. I just turned twenty-five in August.”

“Wow! You just had a birthday. What did you do for your birthday?”

“Nothing spectacular. I don’t really go all out for my birthday. I went to a concert that my best friend’s boyfriend performed at, went out to dinner with a bunch of friends and that was about it.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s nothing major, but it sounds like fun. So what do you love to do when you’re not working?”

“Technically, I’m always working. But when I am not working, I love to watch movies, I read sometimes, and I love redecorating things.”

“Sounds fun, what do you like to read and watch?”

“I love to watch love movies that would make you cry. I love movies that will make you laugh and have a great meaning. I read romance and urban fiction books when I have time to sit down and read an actual book.”

“How do you like being an image consultant? What do you actually do?”

“I love being an image consultant. Although it’s hard work, it also is very fun and it allows me to try different things. I do all types of things as a consultant. We are paid to show people how to create an impression to their bosses, the media and a lot of other people. We recommend new styles whether that is clothing, hairstyles, and talents. We offer the kind of advice that can help people get more recognition for a job, help someone find business deals, find someone to love, or to just feel good about themselves. We basically advise individuals how to present a better image to make them feel better about themselves and to make other people feel better about the client,” Brielle explained.

“That sounds wonderful. Now I understand why you say technically you’re always working. It must be really hard to keep up with new fashion trends.”

“Not really, my best friend is deep in the fashion world. So if anything important happens, I usually am one of the first people to here about it.”

“Looks like you really love what you do,” Kris said amazed.

“I really do. It wasn’t what I set out to be when I was in college, but I’m glad this is the route I went.”

“That’s great. I hate my job. I make great money, but I don’t like what I do.”

“That’s sad. What did you want to do?”

“I wanted to be a lawyer, however finances got to tight for me to go to graduate school and law school.”

“Never thought to take out loans?”

“I didn’t want to go the loan route. I hate knowing that I owe someone else money.”

“So you let your pride get in the way of achieving your dreams?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way. I just changed my dream along the way.”

“Okay, change of subject.”

“So, how come a pretty woman like yourself isn’t in a relationship?”

“Circumstances. There are many reasons why I’m not in relationships. My whole 25 years of living I’ve only been in 2 long relationships. One ended on mutual turns, the other ended badly. I think I have a bad eye when it comes to choosing men.”

“Well, I’m here to prove you wrong. I mean if you would give me the chance.”

“I’m not willing to jump head first into a relationship, but I like your personality. So lets take this one day at a time.”

“I can live with that. One date at a time.”

Brielle sat at the dinner table with Kris. He was a nice guy and she hadn’t met a guy who was so invested on getting to know the real Brielle. He paid her compliments every time he saw her. He made sure that he asked her questions about her life. He wanted to know how she felt and didn’t shut her down when she disagreed with him. She was interested in getting to know him. Tonight was their start of something new. She was willing to let him try to make her change her mind about relationships because at the end of the day, she had to be in the relationship with him. She wanted a forever. Her forever and a day.