“So, what do you do for fun?” He inquired.
“Hmm……I paint; go to the movies with my girls; I read a little; go bowling.”
“You paint? That’s pretty cool. Maybe I can see some of your work sometime,” he replied. I nodded and found myself feeling a little nervous at the thought.
“What about you? What do you do for fun?”
“I bowl sometimes too; play basketball. I do the movie thing on occasion. We should go see one together sometime.” I jumped a little when he moved to lean back on his elbows, but he didn’t notice.
“Yeah, that sounds fun. What kind of movies do you like?” I asked.
“Horror flicks are the best, but I like Action too. You?”
“I guess we have something in common. I love scary movies,” I replied and smiled shyly. He laughed a little to himself, then stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully and sighed. With his eyes averted away from me, I had time to observe him again. His skin was just as flawless as the rest of his features and I subconsciously looked down at my own and noted the difference in our tones. I fought past my apprehension and blurted out, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Nope. What’s up?” He asked.
“Have you ever dated a black girl before?”
AJ laughed again and then answered my question with a condescending quality to his voice, still gazing up at the ceiling, “No. I’ve never dated a black girl before.”
I began to ask the question aloud that I intended to keep in my private thoughts “Then wh….”
“I’m attracted to you; race has nothing to do with it,” he answered, cutting me off mid-sentence as he looked into my eyes again. The deep gaze brought out a strong urge to lean in and kiss him, but I knew better. If I stood any chance of handling the burden of guilt that was already on my shoulders, there wasn’t room to add anything else. I resisted, but there was no way the longing wasn’t visible on my face. AJ must’ve had the same feeling because I noticed that his eyes had shifted downward and focused steadily on my lips. I saw him inhale and exhale slowly and a smile broke free before I could catch it. He smiled back and I realized that I was definitely feeling him more than I’d expected.
I turned my face away, trying to fight the pull I felt toward him – it was like we were two opposite poles of a magnet being uncontrollably pulled together by some unseen force. This would be a good time to distract myself by asking him a few more questions. “So, do you have any brothers and sisters?”
“Nope, it’s just me. I think my mom wanted to have more, but my dad didn’t. Guess he won that argument. What about you?”
“No, me either. I used to think that I’d like a little sister, but I got over it.” He looked at my face knowing that there was something else that I wanted to ask him. I worked up the nerve and went for it. “Can I ask you something else? If you don’t wanna answer, that’s fine.”
“For you, I’m an open book. What is it?”
“What…..are you?” I said sheepishly.
AJ broke out in a loud laugh that startled me. “Are you asking my nationality?”
“Yeah, I mean… I know you’re Asian, but like…..what part of Asia. I’m sorry if that didn’t come out right. I just didn’t really know how to word it. ”
“It’s fine.” He said, still smiling. “I’m Japanese. My father’s parents came here about 55 years ago and started their own construction company, so my dad and uncle were both born here in the States. He met my mom on one of his yearly trips back to Japan visiting my great-grandparents. He saw her working in a market, fell in love, and they were married three months later.”
“Wow…..only three months? That’s crazy. How could they be that sure after such a short amount of time?”