I was in the middle of a good sleep when I heard a bell in my dream. Not sure where the bell fits in the dream but damn if it’s not annoying. Just then my phone starts going off and I sit up in the bed only to realize that someone is ringing my bell. I’m guessing it’s Malcolm, because his name is also flashing across my phone. Rubbing the sleep out my eyes I walk over to the door to let him in. Malcolm stood there flashing a mouthful of pearly whites. I couldn’t help but wonder to myself, if this man ever gets upset. He always seems so happy. I know he isn’t putting on airs for me either because he is an honest guy. “Mal, what the hell are you doing here so early?” I asked trying to sound annoyed. Truth was, I was happy to see my boy. With all the female drama going on lately, I needed some male presence. “Will, you are buggin’ man. It’s 1 in the afternoon. We’re supposed to go play basketball,” Malcolm stated while shaking his head at me. I immediately look over at the clock in my living room which confirmed what Mal just told me. How the heck did I sleep so late? “Aww Mal, my bad man. If you give me about a half hour I can be ready.” I say apologetically. “Don’t even worry about it. Besides, Rob called at the last minute and cancelled. Said something about not being able to get some chick to leave his house,” Malcolm reported, trying to hold back laughter. I’m not as polite as Malcolm and I break out into laughter. “Rob is always in some mess! I should call just to laugh in his ear.”

“You ain’t right Will.” Malcolm says before sitting down on my Lazy Boy recliner. “No Mal, HE ain’t right. Anyway since it’s just us do you wanna grab some lunch or something?” I asked, suddenly feeling hungry. “Yeah that’s cool. Just hurry up. I have to be home by 4 to drive Regina to her mom’s house.” Malcolm responds quickly. It was almost as if he didn’t want me to make out what he said. I can’t blame him though. Rob and I are always complaining about Malcolm and his curfews. Regina lets him out, but only for a few hours at a time. He’s always watching the clock too. He doesn’t seem to mind though.

We decide to have lunch at Barclay Prime. We don’t even need to look at the menu, so when the waitress comes over I order the dry aged porterhouse and Mal orders the wild king salmon. Mal checks his phone then puts it down on the table. Here we go again I think, trying not to make a face. “So what’s been up with you man? It’s not like you to sleep until the afternoon,” Mal asks with concern. I tell Malcolm the whole story from Adriana dropping that bombshell in my living room to the ghost I had sex with in my condo. It feels great to say it out loud and share it with someone. Because it’s still been weighing heavily in my thoughts. Malcolm is obviously just as confused as I am. “So you haven’t seen Maria since?” “

“Nope I sure haven’t. She may as well have vanished into thin air. Oh and tell your wife to do a little more research before trying to hook me up with one of her associates!” I inform Malcolm. He shakes his head, “Man I don’t have nothing to do with that. Matter of fact, Adriana was at the house 2 nights ago talking business with Reg.” I bite into my steak and ignore his last comment. “Are you ever going to speak to Adriana again? You have to give her credit for being honest.” Malcolm says, always looking on the bright side. “I don’t know man.” I shove some mashed potatoes in my mouth hoping to end this conversation. Mal’s phone starts to buzz and he quickly grabs it and runs outside to talk. After rolling my eyes, I decide to go to the bathroom.

Walking towards the restroom, I notice a woman walking out. She is fine too. Her skin is the color of molasses and she had wild thick hair that fit her face. She smiles and slows down as if she wants to talk. I shake my head and walk right past her. Not today ladies.

Originally Posted: June 16, 2009

Ok, so this little Grey box has been sitting on my desk for like the past 2 or 3 years now. In that time span I have moved at least 3 times. This is the power of BRANDING! Do you think I really love or care about what’s in this box? Or is it the box itself? Both, The 2.5in book that lives in this box is very unique, clever and cool. I still can’t remember where I got this package from but I do know that I’ll probably have it for the rest of my life.

Nick Veasey created this small package in celebration of his 10th year doing X-Ray photography. It’s a small 20 page portfolio of his work within the past 10 years. The quality is awesome, magazine paper in the inside and a nice heavy gloss stock as the cover. The book is titled “X” A decade in x-ray. Check it out….

No matter how much I enjoy what I do for a living there are still a million other places I’d rather be than where I am right now; which is at my desk at 7:45 am on a Tuesday morning. I had a wild weekend and if just flew by. I couldn’t even make it into the office yesterday, so I called my assistant and told her I was sick. Marlene probably knew I was lying, but what could she say. She works for me afterall and I never give her a hard time when she calls out. So here I am over an hour early to catch up from missing a day yesterday, yet I’ve been staring at the same document for thirty minutes. I guess I have a lot on my mind. A lot of unexpected things took place over the weekend and I am not sure how they will affect me in the long run.

For one thing, I have about four missed calls from Adriana. She called on Friday after I asked her to leave my house. She called again on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. In addition to that she sent me an email that I just saw this morning. No, I’m lying, I saw it when it appeared on my phone Sunday afternoon however I decided to read it this morning. I’m not trying to be mean to Adriana, but when I am betrayed the way I feel she did me, I kind of shut down and just don’t want anything to do with the woman. Her email didn’t really help matters either. She still doesn’t think she did anything wrong and feels I am overreacting. She even had the nerve to bring up the incident with Sandra on the night we met. As if the two incidents have anything to do with each other. I can tell Adriana is used to having the upper hand. Guys probably let her do whatever she wants. I’m not that guy. I quickly deleted her email and prayed she doesn’t call my phone again today. If I answer, it won’t be polite.

The other thing that has my mind cloudy is Maria whom I met in the gym Friday night. If I hadn’t touched Maria with my own hands, I’d swear she was a ghost. She invited me to her apartment for a drink but once I agreed, she asked if she could just come to my place because she hadn’t cleaned. Once we were in my place, she asked if she could take a shower to wash off the sweat. At the end of the day I’m a man so I said yes. It didn’t dawn on me that her apartment was two floors up. I grab a towel and wash cloth for her and point her in the right direction. While she’s in the shower I pour two classes of a white wine I had picked up for Adriana. Maria comes out of the bathroom 20 minutes later, still damp and wearing one of my oversized towels. It looks like she washed her hair too. She comes and takes one of the glasses and sits on the arm of the couch. I attempt to make a little small talk and ask her how long she’s lived in the building. Maria stands up and walks over to me. “William do you really care about all of that?” she asks, now sitting so close I could smell my shampoo in her hair. She leans in and kisses me full on the mouth and I go with it. I take her towel off and reveal an amazing body. She pulls my t-shirt over my head and seems equally impressed. Within minutes we are in my bedroom and I am reaching into my nightstand for a condom. Maria slides on top of me and goes to work. It is not that slow sweet love making that you would have with someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. We are going at it like we had too much on our minds and need to erase it. I turn her over to take charge of the situation until we both collapse on the bed. I lay in bed awake for a while staring at this stranger, hoping the fact that she lives in my building doesn’t become a problem. Damn it if it wasn’t worth it though.

I vaguely remember Maria leaving sometime after the sun came up. I woke up fully around 9 and saw no traces of her. The towels she used were in my hamper, so I know I wasn’t crazy. She didn’t leave a number or anything. I’ll probably just see her in the building again or knock on her door.
Later that day, I got dressed and headed out of the building to grab a bite for lunch. I see my doorman Earl and ask “Hey Earl, what do you know about the woman in 5C, Maria?” Earl looks at me like I have two heads before saying “There is no woman in 5C. That’s the older Asian couple’s apartment. They’ve been there about 10 years. You sure its 5C?” Now I’m confused. I know for sure she said 5C. “Well maybe I have the apartment number wrong. What apartment is Maria in? She’s about 5”5 dark long hair and curvy” I ask. “Man if we had someone like that living here I would definitely know which apartment she lived in, if you know what I mean.” He gives a hearty laugh before asking if I am sure she wasn’t a guest. “Don’t worry about it Earl, I’ll talk to you later.”

I’ve been confused the whole weekend about this. Where the hell did she come from?