“Don’t just stare at him, girl,” said Linda, who believed in being aggressive to get whatever she wanted out of life. “Go get that tall, fine man. He’s here by himself, so he is single and you are ready to mingle.”

“I ain’t chasing no man,” Leslie replied. “I’ll just wait until he notices me and he’ll come to me.”

And, Ron did notice her.

Sitting at the bar, he had a direct view of Leslie and noticed that she was looking his way, so he decided to make a move on her.

A few quick words and Ron was walking away with Leslie’s number.

The following weekend, they went out to dinner, followed by drinks and another date the next day. Their conversations were filled with what each wanted out of life and love.

Ron made it clear that he was looking for a woman to be his girl and much more.

Leslie said that she wanted to be someone’s girl and to be in love.

On the third day, Ron invited Leslie over for dinner. He cooked a gourmet meal of steamed salmon, scalloped potatoes and asparagus spears.

Leslie brought a bottle of wine that the two enjoyed before and during the meal.

Intoxicated with food, wine and the newness of dating, the two kissed and explored and touched and rubbed.

Ron had already decided that since he liked Leslie, he wasn’t going to press her to have sex with him. He wanted to take his time and really get to know her.

But Leslie had already decided that since she liked Ron, she was going to have sex with him. She wanted to get naked with this man, not even thinking about any other portion of the relationship she talked about wanting.

So, she made her move and made an announcement.

“Let’s do this,” she said. “But I want to be clear-I don’t want any strings attached to what we’re about to do. It’s just sex and it doesn’t have to be bigger than that.”

Ron was stunned. To him, Leslie sounded like the player he used to be. He had expected and wanted so much more, but he knew from her words that there was only so much to expect now.

And so they did the deed.

Two whores whoring. One reformed whore falling back into old habits and one consistent whore, claiming to want more, yet unable to shake the habits of finding less.

Neither called the other after the tryst.

Ron didn’t call because he wanted to go back to his plan to be more and find more. What he had with Leslie was more of what he no longer wanted.

Leslie didn’t call again because she actually did like Ron. But because she was afraid that he would only use her for sex, she had decided to beat him to the punch. Yet, she still hoped that someday...

Ron remained consistent and met a beautiful woman who refused to get overly physical until they had dated for a while and had a mutual understanding of what they were trying to build. They both wanted the same thing and had each worked hard to be the thing they wanted.

Leslie went out to the bar with her girls the following weekend.

Published in : Op-Ed, The Bridge