Joanna Cargill

"We're almost there," I said. "After two lights, make a right."

"Why didn't we just use the GPS?" Scott asked as he drove.

"…I have my reasons." I looked out of the window. I really didn't want to explain. That was a story that I didn't like telling anyone because I didn't live that down for weeks when that happened.

"…Okay." Scott went quiet. I looked back at him. I tried to get a read on him, but I might as well have been trying to read Braille. The man had quite the poker face. So, I looked out the window again. "You know, I could've picked the place tonight.

I scoffed, sneering as I side-eyed him. "Yeah, that's a hard pass."

"How come?"

"If you chose the activity for the night, we'd probably be going to eat at some diner or restaurant before we go see a movie or something."

"Do you not like those things?"

"I do, but its cookie cutter." I lifted up my left hand and jabbed my finger gently into his shoulder. "And to be honest, something tells me that's your way of playing it safe." Scott scoffed but said nothing more. I laughed as I leaned back in my seat.

To be real with you, I normally wouldn't even care what we did tonight. It was Scott. There wasn't anything he couldn't convince me to do tonight. He could have even asked me to go out with him to a stamp collecting convention and… Okay, maybe there were a few things he couldn't convince me to do. The point is, I normally would have been okay with a dinner and a movie. But, tonight was different. It was our first Valentine's Day as a couple, so I wanted to do something neither of us did before – and that's check out this nightclub in Chinatown that I've heard about but never step foot in. It was called The Concept. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself. I barely knew the man beyond the few times we talked about shit that wasn't business related. But screw it, we were a thing, so why wait until later to make memories?

"Did your previous guys take you clubbing?" Scott asked. I eyed him for a bit, looking for any sign of him being a smartass. But I couldn't find any. I wanted to chalk it up to his poker face, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I chuckled as I shook my head.

"I never had a guy, per se," I replied. "At least, I never had one in the romantic sense. I had flings. I had one night stands. I had friends with benefits. I had booty calls and I had…" I trailed off for a moment. "What do the kids call it these days?" I thought about for a moment. I then nodded when I remembered. "Oh, right. I had sneaky links. But, the point is, I never had much in a way of a boyfriend before you. I almost did, though."

"And what happened with that?"

"Oh, funny thing happened. We were in the parking lot of his complex, sitting inside of his truck, right? I was in the mood to do something wild, so I was engaging in activities that probably should have been better suited for indoors, if you catch my drift. While I was in the middle of said activities, two cars pulled up. Out one car came his wife, out the other came another chick he had on the side. As soon as they found out about each other, they came looking for him. And they found him while my face was in his lap."

"…That sounds… rough," Scott commented.

"Embarrassing is what it was. They tried to jump me. I fought him off while the dude was rooting me on. He tried to walk up to me and boost my ego after that. I grabbed him by neck, lifted him off of his feet, and choked him out. I dropped him down on the ground, took his truck, and drove off. I ditched the truck a block away from where I lived at the time and walked the rest of the way. Needless to say, that wasn't my best night." I smirked. "Are there any side chicks I should know about?"

Scott shook his head. Even with his glasses on, I knew he was rolling his eyes. "I don't do the main chick side chick thing. If I'm dating you, then I'm only dating you. Besides, I'm not in the habit of angering women who can break me in half."

"If only everyone was that smart."

We finally arrived at our destination. Going off the directions, I led Scott to subway style entrance. Once we arrived, I guided him to a table. After I flagged down a waitress and we put in our drink orders, I looked around at the people that were in the venue. Some people were sitting down, eating, drinking, or just vibing to the music. Others were on the dancefloor moving to the rhythm of the song the DJ was playing. The whole venue was dim, but lit up by gold and purple lights. I looked over atthe DJ for a moment before I nodded in approval.

"The DJ is doing his thing," I commented as I leaned back in my seat.

"He's okay," Scott replied as he continued to look around the place. "He's no DJ Veras."

I raised my eyebrows. "You know about her?"

He looked over at me. "You sound surprised."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but… I don't exactly peg you as someone who listens to Hip-Hop."

Scott raised his eyebrow. "What do you think I listen to then?"

"Jazz, R … not the modern stuff, but the kind you hear playing in Blaxploitation movies like Shaft or practically most of Pam Grier's flicks."

At that, Scott scoffed as he leaned back in his seat. "So what? You think I'm one of these old heads that complain about modern music and reminisce about artists from back in the day?"

"…A bit."

Scott smirked. "Screw you."

"Play your cards right, and you may get to." Scott gave me a halfheartedly glare. I chuckled, acting like I was joking. I wasn't. "But back on topic, am I wrong?"

"I listen to a whole wide range of music. You almost have to in my position."

"Is that right?" I asked as the waitress came by with our drinks. She set a Mojito down in front of me and a Moscow Mule in front of Scott.

"Thank you," Scott and I said to the waitress at the same time. After the waitress nodded and left, Scott picked up his drink and took a sip. I watched as he swished the drink around in his mouth. After he nodded and swallowed, he continued.

"Yeah, I was saying, I almost had to. It was one of my ways to connect with the students that came through the school." With his cup still in hand, Scott leaned forward and pointed at me. "You see, people come from all different walks of life, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't like music."

I nodded. I figured he had a point. I never met a guy or gal who didn't listen to any kind of music. But I wanted to talk about something else, and he gave me the perfect segue.

"So what about you?" I asked. "What's your walk of life like? Where are you from?"

"…" Scott leaned back in his seat and smirked. "Where do you think I'm from?"

I grimaced. "Are you really going to make me guess?" He nodded, smirk still on his face. "Screw you."

His smirk became wider. "Did I play a good card?"

I chuckled as I shook my head. I then nodded as I pointed at him. "That was a good one." I picked up my drink and finally took a sip. I savored the flavor as I thought about where he could be from. "Hmmm, let's see… You ain't from the Midwest."

"Not originally," he replied. "Though, I spent a good chunk of my childhood in an orphanage in Omaha."

I chuckled. "I guess you can husk a corn with the best of them, huh?" I deadpanned.

"Actually… yes. But not in the traditional way." He tapped the side of his glasses with the index finger of his left hand.

I tilted my head briefly. "Now that's just cheating." I looked off to the side. "…So you ended up in an orphanage in Nebraska, but you're not from the Midwest, originally. Okay, okay…" I tilted my head. "You're not from the South or even anywhere in the DMV. And you're definitely not from NYC or the Northeast." I tilted my head. "You from Oregon?"

"Nope."

"Denver?"

"Definitely not."

"Utah?" Scott didn't respond. He just gave me a look as he grimaced. "Well, you're going to have to give me a clue or something, because I really don't want to go through state after state." His grimace became a full smile. He then laid his copper cup on the table and pushed it towards me. I looked down at the cup. Was that his clue? He was drinking a Moscow Mule. But he wasn't from Russia, was he? He had to be from The States. So why would he…?

It donned on me. I looked at him in disbelief.

"Alaska," I scoffed. "You are from, of all places, Alaska?"

"Anchorage, to be exact," Scott confirmed. I raised my eyebrows skeptically. "You don't believe me."

"Scott, no offense, but I only know of one black person from Alaska, and last I checked, you never played point guard for The Kansas Jayhawks or The Miami Heat."

"Craig would get a kick out of you knowing that bit of trivia." Scott's smile faded as he became serious. "But, I am from there. My dad was a Major in the Air Force, as well as a test pilot for them. And as a test pilot, he bounced around from base to base. During one quick stay in Hawaii, my little brother was born, to give you an idea how often we were on the move."

I smiled in amusement. "Are you and your folks close?"

"…We were." I felt the air change. Something told me I needed to change the subject. Luckily, Scott was on that same train of thought. "So, how about you? Where are you from?"

"I… I'm not sure," I replied. "Well, really, I was from Kentucky. But, after what happened with my father, I don't like to claim that state. There're just too many bad memories there."

Scott frowned. "I'm sorry I asked."

"Don't be. I can't exactly have you opening up if I ain't willing to do the same." I lifted my head as a certain song played. I smiled as I stood up. Fuck the sad shit. I didn't come out the house to talk bad memories. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Scott asked, confused.

"To the dancefloor, obviously."

His eyebrows rose. I knew his eyes were wide behind his glasses. "Uuuuuummmm…."

I tilted my head at him and raised my eyebrows. "I'm sorry, did you think we were just going to sit here at this table and drink all night?"

"Well… no… but…"

"Come on, Scott. We're here to have a good time."

He continued to look at me for some seconds. After that, he slowly stood up. I smiled widely as I took his hand and guided to an empty spot on the dancefloor. From there, we danced. As the song played…

She's sending me drinks, I fed her one back.

She said "Hey boy, you're drinking too fast."

And we can take it slow, oh, oh, oh, oh.

You'll never be alone, oh, oh, oh, oh.

I watched Scott. Little by little, I saw him loosen up as he moved to the rhythm of the song. At the very least, he had rhythm. He wasn't a bad dancer. I smirked and winked at him before I moved closer to him. Slowly, he placed his hands on my waist. I put my forearms on his shoulders as I laced fingers together against the back of his neck. I let myself get lost in the moment. And why shouldn't I? I think we earned this. Speaking of us, I looked at Scott's face, seeing the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face. I bit my lip. The smiled looked great on him. A moment later, my lips were against his. When his lips started moving with mine, I took that opportunity to sneak my tongue into mouth. I laughed during this kiss – he wasn't expecting that. Still, he didn't pull away, and my tongue found his. His tongue tasted sweet to me.

As the song ended, I broke the kiss and gave Scott a smug smile. He chuckled as he shook his head.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked in a singsong voice.

"I'm thinking that you're going to be the death of me," he quipped.

I made a noncommittal sound with my throat. "Hopefully that death won't be too soon."

"Well, isn't this a surprise," someone spoke up.

As Scott turned around, I looked past him. Standing there was a woman with platinum blonde hair, somewhat pale skin, and blue eyes. I guess she was a bit on the tall side – when you're almost seven feet tall, it was hard to call anyone shorter than you tall. Anyway, she was dressed in white form fitting pants with matching boots with heels. She had on a white trench coat that was open, revealing the matching corset that was showing off her cleavage. I never met the woman before in my life. However, considering how she was eyeing Scott, something told me he was familiar with her.

"Emma?" Scott questioned. I looked down at Scott, than back at this Emma.

Something told that this wasn't going to be a warm reunion.