Wednesday Writing Prompt - May 27

Wednesday, May 27, 2020


The month of May has slipped by and we are at the last Wednesday Writing Prompt. What is Wednesday Writing Prompt? On Wednesdays in May, we’ve been writing a short story from a writing prompt. You can hop from blog to blog to read each one and see the different ideas that come from each prompt. Thanks for following. I hope you haven't missed any of the prompts.

Writing Prompt: 
“Can you picture it? You and I together?” 

“Can you picture it? You and I together?” Dale parked our suitcases next to the double beds and faced me, smirking. His warm eyes danced with humor, disarming me while the wicked thoughts I’d suppressed about him for years flared to life inside my head. He’d been teasing me since we agreed to share the hotel room rather than getting two for the night.

Arms folded across my chest, I shook my head. “Nah. You’re too wild. Too much of a party animal and I’m … ”

His eyebrow tipped up and his head tilted to one side. “You’re what?”

“I’m about different things in life.”

“Like what?” he asked, sitting on the bed and easing off his boots and socks.

I pulled out a chair from the table in the opposite corner of the air-conditioned space and sat. 

“Settling down—”

“You don’t have a man.” Dale’s gaze pierced me.

Stubbornly, I continued. “Having children and—”

“You don’t have a man.”

“You said that already. Anyhow, making my name in marketing is also on my list.”

“Now you’re talking,” he said, yanking off his socks.

“Hey now, you don’t know anything about me,” I protested. “You’re Isaac’s friend, not mine.”

“But you followed us around for years, so I beg to differ.”

I cut my eyes at him and slid my feet out of my slippers. So, I had shadowed them when my eyes were filled with stars and they were my heroes. That changed ages ago. Dale and Isaac’s friendship had lasted fifteen years. My brother was getting married and I was stuck with his best man, whose SUV refused to start after we ate at a rest stop in Ocho Rios hours ago.

He’d done everything in his power to see what the problem was and eventually had the Escalade towed. The spicy jerked chicken and roasted breadfruit we had for lunch were now a memory and my stomach growled. I ignored it. “Like I said, you don’t know anything about me.”

“Oh, yeah? That’s what you think.” Dale’s perfect teeth flashed in his dark face. He stood, and my gaze slid over his muscled frame. For a computer geek, he looked anything but, thanks to the three days he spent in the gym each week.

“What d’you think you know?” I said, distracted by the way his tee-shirt clung to his broad back as he sauntered to the closet and dropped his shoes inside.

“You like tame men.” He grinned with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Tall. Dark. Placid.”

“What?” I screwed my face into a grimace. “That’s so not true.”

“Really?” His tone was cool when he continued. “Over the years, there’s been Tym, Peter, and what’s his name … Jack. All nerds, who I’m sure didn’t dare to touch you in certain ways.”

As he scanned my snug tee-shirt and jeans, my skin prickled. Now that I thought about it, he was right, but I wasn’t about to admit it. My boyfriends had always been calm and mild-mannered. The total opposite of Dale. He’d likely been the reason I avoided getting involved with men I considered off-limits. The ones who were confident and brash.

His voice snapped me back into the room. “You also like walks on the beach, top-of-the-line electronics, Moscato – any kind, and being with family.”

I swallowed the involuntary smile teasing my lips. “Impressive. You’ve been keeping tabs on me?”

He shrugged and walked to the window to pull back the drapes. “Yeah.”

That one word meant everything and nothing, yet Dale didn’t seem inclined to expand on what he’d just admitted. Sliding the glass door open, he asked, “You coming?”

“Be back in a minute,” I said, on my way to the bathroom.

After answering nature’s call and freshening up, I opened the door to a soft chuckle from Dale. “I’ll take good care of her. No need to worry, man.”

He leaned off the railing and smiled at me. “That was Isaac, threating to tear me limb from limb if I don’t watch over you properly.”

I scoffed, “He knows I can take care of myself.”

Dale nodded. “I agree. You’re all that and then some.”

Frowning, I pulled my head back. “Are you coming on to me, Dale Winslow?”
Our eyes met and held. I licked my lip, thinking I’d put my foot right into my throat. But what the heck? I wanted to know what I wanted to know.

A slow smile greeted me as Dale leaned against the balcony rail and folded his arms. “What if I am?”

“Weren’t you trying to remind me I was like your baby sister?”

His focus shifted to my waist length-braids, then he did a slow study, sweeping me from head to feet and back. He cleared his throat. “Maybe when you were ten, but you’ve grown into a beautiful woman.”

Wearing a smug grin, I answered. “Why, thank you, Dale. I bet that’s a standard line you use on all the women.”

His brows drew together. “D’you know me to be a womanizer?”

It was my turn to frown. “Well, you’re out every weekend and you used to have a fair number of women hanging off your arm.”

“I don’t go clubbing much anymore. Since Simone … ” He chuckled and didn’t finish his sentence.

“I understand.”

His daughter was a cutie, and according to Isaac she sometimes spent the weekend with Dale.

“And by the way, I do not have women hanging off me.” At my disbelieving expression, he chuckled. “Well, not for a few years. Come on. I’m thirty-five, I don’t do that anymore. Matter of fact, I’m cooling off. Been doing that for a while. Simone is the only girl in my life right now.”

I considered that. Come to think of it, since Isaac stopped tomcatting, I hadn’t seen much of anything posted on Instagram with them out and about. Used to be, I’d follow their feed and roll my eyes at the women they dated.

“What about you?” he asked, leaning toward me. “Who are you seeing?”

“That’s none of your business.” I laughed and shook my head, unwilling to reveal my current status.

A horn blared from the street below as Dale snorted. “You're such a liar.”

Propping my hip against the door, I scowled. “You're calling me names because?”

“Maxine isn’t seeing anybody.” Dale’s head moved side to side. “She just wants me out of her business, but she doesn’t know I have a secret weapon.”

Him referring to me in third person was amusing, but he had me curious. “What’s that?”

“Maxine doesn’t know that I recently moved into her neighborhood and I know she doesn’t have a man.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “So, why are you asking then, do-do head?”

“I wanted to see what you’d say.” Wearing a hundred-watt smile, he continued, “Nothing happens before the time. I figured today was fated to take place and we were meant to make this connection.”

“Oh really? That’s convenient.”

In a husky tone Dale said, “You doubt I’m interested in you?”

“Just because you know some stuff about me doesn’t mean you care about me.”

“It doesn’t, but if you’d go out with me tomorrow evening after the rehearsal, we can re-familiarize ourselves with each other.”

“Hmmm. Does my brother trust you enough to approve of me going out with you?”

“Isaac knows everything about me.” He stepped in close. “Including the fact that I wouldn’t hurt you.”

Anticipation stole my breath and I cleared my throat. “There are no guarantees, Dale.”

Dale tipped my chin towards him and stared into my eyes. “I know, but there’s something about you … always has been, but the time was never right.”

I rested both hands on his solid chest. “The way this is looking, it’s a good thing I hitched a ride with you, huh?”

“You know that’s right,” he whispered as his lips covered mine.

Would you be willing to go out with someone who has a history? Is a date with your brother's friend off-limits? Would you share a room with someone of the opposite sex in a similar situation?


Don’t forget to visit the blogs of my writing friends below to see their stories:

Delaney Diamond delaneydiamond.com
Tiye Love tiyelovebooks.com
Nyora René nyorarene.com
S.Taylor staylorromance.com

8 comments:

  1. Another good one! I'd love to learn more about this couple.

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  2. I loved their banter and a full story would be good on these two! I don't have brothers and I always wished I did so I could possibly date their friends, LOL!!! I would love to get stuck in a hotel room with a good looking man...

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    1. Hey, Tiye, thanks. The things you would get up to in that hotel room! ;)

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  3. Great short! I’d love to know the outcome of their relationship. I have a brother and I don’t think I could date any on his friends, I really do see them as brothers too. Now sharing a room, with Dale I would mind at all.

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  4. I dated one of my brother's friends when I was in high school, that was short lived and thankfully didn't hurt their friendship. I wouldn't do that again, lol. I don't know how I'd feel sharing a room with someone I liked, but wasn't sure liked me. I'd have to know more about their feelings before committing.

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    1. Thanks for dropping in, Nyora. Yep, dating friends of siblings can be dicey.

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