Written in 2017
“ I like the black on you baby. It looks better with your hair down.”
His eyes studied her as she went back to the bedroom to change. Again. Sam pulled her hair back, trying not to mess it up while she put on the black dress that he picked out. She ran her fingers through her hair trying to remember the last time she wore her natural curls out. She goes through her mental checklist making sure she did not forget anything while she finishes the mosaic on her face. Daniel shouted from the kitchen without shifting his attention from his phone, “Babe we’re gonna be late if you don’t hurry up! You know it took me forever to get these reservations. I am not missing this!”
Maybe if I didn’t have to change my outfit three times then we would already be in the car right now. Sam peeked her head out the bathroom, “Be right there babe.” She took a deep sigh and strutted to the living room. She swiped the car keys from the counter and stopped in front of Daniel while he still was fixated on his phone. Probably something with work. “Okay let’s go,” she said. He finally took a moment to look up from his emails.
“Hold up. Lemme get a good look at you.” Sam rolled her eyes into the back of her head. He up and down’ed her, making sure that she was presentable for the night. After his final examination he said, “You forgot something, like I knew you would. You wanna take a guess?” Sam pleaded, “C’mon let’s just go already.” Daniel leaned in close to her, brushing her hair away from her neck and planting a kiss right under her jaw. She instantly fell under his spell. “You aren’t wearing the perfume that I bought you”, he said. “You know that’s my favorite.” And just as instantly, she was disenchanted. Daniel chirped, “I’ll go get it, then we’ll head out. I swear it’s always something with you”.
“I guess it just slipped my mind. I’m sorry.” she called out as he walked back to the bedroom.
Daniel returned with the perfume in his hand while patting down himself with the other. “Here you go”, as he passed the bottle to his lover. “Do you know where the keys are? I swear I just had them.”
With a lingering scent of perfume in the air, Sam pulled the keys out of her clutch, showed them to Daniel, and made her way to the garage. She was already at the door when she notices Daniel has not moved from when she showed him the keys. His face was twisted. Something was wrong. He finally started making his way towards her, Chelsea boots clicking against the Japanese oak. He scoffed under his breath and asked, “Babe are you okay?”
Sam, still leaning with her back on the door, answers. “Yeah I’m fine. Can we leave now?”
Daniel replied, “Yeah of course. Just hand me the keys and we’ll leave.”
“I wanted to drive this time. If that’s fine with you?”
“You know I always drive. Quit playing around and let’s go.”
“That’s the point. You ALWAYS drive when we go out. Just let me drive this one time baby.”
“You know I don’t mind if you drive, but we really need to get there on time. So I think it would be best if I drove.”
“C’mon I’m driving, let’s not make a big deal out of this.”
Sam then turned around and opened the door leading to the garage, but just as the door was half way open, Daniel’s hand came slamming it back shut, inches away from her face. She was silent, only hearing her ragged breathing from her nose as she stared at the little hairs that lined the back of Daniel’s knuckles. His hand slowly slid from the door down to her shoulder, like it had transformed into a reptile. A chill ran through her body as the snake wrapped around her jaw and turned her face to meet his. She tried as hard as she could to not give him her eyes but his Medusa-like gaze encased her in stone. His tongue slipped out of his mouth to lick his lips before he opened his mouth.
“Baby. Can I get the keys please? We really should get going.”
Sam’s hands followed the command, reaching into her clutch and grabbing the keys while they trembled the entire time. She dropped the keys into his scaly claws.
“Thank you”, Daniel said with a chilling smile.
“Now give me a kiss.”
As the words left his mouth, Sam felt her stomach tighten up and her knees buckle. She leaned up on her tippy toes to reach his face while he bent closer to meet hers. His eyes were closed, so he didn’t see the single tear run down her cheek. As her lips made contact, she wanted to disappear. The smell of his salty skin was stuck on her face. When he leaned back, he took her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss it.
“Now let’s get going before they cancel our reservation.” He opened her door to the German sedan as the garage opened behind them. Daniel looked at Sam just before he fired up the engine. He looked at her and said, “I love you.” Her eyelids turned to levees. He backed out of the driveway and peeled off, making sure everyone in the neighborhood heard him.