a favor. Can you make a detour and go to the pharmacy? I need condoms.”
“What? I don’t want to buy your condoms for you!” I exclaim, not understanding why this purchase can’t happen later on by him.
“Please? I would buy your tampons for you! I don’t have time today to go get some and am fresh out with a hot date tonight,” he explains while whining at the same time. His whining is like nails on a chalkboard and makes my ears hurt.
“The difference is that people would know that the tampons aren’t for you, while people will assume the condoms are for me!” I say, already annoyed that he’s asking me to go do this for him.
“So you’re saying you now care about what people think of you?” he asks with sarcasm and I want to kick him in his balls so that he won’t need condoms for a while. “First off, fuck them for judging. Secondly, they might praise you for practicing safe sex. Don’t make a big deal of this. People, a.k.a women, buy condoms all the time.”
I roll my eyes, knowing that he’s right. “Fine, I will stop and get you condoms. Please tell me though this is the same guy you have been dating for the past two weeks?”
“I’m happy to report that it is,” he says and I can hear him smiling into the phone.
“That is great, Robert!” I say enthusiastically, as I’m genuinely happy for him.
“Oh, it won’t last. How he eats his food is already driving me crazy,” he laughs, and I can’t help but shake my head at his pickiness.
“You’re crazy,” I laugh. “Okay, I’m about to go into the store. See you soon.” I hang up and make my way to the aisle that contains the condoms. Of course, they would be on the bottom shelf and require me to bend down in my skirt in order for me to look at the package. I grab a box, but realize that Robert never told me what size to buy. I send him a quick text asking for size preference. While I wait for his response, I start to study each box, reading the differences in each brand.
“I recommend always buying the x-large size as you don’t want to hurt the man’s feelings.” The deep, masculine voice scares me and I drop the box of condoms as if it burned me. I bolt up and drop the other box on the floor. The man laughs and picks up both boxes off of the floor.
“I’m sorry if I scared you. You just had a confused look across your face while reading between each box so I thought I would help you.” He’s dressed in a three piece grey pinstripe suite with a white dress shirt and black tie. The suit shows off his thick, muscled body and hugs it in all the right places. His cologne smells expensive. His head is clean shaven, but his face is covered in dark hair that is closely trimmed to his strong jaw. His eyes are ice blue surrounded by dark thick lashes. He flashes a killer smile that shows off his bright white teeth. He uses his smile as a distraction, but I can’t ignore my immediate assessment of him.
He radiates confidence.
He oozes sexuality.
He feels dangerous.
The old Layla would have taken one look at this man and made him her next one night stand. The new Layla is going to be polite and walk away, especially since another man has started to occupy her thoughts.
“Thank you,” I stammer. “I’m buying these for a friend and he never told me what size to buy.” As if on cue, my phone dings, indicating I received a text message. I look down and sure enough, Robert’s response is x-large. “Looks like you were right.”
“What a beautiful messenger he has for himself.” He doesn’t even try to be discreet in checking out my body. I blush, his gaze making me uncomfortable. “He’s very lucky to have a friend like you.”
“Thanks again for your help,” I say, wanting to get out of there as quickly as I can. I move past him and walk briskly to the cashier. I don’t dare look back as my intuition is telling me that he’s watching. I purchase the condoms swiftly and continue on my journey to meet up with Robert, willing myself to forget the encounter with the handsome stranger.
Two hours later with zero work done, I follow Robert out of his office