I was on my way to Mike's. The drive consisted of me contemplating calling Mike back to cancel and tell him everything. This was too far. Now I am disrespecting my girl. I definitely shouldn't have agreed to this.

I pulled up to the house, grabbed my phone and keys, then got out. I decided to go ahead and see this through. I had already planned to tell him after Rai's graduation. I didn't want to cause any conflict before then. I agree with her on that.

I walked up to the front door and hit the talk button on the security keypad. "Aye Mike open the door."
Within seconds he opened the door. "Thanks man. I really appreciate this."

"What time is she getting here?" I asked walking in the house. He shut the door trailing behind.

"Any minute now." He eyed examine my attire. I didn't do much, but I wasn't about to go there looking bummy either. We walked over to the kitchen. I saw Raina sitting at the island eating frozen yogurt. Mike went straight to the fridge.

"Hey Raina, what' up?" I casually asked, staring her down trying to hide the guilt with a smile. "Nothing much." She responded, forcing her face to soften.

"Troy's single. Why didn't you call him?" I asked Mike, with my attention still on Rai. He still had his head in the fridge.

"Troy is not looking to settle down. He has one goal when it come to these women. I can't do her like that. Beside I told her about you. Not Troy." He explained.

"I'm not interested in having anything with her either." I stated making it clear. He turned his head to face me. "Its just hanging out, relax bro. Trust me you'll like what you see." He let out with a big goofy ass grin.

"Whatever." I mumbled placing my keys and phone inside my pants pocket. Raina dropped her spoon in her bowl and then slid her chair back loudly. That grabbed both my and Mike's attention. She went over to the sink to wash her bowl. I couldn't help but stare at her. She wore a fitted red t-shirt and black joggers that hugged at the ankles. Her face was fresh and free of makeup. Her curly damped hair was pulled up in a bun on top of her head, damn.

"What's wrong with you? Scraping that chair on the floor like you mad at the world or something?" Mike questioned. "Can you just not, —I'm not in the mood?" She spoke irritatedly. I stood quiet and out of the way.

"You can go somewhere with that attitude." He scoffed, closing the refrigerator. She didn't say anything else. She dried the bowl, placing it back in the cabinet.

Leah walked in grinning from ear to ear. "KJ is down, and my girl just sent a text. She should be pulling up any minute now. Adrian, I can't wait for you to meet her. Trust me she's cool people. Really down to earth. Her name is Toni." She added. I softened the tension in my face and nodded my head. But she must've noticed. "Just get to know her. I would never set you up with somebody crazy. She's gorgeous. She like to have fun. You'll like her." Leah added.

"Bro, and she got a fat ass." Mike walked over to me, mumbling playfully and tapping my arm. "Heard that." Leah leaned over and popped Mike in the back of his head.

I simply stood in place not saying a word hoping they would stop talking about her already.

"Rai, can you keep an eye out for KJ? He's in for the night, but sometimes you know how he gets. We'll be in the basement." Mike spoke and Leah looked on for a response.

"Sure, I can. Yeah." She answered dryly. Mike stared at her for a second. "What's wrong with you? We had a good day, I thought. Did I do something to you?" He asked her. She didn't respond right away. He was about to speak again because she wasn't saying anything. I was a second away from going over to her. But she finally spoke, "Sorry. I've been stressed about everything going on with school. You didn't do anything. I got KJ."

He stared at her. "You sure that's all? If I did something wrong talk to me." He went over and stood in front of her. She reached in and poked his nose. "Yes I'm sure big head. It's graduation coming up."

He nodded satisfied with her answer. "We'll figure it out together. Whatever you need you know your big brother will have your back. You're not alone, Rai." He leaned and hugged her.

"I got KJ." She was making sure that they knew there was no issue.
"Thank you Rai. I appreciate it." Leah smiled.

"You know I love KJ. It's not a problem." She replied, loosening up her demeanor. She even smiled a little.

The alert bell chimed through the house, indicating her friend was approaching the front door. Leah left out to greet her. I was nervous as hell. My stomach was turning. The unknown was killing me. It could all turn into something crazy at any moment, maybe even blow up in my face. I knew if the roles were reversed, I wouldn't want this to happen. I'd never be ok with Rai agreeing to see some guy just to keep our secret. So I definitely felt like shit for going through with it.

Leah returned smiling, with her friend Toni walking inches behind.

"Adrian this is Toni. Toni this is Mike's best friend Adrian." She introduced. "Nice to meet you." I stuck my hand out for her to shake. She shook it.

"Same." She did a little laugh. I guess the whole thing felt awkward for her too.

I looked at Rai to see if she was ok. But she wouldn't look my way. Next thing I knew she left for the stairs.

The last thing I wanted was for her to think anything crazy. I needed to talk to see her.

"Let's go down to basement and shoot a little pool." Mike suggested, walking off with us behind him. On our way I decided to text Rai.

9:12 pm
Me: Don't be upset. I'll be up there in a little bit Munch.

9:12 pm
Beautiful one: I'm not. It's cool. Stop texting me. You're being so rude to your date.

9:13 pm
Me: This is not a date.

9:14 pm
Beautiful One: Just don't forget to be a gentleman.

9:14 pm

I put my phone away and got comfortable on one of the sofas, Toni joined me. This shit is about to be awkward.

"This is weird, huh?" She was sat across from me. Mike and Leah were over at the pool table chalking their sticks and racking the balls. "A little bit, but it's cool." I replied shifting in my seat, laughing.

"Yeah. I'm not sure why Leah insisted on getting me out of the house. You know how it is when your friends are in a happy relationship. They want you to be in one too."

"Mike's the same way." I agreed. She seem like cool people, but all I could think about was my girl upstairs. I'm not blind. She was beautiful. All of those things they described, she was. She a had a charm about her that would steal a man's heart. Just not this man. It wasn't cool for her to be in the situation either. That's not honest either—all the more reason to come clean to Mike. So stuff like this wouldn't happen again. I should have never agreed.

"Ok, Mr. Adrian you seem like a nice guy. Why are you single? Or are you good where you are, because that's cool too." She raised her brows smiling. I glanced over at Mike and Leah playing pool. "It's a little complicated. I have something going on. I don't want to lie."

She leaned back, curious to learn more. "So you're not single? It's cool if you're not. I'm not exactly out here desperate to be in a relationship. It'll happen when it's supposed to." She gave me time to respond. I like the fact that she didn't have expectations.

"It's just complicated." I spoke low keeping it short. That was all I could say.

"Oh ok. I guess I can say the same, —I'm dating around." She nodded replied.

Nah that's not the same thing, but whatever to keep you from asking anything else.

"Cool." I nodded. She smiled with that sparkle in her eyes. "Bad timing I guess. I can see why my friends thought this would be good." She said.

"Why is that?" I was curious. I sat back, intrigued. "You're being truthful to me. You don't have an issue communicating your thoughts. You're handsome and respectful." She blushed.

"Hmm. You can see all of that?" She nodded. "Well then I can see why Mike thought this was a good idea too. You're pretty cool yourself." I laughed and she did too.

"So, what do you do?" She changed the subject and poured a drink from the table. Mike had Kettle One and St. Germain spread out for us. "I'm an advertising sales executive."

"That's a mouthful. What do you do exactly?" She asked. I didn't mind answering. "I sell advertising space to different companies."

"Interesting. Was this your dream?" She quizzed curiously. I shook my head. "No but it made sense for my life right now. I'm still figuring things out." I nodded.

"That's smart you have something right now until you figure it out." She smootheed out a little bit of her blonde curls she had up in a bun.

"Yeah." I nodded. It was quiet for a second. I was about to ask what she did for a living but I remembered Mike saying she worked at the dance studio with Leah.

"So back to you dating. Anything sticking for you?" She quizzed further, damn she was back on this shit. It annoyed me. My answer wasn't changing.

"It's complicated," I repeated. I wasn't trying to be rude I just didn't want to lie. I'm tired of hiding. I wanted so badly to say, 'no, I'm not single. My girl is upstairs.' I knew better than to do that, though.

"Oh." She said kind of bummed. I guess I did offend her. Whelp I couldn't take it back. The little blind date was ruined. I was ready to check on Rai. "If you would excuse me I need to use the restroom. —I'll be right back." I stood up and smoothed out my t-shirt.

"The date going that bad you need to find an excuse to leave? Because I have no problem leaving?" She spoke calm but was clearly pissed.

"Oh no it's not you. I really have to use it." I smiled at her to ease this tension. "Ok." She raised her brows.

"I'll be right back." I walked out of the basement. I checked my phone. I saw that Raina responded to my last text I sent.

9:15m
Beautiful one: I love you too. 

9:32pm
Me: on my way to your room.

I made my way through the house and up the stairs. I tapped on her door. She opened it and pulled me inside. I closed the door locking it. We could finally breathe.

I placed my hands on both sides of her face, gazing into her eyes. She gave me that beautiful winking smile I loved so much. I searched her eyes. She was worried. This playing with fire shit needed to stop. "I'm sorry, baby." I managed to say to her.

She studied me. We were both scared. "Me too." She softly spoke. My hands still held her sweet face as I slowly moved in to meet her lips. I had never felt more safe and at home like I did at that moment. It was tender and gentle. Yet wildly enticing.

She hungrily kissed me back. I found myself getting lost. It was the most simple soft kisses we just kept repeating, but it was the electricity between us that set my soul on fire. It must've transcended because she completely surrendered herself to me.

I found myself picking her up and slamming her against the wall, gripping her tight. Her arms were around my neck she was pulling me closer.

She then sucked on my bottom lip.
"Shit." A moaned slipped from my mouth landing onto hers. She opened wider, allowing me entry. We tongue-wrestled it up until we were 1-2-3 tapped out. With no care in the world. We just stayed in the moment.

We finally released. Wow, wow, wow. Our first kiss. "I couldn't resist it." I stated to her out of breath while placing her back on her feet. She bit down on her lip trying to hide her smile. I pulled her into my arms, squeezing her lifelessly. After calming myself down a bit, I  kissed the top of her head. "I missed you so much, Munch."

She pulled away jut to bring her lips back up to mine. I couldn't help but smile at her little light kisses. She was still a little shy, but my baby was trying.

I bent down placing my forehead against hers. We both closed our eyes. I grabbed both of her hands, holding them. We stole a beat, just for us.

"I'll text you when I leave. I probably won't be too much longer." I whispered, we finally opened our eyes. I released her hands and stepped back.

"Um, babe. You might want to fix that before you go." She pointed down to my risen buddy. She playfully scrunched her face.

I bashfully looked down, laughing as I fixed my pants. She giggled. My eyes fell noticing her nipples nudging through her shirt. I got get out of here.

"Let me get back downstairs." I leaned down pecking her lips again. She shook her head smiling.

I unlocked her door then left out. I sped down the stairs and sprinted off to the basement almost busting my ass. Walking back in I spotted them seated on the sofas. They were talking about something that had them laughing. I took a seat in the little rocker chair joining them.

"Damn A3 what took you so long?" Mike asked. "I had to take a shit." I shrugged. The damage was already done with this blind date.

"Eww." Leah added, her friend Toni laughed. "Shitty ass." Mike scrunched up his face.

I shrugged again. "Anyway what were y'all talking about?"

"I was telling Toni about the studio out in California. I'm hoping I can get somebody over to that location permanently." Leah replied. She was overseeing the dance studios with Raina. It worked perfectly since Rai was struggling to keep up with everything.

"Oh ok. So Toni you're willing to move to California and run it?" I asked. Hopefully she didn't think I was too terrible of a guy. She was an innocent bystander who shouldn't have been in this situation. I felt be about that. "Absolutely. I'd still travel back and forth to help Leah with the other three locations though." She answered.

"Good because with everything I have coming up I'm going to need a few more people." Leah replied. Since Mike and Leah made it official, they have been doing big things. I was proud of them.

That was the rest of the night. No numbers were exchanged or any other one-on-one interactions, just us four hanging out. It turned out ok in the end. A couple drinks and a few laughs made the night much better than the start of it.

Although, my mind was still on that kiss—my shy little Raina. I didn't even know she had all of that in her. That was the first time we ever kissed each other. I needed to tell Mike now because there was no turning back. I will fight for her, I won't let him try to take her away from me.

_____________________________

{Photo: Kryss V. (insta: @kryssss)
{Song: "Talk" by Khalid}

{**Don't forget to Vote & Comment**}

{Adrian I guess you're still cool, although this date was a little shaky lol. (In my Emannuel Hudson voice}. What do you guys think about this little setup date situation?

{Curious, where are you guys from? I'm a Carolina girl, —but I'm a huge Steelers and Bulls fan (B4L).}

{This year specifically 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾}