Babydoll

Chapter Four- The Goodbye Before the Hello

“This is a very serious question…” Dominick spoke as he leaned over the counter, a look of sincerity upon his face but humor within his eyes. “Are you a coffee or a tea drinker?” He questioned, his eyebrow flicking upwards in intrigue as he awaited her response. 

“Tea.” She explained as he smirked in approval, moving about his all-white kitchen accented with silver handles and knobs. Pulling a cliche mug that read “I love Vegas” with a heart in place of the word ‘love’, she gave him a look of unexpectancy before raising herself to one of the bar stools. 

“I’m curious…” He began as he dipped the tea bag into the cup and set the kettle over the top of the stove. “What does a girl like you plan to do after high school?”

“A girl like me?”

“I just mean someone who has enough money to never need a job…” Her eyes lowered to her nails as she picked at the half peeled polish from her fingers. “What do you WANT to do?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that…” She paused for a moment. “I guess I want to travel...I’ve always wanted to go to Mexico and New Zealand...maybe be a little cliche and go to Italy…” He nodded in understanding before pulling himself upright in observing her, seemingly studying every minimal move she made such as pulling her hair behind her ear and tapping only her pinky finger and her thumb upon the counter top. “I would like to do photography...Maybe model..I know it may sound unoriginal-”

“I think it’s interesting...You are going to Yale and have so much more...interesting aspirations…” he commented as she averted her gaze from him at the very second the strong whistle from the kettle sounded throughout the kitchen. Turning from her for a moment, Cartier couldn’t help but observe him from behind, realizing every inch of him had been lustful perfection; the curves of his muscles having made her bite her bottom lip in desiring to know the feel of his skin beneath her fingers. 

“Let me guess...two sugars and one cream?” She smiled brightly in surprise and nodded at him having been correct before he poured the accompaniments into her tea and slid it across the counter to her, their fingers touching for a brief moment, followed by their eyes. 

“Thank you…” She spoke nervously before bringing the drink closer to her and away from any temptation that awakened beneath his fingers. 

“So what stops you?” Her eyes shot up to him, believing he could somehow read her mind in her thoughts towards him. 

“What?”

“From going to New Zealand or Italy or being a model or a photographer?” She was asked as she took a sip of her tea in nervousness before shrugging. 

“It’s just not...meant to be…” She spoke these words in double meaning; having been applied to her aspirations as well as a potential relationship with him, a detail he noticed immediately. 

“Even if it doesn’t work...wouldn’t it be fun to enjoy it?” She swallowed hard before the sound of his phone had then forced his attention away from her. As he had traveled only one room over, she was able to hear the entirety of his side of the conversation, learning that whatever it had been was something that angered him quite quickly. 

“Is everything okay?” She asked as he made his way back into the room, fear spread across his face where arrogance once lived. Answering her with an uncertain nod, he pulled himself from the room once more before returning with her clothes, dry and smelling faintly of his cologne. “I need to get you back home…” he spoke while tossing her clothes onto the counter and turning away from her. “Please hurry…” Walking away from her for a moment, he allowed her the isolation she needed to change in private before returning at the very moment she brought the belt to her dress back around her waist. 

“Did I do something-” She attempted to learn the reason behind his uneasiness but only found silence to face her. 

“What’s your address?” He questioned as she looked at him with nervousness. “So I can bring you home…” He verified with a smirk before she nodded, feeling stupid and blushing from this ignorance before then explaining the numbers she knew by heart as he punched them into his GPS. Following the directions given to him, he remained silent until bringing her to the driveway of her childhood home. 

"Thank you...for bringing me home and making me breakfast...and-" she paused when noticing him looking at her home with a wounded expression-similar to that of a puppy dog on a pound waiting to be adopted but always left behind. Because of this, she felt the need to console him. But before she could speak, he interrupted her. 

"I wasn't honest with you…" he let out a sigh following this confession. "Last night, at two in the morning after falling apart from Jared, you threw yourself at me." Her eyes darted up at him. "You told me how badly you wanted to f**k me…" her breath hitched upon hearing him speak this curse. Whenever anyone else would say such vulgarity, it would make her cringe, but when Dominick had done it, she found it irresistible. Feeling as if it had been the forbidden fruit and she had her lips pressed upon the fruit's skin. 

"Did we?" She asked, surprisingly calm with the uncertainty of her still clouded memory. 

"No." He answered sternly. 

"Why?" She couldn't help but ask as she knew at least seventy five percent of her class would have sold their precious sports cars just for a lie in claiming they hooked up with her. But to be rejected by Dominick, she was dying to know why. 

"Because I want you to remember it." His eyes now locked onto her own as time seemed to still around them. "I want you to hold the memory of my fingerprints upon your body long after I've gone and the heat of my kiss on your thighs." Her lips parted gently as she struggled to steady her breath. "I want you to remember my hands pulling your hair and bringing you against me...my tongue worshiping you...my lips serving you...until you come undone beneath me." She swallowed hard to his words as she realized he now leaned close enough to kiss her. "How you feel right now is how you should have the night we met...desired…" 

She pulled back at the final moment before her body would have fallen against his own. Taking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she focused upon the house in front of her before reaching for the door. 

"The night we met...I told you that I wasn't a good guy…" her eyes rested on him as his remained upon the steering wheel. "The rumors about what I do...who I am...they aren't exaggerated…" he continued. "You are too good to be mixed up into any of it...So you won't see me again." Her heart sank when hearing these words. Even if he aggravated her, she basked in the sultry banter between them and wished for it to continue into the foreseeable future. But the sincerity behind his eyes had confirmed the truth in his words. 

"If we won't see each other again…" she pulled herself towards him until she was positioned on the edge of her seat. Cartier could not understand the confidence that lit aflame whenever she was in his presence, as without it, she was meek and obedient. "Should we maybe part with a kiss?"

A mischievous smile came over his lips as he looked to the window before then returning his eyes to her. 

"You couldn't handle it…" she now leaned to him, her hand on his leg as she heard him swallow hard against her advances. 

"Perhaps YOU are the one who couldn't?" She questioned as he unlatched his belt and drew his hand to her chin, a firm grip resting upon her face, bringing her towards the back of her seat in a slow advancement. He kept this grip present until she was now pressed flat back against her seat. But as she had expected a kiss or even a s****l touch, she was disappointed as he had instead opened her door. 

"Goodbye, babydoll." Embarrassed as she had thrown herself at him and was left abandoned and sexually frustrated, Cartier made her way into her house before finding her father upon the couch. She had never seen him this distraught, and yet the amount of empty bottles around him had solidified a rather deep turmoil he seemed to face that had now returned for a reason she had yet to learn. But the tragedy was not in the inability to excess drinking, but instead, the message she had just now received upon her phone from her father. Ascending the steps of her home, Cartier was heartbroken to what she had heard. 

"Where the hell are you? What is the purpose of me paying for this phone if you never pick it up when I need you to?!" The message began. "Anyway...Call me...Your mother is in the hospital…This time, it's bad..."