Meet Hercules
Montclair, NJ
June 2019
Sage Nwafor sat nervously in the BMW, she can almost feel the sweat from her armpits running on her pink sundress. It was hot as hell outside but at least the car had good AC. Damn it. She dug in her purse and luckily found some napkins in her bag to dap her pits, soaking up all the moisture. She hit her armpits again with her travel deodorant. Smelling funky was not an option for her right now on a hot summer Sunday. Sage hated it, she hated how anxious dating made her feel. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. A break down is not an option today either. Why can’t she just be calm and collective like most women? To be honest, she hasn’t dated anyone seriously in three years. Sure, she has been on dates on and off but they were nothing. They were all casual or the guy just wanted to sleep with her. So she has had her fun sleeping around after her last boyfriend, but she grew tired of it. She craved something more, intimacy was her answer. Yes, sex is a huge part of it but she needed someone to rock her world in a spiritual sense too, not just the bedroom. Until she finally caved in and decided to give dating one more shot. This is it, this is her last shot.
Come on Sage. Get it together.
Sage,26 years old and you’d think she would be an adult about dating by now. Nope. She feels like an high school girl all over again. She shaved her brown legs, let her locs fall on her shoulders, and wore hoop earrings just above her shoulders. Sage texted her best friend Yasmin, about how nervous she was on her date. Yasmin texted back ’Girl breathe, you will be just fine’ Sage almost jumped out of her skin as she looked up from her phone to meet the sky blue eyes of Dylan, Dylan Andino. Dylan’s a tall, muscular, 34-year-old Greek god; broad shoulders, big arms, brown curly hair with a goatee that made his smile even better. This man was basically Hercules to her. He smiled at her outside of his windshield window. His Colgate smile made her melt in the seat as he was excited to drink smoothies together in his car. Dylan was her date and this is not her first date, they have been seeing each other for three months now. Sage is still unsure about him and the wall is up; Dylan has been eager to see her ever since they met.
The two were both off today during work so Dylan wasted no time to set another date to pick her up. Dylan wanted to show her around Montclair a bit where his neighborhood is before taking a break to Smoothie Town. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, and it has been making Sage wiggle in the car. Sage understood she is a very attractive black woman but good lord. How long is he going to keep staring?
Dylan pops in his car to hand her strawberry-banana smoothie “Here you go my lady, Strawberry banana smoothie. And one Green Monster for me.”
“Thanks so much.”
“Anything, for my lady.” He spoke.
Sage got chills down her spine and it wasn’t from the smoothie. Even though it was freaking delicious. He’s been calling her his lady, since date one like he imprinted on her already. She wasn’t sure if she should just address it or just leave it be. She wasn’t sure if it was worth the useless argument. Sage got Dylan’s attention when she let out a pleased moan from her straw. Hearing that from her glossed lips, turned him on a little. He loved those full lips, he wanted to taste them again.
“Tasty?” He asked sipping his smoothie.
“It’s amazing, I never realized this smoothie place was here. I must have passed it so many times driving.”
“Smoothie Town is my spot, especially after my workouts. The best smoothies in town, they have other stuff like Acai bowls too”
“I see you workout a lot.” She blurted. Making conversation with him has been difficult for her. She never knew what to talk about with him, so she ends up just listening more than speaking. She is trying to speak more so Dylan doesn’t think she’s not interested.
“Yeah, I workout to blow off steam and keep me going. I love the thrill. I work out like four to five times a week if I am not too busy with work.”
“I see the results.” Her big brown eyes traced down his huge guns for arms. With one hug, she felt like he could crush her and break her spine.
“Heck yeah!” He flexed his arm for her. It did crack a little giggle out of her, that one giggle was music to his ears. The little things he got out of Sage was enough to make his day. Sage was almost tempted to touch his arm.
“You can touch it.” He invited, it was like he read her mind. Sage hesitated for a moment before tracing her manicured fingers along the olive skin of his muscle. Dylan loved every moment of her touch, it was as if he was being touched by a feather. The touch of her brown fingers made his chest burn. He doesn’t remember the last time a girl made him feel like this, not even his ex.
“You don’t miss a day at the gym, I see.” She commented
“Only to rest or to see you.”
Sage smiled at that, it’s nice to feel a little important at the moment.
“Shall we head to the park for a walk, then lunch?”
Sage nodded as she happily sipped her smoothie happily. Dylan lowered the car windows down before driving off to the park for a walk. He turned up the radio just a tad to get some music in the background. He knew that Sage wasn’t much of a talker but he was okay with that. He didn’t want to push her too much today with the conversation if she didn’t want to. He can feel her anxiety level. However, he at times would take a good look at her looking out the window, every now and then. Sage was beautiful today like always. Her pink sundress complemented her coco skin. The sunlight made her skin shine like a new penny. He itched to touch her thigh but he didn’t want to overstep her boundaries. But he wanted to so bad. He has dated many women and black women before, but something was radiating around Sage and it couldn’t put his finger on it. In time, he will figure it out.
After tossing their empty smoothie bottles, the two took the time to do a couple of laps around the park. Many people walked around with their dogs and children. Couples around them held hands around them or sat in the shade with their blankets under trees. It was a beautiful June day to be outside. Dylan nudges Sage to bring her attention back to hold his hand. He knew that’s what she wanted. Dylan’s hand was massive compared to hers when she opened her hand to him.
His grip was warm, firm but just enough not to crush it.
“I’d come here to work out if I wanted a different scenery from the gym.” He wanted to make some communication with her.
“I can never be that disciplined about working out.” She added.
“We can work out together.” He invited. “We can go at your pace. If that’s what you like.”
“Oh, I don’t know. It’s been so long since I ran. That was back in high school.”
“So you did run?”
“I used to run track all throughout high school. I even have a few medals back at my apartment.”
“Holy shit, miss thing. What did you run?” Now Dylan was getting somewhere with this girl.
“The 400-meter dash usually. Sometimes the 100 meters too. I was never a long distance runner. I have some pics of me in high school.” Sage grabbed her iPhone and began to scroll through her old photos. She encouraged Dylan to look. The high school version of Sage looked different but she was still beautiful. Of course, she was thinner then because of her athletic body and abs. Her hair was different, she had a short afro then but it worked well with her. In the photo, she looked like she loved to run, she had a huge smile in that picture with the baton in her hand. Sage’s body now was this fit, but her body fills out nicely; wider hips, bigger ass, and bosom. Her sundress hugged every curve. However, still a beautiful human being to him.
“You looked happy.” He commented.
“I was.”
“Why did you stop? You said you received metals.”
Sage shrugged “ I got into other things when I got into college. I am also an academic at heart and I wanted to focus more in my studies. I wanted to stay on the Dean’s List.”
“Beauty and brains. I love that.” He gripped her hand fondly, he almost wanted to kiss it. “But if you ever wanted to start working out again, let me know. I can get you back in shape!”
“Okay,Doc. I will think about it. Just don’t try to kill me alright.” Sage sometimes calls him doc because Dylan is a registered nurse at Saint Barnabas Hospital.
Dylan knows that she needs time to open up to him, he can feel it. He is going to have to treat her like one of his patients; gain trust, be honest and just smile to make her feel comfortable. He knows that Sage is a sweet woman and he is doing his best to keep her steady with him. Dylan wants to leave no room of opportunity for any man to sweep her away. Sage was his, she just doesn’t know it yet. Dylan’s mission was to win her over by any means necessary. Sage just needs to relax and let him in.
