Alicia's Misfortune (2 page)

“I thought you were going to give me to the end of the month
to come up with the remainder of the rent?” Alicia asked once her landlord
handed her another eviction notice.

“I’m sorry Alicia, you’ve been a very good tenant, but
either you have the rent or you don’t.” Justin Stone never intended to give
Alicia any time since she kept rejecting his invitation to go out for drinks.
Alicia knew that he was interested in her, but Justin was a shark who preyed on
dependent women. “If you don’t have the money now, you have until Friday to get
it to me.” Alicia bit her lip trying her hardest to not cry. She didn’t want to
give him the satisfaction of seeing her in pain.

“I guess I’ll start packing then,” she said defeated. She
loved her apartment and hated the man who took it away from her. Whatever slim
chance Justin had in regards to him taking her out, he had none now.
 

“I’m sorry that it has to be this way.” Justin turned on his
heels and went towards the front door. Before he opened it he looked over his
shoulder. “If you don’t want to move, maybe we could work something out?”
Alicia was disgusted at the methods Justin went through in order to get her.
She said nothing as she walked towards the door and held it open.

“No thanks “Alicia said. Justin gave her an angry look, but
she didn’t care. She slammed the door on him as soon as his feet had crossed
the threshold. “Bastard!” she called out and fell to the floor. If she didn’t
find a place to stay at soon, she’d be homeless. She’d lived in Bearcreek for a
few years, but she was the only one from her family who stayed there. Her
closest family member, her Auntie Joyce, was 1,000 miles away from her and she
honestly didn’t want to move that far away. She had some hope that she might
get her job back. Alicia got up from the floor, went back into her room, and
picked up her laptop. The mail order bride ad was sounding more desirable as
the minutes passed her by.

“This is disgusting though,” Alicia said as her mouse cursor
lingered on the apply button. “Am I really this desperate?” Alicia was willing
to do a lot of things for work, but this was something that really would show
how far she fell off of the totem pole. She scrolled up the ad again and looked
at the picture of the man looking for a bride. “He is attractive.” Alicia said
to herself. Alicia looked through the man’s profile and saw that he was
relatively successful and one thousand dollars a week was better than the zero
dollars a week that she was getting. Plus she’d have some place to stay.

“Well that’s if he chooses me,” Alicia said again. She
thought that she matched his requirements. She was intelligent, attractive,
between the ages that he specified.
Here’s
hoping for the best
, Alicia thought and hit apply. She filled out the
application and sent a picture of herself with the rest of her contact
information. The website looked legit enough and she did some research on it
before she sent her personal information. She completed the application and the
last thing that she needed to do was to wait for a response. Hopefully she got
called in for an interview at one of the other places first and started working
for them soon, but it was nice to have this as a back-up. If all that failed,
she had enough money to stay at a hotel for a few weeks.

“I just need this unemployment to come through quickly.” The
unemployment office was currently fighting with the school that she worked for
to get money from them. She honestly didn’t know why the school was fighting so
hard, she just wanted what was due to her and they knew that the school laid
her off without good cause. She was a great teacher, the parents and the
students loved her. Alicia got up and went into the kitchen and made herself
something to eat. Today was going to be another busy day of walking around and
applying for jobs.

****

The day proved to be eventful for Alicia, many of the places
that she visited was only accepting applications, but she did have the
opportunity to interview on the spot for a bowling alley a few blocks around
the corner from her house. The interview went well and it seemed promising. The
pay wasn’t that good though and it was for part-time work instead of full-time.

“Definitely not good enough to get another place.” She said
as she entered her apartment. She thought that if she could get two part-time
jobs she would be able to save up for a smaller apartment, but nine times out
of ten the apartment might be located in a not too good area of town. Alicia
sighed and walked into her bedroom to check her email. She was surprised to see
an email from the guy who had the ad for the mail order bride. She opened up
the email quickly:

Hello there. Thank you for applying to my “job” I guess you
would say. I must say that you seem very interesting and you’re quite beautiful
as well. I would like to meet up with you tomorrow afternoon for lunch (my
treat of course). I know the nature of my request is odd and that you might
find it a little nerve wrecking to meet up with a stranger (I know I would), so
if you’d like to meet me at a diner that I think you would enjoy, I’d be happy
to reimburse you for gas.
 
Please let me
know what time works for you and I’ll give you more details to the place if
you’re interested.

Regards,
Daniel.

Alicia’s eyes widened at the email and a blush went across
her cheeks. She was actually surprised that she had gotten a reply so quickly.
She was also surprised by the anxiety that went through her body then. She had
this strong need to email him back quickly:

Thank you so much for responding to my application and for
the compliment (you’re very attractive as well). I’d love to meet you tomorrow
afternoon for lunch. Is 1 o’clock good for you? Do you need me to bring
anything to the meeting? You also do not need to reimburse me for the mileage.
I look forward to your response and I look forward to meeting you tomorrow.

Sincerely,
Alicia.

“I can’t believe he actually responded to me.” Alicia said
and shook her head. She honestly didn’t know why she was getting so interested
in the whole mail order bride thing. Did that mean that they’d actually get
married or does the name just imply that they’d be considered to be a married
couple? The more she thought about the whole idea, the less absurd she thought
it’ll be. If she got picked for this, she’d pretty much be getting paid for
doing things that wives normally did. Provide companionship, probably keep the
house clean, but would he be expecting sex as well? If he was paying her to do
all of these services for him, would that make her a prostitute? Alicia had a
lot to research before she met with Daniel the next day.

“Well it’s either try to do this or start living in a hotel
room until I either run out of money, or find a job.” She needed to do abnormal
things in order for her to live a somewhat normal life even at the expense of
her dignity. “At least try it out and see how it is.” Alicia said to herself.
She looked towards her closet and opened the door. She wanted to look as good
as possible so that she had a better chance of winning over Daniel’s interest.
See looked through her closet of clothes until she found a peach summer dress
with a low neckline and a high split that would expose a lot of her thigh. She
picked out some matching shoes and held the dress towards her body and looked
in the mirror.

“This’ll do.” Alicia said and hung the dress over her chair.
She hadn’t been on a date for a few months so she’ll think of this lunch as a
date instead of a business transaction. Alicia took in a deep breath. “I can do
this,” she said and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

“She’s hot,” Donald said once Daniel handed his phone over
to him so that he could show Donald a picture of Alicia. “I don’t think I’ve
ever been with an African American woman before,” Donald said raking his mind
trying to visually see all of the women that he’s slept with in the past.
Daniel grabbed his phone away from his brother.

 
“And you won’t be
sleeping with this one.” Donald laughed at his brother.

“I’m pretty sure she’s not my type if you like her.” Donald
leaned back in Daniel’s home office chair. He’s been spending a lot of time
with his brother recently, their father had passed away a few weeks ago and
Daniel was taking it the hardest. Donald came over frequently to try to cheer
his brother up. Hopefully their father’s death wasn’t the reason behind him
wanting to find a woman. “She doesn’t strike me as an Alicia,” Daniel shrugged
into his black suit jacket and grabbed his wallet off of the table.

“Whatever, are you staying in the house?” Daniel asked
looking over his shoulder at his brother. Donald turned around in the seat like
he was a child.

“Yeah, I want to see your face when you realize she’s
crazy.” Donald laughed. Daniel ignored him.

“Have you made your ad yet?” Donald shook his head.

“I want to see how you handle this before I do it. I can
wait a little longer for my money.” Daniel sighed. His brother was so sure that
he’d win the money. It was not going to go down that way though.

“See you later then,” Daniel said and walked out of the
door.

****

“Wow,” Daniel said once Alicia walked into the diner and
looked around for him. Daniel couldn’t help but to gawk at her.
Gorgeous,
he thought and he got up and
walked towards her. “Alicia?” he said and the chocolate goddess looked his way.

“Yes, Daniel right? It’s nice to meet you.” Her voice shook
when she said that and Daniel took the hand that she extended to him.

“The pleasure is mine.” He said still looking at her. She
was even more beautiful standing in front of him. “Our table is this way,” he
held her lower back and walked her towards the table. He couldn’t help but to
look down to the area just below his hand. He was ashamed that he let his mind
take a negative turn, but he knew right then and there that she was the one
that he wanted. Sex wasn’t his initial motivation for creating the ad for a
mail order bride, but he absolutely had to get a taste of her. He mentally
kicked himself, some of his brother rubbed off on him.

“The place is nice, thank you for inviting me here.” Daniel
smiled at her allowing his eyes to drift down to her red and plump lips. He’d
kill to suck on them.

“I’m glad you like it, please order whatever you like.”
Alicia smiled sweetly and looked down towards her menu.

Daniel and Alicia had spoken for a long time and he learned
a lot of things about her. She was a laid off elementary school teacher who had
a love of children and people in general. She was kind, funny, and intelligent.
Daniel didn’t have to read through the long list of applications, he found who
he was interested in.

“Alicia,” Daniel said and grabbed a hold of her hand. She
blushed, but she didn’t pull her hand away. “I think we have a connection here
and if you’re interested in me as well, I’d love to show you my place and where
you’ll be living at. If you take my offer of course” Alicia was shocked by what
Daniel had said. She couldn’t believe that he picked her after one afternoon
together. This was perfect for her because she needed to be out of her
apartment.

“Of course, I think we hit it off well.” Daniel grinned and
held her hand close to his mouth and kissed it. He was happy that she accepted.

“Should we leave now? I want you to become acquainted with
my place a little bit before I move you in.” Everything was happening so
quickly and it kind of scared her.

“Yeah let’s go.” Daniel paid the bill and was out of the
door.

****

Daniel and Alicia drove the thirty minute commute keeping up
a friendly conversation. When they finally pulled up in front of Daniel’s house
she was surprised at how big it was.

“We don’t have to sleep in the same bed yet if you’re
uncomfortable. I have a few spare bedrooms that you can decorate however you
like.” Daniel said ushering her through the house. His house was impressive and
Alicia felt that she could definitely make this work. Daniel’s phone rung then,
“Hi what’s going on?” Daniel said as he spoke with the person on the other end
of the receiver. “Right, I’m sorry I forgot all about that. I’ll get to it
right away.” Daniel hung up his phone and looked at Alicia. “Sorry, I had a
teleconference that I forgot I had to do today. It’ll take about an hour. I
know this is weird and out of nowhere, but please make yourself a home.” Alicia
nodded almost not paying attention to him. “Have a look around. The fridge is
in the back and the bedrooms are all over. I’ll be upstairs.”

“Okay,” Alicia said and Daniel hustled out of the room.
Alicia watched him walk up the stairs and sighed in relief once he was out of
sight. Daniel was a sweet guy, but he really wasn’t her type. In her current
predicament though, she’d have to endure it. She walked around Daniel’s house
and looked through all of the rooms on the first floor. His interior design was
plain, but it wasn’t bad. She shook her head, she was in no position to judge
considering if she didn’t take what Daniel was offering her, she’d be homeless.
“He is cute though just a little too stiff for my liking.” Alicia said once she
went into one of the spare bedrooms. The room was small, better suited for a
child than an adult. She left that room in a hurry. She walked down the other
end of the hallway and heard a piano playing. She didn’t know why she didn’t
hear it before, but the closer she went to the end of the hall, the louder the
music got.

“He didn’t tell me that anyone else was here,” Alicia said
and walked up to the door. She was surprised to see that the door was cracked
so she pushed it open gently so that she could see the person behind the
beautiful music. When the door opened all the way, she was taken aback by what
she saw. She saw a man who resembled Daniel sitting at the piano, with water
dripping from his hair in a towel. She couldn’t help but to stare at the man as
he moved his fingers over the keys. She didn’t know why, but she was instantly
drawn to the man. His body was perfect and the way his jaw clenched as he pounded
against the keys turned her on. Nobody had ever ignited a flame that deep
inside of her at a first glance before. She walked into the room in a trance
and almost shrieked when a baseball bat that was sitting up next to the door
had fallen down. Startled, the man jumped up and his towel fell to the ground
revealing his semi-hard erection.