Juniper was just cool. Very down to Earth and—once she realized that I wasn't trying to force myself upon her—chill as hell. I was used to women who were two handfuls, with lists of demands and standards that were a mile long. Not to say that she was devoid of any of that, but tonight we just vibed. What I had initially thought of as an ingenious idea, was quickly proven to be the opposite and I'd almost fucked things up with her completely. Luckily—due to nothing more than The Man Above, honestly—she gave me a chance to not only speak my piece, but also make it up to her for the misunderstanding, which led to us being where we were currently, sitting on opposite sides of the couch on my back deck, debating which 90s girl groups could or could not sing.
"Quin. Cee. You cannot tell me that you're putting XScape over SVW? I can't believe I'm sitting in the house of a man who would dare utter that phrase, for one, and utter it with confidence, on top of that? Tuh!"
"So you gon sit up here and act like 'Off the Hook' didn't slap? Like the big girl wasn't singing for her cornbread on Who Can I Run To? That's what we're doing today? Wooooooow."
"Sir. Sidechicks with Voices had multiple albums that slapped. Plus, Coko could sing all four members of XScape under the table while having an asthma attack. You're buggin," Juniper said, "Wait...this is the true test of just how trash—"
"Or amazing," I broke in.
"Or amazing," she conceded, "your music taste really is. Going strictly off vocals, not who had the most songs that slapped or which ones you thought were finest. Solely by voices—TLC or EnVogue?"
"That's an unfair comparison," I said.
"Just answer the question, man. It's not that hard. I gave you the parameters that set you up for there to only be one answer," Juniper quipped, leaning toward me, eyes narrowed.
"So, you obviously want me to say EnVogue, but—" I started, toying with her because they were going to be my answer all along.
She held up a hand before I could continue, "I'ma stop you right there, pleighboi. The answer is most certainly EnVogue. Now if we wanna talk about who had more heaters, then I might have to put my undying love for Terry Ellis' upper register to the side and begrudgingly admit that TLC has them bested in that category."
“You real serious about your 90s girl groups, huh?”
“I’m real serious about everything. Hazard of being the youngest, most of my life has been spent fighting for the right to not only have an opinion, but to have it be heard. And in a house full of women, tuh! Yeah, I learned early to make my opinion known—loud and strong,” she replied with a touch of something I couldn’t quite place in her tone, “Besides, no use having an opinion, if you don’t feel so strongly about it that you’ll argue it to the death, am I right?”
“So, in the spirit of that frame of mind, you know I’m not letting this XScape versus SWV discussion go away, right?”
“As long as you can accept that you’ll forever go down on the wrong side of history,” she trailed off with a grin, “Hey.”
“Is for horses.”
“Oh my god, shut up,” she said, playfully slapping my arm.
That slight tap brought my awareness to our level of proximity now. We’d been keeping our space, on opposite ends of the couch, but somehow during the course of our conversation we had managed to converge near the middle of the couch. The lull in conversation gave me an opportunity to openly ogle just how fine Juniper really was. She was casual as hell in a long dress that buttoned all down the front, but still effortlessly fly in an unassuming sort of way. My eyes roamed her face, committing every single part of it to memory—from the tiny, nearly imperceptible beauty mark near the left side of her hairline to the barely visible dimples in her cheeks that only appeared when she smiled or smirked to the lush set of lips that were covered in a deep berry colored lipstick prior to our meal and the wine that had accompanied that meal. Her lips now bore the stain of indulgence after a couple glasses of Tempranillo.
Her deep set, almond shaped eyes seemed to bore through me as our gazes caught and held for a couple beats before she cast them downward, biting her lower lip.
“You look like you want to kiss me,” Juniper said suddenly, “You do, don’t you?”
Initially I said nothing, momentarily taken aback by her forwardness. One thing I should have not been surprised by as she’d had no problem saying what was on her mind for the duration of our conversation all night. When they were handing out filters, Juniper must’ve been busy getting back in line for second helpings of fine because hers was nonexistent as far as I could tell. She was irreverent, but never crass or disrespectful.
“I do,” I replied after a couple beats had passed, “But I’m treading lightly. I mean, I did almost get pepper sprayed earlier after a misunderstanding. Didn’t wanna risk it a second time.”
“You shook?”
“I’m cautious. There’s a difference.”
“I don’t bite…unless that’s what you’re into.”
Juniper laughed at my raised brows and moved in a little closer, her dark brown orbs sparkling with mischief. She opened her mouth to say something else—undoubtedly something smart, but before she could expel the breath to speak, I cupped her chin, drawing her face closer, pressing a sweet, closed-mouthed kiss to her lips. I let our lips linger connected for a bit before slowly pulling back to look at Juniper once again. She was adorably pouty, eyes closed, lips still in full pucker as she let out a low groan.
“Really? Is that all you g—” she started but was quickly shut up when I captured her lips once again.
This kiss was decidedly less chaste as my tongue took advantage of catching her off guard with her mouth open. Our tongues dueled for dominance as the kiss increased in intensity, Juniper trying desperately to take the lead, but I wasn’t allowing it. My hands, which were cradling her face, moved down her body, to land at her hips, shifting her, settling her atop my lap. She murmured her approval at the shift in position, lacing her hands together behind my neck and pushing herself closer to me. I detangled our mouths, licking a trail from her ear the hollow of her throat, which caused her to throw her head back as I suckled her neck, sure to leave behind bruises as evidence of my presence on her body.
Running my tongue along her collarbone caused Juniper to let out a shuddering moan as she began a slow grind in my lap. I chuckled at her response before bringing our mouths back together in another torrid kiss, only breaking when the necessity of breathing reared its ugly head. At the conclusion of the kiss, Juniper rested her forehead on my shoulder, slumping into my embrace. We sat there for a few moments in silence, breathing falling in tandem.
“Well, shit. Now that? Is what I call a great first kiss,” she quipped.
I couldn’t do anything but laugh in response. We sat cocooned in silence for a few moments more until Juniper lifted her head from my shoulder and leaned in to kiss me again. She clearly hadn’t had her fill as she pressed her lips against mine in slow succession, each press lingering longer than the previous contact. I captured her lower lip between my teeth sucking it into my mouth, trying to take over the kiss, but Juniper pulled back with a frown.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Are you a control freak? Do you always need to have the upper hand?”
“That came out of nowhere.”
She shook her head, “It came from right now. I’m settled atop your lap, clearly enjoying myself, kissing you, but instead of just going with the flow, you just had to take over.”
I laughed, but quickly sobered once I realized she wasn’t joking at all. And my laughter deepened the crease in her forehead that appeared when she frowned.
“You’re serious right now? You’re in my lap, grinding on my hard dick, my hands are all over your ass, and I’m supposed to be a passive participant?”
“What happened to your caution? Moving based on my level of comfort? Letting me take the lead?”
“Are you uncomfortable right now?”
“Well, no, but…”
I shook my head, taking a moment to think about my words before speaking. I needed to clear, but inoffensive.
“Sweetheart, I’m not sure what kinda b level niggas you’ve been with before, but that’s not how I roll. There’s no power struggle here, love, just two people enjoying themselves…or at least I thought we were both enjoying ourselves. If there’s something I’m doing that you don’t like or that you don’t want, I know you have no problem opening that pretty ass mouth and telling me, so what is this really about?”
Juniper remained silent, trying to shift off of my lap, “Maybe I should go. I should probably go.”
I held her firmly in place, hands braced on her hips, “No running.”
“I’m not running. I’d just like to go now.”
“I’m not into holding anyone hostage, so if that’s what you wish…”
I released my hold, allowing her to slide off of my lap. She stood in front of me, motionless and staring for a moment before moving back toward the apartment to gather her things. I followed right behind her, not saying anything, completely confused by what had shifted, but knowing I didn’t want to say shit else that could possibly ruin the chances of seeing her again. I was no sucka ass nigga, but I also wasn’t stupid. We’d reached some sort of impasse that I was sure we would work out whenever Juniper sorted out whatever was going on in her head. For now, I just followed her through the house and down the stairs, to walk her to her car.
We reached her car and I put her bag in the trunk before escorting her to the driver side door and opening it for her.
“Have a good night, sweetheart,” I said, “Maybe next time we do this, I’ll call you up and ask you out…you know the proper way.”
We both laughed at that and I expected her to get in the car and continue on her merry little way, but Juniper turned toward me suddenly. She stared at me for a couple seconds before speaking.
“I…had a good time tonight, Quincy.”
“Me too, Juniper,” I replied.
She laughed, “No for real, I did have a really good time tonight.”
I grabbed her hand, moving us out of the street to rest against the passenger side of her cat.
“So, what happened? How did we go from the start of my daily fantasies for the past week to…” I waved a hand around, “Whatever this awkward shit is now?”
“You’re really direct,” Juniper hedged.
“I am. Lived life too long in ambiguity with too many folks. Can’t operate that way and keep my sanity. Clear and direct is the only way to be ‘round these parts. So, are you done side stepping my question yet, or…?”
“Why couldn’t you just go with the flow?”
“I thought we were flowing rather nicely, sweetheart.”
Juniper groaned and threw her head back. I laughed instantly picking up what was going on here now. She was the control freak that she accused me of being. And because I didn’t fall back and let her have her way she was frustrated. It was cute, her inability to just vocalize that.
“So, since we were flowing why couldn’t you just sit back and say, ‘ok sweetheart, do ya thang!’?”
“Because while you were doing your thang, my thang made it virtual impossible to just sit still, but be clear,” I said, stepping in, placing an arm on either side of her and leaning down to speak directly into her ear, “If you wanna be in control like Janet, you’re gonna have to tie me down. The only way I’m not taking over is if I’m literally restrained.”
At the end of that statement, I delivered a lingering kiss to her neck, right below her ear before attempting to move out of her space. Juniper had different ideas though, threading her fingers behind my neck, joining our mouths in a kiss, controlling the tempo with soft nibbles and suckling my lips. My hands dropped from beside her head to her ass, sandwiching her between the car and my quickly reappearing hardness. Juniper groaned, deepening the kiss. I used the grip on her ass to lift her from the ground, bringing her legs to wrap around my waist, forgetting where we were and everything else that was not Juniper and her insistent grinding against my erection and soul-robbing kisses.
Once again, the necessity of breathing caused us to move away from each other and that separation allowed clarity to sink in and I let Juniper’s legs back down to the ground. Her breathing was labored, eyes closed, lips parted as she took in breath after breath. After about ten seconds, she grabbed my hand leading me back toward my place.
“Ok, yeah. I’m definitely fucking you tonight.”