"Dressing Zico"

The next morning, I woke up to another Zico song coming from my phone. This time it was a text message from Jong. I realized also that his name didn’t come up so Zico must have come in some time while I was asleep, changed my ringtones AGAIN, and deleted Jong’s name from my phone.Zico!
The message said, “Can we talk? It’s very important. Please?”
I thought for a moment and then texted back “I guess so. I’ll meet you in the lobby at ten.”
I got dressed but not too dressed. You didn’t want to look too good when you were going to kiss someone off. Especially someone like Jong. Men like him tend not to get the message. I grabbed my key card and my phone and headed for the lobby. In the elevator, I changed all of my ringtones to bird sounds.
In the lobby, I saw Jong sitting alone in the far corner. He kept looking out of his watch and then staring out of the window.
“Hey there,” I said.
“Elizabeth!” His face exploded into a big smile. He stood up and indicated the beside of him. I sat down and he followed.
“Please don’t say anything until I finish. I want to apologize for last night. I acted so badly and that is not me. Zico told me that you liked an aggressive man who takes charge. He said you were a party girl who would get bored if I didn’t show you a good time.”
“He did, huh?” I don’t know why I was surprised.
“Mm-hmm. I’m not usually that forward. When I kissed you, I could tell that Zico was totally wrong about you. I was so afraid that I messed up my one and only chance with you.” Jong agitatedly ran his hand through is hair which fell perfectly back into place. He seemed so sincere.
I can’t believe Zico did this! Should I forgive Jong? I really want to. Everyone deserves a second chance.
“Can you forgive me? Please give me another chance. I’ll treat you so good. I really like you, Elizabeth.” Those puppy eyes again!
“Okay Jong. I’ll go out with you again.”
“Thank you so much, Elizabeth! I promise, I’ll show you the real Jong this time. You won’t be sorry.” Jong leaned over and hugged me and then stood up to go. “I have a Zico errand to run but I’ll call you tonight. Is that okay?”
“Yep. Zico said he may have something for me to do today but I haven’t heard from him yet.” Jong stretched out his hand to me and I took it. He kissed the back of my hand and after our goodbyes, he left.
Jong, I hope you really are what you say you are. Now, where’s Zico? We have a few things to discuss!

I ran across Mya, the make-up girl, in the hallway and found out where Zico’s room was. He was staying on the top floor. Of course! You had to have a key to even reach that floor! My only option was to leave him a message. I looked on my phone and found his number. I texted him, “Please come to my room. We need to talk.” I didn’t get a text back.
I went to my room and waited. And waited. And waited! I finished my book which had a very shocking ending. I looked up when I heard the door click and watched as Zico strutted in. It’s about time!
“What’s up, Tutti Frutti? What did you need?”
Tutti Frutti?
He sat down in the chair across from me and just sort of spread out. When Zico was in the room, he was everywhere. His presence was huge and the room became fuller and livelier.
“You know, a text back would have been nice,” I said.
“Don’t be sour. You’re with Zico now. All is good,” he swung his head my way and grinned a big goofy grin.
I gave him a look that said I was not amused. “All is NOT good! Why did you sabotage my date with Jong? What do you think gives you the right to mess with my life?”
“Hey-ho! Hold up! I made sure he didn’t totally molest you last night! You should be thanking me!”
“I don’t mean then. I mean before the date started!”
“What? I don’t know what you mean,” he said.
I’ll bet you don’t!
“I know you talked to Jong before we went out yesterday,” I said.
“Huh? No I didn’t.” He looked confused.
“He told me what you said. Why did you lie about me? He only treated me that way because you told him I’m a party girl!” I didn’t mean for my voice to get louder and I was trying to keep my anger in check.
“Hang on! FIRST of all, I didn’t know you had a date until lunch. SECOND, I didn’t tell Jong ANYTHING about you. And THIRD, WHY are you still TALKING TO HIM? He was treating you like a total slut! I know! I watched! Zico was getting angry and our customary yelling had started. I was mad too.
“You had PLENTY of time to talk to him after our fight yesterday. But WHY? Why do you CARE if I date JONG?”
“WHY WOULD I LIE? You know WHAT? FORGET IT! I DON’T CARE! GO SCREW JONG’S BRAINS OUT! YOU’RE RIGHT! IT’S NONE. OF. MY. BUSINESS!” Zico stood up. My phone twittered as I got a text. I saw it was from Jong before Zico snatched up the phone before I could. He read the text and then threw the phone against the wall. It exploded. “I don’t care how late you’re up getting raped by JONG! You better be on time in the morning or YOU’RE FIRED! FOR REAL THIS TIME!”
Zico flung his chair over and stormed out. I sat there for another hour trying to figure out what was going on. Zico was right. Why would he lie? But for that matter, why would Jong lie? Why would he say Zico told him that when it would be so easy to find out the truth? Unless he thought I wouldn’t ask Zico.
I finally decided I would give Jong his second chance and if he turned out to be a big fat liar and a pig then I wouldn’t see him again. I also decided that my relationship with Zico was becoming too familiar. We needed to maintain a professional relationship and that was all. No more lunches or personal information. I was also going to switch rooms an get a pad lock of my own installed. If he didn’t like it, he could fire me.

That night Jong came to my room. I told him the reason I hadn’t answered his calls or texts was because I had broken my phone. He was a perfect gentleman and we made plans to go out the following night. I only had to dress Zico for one event in the morning so I would have plenty of time to get ready. Jong was taking me to a play. I felt safe with that and a little excited because I had never seen a live play before.

The next morning I rode with Mya to Zico’s magazine interview and photo shoot. She complained about him the entire time. Not that I didn’t agree with most of it but I really didn’t want to talk about Zico anymore.
The photo shoot was uncomfortable to say the least. Zico didn’t speak to me once. He just glared. His photo shoot also didn’t go so well. He was grumpy and short with everyone. I watched people trying to avoid him and if they couldn’t, they ended up sorry. I looked away when he got dressed. He hadn’t worn underwear and I know he did it on purpose to embarrass me. I pretended not to care. When he wasn’t looking, I stole a few glances. Quick glances. They were enough. I needed some more me time and another cold shower.
When I got back, I had a few hours to kill so I went shopping for a new dress and shoes to wear to the play. I didn’t really know what to get so I got black. It usually works for most events. Back at the hotel, I had two packages waiting for me. I hurried up to my room before I opened them but it was so hard to wait. I had no clue what they could be or who they could be from.
I threw everything on the bed and picked up the first box. The only thing on it was my name and room number. I used a butter knife to cut the tape and was shocked to find a new phone inside. I was cute and pink and so sickeningly girly. And I was going to send it right back to Zico as soon as I could drop it off at the front desk. I wasn’t going to let him buy his way out of his guilt. I wasn’t that easy! His money couldn’t buy him everything like he thought it could. I was less eager to open he second box. It was, no doubt, something else Zico sent to assuage his guilty conscience. When opened the box, I was completely confused. It was another phone! This one was bigger, more expensive, and blingy. It was gold and on the back was my name and a beautiful flower all in diamonds. No doubt they were real diamonds.
Hmmm…
Okay, so Zico had sent the gold phone but why the pink one? Did he feel that guilty? There was no way. I turned them on to hopefully find a clue as to what was going on. Immediately the pink phone started chiming with a text message. It said, “Do you like it? It’s an I’m sorry gift as well as a Thank you gift for giving me another chance. Can’t wait to see you tonight. <3 Jong”
Well…
Umm…
Hmm…
I couldn’t figure out what the deal was. Jong’s or Zico’s. I knew one thing, I was returning both phones. I had to check one thing first. I looked through the gold phones settings and found that all of the ringtones were not only Zico songs but those were the only options to change them to as well. Also, all of the contact fields were completely filled with Zico’s number. That man! There really was no one like him!
I boxed the phones back up, marked through my name and wrote Jong’s and Zico’s names instead. I would go in the morning before Zico’s show and get my own phone. I should have done it while I was out but I sort of liked being inaccessible for a day. I looked at the boxes and shrugged. I sort of liked the gold phone. It had my name in diamonds. REAL diamonds! It had everything else a phone could have too. Oh well, good try Zico. VERY good try. I went to have my shower and get ready for my date.

On my way to the lobby to meet Jong, I ran into Zico in the elevator. When the doors opened and I saw him standing there, I almost didn’t get on. He just stood there eating peanuts out of a pack from the vending machine and looking at me. Then I decided not to let him have that much power over me. I got on, saw that the lobby button was already lit, groaned to myself, and stood as far away from him as possible. He just kept munching his peanuts. Relief flooded through me when the elevator opened at the lobby level and I rushed out a little faster than I meant to. Zico didn’t get out. As I walked away, he yelled, “Hope he isn’t too rough on you!”
I couldn’t let him get away with that so I slowly turned and as the doors started to close, I yelled back, “I hope he is! That’s how I like it!” Then I winked. Zico’s face was priceless. I had a victory smile on my face as I approached Jong in the lobby. He was stunning. He wore a tux and I was glad I decided on this dress. I was afraid I was over-dressed and now I worried that I was under-dressed. Jong was almost too good looking. In fact, he was almost prettier than me!
He grabbed my hand and kissed it again. “I can’t believe how lucky I am. You are absolutely gorgeous!” He had a huge smile on his face.
“Thank you Jong. I think I’m the lucky one! Look at you!” I looked him up and down. Nice!
“I can’t wait to get you there and show you off! Shall we?” He offered me his arm. I took it. Maybe he wasn’t lying. Maybe Zico DID sabotage our date last night.

When we got there, I was genuinely starry-eyed. The play was in an old opera house and it was grand. It looked exactly like one of the old opera house paintings from the master painters with it’s gilded decorations, red velvet banners, and impressive openness. Jong had gotten us balcony seats where we could see everything. I couldn’t hide my excitement and I know I seemed like a silly girl. Jong didn’t seem to mind. I sat on the edge of my seat and peered over the edge at all of the people coming in. They were so beautiful. I should have been paying more attention to Jong but there was so much to be distracted by.
“Oh great!” I heard Jong exclaim.
Without turning to him I asked, “What’s wrong? Oh, Jong, look at that!”
“Zico’s here,” he said.
My head turned to him so fast it hurt my neck. “Where?” I asked.
“Over there.” He pointed behind his hand at a balcony two sections away.
I searched the crowd but I found him quickly. He wasn’t hard to spot with that white hair. He was staring at me. When he saw me notice him, he leaned back in his seat and put his arm around the bimbo beside him. He quit looking at me and started paying a LOT of attention to her. She looked like sex in a short dress. She leaned into him and giggled at everything he said. It was like watching the beginning of an adult movie. He did keep glancing my way but mostly he kept his attention on her.
“Elizabeth? Hey, Elizabeth?” I realized Jong had been trying to get my attention.
“I’m sorry Jong. I’m just so excited to be here. I’ve never seen anything like this. I didn’t mean to ignore you.” I began to use my little girl pouty voice.
“It’s okay. I’m glad to see you so excited. I was hoping you would love it. We could come a lot.”
“Please? Can we Jong? I would love that.” I sat back in my seat and leaned into him. He put his arm around me and I scooted even closer.
“My goodness, Elizabeth. When you ask in that voice, I can’t say no.” Jong pulled me even closer and snuggled my neck. I let him.
I looked over at Zico to make sure he was watching. As soon as my eyes met his, he looked away and started nuzzling her.
The lights slowly went down and Jong settled in with me practically in his lap. He kissed my cheek and said, “I hope you like this play. It’s one of my favorites.”
I put my mouth very close to his ear and as seductively as I could I whispered, “I know I will because I’m here with you.”
With that he started to perspire and put his hand high up on my thigh. I found Zico in the dark and I knew he was looking our way. I slowly reached up and kissed Jong behind his ear, leaving a wet place. I breathed on it and felt him shiver. His breathing increased.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’ve been wanting to taste that spot all night.”
At that point, Jong began squirming in his seat slightly and I knew he had become uncomfortable with the way he was sitting. He uncrossed his legs.
“I’ll pay attention now,” I said softly.
I tried to pay attention to the play. I really did but I couldn’t help but look over at Zico. Often. He was mostly watching the play but sometimes I caught him looking. I noticed his slutty date wasn’t looking at anything but him. She couldn’t keep her hands off him. As he sat there, she caressed his hair, and nibbled his neck, and put her hands somewhere below the balcony edge where I couldn’t see.
When the play came to a really racy scene, Jong’s hand began moving up my thigh, taking my dress with it. I was indecently exposed but only Jong could see and he was definitely looking. He began massaging my leg and now I was becoming aroused, especially knowing that Zico was watching the whole thing. Jong leaned into my hair and began kissing my neck. His lips softly wrapped around my earlobe. When he pulled away, his teeth dragged along the soft skin there and I started to feel weak. His fingers were working their way between my thighs and I had to stop him before he went any farther. Then his mouth traveled around my neck to my mouth as his hand found my breast. I grabbed his wrist as he began deeply kissing me. When he pulled away, it was just in time for me to see Zico and his hooker leaving. He looked over at us and with his arm around her, he grabbed a handful of her over-abundant ass before they disappeared behind the curtain and were gone.
Of course Jong didn’t realize I had been using him to bother Zico and he was still overheated. “You want to go?”
I had to think for a minute, Does he mean go home or have sex? Oh, probably both. Crap! I didn’t think this through.
“The play isn’t over. I want to see how it ends,” I whispered.
“I can tell you how it ends. I’ll explain it to you in the car. I’m dying. I really want you right now.”
I felt kind of bad. “But Jong. I want to watch it.” I used the little girl voice again.
“Ohhh, alright. But you’re really gonna get it when we get back to the hotel. I’ve never wanted someone this bad!” He leaned back in his seat and put his head back. He was still squirming.
Great! How was I gonna get out of this one?
We watched the rest of the play which didn’t have that much longer to go and then Jong practically dragged me from the opera house. In the car I thought of the solution but I hated to use it. It was embarrassing and a total lie but it was the only deal breaker I could think of.
“Jong?” I asked.
“Hmmm?” He said as he shifted gears. He was driving like Zico now.
“I didn’t want to tell you this but now I have no choice. I can’t be with you tonight,” I said trying to use the pouty voice to keep him from being too mad.
“Elizabeth, please don’t do this to me. Don’t be a tease. I really can’t handle that. Not tonight. Not with you. I would have had sex with you in the balcony if you would have let me. I want you so bad. I NEED you!” He shifted and turned a sharp curve that almost put me in his lap.
“It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s that I can’t,” I said.
“Yes you can. I’ll do it all. You just have to lay there and like it.”
“Jong, I’m on my period.”
We reached the hotel at that moment and he hit the brakes. I put my hands against the dashboard so I didn’t hit my head on it.
“Really? Why did you get me so excited when you knew that you couldn’t go through with it? Why are you being so cruel to me?”
Zico
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I really like you and I got carried away. I’m so sorry Jong. Forgive me?” I tried using the puppy eyes. I don’t think it was successful. Jong looked at me in anguish. He leaned back in his seat.
“I know how you can make it up to me,” he said.
“How?” I was honestly clueless as to what he was getting at.
He slowly lowered his seat back, unbuttoned his pants, and rubbed his finger over my bottom lip.
Then I got it.
“Jong! Is that what you think of me?”
He put his seat back up and said, “No. I’m sorry. I just really want you. Any way I can get you.”
“I know. I do too but just think of how great it will be when we can finally be together. They say that waiting makes it incredible.” He smiled but he didn’t look convinced. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done this to you. Forgive me?”
He looked over at my begging face and smiled. “Of course.” He sighed and rubbed my bottom lip again while biting his own. “Come on. I’ll walk you up.”
He took me to my door and to my surprise, he gave me a very sweet kiss and left with a promise to call me tomorrow. I had forgotten I was returning the phone.
I went into my room and fell back onto my bed and stared at the ceiling for a long time. Then I had a shower and got ready for bed. I hadn’t done laundry so I was sleeping in my t-shirt and panties again. At least Zico is mad at me and won’t be coming in here anytime soon.
I brushed my wet hair and looked for the remote. I needed something to distract me before I went to bed. All of a sudden, my door flew open and bounced against the wall with a bang. Zico came in and looking at me said, “Where is he?”
“Get out Zico!” I said. I was so surprised that I forgot my state of undress.
“Where the fuck is he?” He was looking around the room and then went into the bathroom. I noticed he was out of his tux and now he wore a loose tank top and jeans with bare feet. His hair was a crazy mess and I could only guess how it got that way. Never mind! I don’t want to know.
I could hear him going through my closet and then he reappeared. “WHERE THE FUCK IS HE, ELIZABETH?”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt teary. “Why Zico? WHY DO YOU CARE? WHY?”
“WHY?” he yelled at me.
He shoved me against the wall and pushed his body against me as he took my mouth with his. I had never been kissed like this. His tongue filled my mouth as his body crushed me against the wall. Then he pushed himself away and looked at me, out of breath.
“That’s why!”
He walked out and slammed the door.
I slid down the wall and sat there stunned.
I reached up and touched my lips and they were still wet.
Zico?

Notes