Learning the Hard Way Read Free

asked.
    “What’s a Beyoncé?”
    Dina rolled her eyes and stood from the table. “There’s a whole big world out there, Doc. You need to start being a part of it.” She grabbed Ava’s arm to bring her to her feet. “Come on. I have one of her CDs in my car.”
    “Oh, she’s a singer.” Ava nodded.
    They said goodbye to Vonda. Dina pulled Ava out of the coffee shop. The summer sun baked Ava until she longed to remove her sweater. Since she didn’t want to show anymore of her flesh than needed, she suffered through her psychological road block.
    “I feel a bit hip now.” Ava tried to add a strut to her walk, but it came out like a stumble.
    “You’re getting there.”
    Although Ava appreciated the advice, she wasn’t sure how pretending to be something she wasn’t would help boost her career. It certainly couldn’t help her in her dating life. Wasn’t what Richard did a lot like what Dina wanted her to do, play a part, hide her true self?
    Thinking about that plan, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. She could immerse herself in a role to get what she wanted finally.
    Wait. No, she couldn’t. Ethically, it wasn’t right. Just like it wasn’t proper for her to goad her sexy male student into dropping out of her class so that she could date him.
    Date? More like have expensive, lavish dinners followed by hot, frantic sex, always at her place, for several months.
    At Dina’s car, her friend opened her trunk and pulled out a couple of items. She handed Ava a jewel case that had a picture of a gorgeous African-American woman on the cover. Then she gave her a white tank top and a pair of shorts, Dina’s normal workout gear.
    “It’s clean. I packed them in my car this morning.” Dina slammed her trunk closed.
    “And why would I need these? I’m dressed.” She scanned down at her professional attire, a black skirt, a white shirt, and a sweater.
    “You’re overdressed. Strip down. Get funky. Get loose.” Dina mussed Ava’s short hair by shaking her fingers through it. “Stop being so uptight. Although we all sort of look alike, the three of us are completely different.”
    “I’m starting to see that.” Ava held up the three things. “So if I play this disc—”
    “Preferably at an obscenely high volume.”
    “And I wear these clothes—”
    “Without a bra.” Dina nodded.
    Ava’s eyes widened and she wasn’t sure, but she thought she also gasped at the same time.
    “Come on. Let ‘the girls’ out and free for once. I’m telling you. You’ll feel so incredible.” Dina poked Ava with her elbow. “To bastardize a phrase from that Kevin Costner flick, if you strip it down, they will come.”
    “Who or what are they?” Now Ava started to feel ambushed. Her heart hadn’t stopped pounding since walking out to Dina’s car.
    “Job offers, men, new experiences, and what life has to offer. It’s all waiting for you.” Dina beamed.
    Ava wasn’t sure about that, but at this stage she would try anything, especially if it got her to stop thinking about past mistakes.
     
    * * * *
     
    “No, no, no.” Troy Whitten didn’t have to look up from his books to see his friend Gross doing his dance to ask for something he knew Troy wouldn’t like.
    His friend had gotten his nickname by chopping up his last name, but then the moniker became a reality in more ways than one.
    “Come on, man. You haven’t even heard what I had to say.” Gross plopped down on the couch in Troy’s home office. “Has Eli Grossburger ever steered you wrong?”
    Troy dropped his book on his desk. “You tried getting me to sneak onto Wrigley Field one night. I let you do that one alone. And what happened?”
    “That was one thing.” Gross scratched the back of his head. “I did my time, and my record is clean now.” Thank goodness summertime hit and he had shaved off his blond dreadlocks. A white guy with locks never looked good.
    Troy shook his head. “Then there was the harvesting honey from bee hives idea.