Free Eye Candy by Frederick Germaine Page A

anytime after ten is considered late.”
    “Well, let me walk you to the lobby’s front door.”
    “Tiffany, you don’t have to go through any trouble to do that.”
    “Aaron, I don’t mind. Besides, I could use a little fresh air as it’s a bit stuffy in here. Just let me run to the little girls’ room first.”
    “Okay, if you insist. I’ll wait right here for you.”
    I quickly stood up from my seat and assisted her by pulling her chair away from the table. She rose and proceeded towards exiting our area. When she did, apparently the top of her left heel caught the back end of my chair’s leg. Tiffany’s body lunged forward and her lower torso flipped halfway around while she was in mid-air. Permanently, she landed right smack on her derriere. The incident took all but a split millisecond to occur.
    “Oh my God!” yelled a slightly intoxicated woman sitting next to our table. “She fell.”
    “Tiffany, are you alright?” I asked as I rushed over to her body and kneeled down.
    “Yes, Aaron, I’m fine. The only thing that is hurting is my pride right now.”
    Mr. Bradshaw quickly noticed what had happened and rushed to his feet. Then he made his way over to us. The rest of the members at the table looked on in amazement while the gentlemen from Topaz stood up.
    “Ms. Towns are you okay?” asked Mr. Bradshaw stooping over us.
    “Mr. Bradshaw I’m fine,” she said looking embarrassed having caused a scene. “I must have had one too many cosmopolitans which made me light-headed. Either that or the clumsy side of me is starting to show.”
    By now, the hotel’s service manager who was in the vicinity and witnessed the occurrence had arrived at our table. He stood by Mr. Bradshaw bending down.
    “ Ma’am, are you okay?” asked the service manager in a sincere voice.
    “Yes, everyone, I am fine,” reiterated Tiffany to the small crowd standing over her.
    “Ma’am, as a precaution we will need to file an accident report per the hotel’s guidelines.”
    “Please just send someone to my room in the morning regarding the report,” said Tiffany. “I live upstairs in the condo residence and right now I just want to go lay down.”
    “What’s your name, ma’am?” asked the service manager pulling a small pocket notebook and pen from his suit’s interior pocket.
    “It’s Tiffany Towns.”
    “Aaron, why don’t you see to it that Ms. Towns makes it to her room upstairs,” announced Mr. Bradshaw taking control of the situation.
    “Sure, Mr. Bradshaw, that’s no problem. I was just on my way out but I can assist her before I go.”
    “Very well, Aaron,” he said. “I’ll see you first thing Monday morning. And you get some rest yourself, Ms. Towns.”
    “I will,” she said still showing signs of embarrassment.
    I bent down and retrieved Tiffany’s small purse from the floor and handed it to her. Then I slowly helped her to her feet where our arms interlocked. I could tell she was still woozy and carefully led her to the hotel’s elevators.
    “So what floor do you live on?”
    “I’m on the twenty-fifth floor.”
    Once inside the elevator I pressed the designated number as we were on our way. When we arrived at her residence, she gave me the key which was similar to a credit card. I fumbled it momentarily and then we entered. Her place was completely dark. The inside was only illuminated from the outside city lights cascading in from the large living-room windows.
    “You probably need to take two aspirins just to be on the safe side,” I told her as we stood in the dark kitchen with the closed front door behind us. “Do you have any?”
    “Yes, the aspirins are across the hall on the bathroom counter.”
    Knowing exactly where the bathroom was from my designs, I raced over for the bottle of aspirins. When I returned to the dark kitchen, Tiffany was still waiting in her same spot. I popped the container open and poured two aspirin pills into my right palm. She then lunged both of