A Greek God In Harlem (8 page)

He balled up his fist and punched his reflection with all his might shouting, "You don't deserve her you bastard!!!!!"

His eyes brimmed with tears, not at the pain in his fist, but at the sudden 'revelation' that he was not worthy of Donyelle.

His phone rang again and he quickly looked at it hoping it was her.

Instead, it was Julianna calling. He let out an exasperated sigh.

Aisha looked Tanya up and down before saying cattily,

"We're sort of busy right now, aren't we?" Aisha looked Percy in the eye, waiting for him to agree. He hadn't taken his eyes off Tanya, and he wasn't about to. 

He didn't answer Aisha and she cleared her throat again,
"Ahem. Percy, weren't we in the middle of something before we got interrupted? I was showing you my Greek artifacts!" It fell on deaf ears. 

Tanya, still holding onto the book, was staring at Percy just as he was staring at her, with an irritated Aisha trying to get the man's attention.

Percy asked Tanya slowly, "What do you wanna know?" He broke away from Aisha's grip on his arm.

Tanya gulped as Percy's eyes bore into hers, as if he knew what she was going to ask. She held the book up,

"I wanna know... why Perseus never rescued Andromeda, and whether he will ever find her," her eyes seemed to brim with tears.

Percy left a confused Aisha and walked towards Tanya. He got the book, set it down and held her hands in his. He held them up and brushed them against his lips.

They could hear Aisha shout in the background, "Mr. Theodosiou and Miss Whitford! This is a highly inappropriate place for such..." and the rest of the sentence was a blur. 

All Tanya could feel was the sensation of his lips against her fingers.

He whispered, "He was a coward. He didn't believe in himself." 

Tanya whispered back,
"Andromeda waited for months and months on that rock. Maybe he considered her not worthy of rescue?"

Percy held her chin up, "Andromeda was worth everything to Perseus, and still is." When he said the last bit, his brown eyes seemed to meet with her hazel ones as if urging her to believe him.

They looked down at each other's lips simultaneously. They were both daring each other to and they finally did. Right there in Aisha's office. They kissed.

Chapter Seven

Morris stood on the doorstep to Donyelle's family's house. It was a modest brownstone far from the projects that Morris lived in. He wondered what the Smiths would think of him now. They had already never approved of him, but now that he had gotten their niece pregnant... 

He wondered what Donyelle had told them about the whole situation.

He rang the doorbell and stood there nervously. His macho attitude and 'gangster poses' were gone. He couldn't think. He was nervous as hell and it showed on his handsome but troubled face.

Unfortunately for him, Donyelle's aunt opened the door. She had already come back home. The elderly lady had Donyelle's dark brown skin and her grey hair was tied in a neat bun. Under normal circumstances she would have curtly greeted Morris.

But now, she was just looking at him bitterly. She looked him up and down, from his 'fade' haircut to his sneakers.

She got the tub of ice cream from his hands and shut the door, leaving him standing there. 
Not a word had been uttered.

Morris stood there not knowing what to do, before he finally walked away in defeat.

From an upstairs window, Donyelle stared at her boyfriend walk away. She still loved the jerk, that she knew. 

Tanya and Percy broke away from their passionate kiss and stared at each other in awe.

In the background, Aisha could be heard talking through the phone to her dad, the principal in an agitated tone.

Percy stroked his newfound lover's braids, saying breathily, "We need to get outta' here." Tanya nodded, still entranced, and opened the door for them to leave Aisha's office. 

She couldn't help but wonder what price they would pay for their reckless behavior.

"So how are we going to explain to our students that we're both suspended? I mean this is totally and utterly irresponsible of us! It just reeks of... hmmm"

Tanya groaned as Percy's lips met her neck and he sucked her flesh. He embraced her even tighter and whispered into her ear, "I can't wait to see where you're going to take me tonight. Still don't want to tell me?"

Tanya smiled, "Harlem is more than what you think, and I'm going to show you."

Percy kissed her cheek and fed her another spoon of ice cream. 

She was seated on top of his lap on this surprisingly sunny afternoon. It had been three days since their first kiss, and they were off from work. Of course, since the pair had been suspended for 'misconduct' in Aisha's office. Aisha's orders.

They were both enjoying this new found intimacy between them, that they had kept bottled up for... well... the week that they'd known each other.

The book, 
Perseus
 hadn't been discussed ever since and they were just living in the now.
Tanya ignored the nagging feeling that was telling her Percy was indeed Perseus, and she just wanted to feel the embrace of a man, a caring man, this man. 

They had gone as far as passionate kisses and desperate gropes, but had refrained from anything more... what with Tanya's out of state boyfriend and all.

The past three days had been the happiest days in Tanya's life and Percy knew he had found his princess. He showed her every time he nibbled on her earlobe. Just like he was doing now.

"So... what's Mount Sinai's policy on teacher relationships?" he asked curiously. As much as he had loved their little passionate clinch in Aisha's office, he didn't want Tanya to get fired from her job.

She stroked his dark hair as she looked at him lustily, "It is not allowed to fall for your tall, dark and handsome teaching assistant, that's for sure."

Percy's ego was stroked but he returned the favor, "Aaah. So it's perfectly okay for me to fall for my beautiful, black co-teach? Thank goodness."

Tanya giggled and he intertwined his fingers with hers. They both looked down at the joined hand and Tanya said, "So we're on for tonight? You still remember the address?"

The Greek-American man squeezed her hand, "I'll be there." Tanya squeezed his hand back.

Percy stood on 125
^th
Street, in front of a famed building and let out a sound of awe. Tanya had been right. He was certainly pleasantly surprised. 

The world famous 
Apollo Theater
.

And the 'Kings of Comedy' were playing. He looked at the line up and shook his head at the star studded list of black comedians. He was definitely in for a fun night.

"Are you okay with white people jokes?" he heard a female voice call to him from behind. 

He turned around and what he saw made his trousers suddenly feel much tighter.

There Tanya stood. Her braided hair was tied in a high ponytail, giving her lovely face great definition. She has the lightest black eye shadow and light red lipstick.

Her dress. Percy gulped. It was an extremely tight red minidress, much like the one Aisha had been wearing, but on Tanya it was...delicious. 

Percy was practically eating Tanya up with his eyes as she shyly walked towards him and she noticed, which gave her much more confidence in her walk.

When she finally crossed the road in her black ankle boots, she walked up to the stunned man and kissed his lips lightly. She didn't comment on his hard on, but they both knew what he was dealing with right now.

Tanya smiled mischievously and stroked his cheek. 

He was not looking too bad himself. Dressed in a grayish silver silk shirt and black trousers, he looked very modelesque. If models were football player size at least.

He caught the hand that was stroking her cheek and kissed it. He hadn't yet said anything to her, and his silence was starting to worry Tanya.

Percy smiled, "I love any type of jokes. But I'm gonna love sitting next to you even more..."

Tanya wondered what he meant by that but let him take her hand anyway. He led her to the line of people waiting to enter and the couple were definitely a sight to behold.

A few older women looked on enviously but when Tanya smiled at them, they could only wish the couple well.

A lot of black men were sneering at Percy, who gave them a thumbs sign. This didn't help matters and Tanya told Percy to stop it, while giggling. He shrugged and playfully squeezed her behind.

They finally entered The Apollo, bought their tickets, and entered just in time to find Steve Harvey making a joke about "Black People Wouldn't Have Drowned On The Titanic".

The audience laughter was raucous and contagious. A lot of interracial couples were in sight, black women with Italian men and black men with Latina women, you name it. 

Most of the couples were black, with a sprinkle of white couples laughing nervously at the jokes.

What all the couples had in common was the knowing looks they'd give each other whenever Steve Harvey said something embarrassing, but true.

Tanya and Percy joined the multicultural spectacle and soon fell into the laughter as well. 

Later on in the evening, the stand-up on stage pointed at Tanya and said, "Now that's what I call a beautiful woman!" He made her stand up and everyone cheered.

When she sat back down, clearly flustered, Percy whispered into her ear, "I couldn't agree more," and he captured her lips.