Rachael's Year

"Oh, hello," Nikki said, looking over the huge black man standing in the kitchen with her daughter.

"Hello! You must be Rachael's mom. It's so nice to meet you!" Ronnie exclaimed, extending his hand to Nikki.

"Please, please call me Nikki and yes, I am Rachael's mom."

"Yes ma'am. I mean, Nikki." Ronnie chuckled.

"So you are the guy helping train Rachael at the gym?" Nikki asked her face still in shock.

"I sure am. She is kicking my butt regularly now!"

Nikki laughed, glancing over at Ronnie's massive frame, "I'm sure she is! You're such a little guy!"

"Oh I know. One day I hope to be as strong as her!"

Rachael was silently putting some finishing touches in the kitchen then joined Ronnie and her mother in the living room. They had been chatting and laughing for a few minutes.

"Anyway, your kid is awesome. A great cook too! She's probably the nicest person at that gym and I'm really glad we're pals. She even made me this cool hat!" Ronnie was telling Nikki as Rachael entered the room.

"Yes I'm proud of her, it's a lot of hard work to stay in shape," Nikki said. It was the first complement Rachael heard her mother give her in ages.

They sat chatting for a few more minutes when Ronnie stood. "Alright, I better run. Thank you again, Rachael, for the wonderful meal."

"Aww, you have to leave so soon?" Nikki asked, getting up to stand next to Ronnie. She was 5'4", five inches taller than Rachael, but still incredibly dwarfed by Ronnie.

"Yeah I have an early day tomorrow," Ronnie said, bending down to hug Rachael.

"Well please, don't be a stranger, come back anytime," Nikki said, patting his back as he left. "It was great meeting you."

"It was nice meeting you too! Rachael I'll see you Sunday." Ronnie nodded as he left. Rachael, saying nothing to her mother, smirked, walking toward her room. She knew her mother would try to flirt with him, but Ronnie was her friend, and all hers.

There was a knock on her open door. "Hi," Nikki said to her daughter.

"Oh. Hey." Rachael replied.

"He seems very nice. But I just wanted you to know that you may want to be careful around him. I'm sure you have a schoolgirl crush on him, but to tell you the truth, I don't think he's interested in females - if you know what I mean."

"You think he's gay?" Rachael rolled her eyes, turning to her mother.

"Well...yes. Call it intuition. He just seems like the type."

"The type? What does that supposed to mean?" Rachael asked. The annoyance in her voice was easily detectable.

"Look, relax; I'm just saying that sometimes gay men give off a vibe. You're still a child, so you probably can't detect that yet, but I'm saying don't let this crush you have on him develop into something more. You'd probably get hurt."

"Are you serious?!? I never said I had a crush on him..." Rachael countered.

"Rachael come on, it doesn't take a genius to see that you do. You're an almost 18 year old girl; he's a grown man, who's nothing but muscle. It's ok, really it's fine that you do, I'm just saying I don't get the vibe that he's into women. So don't assume that he would be interested in you that way when you're older. Don't think you could change him by cooking him dinner."

Rachael stood looking at her mother in shock. Her mouth dropped opened and she slowly turned to look away from her. She wanted to punch a wall; she wanted to punch her mother.

"It's ok if you want to be friends with him, just don't think he'd ever be interested in you romantically. Anyway, I'm heading to bed. Goodnight." Nikki said, turning and walking toward her bedroom.

Rachael stood, looking at the wall, her fist was clenched, and she was breathing heavily. Over the course of several minutes she was able to calm herself down. "She's not worth it; she's not worth my energy or my anger. She's a nobody." Rachael repeated in her head as she calmed herself down.

About two hours later, Rachael lay in bed looking up at the ceiling. "Why would she think he's gay? Is she crazy?" She pictured Ronnie wearing the silly hat and giggled quietly. She pictured him talking and laughing with Valerie at the gym. She was very confused and dumbfounded by her mother. She pushed it out of her mind and counted down till Sunday.

The following Thursday Rachael arrived home from school to see Ronnie's truck in her driveway. She entered the house to hear her mom and him laughing in the kitchen. She turned the corner with a puzzled look on her face.

"There she is!" Ronnie said enthusiastically. "I have some late work to do tonight, so I figured I'd offer you a ride to the gym a little earlier than normal. I'd take you back here too of course. That ok?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah, that's fine, let me go change." Rachael said. She went to change into her gym clothes and grab her bag. Nothing else was said of the encounter the rest of the night. Rachael also didn't mentioned the fact her mother assumed Ronnie was gay. Deep down she knew Ronnie would never want to be with her, but still, if he was gay, that meant her shot with him at some point in the future was at 0% instead of 0.1%. Needless to say, she felt a little bummed out if he did turn out to be gay.

A few weeks passed and things were back to normal to some degree. Ronnie trained Rachael three days a week. She would go out for coffee or smoothies with him on two of those days. Then one Friday evening Ronnie arrived at Rachael's house. Her mother seemed more surprised than she was.

"Oh hi! Come on in, Ronnie." Nikki said, opening the door. "It's good to see you again."

"Thank you and I'm sorry for stopping by unannounced. I have to run by the sporting goods store and was wondering if Rachael wanted to join me."

"Oh please, don't apologize. You're welcome here any time, Ronnie." Nikki explained as Rachael appeared from the hallway.

"Hi. What are you doing here? I mean, um..." Rachael asked.

"Well hello to you too! Want to come with me to help me pick out some new tennis shoes?"

"Sure, that'd be great." Rachael said with a warm smile.

As they walked together in the mall Rachael wanted to grab Ronnie's hand and hold it, just to see what he'd do. She wanted everyone to see that he and she were there together, even though that was obvious simply by the two of them walking next to each other. She gave him her opinion of various shoes until he found a pair that both of them liked. She felt at ease there in the mall. Normally she didn't like going because she didn't want to run into someone from school. She wasn't nervous about that now.

"So what are you doing for your birthday? The big 18." Ronnie asked as he drove Rachael home. "Your mom said it was on the 19th right?"

"Uh yeah, yeah it is. Well I don't have any plans. Why? Wanna take me out?" Rachael jokingly asked.

"As a matter of fact, young lady, I do." Ronnie countered.

"Oh wow. Really? I was just joking..." Rachael said.

"Your birthday is on a Wednesday, and I can't do anything that night. But Friday night I can. May I take you for a nice dinner?"

Rachael was beside herself, "Yes! I mean, sure, that'd be awesome."

"Great! We'll have a good time." Ronnie said as he pulled into her driveway.

"Would you like to come in?" Rachael asked.

"Nah I better get going, but thanks for accompanying me tonight."

"Thanks for the invite," Rachael said, pushing some of her blonde shoulder length hair back behind her ear, looking down to her lap.

Ronnie smiled and patted her thigh. "I'll see you Sunday, alright?" Rachael nodded and got out of the truck. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Chapter 8

On Valentine's Day Ronnie was at her house yet again when she arrived home from school. He was in the kitchen with her mother setting up a floral arrangement he brought to the house. There was a large vase of twelve red, white, and pink roses and a smaller one with only one red rose.

"Oh I know. They are gorgeous," Ronnie was telling Nikki as Rachael entered the kitchen. Her eyes widened when she saw the flowers.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Ronnie cheerily said.

"Wow, thank you, they look amazing."

"Here you go; the big vase is for you. I couldn't leave your ma out, so I got her a rose as well!"

Nikki smiled, reaching up to gently rub Ronnie's shoulder. "Such a nice gift. Thank you Ronnie."

"Ok I gotta run," Ronnie said, quickly putting his arm around Nikki, giving her a brief hug. He then went to hug Rachael goodbye. "See you Sunday at the gym!"

Rachael stood in shock at the flowers. She had never gotten any Valentine's Day present before.

"Such a sweet man," Nikki said, smiling at Rachael as she headed off down the hallway.

Rachael smiled and started to tear up as she looked at the roses. She wiped a tear and sighed. She would refuse to let her mother get into her head. If Ronnie was gay, she would still remain his friend of course, but she wouldn't let it bother her. He was so sweet, so kind, and wonderful to her. She couldn't help but smile when she thought of him. No one has treated her as well as he has - not her father, mother, brother, or the few friends she had at school. She knew she didn't have a chance with the man but she wanted him in her life in whatever form she could get.

The day of February 19th - Rachael's 18th birthday - was especially annoying at school. Douchebag David was in full douche mode to her and her increasingly growing circle of friends she had made via Trevor. Some random food items from lunch were thrown at, and near, her and her table. As she walked down the hall she narrowly avoided being tripped by David. She wanted to slap that smug look off his face so bad. But she didn't. Carley forgot it was her birthday and seemed overall irritated at something. Rachael shrugged, assuming Carley's period was more annoying than usual.

When Rachael got home later in the afternoon, she decided to take a shower. She stood nude in the bathroom mirror first and examined her changing body. Her abs were fairly toned, as well as her shoulders and biceps. Her eyes trailed their way down to her thighs. "Thick and juicy," she thought. Then she turned sideways in the mirror to get a view of her butt. It was rounded and toned now as it sat on top of her hamstrings. She gave it a nice, hard, slap, watching the relaxed muscles ripple in the mirror. She flexed a few times, causing her nice little butt to twitch. She turned back around to face herself and grabbed her perky little B-cup tits. She teased a nipple and then released it to concentrate on her face; in her opinion, her weakest area. She sighed as she studied her big nose and small mouth. She shook her head and hopped in the shower.

When Rachael was done she dried off and got some pajamas on. Her mother was home early from work. "Happy birthday, sweetie," Nikki said to Rachael as she walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, thanks," she replied.

"Here, this is from Ronnie," Nikki said, handing Rachael a cardboard box.

Rachael placed it on the kitchen table and opened it. There was a lot of tissue paper packaging and a note. She picked up the note, reading it to herself. "Happy Birthday, Rachael. Please wear this Friday night. It should be a perfect fit."

She removed some of the packaging paper and saw a black piece of cloth. She held it up, letting let it unfold. It was a dress; a long, spaghetti strapped, black dress.

"Oh wow, that's lovely. He has good taste in dresses," her mother chimed in. Rachael rolled her eyes, knowing that she was trying to insinuate he was gay because he had a decent fashion sense.

"I'm going to try it on," Rachael said, taking the dress to her room, closing the door behind her.

It was gorgeous; simple and not fancy, but gorgeous nonetheless. The dress was tight fitting to accentuate her curves and came to just above her knees. The cleavage was just right. Nothing was over the top or inappropriate. It was perfect. She looked like an adult wearing it. Ronnie must've consulted with her mother on the correct size. She picked up her phone and called him.

"I love it! Thank you so much," Rachael beamed as soon as Ronnie said "hello."

"I'm glad you like it Rachael. I'm looking forward to seeing you in it Friday night," Ronnie replied. His tone was slightly different, but Rachael couldn't tell how.

"Yes, thank you again, you shouldn't have."

"It's fine, I wanted to get you something special for our special night out. Anyway, I'm driving and there's some construction going on so I better pay attention. See you tomorrow at the gym."

They ended their phone call and Rachael smiled in the mirror again. She carefully took the dress off and hung it in her closet.

Tomorrow night after working out, Ronnie took her out for coffee as usual. "Ronnie, can I ask you something? Please don't be angry with me or my mother, but I'm just curious about something."

"Sure, you can ask me anything," Ronnie replied. His tone had been slightly different all evening. It was more somber and less energetic.

Rachael paused, taking a deep breath. "My mother, seems to think, you are uh, well, um..."

"Gay?" Ronnie interrupted.

Rachael's eyes shot open, "Uh well, yeah."

Ronnie chuckled. "No, I'm not. I get that a lot. I chalk it up to my upbeat personality and high degree of personal hygiene. That's based on a stereotype though. I'm sure there are some gay dudes out there that are total assholes and haven't bathed in days." Ronnie replied as they both chuckled. That was the first time Ronnie had ever said any word that could be considered a swear word of foul language in front of her.

"I see. I'm sorry, I just, I mean she just messed with my head some. Even if you were, we'd still be friends, but I guess I was bothered that you might keep that a secret from me; since we're friends and all."

Ronnie smiled, reaching over to place his huge hand on Rachael's. He squeezed it gently. "No worries." He said in a near whisper.

"I'm looking forward to taking you out tomorrow night. I have reservations made at an excellent restaurant," Ronnie explained while standing at Rachael's driver side door.

"Great," she smiled.. Ronnie bent down to hug her again, except this time the hug was longer and slower. He rested his hand on the small of her back, gently rubbing it in a circle.

To Rachael's shock, Ronnie kissed her cheek as the hug ended. He opened the car door for her and she got in and drove off. That was the first time a man had kissed her. She barely remembers her father giving her kisses as a child, so that didn't count.

"Ahh, yess, yesss," Rachael whispered in bed as an orgasm overtook her. She had been laying face down on her mattress rubbing her clit for the last hour. Thoughts of Ronnie and the peck on the cheek were replaying over and over again in her mind since it happened. Those thoughts later evolved to her picturing his sweaty muscular body fucking her from behind in the steam room at the gym. She imagined Valerie looking into the small window on the door with a distraught look on her face, watching Rachael mount Ronnie and ride him again to orgasm. Another thirty minutes of clit-rubbing fun, the 18 year old passed out, sleeping like a baby.

Chapter 9

Rachael stood in her front of her mirror once again admiring the beautiful black dress Ronnie had gotten her for her birthday. He would arrive any minute to pick her up. She wasn't sure if this was a date or just two friends going out for dinner. She tried not to ponder it so much as the thought of a date made her nervous. She heard the doorbell ring, did one final adjustment of her eye shadow, and headed to the living room.

Rachael arrived to see Ronnie chatting with her mother. Her mouth almost dropped when she saw him. He was wearing a black blazer on top of a white turtle neck, black slacks, and black dress shoes. Not only did he look amazing, but he smelled amazing too. His manly cologne permeated throughout the room. She quickly glanced at him and smiled, only to look away, slightly blushing.

"Ronnie it's so nice of you to take her out for her birthday," Rachael's mother said, taking a sip of her wine.

"My pleasure, Nikki. What time would you like her home?" Ronnie asked.

"Oh you two stay out late, enjoy yourselves. I trust you not to let anything happen to her. I'll probably head to bed soon anyway," Nikki said, taking another sip.

"Ok great. Rachael? You ready?" Ronnie asked. She smiled weakly and nodded.

Ronnie extended his arm for Rachael to take. She held on to his massive bicep as he escorted her to his truck.

"You look amazing in that dress, Rachael. I knew you would," Ronnie said, opening the passenger side door for her.

"Thank you," Rachael blushed.

They made small talk on the way to the restaurant, but something was different still. Rachael again noticed Ronnie's change in tone. He wasn't as upbeat or jovial. He was funny and friendly as usual, but he seemed calmer and less silly. It didn't bother her; she just thought it was interesting. When they arrived at the restaurant, Ronnie got out first and opened her door for her again. She took his arm and he led her inside where their table was waiting. Rachael noticed a jazz band was playing some soft jazz in the corner. She felt odd and out of place. She felt older, like she was a 28 year old, not an 18 year old high school student. The feeling was slightly unsettling. Ronnie pulled out her chair, took her hand, and gently assisted her to sitting position. He ordered some wine for himself, water for Rachael. As they sat and talked, the uneasy feeling increased. Ronnie must've detected this and spoke up.

"Are you feeling ok, Rachael?"

"Yeah, just," she paused, "is this a date?"

"It certainly feels like one to me. Is that a problem?" Ronnie asked, reaching across the table, placing a huge black hand on her small, dainty, white one.

"Well, no, it's fine. I just," she paused again to collect her thoughts.

"I want you to relax, Rachael. We're two adults enjoying a dinner and each other's company. Would you agree?" Ronnie asked.

Rachael simply nodded in agreement. Ronnie continued, "Good, I'm really glad you're letting me take you out tonight. I've said this before but I think you're a great girl - excuse me, woman."

Rachael slowly nodded. "He called me a woman. I guess technically I am, I mean, I'm 18 now. Whatever." She thought to herself, Ronnie gently holding her hand, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. Rachael sighed and glanced up at Ronnie, he was a watching the jazz band play. She looked down at her hand in his and smiled. "Just relax, he's a great guy, it'll be ok, it'll be over soon and I'll be home in my bed." She told herself.

They continued small talk all throughout dinner. It was pleasant enough, but Rachael still felt slightly uneasy. Ronnie asked her for a dance while they were waiting for dessert. They were going share a piece of chocolate cake. She was shocked to hear herself say yes. She never thought at 18 she'd be dancing on a date with a 43 year old black man. She couldn't say no. She thought about how her mother was probably at home passed out on wine while she danced with Ronnie.

Ronnie took her hand in his and she rested her other hand on his bicep - should couldn't reach his shoulder. For someone who had never danced with anyone before, it came easily. They simply twirled slowly around in a circle.

"Are you having fun, Rachael?" Ronnie asked.

Rachael nodded her head. "Good," Ronnie said as he looked down to her face, "remember just relax, we're having fun, ok?" Rachael slowly nodded, peering up at Ronnie's face towering above her.

After the slow dance they headed back to their table where the cake was waiting for them. Ronnie and Rachael ate casually each taking small bites with their fork on opposite ends of the cake. Ronnie must not have been paying attention to how many bites were left because he stabbed the last one with his fork just as Rachael was about to.