My Business Plan was in his Skine

It was a Saturday night. My girl invited me to one of her law firm's events that celebrated someone else's successes. Something she did when one of her regular male trophies was not available. These were chances to dress up and feel pretty, have a few drinks, a few nibbles, and if it was an outstanding night, leave with a guy who could be counted on to be not fiscally deficient, have a decent vocabulary, manners, and have some decent sex if I did not have anything else going on. Not a bad night all-in-all. Luckily, this Saturday night lived up to expectation. My girl, Cynthia, and the trophy she snagged at the soiree, Nathan, dipped out of the party an hour before my new friend Rydell and I did. After Cynthia introduced us, we hugged the bar most of the night. When we decided to leave together, Rydell made his cordial goodbyes, and off we went to find some substantial nibbles at a taco joint not far from his place. Excellent jerk shrimp tacos and some outstanding conversation. It turned out besides articling at Cynthia's firm, working towards a career fighting for human rights, he also had entrepreneurial aspirations, and this is where we connected because I, Zuri, was an entrepreneur at heart. I had dozens of business ideas in my head at all times. I had worked on a couple, but nothing long-term. Stepping away from the security of the health benefits, paid vacation, pension plan, etc., that came with my predictable nine to five government communications gig was a risk I never seemed ready for. I still dreamt; I watched television shows where other entrepreneurs had their dreams come true, thinking that their dreams and successes would inspire me. I did not know if I had that big idea to take a risk on yet.

Tacos consumed, and the delightful conversation continued back to Rydell's place; we ended up on his plush sofa with some Hennessey, much better than the offerings at the soiree. We started talking about our hometowns for a short time until three drinks each no longer allowed for us to be polite any longer. His sofa was plush, but his king-sized bed and feather duvet was something straight out of the Four Seasons. It could have been the Henney, but it was all so good; he was oh so good. Oh, he was oh so good. He was handsome, dressed well, his place was immaculate, career on track, well mannered, could conversate, sex was on point. What could be wrong with this individual? Does it matter? No. I will go with it for the moment and push on! An hour and a half had passed since we finished our three rounds of an excellent time, and I was getting up to leave, and Rydell pulled me back and said, stay, and I said, why. He said, I like you, we had a great time together, let's chill for the day, keep it going. I did not know what to say, but I had to admit he was a nice guy thus far, just a little younger than I would prefer. I thought to myself, why not chill for the day, food, fun, some more of that king-size duvet! So, I said, ok, Rydell, why not? I have had a good time too. I am in. However, before we do anything, I have to log into my server to access my email and submit a few communique I have been working on. If I can use your laptop, that would be great. Of course, you do that, and I will run out and get us some coffee and breakfast. What do you feel like? I am good with coffee – regular, a fresh fruit cup, and a croissant if that is ok. Of course, I can get it all just around the corner.

Oh, where is my handbag? I need my Moleskine; it has my access codes and notes for work. Have you seen it? Rydell trying to recollect, hmm… here, on the coat hook by the door, here you go, crisis averted! Oh, thank goodness, thank you. Rydell, your place is gorgeous. Have you lived here long? I have been in it for about three years now, but it actually belongs to my parents. I could not afford to live in such a place in the middle of this city. Wow, aren't you the lucky duck! Now, the office is behind the kitchen; the laptop password is 131415. Furthermore, you use Moleskines, you say. You are going to see the Moleskine capital inside there! I love their products too, notebooks, planners, pens, but I mostly keep it simple; I am a Black Classic Notebook kind of guy! Ok, I am off; you get busy, so we will have more time together, no work by the time I get back. I am happy you decided to stay, Zuri. Thanks, Rydell, me too.

Rydell did not exaggerate; there were Moleskine notebooks and pens all over; he had me beat. Even the backpack on the back of his desk chair was theirs. It was a great workspace too, but I could not get started until I showered. We had not spoken about it, so I had to make the executive decision to go ahead and use his shower. When I was finished with my shower, I was wrapped in his plush towel and used his sporty flip flops as slippers. I grabbed a chilled bottle of water from the fridge, my handbag and headed for the office. I logged into my email without issue, thankfully. A few responses from my supervisor provided feedback on pieces I submitted on Friday, and she never stops working. I opened one. She was haranguing me for leaving out clips from two local media outlets in a daily communication blitz for the office. I decided to leave the rest of her emails for Monday and do what I sat down to do. I sent my three completed communique and notes to the three people they were intended for and done. Having studied journalism, my default is auto-curious. So, I looked through a few of Rydell's notebooks. Most were filled with to-do lists, school, and internship notes. However, one black classic notebook held a plan, one would say a business plan, albeit roughly outlined. However, I thought it was a phenomenal idea. I started to wonder if he had started to work on it or was it just still a dream. I knew by the time on the clock that he should be back any time, and I wanted more time to peruse the plan, so I grabbed my phone and took photos of all the pages of the plan. Roughly ten minutes later, Rydell was back with hot coffee and breakfast as promised. So how did you do? He asked. I see you found the shower. I should have given you that tour; my apologies, I was thinking about your stomach! You look good in that towel. After you fill your stomach, I hope I can help you out of it. Rydell! I said! You said we would have a fun day, and I thought we would take a walk, get lunch, or something. Hey, we have got all day baby, let's get a workout in too! You are crazy, Rydell!

Thank you for breakfast. It was all great. All my work is done; you have got a great workspace. After breakfast, Rydell completed his mission and made my towel drop to the kitchen floor, then over to the plush sofa before ending up in the shower, where we exhausted ourselves before falling asleep, wet on the king-size feather duvet for the rest of the morning. As promised, because he did not like to break them, we took a walk and went for lunch before Rydell walked me home. It turned out I was only five blocks away. We decided we did connect and wanted to get to know each other and hang out some more during that time. He came up to see my place, said he wanted to put his scent around! Young men! We said we would talk later that evening.

I could not wait another minute before I grabbed my phone, connected it to my computer then printed out the photos I had taken of Rydell's plan. It read like the risk, the one worth taking, taking with him because, to tell the truth, I was captivated by Rydell and motivated by him, all so quickly. Being in communications, I was plugged into every single media outlet available. I was obsessed with anything to do with entrepreneurship. I just so happened to know of a contest running for start-ups, people with just an idea, not even a registered company, with a $20,000.00 start-up prize package. I knew Rydell's idea could be a contender. I could feel it. It was culturally competent, spoke to the racially strained times we lived in, solved a problem, and had a tech component. I was going to do it; I would take this rough outline, put it in a business suit and enter it into the race. However… was I going to tell Rydell? The deadline and draw date for the contest was March 1st, 2021, and it was the evening of February 28th, 2021. I spent all night working on it, it was so tight, but it did it. Rydell had done the heavy lifting. The hardest part, morally, was going to the website and submitting the plan using my name. I cringed when I did it.

I talked to Cynthia that night, told her all about Rydell, thanked her for introducing us. She said she could tell he was a good one the way he carried himself around the office. She said her trophy did not amount to much; she said we would have lunch through the week. Rydell called a little later, and we talked for about an hour and planned to have dinner the next evening. So, I had the rest of the night and all day tomorrow to decide how and if I would tell him what I did.

After work, I prepared to meet Rydell, he was picking me up, and we would walk to the chicken and waffle house he picked out. When he arrived, he looked enticing; when we got to the restaurant, we ordered and talked about the days we both had and reminisced over our time together. We started to eat; I paused and just did it. I said, Rydell, when I was in your office, I took a look through some of your notebooks and fell upon your business plan for The Black Cards. I think it is a phenomenal idea. Are you upset? He said, absolutely not, Zuri; if I wanted to hide anything from you, I would have put the laptop in the living room and closed the door to the office. Thank you for thinking that of my idea; I had not shared it with anyone; it is hard to do, you know. Those things are PERSONAL! I looked down and said sorry with a smile, and he smiled back.

There is more. There is a contest for start-up businesses that I was aware of that I just knew your plan was a good fit for, and I submitted it to the contest, and the draw is today. The prize is $20,000.00 to get the business off the ground. Are you upset? Again, Zuri, no, said Rydell. If you believe in it so badly, what could be so wrong with that. Rydell, I would love to do this business with you, whether you win the contest or not. I would love nothing more than to put this into reality with you, Zuri. There is a reason why we met. Rydell, I got an email around lunchtime today… YOU WON!!! Zuri, Let's do the damn thing, girl!