Читать книгу Play The Game - Doug Dixon - Страница 12

I jumped in the shower before heading to the mall. Macy’s-Rich’s was having a sale, and since I hadn’t been to a club in a while, I needed something more in line with today’s fashion and appropriate for the cool night air.

The store was filled with people aggressively walking from rack to rack, picking out clothes. All I was trying to find was a pair of black pants to wear with my black leather boots.

For hours I went back and forth to the dressing room, trying on one pair of pants after the other, until I found a really nice pair that matched a pretty blouse on the rack directly across from it. This would blend in well with my golden-colored hair hanging past my shoulders.

I walked through the rest of the mall looking in stores to see if I could find a matching scarf or something that I could wear to accentuate my outfit. Finally, after the fourth store with no luck, I found myself near the food court. My stomach began to growl at the smell of the different foods being prepared by the fast-food restaurants. I walked over to the Chik-Fil-A, where the line wasn’t as long, and stood to the side of the register looking at the menu. Hmm, the grilled chicken sandwich looks good, I thought.

“Excuse me, are you in line?” a deep voice sounded from behind.

“Well, no, I—”

As I turned around there was a small-framed, light-skinned brother standing behind me with gold teeth that had the initials L.J. on the front two staring at me, smiling from ear-to-ear.

“No, you can go ahead—I’m still trying to decide,” I replied with a slight frown.

“Still can’t decide, huh? I get that way, too. The chicken salad samich is good.”

I covered my mouth with my right hand. Samich, I thought. Oh my God, no—he didn’t just say “samich” in this day and age. “Oh really,” I frowned.

“Yeah, oh, uh. My name is Larry Jenkins, by the way. My peoples call me L.J.,” he said with a smile.

I wanted to say, “I see,” looking at his teeth. “Hi. I’m Mya,” I said.

“Mya,” he replied as his eyebrows arched. “Uh-oh, my love is like woe, my touch is like woe,” he said, snapping his fingers and laughing.

“Huh?” I replied with a confused look.

“You know—the song by Mya the singer.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” I replied as I turned toward the cashier at the register.

“Hi, ma’am. May I take your order, please?” she asked politely.

“Yes, can I get the grilled chicken sandwich with a small lemonade?”

L.J., or should I say Larry, walked to the next available cashier and placed his order.

I got my sandwich and walked to the table in the middle of the food court and sat down.

Before I began to eat, I could see Larry staring at me from the corner of my eye. I slowly turned my head away and began eating. Moments into it, Larry came to my table, still smiling and showing off his gold initials. “You mind if I sit wit ya, Mya?” he asked.

I didn’t want to seem rude in a public place and besides, I only had a sandwich to finish and could take the lemonade with me. “Uh, no, not at all.”

Out of all the chairs at the table he had to sit in the one closest to me. Instead of taking my time eating like I would normally do, I was stuffing my mouth with every bite. He sat down and got comfortable as he began eating what looked to be a chicken salad sandwich. I took another huge bite and began chewing faster, then took a gulp of lemonade. Larry smiled as the marinade from his chicken salad sandwich covered the “J” on the gold initials in his mouth. Uhhh, I thought. I turned my head before I threw up or lost my appetite.

“So, what kind of work do you do?” he asked with a mouthful of food.

“I’m a schoolteacher,” I replied with my head down.

“Do you have a biness card or something?”

“Huh?” I replied.

“A biness card—you know—wit all your numbers or something on it?” he repeated.

“Well, I’m a schoolteacher. I don’t really have any use for business cards.”

“Okay, the reason I was asking ’cause I’d like to call you sometime, you know what I’m sayin, maybe we could—”

“Well, look, Larry,” I interrupted.

“No, its L.J.—call me L.J., sweetheart.”

“Look, I don’t mean to seem rude, but I’m kind of in the middle of something with someone right now and I don’t think it would be a good idea to give you my number.”

“I see,” he smiled. “Say no more, say no more, I understand.”

“Thanks—well, look,” I replied as I crumpled the leftover sandwich and placed it in the bag. “It was really nice meeting you.”

“Likewise, Mya. Uh, I do hope we meet again someday. Next time I hope you’re single,” he replied with his arm extended to shake my hand.

I reached over to touch his hand and his fingernails were filthy. He had dirt logged deep into the nail. I slightly closed my eyes and shook his hand. Uhhh, I thought. They were rough and sticky. When our hands touched I cringed as he firmly squeezed. I then gave him a hard smile and walked off, heading straight to the nearest bathroom to wash them. While inside I beat what looked to be an empty soap dispenser to get a drop out while waiting on the water to get piping hot to scrub my hands clean. When I walked outside the bathroom I saw Larry standing with a group of guys, talking. To avoid another encounter with him I walked away in the opposite direction, cutting through the north end of the mall before making it to my car and driving off.

When I got home, I ironed my new outfit and placed it on a hanger in my closet. I ran some hot bathwater and mixed it with scented gel beads and soaked while I listened to soft jazz. My mind drifted like it always does when I’m relaxed and thinking about being married with kids in a big house, or cuddled up on the floor near a fireplace with my toes rubbing together with my special someone.

Later that night, Tangie and Stephanie came over as I rushed to get ready for the club. Stephanie was in the bathroom getting her makeup together when Tangie walked into my bedroom with a glass of wine.

“I’ll be ready in a minute—I just have to put on some lipstick,” I said in a rush.

“Take your time,” Tangie said as she took a seat on the bed. “It’s only nine-thirty. I don’t want to get there until eleven, anyway.”

“Why so late?” Stephanie asked from the bathroom.

“Yeah, all the good men will be taken by then,” I said.

“Girl, trust me. If you got it, you got it. The brothers will still be there. Besides, if they want you they will leave whoever they’re with to be with you,” Tangie replied before sipping her wine.

She did make a good point. I was just anxious to get there. “So did Todd come over last night?” I asked.

Tangie blushed. “Yeah, you know he did, and he put it down, too. I had an incredible orgasm that had me shaking like I was in the damn electric chair, girl.”

“Really?” I replied, laughing.

“Then his cell phone rang—that kind of spoiled the mood. I think it was his wife or something,” she continued.

“What’s up with him and his wife?” I asked.

“I don’t know, and don’t care,” Tangie replied.

“Why? I thought you two were cool like that. Don’t you two discuss his wife?” Stephanie asked.

“No. When you’re fucking another woman’s man, rule number one is not to get caught up in family business.”

“Why not? It doesn’t hurt to listen,” I said.

“When I only have him for an hour, all I want to do is fuck. I don’t want to waste time listening to how bad things are at home. I know things are bad—otherwise, his ass wouldn’t be here.”

That’s Tangie, rough and rugged. She sets her rules from the jump and doesn’t want to compromise. In my opinion that’s the reason she’s single and has had two failed marriages. She’s too stubborn.

We left the house at around ten-thirty. When we got to Nsomnia, it was packed. We parked, put our purses in the trunk, and went inside. I was a bit more anxious than Tangie and Stephanie because I was ready to meet a nice single man. Stephanie was along to be admired, and Tangie just wanted to have a good time.

We stood in the center of the club and pulled our jackets off and laid them across our arms. I turned around to get a better look at the place and saw a bunch of brothers standing in the back, checking us out and whispering to one another.

“Hey, don’t look now but we’re being checked out by some guys behind us,” I said.

“Where?” Stephanie asked.

“Directly behind Tangie, against the wall,” I described.

Tangie looked discreetly around the club. “Yeah, they’re all right. We can do better, though. Let’s walk around and see what the others look like,” she said. We turned and walked toward the back near the restrooms and stood with our backs closest to the wall. This view was better. Instead of being watched by people, now we could see them as they came through the door.

“So what do you think?” I asked, looking at Tangie and Stephanie.

“There are more women than men in here,” Stephanie replied.

“Soul brothers at that. Look at this brother with the red suit, matching red hat and shoes,” Tangie said. We all giggled.

“Well, I didn’t come in here to stand around,” Tangie said.

“I know that’s right,” I replied.

“Are you ready to run the Decatur take’em or shake’em?” Tangie asked, looking over at Stephanie.

“Absolutely,” she replied.

“Take’em or shake’em?” I replied, confused. “What’s that?”

“Girl, as much as we hang out together, you don’t know it yet?” Tangie said, looking at me.

I nodded.

“Watch this,” Tangie said as she got the waitress’s attention.

“Yes?” the waitress asked.

“What do you two want to drink?” Tangie asked, her eyes shifting to me and Stephanie.

“I’ll have a glass of white wine,” I replied.

“I’ll have a glass of Remy XO,” Stephanie said.

“Make that two glasses of Remy,” Tangie replied.

“Wine?” Stephanie asked, looking at me. “You ain’t at home in front of the fireplace.”

“What? Girl, wine is what I want.”

“Okay, well, wine is what you’ll be drinking all night, then,” Stephanie mocked. Tangie laughed as Stephanie continued. “See, Mya, the game is this. You order an expensive drink, right? You stand here and drink it until it’s half empty, then walk around the club. By then, brothers will be checking you out and offering to buy you a drink. When they see you drinking that expensive shit, they will either buy you another one—and chances are they got a little money—or they will refuse when they see what you’re drinking, at which time they can keep steppin’ because they’re probably broke as hell.”

I laughed. “You two are some gold-digging hoes.”

“It ain’t that. It’s just that I don’t have time to sit here all night trying to feel a brother out. Show me what you’re willing to do from the jump and we can work the rest out later.”

I shook my head in disgust at this ghetto attempt to get a man.

The waitress came back with our drinks and Tangie paid for them with the money she kept in her jacket pocket.

We sipped on our drinks for several minutes, watching more guys come through the door. Moments later this guy came over, dressed in all black with a white Kangol hat. “Would any of you beautiful ladies like to dance with ole Roger?” he asked with a wide smile.

We looked at each other, waiting on the others to give him an answer. “I would,” Tangie replied as she gave me her drink and put her coat on the empty chair next to us. His smile got even wider as they proceeded toward the dance floor.

Stephanie looked at me with a grin. “Tangie must be desperate to have fun tonight.”

“Not me,” I replied. “Where are all of the cute brothers sitting?” We looked around the room once more.

“Maybe if we walk around we might run into some nice guys to choose from,” Stephanie said.

“Yeah, but let’s wait on Tangie first,” I replied.

Several minutes later Tangie came back to where we were, breathing heavily. “Whew, that old bastard can dance, but his breath smelled like shit.”

“What?” Stephanie laughed loudly.

“Yeah, when I danced with my back toward him, he tried to hump me, and when I danced facing him, I had to hold my damn breath.”

We laughed hysterically.

“So you guys aren’t going to dance?” Tangie asked.

“Yeah, as soon as I find someone cute to dance with,” I replied.

“Girl, you know cute guys can’t dance. They’re probably on the other side of the club, sitting at the table,” Tangie continued.

“Well, that’s where I need to be,” I replied.

“Not me,” Tangie said. “I’m gonna stay over here for a minute and dance some more. Besides, I didn’t come here to find a man, I came here to party.”

I looked over at Stephanie. “You want to go over there with me?”

“Sure, why not?” Stephanie replied.

“Well can you hold on to my jacket, ’cause I’m going back on the dance floor,” Tangie said.

As Stephanie and I made our way toward the other side of the club, guys were smiling as we passed by, some even winking, trying to get our attention. They looked decent but none of them gave me that warm and fuzzy feeling enough for me to stop and have a conversation.

When we got to the back of the club, there were a couple of tables with empty chairs next to them near the emergency exit doors. We made our way through a narrow aisle and took a seat. Suddenly it was, like, all eyes on us. The brothers on this side looked a whole lot different. They were all dressed in sport coats as opposed to the zoot suits the brothers were wearing up front. As minutes passed, it seemed as though more cute guys were starting to filter in. Stephanie and I sat back and sipped our drinks, trying to look sophisticated to get some attention. At least I was, anyway. Stephanie was too busy looking at her watch, checking the time every ten minutes.

A few moments later two guys came over. One was walking toward Stephanie, and the other guy was walking toward me. They both wore really nice dark-colored suits with open-collared shirts. The one walking toward me was a light-brown-skinned brother with a neatly trimmed goatee who stood what looked to be over six feet, while the brother walking toward Stephanie was a little darker in complexion and stood maybe an inch shorter. I noticed Stephanie as she put her drink on the table—it was almost empty. The gentleman sat down next to her as he placed his Heineken next to her glass.

The brother in my direction walked up to me and leaned slightly over to my ear as I sat back in my chair. “Hi, you mind if I sit down for a minute or are you with someone?” he asked.

I smiled casually, looking at the chair directly in front of me. “No, that’s fine,” I replied.

He put his beer on the table before moving his chair closer to me, then sat down, looking at me. “Hi—I’m Darryl Cooper, by the way.” He extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Darryl, I’m Mya LeVeaux.”

“Mya—I like that name.”

“You do? What’s so special about it?” I asked.

“My great-grandmother’s name is Mya.”

“Oh, really? Then I guess it is special.”

Darryl smiled, showing off his pretty white teeth as he reached for his beer. In the meantime, I glanced over at Stephanie, who was engaged in conversation with her newfound friend.

“So, are you enjoying yourself?” Darryl asked, getting my attention.

“Yeah, so far I’m having a pretty good time.” I could smell a hint of his cologne as he leaned over to talk.

“So what do you do for fun?” he asked.

“Fun? Well, I read a lot. For me that’s fun.”

“What kind of books do you read?”

“They vary, but I’m mostly into romance.”

“Oh, okay.”

“And you?” I asked.

“Well, I’m mostly into the arts.”

“Oh, do you paint?”

“No, not that kind of art, I was referring to martial arts.” He smiled at me.

“Oh, really. When I was a kid I always wanted to take up karate.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not too late.”

“Well, it’s too late for me.” I replied.

He smiled again, then said, “Maybe one day I can get you to change your mind.”

“I doubt it, Darryl. If something goes down now, I’ll just have to call my cousins out here to handle things for me.”

He laughed out loud. “I hear that,” he replied. “So, what kind of work do you do?”

“I’m a schoolteacher.”

“Oh, a schoolteacher. That’s interesting.”

“Why?”

“Well, my first impression of you was something more, like, a lawyer or something corporate.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

“No, it was just my impression of you, that’s all,” he continued.

I chuckled. “No, I’m just a little ole schoolteacher.”

I took the last sip of wine from my glass and placed it on the table. Seeing this, Darryl turned and gestured to a waitress walking passed us. “Can I get you another drink?”

“Uh, sure. Thanks,” I replied.

When the waitress made it over to our table, Darryl stood up and handed her my empty glass. “Yes, can I get another—” He looked at me.

“Oh, any white wine is fine, thank you,” I replied.

Darryl pointed at Stephanie, who was still talking. “Would your friend like another drink as well?”

I politely tapped Stephanie on the shoulder and got her attention as she turned around.

“Would you like another drink?”

“Oh, yeah,” she replied, looking up at Darryl smiling.

“What were you drinking?” Darryl asked.

“Oh, I had a Remy XO.”

I braced myself for a response from Darryl about her drink order, but without hesitation he turned toward the waitress and ordered both drinks, along with a beer for himself. Stephanie looked over at me and smiled.

As the waitress walked away, Darryl sat back down, looking into my eyes in silence.

“What?” I asked, confused by his stare.

“Nothing, just looking.”

“So what kind of work do you do?” I asked.

“I’m a pharmaceutical sales rep.”

“Really?”

“Yep,” he replied proudly.

“I can’t see a salesman in you,” I said.

“Oh, really? Then what did you see?”

“I don’t know, but not a salesman.”

The waitress came back with our drinks and placed them on the table. I took a sip of wine as Darryl and I chatted for several more minutes. He chipped away at several topics until finally asking for my number. I thought he was cute and had enough good qualities to warrant a call, so I gave him my cell phone number before he left.

Stephanie couldn’t shake her friend for nothing. She sipped her drink sarcastically in his face, pretty much ignoring most of his conversation. Finally, I got tired of just sitting there alone so I got up and gathered my things.

“Are you about to leave?” Stephanie asked desperately.

“Yeah, I’m going over to check on Tangie.”

“Wait up—I’m going with you.”

I leaned over to her right ear. “What about your friend?” I whispered.

“Who, Carlos? Girl, I ain’t thinking ’bout him. I was just trying to be polite,” she whispered back.

Carlos had a half-embarrassed look on his face as he watched us talk. I grabbed what was left of my wine and stood next to Stephanie. She got up, pushing her chair in as she straightened her blouse. Carlos gently touched Stephanie’s arm, getting her attention. “Can’t you stay for a little while longer? I was just getting a chance to know you,” he said.

“No—besides, I told you I’m in the middle of a relationship.” Carlos’s half-embarrassed look turned to disappointment as he nodded before Stephanie and I walked off.

“So, what’s up with your boy?” Stephanie asked.

“Who, Darryl? He seems nice.”

“Yeah, he’s a keeper,” she continued.

“He’s all right. What about Carlos?”

“What? Please. He was so boring I could barely keep my attention focused on what he was saying. Plus, if I were single, I wouldn’t give him the time of day, because his cheap ass couldn’t even buy me a drink.”

I smiled, turning my head as we continued on to join Tangie. As we turned the corner by the bar, we saw Tangie sitting at a table with some real soul brothers. One wore all red, the other all white, and the third brother had on all green. I had to hide my laughter as we got closer. It looked as though Tangie was really having a good time as she sat there with a drink in hand and several empty glasses in front of her.

“There my girls are,” Tangie said loudly, waving her hand. Stephanie and I smiled as we walked up to the table.

“Fellas, these are my girls. This is Stephanie,” she said, touching Stephanie’s arm. “And over here is Mya.” She pulled me closer to her. “Girls, this is Wallace,” she said, pointing to the gentleman in the white suit. “And this is uh, uh. Aw, hell. I forgot your names,” she said, looking at the other two gentlemen at the table. “We’ll just call you Red,” she said, pointing to the guy in the red suit. “And we’ll call you Green,” she added as she looked at the guy in the green suit.

Stephanie pressed down on her bottom lip with her teeth to keep from laughing as I looked down at the floor, giggling inside.

“Nice meeting you,” Stephanie and I said in unison.

They nodded, staring us up and down deviously.

“How about a drink?” Wallace asked.

“Oh, no, thank you. I think I’ve had enough to drink for one night,” I replied.

“Yeah—me, too,” Stephanie said.

“Well, let’s dance, then,” Red said as he got up and walked toward me.

“Let’s all dance,” Wallace suggested.

“Well, what about our jackets?” Stephanie asked.

“Just leave them right here—we’ll keep an eye on them,” Wallace replied as he reached for Tangie’s hand.

Green got up and we all walked onto the dance floor. The dee-jay was hot! He played one great song after another as the people filled the dance floor. Those old dudes could dance, too. By now Tangie was feeling good off all those Remy XOs. She had to have been, because Wallace was all over her and not one time did she push him away. In fact, it looked like she was encouraging it. He was occasionally humping her from behind as she bent over, shaking her ass in rhythm. I played it safe by dancing an arm’s length away from Red so he wouldn’t get any ideas. Stephanie was dancing at a safe distance with Green, occasionally backing away before his hands could touch any part of her body.

Finally, after about five songs, my feet began to hurt so I signaled to Red that I was ready to sit down. Seeing this, Tangie and Stephanie both left the dance floor as the guys trailed them. When we got back to the table, I sat down and wiped the small beads of sweat that had formed on my forehead. Green grabbed a napkin, walked over to Stephanie, and began wiping the sides of her face. She smiled and politely took the napkin from him and wiped around her neck, looking over at me to see my reaction.

“I’m thirsty—does anyone need anything?” Wallace asked, then waited on everyone’s response. We all declined.

“C’mon, the night’s still young,” he said.

Stephanie looked at her watch as her eyebrows rose in surprise. “Wow, it’s almost three o’clock. I have to be in church in a few hours.”

“Yeah, it is getting late. But, thank you, guys, for a good time,” Tangie said as she hugged Wallace.

Wallace reached in his pocket and gave Tangie a slip of paper that she folded in her hand.

Stephanie and I grabbed our leather jackets and started toward the door. By now the crowd had thinned out a little. Outside there were groups of people standing around talking in the parking lot as we got in the car, heading toward my town house.

“That was fun,” Tangie said. “Most of the brothers in there were fake, though.”

“It was all right. I was tripping on how some of the brothers just stood there staring a hole in you like they wanted you to sweat them,” Stephanie replied.

“What about you, Mya? Did you meet your Mr. Right?” Tangie joked.

“I met someone nice. We had good conversation and we seem to have a lot in common. I guess you can say we sorta connected visually before he approached me.”

“What?” Stephanie interrupted. “That brother you met came out of the crowd over to your ass and you know it. Don’t make that shit seem like something out of a soap opera. ’Connected visually—’”

“Aw, damn, she had me going for a minute,” Tangie replied, laughing.

“And Tangie, what’s up with you and the old man with the zoot suit throwback?”

We laughed.

“Take’em or shake’em. They kept on buying the drinks and I kept on drinking. Plus, they were cool. Wallace must be out of his mind if he thinks I’m going to call his old ass, though.”

“Yeah, and what’s up with Green trying to wipe the sweat from my face. I almost told his ass something,” Stephanie said.

“He didn’t mean no harm, girl. They were just out trying to hook up with a little young thang, that’s all. In fact, they actually made my night,” Tangie replied.

The ride home began to wear us down as we continued on in silence. My mind drifted to Darryl for a minute. Tangie was joking, but what if he was my Mr. Right? He seemed to have all the characteristics. And damn, was he fine, I smiled to myself. So far so good, I thought, as a smile came over my face.