by J. Nichole
“I’ma have one more,” I said, and then she shrugged her shoulder. “The night is still young.” I looked behind me to where Tony and Skylar were still standing in the middle of the dance floor going back and forth. “And if I have to deal with those two”—I ordered the shot from the bartender—“I need a little more liquor.”
“Right, you’d think after all these years they’d just fuck already.” My eyes bulged when I heard that and I coughed. “What, you don’t think all that arguing is about their sexual tension?”
I shook my head because I guess it wasn’t as obvious to Brooklyn. “I don’t even think Tony is Skylar’s type.”
“Does she even have a type?” she asked, staring in Skylar’s direction. I thought she had a type and her type was more like my type. At least that’s what I had heard over the years since graduating from college.
But hell, if Brooklyn didn’t know yet, it wasn’t my business to tell. The bartender set my shot down and I raised it to her wine glass. “To the rest of the night.” She grinned as I threw my shot back, and was still grinning when I set the glass down.
“Why’d y’all leave me over there with him?” Skylar asked, parking herself beside Brooklyn. “You know we can’t ever get along.” She laughed. “Had me over there debating the Me Too movement after his raggedy ass comments about our outfits.”
“First of all,” Tony started again, “I didn’t say anything crazy but you had to bring it all the way back.” I asked them both if they could pause for drinks. “Yeah man.” Tony leaned over the bar to order before looking at Skylar. “Here,” he said shoving a drink in front of her. “Drink up.”
Skylar rolled her eyes and said, “Whatever,” and took the drink to the head before moving closer to me. “Thanks for stepping in, J.O.,” she said with a smile. “Always saving your girl.” She winked. “You know, now that she’s single,” she whispered, “I think it’s time for you to finally shoot your shot.”
My eyes narrowed and I listened as she continued telling me that we were meant to be together. “Skylar, what are you talking about?” I only had two shots of tequila and a beer, no way was I drunk.
“I’m just saying. Y’all act like y’all aren’t meant to be together.” She leaned in even closer. “But you are,” she said pointing to my chest. “Y’all just need to stop playing games.” I looked over her head and watched Brooklyn sipping her glass of wine while Tony ran his mouth to her.
“Let’s get a table,” I said, exhausted already by the night. The three of them followed behind me as I found an empty table in the back. Skylar and Brooklyn didn’t sit though. They stood by the table dancing and laughing. I watched as a couple of guys tried to get close then noticed us sitting behind them at the table. “Damn, we cramping their style,” I said to Tony.
Tony waved his hand in the air and said, “They don’t want these wack dudes anyways.” I laughed ‘cause although he wasn’t about to fight for nobody, I knew he treated the two of them like sisters. “The club is lacking quality tonight,” he said as he sipped his drink and looked around. “Not a single one of these ladies looks like someone I would want to talk to.”
“That’s ‘cause the only woman you want doesn’t want you back.” I laughed as he twisted his lips and shook his head.
“Man whatever. I don’t want no parts of Skylar.” He turned and watched Skylar swaying to “Mo Bamba.” “Brooklyn though, if I knew you wouldn’t kill me,” he laughed, “I’d be all over her.” I didn’t say anything ‘cause Brooklyn wouldn’t go for Tony, at least I didn’t think she would. She wouldn’t cross that friend line, at least that’s what she told me back in the day. The day when that after school study session turned into a 106 & Park video watching session. I laughed and Tony said, “What?”
“Nothing man. You can try,” is all I said.
He shook his head. “I’ll leave it alone.” The girls joined us at the table after and told us they were done with the club scene. Skylar reminded us that we needed to visit her in the city for a true club experience. “Bet, I’m down to visit,” Tony said to Skylar’s side-eye.
Brooklyn and I fell back as Tony and Skylar led us out of the club. “Did you have fun?” I asked.
She hunched her shoulders. “I was kinda hoping to meet someone tonight.” I pointed back into the club and told her we could always go back till she did. “Naw, after dude grabbed my ass, it ruined it for me.” I nodded my head. I knew she hated when guys invaded her space. “Headed home to the boo?”
“She’s probably sleep. You know she wakes up early during the week, and on the weekend she keeps the same routine,” I said with a tight grin.
“You about to hop on the game then?” She knew me too well. As soon as I got home I’d probably sit on the couch and play a round or two. “I’ll come over and whoop on you for a bit,” she offered.
“Bet. You can come play me, but you definitely won’t win, you should know this by now.” I stood beside the door as she climbed into Skylar’s car. “Alright Skylar, if I don’t see you before you head out, be safe.” Tony mumbled something beside me and we watched them drive away.
“That girl is evil,” Tony said as we walked back to our cars. I looked at him and shook my head. “But you down to take a ride to visit her one weekend?” I nodded my head. We dapped knuckles and I hopped in my car headed to my place. I stopped by the wing spot and ordered wings, making sure to get a few Asian spiced wings, the ones Brooklyn liked.
“What’s that I smell?” she asked when she walked through the door still dressed in her club outfit. I met her in the kitchen and pointed to the box of wings. “Asian spiced?” I nodded my head. “The night’s MVP,” she shouted.
“Why you still dressed?” I asked. She explained she didn’t feel like going home to grab a change of clothes. “Can I get a pair of shorts and a tee?”
Brooklyn was shorter than me by at least five inches, but she had no problem wearing my shorts that would be almost like pants, and pulling the string extra tight to fit around her waist. I grabbed clothes from my drawer and tossed them to her. She switched out of her clothes in the middle of my living room, almost as if I wasn’t standing there. I laughed when she bent over to pull on the shorts. “No wonder ol’ boy had a handful of your ass.” She rolled her eyes. “He felt all that skin beneath those pants.”
She pulled my t-shirt over her red, laced bra covering the cleavage that was spilling out of her shirt earlier in the night. “That was mad disrespectful though. Some dudes do too much in the damn club.”
“And I swear I knew him from Canterbury.” She was probably right. Our high school was small, and the black population even smaller. “I think he was like a freshman our senior year.” She nodded to herself, sure her memory was right.
“I wouldn’t have known,” I said, grabbing a plate from the cabinet. “You want some wings now?” She nodded her head but made her way to the kitchen, grabbing a plate from my cabinet and loading it with wings herself. “Were you like this with Marcus?” I asked.
“What?” she said with a touch of attitude. I explained how she was always jumping to do stuff for herself. “Probably. I don’t remember.” She bit into a wing and asked, “Do you always try to do stuff for Alana?”
I took my plate to the couch and she followed behind me. “Are you asking if I’m a gentleman, raised right by my mama? Then yes.” I laughed.
She looked up from the floor where she took a seat next to the coffee table. “Yeah, Mrs. Mitchell did raise you right.” Before she could get too lost in thought, she said, “Where are the controllers?” I pointed to the TV cabinet and she crawled over to grab them, her ass jiggling behind her.
It wasn’t unusual for me to check Brooklyn out. She was a bad chick— nothing like my girlfriend, almost everything she wasn’t. Curvy, deep brown skin, pouty lips. If we hadn’t become friends first, I definitely would have been all over her. But she clearly defined my role early in our friendship, and over the years I’d respected it.
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br /> Although, when she had a man, she was always occupied so it’s easier to ignore her. She’d only been single a couple of months of our adult life, so there hadn’t been many times for me to have her to myself. “Here,” she said handing me the main controller.
I watched her as she pressed buttons with the pads of her fingers, keeping the stickiness away from the controller. “How about a friendly wager?” I offered as I set the game up.
“How much liquor do you have?” she asked, standing from the floor to walk to my kitchen. She found my stash before I could answer. “Alright,” she said placing a bottle of rum on the table next to a shot glass. “For each time the other scores, we take a shot.” In a game of football, that shouldn’t be too bad.
“You trying to get drunk?” I asked, knowing she’d barely score and would have to take more shots than I would. She grinned and I should have known then she was scheming. On her first score she poured a shot and watched me take it to the head. “Let me find out you got a PlayStation at your place.” I laughed.
But it didn’t matter because the next two touchdowns I scored and she drank. We continued going till the bottle was half empty, and the game was over. “You can’t drive home like that,” I said looking at her eyes half closed. “You have to stay here.” I turned off the game and headed to my room.
“Alana will not like me staying here,” she whispered as if Alana were nearby and could hear her. She couldn’t have been too worried though because she followed me to my bedroom and climbed into my bed. She started snoring before I could even climb into my side of the bed. We’d slept in the same bed before, many times when we were in college, and like tonight she had too much to drink to drive home. Or even when we had study sessions that lasted early into the morning.
I found it hard to sleep though. I lay awake staring at the ceiling, listening to Brooklyn’s breathing calm from an unsettling snore. I turned to face away from her and my eyes closed until I felt the warmth from her body nearby. I turned and saw her cupped against my back, still sleeping peacefully. I was tempted to wrap an arm around her, but turned my head and found the sandman.
I woke up as the sun shined through my window. We were entangled in each other—her leg draped over my body and my arm around hers. I shook my head when I felt a familiar tug between my legs. Shit.
As I tried to unwrap myself from her, she looked up and said, “Is it morning already?” Blowing her hot morning breath in my face.
I snatched my head back and said, “I don’t know what time it is.” She shifted in the bed dragging her leg from my body. She paused slightly when she met my morning wood.
“Oh.” She laughed. “My bad.” I climbed from the bed and walked to the bathroom with her yelling over my shoulder, “Does that happen every morning?”
Leave it to Brooklyn to make an awkward moment more awkward. I shut the door behind me and heard her shuffling in my room. Sunday was her day off so she wouldn’t have to rush to work. But her and Skylar may have made plans for the day. She knocked on the door and said, “Do you want to join me and Skylar for brunch?”
I had put Alana off for most of the weekend to avoid having to invite her to the club, but another day without talking to her would put me on her shit list. “I should catch up with Alana,” I said as I opened the door.
Brooklyn’s smile dropped and she offered, “Invite her.”
“Now you know Skylar would be pissed.” She shrugged and I considered it. “Alright.”
Brooklyn told me where they were headed and I grabbed my phone as I agreed to meet her there. “Good morning,” Alana said sounding like she had been awake for a while. I invited her to brunch and she eagerly agreed, “Sounds like a plan.” Then I told her it would be with Brooklyn and Skylar and she lost her enthusiasm. “Okay, if we can have some alone time later, I’m game.” That was a fair offer, so I agreed.
Five
Brooklyn
I sat across from Skylar, mimosa in hand, and said, “They should be here any minute.”
“You always meddling in grown folks business,” Skylar said as she grabbed a slice of candied bacon from the plate in the middle of the table. “Keep inviting this girlfriend of his out.” She cocked her head to the side. “Last time she was out with us, all she did was hang on to J.O. the whole time, giggling in his ear.”
“One day he will get married, and it could be to her.” I played with the napkin on the table in front of me. I couldn’t imagine Josiah marrying Alana, but I couldn’t imagine him marrying anyone. Or maybe I didn’t want to imagine him marrying anyone. With each new girlfriend, I had anxiety as I waited around to see if she’d be the one to say we couldn’t hang out as much.
“Girl, whatever. That man is not marrying this girl.” As soon as the words left her mouth, “this girl” was standing next to our table as Josiah pulled her chair out.
“Hey, y’all started eating without us?” he asked as he took the seat across from me.
I explained that we were waiting on them to order our entrees, but offered them some of the appetizers we had ordered. “Bacon?” Alana said with her hand drawn into her chest. “Oh, no thank you.” When Josiah reached for a piece the scorn on her face was noticeable.
“You know,” Skylar said grabbing another piece of bacon, “grease is the best way to soak up the liquor.” She took a big bite of the bacon and between chews she added, “We could all use that right about now.” Alana looked between us confused. I assumed Josiah didn’t tell her we went to the club the night before, or that I spent the night with him after we had more drinks. My attempt of kicking Skylar under the table failed. “Well nevermind, you weren’t there so maybe you don’t need grease...”
I interrupted her when I saw Josiah’s head drop. “Have y’all been here before?” I said directing the question to Alana.
She shook her head, and I already knew Josiah’s answer; we had been here plenty of times. “I hear it’s good though.” She looked around us then placed a hand on Josiah’s arm. “We should order soon.”
I found the waiter and nodded so he’d return to the table. After we ordered, Alana leaned in to whisper into Josiah’s ear. Skylar coughed and said, “That’s kinda rude, don’t you think, J.O.?” I knew Skylar wasn’t going to let this girl live, and strangely I was ready to watch it all unfold.
“Skylar, chill,” Josiah said with a smirk on his face. When we made eye contact I couldn’t hold back my laugh, and that caused him to laugh. Alana looked at him with her nose turned up. “Both of y’all, chill.” He cleared his throat and sat up straight in his seat. He wiped a hand over his mouth before he asked, “When are you headed back?”
“After we finish eating. Bags already in the car,” Skylar said.
“I was thinking about a job in the city, to produce for the morning show at one point,” Alana said with a goofy grin on her face. “I think I’ll stick around here for a while now though.”
Skylar rolled her eyes. “I don’t watch the local news much, but that might have been a good opportunity for you. You should consider it.” She leaned forward on her elbows.
Alana began explaining her views on the local news, and I was becoming bored. I looked across the table at Josiah and he had a similar bored look on his face. I was happy when the waiter came to the table with our entrees.
“It’s been nice folks,” Skylar announced after standing from the table. “I need to get on the road before traffic picks up.” I stood and gave her a hug and grabbed my purse ‘cause I was headed out after her. I leaned over and gave a hug to Josiah and Alana before walking Skylar to her car.
Skylar didn’t wait long to rant about Alana and Josiah’s seemingly lack of interest in her. “Poor girl probably doesn’t even know you spent the night with him last night.” She shook her head. “Hey, listen, when y’all come to visit, do not… I repeat, do not invite ol’ girl, or his next girl if he’s moved on. You hear me?” I nodded my head. We hugged again before she hopped in her car and I headed for min
e.
Before I climbed into my car, I could hear Josiah’s voice behind me. I turned and watched as he walked Alana to his car. He had his hand on her lower back, and her grin reached her ears. They seemed happy, at least she did. He had his corporate smile on—the one he wore when he knew he had to smile to make himself seem less aggressive.
I sat in my car and waited for them to pull off before I left. On my way home, my little sister called talking about my mama needed help with her resume. “I mean, we update it like every six months. She still can’t figure it out?” I asked as I drove along the highway to my apartment.
She groaned, “Can you just come over here please?” I checked my rearview mirror so I could change lanes. “She cooked,” she said in a calmer voice.
My sister has had more patience with my mom over the years. Being younger, she didn’t grasp the gravity of my mom’s depression. “I’m coming, Phoenix,” I resigned. Phoenix didn’t lack for anything because I always made sure she had what she needed. In this case, she needed me.
Phoenix met me at the door with a smirk on her face. “Thanks for coming.” I knew that look she gave me. She was tired, worn out, ready to throw in the towel, and it was my turn to tap into the drama.
“What’d she cook though?” I asked, laughing as I moved past her on my way to the kitchen. My mama was sitting on the couch, her head leaned back, eyes half closed looking at the TV in the living room. I paused long enough to acknowledge her. “Hey Mama.” Unlike Skylar, I’d never consider calling my mama by her first name.
She mumbled something in return and I kept going towards the kitchen, Phoenix hot on my heels. “She cooked your favorite.”
I mocked her pointing to my chest. “My favorite?” I didn’t realize I had a favorite from my mama. If I did, I didn’t know what it was. “And what would that be, Phoenix?”
“Rice and beans.” I opened the pot and took a whiff of the beans. “Plantains and pork chops.” I thought I smelled fried meat.
