Single AF: Social Experiment Series

by Green, Sherelle

  “But it did,” I countered. “An employee of SEN did pay a couple participants, and whether we own up to it or not, reality television is an oxymoron. Yeah, some of it is real, but some of it is also fabricated television. So why not kick off the Do You Dare series with not only making participants tackle what’s holding them back, but have the network tackle one of our greatest fears first. Since we’ve been getting the bad publicity, we’ve been on the defensive. Let’s get on the offense by giving a behind the scenes view of our YouTube channel so the media and public in general can see what goes on before we air our episodes.”

  Most of the table began to nod as Madame Social chimed in, “I love that idea, Meeka. Only I don’t want to give the media behind the scenes access because they will bring up the fact that I wish for my identity to remain a secret. So, instead of making SEN the focal point, I think we should have one of our staff members participate in the experiment first and prove to the media that we are not fake television. Our people are real. Our issues are real. Our fears are real.”

  I shrugged even though she couldn’t see me. “Yes, I think that’s a great spin on it, too.”

  “Great,” Madame Social said. “Because I’ve heard a lot of good things about you over the years and I think you’d be the perfect candidate to represent our network.”

  My mouth dropped. “Come again?”

  Tabitha rushed to the phone. “Oh no, Madame Social. Meeka cannot do this experiment. She has too much on her plate with other projects. However, I’d love to do it. After all, I’m the production lead for the next season.”

  I rolled my eyes. She was our boss, so technically, Dragon Breath demanded to lead every damn season.

  “Tabitha, consider Meeka the lead for this season. We need the positive publicity and we also need someone who is willing to bare it all in front of the camera.”

  I cleared my throat. “Pardon my shock, Madame Social, but what exactly do you want me to talk about? I’m an open book, but I don’t have a deep-rooted fear or issue to discuss.” Technically, that was a lie. I had a bus load of issues. However, there was a lot of shit I refused to talk about on camera, and for that reason, it might as well be the truth. Unfortunately, she saw right through me even though she couldn’t see me at all.

  I wanted to run out of the conference room when she asked me, “When was your last relationship, Meeka?”

  “Uh … a while ago.”

  “And why is that?”

  I glanced around the table, making sure I didn’t look at Tone because I had no doubt he wanted to say some smart shit. “I’m not sure.”

  “And why aren’t you sure?” she asked.

  I sighed, knowing she was fishing and wouldn’t stop until I was honest. “I’m not sure, but assume it’s because I’ve always been too much for a man to handle. I’m not crazy or anything, but I’ve done some crazy shi— ah … some crazy stuff in the past.” Someone snorted and I was sure it was Tone’s ass.

  “Do you mind media attention?” she asked.

  “Well, no, but I still don’t know what I would talk about.”

  Madame Social laughed. “Isn’t it obvious, darling? To kick off our season, you need to be willing to bare it all, so I’m tasking you with reaching out to your exes to understand why you’re still single and see if you can learn from past experiences to make room for a future relationship.”

  Now it was my turn to laugh. “Seriously? You want me to track down every guy I ever dated and ask him what went wrong?”

  “Precisely. Although I’d be satisfied with a few exes, not all of them.”

  I glanced down at Cheyanne, who gave me a look of sympathy. There’s no way I can do that. Yeah, I liked attention, but there was no part of me that wanted to do this assignment. I mean, didn’t they know I was a walking disaster? If I knew why any of those men never made it to a second date, obviously, I would have changed up my game by now, right? Better yet, if I could even get an ex to talk to me, I would give them an earful because although I was a lot to handle, I was a freaking catch. Except, for some reason I hadn’t figured out yet, I couldn’t maintain a good relationship to save my life.

  Forget good. I couldn’t sustain one period. My latest relationship couldn’t even be considered a relationship because it was a heart-crushing, gut-wrenching ten hours long. Not ten years. Not ten months. Not ten weeks. Hell, not even ten days. Ten. Damn. Hours.

  But the company needs you, Meeka. Madame Social needs you. I was far from a superhero, but looking around at my co-workers’ amused faces and Tabitha’s annoyed one, I couldn’t help but feel like I was the woman to save the day. I was the one the company needed to clear our name. For the first time in like, ever, I was the hero everyone needed in this moment.

  It was a bad time for a little ratchet rhyme, but I couldn’t stop the words from wafting through my mind. Hickory, dickory, dock. Mrs. Meeka is on the clock. If I strike out, we all go down. So, MeMe must locate past cocks. I glanced down at the conference phone and tried my best to sound confident when I announced, “Okay, I’ll do the experiment.”

  Madame Social gave a satisfied sigh. “Thank you, Meeka. The network and I appreciate your willingness to do this.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Dragon Breath walked past me right after I sat back down. “Not that you had a choice,” she muttered, annoyance dripping from her voice. She took Madame Social off speaker and they chatted for a few moments about next steps before she addressed the group.

  “Okay, for this assignment, instead of our normal selfie-videos, I’ll have a cameraman follow Meeka around.” She glanced around the room. “Where is Tim? I want him to partner with Meeka on this.”

  Tone cleared his throat. “Tim and his wife just had a baby last night, so he’s on paternity leave.”

  Dragon Breath turned up her nose. “Ugh. Why do we give paternity leave? He’s a junior employee. Call him and get him here ASAP.”

  “Pretty sure I’m not doing that,” Tone told her. “Human Resources would back me up on this. Besides, he’s owed this time, so someone else will have to do it.”

  Dragon Breath flipped her hair out of her face, clearly offended, but she’d never tell off Tone. For some reason, he always stood his ground and she never got on him like the rest of us. A part of me felt like she had a crush on him, but she had a man. I didn’t want Tone, but others might.

  “Well, then, I guess there’s only one solution.” She clapped her hands together. “Dimitri, you’ll have to do it.”

  Dimitri looked at me and winked. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be glad to do it.” Dimitri was the other junior operations assistant, so it made sense. Word was, he was Brazilian or something because buddy had one of the sexiest accents I’d ever heard. Plus, he’d only been working at the network for a couple months, so he wasn’t on board the Meeka’s-ass-is-crazy train yet.

  I smiled at him, almost geeked enough to give Dragon Breath a hug since this was by far the nicest thing she’d ever done for me. Unfortunately, my internal happy dance was cut short when Tone declared, “No, Dimitri is covering Tim’s work. I’ll assist Meeka on this one.”

  “What?” both myself and Dragon Breath exclaimed.

  “You can’t do that,” she said. “You’re the Director of Photography and Video.”

  Leaning forward on the conference table, he clasped his hands together. “Exactly, which is why it’s my call to make.” He turned to me. “Meeka, our schedule to prep for next season is tight. Especially since Madame Social agreed to your suggestion. I want to get started as soon as possible, so I’d advise you to figure out which one of your exes you want to meet with first and set that up.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him he couldn’t tell me what to do, but got distracted when he stood up, all six-foot-whatever-inches of dark chocolate wrapped in a fitted black, long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans. After two years, I thought I’d be used to his sexiness or grow immune to it or something, but nope, I hadn’t been that lucky.
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  Swallowing back my nerves, I stood up as well, touching his arm with every intention on demanding that Dimitri help me with this assignment, but the words that came out instead were, “Okay, I’ll reach out to my exes and figure out who I can chat to first.”

  I blinked at my words. Way to show him who’s boss, Meeka. He nodded and walked out of the conference room, leaving me conflicted with my feelings and Dragon Breath warning the room that everyone else wasn’t dismissed until she dismissed us.

  Chapter 4

  If a man wears flip flops in the winter,

  he can’t be trusted.

  ~ Madame Social ~

  TONE

  “You did what? Did you forget you can’t stand Meeka?”

  I shook my head at Zahir. When I’d asked him to meet me for lunch so I could tell him about the meeting yesterday, I hadn’t expected him to tell me shit I already knew. “Nah, Z. Of course I didn’t forget. But like I said, Tim is on paternity leave and Dimitri just started working here. I know you may forget all the drama that happened last season, but we need this assignment to go well.”

  “You shitting me, right? I’m the casting director, so all I do is have meetings with my team about that drama. And I hate I missed that meeting yesterday for the simple fact that I’d love to have seen Tabitha’s face when you announced you’d be helping Meeka instead of Dimitri. You know that woman has control issues and she can’t stand MeMe.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, Tabitha looked like she was about to lose it. But Meeka did, too. I doubt she wants to see my ass every day while she’s talking to her exes.”

  “Then why did you volunteer to do it? Dimitri would have been fine.”

  I shrugged, taking a bite of my turkey sandwich. “Fuck if I know. I guess a part of me is curious to hear what they have to say. I mean, this is the same woman who stalked me for an entire day before our blind date. Hell, we never even made it to the date.”

  Z laughed. “She didn’t stalk you the whole damn day, but yeah, that shit was crazy. And I know MeMe has a reputation for being kinda extra, but I swear, I never would have set y’all up had I known she’d pull something like that.”

  “Kinda extra is a nice way to put it. Did you hear about that guy from IT who took her to a date?” Z shook his head. “Well, he caught her going through his phone when he went to the bathroom. He brushed it off since she apologized, but when he got home, he noticed she had changed her name to Future Baby Mama MeMe in his contacts. Bruh, dude said the date wasn’t even that great, yet, she was already trying to be knocked up by him.”

  Z shook his head. “If you weren’t my best friend, I’d swear you were lying. Meeka is so chill with me, but then again, she knows I’m in a relationship and she respects relationships. She’s never flirted or anything like that. And I know you hate when I remind you of this shit, but Kelani and MeMe have been getting close, so you may see her around more.”

  “That’s why I’m glad y’all moved out,” I told him. “I texted Meeka that I want to wrap this assignment up in a couple weeks.”

  “Nigga, it ain’t yo’ life that’s being put on blast. How about you let Meeka decide a good time frame for the assignment? After all, she’s the one who has to face her exes and have that mess recorded for the world to judge and comment on. And Meeka isn’t too fond of social media.”

  “Why?” I asked. “She seems to love attention. Did she have a bad experience or something?”

  “Or something.” Z took a swig of his water. “Listen, just be easy on her, okay? I know you and her don’t have the best track record, but you’re my guy and she’s my girl. And now, she’s my girl’s girl, too. So, do me a favor and put your experience with her aside and really help her finish this assignment.”

  I shrugged. “I’m just the cameraman. Not much I can do.”

  “Bruh, you know what I mean. Go easy on her.”

  As much as I hated to admit when Z was right, my gut was telling me I should listen to him. “Okay, man, I’ll help her as best I can. Madame Social only needs her to talk to five exes, so hopefully, we can knock this shit out and go back to avoiding each other.” At thirty-four, I thought I was done dealing with women who wore drama on their chest like a badge of honor. Apparently, the joke was on me.

  Z gave me that look that he’d been giving me since we were in college, letting me know that he wanted to say more, but wouldn’t. For now.

  * * *

  MEEKA

  This was officially a shit show. It was bad enough that my nerves were all over the place, but to top it off, I had a major headache because I was about to come face-to-face with a guy I went out with in grad school. The time in my life I hated thinking about.

  “We’re meeting your ex at a hookah lounge?” Tone asked.

  I observed the outside of the building. “Yeah, it’s just like Jeff to own a hookah lounge in some no-name suburb.”

  We’d driven fifty-five minutes outside of the city to meet with my ex, Jeffery. Luckily, Tone had listened when I insisted on taking my own car instead of riding with him in the work van.

  I checked in, surprised at how many people were at the hookah lounge this early in the morning. I’d been to a few in the city for birthday parties and whatnot, but those were all bars or clubs as well. This place, with its low sofas and rugs hanging on the walls, seemed like a scene right out of one of those sexually-freeing, no inhibitions movies.

  Tone and I sat in one of the private rooms as instructed. I almost laughed at how uncomfortable his broad-shouldered body looked sitting Indian style, trying to figure out how to prop the camera on his shoulder without it getting caught in one of the hanging rugs.

  “Are you good?”

  He swatted at a hanging thread. “Uh, this is … interesting. As of now, I can’t even imagine how your ex is.”

  Unfortunately for me, I was all too familiar with how Jeff was and my gut was telling me he hadn’t changed. When I’d entered grad school, I’d decided that I’d had enough of living the urban city life and got into some shit I’d never been into before. Previously, I’d attended an HBCU, but had decided for grad school, I wanted to attend a smaller, suburban college.

  My mom used to say I was going through my modern-day hippie phase back then, believing in kindred spirits, the power of Buddha, and practicing holistic medicine. Wearing bohemian clothing that I felt represented me and my culture. However, none of that was that bad since I still believed in kindred spirits, Buddhism, and holistic medicine. The phase that I’m glad ended is my “let the girls be free” period in which I never wore a bra. Hell, I was lucky if I wore underwear every day or shaved my legs because I was all about not conforming. I even participated in several Make Love Not War campaigns and Jeffery was at the center of it all.

  Jeff had been every girl’s dream guy back then, and he’d been interested in me. I’d never been interested in dating outside of my race, but one look at Jeff’s long, almost-black hair and deep green eyes that seemed to pierce into my soul and I’d been hooked.

  He was the leader of a peace and harmony group I’d joined in the small town of my grad school. Unfortunately, pretty-haired Jeff had cheated on me a couple years later. We’d only been dating seriously for a few months before he broke my heart. It wasn’t my first heartbreak, but in some ways, it had been one of my most liberating.

  It took me years to shake off the ideals and beliefs I’d acquired from my time with Jeff. Not only had I figured out how cult-like the organization was, but I had to go to therapy for a few years just to get my mind right.

  “Timeka. Timeka. Timeka.”

  I glanced up to see Jeff walk into the room looking exactly like he did years ago. Still had the long hair, but now, he had a long beard as well.

  “How many times have I told you to call me Meeka.” I stood and gave him a quick, awkward hug.

  “Meeka it is. Sweet Meeka.” Jeff reached out and ran his fingers through my hair, twirling it around his finger like he often did in the past. A
t the sound of Tone clearing his throat, we both looked in his direction.

  “And who is this gentleman who’s entered my sanctuary?” Jeff asked.

  Tone moved his head from behind the camera, but kept the device steady on his shoulder. “Tone. But who I am is not important. I’m sure Meeka told you why we’re here, so let’s get started.”

  I squinted my eyes at Tone, wondering why he was being so rude. Even though we didn’t get along too well, he was never the type to be rude to strangers. “Yes, let’s get started. As I mentioned to you when we spoke yesterday, I work for The Social Experiment Network, and for this segment, I’m tasked with reaching out to my exes to figure out why we never worked out.”

  Jeff frowned. “Poor Meeka, conforming to the new reality wave of society by working for the enemy.”

  “Ah, what?”

  “You know what,” he said. “YouTube is at the root of all evil and is the reason real television is dying, not that I watch television at all. However, reality television in general is a load of hosh-posh, but lucky for you, I’m a man of my word. And although I don’t believe the type of reality your network airs, I’d do anything for you, sweet Meeka.”

  I glanced at Tone out of nervousness, glad when he gave me a quick supportive smile back. “You’re entitled to your opinion and I appreciate you doing this.” I took out my notepad where I’d jotted down a few questions, but Jeff placed his hand over mine and my notepad.

  “Meeka, I’ve been meaning to talk to you for years.” He held my gaze, empathy in his eyes although I had no idea what he was empathetic about. Jeff wasn’t the type to admit he’d wronged me. “You’re here because you want to know where you went wrong, right?”

  “Where we went wrong,” I corrected. “But yes, that’s why I’m here.”

  His hand raised as if he were going to touch my cheek, but I backed away. “You don’t get to touch me like that anymore.”