All That and a Bag of Chips

by Darrien Lee

  “I’m not sure yet. It depends on who’s driving and how tired I am. I know I have a ten o’clock class tomorrow. I’ll give you a call when I find out what I’m going to do. Is that cool with you?”

  Craig gave Venice a playful shove. “You know that’s cool with me. I’m having some of the guys over for a card party tonight, but I still want to see you. Galen said he might try to sneak out after curfew so he can play. I know Spoonie and Skeeter will be there. Anyway, make sure you ladies take pictures so I can see how nice you look in your dresses.”

  Venice agreed and told Craig to have fun playing cards. Then she said, “Well, I’d better go so I can stop by and see if Chanelle is still going.”

  “Why wouldn’t she go? Is she okay? I haven’t talked to Spoonie lately. How are they doing?”

  Venice rose from the sofa. “She likes him. They seem to be getting along fine.”

  “That’s good. I thought they’d hit if off. Well, I’m out! Be careful tonight and make sure you have a designated driver. If you need a ride, give me a call and I’ll come get you.”

  Venice walked him to the door. “Drive carefully and I’ll talk to you later.”

  “You call me when you know what you’re going to do? I really do want to see you tonight.”

  “Me, too. I’ll work it out.”

  “That’s a bet.”

  After giving Craig a kiss, Venice watched him walk out to the parking lot. So did a group of women walking toward the dorm. Venice smiled with pride.

  After the elevator doors opened, she made her way down to Chanelle’s room. As she knocked, Chanelle’s neighbor came out of her room and looked her up and down.

  Venice asked, “Do you have a problem?”

  The girl laughed and said, “No!”

  “Well you need to keep your eyes to yourself.”

  The girl walked off. “You can’t tell me what to do and you better watch your man.”

  Venice was fuming as Chanelle opened the door and let her in. Chanelle looked flushed and saddened.

  Venice asked, “Girl, who is that fool across the hall? I started to smack that heifer silly. I thought you were going to meet me in the courtyard.”

  Chanelle was only half-listening. “What did she do?”

  “She was just staring at me and walked off, telling me to watch my man.”

  Chanelle laid on the bed. “What did she mean by that?”

  Venice angrily said, “Chanelle, I don’t know. She must want him! I’ve never noticed her before.”

  “Don’t worry about that fool. You know Craig ain’t fooling around.”

  Venice sat on the bed beside her. “Whatever! He’s a man and you know how they act when women throw tail at them.”

  “Venice, don’t you let that skank start putting suspicion and doubt in your head. Craig doesn’t seem to me like he would even touch anything looking like her.”

  Venice asked, “Where’s your roommate?”

  “I guess she’s still in class. She sure is weird. I try to make conversation with her, but she just talks when she has to. She usually just sits around staring.”

  “Seems to me like your girl’s got issues. Now, get up off that bed and show me what you’re wearing tonight!”

  Chanelle rolled over and said, “Venice, I don’t feel like going.”

  Venice pulled Chanelle up off the bed. “Oh, no you don’t! You’re not going to lay around in this room tonight. You know we all planned to go together tonight and you can’t say you don’t have anything to wear. So get up off your booty and you’d better be ready by seven o’clock.”

  “Okay, okay, but I still haven’t come on yet and Spoonie can tell something’s wrong. I’ve been avoiding him a little.”

  “Don’t do the man like that! You need to try to act normal or tell the man what’s wrong. Chanelle, you know I feel your pain. Remember, I’ve been through this before myself. It’s scary but just hang in there.”

  The two friends hugged.

  “Thanks for the support, Venice. I’ll try to pep up and I will be ready by seven.”

  “You’d better be,” Venice said teasingly.

  Venice left to head back to her room. She stood in the hallway for a moment and thought about the loss of her baby. She said a short prayer for her friend and walked to the elevator.

  It was about six o’clock when the telephone rang. Venice answered the phone and was delighted that it was her mother.

  “Hello, baby!”

  “Hi, Momma! How are you?”

  “Oh, I guess I’m okay. My arthritis has been acting up a bit, but I rubbed some of my special ointment on and I feel much better.”

  Venice asked about her father and Bryan and his family. Her mother told her all was well. She did mention that her dad finally got up on Sundays and went to church with her. It had been years since her father attended church. Venice never asked why. It was a subject nobody touched. Her mom went on to tell her that Crimson had spent the previous weekend with them because Bryan and Sinclair had some high society dinner to attend.

  Venice asked, “Did Crimson act like she had some home training?”

  “You know, she doesn’t act like that until Bryan and Sinclair come around. So how are your classes coming along? Are you getting enough to eat?”

  “Yes, Momma. I’m having a good time. My classes are good and I’m getting plenty to eat.”

  “Galen told me you’ve been dating a friend of his.”

  Damn traitor!

  Venice almost swallowed her tongue. “Yes, Momma. His name is Craig Bennett.”

  “Do you like him?”

  Venice was totally unprepared for the question. “Yes, he’s very nice. He’s a junior studying architecture.”

  Her mother continued the cross examination. “I was wondering why you haven’t mentioned him to me?”

  “I didn’t do it on purpose, Momma. We haven’t been seeing each other long.”

  “Mmmm. Well, all I’m going to say is remember what I told you. Don’t be down there acting like you don’t have any sense and you know what I mean.”

  Venice recognized her mother’s way of beating around the bush with sex talk.

  “Don’t bring any more babies to this house before you’re married. You hear me? Venice, I don’t mean to upset you, but it really hurt your father and I when you got pregnant so young. We tried our best to raise you kids up in the church as best we could. We wanted you to learn right from wrong, but some times I feel like we should’ve done more. I should’ve known you were having sex with Jarvis when you two stopped arguing with each other all the time. You couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him one minute, then before we could turn around, ya’ll were going out. We’ve been friends with his parents for a long time, so when that happened, none of us were prepared for it. Anyway, that’s water under the bridge now. At least Sinclair tried by getting you on birth control. I still can’t believe you didn’t come to me though. Anyway, Jarvis is still your husband in the eyes of God. I’m just sorry we had to do the right thing legally and have ya’ll get a divorce. It was for the best, Venice, and I pray every night that you two remarry after graduation. I know there’s true love between you and there’s nothing stronger than true love. But if you like this young man, I can live with that, too.”

  “I hear you, Momma.”

  “So, have you heard from Jarvis?”

  “We keep in touch.”

  “Well, tell him hello the next time you talk to him. I’m going to let you go. Tell your brother to call home some time. I know he ain’t playing football twenty-four hours a day and ya’ll better be going to church down there. Tell him his picture was in the paper the other week. I added it to his scrapbook.”

  “Okay, Momma.”

  Venice told her mother that she would deliver the message and that she would talk to her the coming weekend.

  Twenty

  Venice got up from a quick nap and started to get ready for the ball. Monique had already fin
ished her shower, so Venice gathered up her towel and robe and entered the bathroom. As the warm water hit her body, she thought of her night with Craig and the upcoming party. Venice was using a fragrant body wash to give her skin a smooth texture. She wanted to make sure she had it “going on.”

  Once everyone was dressed, they loaded up into Monique’s car and headed to the convention hall. Frat brothers were giving each lady a beautiful yellow rose as they entered. Venice caught the eye of several men. Her black dress showed elegance and style and she wore it well. Monique, however, was the show stopper. Her opened back dress was as sexy as she was and she utilized her “Miss Thang” stroll as she navigated the room. As usual, Monique spent the majority of the night on the dance floor while Chanelle and Venice found themselves being picked up by a couple of seniors. Chanelle wasn’t really in the mood. She was preoccupied on her situation.

  Spoonie walked in and approached their table. He pushed his way through, grabbed Chanelle by the arm, and whispered into her ear.

  The seniors didn’t like this and said, “Hey, man, these ladies are with us.”

  Venice and Chanelle looked at them with disbelief. Venice said, “No, we’re not! We were just talking.”

  Then one of the guys said, “Freshmen! Man, let’s go! They ain’t nothing but some little rudy poots anyway.”

  Spoonie ignored them and Chanelle got up from her chair to follow Spoonie over to the side.

  Spoonie came dressed for the occasion. He had on a very nice suit with a collar less shirt. As he and Chanelle talked, Venice noticed Chanelle getting agitated. She wondered if she should step in. When she was about to, a young man asked her to dance. She accepted his offer but kept her eye on Chanelle and Spoonie who were now sitting down at the table. The young man Venice was dancing with was trying to have a conversation with her, but she wasn’t paying much attention to what he was saying. At the end of the song, she thanked him and he tried to get her telephone number. Venice told him that he was nice, but she was already involved with someone. The young man told her that if she every got tired of her man to look him up.

  Venice giggled and thanked him for the dance again.

  When Venice returned to the table, Chanelle was crying.

  Venice said, “Spoonie, give me and Chanelle a minute, okay?”

  Spoonie was obviously disgusted as he got up. “I’m going to get something to eat. Be right back.”

  Venice sat down and asked Chanelle, “Girl, did you tell the man what’s up?”

  “Venice, I just can’t. I’m scared.”

  “I know you’re scared, but you don’t need to keep this from him. He has a right to know why you’re tripping.”

  “I’m going to tell him, but I want you to be there. Okay?”

  “I’ll be with you. Now let’s get Spoonie and go sit down somewhere a little quieter and talk.”

  The two women located Spoonie talking to Monique. They went out into the hallway and found a window seat.

  Spoonie said, “Okay, now will somebody tell me what’s up?”

  Chanelle said, “Spoonie, I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting, but I’ve been under a lot of stress lately with my classes and other stuff.”

  “We’ve all been under stress before but, Chanelle, you’ve been really tripping for a while now.”

  Venice could tell that Chanelle was still beating around the bush, but Spoonie wasn’t going to be satisfied until he had answers. Chanelle looked at Venice as if to give her the “go ahead” to take over the conversation.

  Venice said, “Spoonie, it’s not Chanelle’s fault for the way she’s been acting. She’s been upset lately because…”

  Then Chanelle blurted out, “Spoonie, my period’s late.”

  Spoonie’s head dropped at that point. “How late?”

  Chanelle dropped her head into her hands and cried. “Five weeks.”

  Spoonie put his arm around her and pulled her over onto his shoulder to comfort her. “Chanelle, don’t cry. Everything’s going to be all right. Have you taken one of those tests or seen a doctor?”

  Chanelle couldn’t respond so Venice said, “No, she’s too afraid. I told her that she should tell you what’s going on, but I understand how she feels.”

  Spoonie said, “Chanelle, baby, you should’ve told me. I’m not going to let you go through this all by yourself. Remember, I was also there.”

  Chanelle was beginning to slightly calm down. Spoonie wiped her tears with some tissue and looked at Venice. “Look, I’m going to take Chanelle with me so we can figure out what to do. Chanelle, do you want to go somewhere so we can talk?”

  “Yes, I don’t feel like being here right now. Venice, I’m sorry I got you into this, but thanks for being there, girl.”

  “You know you’re my girl.”

  Venice and Chanelle hugged and Spoonie gave Venice his pager number so she could check on Chanelle later.

  Venice told her, “Homegirl, don’t you worry about a thing. You’re going to be all right.” Chanelle smiled and reached out for Spoonie’s hand as he led her out the door. Venice felt a lot of pressure rise off her shoulders. She said a little prayer for Chanelle, tucked the pager number into her purse, and went back into the dance.

  It was about 1:30 a.m. and Venice was buzzing from all the punch she’d consumed. She realized that she had a 10 a.m. class later that day. Monique was still “kicking it” on the dance floor. Venice danced a few more times, then decided to sit down because she was starting to buzz a little. Just as she sat down, someone put their hands over her eyes from behind.

  “Guess who?” the voice said.

  Venice wasn’t quite sure who it was. She could tell it was a man trying to disguise his voice. Venice pulled the hands off her eyes and turned to find Tim.

  He shouted, “Hey! What’s up, dogg?”

  Venice jumped up and gave him a big hug. “Nothing much. How long have you been here?”

  “About a hour. Where have you been?”

  “Oh, I’ve been walking around and I’ve been on the dance floor also, but I’m getting a little tired now.”

  “Don’t even try it. Don’t think you’re going to get out of dancing with me! You need to lay off that punch though. You know it’s spiked with vodka. That’s a “flyy” dress you’re wearing. You mean your old man let you out looking that sexy? He’s a fool!”

  Venice laughed and grabbed him by the arm. “You’re so silly! Anyway, I can wear what I want. Craig isn’t the boss of me.”

  Tim led her to the dance floor and said, “There’s no way I would’ve turned my woman loose in a den of wolves looking that damn good!”

  Venice yanked his arm and began to slow dance with him. “Mind your business! Damn, I’m buzzing!”

  Anyone could tell that Tim had a thing for Venice. He was, however, merely a good friend to her. Since they shared classes, they spent a lot of time studying together and working on class projects. Occasionally, they went out for lunch or dinner. Craig was cool with their relationship, but he also could tell Tim had a crush on Venice. Venice really did enjoy Tim’s company. He was funny, nice, and kind of cute. But, her heart and mind were far from looking at him in any way besides friendship. Besides, Tim had a girlfriend. A crazy one at that.

  When they finished their dance, Venice went over to tell Monique that she was ready to go. Monique wasn’t ready. Venice let her know that Chanelle had left with Spoonie and then issued directions. “Monique, don’t wander off with any strangers. You make sure you get someone you know to walk you to the car and don’t drive if you’ve had too much to drink, okay? I know I’ve had too much.”

  Monique answered with, “Okay, Momma!

  “I’m not playing, Monique!”

  Monique pouted. “I’m sorry, Venice. I’m just messing with you. I’ll be careful and you watch that closet freak you’re leaving with. He ain’t fooling nobody. You know he wants to get in your drawers.”

  Venice snickered. “You are so silly. I’ll page
you when I get to the room. Don’t forget you have classes today. See ya.”

  As Tim escorted Venice into the parking lot to his car, he told her that he was glad he’d run into her.

  Venice said, “Where is your crazy girlfriend anyway?”

  “She said she had a test tomorrow and was going to stay in and study. That was cool with me. It gave me a chance to get out. But, I didn’t expect you to arrive without your man.”

  Tim drove out the parking lot and made his way toward the interstate.

  Venice answered him. “I told you earlier today that this was girls night out. Anyway, Craig’s having a card party at his house.”

  “No wonder. His major is tough. It helps to relax and take the stress off. Playing cards is fun. He’s going to be banking big dollars in a few years.”

  “I guess.”

  Tim adjusted his CD player and Venice started singing out loud to the music.

  He could see that she’d had a little too much to drink, but she had a nice voice. She decided to page Spoonie. It was only a couple of minutes later when her cell phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Venice, Chanelle feels a lot better now. Thanks.”

  “Good! Tim is giving me a ride back to campus because Monique wasn’t ready to go. u take care of my girl.”

  “Don’t worry. I will. She wants to talk to you. She’s right here. Hold on.”

  Spoonie handed the telephone to Chanelle.

  “Hello?”

  “Girl, are you okay? Where are you?”

  “I’m fine. Just a little tired. We’re over Spoonie’s uncle’s house. I decided that I’m going to at least take a home pregnancy test in the morning. Spoonie bought it on our way over here. I’m not going to my first class tomorrow. I did stop by my room to get some clothes for the night. I also decided that I’m going to tell Jeremy that I think we need to call it quits for now. I just can’t handle a long distance relationship right now.”

  “Well, whatever you decide to do, I’m with you, girl. You make sure you get in touch with me later.”

  “Okay, and Venice, say a little prayer for me tonight.”

  “I’ve already taken care of that. Get you some rest. See you.”