Playthang

by Janine A. Morris

  A few moments later, her phone vibrated to alert her that there was a voice mail left. She picked up the phone and dialed the inbox.

  “Hey, it’s Marcus. I’m heading home from Brooklyn. I wanted to see if you wanted me to stop and bring you anythingover. Call me when you get this.”

  Jordan was so touched at his thoughtfulness, and although she was tempted to request some butter pecan Häagen-Dazs, ice cream, she tried to refrain from calling him back. His voice filled her mind some more, and she imagined him looking so fine driving on the highway in his lovely car. She was starting to prefer that he did come over, but she was debating with herself. She held out a few minutes longer, and then finally went ahead and dialed his number back.

  “Hey, Marcus,” she said as he answered the phone.

  “Hey, babe,” he replied.

  “I got your message and wanted to take you up on your offer.”

  “Cool, I’m not that far.What would you like?”

  “I’ll take some Häagen-Dazs ice cream, butter pecan.”

  He laughed. “OK,” he replied.

  “Why you laughing?” she asked.

  “No reason. I’ll see you in a little while.”

  Jordan hung up the phone and leaned back on the couch. She had a subtle smile on her face, like a schoolgirl blush. She just didn’t know what it was about him, but as much as she wasn’t trying to like him, she was kind of feeling this guy.

  33

  The sunshine that was squeezing through the blinds was faintly lighting Jordan’s office. She didn’t bother to flick the switch when she walked in; she just headed straight to her desk to put her things down. Once she reached her desk, she plopped down in her seat.The office was still quiet; Jordan beat the rest of the staff in. She wasn’t feeling too well through the night, so she got up a little earlier. Surprisingly, she had a fast ride in—not as much traffic as usual. She sat there for a bit with her head relaxed against the back of her black leather chair. The crisp scent from the plug-in air freshener was filling her nose as she sat in silence and practically in the dark.

  The next few steps were to turn on her computer, put some things away, look through files, and start her to-do list. Her morning was on hold for a moment, and Jordan just sat there reflecting. A million thoughts were running through her head about all that she had been through in the past year, and that she would continue going through until she found some normalcy again. Her girls Dakota and Chrasey were usually an intricate part of her healing process with any problems, but in this situation they just hadn’t been the cure. Jordan figured it was because she was used to feeling like the one who had it together. She had the healthier relationships and more successful career. Usually she felt like she was on top of the world, and her friends reminded her that she was too blessed to be stressed.

  Thing was, this time, her relationship was nonexistent and her career wasn’t looking too great. Omar wasn’t paying her any alimony because she was making more than him at the time of the divorce, she was paying for their huge house by herself, and her money situation wasn’t at its best. Since the issue with Jayon, she had missed about a dozen appointments, two that included potential new clients and others including influential clients. She had been trying to ignore all the problems she was having in her life, but they were getting to the point where she just couldn’t ignore them anymore.

  A high-pitched ring came from Jordan’s office phone and broke her train of thought. Jordan leaned forward and noticed Tayese’s number in her caller ID. Her secretary wasn’t in yet, so she went ahead and answered the phone.

  “Girl, what are you doing in the office so early?” Tayese asked.

  “Just got here early, no reason.Why are you in the office so early?”

  “I’m always in the office this early. Unlike you, I have a boss.”

  “Shut up,” Jordan said with a chuckle.

  “Guess who called me yesterday?” Tayese asked.

  “Who?” Jordan said.

  “Donovan,”Tayese said, sounding excited.

  “Donovan? For what?” Jordan said, trying to remain calm.

  Jordan hadn’t gotten around to telling Tayese about her and Donovan, and this didn’t seem like a good time to tell her.

  “He asked me out on a date,”Tayese said.

  Jordan’s mouth dropped, not that Tayese could see it.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  Jordan didn’t want to tell her, but she knew if she didn’t she would have been as wrong as two left feet for letting her get excited over this man, who was clearly a dog.

  “No, he called last night. He said he wanted just the two of us to hang out this Friday at the W.”

  What kind of friends had he mistook them for? Jordan was thinking. Did he think they didn’t speak at all, or did he just think they were desperate and wouldn’t care? Whatever he was thinking, Jordan was pissed off at the thoughts.

  “Tayese, I didn’t get to speak to you since it happened, but Donovan and I hung out at the W after dinner.”

  “What?” Tayese said.

  “Yeah, that man thinks he must be some mack daddy.”

  “What happened? What was y”all hanging out for?”Tayese asked, sounding very curious and upset.

  “We were initially just hanging out, and then I got into a fight with this girl, which is a whole ’nother story, and then we went upstairs. He had a room, and although I am so ashamed to admit it, I slept with him.”

  “What?”Tayese said, sounding in complete shock.

  “I know,” Jordan said. “To make it worse, he is trying to holler at you like we aren’t friends.”

  “Are we friends, Jordan?” Tayese asked.

  “What?” Jordan said, confused. “Yeah, we are friends.”

  “I don’t know anymore.You knew I was feeling Donovan, and yet you hung out with him behind my back and slept with him.”

  “Tayese, that night I invited you and Eddie along. He asked me to dinner, and I invited you. How was that behind your back?”

  “That was supposed to be business. Besides, you knew me and him were flirting at the table.”

  “Really, I didn’t, Tayese. If you would have said something, I would’ve never slept with him.”

  “I told you at the club I was feeling him, and I made it quite clear at dinner that night, but that didn’t seem to matter. You just trying to fuck everything in sight,”Tayese said.

  Jordan was shocked by her comment. She couldn’t believe she said that.

  “You calling me a ho, Tayese?” Jordan asked.

  “I’m just calling it how I see it.You can label yourself. I got to go.”Tayese said and hung up.

  Jordan hung up the phone in total disbelief. She wanted to call Tayese back, and then she was tempted to call Donovan and curse him out, but she decided against either and chose to just sit back and relax for a second. Her heart was racing; she was so upset, it was taking her a minute to calm down. She understoodthat Tayese was upset, but what kind of friend was she being by taking it there over some man?

  A few moments later, Jordan could hear someone talking outside of her office. Some of the staff were beginning to come in to work. Jordan still sat there in the dark, waiting for her secretary to come in and turn the lights on and get Jordan’s day prepped for her as she normally did when she beat Jordan in. Jordan waited as she thought over her conversation with Tayese, and she tried to figure out if she should have done or said something differently. As mad as she was at Tayese for saying what she said, she was also feeling a little guilty.

  34

  Jordan didn’t want to go home after work, so she went ahead and had Dakota meet her for a bite in the Village after businesshours. Jordan walked into the quaint little restaurant that Dakota had suggested, and sat down. She looked around and noticed the eclectic mix of people. Several ladies in their midtwenties gathered around the bar with cocktails in their hands. There were a few men in suits meeting at a table, and a few gay guys sitting close to one an
other at one of the other tables. Jordan just observed the crowd as she waited on Dakota, who had said she was in a cab five minutes away.

  Jordan pulled her BlackBerry out of her purse to check and see if she had missed any calls. She had a text from Shakai that read “Hey how are you? I was hoping we could meet for drinks tonight.” The thought of dealing with another guy at the momentmentally drained Jordan instantly. However, she didn’t want to be rude, so she replied anyway. “Hey, I’m cool. Hanging out with one of my girlfriends in the village. I’ll hit you in a bit.”

  Jordan remembered how smooth and good-looking Shakai was, but after the incident with Donovan and Tayese, Jordan didn’t feel like being bothered. She looked at her missed calls and saw Omar’s house number was there. Jordan pressed TALK and dialed the number back. She wasn’t sure if it was Jason calling or Omar, but since she had spoken to Jason when he got out of school, she assumed it may have been Omar.

  “Hello,” Elisa answered.

  Elisa was Omar’s fiancée. Jordan and her had a cordial relationship,but there was definitely no love their, either.

  “Hello, it’s Jordan. Can I speak to Omar?”

  “Hold on,” she replied.

  A few seconds later, Omar came to the phone.

  “Hey,” he said, sounding a little out of breath.

  “You called me?” Jordan asked.

  “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you.”

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  “I was wondering if I could keep Jason for just another week or two. Not trying to change things up or anything, I’m just asking nicely if I can just have at least one more week.”

  “What is a week or two going to do?” Jordan asked.

  “Nothing, really. Just give me a chance to enjoy him here a little while longer. Also, it’s my mother’s birthday, and we are going to have a little something here next weekend. I don’t want people to notice and start asking me questions. I haven’t really told a lot of people yet.”

  Jordan took a second to think about it.

  “OK, Omar. But I want him for the weekend then, because I have been looking forward to him coming home. Bring him from school on Friday, and he can be back to you by Sunday to go to school for Monday.”

  “Cool, thanks, J.”

  “You’re welcome, but I can only agree to one more week for now.We will discuss a possible last one after this weekend.”

  “Deal,” Omar said.

  “You explain to Jason that you asked me this and I agreed to just one more week, so he doesn’t feel confused.”

  “I will. I’ll have him call you when he is done with his homework if you want.”

  “OK. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Jordan hung up the phone and thought about what a differenceone week would make. It wasn’t too much of a favor, but she already knew that two weeks wasn’t going to work. She was more than ready to have her son back; she needed him more than she wanted him. Still, she didn’t want to say no to Omar, because she would rather they be cordial with their son than get the courts involved. Besides, she had to give him credit for being such a great father. He could have been a deadbeat who cared less.

  She sat there and waited for Dakota to arrive, and about five minutes later she did. Dakota stepped in dressed in a red wraparound dress with some black and red pumps. Her hair was in a fresh wrap, and her jewelry and makeup were flawless.

  “How do you manage to look like that every day?” Jordan asked as Dakota approached the table.

  “It’s a gift,” Dakota said, laughing as she knelt down to give Jordan a gift.

  “Well, get me a gift certificate to that store,” Jordan replied.

  “Please, ain’t a damn thing wrong with you.”

  “I can’t take the time to do my makeup like that every day, and have my hair still lying perfect at 6:00 PM,” Jordan said, laughing.

  “It does take time, technically, but I’m just a little vain, so I can’t help it,” Dakota said.

  “I hear you. Maybe I should care more and then I wouldn’t be having the men drama that I’m having.”

  “What happened with you and Tayese?” Dakota asked, obviouslydying to get the rest of the story that Jordan had only teased her about on the phone.

  “Nothing, really. Just the guy I told you about from the W hotel, apparently she was feeling him and she was quite offendedthat I slept with him.”

  “How did she know him?”

  “He was the guy we had met at the club that night,” Jordan replied.

  “Oh, did she tell you she was interested in him?”

  “No. We both agreed that he was good-looking, and that was it.”

  “Well, then she can’t be mad at you. How were you supposedto know?”

  “I guess she felt it was obvious and I should’ve known,” Jordansaid as she took a bite of the cheese and crackers at the bar.

  “I guess, but she can’t be mad.”

  “Well, she is, and in so many words she called me a ho.”

  “What?” Dakota said, laughing.

  “That’s not funny,” Jordan said, not laughing along.

  “Well, you have been screwing everything that moves lately.”

  Jordan looked at her in disbelief. “That’s the same thing she said,” Jordan said.

  Dakota laughed as she too took a cracker. “I’m sorry, it’s not funny, you’re right. I was just making light of it. She’ll get over it. He wasn’t her man”

  “I guess. It’s just all so crazy.”

  An hour later, the two of them were working on their third cocktail. Jordan was feeling a bit nice from her Miami Vices, and Dakota was drinking martinis. They had been discussingeverything from their drama at home to their drama at work. Some of the people that were there when Jordan arrived had already paid their tabs and left. Jordan was laughing and having herself a good old time, and she didn’t notice how much time had gone by. She reached in her purse to get her BlackBerry and noticed that Shakai had texted her back. He was asking what was up with the plans for the evening. Jordan wrote him back and told him to come meet her where she was, and she asked him if he would drive her car home because she’d had too much to drink. She would’ve just asked Dakota, but she lived there in the city and Jordan didn’t want to ask her such a big favor. Once Shakai wrote back that he would be there within an hour, Jordan put her phone back in her purse.

  35

  The morning sun was beaming through her window. She tried to close her eyes tighter to shut out the UV rays burning through her eyelids. She had wanted that big beautiful bay window in her bedroom, and several mornings after havingforgotten to release the curtains, she regretted it was there. She tried to pry her right eye open to take a peek at the other side of her dreamworld. She began to notice that her head was throbbing, and she wasn’t feeling too hot a second after she began slowly opening her eyes. She began to roll over when she jumped and opened her eyes suddenly. Lying next to her was Shakai, with the covers up to his chest and his eyes closed.

  Jordan jumped out of the bed and stood there with her hand over her mouth. She looked down at him and just stared as moments went by and he lay there peacefully breathing. It was all coming back to her, how her night started last night, and she couldn’t believe that she woke up without a care in the world. She was trying to piece the night together to rememberhow they ended up here, as well as what happened here. She just stood there looking at him. He was looking sexy as hell with his chocolate chiseled chest exposed. She finally walked away from the bed, toward the bathroom. She had thought about it and decided not to wake him just yet. She couldn’t imagine what could make the situation more uncomfortablethan waking him up to kick him out.

  Jordan quietly walked to the bathroom to gather herself for a moment. Her head was still throbbing, and she felt like some vomiting could take place. She had never thrown up from drinking before, but she also knew that she’d never had a bad hangover, either. She didn’t know what to deem this, but the way she wa
s feeling and the body of a naked man in her bed told her this was her worst hangover yet.

  Jordan turned the water knobs and began to wet her toothbrush.She placed toothpaste on her toothbrush and stuck the brush in her mouth to clean her teeth, when she felt a sudden push from her guts. Jordan threw herself over the toilet just in time to release the vomit she had hurled there. She held her stomach as she spit the last remains that was in her mouth into the toilet. She looked at herself in the mirror, and she was looking terrible. She rinsed her mouth out, then continued to brush her teeth. She didn’t want to be in there too long. She had a houseguest to tend to.

  She finished freshening up in the bathroom and made her way back to the bedroom. She heard a vibration coming from her dresser, and she walked over to it to see if it was her phone. When she got closer, it wasn’t her phone vibrating; it must have been Shakai’s. As she went to walk away, she did a double take. She looked at the phone again, and the name and number on the screen were Jayon’s. Shakai was receiving a call from Jayon. Jordan could feel her heart beating a thousand times a minute. It crossed her mind to answer, but she knew that would’ve been crazy. Yet she was confused as hell. Was she set up? she asked herself. Did the two of them plan this? Jordan found it very hard to believe that Jayon would be a part of this situationwith Shakai, so she figured maybe they were just friends. Still, it seemed a little odd and coincidental.

  All Jordan knew at this point was it was time to wake Shakai up. For all she knew, he could sleep all afternoon. She sat on the bed beside him and nudged his shoulder. He began to open his eyes and eventually noticed Jordan sitting there.

  “Rise and shine,” Jordan said.

  “Good morning,” he replied as he sat up in the bed.

  “Good morning to you,” Jordan said, looking down at the sheets.

  She didn’t feel so confident sitting there in front of him, unsure of everything she said and did the night before.

  “How you feel?”

  “I just threw up,” she answered.