The Playa Chronicles

by Glenn, Roy

  Right then and there, I knew I was through.

  After what seemed like an eternity, we got out of the shower. We slowly dried off one another, each of us exploring the other’s body, with the towel, our hands and our eyes. Maybe it was her, maybe it was the Alizé, I don’t know, but it seemed as though her touch made my head spin. I felt a rush of warmth when she kissed me; like it was all happening in slow motion. I felt myself losing control of the situation, so I pulled away. “You wouldn’t happen to have any baby oil, would you?”

  “No. I don’t usually carry baby oil around with me. But I do have some lotion,” Vanessa said, walking toward her purse. She dug around and pulled out a small bottle of lotion. She held it out in front of her as she walked slowing back toward me.

  “Why, you wanna put some on me?”

  I took the bottle from her and she sat on the edge of the bed. I kneeled down on the floor and poured a little lotion on her legs. I rubbed the lotion in slowly, then began massaging her calves, and did the same to her thighs, exploring with my tongue until I felt her body shake. Now she knew I had skills too.

  I kissed her inner thighs and then tasted the wetness between them. Vanessa held my head in place as my tongue slithered along her lips, making circles around her clit. I used my fingers to hold her lips apart and slid my tongue inside her. I licked her with the tip of my tongue. I pulled back the foreskin around her clit and held it while I licked my finger and began to gently massage it.

  I made tight circles around her clit while I moved my finger in and out of her pussy. “That feels good.”

  I sat next to her on the bed, applying lotion to her arms and chest. Vanessa took the bottle from me. “Lay down on your back. Let me do you,” she said.

  I smiled my reply and again, I quickly complied with her wishes. Vanessa knelt on the bed next to me. She poured the lotion into her hands and rubbed them together. She began to massage my thigh gently. She straddled my torso as I looked on with great anticipation. She slide down on me, I exhaled. She moved slowly up and down, then in circles. She reached for the lotion and poured it across my chest and began to rub it in with her fingertips. Once she had covered my chest, she leaned forward and kissed me. She moved from side to side, rubbing her chest across mine, in beat with the music. The sensation I felt when I felt her nipples rub against mine was indescribable. I ran my hands down her back and across her cheeks, as she started to move her hips faster. Then Vanessa sat up and went to work. After a while she stopped and moved her legs, so her feet were on the bed. Then she proceeded to fuck the shit out of me. I felt my head turning from side to side.

  A look I had seen many times, but never experienced.

  It was on.

  It went on in that manner for hours. We’d stop from time to time to catch our breath, have a drink, and talk some shit about how fantastic the sex was. A couple of times we just stopped and sat there, breathing hard, staring at each other and shaking our heads. After a short nap, Vanessa got up and began to get dressed. “Get up, Rick. I gotta go.”

  I looked at the clock: 3:45 am. I shrugged my shoulders and got up thinking, No, she ain’t married. I got dressed and we left the room. As we drove there in silence, I looked over at her and shook my head. Married or not, I got to see her again. She fucked the shit out of me, was all I could think.

  She caught me looking and said, “I’m gonna tell you something and I don’t want it to scare you, okay. But I love you,” she said, and returned to her silence with a smile on her face. I looked away and smiled to myself. She slayed me; now I knew I slayed her too.

  We arrived at her spot. As soon as I put the car in park, Vanessa leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Good night, Rick. I had a good time tonight.” She kissed me on the cheek again and practically jumped out the car.

  “Vanessa,” I said, and she stuck her head back in the car. “Can I see you again?”

  “I’ll call you.” Then Vanessa closed the car door and walked quickly toward the house.

  April and Yvette

  I hadn’t heard from Laura since that night at the hotel. She did send me an e-mail saying that she understood, and wished me all the best. Even that pain-in-the-ass Yvette had stopped calling me. I guess I was partly to blame for her persistence. I liked talking to her, so I always took her calls. But she was starting to get on my nerves. “When we gonna get together? When we gonna get together?” How many times do I have to say no, it’s not like that? There are some women that you’re glad you didn’t mess with, and Yvette was definitely one of those people.

  Around three o’clock, I turned off my computer and headed for home. April had finally agreed to see me. She was supposed meet me at the house around four, four-thirty, and we’d go eat from there. When I got home, I turned the radio to smooth jazz and went through my mail. I was about to get in the shower and had just started taking off my clothes, when the doorbell rang. I looked at the clock. Three forty-five. She’s early, I thought. Thinking it was April as I opened the door.

  “Um.”

  I was wrong.

  “If I had known that you answered the door in your underwear, I would have dropped by a lot sooner.” It was Yvette. Standing there smiling from ear to ear, looking me up and down like I was an ice cream sundae. She was dressed in black heels, black tights, and a man’s white shirt that didn’t quite make it down past her hips.

  “Yvette, what are you doing here? I don’t remember inviting you. Or telling you where I lived.”

  “I got spies everywhere, boo.”

  Victor.

  “Anyway, I was out this way. You remember me saying I had a girlfriend that lived in The Thicket? Can I come in?” Thinking with my dick I stepped aside and allowed her to come inside. My first mistake. She rubbed her hip against me as she passed. She walked around the house, looking around. She stopped to study the stereo, picked up a CD and looked at it. Then she changed the station to HOT 107.9 and continued to walk around my living room. “Well, I was supposed to be hanging out with her today, but she wasn’t home. So I decided to roll around here and see if I could find your house. You know, just to kill some time. I never expected to find it.”

  “Lucky you,” I said, reaching for my pants. I had to laugh at myself. There was a time when a setup like this would be a welcome addition to an afternoon. I would have said something provocative like “I was just on my way to the shower. You wanna join me?”

  Crude, yes, but extremely effective. But now I was reaching for my pants, getting ready to ask her to leave, and mad at Victor for telling her where I lived.

  My how the mighty have fallen.

  “Don’t put your pants on because of me, boo. I like a man in briefs and you have nice legs,” she said, staring directly at my crotch. Who, by the way, had looked up and had taken notice of her presence.

  “Yeah, well, I was about to get in the shower.”

  “Don’t let me stop you. Mind if I watch?” she said quickly, and unbuttoned the top button on her shirt.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do,” I said, laughing at myself again. “Like I said, I was about to get in the shower because I’m going out with April tonight. She’ll be here soon.” I zipped up my pants and started walking toward the door.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just come over here like this.”

  “Well, let’s not let it happen again, Yvette,” I said jokingly, but I was serious. “I hate unannounced, uninvited guests at my door. We’re cool and we can socialize, but dropping by, definitely a no, no.” Yvette started making her way slowly toward the door, hand on her left hip, right hand waving through the air as she continued to walk and beguile me with her overwhelming sexuality. If I choose to be honest with myself, and I usually don’t at times like this, I wanted to fuck her and I wanted to fuck her now.

  I had to keep telling myself that whatever she got, it can’t compete with April. And the more I think about it, she can’t. It’s not just something I have to convince myself of, it’s a fa
ct. And the fact of the matter is that April’s got it going on. Yvette, on the other hand, is just entertainment to me. I know how it sounds and I hate to say it, but she is.

  When I’m at work and I need break to clear my mind, or just a change of pace, I’d call Yvette and bullshit with her for a while. The girl is just plain foolish; she’ll say anything. She’s funnier than the ton of e-mail jokes I get from coworkers and friends, but beyond that, nada. Although I was willing to bet she could fuck. In spite of that, I was leading her on. I know what she’s about and I’m not interested. So it was my fault that she was standing here now. I shouldn’t have let it get to this point.

  “But you and I need to get together and do some things real soon. I don’t know why you keep playing this game like you don’t want me. I can see it in your eyes. You know you want me,” Yvette said, as the phone rang.

  I looked at the display. It was Laura calling from home, on a Saturday no less, proof that things do change. If a workaholic like Laura could take a Saturday off, then a ho like me can change too. I excused myself and answered the phone. “Hello, stranger.”

  “Hmm, I should be saying that to you. You’re the one who’s acting like a stranger. The least you can do is call me sometimes to say hello, how you doing, something. There’s no reason for you to just cut me off just because you’re trying to work things out with Little Miss April.”

  “You’re right.”

  “Just ’cause we’ve stopped being lovers doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends,” Laura said, as Yvette angled her way closer me.

  At first, I thought she was going to try to cop a quick feel, when I realized she was looking at Laura’s name and number on the display. I stepped in front of her and turned to block her view. “You’re right, Laura, and I am sorry about that. I can call you sometime, but, can I call you back? I was just seeing somebody out, and then I’m going out with April.”

  “You got some other bitch up in there already, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  “No, you didn’t kick me to curb for some other bitch?”

  “No, it ain’t nothing like that. But I’ll tell you about that when we talk, okay?”

  “Okay. But I’m serious, Rick. Call me sometime.”

  “I will. I promise.”

  “Rick.”

  “Yes, Laura.”

  “I miss you.”

  And then she hung up without waiting for me to reply, saving me that uncomfortable moment with nothing to say. I did kinda miss Laura, but it would pass. I turned my attention back to Yvette, who had already assumed sista position—hands on her hips, head tipped to the side.

  “Who was that? Your other bitch?”

  “That’s what she said when she asked about you.” Amazing how they can call each other bitch and ho and this and that, and it ain’t no issue. But let a man say it, and women will lose their goddamn minds. “She’s a friend of mine; just like you’re a friend of mine.”

  “Yeah, uh-huh, sure. Friend huh? Only she got your home number and I don’t,” Yvette said, nodding her head with her lips poked out. “But I ain’t mad at you.”

  “That’s nice, ’cause I ain’t mad at you either. But this unannounced-uninvited thing, definitely a no, no.”

  “That’s all good, too, boo. And I’m so glad that you ain’t mad at me,” she said sarcastically.

  I resumed my escort run to the door.

  “I’m gonna go on and go before your girl gets here, but I’m serious, you need to get with me sometime.”

  Walking behind Yvette, scrutinizing every movement of her hips, I had to agree with her, I did want her. She looked back and saw me watching. She smiled and began to throw it harder than she normally does. There was a time, not too long along, that I would have checked the time, worked out all the logistics, and boned her. Even with April on her way.

  But not today.

  Man, it ain’t easy, but not today.

  “Good-bye, Yvette.”

  “Good-bye, Rick.”

  I closed the door behind her and headed for the bathroom. I stopped to change the radio station back to jazz. It’s not that I don’t like Rap, but I wasn’t feeling like all that. I glanced out the window to see if Yvette was gone. I felt a cold chill come over me as I watched April pull into the driveway, blocking Yvette in. April got out of her car and walked toward Yvette. I fought the urge to run out there, so I just stood there, looking on in horror at what Yvette was saying.

  Whatever she was saying, April seemed to be taking it well.

  Yvette must have said something funny, ’cause April was laughing like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.

  Yvette turned away and April went back to her car and let Yvette out. Realizing that I had no shirt on, I scrambled to put it on before April unlocked the door and walked in.

  “Hey, baby, you ready to go?”

  “Not yet. I was about to get in the shower when Yvette showed up.”

  “Who? Who’s Yvette?”

  “The woman you were just talking to outside.”

  “Hold up. Something ain’t right here. She knew my name and she seemed to know exactly who I was; then she told me her name was Marie and that she came to pick something up for Victor. Now you’re telling me that her name is Yvette. So whose friend is she, Rick?”

  “She does know Victor, but she’s my friend.”

  “She made it seem like she was with Victor. Why she lie?” April sat down. “You need to tell me something more than that. Who is she?”

  “I was out with Vic one night and he had pushed up on her friend, and he introduced me to her. But I ain’t interested in her.”

  “Well, if you ain’t interested in her, what was she doing here and why did she think she had to lie to me like that? If you ain’t interested in her, how’d she know where you lived?”

  “Victor told her.”

  “Oh yeah, right, Victor told her. You can do better than that Rick. Why would Victor tell her where you lived?”

  “I don’t know why Victor told her. I didn’t invite her, she just showed up.” She didn’t believe a word I was saying, and the worse part of it was, I was telling the truth. I get caught with another woman after all this time and can honestly say there is nothing going on, and she doesn’t believe me. I was innocent, this time, and I had to convince her.

  “Victor knows . . .” I looked at April and picked up the phone. “Pick up the phone in the kitchen.”

  April got up and went in the kitchen. She picked up the phone. “Who you callin’?”

  “Victor. Don’t say nothing, just listen.”

  The phone rang and rang. Maybe he wasn’t home. I needed Victor to answer the phone. He finally answered the phone on the fifth ring.

  “Hello.”

  “What’s up, Vic?”

  “Oh, what’s up, playa? Oh, I’m sorry. I mean, ex-playa.”

  “Vic, why did you tell Yvette where I lived?”

  “I thought about that as soon as I said it. Hey, man, she tricked me.”

  “When did all this trickin’ happen?”

  “Last night. I met her and Beverly. I was tryin’ to get you to go. Didn’t you get my message?”

  “Yeah, Vic, I got it. Didn’t you get mine?”

  “No, I left work early yesterday.”

  “You got a three way?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Check your messages.”

  “Huh?”

  “Check your messages, Victor.”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it, Vic.”

  “Damn! Hold on, playa.”

  When Victor put us on hold, April came out of the kitchen. “You don’t have to do this. I believe you.”

  “Yes, I do. You weren’t believin’ a word I was sayin’ a minute ago. You just keep listening.” Victor came back on the line. Audix told him that he had two messages. The first message was from Beverly.

  “Victor, Yvette’s here wearing me out. I
hope you told Rick to come so she can leave me alone. I’ll see you tonight. Bye.”

  April stood in the doorway to the kitchen, looking dead at me. It couldn’t have worked out any better if I had planned it. The next message was mine.

  “Vic, this is Rick. I got your message about tonight, but I ain’t gonna make it. I ain’t trying to be about all that with Yvette, or anybody else for that matter. Hope I ain’t messing up your night. Holla at me.”

  “I’m sorry, playa,” Victor said.

  “How’d she trick you?”

  “I met them for happy hour last night. I was glad you didn’t show. It just gave me a reason to jet that much earlier. Anyway, Yvette told me she was supposed to be hanging out with some girl that lives near you, and she might stop by your house.”

  “So you told her where I lived?”

  “No, Rick, chill out. I didn’t believe you told her where you lived and I told her that. She said she’d been there before. Then she starts callin’ out street names: Covington and Miller and whatnot. Then she says, ‘What’s the name of the street he lives on? You know, Victor, it’s got kind of a funny name.’ And I just blurted it out. Why? Did she come by there?”

  “Yeah, she just left.”

  “Ooops, wasn’t no drama, was it?”

  “Oh no, she just met April in the driveway,” I said calmly.

  “Oh shit. What happened?”

  “She told April that you sent her here.”

  “I didn’t send that knucklehead over there, Rick, I swear. She’s lying.”

  “I know she lied, Vic. I ain’t mad at you.”

  “’Cause you know I wouldn’t do no dumb shit like that. Is April mad?”

  “I don’t know. April, are you mad?”

  “April’s there?”

  “No, Rick, I’m not mad. Hey, Victor.”

  “Oh shit. Hey, April. You been on the phone the whole time?”

  “Yes, Victor, I heard everything.”

  “And?” I asked.

  “I believe you.”

  “So, y’all just used me,” Victor said. “Is that what just happened here?”

  “Yes, Victor, we used you,” April gave up.