Diamond Lives, Platinum Lies

by Howard, Vonda

  As they walked down the hall, a faint gunshot sounded from behind the marble doors. Big J chuckled softly and Darius adjusted his collar as they stepped inside the waiting elevator.

  Chapter 4

  Simone arrived in the lobby around seven-thirty pm. She didn’t believe in being right on-time for dates, especially the first ones. She felt it made her look pressed. She was greeted by Big J when she arrived downstairs. “Good evening ma’am. Darius is tied up at the moment and has sent this limo for you.”

  Simone raised one of her perfectly arched eyebrows. “So, he’s not here to pick me up?”

  “No ma’am, but he sends his apologies and told me to tell you he will not be very long at all.” Big J smiled.

  She exhaled deeply as she sat in the back of the very elaborate limousine. “Ain’t this some shit?” She thought to herself. “What kind of gentleman just sends a limo and his bodyguard to pick up his date? I should tell them to take my ass back home.”

  She sat angry and pouting the entire ride. The only reason she didn’t tell the limo driver to take her back home was because she wanted to tell Darius off, face to face. Simone was shocked when the limo pulled up on the waterfront in front of a building that was under construction. “What the hell is this?” She was livid.

  “Ma’am, I’m just following orders.” Big J said as he led her into the nearly hallow building. The exterior, floors and ceilings were there, but there were no walls or doors. She stopped as Big J started up the stairs. “Okay, this is ridiculous. I am not ruining my favorite shoes walking around this construction site! You tell D-Smooth…Darius…whatever he calls himself, that if this is his idea of a date, he has a lot to learn!” She turned and began to head back towards the limo.

  Big J reached out and grabbed her arm. “Look, I don’t have time for this! He wanted me to get you here and that’s what I did. Now, if you want to cuss him out when you see him fine; but you are going upstairs.”

  Simone yanked her arm away. “Fine.” She followed him up the stairs. “Just to let you know, I do have pepper spray and a zapper, so don’t even think about trying anything.”

  Big J rolled his eyes in his head. “Right.”

  They arrived at the top of a somewhat long staircase and saw two dark brown mahogany doors. “Have a good night.” Big J said as he opened the doors for her to enter.

  “What the hell is going on here?” She asked under her breath. She was absolutely blown away by what she saw. The room was completely empty but for one table in the center. It warmly lit by hundreds tiny white of Christmas lights. She entered in complete awe of the effort and beauty of it all. The room was unfinished, but was still breathtaking. There were red and pink roses everywhere, which were her favorite. He even made sure to have heaters strategically placed to keep them warm. You wouldn’t have even thought it was only thirty degrees out. She walked over to the huge picture window and was struck by the beautiful view of the monuments and lights of the city.

  “Good Evening.” Darius said softly from behind her. His warm breath gently kissed her neck as he spoke to her.

  She turned to be face to face to him. “What is all this?” She said with a smile.

  “Dinner.” He held his hand out as to lead her over to the table for two set up in the center of the room.

  “Do you do this for all your first dates?”

  He smiled as he pulled out her chair for her to sit down. “No, I don’t get to have that many first dates. I stay busy and when I do meet women, they seem more concerned with my checkbook than me.”

  “I completely understand. Before I met Trent I barely dated; I got tired of the phoniness. You just never really know who to trust.”

  “Exactly.” He sat down across from her and took a sip of champagne. “Now, before we go any further, I think we should truly introduce ourselves.” He extended his hand across the table. “Hello, my name is Darius Barnes, yours?”

  “Simone Carmichael.” She chuckled as she shook his hand.

  “Very nice to meet you.” The even whiteness of his smile was devastating.

  “So, Mr. Barnes, tell me a little about yourself, other than the info I can find in last month’s Vibe.”

  “Well, what do you want to know?” He signaled to the waiter in the corner of the room.

  “Well, I know you’re from DC, right?”

  He took a sip of his freshly poured champagne. “Yep, born and raised. You’re from DC too right?”

  “Yeah, I grew up on Martin Luther King Avenue.”

  He laughed out loud. “Get out of here! You grew up on the ‘Ave’?”

  “What’s so funny about that?” She took a sip of her champagne.

  “Nothing at all; I just expected you to say you grew up on Capital Hill or something. What school did you go to?”

  “I went to Ballou Senior High.”

  “Oh, okay. I went to McKinley.” He chuckled. “Who knew Ms. Superstar was from round the way?”

  “You’d be surprised the things you don’t know about me.”

  “Well, tell me. What don’t I know about Simone Carmichael?” He said with a smile. “Other than she is fine as hell?”

  “Well, Mr. Barnes, did you know that my mom was a stewardess when my sister and I was very young, and from about the age of three to six years old, I traveled everywhere with her?”

  “No. Wow, I bet you had the stewardess routine down.”

  Simone laughed. “Actually, I did. I would help give the “buckle your seatbelts” speech at the start of the flight. Everyone always thought that was so cute.”

  “I bet you were.” Darius smiled.

  “I would even act out some scenes form the in-flight movie. I guess you could say that’s where I started.” They both laughed as they sipped champagne.

  “What about you Mr. Barnes? Tell me something about you.”

  He sat all the way back in his chair. “Hmm… let’s see….Oh, Okay, well, I owned ten pairs of hammer pants when I was younger.”

  “Oh my god!” Simone laughed hysterically. “Are you serious? That is way too funny.”

  “Don’t laugh. Shoot, I was in style. I even had the Bobby Brown shoes with the steel toes.”

  “Oh, stop, stop.” Simone tried to regain her composure. “I’m sorry, I just can’t picture you, Mr. GQ in hammer pants and Bobby Brown shoes.”

  “Hater.” Darius laughed.

  “I’m sorry.” Simone chuckled as she wiped a tear from her eye.

  “It’s okay, you’re beautiful when you laugh.”

  Simone blushed and they sat and stared at one another for a brief moment. “Has anyone really told you how beautiful your eyes are?” He asked as he gently touched the side of her face.

  “Yes, but it seems nicer coming from you.”

  “Sunshine” by Babyface began to play in the background almost perfectly on cue.

  “Care to dance?” He stood and held out his hand.

  She smiled and laid her hand in his. “Sure.”

  Walking backwards, he slowly led her away from the table and to a cleared area to dance.

  “Who knew Mr. Gangsta Rapper was this suave.” She said with a smile.

  He smiled as he slid his hand around her waist. “If you give me a chance, I’d like to show you more of me.”

  “We’ll see.” She said playfully.

  They danced quietly for a few moments; she was almost hypnotized by the liquid chocolate of his eyes. She hadn’t felt this calm and relaxed in a long time. She laid her head down on his shoulder as they danced and he held her a little tighter to him in response. He was so warm and smelled so good. His embrace was so tight and secure. She closed her eyes and tried to take in all the sounds, feeling and smells of the moment. She held her head up and looked him in his eyes. She could feel the electricity radiating from his lips before they even touched hers. The moment his warm, juicy lips touched hers, she could imagine him touching her, caressing her. They kissed, slowly, lingering, savoring every delicious m
oment. The kiss was hot, moist and tender all at the same time.

  He pulled back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  “No, it’s okay.” Simone said in a breathless tone.

  They danced most of the night. She was shocked by him. He was bright, funny and intelligent; none of the things she expected him to be. She had other hip hop stars approach her, but they were all too thuggish. She liked a man with class, a reformed thug as some would say, with a little bit of grit. The more they talked and kissed, the more she saw that he was someone she definitely wanted more of.

  After a very lavish dinner of lobster, filet mignon and more dancing, Darius escorted Simone all the way back to her hotel room. They had laughed and talked and exchanged flirtatious looks the whole trip. She was totally attracted to him. She actually came into the date thinking he was going to be some thugged out idiot, how wrong she was!

  “Well, here we are.” She said with a smile. She wanted him to come in, but she didn’t know how to ask or hint. She never usually invited men in on the fist night, but he was different. She could feel her body screaming for him to be close to her, but she knew it was way too soon for that.

  “Yes we are.” He took a few steps until he was so close to her

  she could almost feel the heat radiating from his body. “I hope you had a good time tonight.”

  “I had a very good time.” She smiled.

  “Good. Would you consider going out again sometime?”

  “Sure, I think I may be able to fit you in.” She joked.

  “Cool.”

  An undeniable magnetism was building within them; one she couldn’t really explain. He leaned in slowly and gently pressed his lips against hers. His lips were so thick and juicy, that they felt like kissing two warm, sweet pillows. He pulled back from her and stared her in her eyes for a moment. Her lips still tingled as he slowly pulled his lips away.

  “Can I call you tomorrow?”

  “That would be very nice.”

  He held her chin, gave her another small kiss and headed towards the elevator with a self satisfied smile. Simone swooned as she went back inside her room.

  Darius stepped into his stretch hummer limo with a gigantic, self pleased grin on his face. As the limo pulled off his phone rang. “Hello?”

  “You sound happy.” Big J said with an audible smile. “So, I take it your evening was a success? I was expecting you to call and tell me come get you in the morning.”

  “I could say it was a success. Things went even better then I anticipated.”

  “You should have stayed and hit that man!”

  “Nah.” Darius leaned back on the soft leather seat.

  “You didn’t even try?” Big J laughed. “You sick or something?”

  “No, you just have to take these things slowly. She is not like the groupies, man. I kind of dig her.”

  “Oh Lord. Well, that’s cool and all, but how do you plan on getting rid of…”

  “Don’t worry.” Darius interrupted. “They don’t call me D-Smooth for nothing!”

  Chapter 5

  Simone woke up the next morning with the biggest grin on her face. It was nice to smile again; it was nice to feel a spark with someone again. She was just about to head to the shower when there was a knock at her door. She groggily opened the door to a newspaper shoved in her face. “What is this?” Roxanne, Simone’s manager and somewhat surrogate mother, held up a Washington Post entertainment section with a photo of her and Darius dancing on it that read, ’Simone’s New Man?’

  Shocked, Simone grabbed the paper from Roxanne’s hand. “What the hell?”

  Roxanne walked into the room. She has always had a problem with just about any man Simone dated. No one was ever good enough for her in Roxanne’s eyes. “That is exactly what I said when I opened the paper this morning! What were you thinking going out with this guy?”

  “Well, first off, when was it that I had to start getting your permission to date whom I please and next, how did they get this picture?”

  “Darling, it doesn’t matter how they got it, the fact is, that they got it. I’m still deflecting the spin from this past Saturday, now this?”

  Simone rolled her eyes in her head as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “It is not that serious, Roxanne. It was just one date.”

  “You could’ve fooled me! You two look a little cozy in this picture.”

  “I was just thankful to him. He helped me out with Trent earlier, that’s it.”

  Roxanne looked at Simone’s ear to ear smile and raised one eyebrow. “You sure? Your cheesy smile says otherwise.”

  “Yes.” Simone sat at the table and picked up a croissant.

  “Besides, it’s way too soon for me. I would be crazy to start a new relationship.” Her lips were saying the words, but inside she felt differently. She didn’t usually fall for guys so quickly. In all of her relationships, the ones she cares to remember anyway, she always made sure to not let herself fall too quickly. It once took her a whole year to have sex. To this day, she didn’t understand why that guy hung around.

  “Yes, you would. It’s only been a week! Do you know what the media would say?” Roxanne said as she grabbed a grape from the bowl.

  “First of all,” said Simone. “I could care less what the media has to say. Secondly, I know exactly how long it’s been. It was just nice to get out and be with someone who acted like I mattered for a while, that’s all.”

  “Just be careful, is all I’m saying.”

  “I’m fine Roxanne.”

  Roxanne sat down beside Simone and grabbed another grape from the small fruit bowl on the table. “Okay. I believe you. Now, to business; you my darling have some interviews to do.”

  “What interviews?”

  Roxanne flipped open her overstuffed date planner. “Let’s see, Michael Baisden, Wendy Williams, Steve Harvey and Tom Joyner.”

  Simone almost choked on her coffee. “When exactly am I supposed to do all those?”

  “Don’t worry sweetie, I have them all timed out.”

  “Why did you schedule them all on the same day?” Simone used a napkin to clean up a tiny bit of spilled coffee on the table.

  “Honey, you have been M.I.A for almost two weeks now. The world wants to hear from you.”

  Simone leaned back in her chair. “Wouldn’t a press release be easier and quicker? That’s a lot. I’m not really up for being grilled.”

  “I know darling, but what better way to stick it to that asshole Trent, then to get your story out there before he does?”

  “Fine. I don’t think he will anyway. I haven’t heard from him since the restaurant incident. Maybe he finally got the picture. I can’t help but be a little worried though. Trent was never one to give up easily.”

  “I’m sure he’s fine and somewhere licking his wounds.” Roxanne stuffed her planner back in her bag.

  “I guess. What time is the first interview?”

  “Nine am.” Simone let out an annoyed breath. “Roxanne, that’s in less than two hours!”

  “I know, but you can do it sweetie. It’s radio, you don’t have to get all dolled up.” She patted Simone’s shoulder and stood up. “Alright, sweetie, I’ve got to go, but I will be right back. You go ahead and get ready okay?” Roxanne grabbed up her papers. “Oh and honey one more thing?”

  “Yes, Roxanne?”

  Roxanne held Simone’s hand. “Again, please be careful when dealing this Darius character. You are still hurting from Tent and I don’t want you to get into something too soon.”

  Simone patted Roxanne’s hand. “Don’t worry about me, okay? I’m fine.”

  “Okay. I’ll be back so we can prep for the interviews.” Just as Roxanne opened the door to leave, she bumped into Peaches.

  “Good Morning Rochelle.” Roxanne smiled.

  Peaches snatched her sunglasses off and gave Roxanne an evil stare. “How many times do I have to tell you to call me Peaches? That’s P-e-a-c-h-e-s! Peaches
!”

  “Oh, I apologize,” said Roxanne holding back her laughter, “Good morning Peaches.”

  “Yeah, whatever.” Peaches pushed past Roxanne and came in the room.

  “I’ll see you later, Simone.” Roxanne closed the door behind her.

  Simone shot Peaches an annoyed stare. “Why are you so rude?”