by Mario D King
Malcolm nodded and said, “I can dig that.”
AS HALF OF THE wine was now gone, Malcolm was getting a little buzzed and began to relax a little more.
“Hey, Navil, can I ask you a question?” Malcolm asked as he begun to clump down on the plush, burgundy colored couch.
“Sure, go ahead,” Navil replied as she pressed mute on her stereo.
“Why don’t you have a man?” Malcolm paused for a second then continued, “You’ve been in Memphis almost four years, and I haven’t seen or heard you talk about any dudes. What’s up with that? You don’t play for the other team—do you?”
“Malcolm, there are only a few brothers that are worth talking to. I’m really not looking for anybody. Most of the dudes I do meet are so immature. The bad part is they are in their thirties. Another thing I don’t understand is why brothers get intimidated by a woman who has confidence in herself and is aware of what’s going on in the world.”
“Navil, I mean you are indeed a nice girl, but you can jump down a brother’s throat sometimes. Your expectations may be too high.”
“And…yo point! What am I supposed to do, dumb it down and settle?”
Malcolm nodded and replied, “I know—I know. But women are as much to blame as we are. For example, y’all complain about how y’all want a brother who’s gonna do this and do that and when you get a brother who is actually trying, y’all dismiss him like yesterday’s trash. It goes both ways you know.”
Malcolm and Navil continued to have a back and forth conversation about relationships. Usually, when two friends of the opposite sex who happened to be single come together, this is what they talk about.
“Hey, I admit—I do feel better than I did earlier today,” Malcolm said, slurring his words a bit. “I can’t believe I got fired today. It seems like for every two steps a brother takes, I take ten steps back.”
Grabbing Malcolm’s hand, Navil replied, “Brother, I know it’s f’d up right now. It will get better. I believe in you. It may be a blessing in disguise—Allah is with you!”
“What a blessing,” Malcolm said, his words dripping with sarcasm.
Malcolm’s eyes began to tighten a little.
“Let’s see what type of person you truly are. My mother use to always say you could always judge a woman by the movies she watches and music she listens to. It’s kind of like the old saying, ‘you are what you eat’.”
Shaking her head with a smile on her face Navil replied, “What sense do that make boy?”
Malcolm walked over to the entertainment center and began to explore her movie collection.
“Let’s see…Booty Call, Love and Basketball, Love Jones, and Hitch… Now we got… Raw, Harlem Nights, and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.” Still looking, Malcolm read, “Lady Sings the Blues, Titanic, and…The Mack?” In mid-laughter, Malcolm said, “I would have never figured you to be a person who would even consider looking at The Mack!”
Hiding her face with a pillow, Navil replied, “Well, surprise, surprise.” She lifted her head and continued with a raised brow, “Well, prove your point. What type of woman am I?”
“Based upon your selection of viewing pleasure, it looks like you are a crazy, under cover freak with a vulnerable side, looking for love in all the wrong places.”
Navil stared at him with a smirk on her face and replied, “Negro please, you full of cow manure.”
With his tight eyes, Malcolm turned to her and said, “Seriously, it shows that you are not as uptight as I thought. It shows that you have a keen eye and ear for great pleasantries. It shows that you are a strong woman. It shows that you are stern, yet willing to open up, if the terms are right. It also shows that you have an old soul and value the days of yesterday’s past. You have a different side that you need to show more often. It’s a side that I would like to get to know a little better.”
Being unable to control her laughter, Navil replied, “You need to stop with the Billy Dee act. I think someone has had too much wine. You just lost about five cool points.”
With a smirk on his face, Malcolm replied, “Call it what you want.” Malcolm’s smirk disappeared and his face turned serious. “The words may have been Billy Dee-ish, and I may have been trying too hard, but I meant what I said about getting to know you better.”
Feeling somewhat shocked and vulnerable and not knowing how to reply, Navil said, “Uhm…let’s do it…Uhm…watch a movie that is!”
In that exact moment, there was a feeling of bliss and lust in the air. Their eyes were locked on each other. They both felt it; it was undeniable at that particular moment. Navil wasn’t sure if that was really how he felt, or if it was because of the bottle of wine that was now empty.
Malcolm leaned against the entertainment system and replied, “We may need to do a rain check on that one. No disrespect or nothing. I dig you and all, but—”
By the time he finished his sentence; Navil had walked up to him and placed her finger over his lips. She looked into his eyes and replied, “You ain’t got to say another word. I know you respect me enough to not do something that we both don’t know if we’re ready to handle.”
Malcolm grabbed her hands and stated, “How do you do that? How do you always know what I’m thinking?”
Navil leaned on the entertainment system with Malcolm and replied, “Some things should just remain unknown. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow—you know.”
Malcolm looked at the clock. It was a little past midnight. Since Destiny was going to spend the weekend with his mom, he wanted to take full advantage of his writing time.
“Hey, it’s getting late; I think I’m gone go ahead and head to the crib.”
“Alright, do I need to call a cab?”
“I’m good. A couple glasses of wine ain’t gone do nothing to me”
As he headed for the exit, he stood face to face with Navil and said, “Thank you for a wonderful evening. I can’t remember the last time I’ve actually had some fun. I’ve had a lot on my mind, and this was a great release. You were a special hostess. That mental block I had is now gone.”
He then leaned forward kissed her right below her ear lobe. “Good Night, Navil.”
“Good Night, Malcolm. I’m glad I could free your mental block.”
