Before I Let Go

by Darren Coleman

  I gave Nate a strong soul brother handshake when I slid into his Lexus. It was nice. It was only three weeks old and had the strong scent of leather and that unmistakable new-car scent that I hadn’t smelled since I’d bought my Maxima six years ago.

  Looking at my attire, Nate said excitedly, “Damn boy, I didn’t know you had it like that. I figured you would have turned into a country ’bama down there in Georgia. I didn’t know you were down there going out like a Fashion Fair model.” I was looking pretty dapper. I had on a dark gray suit by Christian Dior and a spanking-brand-new pair of thick-soled Coach loafers.

  “And that’s a tight watch, my man,” he added.

  “You like?”

  “Most definitely. Who makes it?”

  “Esquire.”

  “Yeah? I’m digging that. Is that a new brand? How long have they been out?”

  “A good while. Man, don’t you know Atlanta is one of the hottest spots for fashion in the country? Right behind New York and Los Angeles. You better ask somebody.”

  “Yeah, I hear you. So what else is up? How was your ride up?”

  “It was cool, but you know I’m not big on driving. If I hadn’t needed to bring the car up I would have flown.”

  Nate changed the CD from Ludacris to Nas, and asked, “So when is all of your stuff going to be here?”

  “Actually, I sold most of my furniture to a friend of mine. I gave it to her pretty cheap since it was short notice; I only had a week or so to get it packed up. So I just hooked her up. She’s real cool people. You remember the honey I told you about who is a cheerleader for the Falcons, who gave me tickets to all the games, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, Donna, right?”

  “No, Darlene. But anyway, I figured it would help me out as well. My clothes and some other stuff like pictures, kitchen stuff, stereos, and televisions will be here on Saturday. I pick up the keys to my apartment on Friday morning.”

  “Yeah, you did say that they got you an apartment up in Rockville, right?”

  “Uh, huh. It’s right up the street from White Flint Mall.”

  “So when do you start work?”

  “Not until the fifth of December. So I have a couple weeks to get some things together. I need to go shopping Friday to get some winter gear, and I’ll probably go pick out some furniture on Saturday if I don’t have time Friday evening. That’s really about all I have to do. This company gave me five grand to cover my moving expenses. I got the check last week. I couldn’t believe they kicked me that much dough just for dragging a few boxes.”

  Nate laughed. “How much of it have you spent moving so far?”

  “Maybe a grand,” I said, laughing. “And that was mostly for shipping the stuff I wanted.”

  “Yo, you got over big time.”

  “You know how we do it. I’ll probably spend the rest on furniture.”

  “You won’t get much furniture with that. Nigga, my couch was five grand by itself.”

  “That’s your nonpriority-having ass. I’m going right around the corner to Marlo’s and maybe Ikea. I saw a sale paper at Mom’s crib tonight. I can get a leather couch and love seat for fifteen hundred, a cherry oak bedroom set for about another twelve hundred, and I’ll probably just eat in the kitchen or on the sofa for the time being, unless I see a dinette set I really want.”

  “I hear you. I can hook you up with a key to my spot if you need to crash in the city from time to time. You know the spare bedroom is yours whenever you need it, or the den for that matter.”

  “That’ll be cool. I’d do the same for you, but I doubt you will be out my end all that much.”

  Nate nodded his head in agreement. After a short pause he said, “We are going to have to hook up with some bunnies and throw you a little welcome home shindig. I got a nice little honey that I want you to meet. I told her about you. I know you’ll like her. At the very least you can hit that ass. She’s going to be down here tonight. Her name is Jay. Yo, she is phat as hell. She has her own business. She does some consulting work with computers or something of that nature. I’m not sure, but she’s got it going on. She has a nice little townhouse out in Capitol Hill.”

  “So why aren’t you tapping it? You know I don’t want any of your leftovers,” I said emphatically.

  “Nah, man. It ain’t like that at all. She a cousin of this honey I see from time to time,” Nate mentioned, trying to reassure me.

  “You still seeing the hairdresser, what’s her name?” He talked about so many women I couldn’t keep up.

  “You mean Kim? Well, since she flipped out a couple of weeks ago and showed up at my crib unannounced, she’s been on punishment.” He laughed, but deep inside he still felt a little uneasy about the way he’d dogged her out. When Nate offered to take Kim out to lunch the next day to talk about some things, she declined. She stunned Nate a little when she told him not to call her until he made up his mind about what he wanted to do and was ready to treat her with the respect she deserved.

  Under normal circumstances, Nate would have made sure that he had her in his hip pocket. But for the last couple of weeks he had been spending all of his time with Sahleen when she was in town, and if he wasn’t with her then he was chilling with his other new friend, India.

  “So how are you and the supermodel doing?” I asked.

  “Man, I don’t even want to get started, Cory. She is so fine, and man, can she fuck. Plus, she’s a stone-cold freak on top of that. On the real, kid, we be getting down.”

  “So could this be the one?”

  “The one what?” Nate boomed back.

  “You know what I’m saying. You have been spending a lot of time with her.”

  “Yeah, true. As a matter of fact, every day that she has been in town since we met we’ve been hanging, which has only been six or seven days…”

  “But still, that’s a lot of QT for you, bro.”

  “What do you really know in six or seven days?” Nate said, but inside he knew that he could fully admit how he was feeling about Sahleen. It was uncharted territory for him. The sex definitely had him going. The fact that he found her so damned intriguing was a whole other ballpark.

  “What about the other one?” I asked, remembering him telling me briefly about meeting another chick the same night.

  “India. She’s fine, too. Not fine like Sahleen, but she’s still all of it, for real, though. She reminds me of Nia Long, only with bigger titties. She kind of sounds like her, too. We’ve been out twice, and she’s been to the crib once.”

  Waiting for the details that didn’t come, I had to ask, “So did you sleep with her yet?”

  “Nah. I just kissed her and sucked on those pretty-assed titties. The next time, though, dog. The next time.”

  “What does she do?”

  “She’s an accountant for Verizon. And she is fly as shit. I think she’s really into the church. She has invited me to church with her like twice already. Somebody needs to tell her she is going to up and run a nigga like me away with that nonsense.”

  “She’s into the church, but you’re sucking her titties on what, the third date?” I burst out laughing. “These fake church people crack me up. If you are going to be about it, then be about it. Hypocrites, I swear, are the worst.”

  We talked and laughed about old times the rest of the way. I watched the homeless people sleeping on the steam ducts as we rolled past the Convention Center.

  Nate smoked a blunt, and even though he cracked the moon roof, I think I caught a small contact. I hoped that it didn’t piss me before I started work.

  We pulled up in front of the hotel. It was crazy. It looked even more packed than Atlanta’s Club 112 on a Saturday night. There were wall-to-wall ladies, and they were indeed dressed to impress. There had to be at least five hundred ladies and a few hundred fellas lined up outside trying to get in.

  We found Brendan double-parked across the street talking to a fat guy in a Coogi sweater. Nate waved for Brendan to follow him, and w
e rolled past the crowd of people, around the corner, and into the hotel parking garage.

  “We are full,” the attendant said with attitude.

  “Not for me and the car behind me. VIP. Here.” Nate showed him a Central Parking card with a stamp on it and slid him a twenty. His man Chris was the GM, so Nate always had downtown parking covered.

  “Two spots on level three,” the attendant said, as he waved us by, backed into his box, and said something on his walkie-talkie.

  We had been inside for almost two hours and people were still coming in. I couldn’t believe some of the dresses that the sisters were wearing. I may have just been used to the Atlanta version of cold, but these sisters had backs out and sleeveless dresses in 45-degree weather. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad to see the sisters out in all of their splendor.

  Women from the D.C. metropolitan area seem to keep themselves up better than any other women in the country. Traveling east and west I’d found the only women who are as into hair and nails as the ladies here are the Detroit sisters, even if they are a few years behind the styles of the East Coast women. The bad thing about it is that Washingtonian sisters know it. They’ve all got plenty of attitude. Every chick, even the ones who aren’t fine, believe that they are, and don’t try to tell them that they aren’t it-on-a-stick. Hell, I was used to women approaching me in Atlanta. All of the games that these D.C. honeys like to play would take some getting used to—all over again.

  Nate had gone to the bar while Brendan and I stood profiling near the entrance of one of the ballrooms. I was definitely impressed with the magnitude of the party, if you can call a gathering this size a party. The Positive Black Man’s Coalition had rented out the entire hotel, which had ballrooms on two levels. The floor above had three: one had a jazz band called L!ssen; another had a DJ spinning reggae; and the third had the Marcus Johnson Project performing live. On the floor I was on there were two ballrooms, each with a DJ. They were the largest of the five. There had to be at least four thousand people at this function.

  I looked up to see Nate making his way back through the crowd with two bottles of Moët in his hands and two ladies. The ladies were also carrying glasses. He turned into the ballroom in front of us and motioned for us to follow him to a table that was occupied by a lone woman.

  As we sat down Nate said, “You know I had to get some champagne to celebrate my man Cory coming home. And by the way, ladies, these are my boys. This chump here is Brendan, and that’s Cory,” he said, pointing in my direction. Then he went on, “Fellas, these three ladies here are Chelsea, with the pretty silver dress on; that’s my sweetheart Erika right here; and this is the pretty lady I was telling you about Cory, Jay.” He paused and turned his conversation toward Jay, who was seated right next to me. “Jay, I was telling Cory about you on the way over here.”

  Jay was fine. She was short but very attractive. She was slightly bow-legged and had a cute haircut and the whitest teeth I had seen in a long time.

  “Nice to meet you, Cory. Nate has told me an awful lot about you. All good things.”

  “Nice to meet you also. You look really nice this evening.” She was rocking an olive-colored skirt and matching blazer. The diamond studs in her ears made her look elegant and expensive.

  “You look nice, too. I like that suit. Nothing like a brother in a nice-fitting suit. More brothers should put one on from time to time, you know?” she asked rhetorically, as we made small talk about our careers and alma maters. She asked about my move back to the nation’s capital, although she seemed to have been informed by Nate of most of the details. She wasted no time asking about my love life, which I thought was a bit forward but typical. After all, no sense wasting time talking to me if I had a woman—or one that meant enough for me to claim. A lot of women figure, if a man lies about having someone, then obviously that someone can’t be all that important, and therefore she has a green light to work her magic.

  We all talked at the table, and I even danced with Jay for a while, until she needed a bathroom break. When she headed there I made my way back the table. On the way I thought that I couldn’t remember seeing so many fine women in one place. I made some serious eye contact with more than one or two lovely ladies, and when I reached the edge of the dance floor my eyes became fixed on a sister who was at least six feet two. She was wearing a black cat suit and was dancing very seductively without a partner among a group of women.

  She had the face of a baby doll, and her body was all curves. All my instincts were telling me to roll up on her and get her on the dance floor, but I didn’t want to take a chance on blowing what I had going with Jay if she came looking for me. I painfully decided to pass on this one and grudgingly walked right past the sexy Amazon. As I purposely walked right in front of her so that I could check her out one last time, I saw her glance fixed on me as well. I kept walking and staring in her face. Then she smiled at me. With her smile, I immediately changed my mind and decided to go back and approach her. Even if we didn’t dance, I was going to have to at least ask for her number. As I approached her someone grabbed my arm. I was startled slightly and turned to see who it was.

  “Oh, my God. I thought that was you,” the voice said excitedly, as my heart dropped into my stomach cavity, I thought this stunning vision before me was someone else for a moment. Instinctively, we embraced like the two old friends that we were. “Cory, what are you doing here? Are you home for the Thanksgiving holiday?”

  As my senses came rushing back to me, the Amazon that I had sought less than a minute ago was now an afterthought as I stood looking in disbelief at the young lady in front of me. It was Nina Sanchez, and damn, she was grown up. I took in all of the changes since I had last seen her. There were hips where there had been none before. Her breasts, though they had not become huge, had filled out, to say the least. And although her face had matured, she still had the same little girl features and flawless skin. I answered, “You won’t believe it, but I just moved back home for good today.”

  “Really, Cory. That’s great.”

  “Baby girl, you are looking good,” I said with a smile. Nina was a dime, and she probably knew it. I couldn’t help saying it, though.

  “Thanks, Cory. You ain’t looking too bad yourself. I mean, look at you, all cut up. I see you got a little bling-bling going on too.” She said, grabbing my earlobe and pointing to the flawless karat there.

  I explained my job thing to her while she nodded politely. Then I asked, “So, how old are you now, Nina? I haven’t seen you in, what…five or six years?”

  “I’m twenty-four, be twenty-five on New Year’s Eve.”

  “Damn, time flies,” I said, really and truly meaning it.

  We kicked it for a few more minutes before she asked, “Hey, let’s dance, Cory. You do still dance, don’t you?”

  I took her question as a challenge. I took her out to the middle of the floor and completely got my groove on with Nina. She was quite the dancer herself. We danced to Ja Rule, Nelly, and Mystical’s “Shake It Fast” before the DJ put on a slow cut, Jaheim’s “Anything.” I waited to try to read her body language. When she moved closer and continued dancing, I followed suit. I was a little thrown off balance by both of our actions. Though I truly knew, I still wondered, “What is going on here?” As I realized that I had been all too willing to keep the dance going, I found Nina’s head on my shoulder. As the song wound down, I was sure she had questioned my willingness to hold her that close while we danced. I chalked it up as simply missing someone who used to be part of your life.

  We headed for the bar, and when we got there she told me that I had caught her just as she was getting ready to leave, and would be sure to let her sister know she had seen me. She wrote her number down on a piece of paper and told me to keep in touch. I gave her my cell number, and told her that my home phone wouldn’t be on for a couple of days. We embraced again, and as my nose once again filled with the smell of her Miracle perfume, I assured her I would call her, and
told her to wish her sister well for me. I watched her walk off. Her ass jiggled like J.Lo’s as she headed toward the exit. I felt a little funny about the way I was looking at this girl, who I had first met when she was fourteen. Then she was just the annoying little sister of the love of my life, Shelly.

  Back at the table everyone was laughing, except for Brendan. Nate later told me that he was in a bit of a huff because he had seen Trina and her sisters, and of course they had exchanged words. Other than that, all was well as we prepared to leave. The lights had come on and it was after three in the morning.

  As we exited the hotel lobby, Brendan went over to talk to a young lady he recognized from the store. He told us to go on and said that if he didn’t catch up with me then, he would stop by the house the next day.

  When we reached the car Nate told me that we were going back to his crib, and that Jay and Erika were going to meet us there in a half an hour. I thought for sure he was bullshitting me, and I told him so.

  “Nah, kid. Jay is on your shit hard,” he assured me, then added, “The night is young, my man. The night is young.”

  I reclined my seat back a little and smiled. “Just like we used to do, back in the old Mirage and come-as-you-are nights at the Classics, huh man?” I asked my partner, referring to our early days on the club scene.

  He responded, “Exactly.”

  He had done all of the work for me tonight, though. He had entertained the ladies while I was off kicking it with Nina, and paid for their drinks all night. In other words, he had gotten them ready. I told him that I had seen Nina and how I had felt crazy as hell when I first saw her, because I had thought she was Shelly at first.

  “What was that all about, cuz? Do you think that you still have feelings for Shelly deep down inside?” he asked me.

  “I don’t even know, but I guess you wouldn’t know anything about that now, would you, bro?” I shot at him sarcastically.