Rissa must have thought about everything she said to Jai because she phoned Jai's house back to back all weekend long, trying to apologize. Jai finally had to turn her ringer off, but Rissa left apologetic messages. Jai knew that most of what Rissa had said, had been said out of jealousy. No matter what Rissa said or how much she tried to hide it, Jai could see right through her and knew that she was still a little taken by the fact that Sloan had chosen to get with her and not Rissa. Nonetheless, her words did hurt. Jai felt that maybe she and Rissa needed some time apart until Rissa could get used to the fact that she was going to be with the Italian Stallion whether she liked it or not. Besides, Jai didn't need Rissa putting doubts in her mind about how Sloan felt about her.
When Sunday rolled around and it was time for Jai to take Sloan to dinner at her father's house, she was worried sick. She hadn't told her family that Sloan was Italian, which meant a white man in their eyes. She had only told them that she had a man in her life that she wanted them to meet. That morning Jai even went to the 9:00
a.m. service at her church, which she hadn't been to in a couple of months. She had to pray heavy on this one.
On her way home from church Jai stopped off at Media Play and picked up another Flowetry CD. She had let a girl at work borrow the one she had originally purchased so that the girl could record it onto a cassette. That was over a month ago and the girl still had not returned it. Jai was sure to save the receipt so that she could collect her $15.73 replacement cost.
Jai loved Flowetry's CD, Flowetic. She had met the two women who made up the duo at a club in Philly one Thanksgiving Eve when she and her sister were there visiting their mother. The CD hadn't dropped yet, but Jai had promised the women that when it did, she would support them. Jai bought the CD the day it came out and fell in love with it. Seeing Flowetry perform poetry on BET's Lyrical Cafe the night before reminded Jai that she needed to replace the CD.
When Jai returned home Sloan was parked in her driveway waiting for her.
“Hey, how long you been waiting?” Jai said to Sloan, getting out of her car.
“About fifteen minutes,” Sloan said, walking over to Jai and kissing her on the lips. “I thought you would have been home by now. Did church run over?”
“No, I stopped off at Media Play to get a CD. I'm sorry for having you sit out here waiting on me.”
“That's okay. You're worth the wait.” Sloan smiled. “Are you about ready to head to your dad's house?” Sloan asked anxiously.
“Sure, let me run in and use the bathroom first,” Jai said as they went inside her house. Jai's stomach was all knotted up from anxiety.
“You alright in there?” Sloan said, knocking on the bathroom door after Jai had been in there for several minutes.
“Yeah, I'm just brushing my teeth,” Jai replied before joining Sloan. “All set. Let's go.”
The drive to Jai's father's house was like the boat ride through that tunnel on Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Jai's head was spinning. Maybe not telling her family that her new guy friend was of another race was a major faux pas. But what could she do about it now? Call them up on her cell phone in the car and say, “Oh, and by the way, that guy friend of mine that I'm bringing to dinner, he's Italian"?
Jai directed Sloan to their destination and had him park in front of the house.
“That's a pretty house,” Sloan said, a little taken by the fact that the house was a flamingo pink. You could tell by the lawn that Jai's father was retired and spent most of his time playing in it. There were bushes decorated with mulch trimming. There were trees decorated with white rocks plus bricks around the rocks. There was a little pond and some windmill flowers in a flower box that stretched the length of the porch. It was a very busy yard, but neat.
Sloan was just as excited as ever. He had no idea he was about to find himself in the new millennium version of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
“Sissy,” Jai said as her twin sister greeted her at the door.
“Jai,” Sissy said, giving her sister a long hug. “How are you?”
“You know me,” Sissy replied. “Busy working on my masters, living like the struggling student I am. But it will all be worth it in the end.”
Sissy was one of those people who used school as a reason not to enter the workforce. Once she got her masters, Jai was certain she would spend a few more years unemployed while she went for her doctorate.
“Where's this Darryl you've been talking about?” Jai asked her sister. Of course, once she found out that Jai was bringing her new guy friend, Sissy had to show off hers.
“He's running a little late,” Sissy replied. “He'll be here shortly. Speaking of guy friends, where's your new honey?”
“Sissy, this is Sloan. Sloan, this is my sissy, Joi,” Jai said as she pulled Sloan through the front door.
“Pleased to meet you, Joi,” Sloan said, holding out his hand.
“Sissy, you can call me Sissy,” Sissy said with her mouth open as she put her hand out literally in slow motion. “You're uh, uhh. You're uh . . .”
“Italian,” Sloan interrupted. “People ask me all the time what I am. Some people think I'm English when they first see me.”
“Yeah, that's what I was going to say, English,” Joi lied. “So uh, Sloan, why don't you come into the dining room and meet the rest of the family.”
“I'd like that,” Sloan said.
The three walked through the living room and into the dining room where Jai's father and his wife, Emma, were sitting.
“Jai, baby,” Emma said when she saw Jai enter the dining room.
“And this is Jai's friend, Sloan,” Sissy couldn't wait to say.
Sloan felt like he was in an episode of The Twilight Zone, the one where the man had a watch that could stop time. The room was dead silent. No one moved. They just all sat there staring at him. Finally Emma broke the silence.
“Well, uhh, it's nice to meet you, Sloan,” she said, offering Sloan a big hug.
Emma's hug could melt an igloo. She was a short, round, and pudgy woman. She always had her hair done up in a bun with a string of pearls around her neck. Day or night, she was always wearing an apron as she whipped up something in the kitchen. And she always smelled of old lady perfume, which was that scent of a terribly strong, sweet gardenia. Whether you had a splinter in your finger or a sore on your knee, a hug from Emma made it feel better right away.
“It's nice to meet you, too,” Sloan said, squeezing Emma tight and not wanting to let go.
“Well, uh, Sloan, sir,” Jai's father said. “Jai here didn't tell us that you were uh, well, uh, you know . . .”
“Yeah, I know, Italian,” Sloan said, shaking Jai's father's hand.
“Yeah, uh, that's right,” Jai's father said, wiping his hand down his pants leg. “Italian.”
Sloan must have accidentally hit that button on the stopwatch because the room was dead still and silent, again. The ringing of the doorbell broke the awkwardness this time.
“I'll get it,” Sissy said. “It's probably Darryl.”
“Well, I guess we should sit down for dinner,” Emma said as Sissy ran off to get the door.
“I like what you've done with the yard, Daddy,” Jai said, but her father ignored the compliment. Instead he simply gave her the evil eye, the Sanford & Son Aunt Esther fish-eyed-fool look.
“Yes, I agree,” Sloan said. “The yard looks lovely.”
“Everybody, this is Darryl,” Sissy said, reentering the room with a tall, bald, dark-complected, handsome man by her side. One by one she introduced Darryl to everybody as they took their seats at the dinner table.
“Daddy, Darryl is working on his engineering degree. He's already working over at Epstein's Electric,” Sissy bragged.
“Is that so?” Jai's father asked with a proud smile.
“Yes, sir,” Darryl replied. “This is my last year before I've earned my degree.”
“Darryl also volunteers over at the boys' shelter. He heads the
reading and writing program,” Sissy added.
“You sound like a busy young man,” Emma said.
“So, Sloan, what is it that you do?” Sissy asked with a fake smile on her face.
“I'm a claims adjuster,” Sloan said, taking in a spoonful of black-eyed peas.
“Yes,” Jai said. “He handles the large difficult claims.”
Everyone just looked at Jai, completely uninterested.
“And Sloan can sing like a hummingbird,” Jai said like a proud mama bragging on her son.
“Oh, really?” Sissy asked, eyes wide open. “Why don't you sing something for us, Sloan?”
“Oh, I couldn't,” Sloan said modestly.
“Come on, Sloan. Blow for us,” Sissy said.
“Well, okay,” Sloan said as he swallowed and chased it with a sip of iced tea. “The very first time that I saw your brown eyes . . . ,” Sloan said as he managed to put goose bumps on everyone's arms with his a cappella rendition of “If I Ever Fall In Love” by O-Town.
“Wow,” Sissy said, surprised. “You have a lovely voice.”
“Thank you,” Sloan said. “I love music, rock 'n' roll, R&B, alternative, pop, jazz, opera, you name it.”
“So, Darryl,” Jai asked sarcastically. “Do you sing?”
“These greens are delicious,” Sloan said quickly to Emma before Darryl had a chance to respond.
“Well, thank you, son,” Emma said with a big grin.
“I didn't know white folks ate greens,” Jai's father couldn't resist saying. “I mean Italian folks.”
“Yeah, Daddy,” Jai replied. “And they even eat watermelon, too. How about that?”
“I put a little secret ingredient in them greens,” Emma jumped in.
“Well, ma'am, I do say they are the best I've ever had. You're one fine cook.”
“Yeah, my baby can cook,” Jai's father said proudly. “I done put on thirty pounds since I married her. Jai's mamma couldn't boil water. No man in his right mind could stand that woman's cooking. No black man anyway. You people don't care too much about seasonings though, huh? I s'pose that's why she run off to Philadelphia and married that white man. Or maybe he's Italian, too. Hell, Italian, white. It's the same difference to me. It ain't black.”
“Really?” Sloan asked. “So Jai's mother is married to a white guy, huh?”
“Oh, yes, indeedy. Didn't Jai tell you?” her father said.
“Uh, Miss Emma, what you got for dessert?” Jai said, quickly changing the subject. “I know you whipped up something fine.”
“Indeed I did. When your daddy told me you girls were joining us for Sunday dinner I made your favorite, Jello cake. Jai, I made you one with extra whip cream topping just like you like it.”
“Yep,” Sissy added. “Jai always did like lots of cream.”
“I'm gonna have to give you the recipe, Jai, so that some day you'll be whipping it up for your kids,” Emma said, clearly throwing a hint. “Hopefully one of y'all give us some grandbabies before we too old to do anything with them.”
“Well, maybe Sloan here will be your great white hope,” Sissy said with a straight face.
“Will y'all excuse me?” Jai said as she stood up and walked out of the dining room, unable to deal with the comedic comments. She was feeling suffocated and at the same time, like such a fool for putting Sloan, her family, and herself in such an uncomfortable situation. She hated leaving Sloan in there with them alone, but she had to get some air quick. She couldn't get back outside onto the front porch soon enough. She ran onto the porch and raced over to the railing where she took in a few deep breaths. For a moment there she thought she was going to puke right down into the flower bed.
“You okay?” Sloan said, walking up behind her.
“Sloan, I'm so sorry,” Jai said as she turned around to face him.
“It's okay,” Sloan said in a forgiving manner as he put his arms around her. “But not telling your people that I was Italian . . . not cool, Jai.”
“I know. But, what was I supposed to say? It doesn't matter now. I know I messed up.”
“Yeah, you messed up big time. This could have been ugly.”
“Could have been?” Jai said as she dropped her head onto Sloan's chest.
“Baby, why didn't you tell me your mom was married to a white man?”
“I don't know. It wasn't a big deal. I mean what is it with people? So every time I talk about someone I'm supposed to define his or her race. This is Rissa, my white friend. This is Jenny, my Latino coworker. This is Iosif, my Russian mailman . . .”
“Okay, okay. I get the point. But, baby, you knew not telling them ahead of time was a big mistake. You were worried sick about it. I could tell something was up by the way you staked out the bathroom before we left. You were stalling.”
“You mean you knew that I probably hadn't told my family?” Jai said surprised.
“I guess I did kind of sorta know,” Sloan said with a mischievous grin on his face. “But I figured it would be more fun to watch you sweat.”
Jai giggled and punched Sloan in the arm.
“Thank you, Sloan,” Jai said, becoming serious. “Thank you for understanding me even when I don't understand myself sometimes.”
“It's cool, but from now on if you plan on introducing me to any more of your people, could you please tell them ahead of time that I'm uh, well, uh . . .”
“I know, I know . . . Italian,” Jai smiled.
Jai loved the feeling of waking up in Sloan's bed. He had an elegant feather-filled mattress and pillows. His bedding was a bright ivory and sinfully fluffy. Jai imagined that she was sleeping on clouds. It was heavenly.
Sloan's bed sat about twelve feet straight across from the bedroom window. On this particular morning the sun tapped Jai softly on her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead as she woke up. There was no better greeting. Jai raised up and stretched out. She yawned, looked around the room, and smiled. She could hear Sloan's voice chattering about in the kitchen. Jai got up out of bed and followed his voice.
She walked, bare naked into the kitchen. With any other man she would have worn a robe or something. A T-shirt at least. But with Sloan, nothing like that mattered anymore. He made her comfortable in the skin she was in.
When Sloan saw Jai coming he immediately began to end his conversation.
jai lipped the words “good morning” as Sloan stayed on the phone wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. He winked at her.
“Yes. Yes, next weekend. Yes, I'll be there. Um hm. Love you, too, Ma,” Sloan said as he hung up the phone and walked over to Jai. “Good morning to you, beautiful.”
“Hey,” Jai said with a curious look on her face. “Talking to your mom on the phone, huh?”
“Yep,” Sloan said, without making eye contact with Jai.
“Going to visit your mom and dad next weekend, huh?” Jai asked.
“Yep,” Sloan said, running his index finger down her nose.
“A drive to Columbus. That sounds fun,” Jai said, obviously hinting around.
“You want some juice?” Sloan asked, quickly changing the subject.
“Sure. So exactly how long does it take you to drive to Columbus?” Jai said, taking the conversation right back where she wanted it.
“Not long. A couple of hours or so.” Sloan hurried with the juice and handed Jai a juice-sized glassful. “Do you want breakfast?”
“Nah, I'm gonna head out, go home, and get cleaned up. Rissa and I are going to catch a matinee down at the theater this afternoon.” Jai wanted to stay, but she and Rissa had just made up. She didn't want to bail on Rissa to be with Sloan.
“Well, I'm going to be very busy for the rest of the day and evening cleaning up some claim files that I brought home from work. I have a huge box I need to go through. I was hoping we could spend the entire morning together. Have breakfast together at least since I'll be out of commission for the rest of the day,” Sloan said, taking the glass of juice out of Jai's hand and sett
ing it down on the counter. “I'm hungry.”
“Umm, so you're hungry, are you?” Jai said as she accepted the kisses Sloan was putting on her neck. His lips were fire, burning through her soul. Her nipples stiffened and her clit began to tingle. She closed her eyes, now hoping that Sloan could put out the fire he had ignited in her. “I might have time to whip you up something real quick.”
Sloan smiled mischievously and seductively as he grabbed a handful of Jai's jungle love. He slowly began to play with her with his fingers. Jai, with her eyes still closed, let her head fall back and enjoyed the feeling.
Softly, Sloan began to enter his finger inside of Jai.
“Ohh,” Jai moaned, opening her eyes for a second only to be staring up at the ceiling.
“You like that?” Sloan whispered in her ear, nibbling on her lobe at the same time.
“Hell, yes,” Jai replied, letting out another moan.
After each of his fingers had been kissed by Jai's wet pussy lips, Sloan put his mouth where his hands were. His tongue thrust in and out and around Jai's pussy. Soon, Sloan's fingers wanted another piece of the action. His tongue and his fingers battled for a position in her warmth. The tempo picked up as Sloan's fingers and tongue took turns dipping inside of her.
“Oh, oh, Sloan. Oh,” Jai moaned unashamed.
Jai could hardly contain herself. The pleasure was becoming unbearable. Jai grabbed fistfuls of Sloan's black locks and tried to pull him away. She was going to explode. At the same time she threw her hips, thrusting her pussy against Sloan's tongue and tightening her walls around his fingers.
“Sloan, oh, Sloan!” Jai screamed. Tears welled up in her eyes. Never had something felt so good in her entire life. She didn't feel worthy of such ecstasy.
“Umm umm,” Sloan groaned as he buried his tongue in her. He gripped Jai's ass with his fingertips, pressing into her flesh as he held her as close as he could get her.
He knew he had been the first to ever give her pleasure like this. He carried the torch proudly and would accept his gold medal with conceit.
Sloan licked Jai's clit hard as if he were anxious for her creamy treat. Sloan felt Jai's trembles and knew that she was about to erupt. She began to grind herself harder against Sloan's tongue.
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