All That and a Bag of Chips

by Darrien Lee

  “We came over to get you and your girls. Where’s dude?”

  “I was with him for a minute in the courtyard until he saw some of his friends and disappeared. I guess he’ll page me or something when he gets a chance.”

  Joshua looked at Venice and said, “Don’t trip Venice. It’s homecoming.”

  “Whatever! Do ya’ll want to get something to eat?”

  “I do, but I don’t know about Galen.”

  “Let me go up to the room for a minute and I’ll be back down.”

  Joshua went back to staring at all the women. “I’ll be right here when you get back.”

  Venice laughed and said, “Don’t get into anything.”

  He grinned devilishly. “I’ll try.”

  People were everywhere. Venice and Monique waited for the elevator, but it was taking too long so Venice decided to take the stairs.

  “Monique, I’m going to take the stairs and stop by Chanelle’s room to see if she wants to hang with us. I’ll be up shortly. Okay?”

  “See ya! Wouldn’t want to be ya!”

  Venice knocked on Chanelle’s door, but didn’t get an answer. She must’ve still been hanging out with Spoonie. Venice took the stairs to her floor and when she entered the room, Monique was on the phone.

  “Here she is now. Do you want to holler at her?”

  “Is that Bryan?”

  Monique said, “It’s your rod!”

  Venice took the phone, “Hello?”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting ready to go get something to eat with Joshua. Do you want to come?”

  “Sure! Are you meeting him somewhere?”

  “He’s waiting for us in the lobby with Galen.”

  “I’m on my way. Hey! Are you going out tonight?”

  “I’m not sure. Are you?”

  “Some of my partners want to go to some party.”

  Venice told Craig to go ahead and hang with his boys if he wanted to. She told him that she was going to stay in that night.

  Craig asked, “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Craig. Now I’ll see you in a minute. Look, would it be okay if Joshua hangs with you tonight. I know Bryan and his boys are going to end up no telling where. Joshua would have more fun with you and your friends.”

  “Sure, Venice, but if you want to get together, I can tell them I already have plans.”

  “No, I want you to take Joshua out. You’ve been hanging with me all week.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you in a minute.”

  As she hung up, the phone rang again and Venice answered, “Hello?”

  It was Jarvis. He angrily asked, “Oh, you can’t answer my pages now?”

  Venice was speechless for a moment, but she was finally able to say, “I’m sorry, Jarvis. It was late.”

  “I don’t give a damn what time it was. It never stopped you from calling me back before. Where were you?”

  Venice became agitated. “Don’t ask me something you don’t want to know the answer to.”

  “It doesn’t matter anyway. I know where you were and what you were doing. I’m tired of this shit, Venice!”

  “Jarvis, don’t do this right now! You know how I feel about you. That’s all that matters.”

  “The hell it does! The first chance I get, I’m coming down there and getting this settled for once and for all.”

  Monique could see that Venice was getting upset. “Don’t come down here starting anything, Jarvis!”

  “See ya!”

  He slammed the phone down in her ear. Venice just stood there and quietly hung up the phone.

  Monique asked, “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Thanks for asking. Let’s go. I’m going to leave Chanelle a message on her phone so she’ll know where we are.”

  Monique said, “Joshua sure is cute!”

  Venice solemnly said, “Everybody’s cute to you, Monique.”

  They left the room to meet the guys downstairs.

  After meeting back up in the lobby, Craig leaned over to Monique and said, “Those guys won’t be bothering you or any other girl any more.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just know. Now forget about it.”

  Monique did feel reassured and decided not to inquire any further. Craig didn’t notice Venice’s mood was off, but Joshua picked up on it the moment she walked back into the lobby. He decided to be nosey later.

  Moments after slamming the phone down, Jarvis stormed out of his room. He had to get it out of his system. As much as he loved Venice, she was driving him completely out of his mind. He was dying a slow death knowing another man was putting his hands and everything else on his woman.

  When he pushed the door of his dorm open, he nearly knocked Lydia to the ground. Luckily, she was able to step aside at the right moment. Lydia was an attractive, dark chocolate sista with long, shapely legs. Her southern accent stood out among the majority of the students, as well as the microbraids that hung midway her back.

  “Oh! I’m sorry, Lydia. Are you okay?”

  “I think so. Where are you going in such a hurry?”

  Lydia shared a class with him and she was about the only female on campus who didn’t seem to be chasing him. They had spent some time together studying and working on class projects, but that was as far as it went.

  “I needed to get some air. Where are you headed?”

  “I was coming to see if you wanted to catch a movie or something.”

  “I don’t know, Lydia. I wouldn’t be much company right now. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  She put her hands on her hips and asked, “Who is she and what did she do?”

  Shoving his hands in his pockets, he answered, “It’s personal.”

  Locking arms with him, she said, “In that case you could use some cheering up, so let’s go and I won’t take no for an answer.”

  “Okay! Okay! You win this time.”

  They went to the movies, but Jarvis could not forget the heated argument he’d had earlier with Venice.

  Back on campus, he walked Lydia to her room.

  “You want to come in, Jarvis?”

  “Nah, I don’t think so. I’d better be getting back. Thanks for inviting me to the movies.”

  Lydia walked right up to him and pressed her body into his and said, “I won’t bite.”

  She took him by the hand and led him into her room.

  An hour later, Jarvis was sitting on the edge of the bed with his hands over his face. “Lydia…this should’ve never happened. I was angry and hurting and I let things go too far.”

  Pulling the sheets over her naked body, she said, “I’m not sorry. I like you, Jarvis, and I would like to get to know you even better.”

  He stood up and started getting dressed. Rubbing his hand over his short, wavy hair, he softly said, “I’m in love with someone else, Lydia. I don’t want to hurt you, but this could never happen again.”

  “If she really loved you, she wouldn’t have hurt you like this.”

  Jarvis came over, sat on her bed, and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re a good friend, Lydia, and I want to keep it that way. Just friends. Okay?”

  “What’s so special about her? You have her name tattooed on your arm and still she hurts you.”

  “We’ve been together for almost four years and we have a unique past. That’s all I can tell you because it’s personal. I hope you can respect that, Lydia. You’re a beautiful, desirable woman and I hope you can understand.”

  Hugging him, she said, “She’s a lucky woman.”

  “I’m a lucky man. Thanks for being there for me. I want to apologize for what happened.”

  “No harm done. Jarvis, I just wish things could be different, but I admire the love you have for her. I hope she knows it.”

  “Believe it or not, she does. I’d better go. I’ll see you in class.”

  “Take care, Jarvis.”

  After lunch, the guys dropped the girls back off at the dorm. V
enice was exhausted and wanted a nap. Before she went upstairs, Joshua asked her to come talk with him. They walked around outside and Joshua said, “So what did Jarvis say to you that has you so shook up?”

  “You know me too well, Joshua.” She paused for a moment as they sat on a bench. “Jarvis is pissed off because I didn’t return his two a.m. page the other night. Hell, I was with Craig! Now he’s threatening to come down here and settle things. I just don’t know if he’s serious or not.”

  “Niecy, don’t worry about Jarvis. He’s just going through Venice rehab and he can’t handle it. Give him a few days to cool off. He won’t come down here, so quit stressing over it. Okay?”

  Venice felt slightly reassured and embraced him. “Thanks, Josh.”

  He walked her back to her room and they went their separate ways. She was glad he’d hit it off with Craig. They should have a lot of fun that night. Venice called Bryan and talked to him for a while, then fell asleep. Monique went walking around with their friends from across the hall.

  Venice woke up to an empty room. She looked at her watch and saw that it was about six o’clock. She decided to get the clothes out that she was wearing to the parade in the morning. Chanelle phoned to say that she was back over at Spoonie’s uncle’s house. He was having a homecoming cookout and she called to invite Monique and Venice.

  “Hey, girl! What are you doing?”

  “Trying to pick out something to wear in the a.m.”

  “Where’s Joshua?”

  “He’s somewhere with Galen and Craig. They’re supposed to be going to some party tonight.”

  “Are you going to come over?”

  “I don’t have anything else to do. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  Chanelle seemed happy that her buddy was coming over.

  Venice socialized a while with Chanelle and her new friends. Monique never showed up at the cookout. Venice guessed she found something better to do. Once eleven-thirty rolled around, Venice told Chanelle that she was heading back to the room. Chanelle walked her to the car and thanked her for hanging out with them. Venice told Chanelle that Spoonie’s uncle was really nice.

  “Chanelle, tell Spoonie’s uncle thanks for inviting me.”

  “You bet, girl. I’ll see you later. Bye.”

  When she got back to the dorm, Monique had a roomful of zoids playing spades and drinking liquor.

  Monique hollered, “Hey, roomy! You want in?”

  “Yeah, I’ll take next game.”

  Tara from across the hall asked, “Do you want to partner up?”

  “Yeah, give me a glass of that. What are ya’ll drinking?”

  Monique said, “It’s the bomb, dogg!”

  Venice took a sip and said, “Damn, ya’ll are a bunch of winos.”

  Venice went ahead and joined in playing cards with her friends. It wasn’t long before all of them were feeling real good.

  Monique asked, “So Venice, where’s your rod tonight?”

  “He took Joshua to some party. Why?”

  Monique said, “It’s just odd for you to be hanging with us.”

  “Hell! Ya’ll act like I’m whipped or something.”

  Monique threw her card on the table and said, “Well, aren’t you. I mean you’ve got the best of both worlds. You’re getting sexed on a regular basis here and got another brotha tapping that ass out of town. Venice, you’re a freak!”

  They all laughed and Tara said, “She’s right, Venice.” Tara went over and picked up the prom picture of Venice and Jarvis. “And both of the brothas are fine as hell! I would be satisfied with either of one of them and this hoe’s got both of them. Damn! Life ain’t fair!”

  Venice was buzzing. “Ya’ll are crazy.”

  Monique said, “Hoe, you know you love that shit. Who wouldn’t? I’m having a hard enough time trying to hang with the one man I kind of like.”

  Tara said, “Monique, your problem is that you give it up on the first date.”

  They all laughed again and Monique said, “Don’t hate the playa! Hate the game!”

  The women played cards and got their drink on the rest of the night.

  Twenty-Four

  It was game day and Venice still hadn’t heard from Jarvis. She thought for sure he would’ve called by then. So much for thinking, but she still loved him anyway.

  The parade was huge and colorful. Venice knew Crimson would’ve enjoyed it. She vowed that the following year, Crimson was definitely coming. The bands battled each other for trophies and several frats and sorors competed in the annual step show. Venice, Monique, and the girls walked around looking at items in different vendor booths. It looked like a flea market with T-shirts over here and African artifacts over there.

  Good cooking filled the air. Everyone was excited and fired up for the big game. Venice and Monique bought several pieces of jewelry for the game. They walked around for a while longer talking to different guys; regulars and alumni. Venice even met an alumni who played pro ball with Bryan. She told him where Bryan was staying and exchanged hotel information for her to pass on to her dear brother. Craig and Joshua were nowhere to be found and she hadn’t heard from them yet.

  Later, Venice met Bryan in the hotel lobby and gave him the tickets and his ex-teammate’s phone number. He was wearing his fraternity T-shirt and hat.

  When he saw her, he gave her a big hug. “Thanks, baby girl, for getting the tickets for me. Hey! You look like your hips have spread a little. What are you doing down here?”

  “You are so silly! I’m the same size I was when I left home. You’re just trying to make me paranoid.”

  “I’m just teasing you. What are you getting ready to do?”

  “Nothing much. I came to see if Joshua wants to hang out. Have you seen him today?”

  “Not this morning, but I heard him coming in around three a.m. I think they had a good time. Why?”

  “I asked Craig to take Joshua out with him last night. Some friend of his was having a private party. I guess that means he had a good time.”

  “Girl, let them have their fun. You need to have your fun, too. I’ll go check on him. I have his ticket anyway.”

  “Give it here. I’ll go check on him. I’ll see you later.”

  “Look Venice, here’s you some extra cash. I gave Galen some last night. It’s just a little something so you can enjoy the weekend.”

  “Thanks, B. I really appreciate it.”

  Venice gave him a hug and told him that she would call him later.

  When she got back upstairs, she knocked on Joshua’s door. After a few minutes, the door opened and he softly said, “Hey, Niecy, what’s up?”

  “Look at your drunk ass! What did ya’ll do last night?”

  Joshua slowly walked back over to the bed and fell across it. “Quit talking so loud! Damn!”

  Venice hit him and said, “Joshua! Get up! I thought you were going to hang with me today. You look like shit!”

  “Leave me alone, Momma! Damn!”

  Venice picked up his clothes off the floor. “What did ya’ll do last night?”

  “Girl, mind your business. Your boy’s cool! I had a ball!”

  “You need a shower. It’s funky in here.”

  Joshua slowly sat up. “Niecy, girl, what would I do without you.”

  “I thought you were going to go look at the apartment with me.”

  “I am. Now get out of here so I can get my shower.”

  “I’m not leaving, I’m waiting right here. You don’t have nothing I ain’t seen before.”

  As Joshua entered the bathroom, he asked, “What time are you picking me up for the game?”

  “Around five-thirty. That gives us three and a half hours to hang out.”

  “It’s not going to take that long, is it? I want to lay back down before the game.”

  “Nobody told you to drink like a fish last night.”

  “Okay, girl. I’ll be out in a second.”

  Venice went over to him and gave him
a hug and kiss. “I’m glad you had fun.”

  He smiled and popped her with a towel as she ran across the room. She looked down at the floor and said, “Jarvis is still pissed at me.”

  “He’ll get over it. I told you that he’s just blowing off steam.”

  Venice sat down on the bed and said, “All because I didn’t return his two a.m. page. Hell! I was over at Craig’s house and I wasn’t about to disrespect him like that.”

  “I understand, but you know how Jarvis is, Venice. He’s having a hard time dealing with this relationship you’re involved in. He’ll come around. Give him some more time to cool off.”

  “Do you think he’s messing around with somebody up there?”

  “I don’t know. The way he’s acting toward you, it doesn’t seem like it. But, we as men feel like we can do things that women can’t do. I know it’s an ignorant statement, but that’s how we think. This is hard for Jarvis to picture you moaning and groaning with another nigga.”

  Venice smiled. “You’re crazy! It would be hard for me to think of him with some chick, too, even though I’m kicking it with Craig. This is extremely hard, Joshua.”

  “I realize that. Now let me get my shower and we’ll talk some more.”

  They went and looked at the apartment and put their deposit down. Venice knew Joshua was still hung over so she took him back to the hotel so he could get some sleep before the game. After she dropped him off, she opened her purse and realized Bryan had paid her fifty dollars for the tickets and an extra hundred and fifty dollars for a gift. Bryan always had a giving heart. He was very successful in the NFL and as a sports agent and he had no problem sharing it with his family and friends.

  The cash was right on time. Venice headed for the mall to get her nails done. It was about two-thirty and she still hadn’t heard from Craig since the day before. However, she was not about to call. Venice got her nails done and decided to look for something new to wear when she went out that night. Her cell phone rang and it was him.

  He asked, “Hello, Venice. Are you busy?”

  Sarcastically, she said, “Sort of. What’s up?”

  Craig told her that they had partied a little too much and he was just waking up. He went on to tell her that he was sick with a hangover and needed her to pick up a few things, if she didn’t mind. He gave her a list of items.