All That and a Bag of Chips

by Darrien Lee

  “You don’t want to know. I wanted to get here before it started snowing.”

  She made her way through town and pulled into the driveway at the back of her house. They both got out and stretched from being in the car so long.

  Venice said, “I’m so tired.”

  About that time, Crimson ran out of the house. She jumped up in Craig’s arms, hugging him. He said, “Hey, squirt!”

  She jumped down, ran around the car, and jumped up on Venice, nearly knocking her down.

  “Hey, Auntie! What did you bring me?”

  Bryan came out and hollered, “Crimson! Get your little tail back in this house! You don’t have on a coat! Hey, Craig. Hey, Venice.”

  Venice was trying to walk with Crimson still in her arms and said, “Hey, Bryan.”

  She hurried to get Crimson in the house. When she entered the house, she could smell the aroma of some good home cooking. Her mother met her at the door and gave her a big hug and kiss. “How’s my baby? I’m glad you finally got here. Some snowy weather might be moving in. Dinner’s almost ready and I know you’re hungry. Where’s Craig?”

  “Outside with Bryan. We heard about the snow on the radio. Where are Galen and Sidney?”

  Her mother was taking something out of the oven. “They’ve gone shopping or something.”

  Venice took her jacket off and hung it in the hallway. “Where’s Daddy?”

  “He’s playing cards with some of his friends. He’ll be home soon.”

  Craig and Bryan entered with the luggage. Venice’s mom greeted Craig. “Thanks for bringing our baby home.”

  “I didn’t mind, Mrs. Taylor. It was my pleasure.”

  “Okay! Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes.”

  Bryan said, “Ma, I have to make a run. Craig, you can ride if you want to.”

  “Thanks, Bryan. I believe I will.”

  Before leaving, Craig gave Venice a small peck on the lips.

  A little while later, Venice covered a sleeping Crimson up on the sofa and said, “Momma, I’m going up to take a bath. Crimson is asleep on the sofa.”

  Her mom told her to go ahead. She was going into the den to sit down anyway. Venice climbed the stairs, still a little sore from the past fiery nights with Craig. She put her bags in her room and started running the bath water. She laid out the clothes she was changing into and finally eased into the hot, sudsy water. As she laid there, she realized this would possibly be her last few nights with Craig before he returned to Dawson. She closed her eyes and laid back to soothe her sore muscles. A few minutes later, she heard Bryan’s voice coming from downstairs. She knew they were back and Bryan was growling that he was ready to eat.

  She heard her mother say, “Ya’ll go ahead and fix your plate. Venice, dinner’s ready!” Venice hollered back, “I’ll be down in a minute!”

  Venice closed her eyes and laid her head back on the tub. A few seconds later she was startled by familiar hands stroking her shoulders. Venice was surprised to turn and see Craig grinning.

  “What are you doing in here? My mom’s going to kill you!”

  Craig squatted down and put his hand over in the hot water to caress her thigh. “I don’t think so. She’s downstairs setting the table. I could probably get some and be back downstairs before anybody missed me.”

  “You don’t know my mom! Hand me the towel, please.”

  “Why are you trying to cover yourself? You don’t have anything I haven’t already seen.” She stepped out of the tub, wrapped her body in the towel, and let the water out. She went to the door and peeped out to see if anyone was in the hall. She ran across the hall to her room.

  She told Craig through the crack in her door, “Go back downstairs before somebody comes looking for you.”

  He tried to push her door open and said, “Not before I get a kiss.”

  Venice held the door open and laughed. “No, Craig. Now go on.”

  “Not until I get some sugar.”

  Venice’s mother hollered again, “Venice, Craig, dinner’s ready!!”

  In unison, they replied, “Okay!”

  Venice laughingly whispered, “Quit playing, Craig.”

  He finally pushed his way into her room and closed the door behind him, locking it. Venice backed up and said, “You’re crazy!”

  Craig masked a devilish grin as he stalked toward her. “Come here, Venice.”

  She backed up and tumbled onto her bed. Craig immediately crawled on top of her and covered her lips with his. He prodded her mouth with his tongue and was instantly drugged by her taste. He ran his hand up her thighs and under her towel. She arched her body into him and nuzzled her face into his neck. All this was going on while her family was downstairs. She could feel that he was aroused as she brushed her naked body against him. He lowered his gaze and proudly admired her beauty.

  “Lord have mercy, girl.”

  “We have to stop, Craig.”

  He kissed her again and moaned, “Uh-uh.”

  Breathless, she said, “Craig, baby, you…damn…my God!”

  He finally stopped, then wrapped her back up in the towel and said, “Now see what you did to me.”

  Sitting upon the bed, he covered his face as he tried to talk his desire down. He laughed, saying, “It’s not funny, Venice.”

  “You brought it upon yourself. Sorry for you, baby.”

  “I’ll get you back later, so rest up.”

  With that statement, he closed the door behind him, leaving her alone. Venice fell back on the bed tingling from head to toe.

  About fifteen minutes later, Venice joined her family downstairs for dinner. When she entered the room, she was shocked to see Joshua and Jarvis sitting at the table with her family having dinner. She stopped in her tracks, stunned.

  Joshua jumped up and said, “Hey! There’s my girl!”

  He came over and gave her a big hug and kiss.

  Venice whispered, “I’m going to kill you.”

  “It wasn’t my idea.”

  She went around the table to greet her other man.

  “Hi, Jarvis.”

  He stood up and unexpectedly gave her a hug and kiss right on the lips.

  “Hello, Niecy.”

  She quickly glanced over at Craig, who was ignoring them, and said, “Has everyone been introduced?”

  Bryan said, “Yeah, girl! Everybody knows everybody.”

  Bryan then gave her an I bet you didn’t expect to have to deal with this now look.

  Her mother noticed the tension and said, “Venice, sit down and eat.”

  “Yes Ma’am.”

  She sat down next to her mother and they talked about the upcoming Christmas holiday. She looked over at Jarvis, who winked at her and she knew he was going to be cool. Especially with the awkward situation facing them.

  The Taylor house was beautifully decorated with lights and a huge Christmas tree in the living room with lots of presents under the tree. The stairs had garland and red bows going all the way up the stairwell. It was beautiful and good to be home. It wasn’t long after they began eating when Sidney and Galen returned. While Galen was saying hello to Craig, Venice went upstairs with Sidney.

  Venice asked, “Sidney, can you believe both of them are sitting downstairs in my momma’s kitchen?”

  “I figured they would be heading over here. We ran into them at the mall. Your man was asking Galen when you were coming in. Venice, you knew it was eventually going to happen. What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea. Craig is going to be here until Saturday. Jarvis will be here for three weeks. I’m glad he didn’t show out in front of Craig.”

  Sidney crawled up on the bed and said, “Well, you’ve got your hands full. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes for nothing. I don’t know how you’re going to get out of this. You better get on back down there before they kill each other. Good luck.”

  Venice slowly got up and said, “You’re no help.”

  “Sorry for you, sis. Tell
your mom that I’ll get something to eat when I wake up.”

  “Okay, do you want me to get you something to drink?”

  “No thanks.”

  After dinner, Bryan invited Joshua and Jarvis to come play ball with them at Gator’s house. Venice peeped out to see that Craig seemed to have no problem being in the same company with Jarvis. She hoped Bryan and Galen would make sure everything remained cool.

  The evening went on without any problems. Mr. Taylor finally came home for dinner. Bryan had called Gator to confirm they had enough people for the pick-up basketball game. Venice thought Craig would be too tired to play, but the mention of basketball brought instant energy to him. He went upstairs to change.

  Venice met him in the hall and asked, “Are you cool with this? I didn’t know Jarvis was coming over.”

  Craig smiled and said, “I’m cool, baby. Don’t get stressed out over this. As long as he’s cool, I’ll be cool. I’ll see you later.”

  After the men left for Gator’s house, Venice decided to go visit Chanelle to bring her up to speed on the current events that had her head spinning. She was still stunned from the boldness of Jarvis kissing her in front of Craig. She always knew he went after what he wanted and she also knew she wouldn’t be any exception.

  Once the two got together, they caught up on all the activities from the past hours and days. Chanelle was laughing and told her, “Girl! This is it! You know Craig is not going to let you out of his sight. Jarvis is going to try to get you to ditch Craig so he can hook up with you. This is going to be buck wild. What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea. You should’ve seen me, girl. When I walked into the kitchen and saw them sitting there, I froze. Then Jarvis stood up and kissed me on the mouth right in front of Craig. You know that’s his way of staking his claim. He always does that when some man is giving me too much attention.”

  “What did Craig do?”

  “I don’t know. I stopped breathing for a moment and just sat down next to Momma and started eating.”

  They laughed together for a few hours. Then, Venice asked Chanelle if she would go with her to take Crimson to the movies. Chanelle was happy to get out of the house with her best friend. They went to eat after the movies and did a little shopping to help pass the time away. After a few hours, Venice wondered how the guys were getting along. She hadn’t heard from any of them, so it must be going smooth.

  Venice was feeling a little tired, so she dropped Chanelle off at home and told her that she’d see her later.

  Crimson was talking a mile a minute, telling Venice all about what Santa Claus was bringing her. Venice listened to her attentively and told her she had better be good so she would get what she asked for. Once back at the Taylor home, the guys were still gone. When she got inside, she called Sinclair to see if it was okay if Crimson spent the night. Sinclair told her it was okay with her and to let Bryan know. When she hung up the phone, her mother was coming back in the door from visiting her neighbor across the street. Venice explained to her that she was going to keep Crimson with her since it was late. Venice gave her dad a kiss and went upstairs to put Crimson to bed.

  Later, Venice went and had a woman-to-woman talk with Sidney. She wanted to know when Sidney knew Galen was the one for her. Sidney explained that at first, Galen was just the average immature freshman but over the course of a summer, he’d started to grow on her.

  “Look, Venice, knowing if Craig or Jarvis is the right one is not something you try to figure out. It’s a feeling different from any other feeling you’ve ever felt. You’ll know when the time is right. Quit stressing about it and just let nature take its course. It’s obvious they’re both crazy about you. I see it as a win-win situation, either way it goes.”

  “I guess you’re right, Sidney. I just hope neither of them says the wrong thing. I would hate for them to get into fight over me.”

  Venice looked at her watch and said, “Well…there’s no telling what time they’ll get back from Gator’s house. I’m going downstairs to watch TV with Daddy. Do you want me to get you anything?”

  “If you don’t mind, fix me a ham sandwich.”

  Venice got up and said, “I’ll be back in a second.”

  Sidney laid back on the pillows, wishing her new sister-in-law luck. She was going to need it.

  Thirty-Seven

  Gator had a small indoor court at his huge mansion on the outskirts of town. He had done very well playing in the NFL and provided well for his wife and two small children. Venice was their baby-sitter before she went off to college. The fellows had played several games before they decided to sit down and relax. They talked about their NFL days and then they started teasing Galen about becoming a husband and Daddy.

  Gator, being who he was, slipped and said, “I don’t know what you’re laughing at, Jarvis. You were just in Galen’s shoes a few months ago.”

  As soon as he said it, everyone realized he shouldn’t have brought it up. He forgot Craig was dating Venice now. Bryan said, “Damn, Gator!”

  “What?”

  It was silent for a moment, then Jarvis said, “You’re right and if I had it my way, we we’d still be married.”

  Galen glanced over at Craig, who didn’t show any expression as he listened to Jarvis.

  Gator then asked, “Do you want her back?”

  Bryan and Galen in unison said, “Gator!”

  Bryan stood up and said, “Ya’ll going to play ball or sit around and gossip like some old ladies?”

  Gator said, “No, let the man answer.”

  Jarvis said, “Hell yeah, I want Venice back because I still love her and as far as I’m concerned, she’s still my wife.” Jarvis got up and said, “Craig, I’m just expressing the way I feel.”

  Craig responded, “I understand.”

  Gator was impressed with Jarvis’ honesty. So was everyone else. They played a few more games, then Bryan looked at his watch and said, “We’d better get back to the house. I left Crimson over there and I know Sinclair is going to trip since I haven’t called.”

  Gator guffawed. “That’s right. I forgot Sinclair has you on a curfew.”

  Bryan got up and threw a towel at Gator. “Forget you, man! I’m the boss in my house!”

  “Yeah right. Hey, thanks for the game. If ya’ll aren’t doing anything tomorrow, come back so we can get a rematch.”

  When they got in the car, Bryan called Sinclair and told her that he’d be home shortly. Sinclair told him that Venice had already put Crimson to bed. Bryan talked a minute or two longer and hung up. It was quiet in the car and once he got back to the Taylor home, everybody said their goodnights.

  Galen asked Joshua and Jarvis if they wanted to come in and get something to drink. They agreed and followed him into the house. Everyone was in the den watching TV and Venice was still asleep on the sofa. Mrs. Taylor gathered her things and told them she’d see them in the morning. She came over and woke Venice so Galen and the guys could sit down.

  Galen said, “I’m going to run up and check on Sidney and take a shower.”

  Craig didn’t want to sit down since he was sweaty.

  Mrs. Taylor said, “Craig, baby, you can go take your shower in the bathroom down the hall.”

  He thanked her and she told Venice to go get him some towels.

  Venice sluggishly said, “Yes, Ma’am.”

  When she walked past Joshua, he put his arm around her neck and said, “Wake up, girl!”

  She pushed away from him and said, “Stop, Josh!”

  Joshua acted like he was going to chase her. Craig had already walked down the hallway to his room. When Venice passed Jarvis, he pinned her against the wall outside the den, touched her intimately, and whispered, “Give me some sugar, Niecy.”

  “Jarvis, stop and move!”

  “Oh, you’re gonna treat me like that since your little boyfriend is here. That’s cool. I’ll take care of you later.”

  Mr. Taylor yelled, “Jarvis!”

&n
bsp; “I’m cool, Pops. I’m just playing with her.”

  Venice finally pushed past him, still feeling the heat from his touch on her lower body. Once he returned to the den, Mr. Taylor searched the room for Craig, then said, “Jarvis, don’t you start no shit!”

  “Pops, you know me.”

  “You’re right. I know you. I mean what I said!”

  “Okay. I’ll be cool.”

  “You’d better. Craig’s a nice kid, whether you want to believe it or not.”

  Craig waited on an exhausted Venice down the hall at the linen closet. She handed him the towels and said, “If you need anything else, I’ll be in the den.”

  “Thanks, baby. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  “Okay.”

  She just walked back down the hall dragging her feet in sleepiness. When Venice got back to the den, her father was getting up to go to bed. He said, “Baby, I’ll see you in the morning.” He gave her a kiss and said, “All right, fellows, ya’ll better behave yourself in here. Don’t make me have to put a cap in ya’ll asses. Jarvis, remember what I said and Joshua, keep an eye on him.”

  “All right Pops. I’ll make sure everyone stays cool.”

  “Thanks. Tell Galen to make sure he turns the TV off when ya’ll are done.”

  Venice laid back down on the sofa and pulled the blanket over her. A few moments later, Galen came back down and told Venice to go to bed.

  “Leave me alone, Galen.”

  Jarvis walked across the room and moved Venice’s feet so he could sit down next to her. He ran his hand under the blanket and over her hips. She squirmed and said, “Jarvis.”

  He withdrew his hand and asked, “What? Are you nervous? You normally like me touching you. You don’t have to say anything. Pops threatened me so I have to be a good boy.”