by Nicole Falls
“I feel like you’re about to tell me to get my head in the game in a minute.”
“You need to.”
I sighed and looked over to where Marni and Fred were instructing their bartenders and servers before the doors opened. Cade was right, not about my feelings about Jacob because those were...complicated. But about taking this night for what it was, a stress-free night out that could end up with me making a new friend at the very least.
“Aight, coach. Put me in. I’m ready to play.”
“That’s my girl!” Cadence yelled, “Marni! Send in the clowns!”
“So you’re a Warriors fan?”
“God no.”
“But you’re wearing a Curry shirsey.”
*ding*
The buzzer for us to switch partners sounded just in time. This was the sixth dude in a row to whom I’d had to explain my shirt. So much for it being a conversation starter. Note to self: never let Geoff have a hand in picking out an outfit for me ever again. Eight up, eight down. This whole speed-dating thing was becoming more of an exercise in patience and less of the fun, flirty time I’d initially thought it would be. I hadn’t anticipated it being some amazing love connection, but couldn’t there be at least one dude here who didn’t make watching paint dry sound more appealing than this night had been so far?
I pulled out my phone and texted Cadence. Initially she and I were seated at tables close to one another, but somehow I lost track of her.
Where are you? Found anyone to become a brother husband to G, yet?
Bathroom. And no, but I found your future husband. -C. Melody
In here? Biiiiiiiiiih you a lie.
Bet. Just make sure Junior is off the teat before you set the wedding date. It could be real awkward for your Matron of Honor to be nursing while you say I do. -C. Melody
I laughed and looked up as I felt someone approaching the table. My gaze met the kindest eyes I’d seen in quite some time. Those warm brown eyes were shielded by stylish frames and embedded on a handsome dark brown face with cheekbones that looked like they were sculpted by one of those old white dudes from the Renaissance. Homie was fine as every available fuck. Sheesh. He sat down and extended a hand toward my unencumbered hand. As soon as our fingers connected, a frisson of energy traveled through me.
“Hi, Celena. I’m Karim, nice to meet you.”
“Me too. I...um, I mean, nice to meet you, too. Wait...how did you know my name?”
I’d peeped Celena long before her homegirl hemmed me up, stopping me from approaching my next “date”. I’d been meaning to check out my homeboy Fred’s spot for a few months since I moved back to town, but had been too busy getting my business off the ground to indulge. I decided to be spontaneous and just drop by which ended up with me being roped into this speed-dating circus. Fred’s girl was freaking out because a few of the men who signed up never actually showed to the event, so I got drafted. My first “date” didn’t stop speaking to let me get a word in edgewise, so while she ran her mouth I took the time to check out the rest of the chicks in the room.
Most of them were dolled up, painted on jeans, stilettos and pink bedazzled sports gear. I hadn’t seen this many rhinestones since my little cousin convinced me to let her decorate my letter jacket when I was back in high school. I had no idea she’d tackle it with a bedazzler and have my shit looking like I was an extra in a Liberace video. The only two women in the room who didn’t look like they were looking for their future ex-husbands were who I now knew to be Cadence and Celena. Even dressed casually, Celena had something about her that made me want to get to know her. She was bad as fuck – smooth sable colored skin, petite and proportionate. But something else about her kept drawing my attention her way.
After a few more women whose eyes lit up when I said I owned my business, but dimmed when I went into the specifics of what I did, I was ready to call it quits. I ended up at Cadence’s table and was pretty taken aback that a woman that far along in her pregnancy would be at a singles event. Deciding to be polite, I sat at the table and before I could even get my name out in introduction Cadence cut me off.
“I’m not really here for dating so any thoughts you had of bagging some pregnant pussy tonight? Cancel them.”
The shock I felt from her statement must have showed on my face because she immediately doubled over in laughter. Soon I joined her in laughter and from there the ice was broken. We spent the time shooting the shit about a little bit of everything, her eyes lighting up when I mentioned my business. She said I should talk to her homegirl who was there tonight and worked in marketing about getting some advertising campaigns brewing. She pointed her out, told me her name and suggested – in a way that sounded more like a demand – that I make my way over to Celena’s table when it was time for the next switch.
I realized that I hadn’t answered her question and Celena was looking at me expectantly.
“Oh, your homegirl told me. We were talking about my business and she said that you and I should link since you work on local business ad campaigns at your agency.”
“Oh. Yeah. I don’t have any business cards with me, but if you have one to spare we can set up some time to talk next week...”
Was that a hint of disappointment I heard in her voice?
“We can talk about that at another time, I’d rather discuss your shirt. How many times have you had to explain that tonight?”
She rolled her eyes, while chuckling briefly. “My friend’s husband thought it’d be a good joke, but…wait, you get it though? You don’t think it’s a Steph Curry...ah, ummm...shit, I mean shoot. I’m tryna remember what this guy called it earlier.”
“A shirsey?”
“That’s it! He said he was glad to see a fellow fan in a shirsey and I had to stop him in his tracks.”
“So are you a Steph Curry hater or LeBron fan?”
“Neither, I am a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, been that way since birth, gonna be that way till I die. I’m loyal like that. Wardell is a talented player and all but...” she trailed off, gesturing to the shirt.
“They blew a three to one lead.”
“Seventy-three and nine, being hailed as the greatest basketball squad in modern history, and still managed to blow a three to one lead. I’ll never get over it. And it helped that my team was the one that managed to unseat them. Victory was never sweeter.”
While she was talking, her hands moved animatedly and a look of supreme joy graced her face. She managed to become even badder just talkin’ shit about sports. Her passion was evident and if I let her, she would probably go on and on.
“So you from Cleveland?”
“Nope, from this area. Born and raised about thirty minutes west of the city.”
“So how’d you become a lifelong Cavs fan?”
“My daddy is from Cleveland. I grew up watching a lotta sports with him and adopted his teams as my teams. Despite the...unique track records of said teams.”
“Unique is one way to put it.”
Her eyes danced over the NBA snapback I was wearing and she laughed.
“Simmer down Mr. my team hasn’t reigned since the nineties. I think you know a little something about unique records as well.”
“Touché.”
The bell sounded signaling that it was time for us to switch tables and Celena let out a noise of disgust.
“Over it?” I asked, still remaining seated at her table as folks shuffled onto the next date around us.
“Yeah. The minute I’m having a decent convo the time flies right by, but when Mr. Shirsey was at my table time moved slower than a sloth smoking a blunt. I just...ugh!”
I wasn’t necessarily ready to end our conversation and knew that since Marni was a stickler for the rules it’d be nearly impossible for us to keep talking and ignoring everyone else at the event.
“You wanna get outta here and continue our conversation?”
“I...um. Okay, so yes, but I can’t?”
“Are you asking or t
elling me?”
“Telling?”
I laughed at her unsure tone. I rose from the table, retrieving my wallet to pass her a business card.
“I just thought I caught a vibe. Thought we could get to know each other a little more over a latte at Perk. No harm, no foul. Give me a call when you wanna talk shop, I can definitely use your services. Enjoy the rest of your night.”
“You, too.”
I walked over to where Fred and Marni were standing, observing the event and let them know I was leaving.
“You can’t leave yet. The event still has...” Marni said, while looking at her watch, “oh there’s only fifteen minutes left, I guess you can go.”
“Thanks for your permission, Mar,” I said, embracing her in quick hug. I dapped Fred up and was on my way out of the door when I felt a soft hand at my elbow.
“Is it too late to cash in that coffee rain check?”
“There is no way in hell you can prefer Fresh Prince over Martin, Karim! Come on...”
We had been in Perk for nearly ninety minutes, talking about everything from sports to the greatest black TV shows of the 90s. Conversation flowed easily and as we drifted from topic to topic. I found myself becoming more attracted to Celena with each word that fell out of her mouth.
“Name an episode of Martin that was more iconic than the ‘why don’t he want me man?!’ episode of Fresh Prince? I’ll wait…”
“Chilligan’s Island. The New Jack City parody. The Biggie episode. FOREVER SHENENEH! Come on, man. I can go on and on…”
“So we’ll agree to disagree.”
“Or you can agree that I’m right,” Celena said, sticking her tongue between her teeth.
That childish action spurred some thoughts in my mind that were the furthest from childish. I’d been trying to not come on too strong because she seemed a little skittish, but she made it hard for me not to want to go there with her. I looked around the coffee shop to see employees wiping down tables and upending chairs. We were the last customers in the joint and despite them not being officially closed for about half an hour, I didn’t wanna be the reason their end of night routine was held up.
“So I guess we should call it one.”
Celena quickly glanced around the cafe and noticed we were the only ones left in the coffee shop who weren’t workers.
“Yeah, I guess so,” she said pulling out her phone, “Let me get a Lyft.”
“No need for that, I can drive you home.”
“I don’t want you to go out of your way. I’m all the way on the East side.”
“It’s not out of my way at all. I am on the East side, seventy-seventh and Warren, to be exact. If you’re feeling a way about accepting a ride from a stranger, Fred and Marni can vouch for me. I’ve known Fred since we were in first grade. They can tell you I’m not gonna drive you to a secluded area and use your bones for a bonfire.”
“No seriously, I don’t want to put you out,” she said, peering at her phone, “There’s like twenty cars less than a minute away.”
“It’s not putting me out if I offer. Come on, my car is in the lot behind Imbibe. We can stop in there on the way. Both Fred and Marni will tell you that I’m not gonna be a bugaboo. Just want to make sure you get home safely. My mother raised a gentleman and she’d kill me if I didn’t see you to your door after a date.”
Celena bristled slightly at those words, mumbling under her breath.
“Beg pardon?”
“Date?”
“An unconventional start, but you woman me man, I paid for your latte, so yep. A date. One that was going fairly well until you refused to let me ensure your safety at night’s end. Now come on, woman!”
She laughed as I grabbed her phone, tucking it into her pocket and linking our hands together, escorting her out of Perk. She had drifted to the side of the sidewalk closer to traffic so I was purposeful in shifting her to the right; placing myself closest to the street as we walked.
“Is your thing for cars something we need to get checked out, Karim?” Celena asked, a hint of humor in her tone.
“Beg pardon?”
“On our way here you maneuvered so you were closest to the street and you just did so now. I know you said cars were your livelihood, but should I also be looking into getting you on My Strange Addiction?”
“I have no idea what that is, but no. My mother always told me to make sure the lady is never in danger of traffic. It’s a protection thing.”
“You sure do bring up your mama a lot. Are you a mama’s boy?” Celena teased.
“Growing up, she and my grandparents were all I had, so…”
We walked a few blocks in silence, hands still linked. Despite her skittish behavior earlier, Celena had yet to disengage from me. A fact that, if I was being completely honest, kinda had me gassed. It had been quite some time since a woman had my full attention this soon, off of nothing more than conversation. It helped that she was also bad as hell, so we had an underlying spark of chemistry that was undeniable.
“Well what about now?” she asked, as we approached the crosswalk at a red light, “There’s traffic all around. How are you supposed to protect me?”
I quickly moved from her left side, to stand directly in front of her, arms wrapping around her shoulders. I heard her quick intake of breath as I pulled her flush against me.
Looking down, I saw that Celena’s lips were slightly parted as if she was going to say something, but thought better of it. Instead of pulling out of my embrace as I expected, she stiffened momentarily before relaxing into it, leaning forward to rest her head on my chest. After a few moments, she looked up—our eyes connecting and exchanging an energy more meaningful than any dialogue we’d had all night.
Slowly, I brought my hand up to cup her chin, tilting her face toward me. I wanted to give her a chance to deny what I thought I was seeing in her eyes. Instead she leaned slightly upward, eyes fluttering closed. I leaned down to meet her halfway and whispered, “Feel protected now?”
Adams Rd. Walk sign is on the cross.
The robotic voice telling us it was safe to cross saved her from having to respond. I unwrapped my arm from her shoulder, grabbing her hand once again. We continued walking and arrived back at Imbibe where, to our surprise, Cadence was still sitting at the bar. She had been joined by a brotha who looked like a lineman for the Bears. Cadence made eye contact with Celena, darting a glance down to our intertwined hands and blinked a few times in rapid succession. Celena quickly dropped my hand, offering a strained smile.
“I had fun tonight, Karim.”
“Me too, hope we can do this again soon.”
“Yeah...I have your number, so…”
“I can’t get yours?”
“I’ll be in touch,” she said, reaching up to press a quick kiss to my cheek.
Three weeks passed without a word from Celena. I was a little surprised because I knew that the attraction I felt at Perk wasn’t one sided. I also, however, sensed that she was trying to not give in to the attraction on her side. Either way I wasn’t sweating it. I didn’t have any business tryna get into a new situation when my time should have been focused on getting my business off the ground. I’d moved back home and bought a family friend’s car repair business and expanded our services to include custom car restoration.
When I took over the repair shop the guys who worked there previously greeted me with a less than enthusiastic response. The exact opposite of the response I had expected since I knew they were an efficient and dependable group of guys. Apparently, they thought I was coming in to change everything in order to suit my needs, hence their reticence to work with me collaboratively. After a few weeks of struggle, we’d finally come to an understanding. One of them in particular, Prentiss Shepherd who everyone called Shep, had been my biggest adversary who was resistant to any changes I tried implementing.
After having a frank discussion about my plans for the shop and expansions, we didn’t have any more problems and h
e’s become somewhat of an apprentice of mine with the restorations. Since we’ve rolled out the service, we’ve only had three jobs come in so far that I was handling mostly on my own until Shep showed some interest. I started letting him handle a lot of the prep work, which helped free up some time for me to not live at the shop seven days a week. I didn’t want to fall back into the habits that I’d been trying to get away from that made me move back here.
I’d been living and working out West in software engineering, making excellent money. The job was, however, mentally taxing. So much of my life was consumed with, building, debugging, and attempting to break what had been built, that I found little to no time for dating or any socialization beyond the walls of my workplace. After a disastrous attempt at a fling with one of the few women I worked with, I decided to focus solely on my career. I’d find time every now and again for a little swipe right action on the dating apps, but never any serious romantic entanglements.
I’d also moved back home to be closer to my mother and grandmother. We’d lived with Granny Addie and Granddad Jimmy for most of my childhood. Granddad had instilled a love of cars in me from when I could barely see under the hood and after he passed recently, I felt a strong need to reconnect with cars. So it seemed like a no brainer to quit my job and move back to my hometown to help my family. My mother had also been urging me home for other reasons, but I chose to ignore those.
"Ok Peej, twenty minutes of iPad time, then your mama should be here for dinner," I called out from the kitchen.
"How about thirty?" PJ said, running into the room, beaming his gap-toothed smile my way.
“Or we could just do fifteen?”
“Twenty sounds great, Te-te!” PJ said, running back to the living room area.
“And stop running with my iPad, boy! We don’t want it to end up like your iPod, shattered beyond recognition,” I laughed.
Slowing, PJ sulked, “Not funny, Tee. Not funny at all.”