by ROD HARLEY
When Toya answered her door she held her car keys in hand as if she was preparing to head out somewhere. Her black slacks, white blouse, and black flats seemed casual enough but her demeanor relayed the message that this was not just hanging around the house gear.
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Yeah, I’m going to dinner and maybe a movie.”
“Oh that’s cool.” I briefly pondered which one of Toya’s girlfriends she was preparing to hang out with.
“Kalem, what do you want to talk to me about? I’m expecting my friend here any minute.” I nodded.
“This won’t take long,” I assured her. I cleared my throat. “I’ve been thinking about things this last month and I’ve come to the realization that I need you in my life. I’ve missed you so much. This time away from you just confirmed the importance of our relationship. I’m ready to make a commitment. To give it…us a try. I know we belong together and I’m willing to do whatever it will take to make this work.” I stared Toya straight in her eyes. She maintained stoic indifference. I realized I needed to do a better job of selling my epiphany. “Toya I love you. I’ve loved you as far back as I can remember. I’m sorry it took me so long to do this, but I’m here now. I’m ready one hundred percent.” Toya looked up at me and smirked. It was apparent that my sales pitch wasn’t near as effective as I’d hoped it would be. I was attempting to conjure up something else to say when her doorbell rang.
“That’s my friend, excuse me for a minute.” She walked over and opened the door. My mouth almost hit the floor when I saw the tall, muscular, chocolate brother wearing the dark blue jeans and Polo shirt step through the door. Toya had an uncomfortable look on her face and it was apparent that she would have preferred that I wasn’t there to see him. I looked over at Toya then back at homeboy. I stood up and walked over to the foyer where they were standing. Toya introduced us.
“Malcolm, this is my friend I was telling you about, Kalem. Kalem, this is Malcolm.” I extended my hand to shake his. He did the same.
“Kalem, nice to finally meet you. Toya’s told me all about how you guys have been best friends since you were kids. I think that is so…interesting.” I forced a smile.
“Yeah, it is a little different, you know with us being opposite sexes and all.” I gave Toya a hard stare. She returned the favor. Malcolm seemed to miss the sarcasm in my voice or the tense looks Toya and I were exchanging.
“Well, Malcolm, it was nice meeting you.” Malcolm smiled showing off his pearly white and straight teeth. “I’ve got to get back to the city.” Malcolm turned to Toya.
“We better get going, baby, we don’t want to miss the movie.” Toya walked over to her coat rack and grabbed a black jacket. Baby? I know this motherfucker did not just call Toya baby! I was spewing ashes like Mt. Saint Helen’s before a volcanic eruption.
“Toya, I’ll talk to you later,” I said as I pushed pass Malcolm through the door. I reached into my pockets and fumbled around for my keys. As I walked past Malcolm’s dark blue BMW I resisted the urge to run my car key across the hood. I jumped in my Jeep and started reversing out of Toya’s driveway. Toya and Malcolm were walking out of the door as I was pulling off. Malcolm waved at me. Toya didn’t even look my way. I blew the horn and roared off.
I struggled to suppress my anger as I exited Toya’s neighborhood headed back towards the Interstate. I was still shocked at what had just happened. Never once did I entertain the thought that Toya might be seeing someone. I had been so accustomed to her being there for me. My pride was hurt, and to make matters worse, Malcolm was actually a handsome guy.
As comforting as it would have been to find fault with his appearance, I couldn’t deny the obvious. It would have been easy to dismiss the whole thing as insignificant if Malcolm would have been unusually short, fat, ugly, or have one of the other physical characteristics that women generally frown on. But I had nothing to go on with Malcolm. And the brother had a fly ride too. Dressed nice and was neatly groomed. Probably had a nice corporate job somewhere. Ain’t this a bitch!
Toya let me stand there baring my soul about how much I missed and love her, telling her all about how much of a fool I’ve been. The whole time she was standing there smirking knowing that she was dating someone. I was getting angrier by the minute. “She fucking played me!” I pounded my fist into the staring wheel. “Fuck Toya!” I shouted. “I don’t need her ass either. Fuck all these bitches!”
Michelle called me from Seattle on Friday morning. She had called on Tuesday to let me know that she had arrived safely and to give me her new address and phone number. She called again on Wednesday and on Thursday she called to tell me about the inclement weather and how the daily rain was dampening her spirits. I enjoyed her phone calls. She was the only female I had in my life at the moment since I had decided to cut Toya loose. Well at least in my mind I had cut her loose, in reality she had moved on. Michelle’s phone calls offered a brief respite from my physically and emotionally deficient existence.
I was on my way over to the Blue Room to meet Raoul for happy hour. I’d decided to stop off at 7-Eleven to grab the usual; a bottle of water and some aspirin. When I walked in I was amused to see that the clerk was the same guy I ran into a couple of months prior who was giving me attitude for interrupting his phone conversation. I walked to the back of the store and grabbed a bottle of Dasani water from the cooler. I also picked up a pack of aspirin from the shelf nearby. When I walked up to the counter the clerk spoke.
“How you doing this evening, sir?” I was surprised by how civil a tone he had. I was expecting the same nasty attitude I’d received the last time I was in there.
“Pretty good, how about yourself?” He rang up my water and the aspirin.
“I’m fine. Will that be all for you?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“That’ll be $4.65.” I handed him five dollars. He made change and handed it to me. I dropped the coins into my pocket. “Would you like a bag, sir?”
“Yes, please.” He reached under the counter and pulled out a plastic bag.
“You wanted plastic right?” He asked with a smile. I chuckled.
“Yeah, plastic is fine.” He placed the water and aspirin in the plastic bag and handed it to me.
“You have a nice evening.” I grabbed the bag from him and returned.
“You do the same, brother.” As I turned to exit the store I ran smack into someone entering. The guy stumbled back into one of the shelves and fell on the floor. I placed my bag on the counter and ran over to make sure he was okay. When I bent down to give the guy a hand up, I was met by the overwhelming stench of alcohol. Dude smelled like he had taken a bath in a gallon of Jim Beam. Liquor was seeping out of every pore on his body. He shoved my hand out of the way and struggled to his feet. When he stood upright I was able to get a good view of his face.
I was momentarily taken back when I saw that the person doing the wino impersonation was none other than my favorite executive, Kyle Perkins. I stood there in amazement as I watched Perkins swaying back and forth trying to adjust his suit. He was a mess. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, and he had clearly gone a few weeks too many without a haircut. His suit was wrinkled and his shirt had what appeared to be ketchup stains on the front of it. I stood staring at him with my mouth open, dumbfounded. The clerk asked from behind the counter.
“Sir, are you alright? Are you hurt?” Perkins slowly turned towards the clerk and answered his voice in a pronounced slur.
“I’m fffine.” He waved his hands to dismiss the clerk.
“Kyle Perkins?” I asked pretending to be unsure of whether or not I had identified the right person. He slowly looked up at me, squinted and adjusted his glasses. As I stared at him I immediately knew when he recognized who I was. The evidence of his fury was reflected in his glossed over pupils. A diabolical look crept over him. “KP, is that you?” He scowled at me.
“Yyyyou, motherffffucker,” Perkins slu
rred. “You cost me my fucking jjjob, motherfucker. You ruined my fucking life.” I put my hands up over my head as if under arrest.
“Look, Perkins. I don’t know what happened with you and your job but I assure you I had nothing to do with it.” Perkins growled at me.
“Yeah, right, motherfffucker.” He stumbled back a few steps. He gathered himself and continued. “You think I’m stupid? You think I dddon’t know wwwhat you did, bbbbitch? I got fired becausssse of you. They fuckkkking suing me and ssshit!” The clerk stepped around the counter.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to please lower your voice or leave the store.” Perkins stumbled a few steps and slowly turned to the clerk, looking him up and down.
“What the fuck is ttthis shit?” He giggled like a kid and pointed in the direction of the clerk. “This motherrrfuckker here. Who the fuck are you to be telling me what to do?” The clerk took a deep breath. His left hand was on his hip and he was pointing at Perkins with his right.
“Look, I’m going to have to ask you to leave the store.” Perkins stared at him for a few seconds.
“This motherrrrrfucker is a faggot!” Perkins yelled. You a fucking queeeer,” he laughed. The clerk exhaled attempting to remain calm.
“Sir, if you don’t leave the store right now I’m going to call the police.” He walked back around the counter and picked up the phone. I walked towards Perkins.
“Hey, KP, I think you better leave before the cops get here.” Perkins whirled around to face me. He stumbled forward towards me and I extended my arms to catch him. He regained his balance just before crashing into me, and then promptly slapped my hands away.
“Fuck you! Thisss is all yyour fault.” He pointed at me. “I should kkkick your ass right now!” The clerk dialed 911.
“Look, Perkins, you’re drunk, and you’re about to get yourself in some serious trouble in here. Now I don’t know what happened with your job but I didn’t have anything to do with it. You need to take that up with Reasons, okay. I suggest you turn around and walk out of here before you do something stupid.” Perkins’ lips slowly warped into a fiendish grin and he growled and glared at me. I turned to grab the water and aspirin from the counter where I had placed them. All of a sudden I heard a loud yell and turned to see Perkins charging at me. I sidestepped him just as he was about to collide with me. He stumbled past me and sprawled face first on the floor. He scrambled to his feet and whirled around facing me. I put my hands up.
“Perkins, I’m not going to fight you man. You’re drunk, you need to go home and sleep it off.” He didn’t hear a word I said. He charged at me again. I sidestepped him again and he went headfirst into the magazine stand near the door. Perkins had me caught up in a bullfighting routine. I was the Matador and he was Toro. When he got up he had a large laceration on his forehead that was bleeding down over his nose.
He seemed oblivious to his injury. He stumbled a few steps backwards and tumbled over the stack of newspapers on the other side of the door. Again he jumped back to his feet. He wiped away some of the blood now covering his face. I figured the sight of his blood flowing unrestrained from his head would bring him to his senses. I straightened out my clothes and grabbed the bag off of the counter. I shook my head at the clerk and turned to walk out of the 7-Eleven.
I had barely taken a step before I felt him slam headfirst into my stomach. Perkins and I tumbled to the floor. I rolled him over and got on top of him. I was tempted to smack his ass but instead I pinned his arms to the floor and sat on him. He was yelling and cursing at me. Blood was all over the floor. My clothes were smeared with it. I looked up at the clerk.
“Did you call the cops or what?” He nodded confirmation. “Damn, what’s taking them so fucking long?” I kept Perkins pinned to the floor for a few annoying, smelly minutes before a police car pulled up in front of the store, lights flashing. A tall, tanned officer jumped out of the passenger side and came running into the store. I immediately jumped off of Perkins and backed away with my hands in the air. The cop ran over and helped Perkins to his feet. Perkins stumbled and fell into the officer’s arms. The cop shoved him back. Perkins wobbled from side to side and started pointing at me.
“Offficcer, I would like to mmmake a citizen’s arrest, that man assaulted mmme.” I shook my head in denial when the cop turned to me. Just then I saw a second officer, a black female come walking through the door. I felt immediate paranoia when I recognized who she was. Wouldn’t you know it was once again the sister Raoul and I were cracking on at the club. The same one who wrote me over $500 worth of traffic tickets. Damn, is she the only female cop in Charlotte? She glanced at me and continued over to her partner. I spoke up.
“Officer, I did not assault this man. He attacked me and I merely restrained him in an effort to keep him from hurting me or himself any further.” Perkins started to speak but collapsed before he could offer a rebuttal. The officer grabbed his radio and called for an ambulance. I moved over to the counter away from them. This chick is going to take my ass to jail. I should have just beat Perkins’ ass. At least I would have gotten the satisfaction of doing it. I could stand spending a couple of hours in the holding cell for the chance to kick his ass.
The ambulance arrived and the paramedics began treating Perkins who was now sitting upright. They assisted him to his feet and walked him out to the ambulance. The two cops came over to where the clerk and I were watching the whole scene. I had no doubt that they were getting ready to slap the cuffs on my ass. Man, I hope I can get in contact with Raoul and get him to bail me out. Toya probably wasn’t an option since we had not been speaking to each other. Besides, she’s out on her date with chocolate boy wonder. My anxiety went into hyperdrive.
As it turned out my paranoia was unwarranted. The store clerk backed up my version of the events which reduced my interaction with the police to providing them with a statement. The female cop took my statement and was actually pretty cordial. She even laughed at a couple of my lame attempts at jokes. I guess she wasn’t holding a grudge after all. I apologized to her for the incident at the club. She laughed it off and told me to forget about it before leaving to check on Perkins.
I was standing there thanking the clerk for backing me up when the male cop walked up and started trying to convince me to press charges. I looked over at Perkins sitting on the hood of the police car looking pitiful. He had a huge bandage on his forehead. I figured Perkins had experienced enough misery for one night and declined to press charges, which seemed to piss off Mr. Lawman. He was no doubt looking forward to taking someone to jail and I don’t think he gave a damn whether it was Perkins, me, or the clerk for that matter. He shook his head in disgust as he walked away to converse with his partner.
About five minutes later the female cop came over and informed me that I was free to go. I shook her hand, gave the clerk dap and walked over to my Jeep. When I glanced over at Perkins he hung his head and looked away. I pulled out of the parking lot and headed straight for home. On the ride home I was thinking: it is probably time for me to find a different convenience store to shop at. Every time I go to that 7-Eleven there’s some craziness going down.
Raoul had called three times while I was in the store involved in that drama with Perkins. As soon as I got home I picked up the phone, dialed him up, and let him know that I was running late but would be there in about forty-five minutes. I figured that would be enough time to shower, change, and drive down to the Blue Room.
After I hung up with Raoul I checked my voicemail for messages. I was surprised when I discovered a message from Shannon. Seems she also had plans to visit the Blue Room and requested that I meet her there. She added that it was important that she speak to me which I have to admit raised my interest.
I replayed the message a few times to confirm that I wasn’t hallucinating. My mind began to race as I started shuffling through a million different scenarios of how our meeting would go. My curiosity was peaked as I pondered what could be significant en
ough to prompt Shannon to request a meeting given the circumstances surrounding our break up.
In the shower I fantasized a scene of Shannon begging me to forgive her and take her back. I pictured myself dismissing her with a wave of the hand. In my fantasy she ran crying from the Blue Room crushed and screaming, her penitence on full display for all to see. It’s just a fantasy; I know that shit isn’t going to happen. I threw on a cream suit with a purple shirt and tie, dabbed on some cologne, and stepped out of the door. This was turning out to be a very interesting evening and it promised to only get better.
Chapter 12
I had knocked down a few drinks and filled Raoul in on the circus act at the 7-Eleven when I spotted Shannon walking towards the back bar. I resented the irrepressible appeal of her physique laced in the black, leather, mini-skirt and white blouse. The sight of her provoked me in ways I would have preferred she could no longer achieve. She sat down at a table for two in the corner. A waiter immediately walked over and took her order.
I picked up my drink and began to make my way over to where she was sitting. I walked up to the table and stood looking down at her. Shannon looked up at me and smiled apprehensively, then motioned for me to sit down. The waiter walked over and brought Shannon a glass of wine. She took a sip and looked over at me.
“How have you been?”
“I’m making it. How are things with you?”
“I’m doing good. I just got a promotion at my new job up in Baltimore. I’m making almost twice what I was here in Charlotte so I’m happy about that.” I looked away. Shannon cleared her throat. I was hoping she would tell me she was miserable. I hoped she would say her life had gone to shambles since we had broken up. No such luck though. I was feeling irritated by her good tidings and my anger at her began to surface. I tried to calm my emotions.