Love Won't Let Me Wait

by ROD HARLEY

  “This is my girl Simone,” she said after composing herself. I turned towards Ms. California Chocolate and shook her hand. Her eyes were big, brown, and inviting.

  “Nice to meet you, Simone.” I glanced over at Raoul cheesing at me like a kid who just woke up and found a PS4 under the tree on Christmas morning.

  “Okay, so now that everybody knows everybody, what’s on the menu for tonight?” Vanessa asked looking directly at Raoul. Raoul turned and walked into the kitchen.

  “First things first, I’m going to get my drink on. Then I figure we could grab something to eat and hit the club,” he answered while pouring a glass of Hennessy.

  “Hey, dog, hook me up with one,” I told him. “So what will you ladies be drinking this evening?” I asked turning to face Simone.

  “Hennessy is cool,” she answered.

  “I’ll have a glass of Hennessy also,” Vanessa added.

  “Look here man, I ain’t no damn bartender. I invited y’all into my crib, so you can make yourselves at home and fix your own drinks.” He exited the kitchen carrying two drinks in his hands. “I have a two drink limit,” he continued handing one of the drinks to Vanessa. I shook my head and started towards the kitchen. Simone followed me in. I grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and dropped a couple cubes of ice into one of them.

  “You want some Coke with your Hennessy or are you going to drink it straight up?” I asked her while pouring a glass full of Hennessy for myself. Simone frowned as if insulted and grabbed the glass of Hennessy I had just finished pouring. She took a swig and stared at me. Laughing, I poured myself a glass. I picked up my glass and turned to face Simone, leaned back on the counter and took a swig.

  “So you’re from Cali?” She nodded.

  “Something like that. What you don’t think I look like your typical California girl?”

  “Nah, it’s not like that. I just don’t get a Cali vibe from you that’s all.”

  “Tell the truth, when your boy told you I was from Cali you were expecting some light-skinned, Mexican looking girl, with long hair and a valley girl accent.” I burst out in a guilty laugh. She joined me.

  “Well that is the stereotypical California girl am I right?”

  “It depends on where in California you’re referring to. There aren’t any valley girls in Compton or Watts.”

  “Yeah, I hear you, my bad,” Simone smiled at me. “So is that where you’re from?”

  “Where?”

  “Compton or Watts?” Simone shook her head. A playful look eased onto her face.

  “Nah, I’m from right here in Charlotte,” she answered taking another sip of her drink. I smiled at her before we both burst out laughing.

  “Look at you trying to give me a hard time over the whole Cali girl thing and your ass is from right here in country bumpkin North Carolina.”

  “Well I never said I was from California. I just said I was flying in from California,” she returned with a grin.

  “So you live here in Charlotte?”

  “Nope, I live in Dallas.”

  “As in Dallas, Texas?”

  “Yep, I came home to visit my family and hang out with my girl. I was out in California on business.” I nodded and smiled. Just like Raoul’s ass to set you up with someone and have the person’s info screwed up. He did get one thing right though, Simone was sexier than a mug and pretty cool too.

  Are you from the Virgin Islands or was my information messed up also?”

  “No, your info is correct. Raoul and I are both from St. Thomas.”

  “I thought Raoul was from Puerto Rico?”

  “He is, well his mom is, Raoul was born in St. Thomas though.”

  “Oh. Why don’t you have an accent?”

  “I do when I want to. Usually when I’m around other people from the Caribbean I speak with my accent. It gets to be a little annoying having to repeat yourself over and over to non islanders who can’t understand the dialect; so it’s a lot easier to just lose the accent, especially when conducting business.” Simone nodded understandingly.

  Raoul and Vanessa walked into the kitchen to refresh their drinks. Vanessa gave Simone the eye; I guess she was making sure that her girl was vibing with me and not looking to make a quick exit. Raoul never bothered to check with me to see if I was feeling Simone. I was amused by the whole thing. Raoul poured himself and Vanessa another drink while Simone and I continued our conversation. Raoul turned to us and asked.

  “So what’s up, y’all ready to get going?” I nodded at him, glanced at Simone and asked.

  “Where are we going to eat?” She shrugged her shoulders.

  “I don’t know, I’m just visiting remember. What restaurants do y’all have out here anyway?” We both burst out laughing. Vanessa and Raoul looked at us like we were crazy.

  “Let’s go to Chili’s,” Vanessa suggested. Simone and I now composed after our outburst of laughter quickly agreed. Raoul was less enthusiastic. He sucked his teeth and frowned. Vanessa glimpsed at her watch. “Happy hour is about to start. They have two for one drinks until eleven.” Raoul’s frown became an instant smile. He was practically pushing us out the door to his car.

  After grabbing some grub and knocking down another glass of cognac at Chili’s, we loaded back into Raoul’s Benz and headed for the Caribbean Beach Club. The time I was spending with Simone offered an unforeseen good time, and temporary escape from my semi-depressed state.

  At the Beach Club Simone and I separated from Raoul and Vanessa. We did some playful dirty dancing and a whole bunch of chewing on the cast of characters on the dance floor, destroying every rule of fashion in the book. Talk about not having a clue. There is something inherently wrong with rust colored, corduroy pants, and a baby-blue butterfly collared shirt. Especially when you top it off with black penny loafers complete with pennies tucked in the front. Simone’s sense of humor and fun-loving personality had taken my mind off of my troubles with Toya. I was having a ball. I swear she could be a stand-up comedian. It was exactly what I needed to get myself together.

  After hanging out at the Beach Club for a couple of hours, we once again loaded into Raoul’s car and headed back towards his place. On the way back to Raoul’s house we stopped off at a RaceTrac. Simone and Vanessa followed Raoul inside while I sat in the car jamming to the Franky Beverly Featuring Maze Raoul was pumping. I thought of Toya and contemplated calling her.

  Simone was the first to return to the car. She climbed in with two Tampa Nugget blunt cigars in her hand. Raoul and Vanessa came out a minute or two later. Raoul had snagged a pack of Black-n-Milds and Vanessa was slurping down a Cherry Coke. It didn’t surprise me that Simone apparently liked to smoke weed. Nowadays non-herb smokers seem to be in the minority.

  Raoul removed the plastic covering from one of the Black-n-Milds he had pulled out of the box. Then he pushed in the cigarette lighter in his car, it popped out a few seconds later. Raoul lit the black and passed it to me over the back of the seat, just as we were pulling out of the parking lot. I took a pull and glanced down at my watch, twelve-thirty a.m. I blew out the smoke and immediately took a second, harder drag.

  When I exhaled and glanced over at Simone she was staring at me. I took another puff and looked out of the window away from her. She tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned to face her she reached out and took the black out of my mouth and put it into hers. She took a pull and blew the smoke out of the side of her mouth, while continuing to stare at me.

  “You smoke weed don’t you?” She asked while leaning over and flicking the ashes from the black into the ashtray in the back of the center console. I shook my head.

  “Me, nah, I don’t mess with weed.” I turned facing straight ahead and caught Raoul peeking at us in the rear view mirror. Simone took another puff of the black and passed it back to me.

  “You’ve never tried weed?” She asked as if having never tried weed was impossible. I smiled at her before placing the black between my lips.

  �
�Yeah, I tried it a few times.” I took another pull of the black. Simone gave me an I knew it smile. “Actually for a while back in college, Raoul and I used to hit the chronic on the regular.” Simone started laughing. I leaned forward, sticking my head in between Raoul and Vanessa’s seats. “You remember that shit, dog?”

  “What’s that?” Raoul asked as if unaware of what we were talking about. I snickered.

  “Fool, don’t try to act like you don’t know what we’re talking about, I saw your ass eavesdropping.” Raoul’s smile betrayed his guilt.

  “Yeah, dog, we used to get higher than a bitch,” he confirmed to Simone and Vanessa’s delight. I sat back in the seat and handed Simone the black. Vanessa turned in her chair facing Simone and me.

  “Damn, y’all hogging the black. Can I get a hit please?” Simone handed the black to Vanessa who then turned facing forward and took a puff. I laughed because she was holding the black between her thumb and index finger like you might hold a joint. Dead weedhead giveaway.

  “So you don’t smoke weed anymore, but you smoke Black-n-Milds? That doesn’t make much sense.”

  “It is rare that I smoke anything at all but today I’m making an exception.”

  “I used to smoke cigarettes” Simone confessed with an apprehensive smile. I shrugged my shoulders.

  “We all have our vices. Choose your poison you know?” Simone nodded. “I stopped smoking weed because I found it did three things for me. Made me paranoid, made me sleepy, and made me feel like I wanted to throw up; and not necessarily in that order.” Simone burst out laughing. “Liquor is a good enough high for me. Besides they’re still locking folks up for smoking weed.”

  “Good point. So I guess liquor is your vice?” I smiled and shook my head.

  “Nah, I can handle the liquor. My vice is beautiful women.” Simone seemed to enjoy my answer. She licked her lips and turned away smiling. Raoul again reached over the back of his seat and passed the black to me. I held it between my fingers like a cigarette for a few seconds and then handed it Simone.

  Actually I have a couple of vices and they seem to rotate in order of destructiveness. For the past couple of months it has been as if women have declared war on your boy. I’ve been under siege like the French during WWII. I had become familiar with more female associated problems than a gynecologist at the free clinic.

  We got back to Raoul’s house at about twelve forty-five. Raoul and I were sitting in his living room relaxing, while Simone and Vanessa were at the kitchen table rolling blunts. I always found it amusing the care people take in rolling their weed. The tedious, ritualistic steps they go through. You would think that they were performing open-heart surgery on the President. There are people out there that can barely tie their shoelaces properly, but can roll a blunt with skill comparable to that applied to a Cuban cigar.

  I turned and looked over at Simone. She was finishing up licking the blunt down the side with her tongue, which excited me a little more than it should have. She used her thumb and nail to split the blunt from tip to tip. The expertise she displayed in gutting the blunt told me she was no casual weed smoker. She had all of the tobacco out of it in no time at all. I looked over at Vanessa. The weed was stuck together and she was breaking it apart. Then she began separating the seeds and stems from the leaves. Simone and Vanessa were tag teaming the weed like the Prime Time Players or some other WWE wrestling tandem. Simone noticed me watching them and smiled.

  I got up, walked over to the table, and stood over Simone and Vanessa while they went about constructing their funny cigars. Raoul was still slouched in his chair struggling to stay awake. After Simone and Vanessa finished rolling their blunts, Vanessa stood up, walked over to where Raoul was seated, and slid into his lap. Raoul awoke from his brief nap and welcomed her. Simone got up and starting towards the back of the house. She called to me as she continued down the hallway.

  “You coming?” I looked over at Vanessa who had lit her blunt. The air above her and Raoul’s chair was beginning to resemble the English Channel on a fog-covered morning. I followed Simone down the hall. She stopped at the first door on the right; which was the guest bedroom, opened the door and stuck her head inside. Then she turned around and leaned against the doorway smiling seductively at me. I kept moving towards her. As I passed by her, I grabbed her hand and led her into the room. She offered no resistance.

  I sprawled out on the bed while Simone sat on the edge and placed the blunt in her mouth. She leaned over to her left, reached into her right pants pocket and pulled out a lavender lighter. She lit the blunt, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. I leaned over and turned on the clock radio sitting on the nightstand. Soft jazz filled the room, mingling with the thick perfumed smoke as if the two were old friends becoming reacquainted with each other after a prolonged absence.

  I fixed a pillow behind my back and sat across the bed with my back pressed against the wall. Simone exhaled another stream of smoke through her nostrils. She turned towards me the blunt saddled between her fingers, and extended her hand offering me to partake of her illegal pleasure. I folded my arms across my chest, smiling at her as if contemplating whether or not I should indulge.

  “I’m straight,” I finally told her. “I told you what that stuff does to me. You don’t want me to fall asleep on you do you?” Simone retracted her hand and her offer. She didn’t even hesitate. It was as if she never really intended to share with me to begin with. Like she was just trying to be polite by offering me a hit of her blunt. She started to bring the blunt back up to her lips but paused mid-motion and turned to me.

  “Do you have a problem with people that smoke weed?” I shook my head.

  “No, I feel like to each his own.” Simone nodded while taking a hard drag on her blunt. She held it in for a few seconds before blowing the smoke out of the side of her mouth.

  “That’s cool. I hate when people who don’t smoke or drink or whatever, try to act like they are better than you.” Her eyes were half shut and glossy and here scleras were damn near fire engine red. Simone was on her way to see the wizard, hauling ass down the yellow brick road. “People are always trying to judge you, like they don’t have their own little secrets. How are you going to try to talk shit about someone for smoking bud when you’re an alcoholic, snorting powder, or even smoking cigarettes? People are a trip,” she said finishing off her tirade with a goofy giggle. At least she wasn’t laughing uncontrollably. I hate when fools get high and then start giggling at every damn thing that happens around them. My mind started drifting off into thoughts of Toya. I adjusted the pillow behind my back and sighed. “You know what I’m saying?” She asked, snapping me out of my brief dip into Toya land.

  “Yeah, I feel you. It’s like I said earlier; choose your poison.” Simone nodded and added.

  “We all have our vices.”

  “Exactly.” Simone smiled at me. It was obvious she was feeling elevated. She had the blunt sandwiched between her thumb and index finger, waving it in front of her as she spoke.

  “And yours is beautiful women.” We both laughed. “You know you’re a pretty down to earth guy. You’re good looking, why don’t you have a woman; or do you?” I briefly considered her inquiry. It hadn’t dawned on me until then but I didn’t have anyone. No Shannon, no Toya, no Michelle, and no back up, I had nothing. The realization was depressing.

  “Nah, I’m single,” I told her masking my loneliness with a smile. She stared at me disbelievingly as she took another draw on the blunt. “I just broke up with someone a couple of months ago.” She exhaled another blast of smoke. “I’ve just been chilling since then.”

  “You mean you’ve been playing the field.”

  “No, not quite.” Again I thought of Toya. “I’ve actually been trying to get with a woman I’ve had my eye on for a long time.”

  “You sure you don’t want to hit this?” I waved her off. Getting high was definitely out of the question at that point. My behavior as of late had been unpredictable
and erratic so there was no way to predict how I might have reacted after having added some of the sticky icky into my system. The last thing I needed was to wind up outside Toya’s house crying like a bitch, begging her to give me a chance. I wasn’t trying to go out like that. I wanted to keep whatever little dignity I had left intact. Simone began looking around the room like she had lost something. Damn, I hope she isn’t about to start tripping up in here.

  “Did you lose something?” She shook her head.

  “Nah, I’m looking for something to put this blunt out on.” Good I thought and exhaled a breath of relief. She got up and walked out of the room. I lay back on the bed with my hands folded behind my head. Simone came back in a few seconds later and sat on the side of the bed. She didn’t have the blunt in her hand any longer so I figured she had found something to extinguish it on.

  “So what’s up with you and this woman you’ve had your eye on?” I frowned.

  “Not a damn thing.” I answered my voice betraying my frustration with the situation.

  “Well have you told her how you feel about her?”

  “More than once.” Simone looked confused.

  “And?”

  “She shot me down.” The look on her face conveyed that Simone felt sorry for me, or maybe it was pity. Either way it resulted in an objectionable array of sensations. I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for or pity me. It wouldn’t make me feel better. It would only serve to confirm how woefully bad I was doing.

  “I’m surprised…hmm.” I had no idea how I had allowed our conversation to focus on Toya. The whole point of meeting Simone was to try and put Toya out of my thoughts. I should be trying to get some of that fine ass chocolate specimen sitting next to me. I looked over at Simone seated on the bed. She smiled at me. “Maybe you didn’t try hard enough, or she could just be playing hard to get.”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “No really,” Simone asserted. “Sometimes a woman, even if she really likes you, will give you a hard time about hooking up. Men get the wrong idea if you seem too eager to get with them. They think you’re easy or loose you know what I mean?” She asked bending over and pulling off her shoes.