Love Won't Let Me Wait

by ROD HARLEY

  “Simone asked about you.” I shrugged.

  “What did you tell her?” He had this annoying furtive grin on his face as he took a sip of his iced tea.

  “I didn’t know what to tell her. She was asking me stuff about you and Toya. I played like I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about,” he said now laughing.

  “How she know about Toya?” Mark asked. Raoul laughed even harder. He was cracking up.

  “This clown!” He said pointing at me. Mark stared at me in disbelief before joining Raoul in laughter. I was trying not to feed into their bullshit, but the more I thought about it the funnier it became. Pretty soon we were all cracking up. After we all calmed down Raoul said.

  “Damn, dog. I knew you had it bad for the girl but you are tripping. All that fine ass you had up in the room and all you could think to talk about is Toya?” Mark and I were still chuckling. I shrugged my shoulders.

  “Hey man, what can I say, she was on my mind.” Mark jokingly patted me on the shoulder.

  “You couldn’t let Toya out of your mind for an hour or two, till you got the booty?” Mark asked in disbelief. Raoul and I continued chuckling, Mark was shaking his head. “I hope she’s worth all this stress you be putting yourself through.” I didn’t respond.

  “That kind of shit should be against the law,” Raoul said. “Turning down some pussy from a girl that damn fine. You should get five to ten for that shit.” I looked over at him surprised. He snickered. “C’mon, dog you knew she was going to tell Vanessa what went down.” I laughed.

  “Vanessa told me everything,” he added with a smirk. Mark was clearly confused.

  “You mean you ain’t even get the ass?” I glanced over at him and shook my head. “Ahh, daaamn,” Mark said covering his mouth with his hand. “King, you tripping yo. I would have tried to beat the black off that ass, shiiit.” I laughed and took another sip of my lemonade.

  “Dog, you been passing on a lot of quality ass behind her,” Raoul said.

  “For real yo.” Mark added. “And you ain’t never even had sex with Toya yet have you?” I shook my head no, all the while thinking: everyday last week fool.

  I must have done something to give myself away because when I looked over at Raoul he was staring at me like he suspected that I was lying. I put my drink down and scooped up a couple of now cold and completely saturated in ketchup french fries. Mark continued.

  “You’re a better man than me dog. I don’t think I could have passed up some booty from a girl that fine.” I looked over at Raoul expecting him to chime in but to my surprise he was silent. I turned back to Mark.

  “I had a choice to make, and I decided for once to put someone else’s feelings before my own. That’s what love is all about. That’s also what life is about, choices.” Mark shook his head and turned up his nose like what I had just told him reeked.

  “Well right now, I’m not in love so I ain’t sacrificing shit, and I choose to get all the ass I can while the getting is still good you know what I’m saying,” Mark said looking to Raoul for acknowledgement. Raoul just smiled and took a sip of his drink. He set his glass back on the table and turned to Mark.

  “I feel you, dog,” Raoul said again eyeing me before looking out the window into the parking lot.

  After lunch we were standing out in the parking lot conversing. Mark hung out for a few minutes before getting in his car and leaving. He had to get back to work. My man had finally gotten a real job. He was working at a realty co, making pretty good money too; and he moved out of his mom’s house and got an apartment of his own.

  Raoul and I had parked right next to each other. We were standing in between our rides, and he kept looking at me with this dumb grin on his face. Finally I said.

  “Damn, dude, why are you looking at me like that?” Raoul sucked his teeth.

  “You ain’t shit, dog.” I gave him a confused look.

  “What are you talking about?” He shook his head.

  “I can’t believe you been trying to keep this shit to yourself.” I burst out laughing. “Your ass is glowing like a bitch that just got proposed to or some shit.” I was dying with laughter. “Nigga, I thought we were boys, I can’t believe you kept that shit from me,” he said pretending to be upset. It was hilarious.

  “We’re boys, you know that. I just didn’t want to jinx it.” Raoul looked down at the ground. A smile slowly crept across his face.

  “Aight, so tell me what happened.” I ran everything down to him like a schoolboy relaying his first sexual experience. I left out some of the more intimate details though. I didn’t feel comfortable letting everything out. When I was finished I tried to read Raoul’s face for his reaction. He was staring off into space as if deep in thought. Finally he turned to me grinning.

  “Well, I guess congratulations are in order.” It was obvious that he was genuinely happy for me. We shook hands and embraced. After we released he said. “So what are we talking about here, how serious is this?” I looked over at him.

  “It’s serious.” He eyed me suspiciously.

  “Well, I’m happy for you. Do your thang, dog.” I smiled and opened the door to my Jeep. Raoul followed me over. I put one foot on the running board and turned to him.

  “What happened to Don’t Luv Em, Don’t Trust Em?” Raoul shook his head.

  “Oh it still applies, that’s our creed, and we ain’t changing that.” He smiled. “It just doesn’t apply to Toya. Toya is a good woman you feel me?” I nodded. Raoul slapped me on the chest with the back side of his hand and leaned in close to me. “Besides, you may have come up with the Don’t Luv Em, Don’t Trust Em thing but you ain’t been living by that for a while, dog.” I chuckled and climbed into my jeep. I turned the ignition and glanced over at Raoul headed for the driver side door of his Benz.

  “Yeah, well you’ll give it up too. You just have to find the right reason.” Raoul shook his head and opened the door.

  “I’mma be a player for life baby. The pimping ain’t never goin stop,” he added as he climbed into his Benz.

  On the way back to the office I called Toya and sprung my idea for a weeklong getaway on her. Just as I figured Toya was all for it. She practically came through the phone with excitement. We spent a few minutes talking it over before Toya suggested we visit a couple of places instead of just heading to one destination. We decided we would drive down to Orlando and stay there for a couple of days, hit South Beach in Miami, and then finish off our trip with a three day stay in the Bahamas. Toya wanted to do all of the planning but I insisted on taking care of things myself. The trip was my idea and I figured it would be more romantic if I handled the details and not allow Toya to do all of the work; plus I had a couple of extra wrinkles I wanted to throw in.

  Chapter 15

  It was Friday afternoon and Toya and I were about twenty minutes outside of Atlanta where we were supposed to meet up with Josh before boarding a flight to Orlando. We had planned to drive to Orlando but Josh insisted we detour to Atlanta and hang out with him for an hour or two. He even tried to bribe me by offering to spring for the plane tickets from Atlanta to Orlando, but I wouldn’t let him.

  I got the feeling he had something up his sleeve, but I had no idea what. As long as he doesn’t tell me some bullshit like he and Stacey have patched things up and are back together. That kind of news had the potential to ruin my entire trip with Toya before it had gotten started. But I haven’t seen my boy in a while and I figured that would be as good a time as any to let him in on my little secret about Toya and me.

  We pulled into a rest area off of I-85 to stretch and use the restroom. While Toya was in the ladies restroom, I took advantage of the brief privacy to make some phone calls. My first call was to Michelle, just to check up on her and make sure she was okay. I spent about two minutes talking to Michelle before hanging up. Then I called up Ahmad back in Charlotte to get an update on the project he was working on for me. Ahmad informed me that everything was going according to
schedule, which was a load off of my shoulders. The last thing I needed to be worried about during my getaway with Toya was whether or not business was being taken care of back in Charlotte. It had the potential to ruin my entire trip.

  After dropping off the rental car at the Airport, we went over to the ticket counter and checked our bags; then we walked over to Gary’s Airport Lounge and Restaurant where we were supposed to meet Josh. Toya was on the phone yapping to someone back in Charlotte, while I watched the boxing match on the monitor over the bar. The fight was boring as hell. It was more of a jab contest than a boxing match. Neither guy appeared willing to throw a power punch, not to mention they were both averaging a measly twelve punches per round.

  The fight was heading into the seventh round and I’d had enough. I was about to get up and take a stroll over to the magazine store to pick up a newspaper, when I spotted Josh entering the restaurant. I had to do a double-take to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

  It was Josh alright, that much I was certain of. It was just the dark-skinned sister with the wavy hair falling over her shoulders that threw me off. I would have figured her for a co-worker if Josh wasn’t squeezing her like he was afraid she was going to run away the minute he relaxed his grip. Josh walked over to us his face plastered with his familiar ear to ear grin. I stood up and gave my man a hug.

  “What’s going on big man?” Toya hung up her cell phone and stood up. Josh gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  “Hey, Toya, long time no see.” Toya was all smiles as she glanced over at me. I reached over and pulled her to me. Josh eyed me with a look awash with curiosity. I almost forgot that I hadn’t told him about Toya and me. He was still looking at me out of the corner of his eye when he introduced his female friend.

  “This is Jasmine,” he said gesturing towards her. “Jasmine, these are two very good friends of mine, Toya and Kalem.” Toya and I both reached out and shook her hand, Toya first then me.

  “Nice to meet you,” we both said.

  “Likewise,” she replied. I gave her a quick once over. She was an above average looking woman, about 5’4”, a little on the heavy side. Her face was round and a little plump but had a cuteness to it. She was what I imagined a kindergarten schoolteacher would look like.

  “You guys want to get a table and grab a bite or just hang out around the bar?” Josh asked. I glanced at my watch.

  “We have two hours before our flight so why don’t we get a table and get some grub.” Josh turned to Jasmine.

  “Baby, why don’t you and Toya get us a table and Kalem and I will grab some drinks from the bar.” Jasmine nodded and kissed Josh on the cheek. Toya and I both gave each other that look that says go on with your bad self. She winked at me before heading off with Jasmine to find a table. I glanced over at Josh who was still staring at Jasmine, following her all the way over to the table they found in the back of the restaurant with the window view looking out over the runway. I shook my head and walked over to the bar. Josh walked up next to me a few seconds later. We both looked at each other and burst out laughing. Josh patted me on my shoulder. I now knew why Josh was so persistent, damn near demanding we stop off in the ATL on our way down to Orlando. Seems I wasn’t the only one who had a secret to reveal.

  “Well, well. I guess you two have stopped screwing around and finally hooked up.” I smiled confirmation.

  “Yeah, we’re kicking it.”

  “Judging by the smiles plastered all over your faces y’all are doing a little more than kicking it.” I turned to Josh.

  “Shit, what about you?” He grinned and looked away. “When did all that happen?” I asked as the bartender walked over. I ordered a Heineken for myself and a margarita for Toya. Josh got a Corona for himself and a rum and Coke for Jasmine. After placing our orders he turned to me.

  “I’ve known Jasmine for about five months now. We didn’t hook up or anything until three weeks ago after the divorce was finalized.” I looked over at him in amazement.

  “The divorce is final?” Josh nodded.

  “Yeah, it was quick and easy. Stacey didn’t fight it, she agreed to all of my terms,” he said a hint of regret and lingering pain evident in his voice. He paused for a brief moment before continuing. “I don’t think she wanted all her dirty deeds aired in open court.”

  “I can understand that. Damn, you were on top of it. Putting that surveillance system in the house saved you a lot of money and headaches, dude.” Josh was silent and his face was becoming drawn. It was the same look he had on his face when he told me about Stacey cheating on him, and just when I was getting used to that beaming smile of his again. I decided to change the subject. “So, Jasmine, where did you meet her?”

  Her name was barely out of my mouth before Josh was grinning like a circus clown. That sad look he’d had just a second ago was nowhere to be found. The love and company of a good woman has a way of making everything feel okay, regardless of how gripping your problems are. I know Toya has in the past and still does have that kind of an effect on me. I glanced over at Toya. We must have been having a psychic moment because at that very instant she looked over at me.

  We made eye contact and smiled at each other. I mouthed the words I love you to her which caused her to blush so much that Jasmine turned to see what she was looking at. Jasmine smiled at me, then Toya, before turning and looking out the window. I turned back to Josh who was busy paying the bartender for our drinks.

  We grabbed our drinks and made our way over to the table, Toya and I sat attentively and listened to Josh and Jasmine take turns telling the story of how they got together. I was only half listening, still preoccupied with the details of our trip, but from what I gathered, Jasmine lives and works in Atlanta in some management capacity for one of Viltex Sportswear’s distribution partners.

  Josh met her at a company picnic a little before Stacey moved out of the house. After the divorce he ran into her at another company function and they have been kicking it ever since. She’s a year older than Josh and has a four-year-old daughter.

  All of that was nice to know but I found out all I needed to know when I saw the way the mere mentioning of her name brightened up my boy’s face, and spirits. Just seeing that infectiously warm smile of his that had been missing for the last few months let me know how important she was to him. Her name could have been Funky Fanny from Mudbend, Arkansas. And, she could have been a three times divorced, out of work waitress with eight kids. As long as she can continue to make my boy happy, that was good enough for me.

  When Josh and Jasmine walked us to the gates to board the plane there were hugs and kisses all around and promises from Jasmine and Toya to keep in touch. I knew I would be getting a call from Josh wanting to know all about how Toya and I finally got together, probably as soon as we land in Orlando.

  We took our seats in first class and I held Toya’s hand as the plane took off. She laid her head on my shoulder and it was the best feeling in the world. I needed the remainder of the trip to go as smoothly as this first leg did. I had a lot riding on it.

  We touched down in Orlando right on schedule, took the passenger transport over to the main terminal, and headed downstairs to the baggage claim. After grabbing our bags, we walked down to the rental car pickup and loaded our bags into the dark-blue Jaguar we’d reserved.

  It was a gorgeous day out and we reveled in the tourist role, driving extra slow on Sand Lake Road away from Orlando International Airport, to our suite at Westgate Lakes Resort just west of International Drive.

  The suite was laid. Had a kitchen, a huge bathroom with a sunken tub set in white mother of pearl tile, a shower with dual showerheads, a huge living room, flat screens everywhere, and a jacuzzi set in marble with gold fixtures in the bedroom. As soon as I got a look at it I knew we’d wind up butt-naked in bubbles before our stay was over.

  The first thing we did was to head over to the Florida Mall, which was about a twenty-minute drive from our suite, east on Sand Lake Road.
Toya went right to work. She bought some African art from an import store, a couple of outfits from some department stores, and about six pairs of shoes. I chose a more conservative approach with my credit cards. I bought a couple of shirts and two movies on DVD. After trudging through the mall for three hours we headed over to Texas de Brazil for dinner.

  We spent our first two days and nights in Orlando visiting the theme parks, Universal and Disney. At night we ventured downtown, hit up a few spots on International Drive, or partied at City Walk. And each night out was capped by some bomb lovemaking not only in the jacuzzi but all over the suite. We were getting our money’s worth out of the bedroom, kitchen appliances, couches and everything else in the suite for that matter.

  On our third day in O-town, Ahmad called to let me know that the project he had been working on was finished. I thanked him emphatically for hooking me up on such short notice. I knew it had to take a special effort to for him to pull it off. I was really appreciative.

  I told Toya we needed to make one more trip to the mall before we left Orlando for South Beach. I was surprised that she didn’t find my suggesting that we do anything involving shopping at a minimum odd. The mall is one of my least favorite places. Just the thought of having to go there gives me the willies. I told her that I wanted to pick up a CD for the drive to Miami. Besides the mall isn’t but a couple of miles from the Turnpike which we would be using to get to Miami.

  I was relieved when Toya decided to wait in the car while I ran in and picked up the item I wanted. Had she set foot in the mall there’s no telling how long we would have been stuck in there. It took me about fifteen minutes before I emerged from the mall with exactly what I wanted. As soon as I got in the car I opened the Dave Hollister CD I had bought and put it in the CD player. Toya just smirked and shook her head as if she couldn’t believe I had come back to the mall just to pick up one CD. I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before putting the car in gear and heading out of the parking lot.