Playthang

by Janine A. Morris

  “Well, I’m hoping he will not want to go through the troubleand just settle with me. If he doesn’t, then yes, it will go through the courts.”

  “You think you have a good chance of winning?” Dakota asked.

  “Yes, they always side with the mother unless there are some extenuating circumstances.”

  “Well, good luck with it. If you need some character witnesses,we got you,” Dakota said, laughing.

  “Whatever, miss.Y’all heifers will make me lose the case.”

  As they all laughed at the humor found in the not-so-funnysituation, they snacked on the bread and their drinks.

  A few moments later, the waiter came and took their orders.They all ordered different things so they could steal a bite from the others’ plates, as they usually did. Once the waiter walked away, they began chatting again.

  “So what’s going on with David?” Chrasey asked Dakota.

  “He is fine; he is starting his new job this week.”

  “He got promoted, right?” Jordan asked.

  “Yeah, he is excited,” Dakota answered.

  “That’s good for him,” Jordan said before taking a bite of her bread.

  As Jordan reached for a sip of her water, she saw in her peripheralview a man walking toward her table. She took a sip from the glass, and then looked up as she placed her water back down. By now, the gentleman was standing only a few inches from the table. Once it was obvious that his intention was to get the ladies’ attention, they all looked in his direction.

  “Hi, I’m so sorry to interrupt your dinner, ladies, but I would’ve never forgiven myself if I didn’t come over here and at least introduce myself.”

  The ladies just looked back at him and smiled some.

  “My name is Alan,” he said.

  “Hi, Alan,” Chrasey said.

  The guy looked at Jordan and said, “I won’t be surprised if some lucky man has taken you for himself, but if by chance it’s possible, I would love if you would call me sometime,” Alan said as he placed a business card in front of Jordan.

  Jordan looked down at it and read that Alan was a director of finance and his offices were located up the street from her own.

  “Thanks, I’ll give you a call, Alan,” Jordan said, picking up the business card off the table.

  “Sorry I didn’t place it in your hand, but I didn’t want you to feel pressured to take it.”

  “I never feel pressured to do things I don’t want to do, but thanks for the thoughtfulness.”

  “OK, I’m going to let you get back to dinner. Nice meetingyou, ladies,” Alan said as he turned to walk away.

  Alan walked back to the bar where two men were looking in his direction as if waiting to see if he had been shot down or not.

  “I guess you scared him away,” Dakota said.

  “I’m just saying, how you going to put the card down on the table?” Jordan asked.

  “You are always so hard on these men. You would think you were still married the way you won’t give them no play,” Chrasey said.

  Jordan just shrugged her shoulders.

  “You made him nervous; cut him some slack,” Chrasey added.

  “I know. Maybe we can meet for lunch one day,” Jordan said, looking down at the business card. “He works right up the street from my office.”

  “Uh-oh,” Dakota said. “I remember when you wouldn’t even take a number; there must be trouble in paradise.”

  Jordan made a face at Dakota.

  “That’s true... . What Jayon do now?” Chrasey said.

  “Nothing at all. I just don’t feel like living by any rules right now,” Jordan replied.

  “They’re your rules. Nobody made you live by those rules,” Dakota said. “I used to tell you to live a little.”

  “I know that, and that’s why I’m breaking my rules for a while.”

  “Well, you gotta do a lot more than pick up a business card off the table if you call yourself living a little,” Dakota replied.

  4

  The sounds of whistles and crowd screams were coming from the living room when Jordan opened the front door. She was walking into her home with three grocery bags, her briefcase, and a Macy’s bag in tow. Jordan closed the door behindher and dropped the bags by the door.

  “Jayon, can you come help me with these bags?” she shouted.

  She began to walk down the hall toward the bathroom. She noticed that Jayon hadn’t responded, and she hadn’t heard any movement since her request. She finished up in the bathroomand walked out into the living room. Jayon was still sitting in front of the television with the joystick to his PlayStation in his hands.

  “Jayon, you didn’t hear me ask you to help me with the bags?”

  “I was coming.Where are they?”

  “By the door,” Jordan said.

  “Why are they by the door?”

  “’Cause they were heavy and I had to pee.”

  “OK, well, I’ll be right there. The game’s almost over.”

  Jordan looked at Jayon for a few seconds longer and then walked away. There were days she just wanted to break that damn PlayStation. She was walking down the corridor when she felt her cell phone begin to ring. She looked down at her pocket, and removed the phone from its clip.When she looked in the caller ID, there was a local number displayed with no name. She initially hesitated to answer, unaware of who it was, but she decided to answer to remove her focus momentarily from Jayon.

  “Hello,” she answered.

  “Hi, is this Jordan?” the voice replied.

  “Yes, this is she.”

  “Hi ... You probably don’t remember me, but we met about two months ago at the BMI Music event.”

  “Oh, yeah. I do.What is your name again?”

  Jordan walked farther back into the kitchen so that her conversation wasn’t overheard.

  “Malcolm.”

  “OK, right.”

  “Well, I’m sorry to bother you after hours, but I wanted to try to get you when you weren’t so busy at work.”

  “I actually just got home, and I wish I could say I wasn’t busy anymore once I was off, but that’d be a lie.”

  “I understand. I know you’re a very productive woman. I was hoping I could steal you away from your hectic schedule one of these days for dinner or drinks,” Malcolm said.

  Jordan didn’t recall the person she had in mind from the BMI event trying to hit on her. In fact, if she remembered correctly,they were discussing business only. For a moment she wanted to do her normal shut down line, but she hesitated becauseshe wasn’t sure if his comments were still from a professionalperspective. Besides, she could still hear the PlayStation game blaring from the television in the living room.

  “Sure, one of these days sounds good to me. Why don’t you call me tomorrow at the office, and we can arrange a day.”

  “I will call you first thing tomorrow,” Malcolm said.

  They both said their good-byes and hung up. Jordan began to walk back down the hall to see if Jayon had even begun to fulfill her request from over ten minutes ago. She entered the room, and Jayon was sitting on the edge of the couch with the joystick in his hand and his eyes glued on the television. Jordan took one look at him, and when he didn’t even look up at her when she entered the room, she rolled her eyes and walked off.

  “I’m coming,” Jayon said, probably in response to her teeth sucking.

  Jordan walked onto the porch, took each bag one by one, and began to lug them into the kitchen. She took the route that didn’t call for her to cut in front of the television, but still, Jayon probably heard the sound of the bags rustling together. As Jordan was a few feet from the kitchen, she heard footsteps coming from the other side of the wall. She continued until Jayon was walking toward her and attempting to take the bags from her hands.

  “Don’t even worry about it now,” Jordan said, trying to steadily walk pass Jayon.

  “Give me the bags,” Jayon said with attitude, as if he had a right
to be upset.

  To avoid the argument that was brewing, Jordan let go of the bags and headed back down the hall. She walked upstairs and went into the bedroom. She sat down on the side of the purple king-size bed and ran her fingers through her hair. Jordanknew she was no longer in a fairy-tale relationship; she knew her prince had pretty much turned back into a toad. Each day that went by, she didn’t know if there was something she could do differently or if she had done all that she could do and had to now deal with the hand she was dealt.

  When she forgave Jayon over a year ago for cheating on her, he was so apologetic and appeared to be sincere. She had such high expectations for what a great significant other he would be in order to restore their relationship back to what it was. That lasted all of a month or so. In the beginning, he was real sweet and caring; he would spill compliments upon Jordan,suggest the sweetest dates, and so on. However, as soon as Jordan was over his indiscretions, he stopped being so romanticand putting in the extra effort. He started to go back to Jayon the friend, the boyfriend that was more like just a homeboy.That was enough in the beginning. Hell, it was more than enough back then.When they first started, Jordan loved feeling like she had the best of both worlds, a lover in her best friend. That was fine until she realized that he wasn’t that best friend after all, and he lied and deceived her just like any other man would. Once she realized that, the friend thing wasn’t so cute anymore. She could no longer thrive off their friendship; she needed some romance and effort just like the next woman. Unfortunately, Jayon became less of a boyfriend, and these days, less of a friend. Lately, he was just company, and she felt like she was settling. Settling more than she ever was with Omar.

  5

  The restaurant was crowded, and the bar was pretty filled as well. Jordan looked around, unsure where to sit. Finally, she saw three unoccupied seats side by side. She began to walk toward the vacant seats so that she could wait for her friend Tayese to come meet her for lunch.

  “Can I get you anything?” the bartender said as soon as Jordan swung her feet around to the front of the bar stool.

  “Actually, I’ll take a Mai Tai.”

  “OK,” the bartender replied as she dashed off.

  Jordan pulled out her BlackBerry to text Tayese and see if she was close by. As she began typing the message, an incoming call appeared on the screen. It was Tayese.

  “Hello,” Jordan said.

  “Hey, where are you?” Tayese asked.

  “At the bar inside Caruso’s.”

  “I’m walking in right now. See you in sixty.”

  “OK,” Jordan replied and hung up.

  The bartender returned and placed her drink on a napkin in front of her.

  “Thank you,” Jordan said before she took her taste-testing sip.

  Jordan was still sipping from the tiny straws the woman had placed in her cup when she heard Tayese say, “You couldn’t wait for me to get started?”

  Jordan looked up and began to laugh. “My bad, girl, I didn’t know how long you were going to be, and with my stressful week, I needed a drink,” Jordan said, turning around to give her girl a hug.

  Tayese reached over for the warm embrace. As soon as she was released, Tayese sat down in the stool beside Jordan. Once again, the bartender arrived like magic.

  “Can I get you something?” she asked.

  “I’ll take a mojito,”Tayese said without hesitation.

  The bartender dashed off once again.

  “So why you so stressed, miss?”Tayese asked as Jordan took another sip from her glass.

  “Just everything, work, home. Just in a funk these days.”

  “I remember when you didn’t even drink like that when we were in law school, and now look at you,” Tayese said, laughing at her own observation.

  “I still don’t drink like that. Just on occasion.”

  “Well, from the looks of how fast you’re sipping on that drink, I might say you are a drinker now.”

  “Whatever.” Jordan laughed. “So how’s work?”

  “It’s good. Of course, they are working me to death over there, but I guess I can’t complain.”

  “I can imagine. I’ve got to give it to firm lawyers. I don’t think I could do it.”

  “Yes, you could, if you didn’t have a family to worry about. Lonely single women like myself have nothing else to do, so we might as well work.”

  “Don’t say that,Ty.You are far from lonely.”

  “How you figure?”Tayese asked.

  “All those men you got beating your door down, how can you get lonely?”

  “Yeah, that’s until they get to know me better. Then they run off.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Jordan, I’ve told you this a million times.You haven’t been on the dating scene like that, but men aren’t trying to get into serious relationships like that, and especially not with me.”

  “Why not with you?”

  “Because they can’t run game on me like they want. I’m controlling and not that easy to please.”

  “Well, stop being so damn controlling,” Jordan said, laughing.

  “I can’t help it. I need to find a man who can love me for me and accept it. If not, I’m screwed.”

  “You’ll be fine. Our kind is hard to come by; some man is going to be smart enough to realize you’re well worth the challenge.”

  “I hope so. I hope that it’s sooner rather than later.”

  “Change soon come,” Jordan said in her fake Jamaican accent.

  “Please, I’m trying to get them to realize I’m worth putting away their player card, let alone that I’m worth the challenge that comes after that.”

  Jordan laughed. “Be positive. We’re all in the same boat.”

  “You have a man, dammit, so I ain’t in your boat.You in a yacht; I’m in a raft.”

  Still tickled by Tayese’s humor, Jordan continued, “We are all in the same raft then.”

  “People with a definite date and consistent dick can’t be in my raft. My folks may jump your folks.”

  “Listen ... I may have that ... kind of. Still, trust me when I tell you the grass ain’t always greener on the other side.”

  “Here we go with that patronizing line.”

  “I’m dead serious. I had a man, and now I have somewhat of a boyfriend. Just to have someone to hold, that title isn’t alwaysenough.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “I’m just saying, when I was married, it was different. That was the yacht. It was guaranteed; it was always worth the fight. I said vows, we said vows, I never had to doubt that we both wanted to be there. I never had to second-guess my purpose in the relationship. Now that I’m with Jayon, it’s kind of like collegeall over again. We are allegedly serious and committed to one another, but there’s no security. I don’t know if he is going to just be done one day, or if I’m going to wake up one morningand not be able to do it anymore. Thing is, unlike when I was married, there is nothing stopping either of us from walkingaway.”

  Through all the jokes, Tayese wasn’t expecting Jordan to get so deep. She could see in Jordan’s eyes those words weren’t just in response to why she wasn’t on a yacht. This was one of the things that caused Jordan to order her drink before Tayese got there.

  “I hear you, J. Thing is, there are never any guarantees.”

  “You are right, but there’s a difference when you just don’t know what the future holds and when you don’t know what tomorrow holds.”

  Tayese just lifted her drink and took a sip.

  “In some situations, you can love like it’s never going to hurt because you know that’s all you can do. That person is giving their all, and there’s a sense of commitment that gives you a sense of security. Then there are situations that day to day you know something is missing, and you’re just trying to get by. Trying to hold on to that life on a yacht because it’s all you know, but meanwhile the luxury has been gone for a long time.”

  Jordan’s ton
e took the conversation in a totally different direction.Tayese was never that friend that Jordan told all of her weaknesses to. Jordan went to law school with her, and althoughshe considered her one of her closest friends, she usuallyshared her career problems with her and not her personal ones.

  Tayese felt for her, though. She wasn’t sure if Jordan was on the verge of tears, but she hoped not. She didn’t want her silly jokes to turn their happy girls’ night out into a sad disaster.

  “Well, Jordan, at least you have been married. There are so many of us that just want the opportunity to be loved enough to have a man say ‘I do.’”

  “I understand that, and I’m thankful for all of my experiences.I loved my ex-husband and I still do. I love Jayon and I always will. It’s just that I’m telling you, don’t knock your life ’cause you don’t have a husband or a steady boyfriend... . Things are never perfect,Ty.You got to enjoy your life no matterwhat is going on with it.”

  “I feel you, and I do, but I’m not going to stop looking for a man,” Tayese said, laughing, bringing the humor back into the “getting way too serious” conversation.

  Jordan laughed back.

  “You shouldn’t. Hell, I’m going to be looking myself,” Jordansaid with a smile.

  “You don’t need to be looking. Jayon and you are going to be just fine.”

  “I guess. Doesn’t hurt to have a plan C.”

  “C?”

  “Well, Jayon was plan B, remember? I was married,” Jordan said with a chuckle.

  “Oh ... cute. Well, whatever. I’m looking for a plan A, B, and C, ’cause I need all the backups I can get.”

  Jordan just laughed at her friend’s humorous self-pity.

  “Girl, ain’t nothing wrong with you.You just crazy,” Jordan said.

  An hour later, the glasses were left with only ice in them and the plates with just the remains from their meals.They had talked and laughed themselves all out about everything from work to their love lives. People had come and gone, and they were still engulfed in their company. Eventually, they rememberedthey had to wake up in the morning, and the later they stayed and the more they drank the worst their mornings would be. So at about ten thirty, they finally decided to pay the check and head home. Jordan and Tayese both didn’t have anyonewaiting on them at home, but after dining with their successfulfriend in a similar boat, they felt better about it this particular evening.