The Graffiti Effect

by Forrest, Perri

  For about five seconds, I thought about approaching the topic with Clyde, but quickly decided against that. I thought it best to just enjoy the time. We could talk a little work, joke a little or whatever, and leave it at that. We were not a couple. So, holding this against him, or making it into a situation, really wasn’t necessary. I just knew there would be no more ‘dates’ with he and I.

  “Here you go, beautiful,” Kevin said, interrupting my thoughts. He placed an aqua-colored glass in front of me.

  I eyed the mixture of Gin, rhubarb, pineapple and Champagne. The connection was immediate, and I already knew that it was going to be just what the doctor ordered to take the edge off.

  “Mr. Morgan, here’s your Japanese whisky mixture,” Kevin announced, placing Clyde’s drink on the table. “It’s my mission to get you to try something different next time.”

  Clyde laughed. “Good luck with that, man.”

  -82-

  KASSIDI

  When the food arrived, the presentation was as I thought it would be—fancy. The portions were small, which helped me to understand why Clyde had ordered two of each. As for my drink, just as Kevin said, I loved the taste. If I ever visited The Dorsey again, I would definitely be a repeat offender.

  “So, how are you feeling?” Clyde asked, after a bout of casual conversation, that was at times filled with awkwardness. “You seem a little tense,” he observed. “I was holding out until the drink kicked in a bit but you just seem—”

  “I’m not tense at all. I’m just soaking in the comfort of this ambiance. The drink is good. You made a good choice on the food. The music is flowing. I’m good.”

  “Cool. I wouldn’t want you feeling uneasy while you’re with me.”

  “You have nothing to worry about there.”

  Clyde sat back a bit and crossed his leg, then put one arm over the sofa’s back. “So, tell me about Kassidi.”

  He’d put me on display, with a bright light flashing in my eyes.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Anything you want to tell me.”

  I shook my head and wagged my finger at him. “I’m not exactly my own favorite topic. So, I for sure don’t go around offering up random facts about myself. This’ll have to be a guided discussion if you want details.” I shrugged my shoulders and turned to the side to face him better. “Otherwise, we’ll have to find another topic.”

  He inhaled a deep breath and then released it, while staring at me. “Okay, your references were glowing. You were fast-tracked in your last position and got several raises, including them trying to match the salary we offered, to keep you.”

  We had already touched on this subject! When I thought he was trying to see if I’d be around for the long haul—we’d discussed this. I didn’t understand why he was revisiting the shit. Made no sense. But I responded to him anyway; hopefully, for the last time.

  “Plain and simple, and as I previously stated, it was time to branch out and do something different. As far as them countering JPC’s offer, just because they dangled a carrot, doesn’t mean it was the best thing. I’ve always advised peers not to be lured like that, so I was definitely going to take my own advice. Why wait until somebody comes along with a better offer to try to keep me? Why wait until then to see my worth? I’d given them the best I had the whole time I was there. They knew what they had. They just thought that I wouldn’t look elsewhere. They got too comfortable. Why not realize what you had while you had it? Treating what you had with the respect that it deserved? Then it wouldn’t have come down to competing.”

  When I finished my blabbering spiel, I noticed that Clyde was looking at me with a thin smirk on his face. Before long, his face opened into the biggest smile.

  “That was . . . uhh . . . pretty passionate,” he said, making me feel crazy as hell.

  I cleared my throat in an attempt to regroup, after realizing that I had just unintentionally gone transparent. Fuck.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

  “I think you know.”

  “I don’t, though.”

  He uncrossed his legs and leaned closer to my face, before speaking. “I get the feeling that wasn’t all about your last employer. I get the feeling that it’s much deeper than that.”

  I sat my drink down on the glass table in front of our sofa. “But it’s not, Clyde. I was just giving you an answer.”

  Clyde rubbed his hands down his thighs and rocked a little. “Well, I think it’s a huge loss on their part to have let you get away,” he said, taking me by surprise. “I don’t just speak for myself when I say that we feel fortunate to have you. It’s normal practice for me to give a 3-month review so that new employees can know how they’re doing. I think it should be done that way everywhere. I think it’s beneficial to know where you stand with your peers, every step of the way.” He reached out to the table to grab his glass and brought it to his lips. After he’d drank some down, he returned his attention to me. “Had me concerned for a minute. Seemed like that question got you a little riled up.”

  “Pssh.” I swatted nonchalantly, at the air. “Umm, no. It was just . . . just your . . . umm, delivery.”

  My words were stuck in my chest. I found myself speaking slowly like I was slow in the head, or something. I was failing at my attempt to not look crazy.

  And then . . . as if things couldn’t get any worse, I had just seen Marco walk in.

  -83-

  MARCO

  “Well, if it ain’t my long-lost best friend.”

  I grabbed one of the fries out of the basket on the table as I slumped into the booth seat across from Alonzo.

  “Aww come on, man. You’re acting like I’ve gone rogue on you and shit,” I said, shoving a few of the curly French fries into my mouth. “Why, The Dorsey, again? You know this shit ain’t nothin’ but fancy and fancier, with a little bit of fancy grease added.”

  “Live a little, dude,” Alonzo said to me, with a huge grin on his face. “YOLO.”

  “Yeah, okay, Wiz Khalifa. But if one of those cheesy bands shows up, I’m outta here.”

  “You really need some cultivation, my friend. A little culture ain’t never hurt nobody.”

  “I got all the culture I need, Fancy Lad. Now, what’s goin’ on with you?”

  Alonzo brought a huge glass of water to his mouth and smiled. “A lot,” he replied.

  “A lot like what?”

  “A lot like a beauty named, Kandice.”

  I hung my head low and shook it, laughing the whole time. “She got you hooked, huh? I saw that coming, dude.”

  “Why is that funny? You need to think about finding you a nice girl to settle down with too. It makes life good.”

  “Or is it the pussy, that’s good?” I shot.

  “That too,” Alonzo admitted. “But it’s more than that. She’s the one.”

  “Zo . . .”

  “What?”

  “You were just talking about how Cyn was the one. I’m not about to take that shit seriously.”

  “That was different. I was infatuated with Cyn’s ass. That wasn’t love. I still think she’s cool. Just think she needs to address the obsession she has for that guy. But yeah, that wasn’t love. Something like admiration for the ‘Boss’, tendencies she’s got.”

  I nodded in understanding. “I can understand that. Cyn’s ass is definitely a boss.”

  “But Kandice . . . man, I’m diggin’ her for real. She brings out a whole other side of me that I didn’t even know was there.”

  I had never heard Alonzo talk like he was talking about this Kandice girl. Yeah, he’d been into women before, but he had always made it clear that friendship was as far as he was taking it. This sounded like something different. Something more.

  “That’s cool, man. I’m happy for you. If she makes you happy, then she’s all good with me. When do I get to spend some time around her? I’d like to at least get to know the woman my boy has fallen head over heels for. I real
ly only met her that night at the party.”

  Zo laughed out loud. “What’s up with you and her girl? Kassidi?”

  “We’re friends. That’s what’s up. We hang out sometimes and do what adults to. No strings. We’re good. She’s a good girl, good head on her shoulders, fun to hang out with, and she can cook.” Zo handed me a blank stare, his mouth turned up at the corners. “The fuck you lookin’ at me like that for?”

  He shrugged his shoulders in response. “Just makin’ an observation.”

  “An observation like what?”

  “Like maybe you’re downplaying how you feel, and that you like her more than just a friend with benefits.”

  “No. Nothin’ like that. She’s cool people. I like hanging out with her. I’m not denying that. But it’s not going any further than that.”

  “Really?”

  “Really,” I stressed.

  “So, then . . . uhh . . . exactly how many NDA’s has she signed?” Zo asked casually, slick smile in place. “Come on, humor me,” he said, when my response was delayed.

  Zo began laughing when I held back. “See! That’s what I thought.”

  “Hold up. When did this turn into something about me? Just because you decided to take your balls off the market, don’t mean that’s what I’m doin’. I’m good the way things are in my life.”

  “You think you’re good. Just like I thought I was good—until something came along that made me look at relationships a whole lot differently. There’s nothing like having a woman that is all about you. She’s attentive, she’s compassionate. Shit, you know how tense my job can get sometimes with all these damn corporate cases. But she’s right there to take the edge off, even when she’s had a fucked-up day herself. Yeah, she’s different.”

  “And you came to this conclusion after dating her forrr . . . about sixty days.”

  “Days, months, a year, what difference does it make? I know what’s in my heart. And I’m not getting any objections from my head. So, I know I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”

  “Alright.” I threw my hands up in surrender. “I’m backin’ off. If this is what you want, I’m in full support.”

  “I appreciate that, man. I really do.” Alonzo picked up his glass and took a sip, and then put the glass back on the table. “Because I’ve decided to propose to her.”

  A cough jumped up my chest and out of my mouth, loud enough to have a few people look over at our table. I patted my chest to clear my passages, then tried to rebound to normal as casually as I could.

  “Marriage?” I asked, trying to be sure I heard him right.

  “Marriage,” he confirmed. “I already got the ring. Going to propose to her this coming weekend.”

  “Oh, o…kay.” I nodded, not necessarily in agreement, but more because I didn’t know what to say.

  “Of course, you know I want you to be my best man. That’s what I wanted to meet about today.”

  “And of course, you know I’m all in,” I told him without hesitation.

  “That’s what’s up.”

  The hostess had come by twice and now all this marriage talk with Alonzo had me hungry as hell. I picked up the menu from the table. I settled on a bacon burger and a beer, and Zo ordered a fish burger. After we handed over the menus, I looked over at him and guffawed.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I’m just curious . . .”

  “About what?”

  “About how much time we have before you put the padlock on your nut sac?”

  -84-

  MARCO

  “That burger was good as fuck, but now I’m going running as soon as I get my ass home.”

  “Vain ass,” Zo belted out.

  “Shit, I ain’t vain. Well, not too much,” I kidded.

  “Well, I ain’t runnin’ a damn place,” Zo said, laughing. “I ate it, it was good. I’m good. So, tell me about Florida and how that went. Been tryin’ not to ask, thinking you would tell me on your own. But damn, it’s been a few days since you been back and you haven’t said a word.”

  I would’ve told Zo about the trip as soon as I got back, but the truth of the matter was that I was still processing all that my uncle had told me—especially about Kaia. He kind of had me feeling sorry for her toward the end. Not to the point of wanting meet her yet, but at least not wanting to take her life. It was weird.

  “Man,” I sighed, rubbing my hands across the top of my hair, and then locking them in place. “It’s a lot. I’ve been tryin’ to process it all myself. I’ll admit that the shit kinda has my head fucked up.”

  “Damn, that don’t sound good at all.”

  I released my hands and at the same time released a heavy sigh. It wasn’t like Zo was some stranger. He wasn’t just my attorney, he was my best friend. But it didn’t make it any easier to explain some shit to him that I didn’t even all the way get myself.

  “I’m just gonna do raw and uncut and we can go from there. Maybe saying some of it out loud instead of playing it back in my head, will help me out. Who knows.”

  The look in Zo’s eyes was a focused one. The same one he got whenever he was telling me about one of his cases that he was knee-deep in.

  “I have an uncle and a father. I even have two cousins. Didn’t get to meet them, but my uncle has two sons—and one on the way. So, the family is growing.”

  “Damn man. That’s cool as shit! To find out you got family after all this—”

  “I also have a sister.”

  “Serious?”

  “Serious. She’s a year older than me.”

  “Damn, so a thirty-one-year-old sister. You mean, I coulda married into the family and didn’t know it?! What the hell?!”

  “Nah . . .” I shook my head firmly in objection. “You don’t want that one.”

  Zo threw his head back and laughed out loud. “Let me guess; she’s like her brother . . . loose.”

  “Nah, she’s nothing like me. The bitch is crazy.”

  “Wait . . .” Zo said, still laughing. “Don’t tell me you got out there and already got into it with a brand-new family member! What was it? Like looking in the mirror, or what?”

  “Mirror? No. Say, a chick goes her whole life being ignored by her father. She has an uncle that steps in to be the father-figure, that his brother wouldn’t. But that wasn’t enough. Say, the chick over the years, has this fantasy about the perfect father and what he should be like. Only to be disappointed that it never happened. So, then, when the family realizes that it’s taken an emotional toll on her, they arrange counseling. After some deep therapy, she finally understands that no matter how much of an asshole the father was, it wasn’t her fault. So, then she’s cool. Goes on to live a normal life and all that. Then one weekend she decides to visit the city of sin and ends up at my show.”

  “Aww, fuck.” Zo put his hand over his mouth and his eyes grew the size of marbles. “Dude, you fucked your sister?! Damn,” he sighed, coming to his own conclusion. “Well, shit, in your defense you didn’t know who the hell she was!”

  “Are you done?” I asked him, near laughter at how he just ran with fake news so quickly.

  “So, the family knows that you fuc—”

  “Zo, chill. I did not fuck that girl.”

  “Whew, okay. My bad, man. You get around, so you can’t blame me for thinking that.”

  I laughed and picked my phone up from the table. After unlocking it and locating the picture, I handed Zo my phone.

  “Look at that.”

  He looked down at the screen, then handed the phone back to me. “What’s this? You took this in Florida when you were there? What am I looking for? Something in the background or what?”

  “Look at it again,” Without taking the phone from him, I insisted that he,

  I watched Zo study the picture for a few more seconds, then saw his shoulders hunch in confusion.

  “I don’t get it, man. What does this have to do with your sister?”

  “That’s not me on
the picture. That Stavros Anastas. My father.”

  “Wait a damn minute,” he said, looking more intently at the picture. “Fuck. You guys look dead-ass on each other, man!” Zo looked back and forth from me to the picture and then handed me the phone. “Did that trip you out as much as it’s trippin’ me out right now?”

  “Yep.” I took one more look at the phone before locking it and putting it back down. “Couldn’t believe it. You said something about looking in a mirror. That’s what it felt like when I saw that.”

  “Shit. I can’t get over that shit. So, what happened? Your sister saw you and thought you were him?”

  “The way I understood it was that she had some kind of relapse. Ended up coming back out here to live for a little while. Not only did she do that, she got a job at Cyn City.”

  “What?!”

  “Yeah. Was working with Mink bartending.”

  “She’s there now?”

  “No. She left right after I got stabbed.”

  Zo leaned back in his seat and his mouth fell open. “You’re not saying what I think you’re saying?”

  I nodded. “Yep.”

  “She stabbed you? What the fuck for?! Do the police know?!” he shouted in anger. “Is her ass in jail?!”

  “Calm down, Zo. No, they don’t know.”

  “Psssh,” he hissed, throwing his napkin on the table in anger. “So, then she’s not in jail, either? What the hell, bro?”

  “It’s complicated, Zo.”

  Zo leaned across the table to speak in a lower tone. “I don’t see how. I just don’t. I don’t give a fuck that you just found out that it’s your sister. She tried to kill you.”

  “It was dealt with already.”

  “What does that mean? Or do I even wanna know?”

  I was quiet for a few seconds before saying, “I’m not sure. But I trust what was told to me—that it was dealt with. I’m leaving it where it is, unless something comes up to make me change my mind.”