Diamond Playgirls

by Daaimah S. Poole; Miasha; King Deja; T. Styles

  She closed the window slightly. Realizing she wouldn’t go back to bed for at least an hour, she grabbed her blue velour robe and walked into her office. The cherry-wood desk was dressed professionally with a bronze Casting Agent of the Year paperweight and a gold matching pen holder. The files of Melonie Crew and Dayshawn Knight lay neatly in front of her. The brown walls were adorned with the degree she’d earned from Howard University. Certificates from Women in Film and Television and the Alliance of Cinema, Television and Radio Artists also were dressed in gold frames on the walls.

  She pulled the string on her desk lamp for light, and located her laptop computer. Once it was on, its glare momentarily irritated her eyes. Because the light was bright enough to provide sight, she cut the lamp off. When her Sony Vaio laptop loaded, she opened her e-mails. The first one she saw came from Harry Turnstile of TVEA Productions. The subject line was blank.

  Mona Lisa,

  I trust you arrived safe in your new home. I was happy to hear that you have some great prospects for the new picture! We’re anticipating offering deals in the next month or so. With that said, we’re counting on you. The entire production team is sitting on the edge of their seats. Rather than wait for the casting call, we’d like to meet them this Saturday. We’re having a huge party for the opening of Xtreme Measure. It is a black-tie affair. I look forward to seeing you there.

  P.S. Are you bringing a date this time?

  Harry

  If there was one thing Mona couldn’t stand, it was people bothering her about being single. She’d never been in love or a committed relationship in her entire twenty-nine-year-old life. This had nothing to do with her healthy appetite for sex, which unlike some women, she made no apologies for. It was by choice. The only man who came close to making her change her mind was Nat Singeltary. Just the thought of him made her body shiver with nostalgic delight.

  They had met at Howard University after her roommate eloped with an athlete who was drafted into the NBA and she was forced to admit that her meager income would not support her healthy appetite for Prada shoes, MAC makeup, and oh yes…regular living expenses, despite her father’s help.

  When she mentioned around campus that she had a room available in an apartment she rented five miles from the college, Nat was the first to contact her. Originally she refused. In fact, she told him to get out of her face. Living with a man in college was unheard of. Eventually she changed her mind after interviewing two women, one of whom licked the snot off of her lip as she spoke, the second who swore she was on the verge of suicide if she didn’t pass her chemistry class.

  To her surprise, they quickly became the best of friends/ roommates without intimacy. That all changed when they shared a bottle of champagne on Valentine’s Day 2000. With both of them drunk and horny, it was no surprise to either of them when after the last glass was poured, they shared each other.

  Believing they could now be friends/roommates with benefits, they decided to continue to sleep together, with no strings attached. But when her best friend Ray pointed out that the two were closer than they realized, Mona Lisa became afraid and returned to her old ways of using and abusing men for sex, starting with bringing a stranger into their apartment for a red light special.

  This upset Nat and forced him to confess how he truly felt about her. So on graduation day, he prepared an elaborate meal and asked Mona to do something she never did in her twenty-two-year-old life, “commit.” The next morning, frightened, and unwilling to face love, she left him without an answer along with the apartment they shared. She never saw him again.

  Picking up the phone, Mona Lisa decided to call the one person she knew would still be awake at three o’clock in the morning, her father, Devin Dupree. He worked the midnight shift as a computer engineer for Loyola College.

  “Hey, Daddy,” she said after eyeing the pictures of Melonie and Dayshawn.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” he said after letting out a hard cough. “How’s the city life?”

  “It’s okay,” Mona sighed as she grabbed a bottle of water she kept under her desk.

  “Just okay?” he asked before letting out two excessively hard coughs. “I’d figure you’d be enjoying yourself by now.”

  “I just got here, Daddy,” she laughed, placing the bottle back on her desk. “But it’s a little different being away from home.”

  “You’re not getting lonely, are you?”

  “No, Daddy!”

  “You sure? I don’t want you getting soft on me.”

  “I’m not, Daddy. You know I’ve always been a loner. I’m tough. Anyway, how are you? You don’t sound so good.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Now, is that you talking or did you get a doctor’s opinion?”

  “I’m gonna see the doctor tomorrow.”

  “Daddy! You promised to see him last week! Something isn’t right. You’ve lost too much weight and you’re weak all the time. I’m starting to worry.”

  “Don’t,” he said quickly, sounding as if he was trying to conceal his cough. “Let me worry about me. I’m more interested in you and your business. Did you get the actor and the actress you wanted for the new movie?”

  “I think so,” she responded, trying desperately to respect his wishes by not dwelling on his health condition. “I’ll know if they’re what I’m looking for after the auditions. I’m meeting with Dayshawn tomorrow.”

  “That’s my girl! Always showin’ ’em how it’s done,” he boasted.

  “Thanks, Daddy. So how’s the job?” she asked

  “The same as always…boring.”

  She laughed. He chuckled.

  “So, have you met any new interesting women?”

  “Naw. I’ve retired my player’s jacket.”

  Mona doubted she was hearing her father correctly. “Come again?”

  “I don’t have time for women nowadays. You’re the only woman for me.”

  “And you’re the only man for me, too, Daddy.” She smiled. “Well…” She yawned. “I have a long day tomorrow. I’m going to try to get some sleep.”

  “If you can’t, call me back.”

  “I will, and call me when you hear something from the doctor.”

  “Don’t worry about me. Knock ’em dead in New York!” He let out a cough so hard it rocked Mona’s eardrum. “Sorry,” he mumbled apologetically.

  “Don’t be sorry, Daddy,” she said softly. “Just get better.”

  “I will…good night, Mona…and remember, stay a playa!”

  When she hung up she was preparing to go to her room and was scared shitless when she heard someone buzzing her intercom. The main door leading to the brownstone was locked, but someone was trying to get her attention. What bothered her was that no one outside of her father, Cindy, and Ray knew her address. Rather than playing the guessing game she crept to the window to see who obviously had the wrong apartment. But when she saw who it was she was shocked.

  “I can’t believe he did that shit! Who in the hell comes over to somebody’s house at three o’clock in the morning unannounced! What did you say?”

  “What do you think I said? I told him if he even thinks about disrespecting my house again it would be on!” Mona responded as she slipped into her black Jean Paul Gaultier bishop-style long-sleeve one-piece dress. Afterwards she struggled getting on her gray snakeskin Louis Vuitton knee boots. The phone dropped on the hardwood floor, causing a cracking sound in Ray’s ear.

  “What are you doing?” she yelled in her squeaky high voice.

  “Getting dressed! You know Dayshawn’s on his way. After seeing his audition tape I’m excited to meet him!”

  “That’s right! You are hooking up today! But don’t try to skip the subject. Main man coming over to your house unannounced sounds odd. You sure you didn’t give him an invitation?”

  “Okay,” she started after putting on her boots. Walking toward her large vanity mirror, she put on her two-carat diamond earrings and diamond tennis bracelet. “I wan
t to tell you how I met him, but I don’t want to hear your mouth, either.”

  “Go ahead,” Ray said.

  “I’m serious!”

  “I’m listening.” Her tone was sarcastic.

  “I met him when I moved in yesterday. He looked like somebody I could have fun with. You know, to pass the time with in Harlem. Maybe he took my kindness the wrong way.”

  “You’re such a freak.”

  “Am I really?” Mona said in a condescending tone. “I mean…what have I always preached?”

  “What are you talking about, girl?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. Tell me what I’ve preached from day one?”

  Ray cleared her throat and reluctantly quoted Mona’s motto in life, “Never sleep with size-ten feet or smaller, never sleep with anyone you work with, and work hard and play harder.”

  “What’s the last one?” Mona asked, pleased at hearing her friend recite her life’s lesson.

  “Oh…never, ever, fall in love.”

  “You got it!” she giggled. “Anyway, what’s up with you and Sony?”

  Sony was a whole different story because even though Ray had a doctorate in psychology, she knew nothing about life. It wasn’t like she wasn’t successful. Ray was five foot four inches and sported a short style. Her complexion gave off the illusion that she was part Hawaiian, even though she wasn’t.

  “I don’t know.” Her mood changed. “He called me today and said he had to talk about something. I think he wants to end us.”

  “Well, if he does can you handle it?” Mona asked. Now fully dressed, she was spreading the fresh flowers she purchased from the florist in her beautiful multicolored vase on her dining room table. Afterward, she turned the music on on her iPod stereo system, and let Maxwell flow from the speakers.

  “I’m not sure.”

  Mona stopped what she was doing and exhaled. “Listen, Ray, I know it’s tough, but you should probably prepare for the worst. Don’t get me wrong, I want you to be happy, even if it means being with Sony, but I’m afraid that’s not what he wants.”

  “I think he loves me.”

  Although she’d gone to Yale to get an education in psychology, Ray was irresponsible when it came to love. She was still convinced that if you loved somebody hard enough, you could make them love you in return.

  “Trying to discover what men want is impossible. Some things simply aren’t meant to be. You’re a beautiful girl and most men would kill to take a doctor home to their mother! Let him come to you for once.”

  “I know,” Ray said after taking several deep breaths. “But I was really hoping—”

  “Hoping is for fools,” Mona interrupted. “You’re much too smart for that. Now listen…I have to go. But just so you know, I really do want things to work out for you.”

  “Thanks, Monee-D. Call me when you meet your new client.”

  “I will. And don’t forget to check on Daddy for me.”

  “You got it…but you know he stay gettin’ fresh with me when you’re not around?” Ray laughed.

  “That’s just his way. He’s harmless.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know if I am.” Ray giggled. “You know I’m vulnerable right now.”

  They laughed.

  “Girl, you better stay away from my daddy!” Mona joked as she fluffed her couch pillows.

  “I can’t make any promises.” She smiled. “But I will look after him for you while you make that paper. Love you, girl!”

  “Love you back.”

  Just when she ended the call, she heard music booming from loudspeakers outside. She pushed her red velvet drapes aside and saw a brown-skinned girl with spiral curly hair entering the brownstone, only after shaking her head in disgust at the driver of a white BMW.

  Please don’t be Dayshawn, Mona thought. She hated thinking that someone coming to visit her was already irritating her neighbors. When she saw the owner of the car park directly in front of her building, she was sure it was him. But when she saw a man holding a brown paper bag, wearing a pink fur coat, pink-tinted glasses, blue jeans, and, if her eyes saw correctly, pink boots, she doubted herself again.

  Buzz. Buzz. It was official. She could see him from her living room window pressing the intercom button for her apartment. “Shit!” Mona yelled as she put her face in her hands and then dropped them by her sides. She pressed the intercom button praying the apparently flamboyant gay man had reached the wrong floor.

  “Is this the infamous Miss Dupree?” the voice rang from the speakers.

  “I think so,” Mona responded carefully.

  “Well, it’s meeeee, sweetheart!” he sang in a loud, high-pitched voice. “Your new leading man!”

  Mona’s heart dropped. How would she convince TVEA he was the strapping strong man who was needed for the role? She leaned back against the wall and focused on her recessed lighting. She needed an answer quickly. She stood up straight, brushed herself off, and buzzed him in.

  He knocked three times before she opened the door. Immediately he stepped in, holding a greasy brown paper bag that smelled of fried chicken. Without even asking, he hugged her as if she were his long-lost cousin. The bag made a rattling sound as their bodies pressed against it.

  “Heeeeey!” He smiled, rocking her slightly. The fur from his coat stuck to her lip gloss.

  “Hello.” She smiled, upon her release. “It’s nice to meet you,” she continued halfheartedly. “Please…come in.”

  It was too late. He was already inside. Mona was stuck. She still couldn’t believe it was him. But then she saw them. Those alluring eyes. Even through the tinted shades he wore, his eyes captivated her, the same way they did on the audition DVD.

  “Make yourself comfortable,” Mona said, hoping she sounded polite. Finally able to move, she closed and locked the door behind her. Afterward she plucked the few loose fur hairs from her lips. “I just have to make a quick call.” She smiled again.

  “Oh, don’t worry about me, darlin’,” he responded as he removed two takeout containers from the bag, placing them on her new dining room table. “I’ll get us set up!”

  “Okay,” she responded. She wasn’t sure what get us set up meant, but she did know she wasn’t eating anything from that greasy bag.

  Walking over to her living room, she quickly picked up the receiver of her antique black and gold phone. She waited impatiently for Cindy to answer. She could still see Dayshawn moving about in the kitchen. The phone rang all of two seconds before Cindy picked up. “He must be there.”

  “Yes, he is, and why didn’t you tell me he was gay?” Mona whispered into the telephone as she continued to watch him. Now he was in the dining room with two of her best white china plates.

  “I tried but you wouldn’t listen,” Cindy said defensively.

  “You should have tried harder! How on earth am I going to convince TVEA that he can do this part?”

  “Are you kidding me? You’re Mona Lisa Dupree! You can convince anybody of anything!”

  “Not this time.” Mona took another peek into the living room. “It won’t fly.”

  “How many careers have you launched?”

  Silence.

  “Your clients get the major roles! I would never have scouted him if I wasn’t sure you could mold him for this part. He is what they’re looking for!”

  “I don’t know about this, Cindy.”

  She was listening to her assistant while glancing at Dayshawn at the same time. He went from taking the containers out of the bag to dishing out helpings of food on the plates. She had to admit, at first she wasn’t thinking about eating whatever he brought with him. But the longer she smelled it, the more she was considering changing her mind.

  “I’ll let you know what happens,” she continued, eyeing large helpings of macaroni and cheese.

  “Okay…and remember, Mona…you are the Dupree Project. Not the other way around.”

  When she hung up she called Ray.

  “So how does he l
ook? Details…details and don’t hold back!” She was talking nonstop and Mona couldn’t get a word in edgewise. “Is he everything you hoped for?”

  “Not really.”

  “Wh…why not?” Ray hesitated.

  “He’s gay,” Mona replied.

  “He’s what!”

  “Flaming,” Mona said firmly.

  Just as she said it, he screamed, “Dinner’s served!”

  “Was that him? Oh my Gawd, he is gay!”

  “I told you! I’m worried they won’t go for it. Don’t get me wrong, Hollywood has tons of gay and lesbian actors and actresses. But…he’s so out there! Too in your face.”

  “I don’t think you should sign him.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s just too early,” Ray replied. “Especially after the thing with Iesha.”

  “Fuck Iesha,” Mona Lisa retaliated. “I made her ass! It’s because of my agency that her career has taken off.”

  “I know…and how did she thank you?”

  “She thanked me by trying to ruin me,” she responded while listening to Dayshawn sing along to the music in the air.

  “Don’t you wish your boyfriend was hot like me?” he sang.

  “Exactly!” Ray said. “She stopped coming to rehearsals, missed tapings and everything else. They were threatening not to deal with you or your clients after that mess. If that hadn’t happened so recently, I would say go for it. But the bottom line is, it did.”

  Silence.

  “Don’t do it, girl! It’s not worth it!”

  Mona wasn’t sure if she was necessarily agreeing with Ray, because no matter what, she was known for making her own decisions and going against the grain.

  “All right…I’ll talk to you later.”

  When she hung up she stared at him like he was a science project. Can I mold you? Are you worth the chance?

  And as if he read her mind with his fur coat still on, he walked over to her, spun around like he was modeling, raised his hands in the air, dropped them by his sides, and struck a pose.

  “Get a good look, honey, because this is me,” he advised, pointing to himself. “I’m gonna be gay today and I’m gonna probably be even gayer tomorrow, but I can nail that part. I read that script from front to back and I know I can do this! Trust me!”