by Omar Tyree
“Mom, this is Bruce,” Tracy said, leading him into the kitchen.
Patti looked him over and said, “How are you? I’ve heard so much about you.”
“See, I told you I was talkin’ ’bout you,” Tracy bragged, grinning at him. Bruce felt important, but what he didn’t know was that Tracy had only talked about how he looked and how he dressed.
She led him back to the living room and sat with him on the couch. Jason then ran and jumped on him.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Bruce.”
They shook hands, with Bruce’s swallowing Jason’s.
“You like Tracy?” Jason asked.
Bruce beamed. “I’on know.”
Tracy butted in. “You want something to drink?”
“Yeah,” Bruce said.
Tracy got him lemonade, and Bruce gulped it down in one big swallow.
“Dag! You want some more?” she asked, surprised by it. He must be thirsty or something, she thought to herself.
“Naw,” Bruce responded with a nervous smile. But after playing with Jason, he began to feel at home.
Tracy took the cup back to the kitchen.
Patti grinned at her. “Tracy, he’s cute.”
“I know, ’cause I don’t deal wit’ ugly guys,” Tracy said, walking back out to the living room with a slight bounce. She sat back on the couch with Bruce.
Bruce moved closer to her. “You just wake up pretty, don’t you?” he asked.
Tracy responded with a giggle, “No, you have to ask my mother about that.”
Bruce’s eyes focused on the 27-inch RCA that Jason had turned on. “That’s a big-ass TV y’all got.”
Tracy whispered, looking at her brother, “Watch your mouth, boy.”
Jason was a human tape recorder.
“Oh, my fault,” Bruce apologized.
“Dag, you ain’t got no manners,” Tracy responded, still getting on him about it. She looked at Bruce’s clothing and smiled.
“What’s so funny?” he quizzed.
“Where you get your sneakers from?”
“From Footlocker’s.”
“How you be gettin’ all them glasses?”
Bruce lied, thinking that Tracy liked adventure. “We stole ’em.”
Her eyes ballooned. “For real?”
Bruce frowned. “No, girl. I bought them.”
“Well, excuuuse me, Mr. Money.”
Bruce cracked a broad smile while Tracy thought about making her move.
“Bruce?”
“What?”
“Won’t ’chew buy me some stuff?” Tracy leaned into him.
Jason smiled, watching for Bruce’s reaction to his sister’s begging. Tracy was always begging for something.
Bruce chuckled and said, “Aw’ight. Give me the money.”
Tracy sucked her teeth and nudged him. “For real, Bruce. Please. I’m serious.” Her head softly met his shoulder.
Bruce insisted, “When you give me the money, I’ll do it.”
Tracy was pissed. “Dag, you stingy, boy!” she huffed at him, straightening up from his shoulder. “I should make you leave,” she pouted.
Bruce didn’t care if he left at that point. He had had a good time, and he could tell that Tracy was enjoying his company.
“Oh, well, I’ll roll then,” he said, getting up to walk to the door.
“Sike, Bruce. I’m only playin’ with you,” she said, pulling him back down on the couch with her. “But you gon’ take me to the movies?”
“For what?”
“Because, I wanna go.”
Bruce grinned. “If I take you, I won’t be able to talk to no other girls.”
Tracy rolled her eyes and sighed at him. “You a trip.”
Bruce leaned back into her couch and enjoyed the rest of his stay.
• • •
Tracy’s plan to get Bruce’s materials without giving him anything was going nowhere. Bruce continued to avoid all of her money questions. He liked teasing her. He knew what she was after, and he began to ask her for a proper trade-off. They wore each other out with their demands. Neither of them seemed to be getting anywhere. And soon they began to talk to other people, fading off from each other.
By early March, Bruce had a new girlfriend, and Tracy liked a green-eyed, light-skinned boy who had clout in her school. “Green-eyed Timmy” had been approaching her for weeks, but Tracy refused to be his plaything. Timmy already had a girlfriend. And Bruce was going through the same old charades, struggling with every girl that liked him. He had the same old problems: not being able to keep the girls interested, and never being able to score.
It was early April before Tracy saw Bruce looking deliciously tempting again. She was going out for a track team, and Bruce happened to show up for a girl who was going out for the team as well. Jantel was already a star on the team, but she was still not as close with Tracy as they had been before Carmen entered the picture.
Bruce looked shockingly handsome in the bright spring sun. His legs were strong and masculine in his shorts. Maybe that was what turned Tracy on. Or possibly it was the haircut; his thick wavy hair shone like it was waxed. Or maybe it was the gold rope chain that he wore around his neck with a $ sign hanging over his red Polo tennis shirt. Whatever it was that turned Tracy on, it hit her like a bag of bricks that day, and all she could think about was how much she wanted him.
“Ay Marcy, tell that boy right there that somebody said he looks good,” Tracy said to a new friend. She pointed the short, thick-built sprinter to Bruce, who was standing at the fence that surrounded the track.
Marcy walked right over to him and said it.
“Who said that?” Bruce quizzed, knowing who it was already. Only Tracy was that bold.
Marcy confirmed it, “Some girl named Tracy did.”
Bruce looked over at her, and Tracy smiled at him.
Bruce felt desperate. “Well, tell her that I love her,” he said to Marcy.
Tracy asked Marcy, excitedly, “What did he say?”
“He said that he loves you.”
A burst of joy flowed through Tracy’s body. She had made up her mind. She decided that she would do it with him. No boy ever said that he loves me, she thought.
She called Bruce up to talk, and he desperately tried to get her over to his house, but she refused. She wanted to wait to take her birth-control pills. Bruce was angry, having no idea why she had told him “no” again.
He tried unsuccessfully to score with other girls, becoming more and more pressed for a sexual encounter. Maybe it was the warm weather that was making him so restless for lovemaking, but Bruce was ready to do it with anyone who would let him. He felt as though he was being punished by the forces of nature. I can’t get no ass to save my life! he told himself.
By the end of another sexless week, Bruce was devastated. His new girlfriend would not agree to consort with him either. He wouldn’t dare to rape a girl. His mother would kill him, after she threw him out, so it was nothing that he could do to speed up nature’s process but wait for his time to come. Every dog has his day, he mused, but if I don’t get some sex soon, I feel like I’m about to turn into one.
“So what happened, man?” Bucky asked.
Bruce had returned from his girlfriend’s house. He answered, sitting on Bucky’s steps with his head down, “She said her period was on.”
Bucky laughed, straightening out his Adidas tennis outfit. “You went for that nut shit?”
Bruce threw up his hands. “Look, man, what was I supposed to do?”
“You should have let her know, right off the back, that you ain’t no nut, cuz’.”
Bruce shook his head and said, “Yeah, well, it’s too late for that now. Maybe it just ain’t meant for me to get no ass.”
“Man, shet up. That’s probably why they all think you a sucka’ now.”
“Well, what we gon’ do tonight?” Bruce asked, changing the subject. There had to be at least a milli
on better things worth talking about, as far he was concerned.
Bucky tucked in his shirt. He wasn’t “good-looking,” but to Bruce, Bucky had poise and style. “I don’t know what ’chew doin’, but I’m gon’ get with this bitch later on,” he said. Then again, Bucky simply did and said what he wanted, and girls seemed to respect him for it.
“Damn, well, I might as well go to see this girl myself,” Bruce suggested.
“Yeah, you betta’ do somethin’.”
Bruce left immediately. The early April night was warm and peaceful. He walked to the girl’s block, where he found her standing with her slightly bow-legged girlfriend. Bruce could not help watching her friend’s bow-legs for the twenty or so minutes that he spent with them.
“So what’s up, Nikki?”
“Nothin’. You just decided to come around here and see me, hunh?”
“Why you say it like that?”
“Were you bored or somethin’, Bruce?”
“What, I gotta be bored to come see you?”
“I’m asking you.”
Bruce looked at her girlfriend. “Damn!” he said, laughing. Nikki knew what he was talking about, but she tried to let it pass.
“Are you going to that party tonight?” she asked him.
“Naw. What party?”
“At the playground center.”
“Nope. I want to be with you tonight,” Bruce said, glancing at her girlfriend again.
Nikki had enough. She snapped, “This is Kari, since you act like you want to meet her.”
Bruce was caught, and all he could do was smile about it. “Why you say that?” he responded, still grinning.
“You know what, Bruce? You can go back home, because you don’t have any respect for me.”
“Aw, now, why you gon’ say that?”
Nikki ignored him. Bruce decided to leave. There was no way he could keep his mind on one girl, when he wasn’t getting anything from any of them. What the hell is the use? he thought.
Bruce went home and sat inside of his living room. He laid back on the couch, exhausted from his thoughts of hopelessness. It was one of those Friday nights when all of his friends would get drunk. But Bruce didn’t feel like being drunk; he felt like being inside of a girl. He closed his eyes, dreaming about it.
BRRRRIIIINNNG!
He answered the phone on the first ring. “Hello.”
“Hi, it’s Tracy.”
“Hey, girl. What’s going on?” he asked excitedly. He straightened up on the couch.
“Are you mad at me for not coming to your house?”
“Naw, I’m just happy that we’re talking to each other again.”
Tracy was still his number one.
“Come up here,” she demanded.
Bruce was shocked. “When?” he asked.
“Now.”
“For real?” He thought about the suddenness of it. “You’re not playing with me, are you?” he asked her.
“No, I’m serious,” she told him.
“Okay. I’ll be up.”
Bruce hung up the phone, ran to his room, threw on some cologne, grabbed a couple of rubbers from out his drawer and broke out the front door. He ran up Chelten Avenue and onto Wayne. He only stopped running when he had reached the corner of Diamond Lane. He then calmed himself and rang Tracy’s bell.
Tracy walked onto her front steps looking beautiful. She wore a small, pink flower in her thick, dark brown hair.
Bruce asked, “How you doin’?”
“I’m okay. You got a car ride or something?” Tracy asked, wondering how he had gotten there so fast.
Bruce lied. “Yeah, my boy dropped me off at the corner.”
“Oh,” Tracy said, looking womanly.
Bruce looked over at Raheema’s door and then at Tracy. “Well, can I come in?” he decided to ask. He thought it would be embarrassing to have Raheema come out and catch him.
Tracy told him with a smile, “Come on.”
It was dark inside. A red lamp was the only thing on.
They sat on the couch, and Tracy kept her distance, staring down at her lap.
“What are you doin’ that for?” Bruce quizzed.
“I don’t know.”
“Where your mom at?”
“She went out.”
Bruce wanted to make a move immediately, but Tracy gave him no hints. If he wanted to get it, she would make him come after it.
Bruce started to harden, thinking about the possibilities. He moved closer to her and attempted to feel on her breasts. Tracy didn’t stop him. She wanted him to do more, but Bruce stopped in fear that she might stop him.
“Can I get something to drink?” he asked, standing up momentarily. He didn’t know what to do with himself.
Tracy got up to get him some lemonade, thinking of how inexperienced Bruce was acting. He drank it down as if he was ready to die from thirst again. Tracy took the cup back to the kitchen. Bruce then told himself that he wouldn’t procrastinate, and that he would go for it. Now!
Tracy came back from the kitchen, and Bruce gently caressed and kissed her as she responded positively toward it. Bruce then leaned up and went for her pants zipper, but Tracy stopped him.
“Hold up, my mom might be coming,” she lied, hearing a car pulling up outside. Patti wasn’t due to be home until late. It was only nine forty-five, and Jason had been knocked out and in dreamland an hour earlier. Tracy had made sure to exhaust him earlier that day so she could have the nighttime all to herself.
Bruce got scared and leaped off of her.
Tracy walked to the door, holding in her laugh. She looked through the shades. “Nope. I was wrong.”
Bruce held her up against the door and tried to kiss her again. Tracy turned her head from him to avoid it. Bruce kissed her neck instead.
“Stop, Bruce.”
“So what we gon’ do then?”
“All right, I’ll do it with you. God!” she snapped at him.
“Are you sure?” Bruce asked, no longer believing anything that she said.
“Yeah, just let me go.”
Bruce let her go, feeling victorious.
Tracy walked away from him and sat on the couch. “Why we gotta do it?” she whined.
Bruce sighed. He shook his head disappointedly. “I bet Victor ain’t have to go through this shit!”
“Fuck him!” Tracy hollered in response. She walked over by the stairs.
Bruce said, “Look, I’m gettin’ out of here, ’cause you ain’t doin’ nothin’ but playin’ with me.” He grabbed his jacket and bolted for the door.
Tracy yelled, “Where you goin’, Bruce?”
“I’m goin’ the fuck home! Where you think I’m goin’?”
“NO!”
“Well, why you call me up here if you didn’t wanna do nothin’?”
“Because, I wanted to talk to you.”
“When I get home, I’ll call you up then.”
“I SAID, ‘NO,’ BOY!” Tracy hollered at him again.
“What we gon’ do then, Tracy?”
Tracy looked away and sighed. She then walked over to the bottom of the stairs. “Get your stuff and come up to my bedroom,” she told him.
Bruce struggled to keep his composure. He headed up the stairs, walking up first and feeling aroused. Tracy followed him sluggishly. Bruce got to her all-pink room in the dark. Tracy stood in the doorway behind him.
“Well, come on,” Bruce turned and said.
Tracy shied away from him. “I’on wanna do it with you,” she whined, still playing games.
Bruce was about to go out of his mind, but he figured he was too close to lose. “Aw naw, that’s it,” he said, grabbing at her pants.
Tracy fought him. “Get off of me. I’ll do it,” she said, peeling his hands from her jeans.
Bruce frowned. “Come on, girl, stop playing with me,” he said as if he was about to cry.
Tracy started to laugh. She loved Bruce’s temper. “You get on my nerves, boy,�
�� she said, finally taking off her pants.
Bruce’s heart beat wildly as he began to strip. Tracy became the first girl that he saw butt-naked in his life, except for the time when he walked in on his cousin taking an afternoon shower.
Bruce tried to lay Tracy’s smooth honey-brown body on the bed, underneath his chestnut-brown frame.
Tracy stopped him. “No, Bruce.”
“What ’chew mean, ‘no’?” he asked, confused.
“I wanna do it on the floor.”
Bruce cracked a colossal smile. He was in heaven. Everything Tracy said added to his excitement.
She stretched a blanket out on the floor, spread her legs and raised her knees up high, like she had done for Victor, more than a dozen times.
She whined, “Hurry up, Bruce. It’s cold.”
Bruce climbed overtop of her and tried to enter, but he could not find the right place.
“No, what are you trying to do?” Tracy asked.
“It’s too dark in here. I can’t see,” Bruce said, making excuses. He tried again and failed, falling on top of her and breathing like he had done something.
Tracy asked, “What’s wrong?”
Bruce laughed it off. “I don’t believe this.”
“What?”
“I ain’t even hard no more.”
Tracy sucked her teeth. “Well, get off of me then.”
“Naw,” Bruce responded. “But see, if you wasn’t playin’ with me, this wouldn’t have happened,” he said, making up more excuses for his inexperience. They lay there for a while, doing nothing. Bruce then tried to make himself erect by rubbing himself against her leg.
“Help me, Tracy,” he whined.
Tracy was repulsed. “NO! I’m not touching it.”
Bruce sat up, playing with himself to become erect again. “Come on, help me,” he begged Tracy.
Tracy grabbed at him and moved her hand back and forth. Bruce began to suck her breasts. Tracy then ran her fingers over his back, and he was up like a ladder.
“Put it in,” he told her. Tracy did it with ease, making Bruce feel stupid that he could not do it. He leveled himself on top of her and started to move around in circles, not really knowing what he was doing. He didn’t feel anything special. Sex was overrated.
Tracy felt nothing either. It wasn’t like when Victor did it to her. Bruce did not have any of Victor’s experience.