by Eric Pete
“Give it to me, baby,” she panted, pulling me deeper in her. “Give it all. Every last drop.”
5
Daylight. Why’d it come so fast? Hadn’t the marathon just ended?
“You awake, Lance?”
“Go away. Didn’t we just fall asleep?” I asked, refusing to open my eyes.
“Yeah. Very impressive, big boy.”
“Is that the correct time?” I squinted with one eye.
“It’s your clock, not mine. I guess.”
“What day is it?”
“Saturday. I think you need to go back to sleep.”
“I don’t know why I thought it was Monday,” I groaned. Nothing beat a Saturday . . . especially when you didn’t want to get up.
“Three days’ worth of sex in one night will do that to you,” she laughed. I had avoided looking at her because I knew I would want more. She was addictive, as my aching body had just found out. Ms. Wiltz had been awake and walking around my apartment for at least an hour. She had been through my laundry pile on the dryer and was wearing my Number 87 Saints jersey, which swallowed her little body up. Joe Horn never looked that good . . . even after scoring a winning touchdown.
“What are you doing up anyway?” I asked, lazily sitting up. I had passed out flat on my stomach on top of the covers.
“I have places to go and things to do.” She pulled the last green grape off the bunch she had been picking from and plopped it in her mouth. “Although you make a tempting offer to stay.”
“Offer? Shit, I didn’t offer anything.”
“Oh, but you did,” she answered, pointing to my hard-on. I grinned. “You had one phone call while you were counting sheep. Valerie.”
“What?” I blurted out, suddenly waking completely. I leapt to my feet. “Did you—”
“Relax,” she cut me off, eyeing me curiously. “I didn’t answer the phone. I saw the name on the Caller ID.”
“Oh. Sorry.” I started fishing around my bedroom for a pair of shorts to put on.
“You should be. I know she don’t care for me and frankly I don’t care for her ass either,” Kyne huffed. “Why in the fuck would I want to be holding a conversation on the phone with her?”
“Chill out with that shit, Kyne. I get your point.” I needed more sleep and the chatter was getting on my nerves.
A smile was cracking Kyne’s face as she was getting ready to say something else, but then the buzzer on my dryer sounded. “Perfect timing,” she said. My jersey was flipped off and thrown at my face, giving me a partial view of her nude body and the passion marks I had left in the most intimate locations. Within seconds, the black dress was back on and her thong was being pulled up.
She walked past me on her way to the bathroom to check on herself. Hell, just make yourself at home, I thought to myself with a chuckle.
“Let me know when you’re ready to go,” I said while she scrunched her face in the mirror.
“I’ve got somebody picking me up.” It amazed me how casually she let that out.
“Oh, hell nah! Tell me you don’t have some whipped nigga coming up in my crib to pick you up.”
Kyne just laughed. Still admiring herself in the bathroom mirror, she said, “Just like a man. Break you off a little bit, next thing you know you’re trying to claim a sister.”
“It ain’t even like that,” I objected. “I’m not trying to claim you.”
“Why not? Something wrong with me?”
“No. Nothing’s wrong with you at all. It’s just . . . y’know. You know me and you are friends.”
“I know, boy. I’m just giving you a hard time again. For what it’s worth, the sex was incredible. Valerie’s crazy for staying away from your stuff. Tell her I said so.”
“Yeah. She’d really appreciate that.”
I had a chance to shower and put on some clothes before Kyne’s ride arrived to pick her up. As the slow moving Acura came to a stop in the street below, I walked my girl out onto the patio. I don’t know what made me do it, but I put my arm around her as we stepped out into view of the car.
“Lance?”
“Huh?”
“Things aren’t going to get weird between us now, are they?”
“Why would you say that?”
“You know what I mean, Lance.”
“Nope. Friends forever.”
“Good,” she said with a warm smile and sincere hug.
“I do have a question before you leave.”
“I’ll grant you that.”
“Was that a pity fuck last night . . . and this morning?”
“You’re selling yourself short, Lance,” she replied, motioning for the brother in the car to wait one second. I wish I could’ve said he was ugly and nerdy-looking. “I don’t waste this on ‘pity fucks.’ I did it because you’re on fire. You’ve got a nice ass, you’re considerate, and I’m a sucker for a bald head. I’ve missed you since I’ve been gone. I guess I never realized how much until I saw you last night. We’re still cool, right?”
“Of course. Give me a hug.”
I watched Kyne’s driver frown as we hugged long and hard on the stairwell and I intentionally flashed a smile in his direction. Just marking my turf, I thought to myself in a brief testosterone rush. Kyne gave me a smile before they drove off. It was a smile that said to never forget what we had shared. A small U-Haul truck was driving up outside one of the cheaper ground-level units in my building signaling that the Saint Germaine apartments were gaining a new resident. Probably someone from the nearby naval bases in Algiers or Belle Chasse, I thought. I went inside to call Valerie back.
Next to my phone was a note with Kyne’s local address and phone number. What a contradiction to be looking at her number next to Valerie’s on the Caller ID display. Kyne knew where my heart stood on that issue, but I’d be a fraud if I claimed ignorance to the emotional attachment that comes with the type of intimacy I had just shared with her.
Valerie’s and my fight for a new, better life were synonymous. From that day I first met her in admissions at Delgado, I knew. Even through her countless rejections and dismissals, I persisted. You see, I was just as stubborn and loved her fiery independence in the face of all life had handed her. Valerie finally gave in six months to the day I began attending classes there and we went out on our first date. I remember driving over to the West Bank in my old Cutlass to pick her up in the Lincolnshire subdivision of Marrero. That night, we saw the movies in the old Belle Promenade Mall before the theater and everything else in it closed down. The movie was awful that night, but the company wasn’t. I’ve loved her since.
I hadn’t talked to her in a month. Maybe she was missing me, I thought.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Mr. Wayne,” I said to her father. We still were tight. “Is Valerie there?”
“Yeah, boy. Hold on.”
“Hello?”
“Hey,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. “You called? I saw your number on the ID.”
“Yeah,” she chuckled, “it was me. How have you been?”
“I’ve been alright.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
“You needed something?”
“Actually . . . I was calling for Bobby. He’s been asking for you.”
“Oh.”
“Did you forget? It’s his birthday tomorrow.”
“Yeah, yeah. I didn’t forget.” I wasn’t lying. It’s just that the day had crept up on me.
“Look. He’ll understand . . . I’ll understand . . . if you’re busy—”
“No, no,” I said interrupting her. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. You know how I feel about him . . . and you.” There, I went pushing the issue again.
“Uh . . . good. His party will be at the house tomorrow afternoon.”
“You might have to give me directions. It’s been awhile.”
I could hear her say something to herself before she muttered, “Cute. Well, I know he wanted to talk to you, but he
’s outside playing with his cousins in the yard.”
“No problem. I’ll have time to talk with my boy tomorrow. You miss me?”
“What?”
“You heard me.” I was sounding like Kyne now.
“. . . Lance, don’t do this.”
“I’ve missed you. There . . . I said it.”
“Look . . . Mom’s calling me. I have to go make groceries.”
“Do you need a hand with anything?”
“No, we’ve got everything under control. Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye, baby.”
“Bye.”
I stood there smiling at the phone after I put it back on its stand. Random thoughts of where we would be now if that blessed event a year ago had taken place flooded my consciousness. My smile ended abruptly when I looked at my scattered sheets and the now empty condom box on the floor.
Time to clean up then get a good nap in, I thought. There would still be time to pick up some presents for Bobby at Wal-Mart up the street or a store in the mall. The cleanup went quickly, as I didn’t really have a lot in my bedroom, just the bedroom set, my Nordic Track, and a small bookshelf for my stereo and some night reading. I kept most of my junk in the other bedroom that served as an extension of my computer sales and service business over in Algiers. Everyone thought my reason for moving across the river had been to be near Valerie. While that was a part of it, most of it was to save on the commute to my shop in the morning. For despite things being close together in and around New Orleans, traffic jams were notorious.
I slept hard, fast, and way too short. That was my usual pattern. I was up and working on a customer’s hard drive that had crashed when my phone rang again.
“Hello,” I answered softly, hoping to hear a certain voice again.
“Ya got company, boy?” the voice like gravel called out.
“Nah, man.”
“Shit. I thought she went home with you last night.”
“Uh . . . she did. Kinda.”
“Yeah, that’s my boy! I want some details!”
“Akhet . . . where are you?”
“Right outside,” he laughed.
I walked over to my living room window and looked down into the street. The U-Haul was still there being unloaded. A muscular brother in back was pushing a clothes dryer onto a handcart. Parked just in front of the truck was Akhet in his new burgundy Escalade. I could see his personalized plate PLYR HTR, named after his first hit song.
“You comin’ up or are you going to just sit there looking stupid?”
Akhet shot me the bird from out his car window before flipping his cell phone shut. He bopped in the front door a minute later. His hair was unbraided, leaving a large bush atop his head. A chain with a diamond-studded medallion of his record label, On-Phire Records, rested across the BAYOU emblem of his black and yellow FUBU all-star jersey.
“Thanks for that save last night, bro.”
“Fo’ sho, fo’ sho.” He smiled. “Got anything to eat up in this bee-yatch?”
“Nah. You know I could’ve been sitting at your funeral if that fool had pulled the trigger?”
“So. If I die, then I die.” He shrugged. “And, I could be the one at your funeral if I hadn’t walked up. I don’t have the time to place an ad for a new best friend in the Times-Picayune. I couldn’t live with something like that.”
“You still having those dreams?” I asked, sensing the seriousness beneath my boy’s silliness. He had been carrying a burden heavier than most of us could bear all these years.
“Think I ain’t? Couldn’t sleep last night over that shit. Had to take a ride down on Lake Forest to pick up a couple ’a freaks. Then, I really didn’t get any sleep.” Akhet found the last Michelob in my fridge and helped himself. “Didja hit it?”
“Huh?”
“Kyne. You know what I’m talkin’ ’bout.”
I didn’t answer, but my coy smile caused his eyes to light up.
“Hahahaha! You did! I knew it! That’s my nigga! Oh, I know that shit was good. What’s your secret? You don’t look half as good as me, you got an egghead, and you short as hell. What’s up with that?”
“Take my beer and insult me, why don’t you.”
“Boy, you know I’m just jealous,” he laughed as he plunked down in my recliner and turned on the Miami football game. The Hurricanes were his favorite team. Maybe if things had worked out for him at Carver High, Akhet could have gone on to play for them. “Kyne knows I’d drink her bath water. So, y’all two all lovey-dovey now?”
“Nah. Don’t get it twisted, bro.”
“You’re right. Both y’all too cool for that. Actually, I’m glad Kyne took pity on your ass,” he said with a slurp of his beer and a smack of his lips. “You were getting pretty pathetic worrying about Valerie ’n shit.”
“I’m going by there tomorrow.”
Putting the TV on mute, he replied with a “Huh?”
“Valerie called today.”
“Shit,” he huffed. “And?”
“It’s just a birthday party for Bobby.”
“Suuure. That’s what she’s telling your ass to string you along.”
“Why don’t you like her? I mean, besides the stuff with the wedding.”
“Need me to count the ways? Besides . . . she doesn’t like me.”
“It’s not you she doesn’t like, it’s your lyrics.”
“I can help her with that. Just don’t listen to my shit.”
“How can she when every hardhead under twenty-five is driving through Lincolnshire bumpin’ your music?”
“I can’t help it if they have good taste.”
“I need to go pick up some presents for Bobby. Wanna come?”
“Yeah. He’s a good kid. Think I’ll pick up something too. Can we wait until halftime though? I don’t want to jinx my ’Canes and cost ’em a blowout.”
As we were leaving for Wal-Mart and driving past the U-Haul, they were announcing poetry night on Q93, at Rhythm City. I had been wanting to check out the Blessed Poet everyone had been talking about.
“Look over there.” Akhet gleefully pointed. The woman who was my new neighbor was bending over to pick something off the grass. We watched as the bottom of one cheek peered out of her shorts at us. “Damn.”
“Now that’s a nice ass,” I muttered, admiring the backside on display.
Akhet laughed suddenly and said, “You know who that is, huh?”
“Not from this view,” I said as she stood back up. She turned just in time for me to see her face and ample chest. “No. Oh, hell no.”
“First Kyne, then Valerie’s calling you, now Renika’s moving in. Damn, Lance, you a regular Jake Steed, ain’t ya?”
I looked on in stunned silence as we passed the reason for Valerie and my not being together. Renika recognized me and smiled broadly. Behind her, I saw the muscular brother from before exit the apartment and scowl in my direction. “Oh, hell no.”
6
Sunday, Akhet insisted on tagging along to Bobby’s birthday party. He met me at my place and rode with me in my Honda. It was a warm day, but cloudy and overcast.
“We coulda taken my ride,” he said, fidgeting in his seat. His hair on his head had been freshly braided back by some woman. I didn’t need to, but I had shaved my head first thing that morning as a touch-up. We were turning onto Lincolnshire Drive. Valerie’s place was at the end of the block on Rue Louis Phillippe.
“I’m not trying to make a grand entrance. I just want to drop off these presents, spend some time with Bobby, then leave.”
“Right. That’s why I’m coming along.”
A Suburban with a custom paint job passed us on its way out the subdivision. Even with the windows up, we could feel the bone-rattling vibrations from its stereo. I watched it disappear onto Lapalco Boulevard in my side mirror. Akhet was first to comment.
“Funny. Back in the day, I woulda followed him home and jacked his shit that night.”
I chuckled, thinking back to another time and place. “Yeah. Me too,” I replied.
I saw all the same cars from over the years at the pale blue house with tan bricks that was the Lewis residence. Valerie still lived with her parents, her dad a concrete finisher for a local construction company and her mom a homemaker. After Bobby was born, Valerie’s mom was there to baby-sit, which allowed Valerie to continue working days. When my job permitted it, I sometimes took him off Mrs. Lewis’ hands.
I parked on the side of the house in the new driveway her dad had poured and reached into the backseat for the wrapped presents.
“Think he’ll like this?”
“Yeah. And his momma will too,” Akhet smirked, seeing through to the real meaning of my question.
From the smell of smoke, I could tell Mr. Lewis had barbecued earlier in the day. Bobby was only four . . . correction, five, so I knew all the sausage and chicken wings waiting inside were for the adults’ benefit.
The door opened. I looked deep into the eyes of the leggy five-six mother of one, blessed with a swimmer’s body. Remembering what we’d shared, I smiled and she smiled, drawing my attention to the faint freckles visible on her tan cheeks. I remembered individually kissing each and every one of them. Her reddish brown hair had grown out and she was now wearing it in a flip style; fresh bangs hung down upon her forehead too. Her white blouse and tan skirt told me she had just returned from church. We hugged briefly, allowing me to breathe deeply of the BCBGirl I had bought for her birthday on the back of her neck. That was the spot that drove her wild.
“You look good, girl. Smell good too.”
“Come in,” she said with a smile that made everything better. She hadn’t realized that she was leading me in by the hand.
“Hey, Val,” Akhet said as he stuck his big head into view in the doorway. “Can I come in too?”
Valerie was startled and dropped her hand away from mine. She looked at his goofy smile then back at me before regaining her composure. “Good to see you too, Akhet,” she said in a ho-hum manner while rolling her eyes. “Close the door behind you.” She then led both of us through the house and to the family room in back.