Gets No Love

by Eric Pete

  I took my leave, ignoring Val’s screams for an explanation. The gang of kids, seeing the look on my face, quickly dispersed. Passing Robert’s car, I knocked his door mirror loose with a mighty kick.

  I replayed every second of what had transpired while the radio played on. Sade hadn’t written a song sad enough for my life. I was back at my place before I realized I still had something in my pocket. I looked deep into the princess-cut diamond inside the case. It had come so close before to being on her finger the first time. I remembered the desperation I had felt when Val refused it after calling off our wedding. I let the case snap shut and cocked back to hurl it from my balcony, but thought otherwise. That would have taken effort. I had put . . . no . . . wasted too much energy on this thing already. But to trade it in or give it away would have been wrong. Just too many bad vibes to pass on. I extended my hand over the rail and simply let it fall to the grass below. I then closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and went inside.

  Turn it off and start over again. Turn it off and start over again.

  Yeah. Val had done just that.

  31

  The phone was ringing off the hook when I walked in. I clicked the phone on, then quickly hung up on her. I knew it was Val, but didn’t want to hear explanations or anything else about how or why she decided to get back with Robert. Was I justified for beating his ass down? Probably not, but he had it coming for way too long.

  After pulling a cold one out of the fridge, I just sat and tried to calm down. Between swigs, I used the damp coolness of the bottle to ease the pain in my knuckles. I laughed aloud. It would have been nice if the beverage inside the bottle were able to heal the hurt inside me as easily. I sat in a daze for an hour with the empty bottle in my hand without noticing it until the phone rang again. This time, I yanked the cord out of the wall. I thought it was over until a banging sound erupted at my door. I tried ignoring it, but whoever was knocking didn’t let up.

  “What!”

  “Have you been crying?” was her first comment. I placed my hands to my face and felt something I was unaccustomed to. I quickly wiped the half-dried moisture from my face.

  “Go away. Now’s not the time.”

  “It never is when I stop by,” she said as she braced herself against the door.

  “Perhaps you shouldn’t stop by then,” I replied. I began pushing the door again. “Go. I really mean it this time.”

  “Did you lose this?” she asked as she shoved the grass-stained ring case in front of me. She had guts risking her arm being smashed in the door like that.

  “It’s not mine,” I said, looking away.

  She popped the case open. “Bullshit. You’re not a good liar. I’ve seen this ring before, remember?”

  “Why don’t you go back downstairs to your abusive boyfriend? I’m sure he’s looking for a workout.”

  “That’s cruel and not true.”

  “Whatever.”

  “I know you’re hurting over something, so you’re trying to throw stuff back on me. S’okay. I was wondering why Val was calling me, all PO’ed.”

  Giving in to her, I let go of the door. “What’d she say?”

  “Oh. Now you want to talk all of a sudden,” she said with a grin. “She didn’t say much . . . just wanted to know if I had seen you around. Y’all two argue again?”

  I leaned on the balcony rail and looked down at the street. “Nope. Didn’t say a word to her.”

  “That don’t make sense, boy. She—”

  “I just beat down Robert outside her house,” I said, biting my lip. “They’re together.”

  “Huh? What’d you just say?”

  “They’re screwing. Val and Robert are fuckin’.”

  “Did she tell you this?” Renika asked with a strange ring to her voice.

  “She didn’t have to. I saw it myself. She was half naked and alone with him. He was zipping up his pants. I saw enough and just lost it.” I had begun crying again without realizing it. “I lost her.”

  Seeing the ring case still in Renika’s hand, I lost it again. I snatched it and hurled it through the air where it disappeared in the greenery of the tree across the street.

  Renika tried to calm me down. I felt her hand rubbing my back the way an adult would try to soothe a child. I moved away from her hand then turned my rage on her.

  “Why?” I shouted. “Why’d you do this? If—if you just hadn’t told Val about us then none of this would be happening! None of it! We’d be married now . . . and everything would be right.”

  “Lance, I’m sorry,” she begged. “I was only trying to help.”

  “Help?” I asked sarcastically. “Help?”

  “Yes. I was just trying to put things in perspective for Val that night.”

  “You ruined our wedding! Was that enough perspective for you?”

  She bit one of her nails. Something she never did. “Are you certain about what you saw at Val’s today?”

  “Dammit! What did I just tell you?”

  Renika started to leave out the door then stopped. “She didn’t call it off because of you and me and what we had years ago.”

  The words echoed inside the canyon of my thoughts, playing over and over again. “Yes, she did! She told me—”

  Holding her hand up to pause me, she stated, “You didn’t let Val finish that night. She was trying to tell you more. You didn’t let her. Shit. I need to keep my mouth shut, but you’re my friend too.”

  “What are you getting at?”

  Renika sighed as her face was overcome with sadness. “You don’t want me to spell it out, Lance.”

  “Spell it. I want you to.”

  “Val didn’t call your wedding off that night because of us.” Her voice trailed off. “She called it off because of Robert. They had slept together the night before.”

  “You’re lying!” I yelled as I got in her face. “You’re just trying to cover your ass for fuckin’ things up!”

  “You know me better than that. Don’t cheapen our friendship that way. I was trying to save your wedding. She was going to call the whole thing off. I only brought us up to show her that the past is just that. In the past.”

  “So, you kept this to yourself? All this time?”

  She let out a barely audible, “Yes.”

  “Yeah, you’re her friend alright . . . ’cause you ain’t no friend of mine.”

  “Lance, don’t say things like that. You know how I feel about you. I didn’t want you hurting.”

  “You mean any more than I’ve been hurting? So, it was better to let me make a straight fool out of myself?”

  “. . . No.”

  “This is too much,” I said, laughing deliriously. “She and Robert been fuckin’ behind my back the whole time, huh?”

  “I don’t . . . I didn’t think so. I think it was just that one time . . . until now.”

  “But you don’t know . . .”

  “No. I don’t.”

  “I don’t know whether to believe you. I’m finding out that you’re really good at keeping secrets.”

  “Don’t do me like that.”

  “I won’t. Matter of fact, I’m not doing you at all. Leave. Now.”

  Renika knew it was futile to argue. She began descending the flight of stairs. I leaned against the doorframe and watched her. “In her defense,” she said as she looked back at me, “Val loves you and had every intention of marrying you. She had some unresolved things with Robert and was having one last talk with him. Things got emotional and kinda crazy. She was crazy hurt after she did it. I tried to talk her into marrying you anyway, but she just had too much guilt.”

  “Guilt’s a bitch,” I responded, “and I guess so is she.”

  Not long after making those comments, Val called me on my cell phone.

  “What do you want?”

  “I want to know why you beat up Robert. He’s over at West Jeff now getting his nose looked at.”

  “He got what he deserved. I guess you deserve each
other.”

  “What are you talking about? What is wrong with you, Lance? I got your message. Did you have something to say to me?”

  “I did. All I have to say now is go to hell.”

  “Why are you acting like this? Why are you talking to me this way?”

  “What way would you expect me to talk to a liar and a hypocrite?”

  “Huh? I don’t understand you and I definitely don’t like your tone. You sound crazy.”

  “Crazy for wasting my time today and for not knowing you were fucking Robert behind my back. Do me a favor. Don’t call me ’cause I sure won’t be calling you again. Enjoy Carolina with your baby daddy.”

  32

  “What are you having?”

  “Huh?” I asked, leaning over the bar.

  “What are you drinking?” he yelled. Either the music was getting louder or I was getting older. Probably both.

  “Just give me a Sprite,” I replied. “Gotta drive tonight,” I volunteered in a vain attempt to remove the smirk off his face. He chuckled before shoveling the ice into the glass and squeezing the trigger on the fountain dispenser.

  The Napoleon Room on Canal Street was Akhet’s for the night. I was one of the thousands in attendance for his birthday celebration at the three-level club that was the trendy in-spot for the city’s celebrities. Being dateless, I had thought about passing on the occasion, but there were opportunities aplenty milling about. A woman a full inch taller than me had more than a few heads turning. She was different than Kyne, but had one of those auras. The dark-complexioned woman walked through the club with the grace of a model but the power of a track star. Firm calf muscles flexed beneath the white skirt with each bold stride. I know I wasn’t alone in wondering what a night with her would be like.

  I saw her smile as she walked toward the crowd where I was standing. I drank from my glass and smiled back. The eye contact held as she came closer and closer. I blocked out the conversation around me and tried to think of what to say to her. I opened my mouth and decided to go with a simple “hello” to start things off. She was now close enough for me to reach out and touch her.

  “Excuse me, chief,” the voice said from directly behind me before my words to the woman could come out. The player for the New Orleans Hornets nudged me aside as he took her hand in his and led her off to the VIP section.

  “She goin’ straight to the WNBA once she’s finished at Tulane. Fine, huh?” Akhet said as he adjusted his white cotton headband. He had walked up in time to see me embarrass myself. We gave each other a pound.

  “Yeah. You could say that.”

  “I just did. She fine enough for me to say it twice though,” he chuckled. “And he ain’t even a starter. Imagine what Baron Davis and them get.”

  “Happy birthday, bruh!” I said, raising my glass in a toast.

  “Fo’ sho, fo’ sho! You havin’ a good time in here?” he asked as people were now crowding us trying to get a moment with him. Akhet simply shooed them away by promising his time later. “Whatcha drinkin’? Belvedere?”

  “Just Sprite.”

  He frowned up as if sucking on a lemon. “You can’t come to my mutherfuckin’ party and not get yo drank on, ya dig?” By the slur of his words, I could tell his celebration had begun much earlier in the day. It was my boy’s day so he was entitled to it. He put his arm around me and began leading me back to the bar. “Have some fun, bruh, or I’ma kick yo ass. Now, go tell the bartender to give you whatever you want. You rollin’ VIP up in this mug.”

  I was getting caught up in the fun, but that paused when I saw the familiar On-Phire Records crew descending from the second floor. What chilled me next was when Melvin noticed me and cracked a smile. Jason North dropped his casual facade to frown instead. My knowing he wasn’t the big man he pretended to be must’ve irked him to no end. Akhet was wandering off for a quick preperformance interview when I grabbed him by the arm.

  “What?”

  With a look of urgency in my eyes, I gestured. “They’re here.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said, stroking his chin. “I know. They’re supposed to be here.” He began walking off again as if everything were okay. He then stopped before giving me a reassuring wink and saying, “Relax. I got somethin’ for them.”

  I dreaded what that meant, but if Akhet didn’t seem bothered then I wasn’t going to be. Recently, I had been spending too much of my life worrying about something, so it was time for this man to be just that. I put my emotions on cruise control and let the positive vibes in the place flow in instead . . . but not before watching them one last time.

  Erykah Badu’s song from the movie Brown Sugar came on between the tons of bounce music geared toward the younger crowd that made up most of the audience. I decided not to be a wallflower this night and set out to find someone to dance with. It didn’t take long before I was on the floor swaying and grooving to Ms. Badu’s ode to hip-hop. My dance partner was a lovely exotic beauty from Trinidad who worked for the local tourism department. Her promotional T-shirt bore the words NEWORLEANSBLACK.COM. As we danced and laughed, we realized that neither one of us had seen Brown Sugar yet. That commonality seemed to be leading to something as she found one of her business cards and slipped it into my hand.

  “Maybe we can rent the movie and see it together if our schedules permit,” I asked with the old mack-daddy eyes I had dusted off earlier for an occasion such as this.

  “Yeah. I’d like that,” she answered in my ear over the music.

  I took my gaze off her for a brief second to read her name off the card. She had said it earlier, but I honestly didn’t hear her.

  “Valerie?”

  “Yes, but my friends call me Val,” she said with a smile. “Is . . . is something the matter?”

  My mind was playing tricks on me. When I looked away from the business card, it was her voice I heard, but the face was my Valerie. I fumbled to say something coherent. “No, I just need to get another drink. Would you like one?”

  “No. I don’t drink . . . and maybe you shouldn’t either.”

  “I’m not drunk if that’s what you’re insinuating. You just reminded me of something.”

  “Something? Or someone?” she asked with a disappointed grimace across her face. “Were you even going to tell me?”

  “Tell you what? There’s nothing to tell,” I said as I took a step back and shrugged my shoulders.

  She laughed. “Man, you’ve got her all over your face. I’m sorry, but I don’t mess with another woman’s property.”

  With a look of pity, she took her business card back and shook her head at what might have been. I could’ve put up a stink and convinced her she was wrong, but just then my heart was somewhere over the skies of North Carolina and wondering if a woman and her son were thinking of me as I suddenly was of them. In my hesitation, someone else was already moving in for the kill and was leading her back onto the dance floor. Now I really needed a drink.

  At the bar, I ordered an Incredible Hulk—Hpnotiq and Hennessy—for my drink and was preparing to find a comfortable seat for the evening. A slender hand touched my arm as I dropped a few bills in the tip glass.

  “Could you get me a Malibu and pineapple?” the sweet syrupy voice asked.

  Without looking, and since my drinks were free thanks to Akhet, I signaled the bartender without seeing who had requested the drink. I had hoped my friend from the dance floor had had a change of heart, but I would’ve been happy with almost any of the women in the place that night.

  The bartender was quick and I grabbed the Malibu and pineapple to hand it to . . . a smiling Roxie.

  “Thaaanks, Lance.” Her laugh was annoying, almost mocking in its tone.

  “If I would’ve known it was you, I would have poured it on you instead.”

  Putting forth her best angelic face, she responded, “Aww, why the hard feelings? I didn’t do nuthin’ to you.” I laughed at that. She was like Sylvester the cat with Tweety in her mouth, trying to look inn
ocent.

  “Where’s Alexis?” I looked for her girlfriend who felt I had wronged her.

  Taking a sip of her drink and licking her lips, Roxie batted her eyes. “She ain’t here. She’s back at the room studying.”

  “Good for her. And what are you doing? Still tryin’ to get in my boy’s videos?” And with a swig of my drink, I left.

  “Wait!” she yelled, running alongside me.

  “What do you want? You can’t stand me, remember?”

  “I don’t think I ever said that,” she said coyly. She wagged her legs back and forth seductively to the beat. “I don’t know anyone in here tonight. Can’t we just hang out?”

  “What would Alexis say?”

  “Like I said, she ain’t here.”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “You were with my boy and now you’re . . .”

  “So,” she said, completing my thought with just a look. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “Everything,” I replied. “Enjoy your drink.” Roxie, feeling she had just been rejected, went to scratch me with a swipe of her fake nails, but I grabbed her wrist. A few people noticed the scene she was making and let loose a slew of whispers and giggles.

  “If that bitch over there can get away with being with the both of you, then why can’t I?”

  “Huh? Who are you talking about?”

  “Her,” Roxie shrugged. At a nearby table, there she was. Kyne.

  33

  I left the fuming Roxie behind. As I approached Kyne, a hail of profanity was hurled at my back, some of it hitting my shirt before falling to the carpeted floor. She had been watching Roxie’s interaction with me and was smiling. I could tell she had been laughing.

  “Something funny?”

  “Nah, boy. C’mere and give me a hug.” There she was. Kyne stood up from behind the table in her boots, skirt, and black bebe New Orleans top. She could wear the most casual things, yet light up the room with just her presence as if adorned in diamonds and pearls.

  We embraced tightly. This was my first time seeing her since my fight with Akhet. I still wasn’t sure how comfortable I’d be. I realized just then that I had missed having her around as a friend.