Dating Games

by RM Johnson

  “It’s shut off,” Alize said, walking past her mother. “You must ain’t pay the bill.”

  Livvy looked up at Ally as she walked into the kitchen, sensing that for some reason, the girl got pleasure from delivering this news. Livvy thought about the last notice she’d gotten from Ameritech, the third notice, the one in the pink envelope. She was waiting until payday next week and didn’t think they’d cut her off so fast.

  Damn, she thought, getting up from the floor. She wouldn’t have the money to pay them for a week, when she could pay all the other bills that were past due too. But she wouldn’t worry about that now. What she needed to do was call Wade.

  Livvy looked over at her daughter, who was standing beside the open refrigerator door, picking grapes from a bunch, and popping them into her mouth.

  “Alizé, I need to use your cell phone.”

  Alizé ate one last grape, then closed the fridge. “Hennesey’s so perfect, why don’t you use hers?”

  “Because you know Henny don’t have no cell phone. Now go get it. I ain’t playin’ with you.”

  Ally poked her lip out and stomped in the direction of her room, returning a moment later with the tiny cell phone, and held it out for her mother to take.

  “Maybe you should get yourself one,” Ally retorted as her mother took the phone.

  “I can’t keep the house phone on. How am I supposed to be able to afford one of these,” Livvy said. “Don’t know where you got it from.”

  “Men like the ass you said I should lose,” Ally said, turning her back to her mother, and swished her butt into the kitchen.

  Livvy dialed and after only one ring, Wade picked up.

  “Hey, I was getting worried. We still on for tonight?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ve just been a little caught up is all, but we’re still on.”

  “I don’t recognize this number,” Wade said. “Where you calling from?”

  “Oh,” Livvy said, glancing up at Ally who was looking her dead in the face. “I was doing some shopping, and I’m still out, so I’m using my daughter’s cell phone.”

  Ally shook her head at her mother, a disgusted look on her face.

  “Should we push it back an hour?” Wade asked.

  “Could we do that?”

  “Not a problem. It won’t mess anything up. But I just want to tell you I got something special planned.” Livvy could hear the excitement in his voice through the phone.

  “I’m sure you do. See you later.” She disconnected the call. Ally walked over to her and took the phone. Not a word was said, but by the way her daughter took the phone from her, Livvy knew the tension between them was getting a bit out of hand and something would have to be done about it. Soon.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  WADE had a good day today. With no little old blue-haired ladies to deal with, he’d sold three cars, and for a nice amount over what the dealership paid for them, making him a decent little piece of change.

  It was a sleazy gig, but he was good at what he did, better than anyone else there, including the owner. He could’ve done his job, run this place, Wade thought.

  And if someone were to ask Livvy, he was doing just that—running the place, owning it even. He laughed at himself for telling that lie and wondered what had driven him to do such a thing. Livvy seemed like such a nice person, but he would never know the extent of it, because if he got too much closer to her, she would ultimately find out that he wasn’t really the owner of this dealership but just a peon salesman. If he wanted to keep seeing Livvy, this would always have to be his little secret.

  The extra money he made today would come in handy, because his last couple of conversations with Livvy had been quite steamy. They had him feeling like a teenager, up until all hours of the night, sittin’ on bone for much of the time they were talking.

  Toward the end of their last conversation, she had said some things that had Wade believing that she could’ve actually been thinking about giving him some sex. She said something about the chances depending on how they both felt, something about the timing and the mood being right.

  When Wade heard that, it gave him an idea. This morning, before he went in to work, he called a few of the nicer, moderately priced hotels downtown.

  “We have a nice restaurant on the third floor with a huge bar and pleasant lighting,” the receptionist at the Omni on Michigan Avenue told him, and he knew this was where Oprah had all her guests stay for the show. Wade didn’t know if this fact would get him anywhere, but he would make sure this tidbit of information came up. He booked the room.

  On the way home from work, he started to ask himself why he was going through all this trouble for this woman. Was it just to get some sex? That couldn’t have been the case, because the room alone cost $225. And for that price, he could’ve had two hookers, decent-looking ones, scrubbing his back, toweling him off, boning him well, then putting him to bed. But he realized now that he didn’t want to have sex with just any woman anymore. He wanted that person to matter to him, and this Livvy did.

  When the person on the phone said what the room cost, it didn’t make one bit of difference, because Wade enjoyed impressing Livvy. It made her face light up, made her smile, and it made him feel like a bigger man than he was used to feeling.

  Besides all this, he just really liked her. Maybe something might actually come of this, Wade thought, after he had gotten off the phone, confirming his plans with Livvy. Maybe it wasn’t just a convenience situation. Who knows? Maybe there could be a future for us, Wade thought.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  “SO I think he’s going to make a play for it tonight,” Livvy told Sharika. Livvy had gotten dressed in a classy, simple, black calf-length summer dress and high heels. She had just finished her hair, but she had to run up and talk to her girl before she left.

  “You think so?” Sharika said.

  “We talked a little about it, and that’s what I’m feeling. What should I do?”

  “Give it to him, girl!” Sharika advised, looking at her as if any fool should’ve known the answer to that question. “Give it to him good. And don’t worry. He won’t last nothing but a minute. Then when you’re done, tell him that you been having problems makin’ the bills and could he help you out.’

  “Won’t nobody be lyin’,” Livvy said. “They cut my phone off today.”

  “There you go. Tell him that if he wasn’t in your life, you wouldn’t care how long your phone was off, but the idea of not speaking to him every day would just kill you, drive you to tears, girl, so he has to pay for you to get it back on. How does that sound?” Sharika looked proud of herself.

  “Yeah, I’ll say something like that,” Livvy said, smiling. Then all of a sudden the smile disappeared.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You really think I should?”

  “Have sex? It’s a means to an end,” Sharika said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Do what you gotta do.”

  “No. I’m actually very attracted to him. If the sex happens, then it happens. I’m talking about asking him for money. It feels like this relationship could be something more than …”

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” Sharika said, throwing her hands in the air, walking away from Livvy. “Don’t you go turning this into your search for love again, girl. That’s not why I dragged your ass out the house, for you to go replacing your crush on Carlos with a crush on another guy that’s gonna put you in an emotional straight jacket, have you going crazy over him.”

  Sharika walked back up to Livvy and put herself right in her face. “You have to set the boundaries. You have to place demands on this relationship, let this man know that you all have a mutual agreement: you will spend your time on him if he spends his money on you.”

  “I know.” Livvy made a face that implied that Sharika’s words were soiling her. “But that just seems so … so … professional.”

  “Look, Livvy,” Sharika advised, still looking intently into her eyes. “I’m not saying
that you can’t have fun with this man. I’m not even saying that you can’t develop some feelings. But keep them in check. You ain’t tryin’ to find a father for your children. They grown. You ain’t tryin’ to find a man to marry. You just need one that’ll help make life a little easier, and if you play your cards right, you got that right in front of you. Okay?” Sharika grabbed her by both shoulders and gave her a little shake.

  “Yeah,” Livvy said, uncertainty in her voice.

  “Go out there, have a great time, give him the best you got, but one thing.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t go down on him the first night. Yes, he has to pay for it, but we don’t want him to think you’re a ho.”

  “Thanks a lot, Sharika.”

  WADE looked handsome when he picked Livvy up an hour later, and as always, he was a perfect gentleman. He took her to dinner downtown at the Omni hotel—“Where Oprah put up all her guests,” Wade let her know. Of course, Livvy knew that, because at the end of the show, the announcer always said just that, but Livvy acted as though she was surprised anyway.

  Afterward, he took her up to a beautiful suite, where they got comfortable, had a few more drinks. With the lights low, the music soft, and the alcohol working on her, she couldn’t help but feel more attracted to him than ever before.

  Wade turned to see her gazing. “What?”

  “I don’t know,” Livvy said. “I don’t want you to think the wrong thing about me, but I just really need to kiss you right now. Can I do that?”

  Wade didn’t even take the time to answer her, just grabbed her face in his palms, and started kissing her gently, deeply.

  LIVVY didn’t know what the hell Sharika was talking about when she’d said he’d last only a minute, because the old man had damn near wore her out.

  An hour or so later, he was lying there next to her breathing heavily, the sheet pulled up just below his waist, his body covered with sweat, as hers was. He turned to her, smiling. Livvy smiled back, and then he grabbed her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed each and every finger, then let it rest on his muscular chest.

  Forty-eight and still in great shape, Livvy thought as she rubbed her fingers over his torso.

  They had been finished for all of only a minute or so, and Livvy wished that this moment could go on forever. It was nice to just lie there with him, share his space; this was as meaningful to her as the sex they had spent the last hour having. Livvy liked that she didn’t feel worried that Wade might bolt up, jump into his slacks, and race out like Carlos always did. She felt very comfortable with this man, felt that the sex meant a lot more to the both of them than just sex and that there could really be something there for the two of them if she played her cards right.

  Livvy felt Wade kissing her fingers again, and she was becoming aroused, felt her body starting to tingle. No, no, she told herself. Got to set boundaries, Sharika said. Got to place demands. Because Sharika, who never got dogged in a relationship, Sharika who never got her heart broken, had told Livvy—who was always getting dissed, who was always crying over some fool—that this was what she should do. So she had to do it. Right? “No romance without finance,” she said to herself, drawing strength from the old song. If she let Wade roll up in her again, regardless of how much she wanted just that, he would think that he could get it anytime he wanted, without having to give anything for it. No romance without finance, Livvy said to herself.

  Wade rolled over to her, still smiling, and said, “That was wonderful.”

  “I know. I thought so too,” Livvy said, trying to return the smile, but feeling that her face wasn’t doing what her mind told it to. She must’ve been right, because Wade’s eyebrows furrowed and the smile left his face, as if he sensed something was wrong.

  “Is everything okay, baby?”

  “Yeah,” Livvy lied. “I mean, no.”

  “What is it?” he asked, scooting closer to her, wrapping an arm around her.

  Why does he have to be so damn caring? Livvy thought. But she continued with what she had to do. “Well, when I said that I was calling from my daughter’s cell phone, I was. But when I said that I was still out, I lied.”

  “I see,” Wade said, looking concerned.

  “See, I was at home. But when I tried to call you, my phone had been turned off. And well … I was wondering …” As Livvy spoke, she was still questioning why she was going through with this, because at that moment, she felt lower than she ever had in her entire life. But she continued anyway, trusting what her girl had told her. “Since I don’t get paid until next week, maybe … I don’t know … maybe you could pay it for me?” And there it was. It was out there, and if Wade jumped out of bed, threw his things on, and raced out, leaving the door open behind him, she wouldn’t have been surprised.

  Wade looked at Livvy at first as though he was lost, as though he didn’t fully understand what she was talking about. But then Livvy said, “What do you think?” and he snapped out of it, his demeanor all of a sudden changing to something very businesslike.

  “Oh, yeah,” he said, quickly, jumping out of bed. “Of course,” he said, reaching for his pants on the dresser, digging into the back pocket for his wallet.

  “I mean, you don’t have to do it right now,” Livvy said, raising up, reaching out her hand, as if to beckon him back to bed.

  “No, no. No problem. I know how things can get.” He sounded slightly disappointed. “How much do you need?” he asked, thumbing through his money.

  Part of Livvy wanted to tell him to forget about it, but since she had gotten this far, she said in a tiny voice, “A hundred and nineteen dollars. It’ll take a hundred and nineteen to turn it back on.”

  “Okay,” Wade said, and he fingered out five twenties. “I only have a hundred,” he said, handing it over to her. “But they have a teller machine downstairs in the lobby. I’ll just go down there and—”

  “Wade, don’t.”

  “It’s not a problem. I’ll just slip these on—” But Livvy reached out from the bed, took the pants from him, and placed them on the floor on her side of the bed.

  “Just come back to bed. Okay?”

  Wade gave her a lost look, as if he really didn’t know what she wanted of him and didn’t know to trust it, even if she told him.

  “Just come back to bed,” Livvy urged, giving him a little smile. He did, and Livvy put the money on the nightstand on her side of the bed, truly feeling like a lady of the night now. He lay down beside her, his back to her, and Livvy wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself as close as she could to him. He didn’t speak, and neither did Livvy. She just lay there, feeling his heart beating through his warm skin, and hoped that she hadn’t just done irreparable damage to something that could’ve really been good.

  TWENTY-SIX

  RAFE stood by the tree outside the library again, but this time he wasn’t hiding. He stood out in plain view for Henny to see him when she left. When she stepped out the door, he noticed he was the first thing her eyes looked toward, and when she saw him, she started to smile.

  “Is this going to be a regular thing, you meeting me out here like this?” Henny smiled.

  Rafe smiled back at her. “Yeah, but only because you want it to be.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I saw you looking over at this tree, hoping that I would be standing right here. And when you saw that I was, you started cheesin’. Don’t try and play me, girl,” Rafe said.

  “All right, I’m busted. So what? What’s my punishment?”

  Rafe grabbed her hand. “You have to come with me.”

  THEY ENDED up in Hyde Park on the huge square rocks bordering the lake. The stars were out, and miles away, the lights of the downtown skyline sparkled against the calm Lake Michigan waters.

  “I used to come here a lot when I was a kid, and just look up at those buildings, and think that one day I would live in one of them,” Rafe said wistfully, his body leaning against one of the large
rocks.

  “What did you want to be?” Henny asked him. She was sitting very close to him, allowing Rafe to rest one of his arms across her thigh.

  “I don’t know. Anything more than just an auto mechanic, I guess.” Rafe glanced at Henny for a moment, then looked back out over the water.

  “You said that where you lived before, you spent a lot of time in the library. Was that in college?”

  Rafe didn’t answer her, didn’t look at her. He thought about what the old guy, Wade, had told him—to wait a while before telling her about his jail time. But Rafe didn’t want to lie to her, didn’t want this relationship to start off that way. He just hoped that she wouldn’t judge him by his past alone.

  “It wasn’t college, Henny,” he said, and then turned to her. “I was mixed up in the wrong things when I was younger, with the wrong peopie. I spent three years in jail for being involved with this guy who sold drugs, for selling drugs myself.” Rafe tried to look at Henny but turned away again, not wanting to see her expression. “I was young, stupid. Just wanted to make money, and this guy who got me into it, I rolled with him, didn’t question nothing he said, because he was my best friend. He said we weren’t doing nothing wrong. Said the people came to him askin’ for it. That he ain’t try to push it on them, ain’t make nobody take it. And he said that even if they didn’t get it from us, they would just get it from somebody else, so why not make the money. I knew it was bullshit. But we were poor coming up, and it seemed the only way, so I did it. But some bad things happened, like me being thrown in jail. I knew I never should’ve done it then.”

  “You said things. What else?” Henny asked, softly.

  “After I was in, my little brother got killed.”

  Rafe heard Henny gasp, and when he turned toward her, her hand was covering her mouth, shock in her eyes.