by B. , Ivory
Lucky turned and started towards the car with a huge smile on her face, obviously from something Dre said to her. It was then Los got a full view of her face, she was beautiful. Her eyes seemed to light up as she smiled complimenting her smooth brown skin, and the one lone dimple in her right cheek was deep. “For real Lucky you gon look out for ya boy?!” The dude called after her. “I don’t know Dre, I’ll think about it. I’m really not doing you any favors by giving you the notes, you need to bring ya ass to class and take your own notes boy!” Dre laughed, “Yeah, I know, I know I’ma be in there tomorrow.” Lucky stopped dead in her tracks “Dre tomorrow’s Saturday we don’t have class.” Dre burst out into laughter, all Lucky could do was shake her head with astonishment. “Aw nah, you know what I meant, Monday! Monday I’ma be in class Monday taking notes, watch baby girl you’ll see.” Lucky chuckled shaking her head, she had heard this all before from Dre, how he was going to put the blunt down long enough to go to class. She smiled while she continued to walk towards the truck. Just as she reached the truck she called over her shoulder. “I’ll hit you up tonight to send that over to you.” “That’s what’s up Luck, good lookin out beautiful,” he said before walking away.
Lucky grabbed the door handle not knowing what to expect. She automatically realized why her cousin told her to get in on the driver’s side. There was a dude sitting, no more like damn near lying in the seat in back of Nona. Lucky couldn’t get a good look at his face since his head was turned towards the door as he spoke into his cell phone in a hushed tone. She had to literally slide into the back seat since the driver had his seat back pretty far. Just when she thought he was going to be rude about it he adjusted his seat giving Lucky more room. “You straight lil mama? Or you need me to pull up my seat more?” He asked peering over his shoulder. Oh damn he fine! was Lucky’s first thought. “No I’m good.” she responded. Dark caramel complexion, dark piercing bedroom eyes, low cut Caesar with waves on 360 and a pretty smile. He was a grown ass man no doubt but he had that boyish handsomeness about him like the rapper Nas. “Damn girl it took you long enough. Why you still got your book bag with you?” Nona asked in a snotty tone. “You do know I just stepped out of class right?” Lucky asked matching Nona’s tone, giving her a warning with just her tone that today wasn’t the day. Nona rolled her eyes, “Well you ready right?” “Actually no, I have to drop my book bag off and grab my purse from my car.” Unlike Shasona Lucky wasn’t depending on a man she didn’t know. She had all intentions of making sure she had enough cash and credit on her in case these niggaz showed they asses and she had to pay for herself and Nona’s way back home from the casino. You just never know what to expect when dealing with some dudes.
“Lucky you could’ve had all that squared away before we got here. It’s already getting late. Damn! We already had to wait for you to be done with your exams and shit,” Nona complained. The air in the truck got stale real quick. Lucky was just about to get stupid when Nice intervened. “Yo, chill. It’s not for all that, it ain’t that serious,” Nice said to Nona looking at her sideways. He was genuinely confused, he couldn’t understand why Nona was going in like that when the girl just got in the car. What was the real issue? “I’ll take you to your car ma, but you gotta show the way, this campus is confusing as hell,” he said with a light chuckle easing some of the unsaid tension in the car. “No problem I’ll show you where it is, and thank you,” Lucky said followed by a hard sigh. This was already turning out to be a mistake. I don’t have time for this bipolar bitch. She asked me to do her a favor! I knew I shoulda said no.
The drive to the student parking lot was pretty quick. “I parked on the fifth level,” Lucky offered up as they drove up the multi level parking garage. “A’ight just tell me when to stop,” Nice said. “Riiiight here,” Lucky called from the back. Nice stopped next to a new black C250 Benz he chuckled discreetly; baby girl was doing her thing. The Benz was damn near as entry level a Benz you could get, but for a college student she was doing her thing. It was definitely a chick whip, and it seemed to fit her personality, little, pretty and delicate. She hopped out of the truck, popped her trunk, threw her book bag in and took her purse out. Lucky was mindful to grab her IPad and headphones. Thank god for modern day technology otherwise she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get through this ride to the casino.
And through all of this Mr. Antisocial sat his rude ass beside her without a word. The only thing she knew about him was that he smelled hella good. She had yet to find out his name, or even how he looked. Besides stealing quick glances at him, all she could tell was he seemed tall from the way he was stretched out in the back and from the side of his face he looked as if he were attractive, but everyone knows side views could be deceiving as hell. She plugged her ear buds in her ear and sat back deciding to enjoy the scenic view while listening to her own music. One thing she learned to appreciate about Connecticut was the trees, the trees made a beautiful scene especially in the Spring and Fall.
The hour plus ride seemed to fly by pretty quickly. This was actually Lucky’s first time coming to the casino herself; she wasn’t at all the gambling type. In her opinion it was a waste of money. The opulence of the casino was evident as soon as Nice pulled up to the VIP area for his truck to be valet parked. Everyone started to file out of the car as the attendant approached. Lucky was in the process of getting out of the car when she looked up to see the dude who had been sitting beside her climb out of the car and stretch out his athletic physic. The smokey grey v neck cashmere sweater he rocked matched his grey and white Gucci high top sneaks with the red bottoms to the tee, displaying his broad shoulders and muscular chest. Despite having on a Hermes belt his True Religion jeans sagged in the back slightly. Around his neck sat a diamond rosary chain that hung to his stomach. The sleeves to his sweater were pulled up to the beginning of his forearms exposing tats inked on both his arms, and the big faced Rolex on his wrist was ridiculously flooded with diamonds. From the looks of it he was without a doubt over 6 feet tall. He pulled his red Phillies fitted from his head and ran his hand over the thick deep waves that adorned his Caesar cut that ran neatly into a goatee. As if he could feel eyes burning through him he turned towards the car catching Lucky staring at him. The first thing that came to mind when Lucky looked into his face was, Gotdamn! Bless his mother and father, he fine as fuck! Nice was attractive without a doubt, but Lucky wasn’t attracted to him. She got an immediate brotherly feel from him, especially when he stuck up for her in the car. Now this man here was her speed, the complexion and everything. Her heart literally sped up when she looked at him. She knew he caught her staring but she couldn’t turn away even if she wanted to. Both of their eyes locked on each other. His pretty amber brown eyes were almost hypnotizing, curtained by long thick lashes. His medium brown skin tone had a reddish hue to it, leaving a person to wonder if he were mixed with anything. His features were strong and masculine yet model worthy, straight nose and strong jaw bone. A slow cocky smile crept on his face as he boldly stared back at Lucky seeing that she was almost transfixed on him. When he smiled Lucky’s heart nearly stopped, he had the deepest dimples and the prettiest smile. “You gon get out the car pretty girl?” Is he talking to me? Yeah he’s talking to me. Lucky pulled her eyes from him and looked down trying to hide the fact she was blushing, feeling slightly embarrassed when she realized she was indeed the only one still sitting in the car like a jackass, while everyone else stood in front of the casino entrance. Suddenly she felt a little self conscious about her attire, she cursed herself for not dressing better. Nona didn’t let her know the man was this damn fine. She could feel his eyes on her as she stood beside him looking everywhere but at him.
“A’ight I’m tryna fuck wit the craps tables and play a few hands of poker. What y’all wanna do first? Wait let me guess the slot machines right?” Nice asked with a slight chuckle. “Yup,” Nona said quickly holding her hand out. Truthfully, she hadn’t really planned to play a damn thing. She was go
ing to pocket the money, fuck wasting it in here. “What about you?” Nice asked Lucky ignoring Nona’s outstretched palm. “Well I can’t play, so I guess I’ll just watch.” “You can’t play, why not?” Nice asked perplexity showing all over his face. “I’m not old enough.” Her answer threw both he and Los for a loop. They had both assumed she was of legal age. She was in college and looked to be old enough. “How old are you?” Nice asked curiosity getting the best of him. “20, I’ll be 21 in August.” “August what?” Los cut in with a slight smirk. Lucky finally looked him in the face feeling the onset of butterflies running wild in the pit of her stomach. “August 20th. Why?” Los chuckled, “That’s what’s up, my birthday’s August 18th.” They both seemed to break out into smiles at the same exact time staring at each other. “I’m Carlos and you?” “Lucky,” she answered diverting her eyes to the ground feeling as if she couldn’t look at him for too long. Nice looked from his brother to Lucky and back to his brother, shaking his head at the both of them. “Awe ain’t that cute,” Nice teased, causing Lucky to blush and shift uncomfortably. Nice dug into his pocket pulling out a healthy knot. He peeled off two stacks for Nona and you would’ve thought she hit the lotto. “Craps table son!” Nice announced rubbing his hands together as if he had the chills. Los chuckled shaking his head, his brother really needed to get that shit checked out. He loved gambling a little too much.
After about an hour both Lucky and Los found themselves alone. Nice and Nona had slipped away to a suite in the casino. Lucky watched as Los put another 500 hundred dollars down on a bet at the craps table. He’d just lost 2g’s, shooting miserably, luck definitely wasn’t with him today, or was it? He looked over at Lucky who was hanging by his side not too close as if she were afraid to come closer. “Pretty girl come here, blow on these dice for me, let me see if you can live up to ya name.” Lucky smirked before leaning into his hand and blowing on the dice. He shook the dice and tossed them on the table. “Oooh!” He screamed along with the crowd around them. Lucky didn’t know the rules of craps, or what the hell was going on, but all the yelling and him looking over at her with light in his eyes as if she were really magic was a good sign. She looked back at him and shrugged her shoulders with a smirk. Los placed the dice to Lucky’s lips yet again before rolling, and again coincidentally in Lucky’s view it was coincidental, he won. “Gotdamn! Baby, Yeah!” Los barked. Lucky flinched, surprised at his reaction. This was the same man who was mute the whole ride to the casino. He turned towards her and wrapped his strong arm around her small waist pulling her closer to his side, as if she had some secret powers he wanted to keep all for himself. His initial touch sent tingles through her body. “Lucky Charms what it is ma, we on a roll. C’mon daddy needs a new pair of shoes,” he said in a sing song way holding the dice back to her mouth. Lucky tried to contain a laugh but couldn’t help it before she blew on the dice. This time when he rolled things didn’t turn out in his favor. The look of disappointment was evident on his handsome face. Lucky couldn’t help but laugh, thinking it was funny to see a grown man damn near pout when he didn’t get his way. “You can’t win em all,” she reminded him. Los looked over at her squinting his eyes in deep thought as if he were examining every part of her face closely. Lucky’s breath got caught in her throat for a second; she tore her eyes away unable to deal with Los’s intense stare and those pretty amber eyes of his. A throaty chuckle escaped his mouth as if he figured Lucky would look away.
“A’ight, since I peeped that you ain’t really feelin this whole gambling thing what you wanna get into?” “Oh, am I that transparent?” Lucky asked giving him a flirtatious smile. He froze staring at her for a long minute. Lucky smiled back uneasily, “What?” she asked raking her fingers through her hair and biting on her bottom lip nervously. “Lil word of advice ma, don’t go around smiling at men like that. You gon fuck around and get a nigga murked one day,” he said with a serious expression that eased into a smile. Lucky chuckled with furrowed brows. “Boy you crazy, and here I was thinking you were the quiet type.”
Carlos reached for her hand and grabbed hold of it. Her small hand was enveloped into his large strong one as he led her through the crowded Friday night game floor towards the exit. There was something so familiar and right about his touch, she couldn’t help but feel safe and protected as he stood in front of her holding onto her hand tight. Lucky followed his lead hoping her hand wasn’t perspiring from her nervousness. Once they made it to the hallway he let her hand go, although she wished he hadn’t. They walked side by side taking in the busy Friday night scene as well as the casino’s lavishness.
“You hungry?” he asked. Until the mention of food Lucky hadn’t realized just how hungry she truly was. The last thing she had to eat that day was a bagel and glass of orange juice before her morning exam. She’d skipped lunch, to spend the two hours between her morning and afternoon exams studying in the library, now she was feeling famine. But there was no way she was going to eat in front of his fine ass, no way! “No, I’m straight,” she lied. He peered down at her, his almost cognac colored eyes seeming to see right through her. “Well I’m hungry as hell,” he said in a matter of fact tone placing his hand on his rock hard abs. “Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse,” Los read aloud as they were approaching the restaurant. “You ever ate here?” Lucky shook her head no; she’d never ate at the restaurant but heard a few people give positive reviews about the place. He reached for her hand once again leading the way into the restaurant.
There was no wait at all; they were able to be seated almost immediately. Carlos requested that they be seated at a table for four in the event Nice and Nona called and wanted to join them while they were eating. Lucky would bet her last dollar she knew exactly what her cousin was up to right now. She shook her head with disappointment. Why her cousin who was an attractive chick didn’t know her true worth was beyond her. Why she felt the need to let a nigga hit simply because he had paper was baffling to Lucky.
The waitress came to take their orders and like a gentleman Los told Lucky to go ahead and order first. She had already chalked this up in her head that she couldn’t really go in on food in front of this man. “I’ll have just an order of seasoned steak fries.” “And for your drink?” The waitress asked. “Uhh, a Sprite will be fine,” Lucky answered politely. “So just an order of seasoned steak fries and Sprite soda?” the waitress repeated. “Yes. I’m not really hungry,” Lucky said while handing the waitress back the menu. Both the waitress and Los shot her cynical looks.
Los on the other hand didn’t hold back. He ordered just about everything on the menu that caught his eye. Fillet mignon, New York strip steak, shrimp skewers, beer battered fish and chips, home styled mashed potatoes, lobster mashed potatoes, baby back ribs with brown sugar BBQ sauce and buttered sautéed broccoli and rice, with a side order of Mj’s famous buffalo wings. The waitress hand moved swiftly as she jotted down his order. Lucky’s eyes grew larger with each order he placed, then the fool really sat there looking at the menu contemplating ordering more before handing the menu over. Okay now where the hell is all that food going to go Lucky thought as she looked over at him? Los caught the incredulous look Lucky gave him and laughed it off, “What? Ma I told you I was hungry as hell.” “I see,” Lucky said sarcastically, laughing along with him.
Conversation flowed effortlessly between the two they seemed to just click; and Los was actually surprised that despite both of them being born and raised in Philly they had never crossed each other’s paths. Less than a half hour later while they talked and got to know each other better the food came out piping hot. Plates filled the table and Lucky had no other choice but to have mouth watering food only inches away from her, since they had to literally squish all the plates on the table. There in front of her sat a basket of lonely looking seasoned steak fries. She reached over grabbing the container of ketchup pouring a good amount on the fries, figuring the ketchup could make the fries a little more filling. Carlos picked both his fork and
knife up cutting into his steak. Lucky was happy to see he didn’t eat like a cave man with his fingers and shit. She’d been on some dates where dudes ate like they were on chow in lock up. Lucky stabbed into her heavily ketchup covered fries with her fork and ate a few. No matter how hard she tried to ignore the wings, which was one of her favorite foods, her eyes kept zeroing in on them. From the looks of it they were just the way she liked them saucy. But every chick knew buffalo wings were one of those no no foods on first dates, finger foods were much too messy of a food to eat in front of a dude you barely knew.
Carlos was sitting there enjoying his food. He had tasted a little bit of each dinner he ordered and he would be the first to admit the food was pretty good. He looked across the table at Lucky sticking her fork into the piled high fries drowned in ketchup. The look on her face was damn near comical, her eyes shifted focusing on the buffalo wings and the other plates of food that lined the table, then back at her fries, where she picked one up with her fork and chewed as if it were killing her. Carlos knew what it was from the door; she was too shy to eat in front of him. He placed his fork and steak knife down on his plate.
“Ma come here,” he called crooking his finger signaling her to come to him. Lucky tore her eyes from the wings to look across the table at him. She hesitated at first, before getting up and walking around the table and taking a seat next to him. Once she sat down he turned the entire chair towards him with her sitting in it. He picked up his fork and steak knife cut a small piece of his New York strip steak that was seasoned to perfection, dipped it in the lobster mashed potatoes then placed it up to her lips. Lucky batted her eyes trying to contain a laugh before taking the cue and opening wide to eat the food. He fed her fork after fork of different foods before he suddenly stopped. “Yo, I’ma fall back, cause I see you already got the potential of getting spoiled as hell,” Los teased with a chuckle. Lucky smiled with her mouth closed while chewing the last bit of food he just fed her. When she was done she told herself fuck it, and went for those wings that seemed to be calling her. The wings tasted as good as they looked. By the time she was on her third wing she had long forgotten about being shy to eat in front of him. Carlos was back to eating his own food but he couldn’t resist cracking a joke at the way she was going in on them wings. “Gotdamn baby girl you gettin mean on them wings. Don’t make a mistake and bite ya fingers,” he said through light laughter. The comment made Lucky freeze completely just as she was about to bite into a wing. She looked over at him and cracked the hell up right along with him. “No you didn’t just say I’m getting mean on these wings,” Lucky said through laughter. Their laughter drew a few looks from other patrons who only saw a nice looking couple by all accounts enjoying each other’s company. “Nah, I’m fuckin wit you, go head do you. Eat up,” Los said with a smile. “Whateva,” Lucky said with a smile biting into the wing she was about to eat before he cracked that joke. Once she was done with that last wing she had to throw in the towel, she was more than stuffed. Grabbing the warm hand wipes the waitress brought out Lucky proceeded to wipe her hands and corners of her mouth daintily to make sure she didn’t have buffalo wing sauce on her face. Her eyes met his and he smiled. “You’re beautiful,” he said making Lucky blush like a school girl. “You’re beautiful too,” Lucky said returning the compliment while trying to contain a smile. “Beautiful?” he repeated jerking his head back. “Yeah beautiful, or would you rather pretty?” “Word?” he responded coolly bobbing his head with a sexy grin. “You tryna be on some funny shit ha?” Los accused reaching over pinching Lucky’s thigh. “Ouch! Stop it,” Lucky shrieked before giggling, then sticking her tongue out at him. Los’s manz jumped in his jeans and began to rise. Down boy, down! Los thought to himself. “What?” Lucky asked innocently. “Nothin, you ready to get outta here?” “Yes I am.” After Los paid the bill and left a two hundred dollar tip for the waitress they were off. The waitress was so damn happy she ran towards the front of the restaurant before they were able to leave. “Oh thank you so much! Have a nice day. Are you sure you don’t want anything boxed up?” “Nah, we good,” Los said trying to contain a laugh. “Okay, come again.” Both Lucky and Los couldn’t help but find a little humor at how happy she was about her tip.