Page 11 of When You Dance
“I’on know. It sounded like Spanish, then other times she sounded Italian. She said the word casa and another word sounded like adios, but nothing else she said sounded Spanish.”
“Sounds like Portuguese. I dated a chick back in the day from Brazil. She spoke Portuguese.”
I shrugged and remained quiet the rest of the way to my house. When I got inside and to my bedroom, I put my clothes on a hanger and put it in the closet. My drawers was so fucking wet. She had me cumming more than I ever had without my dick even touching her insides.How in the fuck?I took a deep breath and made my way to the shower, trying to expel her out of my system. This shit was gonna kill me, but I had to try.
* * *
“I meantto ask if you ever spoke to Kaysyn. What did she have to say about being with Seneca?”
“Naw. Honestly, bruh, I don’t think I wanna know. I feel like whatever her explanation is won’t make sense to me. I thought about mentioning something about it to Seneca, but I decided to watch him at the strip club, just to see what type of shit he would be on. He didn’t get not one lap dance. You know he always gets a couple when he goes there with us. He didn’t throw nearly as much money either,” Arrow said.
“You think he serious about her?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even wanna think about it. Are you in town this week?”
“Naw. I go to Memphis.”
We were at Sunday dinner and had just finished eating. Mama had cooked my favorite… gumbo. It was cool outside, and that made it taste even better. I could eat it any time of the year, but it just seemed to go down better when the temperatures were lower. Tonight, it was supposed to drop to the thirties. It was already cold in Memphis. I would make sure I took some to go so I could have some for dinner.
I was flying out first thing in the morning and wouldn’t be back until Friday night. I was hoping they kept me until Saturday so I would be out of pocket and not be tempted to go to Club Onyx, but no such luck. As we sat talking, DJ joined us. “Jamel, you think you’ll have time to get fitted for a tux this week?”
“I’m gonna be in Memphis, bruh.”
“Shit. That’s right. I think you can go to Al’s out there if you think you can make it there before they close.”
“The wedding is in three weeks, right?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“If I can’t get to one in Memphis, I’ll get it done when I get back the week after. I think Al’s only need a week in advance. You nervous?”
“Not at all. I’vebeenknowing that Shavozz was the woman I wanted. How did you sleep last night? You was fucked up when I dropped you off. I’d be surprised if you even remember getting home. Zay practically had to carry your ass in the house.”
“I slept like a baby, until I had to throw up. Almost choked to death in my damn sleep.”
He and Arrow chuckled for a moment. “Well, Arrow, you did good getting Obsession to make an exception for Mel last night.”
Arrow frowned. “I didn’t do that. A bouncer approached me the weekend before and said that one of the strippers wanted to do something special for him. I knew it had to be her, because the nigga there in her face every weekend.”
“How’d she know it was my birthday?”
“I don’t know. You have to leave your license when you have an open tab at the bar. Maybe she inquired about who you were, and the bartender showed her your ID.”
That didn’t even sound logical to me. I turned to him and asked, “You sure you didn’t mention it to anyone?”
“Positive. Although I did plan to turn up there because I knew that was where you would want to be, they approached me before I could even contact them.”
Hmm.Something weird was going on. Just because I looked young and was dipping and diving in pussy in my free time didn’t mean I didn’t peep shit. It made me wonder if I actually knew Obsession. Maybe that was why she didn’t want me to pursue anything with her, because I would be shocked about who she was. Instead of mentioning all that to the fellas, I just shrugged it off. However, I would definitely be paying even closer attention to who I interacted with.
“Jamel!”
I looked toward the door to see Skyler gesturing for me to come inside. I nodded and stood from my seat. Dylan was the first one to have me considering changing my ways. He used to hang tight with Arrow and me until he met Skyler. All the bullshit stopped, not to mention that ho saying she was pregnant from him. It made him chill out on the ho activities… scared that nigga straight. However, he was still my boy, and I knew if anyone could help me through this new phase in my life, it was him.
I noticed as I made my way inside, Arrow and DJ were right behind me. The moment I walked in, I saw my mama holding a cake with a million candles on it. Everyone started singing Happy Birthday to me, and it made me smile. I thought of a time when I was a kid and my parents had given me a birthday party. It was the last party I would have before Grandma died and Dad went AWOL.
I could feel the emotion fill my heart as everyone sang, and the tears fell down my mama’s cheeks. DJ and I were always her soft spots. She loved the hell out of us and did her best to take care of us and not only make sure we had what we needed but most of the things we wanted as well. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother than Anissa Berotte.
Once the singing stopped, everybody cheered as my mama said, “Make a wish, baby boy.”
