Pretty Girls in the Vip (9781617730283) (5 page)

“Sounds like you got it made, so don't ever mess that up.”

“That's why I'm having my last little bit of fun on my weekend trips. Because soon I'm going to marry him, have a baby, and be a basketball wife. And, of course, if anything goes wrong, I'm taking half, and I didn't have to be with you in the gym. Give me mines,” Angelique said, gesturing her hands like she was counting money.

“You're silly. Just be careful, because I swore I would get half of DeCarious's dumb-ass income and I didn't.”

“Well, you didn't make out so bad. He's still playing, right?”

“Yeah, I still get my child support, but it is half of what it used to be now, because he has her half of the time. I haven't seen my daughter in a month. And what makes it even worse is that his stupid fiancée sends me pictures of Asia having fun with them. I'm always near tears. I have to go meet them to get her back in a few days. Truthfully, I'd rather be with my child's father than pulling her all around sharing her.”

“His fiancée probably sent you those pictures on purpose.”

“Probably. Anyway, congrats on your new dude.”

“Yes, let's open the bottle on that one.”

 

We were dancing and enjoying our ladies' night out when this super-tall, I mean, really tall guy approached us. His gangly body hovered over us. I could tell he was nervous when he finally had enough courage to speak and said, “What's up, ladies? Can I buy y'all some drinks tonight?”

“Can you buy us a drink? We already have drinks and a bottle. What's up with you? You tall. You play ball or something?” Angelique questioned the nervous guy.

“Yeah, I do.” He smiled happily.

“What's your name and where? How come you don't look familiar?”

“Texas and Lamont Johnston. I'll be right back.” Moments later our server came over with the cheapest bottle of vodka on the menu. I thought it was a cute gesture, but Angelique began penning the giant a note. She had pulled up his stats and team, and she was not impressed. She sent the bottle back over to his table and we sent him a bottle of Moët. Angelique scribbled a note saying,
This is how you send a bottle. Cheers
. And with that she stole his pride. It was mean, but the funniest thing. I couldn't stop laughing and looking over at his table.

“Why are you so rude? You could have kept his little bottle.” I laughed.

“Please. Anyway, if he was going to send something, he could have at least sent a bottle of champagne. That D League ass dude better get out of here. Six-eight ain't fun if you didn't make it to the majors. Big and tall for no reason.” Between my laughter and her sending the bottle back to the tall guy, I noticed I missed a call from Ian. He was probably was going to come out and meet us. The next time he called, I answered. “Where are you?” he asked.

“At Saga.”

“I'll be there. I'm sorry for judging your friend.” I muttered okay, letting him know all was forgiven, and ended the call.

“Is he coming?” Angelique asked.

“Yeah, he will be here in a little bit. He apologized for being a jerk.”

“Well, you don't seem like you made out that bad,” she said, looking around. “He's handsome and seems nice, but these women down here are thirstier than most. I wouldn't be able to have my man around all this. They don't believe in wearing clothes, do they? Ugh, too many naked bitches, looking for the next meal ticket. I really hate groupies. How do you deal with this shit every day?”

“I don't know. Ian is not into chicks without any ambition. Ass and tits is not his thing. He needs brains to go with it. That's one of the things I really love about him. I'm hoping his movie thing will take off. And if all else fails, I still have another fifteen years of child support. DeCarious's soon-to-be wife has a good job as a news lady, and she can help him out when all his money is gone.”

“Right.” Angelique laughed.

By the time Ian arrived at the club, I was so wasted that he had to drive me home and leave my car. I vaguely remember Angelique turning into the diva I said she wasn't. She and Ian were arguing, and I don't remember about what exactly.

The sun rose, and I opened my eyes to a serious headache. I had downed so many glasses of champagne that I stopped counting. Ian made me breakfast, and I couldn't even look at the food without feeling sick. I couldn't find my purse. My cell kept vibrating and beeping from messages and texts. When I finally found it, there were text messages from Angelique thanking me for such a good time and apologizing for arguing with Ian. I looked over at him as everything started to come back. We'd told him about the bottle the guy had sent us and how we'd laughed, and Ian called us immature and a bunch of other things. I know Angelique's mouth got a little slick and they were going back and forth before we left. Just as the details of last night floated in my head.

“Good morning.”

“Yeah. Good morning,” Ian mumbled.

“What's wrong with you?”

“Nothing, I just don't like the way you waste money, Adrienne. And your friend was so out of line last night.”

“What are you talking about, Ian?”

“Angelique and your big bills. Last night when I commented on the bill being too high and that you two shouldn't be laughing at that guy, she told me that I needed to get used to dealing with a boss chick.”

“Ian, she didn't mean it. I apologize for her. But you know, people talk reckless when they've been drinking.”

“No, people say what they actually mean when they are drunk.”

“And what was the problem with the bill?”

“This is the problem.” Ian forcefully placed my receipt from the night before in front of me. I looked down at the receipt and said a quiet
wow
to myself. I knew bottle service was expensive, but not two-thousand-and-forty-six-dollar expensive. The pricey tab included a 20 percent gratuity that our server received for just opening our bottle and pouring our drinks.

“That's a mortgage payment, Adrienne. You know what you could buy with that kind of money? I guess it doesn't matter when you didn't have to work hard for it. But that's what happens when you hang out with your high-class friends.” It was too early for him to be hitting below the belt.

“Ian, look, I already apologized for whatever Angelique said, but I do not need you to lecture me on my spending habits. I'll spend my money however I feel like it.”

“You're right. Spend your money the way you see fit. I just hate to see people waste it.”

I stood up. I was now very agitated and needed something to drink. I walked to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. I twisted the cap and poured the hydration down my throat. I needed a tactful response for Ian. Something that would reasonably explain why I'd spent thousands on drinks that I probably had already peed out. Ian was still staring at me, and the only thing I could think to say was, “I like to have a good time when I go out. I like to treat myself and whoever I'm with. I won't apologize for that.”

“I'm not asking you to,” Ian snapped back at me.

This was the other thing he did that I didn't like. Ian was sometimes bitchy and jealous like a woman and on occasion he would count my money. He always said that I shouldn't have hundreds of thousands just sitting in the bank and that I needed to find something to invest in.

I wasn't about to go back and forth with him. Instead I drank the remainder of my water and went to take a shower.

 

By the time I was out of the shower, he was gone and I was happy I didn't have to argue with him anymore. However, I did have to get to the bottom of everything. I dialed Angelique's phone.

“Angelique, did you know our drinks and bottles came to three thousand dollars last night?”

“Yeah, it didn't seem like a big deal last night. But that's a pair of shoes. I'll bring you my half before I leave.”

“No, I'm not worried about that. I'm just thinking, like, a bottle in a liquor store is only seventy, eighty dollars for the big bottles. Two hundred at the max, and the club charged us five times that. I hope we had a good time because I can't remember shit.”

“Yes, we had a great time. I'm not so sure about your boyfriend, though. I was arguing with him. I'm really sorry. He was going off about the bill, and I said something like the bill was nothing and asked him why he wasn't paying for it and just complaining about it.”

“Oh, wow. Yeah, he is mad. Anyway, forget him. I want to know how you can legally cheat people out of their money like this and get away with it. I should open a damn club.”

“You should!” Angelique laughed.

“No, I'm serious. I'll charge fifty to get in and thirty dollars a shot, five hundred a bottle, and only let certain people in.”

“Sounds about right. Well, when you open this club, invite me, because I will be there.”

O
n Wednesdays Lisa didn't do overtime; she came home and took Miles and Kyle to karate and I didn't have to go to work. I was going to find a spot at this coffee shop on Spring Garden Street not far from school and open my textbook and study. I felt like a big cliché studying in the midst of people on their midday breaks; other students, and people just typing away on their computer. Cliché or not, I was able to complete so much of my schoolwork there.

My phone went off and I saw my sister's name. “Hey, Lisa.”

“Can you watch the boys tonight?”

“Yeah, I'm not doing anything, just studying. Where are you going?”

“I'm going out for drinks with coworkers. If you can't do it, I understand and I'll just tell them I can't.”

“No, I can do it.”

“Oh, and can you take the boys to their karate class, too?”

“Yeah, I will take them.”

I took my rock heads to their karate class. Their class was held in the basement of a church. There were a bunch of children kicking into the air screaming martial arts terms. The boys hurried and changed into their karate gear, and I took a seat against the wall and planned to continue to study during the next hour.

One of the guest karate teachers came over and introduced himself. “Hey, I'm Brian.” I brought my head up long enough to give a faint hello and returned to reading my textbook.

The instructor was cute. He had dark, wavy hair and an olive-colored complexion. He kept watching me and smiling and looking over in my direction. I knew he wanted to say something, but was trying to figure out what his approach was going to be. He was handsome and looked about my age. He came back over and said, “Your nephews, they are really good students. I never saw you bring them before.”

“Yeah, because my sister usually brings them. I have classes and I work.”

“What school do you go to? I'm in school, too. I'm at Drexel.”

“I just began classes at community college,” I said. In no way did it compare to Drexel.

“My dad went to community. It's cool.”

“Yeah, it is. I'm going to stay there until I get my associate's degree.”

“So, what are you doing later on? Maybe we can hang out or something.”

“Maybe. I think we can do that.” I gave him my number and he said he would call me around eight and then we would figure out where to meet up.

 

I was so excited about my date with Brian. The kids had no idea that their auntie had snagged a date during their lesson.

Lisa came in the house, and I couldn't wait to tell her my good news. I had texted a little bit with Brian and found out more information on him. He was twenty-two and about to graduate school in the fall. His major was political science with a minor in business.

“I took your kids to karate and I now I have a date.”

“About time, Zakiya. I've been wishing for you to start acting like you are twenty and not seventy-two.”

“Well, your wish has been granted tonight. I'm so excited. I don't know what I'm going to wear.” I rocked from side to side around my room trying to figure out what I was going to put on.

I met Brian at the movies. So far he was extremely well mannered, and our date was going okay. We talked between the action scenes and he let me have the last of the Raisinets.

After the movie we were still talking and getting to know each other, so I agreed to go back to his house. We walked out of the theater and walked for several blocks when I finally asked him where his car was.

“I'm not driving. I don't have a car; I walk everywhere. If you want, we can walk to my place or catch the trolley. I live like another fifteen blocks.” Another fifteen blocks was about two miles and way too far to walk. I opted for us to take the trolley. We waited on the corner of Baltimore Avenue for the trolley to come. We boarded the crowded and noisy 34. There weren't any seats left, so we stood and swayed each time the trolley came to a halt. At each stop, people pushed by us to get off and I was becoming a little irritated. I was happy when it was finally our turn to get off.

 

Brian's block was full of rows of big Victorian-type houses with huge trees and bushes in the University Penn section of west Philadelphia. He unlocked a big wooden door with paned glass. On the other side of the door, there was a young white guy on the sofa playing a PlayStation 3. Brian said hi to the guy, and then like six more people poured into the living room talking and shouting. It was like a fraternity house. The group was a mixture of white and black, late twentysomething guys, who all were wearing T-shirts with logos and phrases, and ripped jeans or khakis. Between their shouting he managed to introduced me to every single guy.

“How many people live here?” I asked. He had to count and then said he had five roommates and a few guys who stayed over every now and then.

“You live here with five other people?”

“Yeah, we all have our own rooms. If you are uncomfortable, we can go into my room.”

I looked around at the loud strangers and decided his room might be better than the overcrowded living room. We walked down the hall into his crammed space. His room wasn't full of people; it was full of junk. He pushed things off the bed to make room for us, and then he turned on his television.

“So what do you want to watch?” I glanced around at the mess and decided I could watch television at home. His room was too junky and smelly. I stood up, gathered my bag, and very bluntly said, “No, I don't think I want to watch television. I'm going to go on home.”

“You're not having any fun?”

“No, it's not that. I just have a lot of things I need to take care of.” I'm sure he could tell I was lying and I didn't care. I needed to get out of there. Before he could say anything, I walked out to the living room past all of his friends and roommates. He caught up to me once I was halfway down his block and walked me to the bus stop. We talked a little more until the trolley came. I promised I would call him, but I had no intention of doing so.

 

Lisa heard me come in the door and ran downstairs to get tidbits about my date. She took a look at me and shook her head.

“Your date must have been awful?”

“It was horrible. He didn't have a car and we had to catch the trolley to his house. Then once we got to his house, he had a bunch of roommates and a filthy room. Lisa, you know I'm not hard to please, right? And I considered myself a pretty down-to-earth person, but don't you warn someone that you don't have a car and give them a heads-up that ten other people might be at your house?”

Lisa began laughing. “I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh, but that's how most college kids live. It is just that you haven't dated a regular guy in so long. And then your last boyfriend was a millionaire, so not too many other guys are going to compare. There is going to be a major difference unless you date someone more established and older.”

“I don't want an older guy. I won't date anymore, if all the guys my age live and act like this. And by the way, I never want to see him again, so I'm not taking the kids back to karate.”

Lisa laughed some more, then patted my back and chuckled. “It will be okay. You'll find someone else.”

“I hope so. I was so excited and thought I had someone to go out with again.” I sighed and then the doorbell rang, and I opened the door to see Mikey, Lisa's ex-boyfriend. I looked over at Lisa, perplexed. It was a little late for him to be stopping by, since the boys were already in bed.

“What are you doing here? Is Lisa expecting you?”

“Yeah, Lisa knows I was coming. I just got off the phone with her.” I left him at the door and Lisa came behind me, greeted him, then let him in. Mikey came in and had a seat on the sofa. I walked into the kitchen and she followed me.

“Why are you being all short with Mikey?”

“Lisa, I still don't like him. So, are you getting back together? It is a little late for him just to be stopping by.”

“No, we've been talking, and he is going to be more helpful with Miles and Kyle. You know, picking them up after school.”

“He is?”

“Yup. He's working now, and his job is right down the street from the school, and they need to start spending some time with him. That'll free up some of your time and help me out, too. He's just being a good dad, nothing more.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I hoped that now that he was reappearing in the boys' life that he would not try to make guest appearances in my sister's life, too. I didn't really feel comfortable with Mikey back in the house. Lisa could say whatever she wanted, but I knew for sure what his true motives were.

If she wanted to deal with him again, that was on her. I had to study for real for the third time today. I sat on my bed and turned on the computer, and it just started powering on and then back off again. I made sure it was plugged into the outlet, then I took the battery out and tried to turn the computer on again and nothing happened. I yelled downstairs.

“Lisa, who touched my computer? It won't turn on.”

“I don't know. Let me wake the boys.” Lisa stormed up the steps into the boys' room. I walked in as she turned the lights on. Kyle was still asleep. But Miles looked over at him and said, “I don't know who did it, but it wasn't me.”

“Then who was it?” Lisa demanded. He couldn't dime his twin out, but he wasn't going down for him, either. “I don't know, ask Kyle.”

Miles could see that I was upset, and he suddenly started blurting out the truth. “I didn't mean to do it, Aunt Kiya. I just wanted to look up a cheat code for the game, and it said do you want to download yes or no and so I clicked no, and then something popped on the screen, and I tried to get it off and the computer wouldn't work.”

I was so angry I just went in my room and slammed the door. I always tell them not to get on my computer and not to download anything and they do it anyway.