Knuck If You Buck
So I decided to tell this story anyway, even though there is absolutely no literary or moralistic(made that word up) value.
This past weekend I made the trip up to Gainesville to go to Mimi’s wedding.
My boy Reggie picked me up around 4pm and we drove through crazy weekend traffic up to Orlando to pick up his boy Steve.
Reggie had spoken often about Steve. He was his bestfriend from undergrad and they were so in tune, la, la, la. For some reason I thought Steve was going to be Asian. I guess it’s because Reggie has no boundaries when it comes to friends. He can party with any race.
So we pull up to Steve’s apartment complex and my eyes bug out cuz Steve is not only Black, he’s also kinda cute. My heart starts beating fast. I get so nervous when I’m around men. I immediately clam up and don’t say a word. Steve is still living the college life while he’s completing his last year of pharmacy school. He lives in one of those typical college communities where every apartment looks exactly the same.
He has two roommates, a white guy and a Mexican guy. I am feeling very nostalgic about my college years as I sigh at the sight of a futon and two random couches pushed together in their living room. And you know no college apartment would be complete if it didn’t have a whole row of empty liquor bottles showcased above the cabinets. I smiled to myself and sat down.
While Steve is packing the car up he’s asking me all kinds of questions trying to make me feel comfortable but that doesn’t work. I’m tight lipped the entire time, only nodding and giggling. Damn, I act goofy around men.
We stop to get something to eat and we’re on the road again. Steve passes me a cup and says, “Try this.” I taste it reluctantly, it tasted like chocolate heaven. And before I knew it I was telling all kinds of crazy stories and giggling all the way to Gainesville.
We pull into town and onto Archer Road and the car gets quiet. All three of us are silently reminiscing about our time there. I start to cry. Every corner and every street has a memory for me. I grew up there. I started my family there. I got saved there. I learned how to drive there. I became a woman there.
I call my girls to see where they are. I’m about to cry even harder thanks to that chocolate heaven and the fact that I have to pee so badly when they tell me that they are at Walmart. ~sigh. I loved Gainesville Walmart. It was RIGHT THERE! So close and so familiar. I knew everybody that worked there.
I hop out of Reggie’s truck and into my girl Tammy’s truck and we’re riding through Gainesville back to her apartment. We were supposed to go out, me Tammy and my other girl Tonya but we’re all lazy so we snuggle up and watch some crazy scary movie called Dawn of The Dead.
We wake up the following morning and go out to Denny’s to eat breakfast. Awww. I remember Denny’s. There’s only one in Gainesville and it’s right across the street from campus. It has Gator paraphanelia all around it.
We head back home and get dressed for the wedding. I am a hostess in Mimi’s wedding and she bought me this great suit to wear along with all of the other hostesses.
Mimi’s wedding was great, much better than I expected since she is always saying that she doesn’t worry about money cuz she trusts the Lord. Well the Lord came through for her!
It was so wild seeing all of these people that I knew when I first got saved, a little over four years ago. We all went to church together. In case you didn’t know, Mimi was the woman who led me to Christ and nurtured me until I grew a little. She is still my biggest encourager in Christ and at first I was so sad that she was getting married, but now I see that nothing is going to change between us.
After the wedding and the reception it was already 9pm. Yes, that wedding was looong. As soon as we got back in the car to go to Tammy’s apartment, Reggie calls and says he is ready to pick me up so that we can drive back to Steve’s place in Orlando to spend the night.
I go home, repack my stuff and meet up with him. I’m looking at him sideways cuz there are two girls in the car.
I say hi to them and we introduce ourselves. and I ask them how they know Reggie and Steve.
The girl sitting in the back seat next to me says, “Oh, we met them last night.”
“So, you met them last night and you’re going to Orlando with them to spend the night?” I ask and then laugh.
“Yeah,” the girl replies. “I’m kinda nervous but I thought, oh well, I’m young. You only live once.”
Steve can see the look on my face and he tells Reggie, “Don’t bring her nowhere with us anymore.”
You know me, I like to play the mother role and I find out that these two girls are sophomores and live in the same dorm I lived in when I was a jitterbug.
We stop by the dorm so they can change clothes. It turns out the guys are taking them to some club in Orlando called Icon.
I’m talking to these girls and I find out that they are new to the game and don’t know better. Steve interjects into one of our conversations and says, “Stop trying to play the chaperone, Tee. Here, drink this.”
Man, I’m not drinking until we get closer to Orlando. I got to watch out for these young girls.
I wasn’t going to go out with them but damn, I get lots of pressure from people telling me I need to loosen up and stop acting like such a Mama. But I am a Mama. So I feel like a Mama. And Mama’s shouldn’t be up in the club. At least not THIS Mama.
But I go out with them and I have a good time listening to all these songs I had never heard before. One song called Knuck If You Buck came on and everyone went crazy. I was just standing there like, Ohhhkay.
We leave around 2 am and the streets are packed with young adults dressed in their Halloween costumes. I’m thinking to myself, man white people sholl know how to have fun.
We get back to Steve’s place and just like a typical Staurday night in college land, Steve’s apartment is packed with kids watching this show called Ghetto Brawls.
The young girls immediately go to Steve’s room and began to undress for bed. Steve and Reggie stand there and exchange looks.
He, he. I guess I was messing up their little plans. LOL
Those girls dove into bed and were snoring before we knew it. I just laughed at Reggie and said, “You thought you were getting some tonight didn’t you?”
Yeah, I’m a blocker. I saved those girls from having to give it up. I think I’m a superheroine!
But then I think, maybe they wanted to give it up, after all, what same woman would take a road trip with a practical stranger to spend the night without thinking he was gonna at least try to hit?
They wake up the next morning and Steve cooks breakfast for us, excuse me, for them. He makes eggs and bacon. I don’t eat eggs. Ms. Tee is the square again! LOL
We’re on the road back to Miami when Reggie says to me: Tee, you know what? You’re very fragile and needy. I’m not even your man and you got me walking on egg shells. Any nicca that messes with you will have to worship you and give you all kinds of attention if he wants to make you happy.
Well, that sounds good to me.
Back to Miami. Back to my boys and back to looking for a job.
Life as usual.
