The Morning After
“Well look who it is!” I say aloud and click the green TALK button.
“Hello,” I say dryly.
“I’m glad you sound so excited to hear from me,” he says and pauses. “It’s good to hear your voice.
He is a guy who is sort of my friend. I met him on South Beach, or shall I say I was reaquainted with him on South Beach earlier this year when I bumped into him and we recognized each other from college.
We exchanged screen names that night and have had this sort of disloyal allegiance to each other ever since.
If you took a look at Adrian you’d probably choose him for me. His educational background is solid. He has a masters in Engineering and is working toward a doctorate in something related to that field. He’s a little on the short side which is a plus because I’ve rarely been attracted to tall men. He is also quite attractive. When I see him I am impressed, just not over the IM or telephone.
Adrian goes to school in California but he visits Miami often because he was raised here. Communication is very important and for some reason, electronically, we are not a good match for each other. In fact, he gets on my damn NERVES over the IM. I’ve taken his name off of my contacts list so many times only to re-add him after he contacts me. I’m not even trying to play games with him, but he’s a smart ass and there’s only so much I can take of that sarcasm shit.
But after a while I guess I forget all about his sassyness and he’ll call me to say Hi and I’ll laugh again and enjoy him again until he does something else that gets on my nerves.
The time he called was very typical of him. He always tries to call me just before booty call hours as if he’s gonna get some. I answer just to have the pleasure of shutting him down, but this time I was curious to see if I still found him attractive and I allowed him to come see me since my sons were with their Dad for the weekend.
He left an hour or so later, saying he was about to go get his car and come back. I told him I’d be asleep but he could try.
He rings my phone again and I’m asleep on the couch so I don’t have to reach far to get it.
“Tee,” he says. “You won’t believe this. My car won’t start.”
“Huh?” I ask and sit up.
“My friend dropped me off to pick up my car but now it won’t start and he’s gone.”
“Do you need some help?” I say absently.
“Yeah, that would be great. Could you come pick me up?”
Aww damn! I didn’t really wanna help his ass. I was just trying to be nice.
I’m in conflict now. I know for a fact that this dude wants to hit it and I’m not sure if I’m in the mood to go there with him. We’d had some pretty passionate make-out sessions which were impressive but I had already seen his ‘package’ and he wasn’t really up to par, but I guess it was manageable. Maybe that’s why we had yet to go all the way. I really don’t like to waste my time.
AND- I promised myself back in June that I wouldn’t do another nice thing for another man unless he deserved it. No going out of my way to be repaid with bull!
But I guess I can’t resist a penis in distress. “Where are you?” I ask him.
“I’m right up the street in Miramar.”
“Up the street my ass! Miramar is NOT up the street! That’s too far.”
“I always come to see you. You have never come to see me at all. It’ll take 12 minutes tops to get here on I-95.”
I sigh. Fudge! I hate this feeling. I want to do it to help him out but in my heart I know he’s going to do something that will piss me off and make me regret being nice to him.
“Ok, I’ll come.”
“Great! And I just need one more teeny tiny favor. Um, my friend who dropped me off here has my house keys. I left them in his car. Could you stop by and pick them up?”
“Damn! Where does he live?”
“He lives in your neighborhood.”
“Ok dammit!”
I pull on some jeans and a sweat shirt and climb into the car. After following his directions I see a man standing in the street wearing a wife-beater and some pajama bottoms.
I pull up alongside him and roll down my window. “Hi.” I say and reach my hand out for the key. He’s looking at me funny.
“Hi.” he says back and pauses.
“Yeah.” I say.
“You really don’t remember who I am do you?”
“Should I?” I’m confused.
“I’m Daniel. We met the other night at Bal Harbor. I invited you to the Jazz Night.”
“Ohh. Wow. So you’re Adrian’s friend?”
“Yes I am.”
I have my cell phone to my ear and I hear Adrian make a noise. “Adrian, I think I know this guy.”
“Good, but it’s kinda cold out here. We’ll talk about it when you get here.”
“Well, nice to see you again,” I say to Daniel and roll up my window.
I’m off to damn Miramar to give this idiot his keys and possibly be molested. I can’t help it. I want to be nice to men but in my heart I know that all they want to do is use me and try to make me feel bad about myself. I have a pain in my heart and it won’t go away because it’s grueling always having to be this cold and this distant when my nature is to love and be loved.
When I find him in his car, I walk up to the window and tap on it. He smiles and steps out.
“Here are your keys,” I say to him and start to walk away.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
“I’m tired and it’s too early to be playin around with you.”
He gives me a look that stops me in my tracks.
“Let’s go.” he says and walks away from me.
I smile. Hell Yeah!! I LOVE to be told what to do! I follow him inside.
Lately, I’ve been having this fantasy of a man coming up to me just like Paul Wall on that Drive Slow song and saying, “What it do?”
Ahhhh!!! ~faints~
That statement puts me in the same mindframe that I would be in if a brotha called me up and said, “I’ll be there in 15 minutes. Be ready,” and hung up. I would jump for joy! Then I’d make sure my ass was ready!
There’s nothing like a man who knows what he wants and is smooth enough to get it.
I think I wake up before he does. I nudge him and ask him to walk me to my car.
“5 more minutes,” he tells me.
5 minutes later, it’s almost noon and he’s nowhere to be found.
I check my cell phone and pull on my sneakers. I call his cell phone.
“Um, where are you?”
“I’m downstairs having breakfast.”
“Well could you come up here and get me so that I can go home?”
“Sure, I’ll be right up.”
While he’s here in South Florida he stays with his friends so we were at his friends house and I was pretty sure that by now his friends were awake.
Ugh… I hadn’t done this whole parade-the-chick-you-brought-home-to-bone thing in forever! I did NOT want to meet his friends.
“Are they down there?” I ask him in a whisper.
“Yes, they are.”
“Ugh. What do I say?”
“Say goodmorning,” he says and laughs and he descends the stairwell.
I straighten my sweat shirt and smile as I follow him. The looks on their faces were nothing compared to the look on mine.
“WHAT?!!” Mark says as he does a double take.
This is too weird.
It’s Mark and Najim. The same guys I met when I went to meet the Heat. They were the ones who came to talk to me after Daniel left. They were both sitting at the breakfast table in front of laptops with plates of pizza nearby.
Adrian looks amused.
They both stand up to give me hugs and I hug them cautiously. What’s funny is the fact that when I met all of these guys at the event I thought to myself, “They all remind me of Adrian.”
I made small talk but I really wanted to get the hell out of there!
Adrian senses this and I wave goodbye and we both leave.
“So you met them where?”
“At a Heat event on Wednesday. That was too weird.”
“Which one of them tried to holla at you?”
“None of them. But they invited me to the Jazz Night and I planned to go.”
“I invited you to that months ago.”
“Yeah but you don’t LIVE here to remind me. I think I am going to go check it out. Will you still be in town?”
“I’ll be here until after the 1st.”
“Ok, good then. It’s nice to see you. I had a good time.”
“Me too. Take some pain medicine for that headache,” he jokes.
“I don’t feel a thing,” I joke back.
Ain’t no way in hell I’m going to that Jazz Night thing. If those men want to see me again, they’ll have to just see me around.
And Adrian. He knows the routine. I’m not going to answer his calls or speak to him again for a month or so.
I gotta keep them all at a distance.