My Crowning Glory, page 13
“Girl, please. I just heard about her myself from one of the girls in my old study group and it isn’t like they announce who all of the artists are when they play them at the clubs. We heard one of her songs at the club on the south side of Atlanta.” The tapping in my foot continued as they cleared the stage from Elle’s performance. Her band looked as tired as she did.
“That girl had a live band, not a dj, not a track, a band. She is a beast! So let's go get something to eat, you know I can’t come downtown without going to our spot.” Porsche tugged on my arm.
A smile spread across my face until I remembered the last time we ate at our favorite spot downtown Atlanta. Zoe and Ebonee’s chatter, man scoping and jokes would be missed. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to ever look at a crab leg or calamari strips the same way again. Maybe we should just make our way home, the rest of the acts are pretty lame.”
“No!” Porsche stomped her foot. “I mean, we have to go or I won’t be at peace the rest of the weekend. You said you forgave her, nothing proves forgiveness like crab legs and butterfly shrimp with cocktail sauce.”
“Okay, no need to go all Neanderthal on me. Goodness. FYI stomping the foot in protest because you can’t find anyone in Macon to make their sauce the same as the Bucket Shop is not a good look.” We chuckled as I mimicked her. “Let’s go before I change my mind. I prolly just miss all of us hanging out because for a second I could’ve sworn I saw Zoe at the back of the crowd.”
“What? Girl you crazy, you must need to eat.” Porsche looked around and nudged my shoulder to start walking toward the door.
***
Can you say S.E.T.U.P.? Because that was the entire reason for this pretend last minute trip to For Sisters Only in Atlanta. We strolled into the Bucket Shop to find whom else but Porsche and Ebonee, posted up in the back booth where we used to sit and check out guys.
“Arrgh.” I rolled my eyes so hard at Porsche, my contact lens almost popped out. “I suppose you think since you drove I have to subject myself to sitting here with them.”
“The thought crossed my mind. You’re notorious for calling in the calvary. We chose this weekend because we knew your parents would be out of town at the church event in Savannah. So, unless you plan on calling Wilson, just sit down and hear her out.” Porsche grabbed my arm and pulled me to the booth.
“Hey, y’all. I like your hair, Anisa.” Ebonee looked down at the table.
“Y’all got some nerve.” My arms crossed as the server approached the table.
“Tendons, muscle tissue and blood vessels, too. We’re human.” Zoe gave a dry chuckle. She wiggled in her seat.
“Watch yourself you might fall out of the booth. Wilson isn’t under the table to catch your fall, or maybe y’all into that kinda nasty stuff, you almost lost your tonsils in his mouth in a parking lot.” The venom dripped from my words. Angry as I’d been now the only feeling left was pain.
“Look, Anisa, I have no excuse for what I’ve done. No words for me to say that will make me look better in the situation. All I can do is apologize for being selfish and thinking with something other than my brain. I love you like a sister, you’ve known me almost my whole life. This isn’t my style and if you give me a chance to be your friend again, it won’t happen ever again in life.” Zoe took a deep breath and swung her feet back and forth.
Tears rolled down my face as I thought about our fifteen-year friendship. We vowed at our first sleepover to always stick together. Families had come and gone, friendships with other girls popped up and fizzled out but nothing separated us. In the entire time we’d known each other, Zoe had always been the defender of the friendship against the fleeting relationships we had.
Ebonee nodded. “I owe you an apology, too. All those times I cracked on those girls and lied about helping you. I should’ve been more considerate. You’d never treat me the way I treated you, I’m really sorry.”
Porsche patted my back. She knew how much Zoe’s betrayal hurt. One of her cousins slept with her college sweetheart her junior year. We never talked about him or her but the next summer she died in a car accident and it bothered Porsche more than she let on during the funeral. I knew this reunion was her idea. Even if we were never able to go back to being tight as we were before, she wanted me to have closure. More than closure, she wanted me to forgive, Zoe. As I looked into the eyes of my girls, I realized I wanted to forgive, Zoe, too.
“So are we forgiven? Maybe not introduce us to your new boo, forgiven but at least, sit here together and have dinner cool.” Zoe stared at me.
“I’m hungry and kidnapped. Dinner is fine with me.”
“Good, because I met this fine, curly haired dude and I’ve been dying to tell y’all about him. I didn’t want to do it separately because we always dish about new guys together.” Porsche squeezed me around the shoulders. “And I was hoping we wouldn’t have to start a new tradition. Y’all know what happens when we don’t dish about them together.”
“Wilson.” His name tasted like dirt on my tongue.
“Dante.” Zoe sighed.
“My baby Daddy whose name isn’t even worth mentioning.” Ebonee shook her head.
“Exactly. This dude is a keeper so I wanted to give us a shot by not messing up the tradition.” Porsche giggled. “Let’s start with the head full of gorgeous curly hair. I can’t keep my hands out of his hair. Y’all know I’ve never liked dudes with hair.”
“Well, that is nothing. I saw this model with the flyest hair ever in that little fashion spot they did at For Sisters Only. Swear if my head was shaped a little different I’d cut all of my hair off and do it tomorrow.” Ebonee smiled.
“Are you serious?” Porsche tilted her head to the side.
“Yes, y’all know I’ve been trying to get more work, and I think it would give me an edge. Everyone wears wigs and tracks, I need to stand out.” Ebonee touched my arm. “You know from the other girls trying to do hair modeling in Macon.”
“Girl, please.” At first, I wanted to punch Porsche and Zoe in the face for tricking me into coming here. When I was honest with myself, I had to admit, I cried more over Zoe betraying me than Wilson. Not forgiving her made less sense than forgiving her did. We’d been through homecoming, double date disasters, group date guffaws and kissed more frogs than princes. None of that could be erased because of a few moments of lonely confusion. Even if things were never the way they used to be, there was the possibility forgiving and moving past something as painful as this could make our friendships better. A decade of more good times, love and support than hard times and backstabbing made it a chance I was willing to take.
Chapter 14
“Anisa.”
Wilson’s voice sent chills up and down my arm. After a great weekend with my girls, he’d started the text messages, voicemails, emails and flowers again. All week I’d managed to avoid him. In my gut, I knew he’d try to corner me somewhere he thought I’d be forced to talk to him. This boy knew so little about me.
"Anisa."
“Are you serious? This is my job, Wilson. You know better than to bring drama to my office. Just leave. You’re starting to embarrass yourself.” No longer able to convince myself he was sane, I backed up into the lobby of the building.
“I don’t care if I embarrass myself. I love you, Anisa. We belong together and I’m not going to allow one mistake to keep us from each other. Yes, I slept with Zoe, but that just means she was never your friend to begin with, or she wouldn’t have slept with me. Your used to denying yourself, this is new for me. We’ve been together for four years. You don’t wanna throw that away because of one mistake.” He reached for me.
“Are you on crack? Yes, yes I do. Zoe and I weren’t in a romantic relationship. I’ve known her for fifteen years. You, on the other hand, claimed to want to marry me while you were banging one of my friends. If that is any implication of how our marriage would be, you can take that ring and shove it up your ... Leave me alone, Wilson.” The pepper spray in the bottom of my purse felt farther away than the .22 in my dashboard.
“You expect me to believe you’d choose her over all of this. Me. What we had?” Wilson looked around with a wild look in his eyes.
“You got it.” I backed into the wall between the front hallway and security checkpoint.
“No, let's go somewhere and talk. I’m not going to let you do this to me, to us.” Wilson leaned forward and grabbed at my arm.
A yelp escaped before I could compose myself. “I’m not sure if you’re aware but you’ve almost crossed from pathetic to crazy. Just leave before I have to get papers drawn on you. Who is us? No we, no us, no nothing. Nada. Zip. IT. IS. OVER.”
Wilson stood and straightened his wrinkled shirt. He licked his pinky and smoothed his wild eyebrows. As soon as he took a step back, I exhaled. “You think you’re breaking up with me but who cheated on whom? I moved on before you decided to cut your hair and go back five decades and join the nappy hair brigade.”
“Maybe, but I’d rather be alone with my kinks and curls than chained down to someone insecure and lazy.”
“Go ahead and convince yourself you cut me loose, you better hope I’m still in love with you, when you cut all that pretty hair off and no one wants to get with a pic-a-ninny primped fake princess.”
“I also don’t want a thunder stealing, interloping, low self-esteem punk who can’t take a hint.” I cleared my throat and crossed my arms.
“Ain’t no man gon’ want you with a brillo pad growing from your scalp.”
Prickly bumps covered my arms and neck as he laughed. “I’ll take no man over a boy who isn’t able to see I’m worth more than lying to, being cheated on. Now if you’ll excuse me. I’d like to go to my car.”
“Anisa, please, please don’t do this to us. I don’t care how your hair looks. The thought of you being with someone else eats me up inside. Don’t you think you owe me something for waiting all this time? I mean it was only one slip. One.” He sniffed.
This fool was not about to cry. What pissed me off is that he wasn’t crying because he loved me, the thought of someone else being my first brought this narcissistic fool to tears. I’d never known such a strong desire to be near my gun. “Wilson, you’ve moved from annoying to a nuisance. A complaint for harassment will not look good on your record down at the county.”
“Fine, go ahead with your little empty life. See if I care. Plenty more chicks finer, thicker and more successful than you who want to get with all of this and I won’t have to wait until our wedding night. I can walk out of this building, stop at the lounge near the business district, pick out the baddest chick in the place and get the drawls tonight.” Wilson took a step toward me.
“Then do it, no one, especially me wants to stop you. Have fun and strap up. Cute and crazy come contaminated these days.” I threw up the peace sign.
“Ms. Links,” Roger, the security guard stepped through the hallway to the checkpoint. “Everything alright?”
“I think so, Wilson, was just leaving.” My shoulders relaxed and I stopped trying to inch my purse open to retrieve my pepper spray.
“Wassup bruh. Just walking my lady to the car. Rent-a-cop not required.” Wilson chuckled. “It’s not dark so a flashlight is not required.”
Roger reached for his standard issued nine millimeter. “I’m not sure what that means but I assure you I won’t be returning to my post until your gone or Ms. Links informs me she no longer needs my services. Would you like me to leave, Ms. Links?”
“No, I’m not comfortable being alone with Mr. Greene and have asked for him to leave the premises. He was just saying good bye before you checked in on me.” My feet moved closer to Roger.
“Cool, that’s how you want it. Anisa. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when dudes run from you like the plague when you’re hair is sticking up all over your head like the bride of Frankenstein.” Wilson backed up toward the door. “Call me when you come to your senses.”
The wall caught me as I sighed when he walked out of the doors. “Glad that is over. Thank you, Roger, I’m not sure he would have left if you didn’t show up.”
“My pleasure. I hope you know how wrong he is, any man who doesn’t want to be with you because of how you decide to wear your hair is a fool.” Roger smiled and returned to the security station.
My eyes followed his muscular frame and my pulse returned to normal. Nothing would bring me greater pleasure than to tell my Dad how Wilson conducted himself but I knew the best thing I could do was never contact him again. The walk to my car seemed quick as I hummed Beyonce’s “Best Thing I Never Had.”
***
Maya, Mom and Dad sat across from me at the best table in Natalia’s where people could get a good look at my godmother. Several people stopped to request autographs and pictures to post on Facebook. She smiled and nodded before she realized we’d never be able to finish our meals if we stayed. Dad raised his hand and requested a more private booth or table. The maitre’d obliged. We settled into a booth with my aunt seated next to the wall beside me.
“Thank you, Mitchell. I wasn’t sure those people were aware that the rumbling they heard was my stomach.” My godmother chuckled.
“Yes, things were about to get real interesting when our food arrived.” Dad smiled as he enjoyed a piece of bread.
“Twenty years on the air. How does that feel? I can hardly believe we’ve been out of school that long but I know it's true.” My mom chuckled.
“Yes, it has been a long time but it has all been worth it. Maybe next year I can get those exclusive entertainer and other personal interview specials inked into my contract so I can start putting together my exit strategy.”
“Wow, you want to retire?” The thought my godmother wanted to leave television never occurred to me. “I assumed you would be on the air long as Monica Kaufman or longer. You love what you do so much.”
“I do but I’d rather be behind the camera if I’m going to continue to work beyond the twenty five year mark. No one wants to be the old broad on the newscast and most viewers don’t want to watch the old broad on the newscast. My time has been limited producing spots but I’m hoping that will change with the new contract agreements.” A hopeful smile covered her face.
“Good plan, Maya. I’m sure everything will work out to your benefit. You’ve been a great asset to that station. They’d be remiss to let you take all your experience and talent somewhere else.” My mom smiled.
“That is what I think.” My godmother placed a ginger hand on my arm. “Time to go to the ladies room. Phyllis you sit this one out, I’m gonna enjoy walking across this restaurant pretending all the men are staring at me instead of Anisa.”
My folks chuckled as we exited the booth.
“So how many men do you think will check us out on this little trek?” I tried not to look around.
“Just enough to make us blush, like proper ladies.” My godmother gave a playful slap to my arm as we entered into the bathroom.
“You look well for a woman who hasn’t had a boyfriend for the first time in four years because he slept with a friend. What is your secret? Drunken bouts of prank phone calls?” Her laugh reminded me of wind chimes.
“I thought YouTube video didn’t process through ... I need to double check my channel when I get home. All I need is for Janie or someone from FHF to get a hold to that video.”
“I’m kidding, Anisa. You may need to delete that when you get home. So you’re not doing okay with the break up. Pity to waste any good energy on a slick character like Wilson, he hugged me at your graduation party and I was sure I’d be able to slide to my car instead of walk.” She placed an arm around my shoulder. “You holding up after losing Zoe?”
“We’re okay. No long phone conversations or anything but, I can be in the same space as her without wanting to claw her eyes out. I was more hurt than angry. She made amends and I decided to give her a chance. How many childhood friendships go into adulthood with only one infraction?”
“Good for you. People are human, only when we forgive each other are we close to divine. Sounds as though FHF is giving you a run for your money too. I talked to Janie. The higher ups seem impressed with you. They think she was saving you under a rock to make a good impression the last year before her review for the promotion.”
“It’s not like that. I’ve been preparing for this presentation and I think it’ll go great. Just need to make sure that I’ve gotten all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. No one wants to make a good impression more than me. My career starting with a bang or a thud rides on this one event.” The smile on my face ignored the bundle of nerves in my belly.
“You keep your head up. No one is more equipped to handle those stiffs at FHF, as you, and you look good doing it. Make sure you text me after your presentation so we can celebrate. I have a really good feeling about it.” My godmother pecked me on the cheek. “Now let’s go eat. I saw two unattached young men giving you a thorough once over on the walk into the bathroom, I want them to see that you’re just as cute on the other side.”
“You’re too much. The last thing I need now is another relationship. I like to take a break between break ups. That way the next guy isn’t paying the invoice from the last one.” I winked.
“Oh, god mommy has taught you well, Doughnut.”
***
No way you could have prepared me for what I encountered when I sat next to Porsche when Ebonee walked into the diner. In the last two weekends I’d missed hanging out with the girls, this girl cut all her hair off. Not just a few inches but short almost to the nape, in the cutest but the shortest style I’d seen on anyone in Macon. A smile as wide as the Mississippi river popped up on her face.
“Before you say a word, just give it a chance then tell me how much you hate it.” Ebonee covered her face.
“Girl, please you know you look amazing. You’ve always been pretty Ebonee but now you have the model look to go with the model body. My goodness who knew all that gorgeousness was hiding under all of those weaves and wigs.” Porsche smiled.
