“You would be okay with her sleeping with someone?” I ask.
A frown wrinkles his forehead, and he looks as if he’s about to growl at me like an angry lion.
“Exactly!” I say. “Admit you’re in love with the damn girl. Everybody knows it but you. You’re not about to cheat on Tangie, and you would lose it if someone touched her. You’re only holding onto the idea of being single, but you’re actually in a committed relationship.”
“I know you got your doctorate, but you’re not a love doctor, are you?” He chuckled, trying to play it off.
“One day you’ll admit it, and I’ll be right here to tell you ‘I told you so’.”
“Maybe you’re right, Omega.” He turns his attention back to the road and goes silent.
I decide to tell him about what happened to me last night. “Well, while you wer
e under Tangie’s lock and key, I was this close to hooking up with a woman who has to be carrying Atlanta’s biggest booty.” I hold my index and thumb together closely to show him how close I was to doing something I haven’t done in a long time—smash a random.
Santerían looks relieved to be talking about something other than his life. “Say what, man?” he asks. “What happened with that?”
“This girl came and sat next to me and practically challenged the barstool to a duel with her phat ass. Then, she got into a back and forth with me, challenging my masculinity and saying I wouldn’t be able to handle her.”
“And you took her up on it?”
“I love a good challenge, so you already know I did. I bought her drinks, and we watched Alise perform.”
Santerían snaps his fingers. “That’s right. Damn, I missed Alise.”
“Yeah, it was a good show too.”
He cocks his head to the side to look at me. “Sounds like you had a good ending to the night, too.”
“We were chilling. She wasn’t clingy, she looked good, and I just knew I was going to have a good time with her once we got to a hotel. When the performance was over, she slid down off her barstool, and I followed her gigantic ass out the club like I was hypnotized by it. But the spell was broken when the mystery woman from Keith’s wedding walked in.”
“Stop bullshitting,” Santerían says, mouth agape.
“I stopped walking behind Miss Booty, and just stared at the other girl. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t even think about it; I turned on my heels and followed her to the lounge area so that I could get her number or something this time.”
“Did you get it?”
“Nope. Before I could approach her, the big booty girl grabbed me up like I owed her money or something. She started an argument in the middle of the club about me checking out someone else.”
“Did ol’ girl from the wedding hear the argument?”
“I don’t think so. She and her friend went to the lounge looking for seats, and by the time I got rid of Miss Booty, they were walking back out the club. The whole scene tanked my night.”
“I’ve never seen you act like this about someone and especially someone you don’t know. You don’t even know her name.”
“I’m not going to lie. When I saw her, my eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I just need to get some more time with her. I want to get to know her.” At that very moment, Santerían whips into Elite’s parking lot and puts the car in park. I look at him, confused. “Why are we here though? I thought we were going to get drinks.”
“We’re going to the bar. Since I missed the opening last night, I came to check the place out.”
“Oh, so I have to come two nights in a row because you were too busy being pussy whipped last night? Come on, man. I’ve seen enough of this club,” I say, having flashbacks of the fiasco last night.
“We’ll just stay a little while, Omega.”
I get out of the car and slam the door shut. “A few minutes and then I’m out.”
Walking to the building, I notice a sign on the door that says, “Speed Date Night begins at 6:30 p.m.” I remember the DJ mentioning speed dating as I was leaving out last night. I look down at my watch, and it’s now 6:22.
“Yo, Teer. I’m not trying to be a part of this speed date thing. Let’s go somewhere else.”