T he way I was sweating that chick was completely out of character for me. Oddly, my confidence had taken a hit, which made no sense considering I’d gotten my knob slobbed in the restroom, and an innumerable amount of women had been hitting on me and practically throwing their panties at me all night.
The college boys were on their fourth round of shots when the lady in blue stood up and gathered her purse and the empty wineglass. My heart rate accelerated as she weaved through the crowd, and glided toward me.
Anticipating her desire for another glass of wine, I grabbed the bottle of Moscato.
Out of nowhere, a short, bow-tie wearing, light-skin dude joined me behind the bar. The boss’s flunky, I assumed. Damn, his timing sucked. So much had occurred since Sharif’s phone call. I’d completely forgotten that Harvey was supposed to come through at the end of the night.
“You should have announced “last call” ten minutes ago,” he said, moving purposefully toward the register.
“Been busy; it slipped my mind,” I responded, looking over his head to locate my future wife.
“I guess Sharif forgot to mention that I’d be stopping by to count the drawer and to close up,” he said in an authoritative voice that demanded I give him my full attention. “You should start settling your tabs,” he said firmly.
“Right.” I put the bottle of wine down, planning to refill the pretty girl’s drink as soon as I collected from the patrons that were running tabs.
I dashed around, gathering cash and credit cards and ringing up receipts. I was in such a rush to get back to the mystery girl, I could no longer be bothered with keeping a mental tab of my tips. At last count, I had made around three hundred. As badly as I needed money, getting more tips wasn’t at the forefront of my mind.
She wasn’t standing where I’d last seen her. Hoping to catch a glimpse of her blue dress, I scanned the barroom, but she was nowhere to be found. Disappointment hit me like a punch to the gut.
Maybe she’d gone to the restroom. I tried to keep an eye on the ladies rest room door, but Harvey kept distracting me, giving me a list of chores like I was his apprentice or something. I wanted to smash that cocky, little, half-pint in the face, but I couldn’t afford to lose my job. Besides, he looked like the corny type of dude that would involve law enforcement and press charges. I couldn’t afford that. Even a minor arrest could ruin my law career before it got started.
“By the way,” Harvey said. “The boss wanted me to check out your bartending skills before I made my presence known.”
“He told you to spy on me?”
“You could put it that way. I noticed you abandoning the bar to serve one of the patrons sitting at a table. This is an informal establishment, and we don’t provide table service here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told Harvey, wishing he’d shut up and get out of my face.
Every time someone went in or out of the ladies’ room, my head whipped in that direction, looking for my baby, but she was nowhere to be found. Finally, Ben turned up the lights, brightening up the place with an unpleasant glare that announced the evening had come to an end. I felt a rush of relief, eager to get back to my hotel room where I could lick my wounds in private.
A few people sat around mumbling that they hadn’t heard “last call,” while others reluctandy began to trickle out the door. It seemed that no one was ready to call it a night. Some wore sad expressions and others were belligerent, cursing and rolling their eyes as if it they were being kicked out hours before closing time. One young woman was actually crying as she exited; dark mascara ran from her eyes and streaked her cheeks. I had no idea what that was about and I didn’t want to know.
With a mop and bucket nearby, Ben was ready to get to work. Trash bags draped over his arm, Ben stood by the door shaking a huge keyring filled with jangling keys.
“It’s time to get up out of here!” Ben hollered gruffly, attempting to speed along the stragglers that were still sitting around, nursing the last dregs of their drinks.
Why^d she leave without even a hand wave? I wondered. I sulked as I cleaned my work area. Harvey was getting on my nerves, chattering as he took an inventory of the liquor. “You had a busy night,” he said. “We’re running low on Seagram’s 7.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I replied without interest.
“And we’re low on Smirnoff. It was a really good night, and the boss will be pleased. But in the future, you should keep a list of what’s running low. A good bartender always keeps track of his inventory. Also, a good bartender...”
Man, count those bottles and shut the fuck up. I didn’t give a shit what a good bartender did, so I tuned him out. I supposed I should have been keeping track of the liquor stock, but I hadn’t had an opportunity. Pouring drinks and interacting with customers had kept me super busy.
“I hear you’re only going to be with us for the summer,” he said, making more unnecessary small talk.
“Yeah,” I muttered, refusing to say more. If it weren’t for this little interfering midget, I would have at least gotten the young lady’s name and possibly her number.
“I’ve also been told that you’re a lawyer.”
“Not yet.”
“Oh?”
Mind your business, UP yellow-ass muthafucka.
“Oh, so you haven’t taken the bar exam yet?”
“Nah.” Busy stacking napkins and straws for the morning shift, I kept my responses down to a minimum.
“I’ve heard that some of our people...” He brushed the top of his high-yellow hand as if he and I shared the same complexion. “Well, they say that it isn’t uncommon for some our folks to have to take the bar exam four or five times. Just giving you a heads-up,” he said with a smirk. “I have a friend that’s a lawyer. He works for the DA!s office, and only makes fifty-eight thousand a year. After all those years of education and he’s barely above the poverty level.”
I refused to explain my future plans. Hoping to deter him from engaging me any further, I decided to switch to heavy, street vernacular, which I was certain would offend the pompous, little, sawed-off jerk and dissuade him from engaging me further. “Yo, Harvey, some people gotta make it do what it do. Personally, I’m on some, ‘it-is-what-it-is’-type shit, cuz I’ma get mine any way it comes. You know what I’m sayin’?”
“No, I don’t. I have no idea what you just said.” Harvey looked at me with repugnance as he moved a few feet away from me.
I noticed that Ben had started to haul out the trash, and so I decided to pitch in with the clean-up process, leaving Harvey behind the bar, tallying up receipts. I straightened up the pool table area. After that, I sprayed the front of the jukebox with Windex, and wiped down all the mirrors.
I’m not a fan of manual labor, but doing chores was less aggravating than listening to Harvey as he basically told me that I’d chosen the wrong profession.
An hour later, we all exited The Dive. Ben pulled down the cage and locked it with one of the keys from his giant key ring. Harvey strode toward a late-model SUV. Scratching his head, Ben shuffled over to an old Plymouth.
I had Najah’s information in my pocket, and I briefly considered stopping by and seeing shorty, but I was mentally and physically tired. I’d had enough sex for one day. I probably could have mustered up some energy if Najah convinced her sister to join us in a threesome, but Nona had hooked up with ole boy, ruining my freaky plans.
Accustomed to riding the New York subways, it didn’t bother me that I didn’t have any wheels. I headed in the direction of the Market Street El. I’d take the El to Thirtieth Street, and then take a shutde back to my hotel.
A car horn honked and I looked toward the sound, and I couldn’t beHeve my eyes. There was my baby, sitting behind the wheel of a dark-colored Lexus. I could have acted cool and took my time crossing the street, but I wasn’t playing any games, and so I husded over to her. I wanted to break into a full-on run, but didn’t want to look like a sucker. I had a litde bit of swag as I dipped low while trotting toward her.
“Hi, again,” she said. She was parked under the street light, and I got an even better look at her face. She had a flawless, dark toffee complexion and the cutest nose
that turned up at the tip. “I hope you don’t mind that I waited for you to get off.”
“It’s fine.”
“I, uh, I wanted to apologize for leaving abruptly while you were in the midst of preparing me another drink. It was rude of me,” she said, lowering her eyes bashfully.
“It’s cool. You don’t owe me any explanations.” This chick was really different. Had an innocent quality that I found appealing.
“I didn’t want to leave without giving you an explanation. I’m really not as discourteous as I appeared; I was raised better than that. But, I thought I saw someone I knew, and I sort of had a panic attack.”
“An old boyfriend?” I asked curiously, looking over my shoulder and ready to defend myself if some nut bull came running out of the shadows.
“No. I wouldn’t refer to him as a boyfriend.”
“I get it; it’s complicated.”
“You could say that.” Her lovely face clouded over as if a bad memory had appeared in her mind.
“Well, thank you for the drink, Mr....?”
“Jaguar. You can call me Jag.”
“Thank you, Jag. I was feeling really down, but your kindness brightened my evening.”
“Glad I could help...uh...Ms....?”
“Fonia.”
“Can I get your number, Fonia?” I pulled out my cell, ready to lock her in.
Her brows furrowed together. “I’m sorry; I can’t give it out.”
“Seriously?”
She made an apologetic expression. “I can’t give you my phone number.”
JVhy canh she give me her number^ She must be married. I glanced at her ring finger and it was bare. There were sparkling jewels on several fingers, and on both wrists and her ears. But there was no wedding band or engagement ring. I supposed she was in some sort of serious relationship, and the thought bothered me immensely.
“Would it be okay if I stopped by again tomorrow? You don’t have to...well, I don’t expect you to buy my drinks or anything. I like the atmosphere in the bar,” Fonia said.
“Yeah, you’re welcome to come through anytime you like,” I said casually, though I was eager to see her again. The sooner the better. If it were up to me, we’d be going to my place or hers. We didn’t have to do anything, either. We could simply talk. I wanted to know everything about her, and I was willing to put my guard down and share the important events in my life.
“Well, I have to go,” she said.
Disappointment hit me hard; I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
She gave me a sad smile. “I’ll see you soon. I mean, if it’s really okay with you. I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“You won’t be imposing. I look forward to seeing you
again,” I said, and I really meant it. She was a good- looking woman but there was something else about her. She was so fragile and delicate. It seemed as if she needed to be protected from something, but I had no idea what.
“Well, goodnight,” she said, fluttering her fingers. Her eyes began to dart about nervously again, and before pulling off, she took a quick look over her shoulder. Fonia was clearly very nervous about the dude she thought she’d seen in the bar. Maybe the bull she was concerned about was a stalker. Pretty girls like her were fike magnets that attracted the crazies.
I imagined someone antagonizing Fonia and my blood started to boil. If a stalker showed up at The Dive, trying to fuck with Fonia, I’d probably leap over the bar, with some ninja moves and I’ve never had a lesson in Karate or Kung Fu.
As I strolled along Market Street, I thought about the way I’d reacted when Fonia walked in the bar. There had been this powerful emotional tug that pulled me over to her table. I had no control over it, and our meeting seemed like destiny.
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