Gary Mitchell had finally gotten in touch with me again. It was the off-season in early August, so he had a lot more time on his hands to party. I’m sure that a lot of guys would have loved to have been in his position, having women throwing themselves at you because you’re a well-paid ballplayer. However, I wouldn’t exactly think of these women as the kind you’d put much trust in. Most of them were here-today-gone-tomorrow money chasers. However, Gary couldn’t seem to get enough of them. I still wasn’t too thrilled about associating with his fast crowd, but Brad told me to enjoy life while I could, so there I was at another club in suburban Maryland with Gary.
“How do you feel about your rookie season?” I asked him. We were sitting at the bar with drinks in our hands. This place was so incognito that it didn’t even have a marquee. Nevertheless, the place was packed with high spenders. I wouldn’t say that all of them were spending honest money, either.
“I mean, I wasn’t all that happy with it. I figure things’ll get better when we start winning more games,” Gary responded to me. Then he smiled and said, “You know that them two girls we were with that night still be asking about you, man?”
“Oh yeah?” I mumbled. I wasn’t at all concerned about it.
Gary said, “They wanted me to give them your phone number, but I wouldn’t do it. I told them I had to ask you first.”
Good thinking, I thought. After a while, I separated from Gary to do my own thing. I felt a lot more at ease at the club that night. I was no longer in awe of pretty women. They were all human, just like me. And if they were there, then they were available. That was my new attitude with women. No one was out of my reach anymore; that was the old me.
“Can I buy you a drink?” I asked a sister. She was a one-punch knockout, but no one seemed to be approaching her. I looked over and noticed a bunch of guys all huddled around the bar area. They were drinking and looking, but none of them were conversing with the fine women who surrounded us. I probably would have been one of those guys a few months earlier. They were all gun-shy.
The sister looked at me and said, “Sure. You can buy me a drink.”
“What are you having?”
“A sloe gin fizz.”
I still didn’t know that much about different drinks. You learn these things as you go along. “Is that good?” I asked her. “What does it taste like?”
“Ah, it’s sweet, but kind of strong,” she answered with a smile. And boy did she have a smile! Her smile made her look like a teenager, fresh out of high school. I realized that she had to be at least twenty-one to get in, but I wondered. Mona had fake IDs.
I ordered two sloe gin fizzes and found us a table.
“Hey, girl, is this where you’re gonna be?” a girlfriend asked her.
My new friend looked at me and said, “That’s what it looks like.”
Her girlfriend looked at us both. Then she gave me her approval with a grin and a nod. “All right then.”
I know I asked the sister her name and other general questions, but I don’t remember any of her answers. I know that she was from New Jersey and went to school in Virginia, but that’s about it. I remember saying some real cool and funny things to her that made her laugh. We ordered more drinks and danced. Then I remember Gary saying how good she looked and asking me if I was going to take her home.
“If she lets me,” I told him. I believe that I was at least halfway drunk by then. She did go home with me, but she didn’t spend the night. She had her own car and went home before I woke up. I had a big headache that Sunday morning, and then I got a phone call.
“Hi, Bobby Dallas.”
“Ah, hi you doin’,” I answered. I was still kind of drowsy. It was a first-time caller, so I assumed that it was the woman from the night before, but I didn’t remember giving her my number.
“This is Kimberly. We met a couple of months ago at the club. You were with your friend Gary Mitchell from the Bullets. We ended up at the Ramada Inn that night,” she said with a giggle. Someone else was on the phone with her.
“Is there someone else on the phone with you?” I asked.
“Yeah, this is Tonya. You met me that night, too.” They had me on a three-way phone.
“Where you been at, Bobby? I was thinking about you for a while.”
“Me too.”
I guess Gary broke down and gave them my number that night or early that morning. “I’ve been taking care of business,” I said. I needed some Tylenol badly.
“Gary told us you got a car now,” someone said. I think it was Tonya.
“Yeah, I had to. Taxis can get expensive.”
“You been keeping yourself in good shape lately?”
I couldn’t tell who was who, but they were both laughing.
“We wanna hook up with you tonight, if you don’t mind.” That was Tonya. I recognized her forwardness.
“You already let Gary know?” I asked her.
“Who said anything about Gary?”
They were laughing again. I didn’t know how to respond, but I was definitely flattered. “I don’t know about tonight,” I said. I didn’t want to make any commitments to them.
“Well, whenever you’re free from your busy schedule and all, why don’t you call us up?” Kimberly suggested. I was beginning to tell them apart.
“Which one?” I asked.
“It don’t matter,” Tonya said.
“What’s the numbers?”
They ran off their phone numbers to me and we all hung up. I sat in bed and stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t believe this,” I said with a grin. Then I checked my messages. Mona had called twice about some concert tickets she had. I returned her call.
“Hey, I’m sorry I missed it,” I told her.
“You’re slippin’, Bobby. I ended up going with some guy I didn’t know,” she told me. “He kept trying to come on to me. I almost had to take a taxi home.”
“How did you hook up with him?” I asked her. I know she didn’t just pick him up off the street.
“He gave me his phone number a few weeks ago,” she said. “He just got lucky by being home when I called, after I called you, twice.”
“How come you didn’t tell me about the tickets in advance?”
“I had just gotten them myself. This girl that works at WOL with me couldn’t go.”
“Oh, so don’t blame that on me. That was a last-minute thing.”
“I’m not blaming it on you, I’m just saying that you blew.”
I smiled and shook my head. “All right then, whatever.”
“So where did you go last night? You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to,” she told me.
“You know Gary Mitchell from the Bullets?”
“He was on Frank’s show before, with a monkey face?”
I stopped myself and smiled. “Why do you have to talk about him like that?”
“I mean, he does have a monkey face. I’m just being honest about it.”
“Stop, Mona, that’s very negative,” I told her.
“Okay, I take it back then. Gary Mitchell does not have a monkey face.”
I couldn’t stop myself from grinning. “Some people think that about all black people,” I said.
“You mean white people, Bobby?” she asked me. “I don’t care what they think. I know the difference between good-looking and ugly. A lot of white people look like monkeys.”
“Okay, let’s get off of this subject,” I said. It was beginning to sound ridiculous. I don’t think Mona liked Gary Mitchell because she knew that I received extra attention from women when I was around him.
“What are you doing today?” she asked. “I can tell that it’s gonna be hot. Let’s go to Haines Point, or how ’bout the Baltimore Harbor or something?” she suggested. “Yeah, let’s go to the Baltimore Harbor,” she repeated excitedly. “Cathy Hughes talks about it a lot.”
“You’ve never been there before?” I asked her. I had been there twice.
“No, but I wanna go, though. So what time are you gonna pick me up?”
Mona was becoming more and more demanding of my time. I don’t even think she noticed it. I usually liked her company, but I was extra tired from the night before. I needed to rest.
“That’s a forty-five-minute ride,” I hinted.
“So?” Mona snapped. “As much as we ride around doing nothing in D.C., you should be happy to get away. But if you don’t want to take me, Bobby, then just say so. Don’t make up no lame excuses. My feelings won’t be hurt.”
I was beginning to get annoyed. Mona was telling the truth, though, because I was beating around the bush about things. “Remember you said something about not taking our friendship for granted?” I reminded her.
She gave me the silent treatment. “Yeah, you’re right,” she said. “I’m sorry.” She sounded like she hated to admit it.
I felt guilty. I said, “I’ll tell you what, I’ll call you back after I’ve washed up and everything and let you know.”
“All right. That sounds fair to me.”
Mona wasted no time hanging up. She was pissed off about it, I could tell. It didn’t sound fair to her at all. I realized that she was used to getting her way with me, but I was only used to getting my way with her sometimes. It was a lopsided friendship.
Gary called soon after I hung up with Mona. I guess I had the hot line that morning. “Did you do that girl last night, Bobby?” he asked me with a chuckle.
I didn’t answer him. I said, “I got a call from Kimberly and Tonya this morning. They woke me up.”
He responded, “Yeah, they called me up late last night, buggin’ me for your number.”
“And so you finally gave it to them.”
“Well, when I talked to you at the club last night, you didn’t tell me not to.”
He had a point, so I backed off. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I didn’t.”
“So, what’s up for today, man? I got these two girls from Fredericksburg that we could hook up with later on. You wit’ it?” Gary was originally from Paterson, New Jersey Maybe that had something to do with his jones for women. Paterson was probably too close to New York’s fast-paced streets for comfort.
“I don’t think so. I still need some Tylenol from last night’s headache,” I told him.
“Man, you got all day to get rid of that headache. We can get with these girls like seven, eight o’clock.”
I could tell that Gary wasn’t prepared to be turned down, but I was going to have to disappoint him. “Naw, man, I’m gonna have to pass until next weekend.”
“Aw’ight then, suit yourself.”
When we hung up, I prayed that I didn’t get any more phone calls, and I didn’t. I fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up until after two o’clock in the afternoon. I couldn’t believe I had slept that long! I must have been in overdrive that Saturday night. I really didn’t feel like calling Mona then, but since I told her that I would, I called her anyway.
“I haven’t taken a shower or anything yet,” I said. “I’ll get ready and call you back.”
Mona was silent again. That wasn’t a good sign. “You know what, Bobby? Don’t even worry about it. You don’t have to take me to Baltimore.”
I still didn’t want to go, but I didn’t like how Mona was taking things, so I pressed the issue. “No, I’ll take you.”
“Bobby, don’t do me any favors, okay? If you don’t want to go, then just say it.”
“How are you gonna tell me what I don’t want to do?” I protested feebly.
Mona sighed and said, “Go ahead and get your rest, Bobby. I’ve made other plans already anyway.”
•
I was at another crossroad. Do I get move involved with Mona? I asked myself. I realized that things were headed that way, and hanging out with Gary again didn’t make things any easier. In fact, since Mona knew about it, I believe that it made things worse, she just hadn’t spilled it out yet.
I had a lot to think about that afternoon. I didn’t want to end what I had with Mona, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to give up my freedom either. I was just starting to feel comfortable with my social life again.
I decided to call my brother. I explained the whole situation to him and how I had made the same mistake before with Faye. Instead of securing a good thing that I had with her, I went after a long shot with Pearl. I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. I wasn’t a basketball star, nor could I imagine putting up with the insecurity of Gary’s partying lifestyle.
“I don’t know what to tell you, man. I mean, this girl at Howard did say that you were friends, but yet she’s still fucking you. And sex clouds the mind of a woman, man, I don’t care what they tell you.
“You wasn’t boning that other girl from Howard, right?”
“Who, Faye? Naw.”
“Well, this situation is different then.”
“Okay, so what do I do?” I asked him. Brad had been in far more relationships than I had been in. Most brothers find it hard to ask their good friends about relationships, let alone think of asking their younger siblings. Their egos would get in the way. Nevertheless, my younger brother was married and well experienced with women, and I was not.
“You ask her if she still wants you to be single,” he said. “You have to cut through the bullshit with this girl and ask her what she wants to do.”
I hesitated. Brad didn’t understand. Mona and I had made an agreement. “We both agreed that we wouldn’t try to force the other into a commitment or anything,” I told him.
“Well, it sounds to me like she’s not keeping up her end of the bargain, Bobby. It sounds like she wants to have her cake and eat it too.”
He was telling the truth. It was a no-win situation for me. I risked giving up the freedom to date whoever I wanted, which I didn’t want to do. However, I didn’t want to end the sexual friendship that I had with Mona either. I wanted to have my cake and eat it too.
“I guess I can’t keep things the way they are, hunh?” I asked Brad with a chuckle.
He laughed. “You knew that before you even called me. Call me back in a couple of days and tell me what happens,” he added with another laugh.
When I hung up the phone, I realized that Brad had given me the only sane advice. I hadn’t noticed just how much Mona expected from me until it was too late. It was a make-or-break situation, but hadn’t I used her in the same way? She broke her rules for me, yet I wasn’t willing to do the same for her. I was being a hypocrite.
I called Mona that Sunday night, but she wasn’t in and I didn’t want to leave a message. I decided to show up at Slowe Hall and have a face-to-face with her after work that Monday night. I thought it would have been much better to talk about things in person.
•
“When we said that we weren’t gonna take our friendship for granted, did that include popping up unexpectedly?” Mona asked me once she came down to meet me at Slowe.
“Let’s go outside. I have to talk to you,” I told her. I was as calm as a monk.
“What if I don’t feel like it?”
She sure wasn’t acting like a friend anymore. It had only been four months since we had started our strange relationship. Faye and I had been friends for over a year before things got too hot. Nevertheless, like Brad mentioned, Faye and I never had sex.
“This is about us,” I said.
Mona looked at me and walked out the door. I followed her out and down the street.
“Okay, what do you want to talk about?” she snapped at me.
I calmly asked, “Are we more than friends now? Because you’re acting like you have a problem with my availability.”
“I’ve always been there for you. Why can’t you do the same for me?”
“I’ve been there for you,” I said.
“Not lately.”
I lost my cool. “Look, I was just tired yesterday, that’s all.”
“Now see, that’s what I mean. I was tired before. And I had other things to do, but I was still there when you needed me.”
“Well, I didn’t think that you needed anybody,” I snapped back at her.
Mona stared at me with spiteful eyes. “All I ask for is your company. And I’ve been giving you more than that.”
“Oh, don’t act like we were having sex just for me. Don’t even start that.”
“It’s not about sex, though, it’s about feeling appreciated.”
“So is that it, you don’t feel appreciated?” I asked her.
“No. No, I don’t.”
I calmed down again. “So what do you want me to do, Mona?”
“I mean, just … I don’t know, Bobby, okay? I don’t know.”
I didn’t know if I wanted to say it, but it came out anyway. “I thought you had all the answers.”
“Now see, why you gotta get smart with me?” she responded.
“You get smart with me all the time, and that never bothered me. It just seems like you wanna do everything that you wanna do now.”
“Oh, and you don’t?”
“Well, at least I’m honest about my feelings for you. You haven’t even told me that you liked me. And I know that you don’t like me hanging out with Gary, you just haven’t said it yet.”
“Is that what you wanna hear?”
“I wanna hear something!” I yelled at her.
“Mmm, this is better than the soap operas!” someone hollered from across the street. “Hold on, I’ll be right back. I’m goin’ in the house to get some popcorn. I live right around the corner, okay? Hold that pose.”
Mona and I started to smile. We were pretty dramatic, and D.C. was a residential area like Philly, New York, Detroit, and Chicago, with houses packed together like sardines. Anyone in the vicinity could walk to their front porch and hear our argument.
Mona said, “All right, if you want me to say it, I’ll say it then. I like you. But it ain’t like you don’t know already. And no, I don’t like you hanging with … your friend. Okay?”
I shook my head and grinned. I had to go through all of that just to get Mona to express her feelings to me. “Is it that hard for you to admit that you like somebody?” I asked her. “I mean, you’re acting just like guys act. Oh, that’s right, I forgot, you do have three older brothers.”
Mona looked at me and said, “I don’t know if I’m ready for a boyfriend. In the beginning, we said that we wouldn’t do this to each other.”
I chuckled. “Like they say, ‘Rules are meant to be broken.’ ”
Mona paused and thought about it. “So is that what you want?” She was being vulnerable for the first time since I knew her, and it was a bad time for it. Although I hated to admit it, hanging out with Gary had given me a view to new possibilities with women. I still wasn’t ready to give up my freedom. I didn’t like that boyfriend/girlfriend thing anymore. It seemed so teenaged. We had to figure out something else.
“I don’t think so,” I answered. “What else could we be?”
Mona grinned. “Partners,” she said.
“We’ve been that already.”
“Well, now we can be more committed partners.”
“And where does that lead to?” After my brother’s wedding everything else seemed like nonsense to me. Either you’re married or headed for marriage or you’re not.
“Wherever,” Mona answered. “Wherever it goes.”
She didn’t know where we were headed, and neither did I. She was just saying the first thing that came to mind. I felt trapped. Usually a guy feels relieved when a girl finally expresses that she likes him. I think I would have been better off had she not admitted it.
I was finally turning into a real guy, a pain in the ass to women. I knew damn well that I wouldn’t be able to pass on those groupies. I was sure that I could pass on some of them, like Kimberly and Tonya, but certainly I wouldn’t be able to pass on all of them. Hell, if I was in Africa, and I had the money, I would have made Mona my first wife and moved on to court my next one. I had tasted the addictive power of womanizing and I couldn’t stop thinking about stealing to home base with a new woman, even as Mona stood right there in front of me. I was a tortured soul indeed.