YOU SHOULD BE MINE
(THE WOO WOO SONG)
I pulled into Kalena’s driveway and parked. Her silver Lexus ES 350 was parked in front of the house. She must’ve heard me pull up ’cause she met me at her front door.
“Hey, girl.”
“Hey bride to be, what’s up?”
“Just trying to wrap my mind around all this. Todd really shocked me and I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. I mean, I try to have my nose in everything. Did you know about this, Nee?”
“Not really. He’s called me a few times asking about going ring shopping with him. He’s been trying to ask you to marry him for about a year now.”
We laughed.
“Are you working or chilling now?” I asked.
“I was watching Law and Order reruns. Your Mama and Jordyn called to congratulate me. I guess we need go ahead and plan this wedding you’re making me have,” she said.
“Yes, you have to have a wedding, honey. Let’s sit and do some brainstorming.”
“Ok, girl let me get my laptop so we can get started. I want to start with looking at dresses.”
“For us, or for you?” I asked.
“For me, crazy! Well, I guess for y’all too.”
“Did you pick a color for the wedding? Are you gonna work with a planner? Have you and Todd sat down and discussed a budget? Is it gonna be an outdoor wedding or a church wedding? Evening or daytime?”
I threw out every possible idea on the table. Kalena was looking overwhelmed. I stopped and looked at her.
“See, this is why I said Reno!”
“Girl, please! But if that’s what you and your future husband agree on, then so be it. It’s not about you anymore, it’s about what you two decide on. The compromising begins now!” I teased.
She shook her head and said, “Well on that note, let’s go get something to eat, this is making me hungry.”
“We better go have a salad, ’cause I’m sure you’re on a diet now huh?”
“Hell naw, this is who he proposed to isn’t it? I just don’t want to gain any weight,” she said, laughing.
Kalena is about 5-foot-’6, with light brown skin and wearsher hair in single braids. She wears a size 14 and was very hippy—a cute shape for what Hollywood would call a “big girl”. Her style was pretty plain, and she wasn’t into accessories like me. That’s why I didn’t stop at home to bother with changing because I figured she wasn’t going to get dolled up since she works from home. Plus, I didn’t know we were going anywhere and didn’t have on any earrings.
I almost started panicking, but real divas always keep a pair of silver and gold hoops in their car for emergencies, like this one. I knew I had some silver hoops in the glove compartment.
I went to the bathroom to check my face and hair. I was set and ready.
“Where we going?” I hollered to Kalena as I exited the bathroom.
“Chevy’s in Bayfair or Fresh Choice?” she asked.
“Chevy’s it is,” I said.
We got in her Lexus and headed towards Chevy’s in San Leandro. On the way she asked about the brunch yesterday. Kalena couldn’t believe what I was telling her.
“Chelsea slapped Greg?”
“Yes, girl, and Sherry was all up in it. She didn’t miss a beat. But he was fronting on Chelsea hard, and I couldn’t believe this was the same person who wanted to marry her. She was hot! I’ve never seen her like that before.”
“Well the ‘d’ must’ve been good,” Kalena said.
We laughed.
As we passed Jerry’s Burger heading towards 580, I noticed Greg’s SUV parked. I scanned the order window and there they were, the perfect little family.
I told Kalena to slow down so we could see and record it to memory and there we saw them—Greg, Sherry, and their kids.
“When you let your kids hang with their kids and y’all hanging out like a family unit, that’s not just some play thang. I’m so mad he and Chelsea didn’t work out,” Kalena said, speeding out of the parking lot.
“Well, he came into her life for a reason, or a season.” I responded, and turned the volume up on Kalena’s stereo. You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song) by Jeffery Osbourne was playing on the radio. She started singing along and I started thinking about Drew.
We had so many plans. I have traveled to four different prisons to visit him, with and without his family. All those collect calls that I’ve accepted. I love the way he kisses me and the deep affection that we share. I thought we would never be apart.
I remember back in the day when we would have a house party at Najah’s and Drew would DJ the party. He would play Slick Rick, Too $hort, Heavy D, Bobby Brown, Guy, EPMD, Zapp, Run-DMC, Sugarhill Gang, Mtume, SOS Band, Cool C, Freddie Jackson, Grandmaster Flash and Sly Stone. We danced until midnight, or until Najah’s dad got so drunk he forgot there was a party going on. He would come downstairs, hollering and cussing us all out of the door. He was a drunken fool, and all the neighborhood kids knew it. Afterwards, Drew would walk me home. We would stop on every block to kiss. His tongue was so thick and intertwined well with mine. His lips were so soft. I’d sometimes open my eyes to look at him. His eyes would be closed, and I could see his eyeballs rolling all over the place. Then I’d close mine and fall back into my paradise.
He would rub my middle through my pants and I would get a little tingly. I never reached for his hand to stop. It felt good. Drew had this way about himself that absolutely drove me crazy.
Drew was becoming a man and he was my protector.
I fell deeper and deeper for him. When our lip lock would come to a break, he would look at me so lovingly that it was intense. Those bedroom eyes would talk to mine. They said, “I love you girl, you feel so good and soft and I want to enter into your secret garden”. And mine would say, “I love you and I want you forever, but I ain’t giving you nothing right now.”
We would hold hands walking down Plymouth Avenue. We talked about everybody that lived on the streets we were walking past, just talking and laughing.
We got along so well. We were always comfortable, even with my butterflies.
Kalena started singing the song and I chimed in right on key.
We found a parking spot at Bayfair Mall right in front of Chevy’s. We were greeted by the hostess, a nice little white girl who escorted us to a booth in the center of the restaurant. It wasn’t crowded for a Monday afternoon, so we figured we would get VIP treatment from our servers.
“You know, I still can’t figure out why Red Robin closed. That was the spot.”
“I know, huh girl? We were always at Red Robin,” she agreed.
“Yeah, seems like every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.”
We laughed.
“Yeah, and we knew everybody that worked there—every manager, hostess, server, and bartender!”
“I know, huh. Remember my 20th birthday party and Chelsea got so drunk, she threw up outside by your car?” I asked.
“Aww, hell naw, Nee, and she got it in my hair too, ’cause I was the only one trying to pick her butt up of the ground!”
“Ugg, gross. Wait, is that when you were wearing braids back in those days?”
“Yep, and started freaking out cause she earled all in my hair!!!”
We were laughing so hard, I started crying and Kalena was practically laying on the whole seat holding her stomach and laughing too. After about a few minutes, Kalena stopped laughing.
“Where in the hell is our waiter?”
I stopped laughing too and eyed the whole dining room looking for someone in a red Chevy’s shirt with an apron on. No one, and we wanted some water already.
I waved down a server.
“Are you our server? Because, we need water, chips and salsa.”
“Oh, Chris is your waitress. I don’t know where she went, but I’ll get you your chips and salsa. Is that two waters, ladies?”
We looked at her as if she were crazy. The server got the hint and hurried to grab our requested items.
“I wonder what kind of service will we get today. Are we just gone eat chips and salsa and a glass of water?” Kalena asked.
“I wonder where our waitress disappeared to,” I replied.
“How do you feel about Brandon leaving for Atlanta and a husband taking his place?”
“Yeah, he was, huh? After his dad and I broke up, it was kinda tough to date for many reasons. First of all, finding a babysitter isn’t the easiest thing to coordinate. I was fortunate to have you, Ashley, Chelsea, and Najah to fall back on for dates and nightcaps. I’m even more thankful he and his dad have a good bond and he came and got Brandon on his weekends. But when he got older, it got harder to have a dating life because he had a life.”
“I’ve missed a lot of functions with you girls ’cause I’m the only one with a kid. There was Upward Bound, basketball practice, tutoring, playing the organ at church, the boy had a schedule and I had to be there. All the away basketball games and church services, that boy had no time for getting into trouble. Don’t get me wrong, his father did a decent job, but you know the mama has to be there and do exceedingly more, or she’s labeled no good. So bumping back into Todd was refreshing. I didn’t have to juggle the men around anymore and hide them from Brandon. We dated when I could.”
The server returned with our chips and salsa. “Excuse me ladies,” she interrupted us as she put our glasses of water on the table. “Here’s some napkins for you two as well. Now, I have some bad news.”
“What?” Kalena and I asked in unison.
“It appears your waitress, Chris got sick all of a sudden and is going home. She was fine earlier, something just came over her.”
“So who’s gonna take care of us. You?” Kalena asked.
“You got it,” the server said.
I smiled. I didn’t quite care what the deal was with Chris. I just wanted to eat. I was munching on the chips and salsa and then remembered I forgot to ask for sour cream. “Nicca, you just walked the lake and gotta be in Kalena’s wedding. Don’t you ask for any sour cream,” I thought.
“Are you ladies ready to order or do you need a few minutes?”
“A few minutes please,” Kalena answered.
“A few minutes? I blurted out. Kalena looked at me. The server was looking at us, amused. I discovered I could just eat the chips and salsa until Kalena was ready.
“Give us a few minutes,” I said. “I’ll just chill and have some chips and salsa.”
“OK, I can always refill the chip basket, you know.”
“OK, thanks,” I replied. “Sorry girl, I’m just a little hungry,” I told Kalena.
“Girl, I won’t keep you waiting. I’m hungry too but I’m enjoying your company also. What are you thinking about ordering?”
I decided to go with the chicken taco and chicken enchilada with black beans. Kalena went with the chicken flautas with refried beans.
“Now back to what we were talking about,” she continued.
“Yeah, you and Todd were dating.”
“Oh yeah,” Kalena continued, “so you know. It made it easier to deal with one guy, even though I didn’t want to bring him around Brandon in the beginning.”
“Right,” I agreed. “You know that balance we have to have. The rest is history now.”
“What’s up with you and ‘Boo Thang’?”
I looked up from the chips and salsa, hoping there was someone else sitting with us that she was directing her question to. No such luck.
“Girl, you missed a showdown Saturday.”
“What happened?”
“Chelsea got into it with Greg at the brunch in front of his new girl, Sherry. She threw water on him and slapped the taste out of his mouth,” I said, laughing.
“No, get out of here!!! She did not do that. Chelsea Hendricks?”
“Chelsea Hendricks. Najah and I went to her church yesterday just to make sure there would be no retaliation. Everything was cool though. She was in good spirits.”
“That’s amazing how we women can just keep it moving, ya know? That’s the grace of God and Him only ’cause she wouldn’t have been able to do it alone.”
“You got that right,” I agreed. “So that’s why her Facebook status says: ‘I feel free and clear.’” Kalena said.
“Oh it does?” I asked.
“Yep,” she responded.
Our food came and we got busy on our Mexican entrees.
“I didn’t like him anyway,” Kalena continued. “He looked like a dog. Just not square enough for Chelsea, you feel me?”
“You’re felt. Oh, funky black dog,” I added. “How you gone kick her to the curb and floss around in the same church with another sista. So now I got to look y’all mess in my face as I try to worship the Lord?” I said.
“Well, it turned out to be bad for her, so it’s an experience. Hopefully, she’ll move on and change her membership.”
“What? Change churches? I agree she should, but she’s in a ministry.”
“Well, if she was to die today, they would visit her mama’s house, say a prayer with the family, eat some chicken and dinner rolls, then show up to the church for the funeral, do the eulogy, go to the burial, say “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust,” go to the repast, pray over the food, eat, and replace ‘what’s her name’ in the morning! Ya dig!”
By this time I’m rolling all over the booth we are sharing and tearing up in laughter. Kalena joins in. Our server comes to see if we need anything. She smiles and laughs at us ’cause she sees we are having a good time. I requested more napkins and water. She agreed and checked on her other tables. We laughed for another five minutes as people turned around, smiling and looking at us.
When we simmered down, Kalena asked how Drew was doing.
“Well, he feeling himself right now.”
“What he do?” Kalena asked.
As I’m filling her in, I noticed a girl in the corner staring at me. She’s about 5-foot-7, light brown, no curves, wearing a short taper, with a cocky swag and her hands in her pockets. The pants were sagging a little as well. I looked back at Kalena when I was done. I was a little bothered by this bad vibe I was getting from her, so I tried not to look her way. But she never moved. I could feel her still looking at me. We paid the bill and left. On our way out, I looked to see if she was still looking at me. She was.