Sat., Sept 6th, 2008
TELL ME WHEN TO GO
After I prayed and checked in with my parents, I was on Facebook reading status updates from my 476 friends. Seemed like everyday was someone’s birthday. I wrote four Happy Birthday messages to my Facebook folks, and had a ball reading different people’s thoughts for today.
“I’m headed to the Seafood Festival in Pittsburg with the divas,” was what I put as my status for the day. It was gonna be Jordyn, Najah, Chelsea and I, minus Kalena. I had Kalena and Todd going cake tasting and tuxedo shopping. The wedding was two months away and we were on schedule. Kalena was using Todd’s cousin as their coordinator. The invitations had been sent. The bridal party is on deck. The rings were getting sized. The pastor was available. The DJ had us booked. The singer said yes. They were getting married at his mama’s church and the reception would be at The Dunsmuir House.
All they had to do is pick the menu.
Kalena was wondering if Jordyn would still be a bridesmaid, or did she want to wear a tux and walk down the aisle with me and stand with the men. I didn’t think that was funny. I told her Jordyn is the lipstick chick type. She would wear the dress, and walk down the aisle with a man too.
Our bridesmaids dresses were a tea-length halter empire waist dress in brown. I ordered our shoes. They were sequence Pelle Moda bronze peep toe heels. Since Kalena was footing the bill, I shipped them to her house. We were wearing an orange flower in our hair.
The accent color was orange, so our bouquet had orange and red flowers. Kalena’s sister Ashley was the maid of honor, and her dress was a little different. It was a one-shoulder dress and her dress was formal. Kalena’s status said “I’m gonna miss Diva Day ’cause the Mr. and I are off to taste cake. It better be good.”
I hit the “like” button.
Najah’s status said, “Seafood Festival here we come!”
I commented on her status. “Yes baby, I can’t wait. See you in a minute.”
Chelsea’s status said, “He is all I need.”
I hit the “like” button again.
I was amazed at how many people were on Facebook all night long, but what would get on my nerves was all these games people would play: Mafia Wars, Café World, Farmville, Petsville, Sorority Life and Family Feud. Why did they have to be published in the newsfeed?
As I was scrolling down, I got an incoming call from a number I didn’t have programmed in my phone.
“Hello,” I said.
The voice of Jules greeted me.
“Good morning Nee, how are you?”
“Hey Jules, I’m doing good. What about you?”
“Oh I’m fine.”
“I wanted to call ya to see when we could go out. What you doing now?”
“Now? Well my sister is in the kitchen cooking us breakfast before we hook up with the rest of the crew and head out to the seafood festival today.”
“Y’all live together?”
“No. Funnyman Derrick is my roommate.”
“Oh he is?” Jules asked.
“Yep, he moved in with me after his divorce.”
“Yeah, I’m waiting on mine too.”
“Your what?” I asked.
“My divorce will be final on Nov 2nd on the same day as the most important election in history.”
“Yeah, huh? Are you registered to vote Jules?”
“No.”
“No?” I shouted. You better go change that, we need your vote, dude.”
“Where do I go register?”
“At a library, the DMV, a church. There should be people out in front of the grocery store. At my sister’s salon, this lady came in to get people registered. The black community is serious about this election.”
“I never voted cause it seemed like it didn’t make a difference. I have a dentist appointment today, I’ll go find somewhere to register after that.”
“You promise?”
“Yes, I got to. We need Obama!”
We both laughed.
“Well, how will I know you registered correctly?”
“You want to come with me?”
“When?” I asked.
“Wanna hang out tomorrow?”
“I go to church on Sundays, and you are more than welcome to come with me. Be my guest.”
“That would be cool. Then we can get you registered and go to brunch afterward. Sounds like a plan,” Jules said.
“Ok, great,” I agreed. “So will you be busy tonight, because I was thinking I could call you back and we can talk more about it.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be around. You see my number in your Caller ID?
“Yep,” I said.
“Well, save it.”
“Ok, I will.”
“So call me later, baby,” Jules said.
Baby? I thought. Too soon for that, I thought. But I’m gonna try something new. Something told me to just sit back and enjoy the ride. He might be the type that knows what he wants. I’ve spent too much time with the type that don’t want nothing but a nut.
“Who was that?” Jordyn asked me.
“That was this guy I met last night at the comedy show.”
“Oh yeah?”
She had three place settings set.
“Derrick’s back?”
“Yes, now sit. I’m making pancakes and chicken apple sausage.”
“Good, ’cause I’m hungry,” I said, stomach growling.
“Who’s this guy you met?”
“He’s one of the bouncers at Tommy T’s.”
“Derrick knows him?” she asked.
“I imagine so.”
“Where he at?” Jordyn asked.
“In his room. Derrick!!!” I yelled.
He came into the kitchen all bright-eyed and bushy tailed. We started eating.
Jordyn pressed Derrick about Jules.
“I’ve seen him a few times. He seems cool, but I don’t know him so I can’t co-sign for him, unfortunately. I got a call to do some shows in L.A. Ya know all the dudes that performed?”
“Yeah?” I asked.
“We have formed a group called the “Underground Celebrities”, and we got a few bookings so we’re gonna do a little tour.” He was amped up and so were we.
“That’s great, D. This is your dream coming together.” I acted like I was interviewing him with an invisible microphone in my hand.
“Yeah, I’ve been grinding for this opportunity. I want to thank baby Jesus for this.”
We all laughed.
“You’re ready, Derrick. The sky is the limit for you boyee!” Jordyn said. “Let’s toast for success and more blessings.”
I got up and took three flutes out of the cabinet and mixed orange juice with some champagne. I looked in the refrigerator to see if we had some strawberries left. We did, so I washed and cut the stems off so I could adorn each flute with a strawberry.
“Who wants to start the toast?”
Derrick started with thanking God for his 13—city mini-tour and prayed that he may have more to come.
We clinked our glasses. I wanted to toast to Jules. I hoped he was the one that God has sent for me. Jordyn ended by saying, “I want my friends and family to continue to support and love me no matter who I’m seeing.”
We all said cheers and the glasses clinked again.
Derrick said when he found out about Jordyn’s sexual orientation, he said whatever floats her boat. He wanted to hang out with her so he could pick up more chicks. He thought she could raise his groupie quota.
I shook my head. I guess ya gotta let a man be a man. But if a woman wanted a woman, why would Derrick get play? Ugh, he was trying to be apart of a ménage a trios, I thought. I guessed because that was a man’s ultimate fantasy.
After we finished breakfast, Chelsea came to pick us up. We got in her green X5 and we headed to the Pittsburg BART Station to meet Najah. The city of Pittsburg had a bus to pick people up and shuttle us directly to the festival.
We had a good time there. We saw plenty of folks, ate a lot of seafood, and shopped around. We all walked away with bags in our hands. We bought hats, earrings, flip flops and one of those cute Chinese umbrellas. The heat was unbearable and Chelsea got sick and threw up. But she was determined not to be the reason we had to leave early. She’s a trooper, but it really wasn’t that serious.
I figured we should leave. That heat wasn’t no joke. After spending three hours there, I figured, we came, we saw, we conquered… let’s go!
We got back to the BART Station right on time. Chelsea earled again while we were there. Najah asked Chelsea if she missed her period.
“I’m irregular. It comes when it wants to. I’m not pregnant if that’s what you’re hinting about. Ya gotta have sex to get pregnant.”
“Well do you wanna go to the hospital and get checked out?” Jordyn asked. “I’ll drive us back.”
“Naw, no hospital, but you can drive us back Jordyn, that sounds cool. I just wanna go lay down,” Chelsea said as she handed over her keys to Jordyn.
We hugged and kissed Najah, and parted separate ways. She instructed Chelsea to call her later on. Chelsea said she would. Najah drove off in her silver CLK.
We rode to Highway 4 and headed back to Oakland. Jordyn drove to my house so I could follow her to Chelsea’s house and we could ride back home. I hopped in her car since she had me blocked in the driveway. I called Jules when I got in Jordyn’s orange bug. She had a yellow and orange sunflower in her vase. He had that music ringtone playing for his callers instead of the regular ring. It was E-40’s Tell Me When To Go. I started jamming to it instantly until his voicemail came on, and I left a message.
After I got back home from settling Chelsea in, Jules called me back and we talked for hours. It was very refreshing, I might add. He worked as a driver for UPS and he bounced at Tommy T’s part-time. He lived alone in Hayward and had four kids. His two girls were 21 and 20, and his two boys were 18 and 16. The oldest daughter’s mama didn’t deal with him because their daughter was grown with two of her own kids. The second daughter’s mama was the one he was divorcing, and the oldest son’s mama just died. She lived in Atlanta and met a guy on a dating website and he ended up killing her and a few other females. The youngest kid and his mama lived in Florida.
He was in the Ruff Ryders Motorcycle Club but didn’t have a bike. He said he was able to get in the club because he had an old school Buick and drove a black Cadillac Escalade. Both of his rides had “custom everything”, he told me.
Too bad I had no idea what he was talking about. I couldn’t picture him on a bike. He’s like 6-foot-3 and probably close to 400lbs. He had diabetes. That was alarming to me.
I never dated someone with an ailment. He was also a Raiders fan, but he didn’t care for basketball.
That didn’t settle well with me. But his story was intriguing. He seemed so honest, probably as honest as he will ever be. He wanted to get married again and have one more baby. He was a Sagittarius just like Drew. I asked him when his birthday was, and it was two days after Drew’s.
I was juiced. He wanted to cook me dinner soon. I told him that I was not coming to his house until I was comfortable with him.
We made our plans for tomorrow. He didn’t play that “I’ll meet you there” stuff. He wanted to come and pick me up like a gentleman. I agreed because I was trying something new.
We would go to the 10:00 a.m. service at Beebe Memorial, fill out the registered voters form. After that,he suggested that we go to Red Lobster. I asked him which one ’cause there isn’t one close. There’s one in Vallejo and one in Fremont. We decided to go to the one in Vallejo and then go to the outlets in Vacaville. I was loving his “anything goes” attitude. He was so open and so warm.
When we were coming to the end of our conversation, he said “I—” and stopped in mid-sentence.
“What?” I asked.
“Girl, I was about to say I love you.”
“Yeah, you are trippin’. You don’t love me, you don’t even know me.”
“It seems like it’s easy to.”
“You’re a smart man if you want to love me,” I said.
“I do.”
“Ok,” I said, “we’ll start tomorrow.”
He laughed and we said good night.
After I was back home from a wonderful day spent with Jules, I was cheesing from ear to ear. I grabbed my crackberry. I missed my parent’s call, Kalena’s call and Chelsea’s call.
I decided to call Chelsea first to see how she was doing since yesterday. She was doing a little better.
I asked what caused her ailment. She said she didn’t know. She had been keeping herself busy with work at the Coliseum, and her church ministry, keeping her mind off of Greg and Sherry. She said she was still hurt and couldn’t wait for the day she woke up and wasn’t trippin’ off of him anymore. I said it would be hard to get over him while she still went to the same church with them. She said they sit in front of one another to make it seem like they weren’t there together. She said she was tired of the gossip going around with people wondering what happened to them.
Just then, my other line rang. I looked at my crackberry and it was Jules. I started to smile at the thought of him. I had him programmed in my phone. I even gave him his own ringtone, I Can’t Believe It by T-Pain. I really liked him. I told Chelsea to hold on. Jules called to say good night and he was going to bed. He had to go to work early in the morning. I told him good night and to call me later. He said he would call me tomorrow.
We said our good nights and I clicked back to Chelsea. She wanted to hear about my day. I gave her bit by bit. She couldn’t believe church was our first date. We both thought that was so cute.
“Did he put an offering in church?”
“Yes, he did. He put in twenty dollars. Hey Chelsea, is it cool for him to have his arm around me in church?”
She said it was ok.
I continued with the details. I told her he held doors for me. He opened my door to his car and made sure I was in. Chivalry is not dead. I treated him to Red Lobster for registering to vote. He thanked me, and told me a woman has never treated him before. He was amused. We laughed and got along very well. He reminded me a lot of Drew. The good parts, that is. I was opening up to this experience. New things were so exciting. After about an hour, Chelsea and I got off the phone.
Jules started coming to church with me every Sunday. He was so loving. He cooked dinner twice a week. His place was a one-bedroom in a pretty nice complex off of Jackson Street in Hayward. His place was furnished and he kept it clean. All his DVDs were in place, and his computer was in the corner of his living room. His desk was organized, and his kitchen and bathroom were clean and tidy. His bedroom had a big screen and matching bedroom furniture. His closets were decent and in order.
What I loved the most was the 11x14 picture of his mama in the living room. Jules even came home one day with another TV for me. He said I could watch the basketball games since he’s not interested. He put it in the living room ’cause he knows how serious I am when it comes to my Warriors. His pad was so cozy and I loved being over there.
He couldn’t understand it because I had a house.
That was true, but I had a roommate and he didn’t call me baby and caress me and play footsie with me. I think it just felt good to be at the guy’s house, and not always at mine.
We spent a lot of time together when he wasn’t at work. Even when he had to go to Tommy T’s, I would stay at his house.
He gave me a key to his house and two drawers in his dresser. I hung some clothes in his closet. He loved lingerie, so one of my drawers had a few pieces in there. We went to every restaurant and every movie. We shopped and cooked together. We drove each other’s cars. He loved my Range Rover and I loved his Escalade.
He met my parents, my sister and the girls. I met his mama and his aunt and his favorite cousin and his wife. His dad was out of the picture. Jules said he was still out there in the streets. Their relationship was dead and he had other siblings that he didn’t have a relationship with. It was just him and his mama.
One night, we were at the house getting ready to watch Death Race when there was a knock at the door. He asked me if that was the door. I said yes. His uncle lived in the same complex so we thought it was him. I stayed in the bed and waited for him to return so we could watch the movie. At the door was one of his many chicks.
She was hollering and screaming at Jules. Had she been standing there for awhile before she knocked? Uh oh, I thought. This chick must have been missing him ’cause he been off the scene for about five weeks and I guess she was wondering what was going on. They were out there arguing loudly.
I decided to put the movie on pause. I figured she could teach me something about him. I was expecting to hear anything, I just didn’t want to hear her say anything about him just being with her since we been spending time. No need in me getting involved, I thought. This matter was between them. I guessed that he hadn’t gotten around to telling her yet.
Well, now was the time, because I was ready to have sex with him and he said he was holding out to wait on me so it could be more special. A lot of her fussing was about him not being with her, and being that she heard us laughing and talking while she was on his porch. I figured she had been listening to us. She figured out why he hadn’t been around. I heard him tell her I’m with her now and I love her. Then I heard hitting. I jumped up and ran to the peep hole to witness these two actually fighting, in case they ended up in court.
She was an amazon, and she was looking all crazy. My thoughts were, if you’re gonna come over a dude’s house, to profess your love, at least look hot. Come over in a long raincoat with some lingerie and heels on. Comb your hair or wear a wig and definitely don’t forget the lip gloss. They were fighting now and he broke her hold to call the police. Neighbors are coming out to see the commotion and ole girl was telling him “tell that bitch to come outside!” Then she told him, “well if it’s like that, give me my red lingerie in your bottom drawer.”
I think that was supposed to make me mad. I laughed at her safely from the opposite side of the front door. She really thought that I was her problem? I wanted to say, “focus on the man honey, not me. I don’t owe you a thing and if you call me a bitch one more time, I will be your problem.” Ok stop, I thought. She’s on the outside of this door fighting him in the cold while I’m in the house safe and sound. She can cuss all she wants.
I decided to gather her things up since she wanted them back. I went into his kitchen to get a plastic bag and I went to retrieve her red lingerie. It was there, balled up in the bottom drawer.
I looked at the size of the Amazon’s lingerie, size 22.
I got the two top drawers, boo! I opened the door, and they were still fussing and fighting. I dropped the bag on the porch and slammed the door closed to get their attention. He said thank you baby to me and she went off again.
“Come back out here!” she said.
I went to get back in bed, this was his crazy mess that he needed to end.
The police came and asked her to leave or they would arrest her. She left on her own. When he came back in, he was sweating, and huffing and puffing.
“You ok?”
“Yeah. Are you mad at me? I really don’t want you to be mad at me. I don’t want us to break up over that crazy bitch. I realize that I need to give everyone notice that I’m taken.”
We had just starting going together the day before. I told him that our relationship was new and all his women friends just needed to be notified quickly that his status has changed. He said “ok”. We kissed and I gave him what he had been waiting for. We never saw the movie.