When the grass wasn’t
greener on the other side
K.C. Hall
A Fool for Love
Copyright © 2009 by K.C. Hall
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CHAPTER 1
It was a cold October night and things in my house were what some
people would call abnormal, which was my normal home life. The
kids were running around the house playing while I was closed up
in the bedroom talking on the phone to my cousin, Lanika and our
girlfriend Rhonda. At the same time my drug addicted husband Jerry
was beating on the bedroom door begging me for ten dollars to get a
bag of weed.
“Stacy open this damn door! I already told you that this was
the last time. Now you’re pissing me off, so you need to give me the
money!” Jerry whined with rage.
I tried to ignore him and continue my conversation on the phone,
but with all the beating and yelling Jerry was doing it was nearly
impossible. From time to time he would get quiet, then after a few
minutes he would start back up and beating and yelling louder than
before. It was going on the second hour of his rambunctious ass behavior
and Jerry was not giving up. He took it up to the next level and began
picking the lock on the door trying to get in. I looked towards the door
and thought that if he got the door open and came in starting some
shit with me, that I was going to bust his fucking head open with my
phone. “Jerry, you need to go on about your business now. I’ve already
told you no!” I screamed repeatedly as I jumped off of the bed with
my cellphone still to my ear. I quickly told my girls to hold on, and
I grabbed a chair and wedged it underneath the doorknob to make it
harder for him to get in. They could still hear me murmuring.
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A Fool for Love
“Stacy, Stacy,” Lanika called out my name several times to get
my attention, but although I had the phone up to my ear I couldn’t hear
exactly what she was trying to say because I was focused on securing
the door.
“That motherfucker will have a hard time getting in here,” I said
out loud and checked to make sure the door was in fact secured.
“Are you back on the phone?” Rhonda asked in a sarcastic tone.
Before I could answer Rhonda, Lanika said, “Girllll…I don’t know
why in the hell you’re locking yourself up in a room, you know you
gotta come out at sometime or another. So, you might as well open the
door.”
“Sheeed, you got that right!” Rhonda agreed. “You know his ass is
going to be posted there all night or worse than that you might decide
to come out and your car is fucking gone.”
They both laughed as I thought silently for a second. She’s probably
right I better open the door. So without hesitation, I jumped up and
sprinted to open the door. I removed the chair and turned the knob to
open the door. Jerry stood there in his not-yet changed work clothes
that he wore to cut grass in and dirt and grass plunging off of him. I
frowned and turned up my nose. I turned around and got back on
my bed. He asked me who I was talking to. Not responding to his
question, I sat down and went back to talking to the girls.
“Girl, I know that’s right. For real, I did that shit too. It was the
bomb.”
Lanika started asking me what the fuck I was talking about when
Rhonda interrupted, “Now Lanika I know you know what time it is. All
the times you were flexing on the phone talking to me and pretending
that we were talking about some good shit, when your man comes
walking into the room, and you know he’s was trying to listen to your
conversation.”
“Damn, my bad Stacy., I thought you were tripping or
something” Lanika said laughing.
“Girl, we’ll never get you mixed up with Flow Jo, your ass is Slow
Jo,” Rhonda cried. I cleared my throat to keep from laughing out
loud at what Rhonda had said, and then I got up and walked into my
bathroom to look in the mirror. I noticed that Jerry was following me.
I could smell the stench of dirt and sweat behind me surfing right up
my nose.
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A Fool for Love
“Give me the ten dollars, Stacy. I gave you all my damn money to
put up and all I want is ten dollars.”
I turned around immediately and yelled, “Hell no! Your ass didn’t
give me anything. I had to sit there and take it and if I hadn’t been
there to get the money when you cashed the check, every crack head
and drug dealer in Atlanta would be banking our bill money right now!
Now, you need to go take your ass a bath and get up this grass you
don drop on my carpet!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I could
hear the girls on the phone laughing their ass off, but I didn’t want
to say anything to them until after he left the room. I stormed out of
the bathroom and he was right on my ass. He seemed to have paid no
attention to what I said because he continued begging. This was a tactic
he used often, because he knew if he just kept right on begging that I
would give in. Looking at me with intense, bloodshot eyes Jerry said,
”Look Stacy, Give me ten dollars and I’ll be right back. You got my
word this is the last time.”
I looked up at him with anger, despair and sadness in my eyes and
once again said, “No, No, No! We ain’t going through this shit again
tonight! Every day and night it’s the same old bullshit and I’m tired of
it. You need to get some help!”
Jerry became extremely aggravated when I said that and told me
that he didn’t need any help for weed because people don’t get hooked
on it. He reminded me that he was a grown ass man who didn’t need
me telling him what to do. Jerry’s so-called non-addictive weed habit
had become an everyday thing that was keeping him high and me
mad as hell. You need to try smoking weed and maybe it would make
you more relaxed, Jerry would always say, but I wasn’t about to try
something that gave you a false sense of security. Besides, I looked at
Jerry as the weakest link and as for me, doing drugs was not an option.
Rhonda and Lanika kept pressing the buttons on their phones to make
that bleeping sound to get my attention.
Jerry heard the noise and looked at the cellphone and said in an
inquisitive tone, “You still on the fucking phone while I’m talking to
you? Mannnn… you ain’t even right! You’re trying to embarrass me
in front of those bitches. I’m your fucking husband!” Jerry yelled
and stormed out the room. He continued yelling that he was going
to go pawn our TV if I didn’t give him the money. I knew he wasn’t
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A Fool for Love
going to do it, because he knew he would be up shit creek with me,
so I paid him no mind and proceeded to return to my conversation
as he continued to spew out threats. I had been with Jerry for sixteen
years and it was pretty much all I knew. In fact, I didn’t even know
much about me. I didn’t have much time to find myself because I was
pregnant at sixteen and had this grown ass man wanting to take care
of me by showering me with gifts and money. Needless to say, he was a
drug dealer who thought buying me meant that he could control me.
He became abusive both physically and emotionally. Jerry smoking
eventually led to other drug abuse. He seemed to be getting more
desperate for it by the day, and could never get enough. Jerry had this
problem way before I came into the picture. He was an ex-addict, who
had recovered and was starting a new life. At that time, I didn’t know
much about drugs. I was naïve and gullible and didn’t care about his
past. I was focused on all the money and gifts he was buying my little
girl and I. Over time I began to realize that I was trapped in a dangerous
situation. Jerry went to prison four or five times for selling drugs, but
he always made sure I was taking care of. So I didn’t leave him because
I thought that he was in love with me, but nevertheless, he was really
in control of me. So had it not been for me controlling the money we
would have ended up broke, busted and disgusted long time ago. I
didn’t like weed and thought it was for people who couldn’t handle the
cards that life was dealing them, so they looked for the easiest possible
way to escape their agony. I always knew Jerry would take dope to the
next level; it was just a matter of time. It’s not like I could have stopped
him, he was at the point of no return. He would maneuver the whole
situation and raise hell to just to get high. Let me put it another way, if
he wasn’t high nobody in whole damn neighborhood was going to be
happy. His drug problem had become more of a disorder than a habit.
Sometimes he would fiend so hard I would tell him, “Nigga, go smoke a
tree or something. Anything, I don’t give a flying fluke or a fuck!” One
time he was fiendin' so I told him to eat a spider and I would give him
ten dollars. I was only kidding, but to my surprise he found a spider in
the crack of a porch and pulled that spider from the web by one of its’
many legs and put it in his mouth! I screamed and said, “Jerry, are you
fucking crazy! How the hell could you do that?”
He gave me a grave look and said, “Now give me my ten dollars.”
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A Fool for Love
It was then that I realized there was some serious shit going on with
him. I gave him the money and he left for the Westside to get some weed.
I thought to myself, Yeah right … weed! That spider shit did not seem
like the work of a weed head. But what did I know; I’ve never done
drugs so I wouldn’t consider myself an expert. Some of my religious
friends used to say that it didn’t seem like I gave a damn about him, but
truth be told … I somewhat did. I became wrapped up in the sickness
of his problems and still trying to manage a job, my home and family.
I was young and had high aspirations of becoming a model and actress,
but growing old in my spirit all because I’d made a bad decision to
grow up fast and take on such a great responsibility as a young girl.
When I put the phone back up to my ear; I could hear them ranting
and raging about my situation and laughing all in the same breath.
Clearing my voice, I could hear that they got quiet. “Y’all finished?” I
asked.
Rhonda started back laughing because everything was so funny to
her. I was beginning to getting upset with her, because Jerry had my
nerves in an uproar and I was trying to talk to them all at the same
time. Rhonda was cool, but she really could care less about the issue
because she didn’t have a man in her life, so she wasn’t putting up with
the bullshit that I endured. She possessed a “don’t give a dam attitude”
about men and I believe she wanted to impose her views upon Lanika
and I because she felt she knew more about fucked up relationships
with men, due to the fact that she had been there and done that. I’d
still say that she couldn’t relate to my circumstances, unlike Lanika.
Lanika, who I called her Nik for short, could relate more to what
I was going through because like Jerry her husband, Chris was on
heavy drugs too. Rhonda didn’t give me time to explain anything before
she quickly ranted off saying, “Stacy, enough of this bullshit girl! You
are way too beautiful and smart to keep going through that dumb shit
with him. I mean … I know that’s your husband and all, but girl you
need a change. Stacy you got to at least try a thug!”
I listened quietly to her go on and on; I agreed secretly that she
was at least 80 percent right. Rhonda’s preferred men were were thugs
and she said that they fucked better, sucked better and that every
woman needed a thug in her life. She scared the hell out of me, because I
understood that a thug was the bomb in bed and would have your pussy
5
A Fool for Love
everyday. I was laughing but very intrigued by her explicit descriptions.
“Damn, girl you make it sound like a thug would have you sprung for
life,” I muttered, trying to not talk loud because I didn’t want Jerry to
hear me.
Rhonda turned on her radio in the background and she started
singing the rap song, “Make the pussy pop, drop it like it’s hot-hot,”
she sang loudly. “Man, I’m telling you Stacy, a thug would have
you singing rap, reggae and R&B all at the same time cause that dick
be soooo good!” Rhonda screamed over the music. She then turned the
music down and waited for me to respond.
I thought about everything she was saying and said, “Sheeed, It’s
not like I’m fucking Jerry anyway. All he does is cut grass, get high and
cook Pinto beans and cornbread all the fucking time anyway.” They
started laughing, and then I told them that I wouldn’t mind hanging
out with them and besides, Rhonda made it sound so good. Lanika
suggested that we all get together that night and go to Club Mirage
to see the male strip show and also start the mission of finding me a
bone-hard thug. “Let’s meet up at my house” Lanika suggested and we
all agreed. I didn’t mind going out to the club because the Mirage was
the place to be on a Saturday night, but I wasn’t too keen on meeting
a thug. All my life, I’ve always dealt with the clean cut, muscled, well
built guys. I knew that night it would be a problem getting out because
not only was Jerry high, he was also insecure and jealous and
couldn’t stand to see me out having a good time with girls he couldn’t
stand. That’s why I stopped going out; I didn’t want him cussing out
my friends and fighting with them. You see, I would have never even
thought about dealing with a man with braids, gold teeth or who wore
pants hanging down his ass. I would see guys like that and turn my
nose up at them, strongly thinking to myself, that nigga is shot out. I
knew I wanted to go, but only one thing was holding me back from
going, or should I say making it hard for me to get out the house. The
very thing I hated doing was the one thing that was going to set me
free that night to hang out with the girls. All the other times I gave
him money for dope was because he made the house unbearable to live
in with his whining and outbursts of rage when he didn’t get his way.
But this time, I wanted something and a trade off seemed bearable at
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A Fool for Love
the time. I told the girls that I was going to hang out with them, but I
needed to call them back.
“Girl, don’t change your mind and stay home being miserable with
Jerry now!” Rhonda said before hanging up. I assured them that I was
going out and then we hung up. As I walked to the living room I
didn’t see Jerry anywhere in sight. I ran towards the front door to check
if my car was still in the driveway, when I heard some rattling in the
den. With a worried, curious look on my face, I walked swiftly into the
den to see what was going on. The lights were off and Jerry was looking
through my drawers and underneath the sofa for some change to get
up to buy his weed. I flicked on the light and he looked up and noticed
me watching him, then he stop and asked me if I was going to give
him the money. I walked towards the mess that he had made in the den
and stopped to pick up some important papers that he had scattered
all over the floor. I looked at him and told him that he had a serious
problem and needed to get some help, but for right now I would give
the ten dollars, if he let me go out with my girls. Without hesitation he
agreed to it, just like I thought. I went to the bedroom and found the
secret spot where I hid my money. So far, Jerry had not discovered it.
I gave him the ten dollars and then he said that he would be back in
about forty-five minutes.
I was excited, yet skeptical about going out because he had to look
after the kids while I was gone. I started giving myself a talk so that I
wouldn’t change my mind. He always keeps the kids when I’m at work
and nothing happens to them. Besides, those are his kids too. He’s
gotten high before and always seems to manage well. I kept telling
myself these things and more as I looked in on my kids playing in their
room, and then I went to my room to get dressed.
I looked through my closet, trying to find something sexy and but
sophisticated to wear. I came across a black and white tight fitting shirt
with a black tie and black pants. After taking a shower and getting
dressed, I called Lanika and Rhonda and told them that I was dressed
and was waiting for Jerry to come back from the store.
“Whaddd… I can’t believe you’re really going!” Rhonda cried.
“Now how the hell did you pull that one off?” Lanika asked.
I told them that it was easy when you're dealing with a weed head.
We sat on the phone talking about
the club and what they’d heard Jerry and I arguing about. About thirty
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A Fool for Love
minutes later Jerry pulled back into the driveway. “Okay, he’s here y’all.
It’s 8:15 and I’m getting ready to leave the house” I continued.
“Hurry up the male review starts at 9:30,” Rhonda shouted.
By that time, Jerry was in the house walking towards the bedroom
smiling, with two fifty cent blunts in his hands. He seemed much
calmer and he barely even noticed the skintight outfit I was wearing. I
believed he didn’t care because he had just gone to pick up lady package
to keep him company and she was dressed all in white, or maybe it
was green. I went into the kid’s room and kissed them goodnight; then
yelled out to him that I was leaving and on my way to Decatur. Jerry
didn’t utter a word back at me. He was now content with his drug of
choice. As I looked back, I could see him licking a blunt and preparing
to fill it with dope. I shook my head and headed to meet up at Lanika’s
place.
8
CHAPTER 2
I arrived at Lanika house at five minutes to nine and Rhonda was
already there. When I pulled up to the door and parked they were
standing outside talking; Lanika was smoking a cigarette. They had on
their regular get-up gear on. Nik wore black leggings and a body shirt
with a big belt and Rhonda had on jeans and a halter top that showed
off her mid-section. When I got out of my car they both said, “Uhh …
shit! Look at Stacy … looking all sexy and ready for her thug.”
I shook my head and smirked, “Ya’ll are crazy as hell!” We all
laughed and set out for Club Mirage, arriving at 9:15. The club was
jumping as usual. When we walked in everyone was around the stage
getting ready to watch the male review show. We found a table and sat
down to watch the male strippers do their thing and the ladies dish out
their dollars. One of the strippers made his way around to our table.
”Stacy, give me two dollars,” Lanika said, holding her hand out and
acting like she was about to lose her damn mind.
“Girl, I’m going to watch but I’m not about to give those niggas in
g-strings my loop. They need to be paying me to come watch them.” I
said sarcastically.
Lanika stood up, patting her pockets and looking for a dollar to give
to the stripper. I looked up and noticed that Lanika was still searching,
so I ended up handing her a dollar just so she could be happy. It’s not that
she didn’t have any money; she just didn’t want to spend it. She quickly
snatched the dollar bill out of my hand and laid it on the strippers’ sweaty
hard stomach, looking directly at his package. Pulling on her arm, I yelled
“Nik, Nik! Girl you act like you’re about to suck his dick. You’re so
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A Fool for Love
close up on it.” She laughed it off and kept on watching. In fact, I don’t
think she even heard me because she didn’t snap.
After the strip show was over Rhonda, got on the dance floor to
dance, or should I say, take over. What I mean is every time she got up
to dance the women in the club would literally clear the floor because
she intimidated them. Rhonda was a stripper as well, but she also loved
the attention she got when she danced.
Lanika was the quiet and shy, sneaky, undercover freak. She always
pretended to be broke and when guys came up and offered to buy me
a drink, she would stand behind my back whispering in my ear, “Get
the drink for me.” This was our usual routine since I didn’t drink and
besides, she was my cousin who cried broke every time we hung out.
But I didn’t mind looking out for her like that because she was my road
dog, my secret soldier that I told everything to.
I had to go to the bathroom not to use it, but to check out the men
who sat at the bar near the ladies room. I started making my way there and
before it could pass the bar this very tall, dark, suspect of a thug with long
braids approached me. “Hey Lil Kim,” he said smiling down at me.
I stopped dead in my tracks and said with an attitude,” Uh… My
name is not Lil Kim. My name is Stacy.” Still smiling down at me, he
then apologized and introduced himself, “I’m Grant.”
I shook his hand and briefly carried on small talk with him, and then
I excused myself and continued making my way to the ladies room. I
made it to the washroom and hung out for about five minutes, talking
and prancing in the mirror. As I walked back to my seat I suddenly
thought about the guy I had just met and pondered, could I consider
him a thug? Halfway to my seat I paused again to analyze and answer
that question. I visualized his features. Well…let’s see, now he has long
braids, and he does have a gold tooth, but, but…. his pants aren’t
hanging off of his ass. Now I’m confused! I was wondering if he had to
have all three attributes to qualify him as a true thug. I presumed that
two out three wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t sure so I decided to ask Rhonda.
When I looked for her on the dance floor she was almost up on the
ceiling, doing one of her spider woman moves. I smirked and shook
my head. After seeing that, I knew I had to wait to ask her. I’m very
analytical so I wanted to make sure that I had truly met a thug.
Once I arrived back at my seat, I did not mention the guy to Lanika
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A Fool for Love
at all. We just watched the male strippers, laughed, drank virgin and
non-virgin cocktails and got our party on. After about fifteen minutes,
someone suddenly tapped me on my shoulder and when I turned
around, to my surprise, it was him “the Almost Thug” I had met on my
way to the ladies room. I looked up at him and so did Lanika. Lanika
whispered in my ear and said, “Oooowe… Now that’s a thug.
Biting my bottom lip, I responded, “Are you serious?” Lanika
looked over her Prada glasses and said, ”Let me put it this way. If
you don’t jump on it, one of these hoodrats will.” Then she turned
back around towards the dance floor and started dancing in her seat. I
laughed and looked back up at him. “Ms. Lady, I’ve been looking for
you,” he said, bending down.
“Well obviously, you was looking damn hard, ‘cause you found me,”
I said in a sassy tone. I got to admit I loved his relentless determination,
so I offered him a seat to see what type of suave he had about himself. As
he sat down, he gave me a napkin with his number on it.
“Here’s my number. Make sure you use it,” he whispered in my ear.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he continued.
I then told him that I didn’t drink alcohol and before I could
finish my sentence he interrupted, “That’s some good shit there. I like
women who don’t drink. You know somebody got to be sober, right?”
he chuckled. As we continued to talk, I played with the napkin on the
table in front of me and decided to put in my purse later. “Well I don’t
drink, but you can buy my cousin a drink if you like.” I muttered. His
reaction to what I said was kind-of honestly foul.
He replied,” I usually don’t buy women drinks, and I offered you
the drink; but since she’s your cousin I’ll go ahead and do it.”
I sat there quiet for a second, smiling because I didn’t know what
to say after that. I turned to Lanika and asked her what she wanted to
drink. She was grinning ear to ear and told me that she wanted a Long
Island Iced Tea. “Good looking out cuz,” she whispered in my ear over
the loud music. I shook my head and turned around to continue talking
to Grant. Grant got the waitress’ attention and she came over.
“What does your cousin want to drink?” he asked as he gave the
waitress the order.
“Oh, she just wants a Long Island… that’s all.”
Grant had a clammy look on his face as if he couldn’t believe
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A Fool for Love
he was doing it. I put my hand on his shoulder and thanked him for
buying the drink. Shortly, the waitress brought over his Corona and
Lanika’s Long Island; then Lanika turned her attention elsewhere
because she was getting her drink on. After taking care of the waitress,
Grant turned his attention back towards me. “Now back to you,” he
said as he pulled my stool closer to him. “What did you say your name
was again?”
“It’s Stacy,” I replied, trying to talk more in his ear. Grant started
smirking and said, “Isn’t that the name of some shoe line or
something?” I gave him a hard stare, then I smirked and said, “Very
funny, but since you’re a comedian I’ll let you entertain me a little
while.” Grant put in long arm over my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I was
just kidding with you, but I bet you’re as sweet as apple juice; if not
sweeter,” he murmured looking me straight in my eyes. He had the
most beautiful big eyes that I had ever seen. He reminded me of Omar
Epps in that movie Juice. I smiled at him and then bashfully looked
away. He gently put his hand on my chin and lifted my face towards
his. “You’re very beautiful. Are you married?” Okay, time to go, he
asking me about my marriage.
I looked up at him and slowly said, “Yes, I am married, but …”
Grant interrupted and said, “Thank you for being honest. See
that’s what I’m talking about; I like fucking with a grown ass woman,
cause most of these girls be on some little girl shit.” His response was
surprising because he didn’t care about me being married. I didn’t know
how to respond, so for the next three hours I just listened to him talk
about himself and how he liked my style. We were totally into our
conversation, style, movement, eye contact, body chemistry and
everything else. Without my permission he started kissing me on my
neck so passionately, moving his long, wet tongue up and down the
side of my neck. Although I never been the One-Night Stand type
of female, it seemed like the right time to try it out, because he was
making love to me mentally and I was loving every minute of it. I felt a
breeze in between my legs and I noticed that my panties were wet. The
cool air from the air conditioner made me realize that I had came a little
from all the foreplay. The night grew short and the morning hours were
just around the corner. The room was quieter and all I could hear was
my heart beating every second and the depth of my breathing because
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A Fool for Love
we were so zoned out and into each other and weren’t acknowledging
the crowd or the music around us. Not grasping the fact the club was
closing, we sat there with never ending stories to tell each other.
Lanika tapped me on my shoulder and told me that the club was
getting ready to close. He looked down at the time on my his cellphone
and said, ”Yeah, it’s four in the morning.” I thought about my makeup
and hair. It must be a complete mess by now. I had not touched up in
four hours. “I’ll be right back Grant. I’m going to the restroom,” I
excused myself. As he was finishing the last of his Corona he whispered,
“I’ll be waiting right here when you get back.” When I got up to leave
he reached out and rubbed my ass. I didn’t care because it felt good and
I wanted to be a half-bad girl that night after meeting him. I must have
stay in the ladies room for about twenty minutes or more because my
panties were so wet from all the foreplay that I had to take them off to
try to dry them. I sat on the toilet thinking about how Jerry was going
to act when I got home; then I thought about Grant and instantly
didn’t give a fuck how Jerry was going to act.
I finished up in the restroom and rushed out back to him, but when
I got back to the table where I left him he was gone. “Wh-where did he
go?” I muttered as I looked around in confusion. Where is Nik? And
where is Rh- but when I looked towards the dance floor I saw Rhonda
was still dancing and Lanika was wandering around the club looking
lost. “What the hell is going on?” I exclaimed in a low tone. I went over
to Lanika and she was in the corner looking on the floor searching
for something. She said in a slurred voice, “Girl, I don lost my keys.”
I looked at her squirming face and tried to help look for her keys, but
I couldn’t help wondering about Grant and trying to figure out why
he would just leave without saying goodbye. Then I remembered that
he gave me his number on a napkin, so I ran back to the table we were
sitting only to find that the waitress was getting ready to clean up. I
yelled out to her,” Wait!” in a panicking voice. She looked at me like
I was crazy as hell and said, “For what!” as she continued putting beer
bottles and cups in the black plastic bag. “Umm … I- I seemed to have
left something and this is the table where I was sitting. Could you
give me two minutes to check?” I replied in a humble, but desperate
voice. She chuckled and told me that if it’s some money, I might as
well charge it to the game because I wouldn’t find it. She then told me
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A Fool for Love
she’d give me a few minutes to look and walked to clean another table.
I scrambled through all the paper and napkins in hopes to finding
the napkin he wrote his number on. The napkin was nowhere to be
found. I looked over at the waitress and yelled out to her asking her if
she wouldn’t mind me looking through the bag of trash that she had.
“Sheeed, honey I got to go home to my kids,” she replied.
I guess I might as well forget about it I said as I began to walk away.
While walking back towards Lanika, I looked back once more toward
the table thinking about the great time I had with Grant and how I
would never get a chance to know him. I couldn’t bear the thought
of giving up so easily on something I really wanted, so I walked back
over to the table and looked underneath it. Lying under the chair was
a half soaked napkin with a shoe print on it. I carefully picked it up so
I wouldn’t rip it and slowly unfolded it and to my surprise it was the
napkin with his number.
“Excuse, me boo. You gotta move ‘cause I got to finish up over here.
Ain’t got time for you to keep looking for something you ain’t gonna
find anyway,” the waitress said as she started gathering the rest of
the trash off of the table as I was stooped down under it. “My balls,
Sweetie, I’m done anyway.” I sighed. The waitress looked at me with
her faced puffed up and said,”What tha hell you mean your balls?! If
you got balls then you really got your issues.” I became offended but
then I realized that when everyone else says “My Bad” and I always
say ”My Balls.” People always give me the same response when they
hear me say that. I didn’t have time to explain that to her, so I told
her thanks and then I got out of her way. I rushed to the bathroom to
dry the napkin so I wouldn’t smear the ink. As I was running towards
the bathroom, Rhonda had got off of the dance floor and was helping
Lanika. “Stacy, girl, come help us find these keys,” Rhonda yelled
across the room. I threw my hand up and told them that I’d be right
back to help. In the bathroom, I held the napkin up to the hand-dryer
for a good thirty seconds. When I looked at it afterward, I could see
the phone number a lot better. It was smeared a bit, but I could make
out what it was. I placed the napkin into my purse and went out to
help search for the keys.
By that time, the manager had turned on all the lights in the club. The
club manager came up to us and said, “You ladies got to leave now, but
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A Fool for Love
you can return in the afternoon to search for the keys. Lanika said in an
indistinct voice, “We can’t leave because my car key is on that ring.” The
manager gave us a nonchalant shrug and told us again to leave the club.
So the three of us stood in front of the club trying to figure out what
we were going to do. As we stood there, thoughts of the 6 foot 7 thug
danced through my mind. Lanika needed to go to her grandmother’s
house to get her extra set of keys and I could have taken her, but I
wanted to use that as an excuse to call Grant. So I took out the napkin
and called his number. The phone rang and rang then a deep, easygoing
voice said, “Hello.” For a quick second, I paused; I then said, “Grant?
This is Stacy. The one you met tonight in the club.” His voice lit up
as if he was happy to hear from me. “What’s up? What happen to you?”
he gathered in a keyed up voice. “I waited at the table for you for about
twenty-five minutes.” He continued.
“Well… I was in the restroom and when I came out you were
gone,” I responded. Rhonda and Lanika nudged me and whispered,
“Ask him to come get us.” I moved further away from them so I could
talk in private and then looked back at them and inaudibly mouthed,
“Wait, Wait!”
Grant was talking but I missed what he was saying because of
them, so I interrupted him in the middle of the conversation and asked
him if he didn’t mind, could he do me a favor? Grant was sound a bit
skeptical, but eager at the same time. Maybe he thought I was going
to ask him to do another favor for my cousin. Actually, it was another
favor for her. “Uhh… what is it?” he said slowly. I went on to explain
that Lanika lost her keys in the club and that we were stranded and
asked him if he could come back and give us a ride. “Well, I was almost
home, but I’ll turn around and be there in about ten minutes,” he
said. I told the girls that he was coming back to help us and then we
all huddled up in a corner to keep the cold wind off us. Seconds later,
a long, cream colored Cadillac pulled up to the door. I didn’t know
what he was driving so I looked carefully before leaping. He then rolled
down the passenger-side window and motioned for us to come on in.
Just before we jumped in the car I thanked him for the ride. Lanika
and Rhonda jumped in the backseat as I pulled the seat latch to let them
get in. “Where do you need to go?” Grant asked Lanika looking
over his shoulder. Lanika was out of it from drinking too much, so I
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A Fool for Love
answered. “She’s going to her grandma’s house down the street to get