Chapter 5 Asante
ASANTE
“What’s up?” I dapped security up on my way inside the club, a smile on my face and a bottle of water in my hand.
“What’s up, Asante?”
I waved at the bartenders and servers who were standing together, talking and waiting for the club to actually open. I made a beeline to my office to grab their payment for the week but froze after I’d pushed the door open.
I looked briefly around my office before walking further inside, taking my time to walk over to the glass vase of roses.
There was a small card in the center held up by a stick that I plucked up with two fingers.
I tossed the stick on my desk and looked over the card.
There wasn’t a note on it. What there was, was a single chess piece no bigger than one inch printed directly in the middle.
I couldn’t help the slight chuckle that escaped my mouth.
I collapsed in my desk chair and looked over the flowers again.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever gotten flowers in my entire life, not from my family for big events or when I’d graduated, not for deployment, not for my return to civilian life, nothing. Shit. I hadn’t even helped pick out the flowers for my own wedding.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I thought flowers were cool but they weren’t something I’d ask for. I knew that. They did nothing. They sat in a vase for a few days, withered up and died. They were a waste of money.
That didn’t stop me from smirking as I looked at them though because I knew this had to be a big step for Bishop who had never really dated anyone before and I appreciated the gesture more than the gift itself.
I grabbed my cell phone and sent him a quick text.
Me: Flowers?
I saw his text bubble pop up immediately, then vanish, then pop up again. Then, a call from him came through.
I answered it immediately and put my phone to my ear.
“What’s up?”
“You hate them or what?” He snickered.
“Nah. They’re nice. I appreciate the gesture.” I looked over at the flowers again, letting my eyes trail up and down over them.
“Saying you appreciate the gesture means you appreciate the thought but not what I actually did.”
“I’m not the type of nigga that has a green thumb to keep flowers and shit alive,” I admitted. “But, I like knowing that you thought about me enough to do something like this though.”
“Alright.” Bishop paused for a beat. “So what do you like?”
“I’m not really one for receiving gifts,” I admitted. “I’m a quality time type of man.”
“Oh word?” Bishop scoffed.
“Yeah.” I reached forward and plucked one of the flowers out of the vase. “What makes you feel wanted, Bishop?”
“I’ll let you know when I figure it out.” He chuckled and I nodded at that.
Even masked with a laugh, it was obvious he was serious. He hadn’t been lying about his inexperience with dating for the sake of dating, but there was time to figure out what exactly he liked and what he didn’t like.
“Good.” I sniffed the flower in front of me. It smelled like nothing. I tossed it back into the vase. “I give my love as acts of service and quality time usually,” I offered. “If you were wondering.”
“Yeah? Should I be expecting you to give me your love, Asante?”
“We’ll see,” I deadpanned. I paused as someone spoke to Bishop, their voice immediately muffled by his hand or something as he responded. “You busy?”
“Not necessarily.”
“That wasn’t a no. I’ll let you go.”
“You rushing me off the phone now, Asante?”
“Of course not.” I plucked a pen up and started to tap it on the edge of my desk. “I just don’t want to hold you up if you have something else to do.”
“Yeah, alright.” He exhaled. “So, what are you getting into this weekend?”
“I don’t know. Why? What’s up?”
“Saturday afternoon around five be free. I can pick you up from the club. Dress comfortably.”
I smiled automatically.
“Alright. I can do that.”
“I’ll see you then.”
“I’ll see you then,” I echoed.
Then, I held my phone to my ear until he hung up.
I tossed it on my desk and leaned back in my seat, my hands clasped in front of me.
I let my eyes rake over my flowers a second time.
Then, I yanked my drawer open and grabbed the checks that I’d written for my employees the night before.
I went to hand deliver them to everyone but paused at the doorway and looked back over my shoulder at the flowers one last time.
I found myself grinning and shaking my head as I made my way down the hall and out to the bar.
Saturday I was at the club by three. I had a little bit of work I wanted to do and I didn’t want to be late. Bishop seemed like a man who would get anxious if you left him waiting for too long and the last thing I wanted was to spook him when he was actively trying his best.
He got to the club twenty minutes before our scheduled date time. I watched him light a cigarette on the security camera and waited for him to finish it before I shot him a text.
Me: You ready now?
Bishop: No rush.
I took that mean he was ready whenever I was so I closed up what I’d been working on and headed out.
Bishop hopped out of his car when he saw me. He closed the space between us and I was genuinely shocked when he hugged me before circling the rest of his whip and pulling the door open. He gestured for me to hop in.
“I can get my own door, you know?”
“Are you always this hard to please?” he shot back.
I chuckled but didn’t respond. He slammed my door, made his way back around and hopped in. I looked around his whip.
“Why is your car so clean?” I asked.
“What?”
“Your car,” I repeated. “Why is it so clean?”
“I don’t believe in leaving easily identifiable information out. Whatever I bring in, I take out.”
I nodded at that.
“So art dealing is dangerous, huh?” I baited.
“Very.”
I snickered. He grinned.
“Well, what’s the game plan for tonight?”
“You don’t like surprises?” Bishop glanced briefly in my direction.
“Not really.”
“Well, I was thinking Topgolf. It’s somewhat outside. There’s no drinking required. There was a far corner section available for rent and we can talk freely.”
“Are you good at golfing?”
“Nope.” Bishop didn’t hesitate. “What about you?”
“I haven’t done it a lot honestly.”
“Then it’ll be something new for both of us.”
I nodded. “I like that.”
“Bet. Let’s do it.”
Bishop threw his car in reverse and backed out. I watched him as he drove through the city, one hand on the steering wheel the other tapping on the gear shift.
I noticed the way he checked his mirrors. It wasn’t the way I’d seen other people do it. I didn’t think he was paranoid but he was definitely more aware of his surroundings than a lot of people that I knew.
I filed that away for later.
“Would you want me to open your door?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“What?” Bishop’s eyebrows knitted together as he looked at me.
“You ran around to open my door and I don’t need that kind of shit, but would you want me to do it for you?”
“Nah.” He shook his head.
“What about flowers?”
“I’m good on that too.”
“Alright. I’ll keep that in mind,” I nodded as I made my mental note.
Bishop had made a reservation in advance so as soon as we arrived we headed inside and were gestured upstairs to the the top floor and into a far back section.
Although there was a good amount of people in the building, the third floor was mostly empty and I wondered briefly if Bishop had called in a family favor or if we’d just gotten lucky, but I didn’t think about it too long.
We picked out the clubs we wanted to use, set everything up and despite stating that we were going to hangout somewhere where drinks weren’t a necessity we got a pitcher of beer with our wings and fries.
I ended up being a natural at Topgolf. Bishop wasn’t bad but he started off rocky and it was obvious, at least to me, that there was a part of him that was worried about how he was perceived.
We went through only one game, which I won, before we collapsed in the seating with the wings and beer on the table in front of us.
“You want a rematch?” I chuckled from behind my beer.
“Hell yeah, I want a rematch. I can’t just let you walk away with the win.”
“So, you’re competitive?”
“With three other brothers, one being a twin, you have to be.”
“That’s real.”
“So, you’re not competitive?”
“Not with others.”
“So you’re hard on yourself?”
“I am.”
“Yeah, well me too.”
“I can tell.” I chuckled and Bishop smirked.
“Maybe we can work on that.”
“There you go with the we again.” I took a drink of my beer. “I kind of like it.”
“Good to know.”
I hopped up and walked back to where the ball was set up. I plucked up a different club and hit the ball out. We watched it sail through the air and roll toward a score. I set the club down, picked up another one and tossed it from one hand to the other. Then, I offered it to Bishop.
“Try out this one.”
He took it from my hand and looked at it.
“You sabotaging me?” he asked.
“I saw you play the last game. I don’t have to cheat to win.”
“Cocky ass.” Bishop grinned and got in position.
“You really hit like that or are you trying to set me up to arrange you right?”
“What’s wrong with how I hit, Asante?”
I walked over and put my hands on his waist. I pulled him back just a bit then pulled his shoulder blades back a little bit too.
“Follow all the way through when you swing.” I took a step back.
Bishop exhaled then swung. We watched the ball sail. I nodded and clapped.
“Better already, huh?” he asked.
“Much better.”
“I thought you didn’t golf a lot.”
“I haven’t.” I grinned. “Maybe I’m just a natural.”
“Yeah, okay.” Bishop handed me the club. “Any other hobbies I should know about?”
“I like shooting, hunting and cooking.” I said simply and adjusted my stance. I hit the ball and looked back at Bishop. “This is the part where you tell me your hobbies.”
“Drinking, shooting pool and shooting guns.”
“So we should go to the range together next?” I asked.
“We can do that,” Bishop took the golf club from me. “Don’t think that lil military training is going to carry you though.”