19. Talia
TALIA
“This is so cute, Zae.”
“What’s that, babe?” Izael asked as he helped me out of the car.
“Our first friends’ date night together. I wish that Tahj had come.”
“Your brother ain’t quite ready to see us like this yet. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s coming around but that nigga?—”
“I think you’re gonna have to eat your words, bae.”
He chuckled when I lifted our clasped hands and gestured across the parking lot at Tahj and Dalia walking toward us. Dalia wore a big grin and Tahj looked like he wanted to kick someone’s ass.
“Yo! That nigga showed up for real,” Jaylen declared as he and his wife Renee walked toward us from their truck parked two spots over.
“Who invited his ornery ass?” Izael asked as Tahj stepped up to him and dapped him up.
My heart was so full. I was thankful that someone had invited my brother, and he had accepted the invitation. We were speaking again, but I needed to see that he and Izael were close again too.
“Nigga, you can’t stop me from being where the hell I wanna be,” Tahj declared as Dalia and I hugged.
“So long as you ain’t got no beef with me loving on my woman,” Izael asserted and kissed my lips.
“See that’s the shit that gets niggas knocked out right there,” Tahj grumbled and pulled me away. It felt good when my big brother wrapped me in a bear hug. “Love you, girl,” he muttered in my ear.
“I love you, too, Tahj. Thanks for coming, boo.”
“Always, baby,” he whispered back.
“Baby, everyone deserves to be loved,” Dalia interjected.
“That’s my sister,” Tahj replied and released me.
“And I’m someone’s sister too. Does that mean because she’s your sister she doesn’t deserve to be loved?”
Tahj looked at his fiancée with soft eyes before he turned and mugged Izael. Shaking his head, he turned to Jaylen and dapped him up. “Nigga, you didn’t tell me they were gonna be here.”
“Yo! You wildin’ boy. You knew he was gonna be here,” Jaylen countered.
“Can we please go inside? Eve and Andrew are already in there waiting for us,” I declared.
The six of us headed inside of the large warehouse to do an escape room event. Izael and Tahj walked up to the reception desk to get the instructions from the host, and I headed directly to Eve, where she stood with her date, Andrew, in the lobby.
“Oooh, don’t you look fine, boo,” Eve greeted me.
I wore a pair of ripped, distressed, high waist blue jeans and paired them with a red plaid shirt that I tied off underneath my breasts, and some red, high-top Chuck Taylors.
“Thank you, baby. You look good too.”
She wore a pair of wide-legged boyfriend jeans with a hot pink crop top and white Nikes.
“I see you got your man back, boo. Glad to see that you didn’t fuck up a good thing.”
I giggled. “Almost did. But we had a heart to heart. Like I told you on the phone last week, we’ve been focusing on building something solid.”
“That’s good. You deserve the best, boo. Shocked to see that Tahj came through. Him and Ms. D.” My best friend sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes.
“Girl, please. Get over that. Besides, you got a fine ass man over there.”
I bobbed my head at Andrew. He was an older guy with a gray patch on one side of his beard, but everything else was black. He was very handsome and enamored with my best friend.
“I do, and he loves my nasty draws.” Eve giggled and pressed her hand against her mouth. Andrew was eleven years older than Eve, and she said he was freaky as hell. I didn’t want to know half of what my best friend did with that man based on some of the stuff she’d already shared.
“Everyone ready?” Izael asked.
We all chimed in that we were and followed the greeter to the room we would be locked in. Tahj and Izael pulled up the rear as they talked in low voices amongst themselves. I guessed they were putting aside their differences once and for all because they hugged and dapped again just as the greeter finished issuing instructions on what we could expect and what we were to do.
A large-screen TV featured a scary clown who spoke to us and told us what our mission would be and where our first clue was. He released a creepy laugh at the end of the video and told us that the clock was counting down.
“I don’t like clowns,” Dalia mumbled as she looked around the room.
There was a large clock on one wall. Magnetic numbers were on the mirror and an old-fashioned rotary dial phone was on a dressing table underneath the mirror. There was a large wardrobe with clown suits inside that we could put on.
“Okay, first clue tells us that we need to place a call, but we’ve got to find the phone number,” Jaylen announced.
“Ohh, that’s what these numbers on the mirror must be,” Renee chimed in.
“But they’re not in a particular order,” Andrew observed.
“Yeah, we gotta figure that shit out and the clock is already ticking,” Jaylen added.
Before anyone could say anything else, Izael was moving the numbers around on the mirror and Tahj was dialing every set of numbers that Izael called out. The rest of us moved around the room and started checking out other clues.
Sometimes, some of us grew frustrated, including me. Other times, cooler heads prevailed, but overall, we laughed and had so much fun.
In the end, we took our pictures with big smiles holding up our signs: So close; They wouldn’t listen to me; Wait there was a way out; Out of time; Sh*t happens; Do over; Maybe next time; and mine read: Not my fault.
We all walked across the parking lot to Cozy Fusions, a restaurant that Izael had an interest in. Because he owned the restaurant, we were seated immediately in a banquet room and assigned four servers. I was impressed and thankful because that gave us one server per couple and they were very attentive to our needs, especially Izael and mine.
Izael ordered the butter chicken pizza for everyone, and then we all ordered separately. After much debate, I settled on sushi burritos and Korean tacos, and Izael grabbed the ramen burger and bánh mì. That allowed me to sample various dishes and get a good feel for their food. I had been here before, but I hadn’t tried many dishes. I would rate their service and food five silver chef spoons if I were to leave a review, but I tried not to allow my mind to rest on those thoughts.
This was a night off and a time of relaxation and peace. Besides, it would be an unfair review anyway. Other than it being a restaurant that my man had a vested interest in, I was also here on a date night. The servers catered to the “boss” accordingly, and I wasn’t certain that the service and food was always the same excellent quality.
“What’s on your mind, baby?” Izael asked when I grew quiet while everyone else chatted around us.
“I’m just enjoying this time with our friends. It’s a beautiful night. It would have been better if your brother could have joined us.”
He sucked his teeth and shook his head. “Rashad would’ve been cool, but ain’t nobody on Celina’s uppity ass. This shit would’ve been beneath her.”
“It has been fun acting like grown-up kids all afternoon and evening.”
“It has been, baby. I love having personal dates with you, but I also know that I’ve hogged your time lately. That’s why I wanted to have this date with your friend and your brother.”
“Oh, you knew he was coming?”
“I told Jaylen to invite him. Had a feeling his ornery ass wouldn’t accept the invitation if I extended it.”
“You guys are good, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, baby. You know T. He just likes being difficult for the sake of being difficult. He didn’t want to make this shit easy for me.”
“Well, as long as you two are okay, I’m good.”
“As long as you and I are okay, we’re good.”
He leaned closer to me and kissed my lips. I pressed my hand against the back of his head and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss. When I opened my mouth and he sucked my tongue, I couldn’t help but moan softly.
“Aye! Aye, yo! What I tell you ’bout that shit? That’s my sister,” Tahj hollered from the other end of the table and slapped his hands against it.
“Would you calm your ass down? How about you give me a kiss instead of being all inside of your sister’s lips,” Dalia suggested in a feisty tone.
My brother must have done exactly what she asked because I didn’t hear another word from him. Izael and I finished our kiss, and we pressed our foreheads together lightly.
“You know that I’m looking forward to many more days like this. Days after you’ve moved in with me, and we’re hosting game nights, cookouts, and dinners at our house for our family and friends.”
My heart burst with joy at his words.
“I can see you on the grill now, Chef Ellis, Grill Master. I need to get you an apron because you’re gonna be putting it down.”
He kissed my lips again and said, “You already know.”
“I’m thinking that we need to skip dessert and head straight to the hotel. Shit, ain’t nobody else thinking about eating,” Jaylen mused.
“Hotel? Why can’t you just go home, nigga?” Tahj asked.
“Trying to be romantic with my baby tonight.”
“Do that shit at home and save ya coins.”
“Tahj, take your cheap ass home if that’s what you wanna do. I’m taking my baby to the hotel tonight,” Jaylen disputed.
Everyone laughed and Eve yawned and stood. “Well, I don’t know about you all, but Andrew and I are tired. We’re thinking about getting a head start on that hotel.”
Andrew stood and linked his fingers with Eve’s. “Thanks for the fun, great conversation, and even better food, everyone.”
“Thanks for coming out and chilling with us. We’ve gotta do this again soon,” Izael said with a head nod at Andrew.
We all stood, and the women exchanged hugs while the men dapped each other up. Izael and I were the last ones remaining.
“All that talk about hotels and shit has me missing you, baby,” Izael shared.
“I know. How much longer?”
“I think we can go to your place since it’s closer and spend the night together. Let’s try cuddling and see how well we do.”
I groaned. “You’re trying to torture me, baby.”
“Not at all. I just miss holding you in my arms. If you want to have sex, we can.”
“Are you getting horny too?”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed myself against his erection.
“Always, girl.”
“How about this? Let’s take a long walk after we get back to my place and then if we still want to have sex we can, but if not, we chill and cuddle for the night.”
“I like that idea, baby.”
We headed back to my place and did exactly what I suggested. After our long walk we were both exhausted. We showered and headed to bed and cuddled. I loved exploring a relationship on a mental level with this man and moving beyond the physical. Yes, our love would endure whatever came. I just knew that we were on the right road.