13. Noree Marcell
The club was jumping. Music was loud, lights were flashing all over the place, and I was trying real hard to just have a good time. We’d only been here maybe twenty, thirty minutes, and already I was dealing with a whole situation.
A guy at the bar would not leave me alone, but I wasn’t sure if he was musty because he didn’t take a bath or musty because he didn’t give a damn about putting on deodorant. But either way, that man was musty, and he kept trying to lean in close every time he talked to me.
He wasn’t bad looking, but I couldn’t get past that, and I wasn’t interested anyway. I wasn’t looking to date. I was just here to support my girl and keep my mind off of things. Right before we headed out, I ended up getting all of the necessary paperwork from Opal.
I had to read it thoroughly several times before signing it, all while I was trying to do my makeup and get ready, but things were official, and I’d be moving in within the next three days.
Now back to ol’ dude. I was being nice, just giving him short answers and turning my body away, hoping he’d take the hint, but he hadn’t.
“Your smile is real pretty,” he said, and I could smell whatever he’d eaten for lunch coming straight at me.
“Thank you,” I said real tight, and took a sip of my drink just to have something to do besides look at him.
That’s when Veronica came rushing over with that look on her face that meant she had something to say.
“I’m sorry about that, y’all,” she said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “They were supposed to have our section ready, but come to find out…” She paused for dramatic effect. “Ozy Love is outside, so they gave him the bigger section, and we’ll actually end up having a section next to his.”
My eyes went big. Like, real big. I was holding my drink up to my lips, and I just spit that whole thing out. Straight up, just spit it back into the glass.
“Girl, what happened?” Veronica was looking at me like I was crazy.
“Oh, I just drank it too fast or something,” I said, waving my hand like it was nothing. “You know how it is.”
But my palms were already getting sweaty.
Veronica’s other friends were somewhere off doing their own thing, throwing money on the strippers and having the time of their lives.
“Can I have your number?” the guy started to ask, but my sister shut it down immediately.
“Boy, fuck no. She’s not interested. Can’t you take a hint!” Nourah then leaned into me and said, “Is that his ass musty like that, smelling like a Whopper burger with extra onions?”
I snickered. “Girl, yes.”
“Okay, here comes the waitress now,” Veronica said.
The waitress walked over and advised Veronica to follow her. Me and Nourah trailed behind, heading to the VIP section.
We were given wristbands and let through the velvet rope. We were about to sit down in the section when I started hearing it, a whole commotion coming from somewhere in the club.
Everybody’s head turned. Everybody. It was like somebody flipped a switch and the whole room was looking in one direction.
The cameras started flashing. Security was moving people out the way like they were parting the Red Sea.
Ozy Love, PB, and a whole entourage of people around them, both men and women, pushed through.
They were heading straight to the VIP section right next to ours, just like Veronica said they would be.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, feeling like I was about to have to throw up.
How embarrassing was it to have just run off from him yesterday, only to be forced to be in the same vicinity days before having to move into his house?
Nourah leaned over to me. “You good, sis?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” I said, but I wasn’t even convincing myself. “But I really gotta go to the bathroom.”
“Okay, I’ll come with you.”
We both got up, put our cups down, and excused ourselves real quick.
“Cool, y’all go ahead. They’ll be bringing the bottles soon,” Veronica said.
I was moving fast through that crowd, trying to get away before he could notice me or before my legs could give out.
When I got to the bathroom, I walked straight to the sink and put my hands on that counter.
“How?” I said out loud, my voice all shaky. “Why do I keep bumping into this man?”
Nourah came and stood next to me, watching me in the mirror.
“Remember,” she said, “I told you that weekend when you won…make sure that I’m the maid of honor at the wedding annnd make sure you give me a shout-out when you do your speech because I’m the one who set all this up.”
I looked at her through the mirror and squinted my eyes.
She laughed. “Girl, loosen up. It’s not that big of a deal. You got the job. You about to have to see this man all day, every day, twenty-four seven anyway. So, let’s just make the best of it.”
That’s when Veronica came in, and when she saw my face, she knew something was wrong.
“Girl, what happened?” she asked.
She walked over to one of the stalls and pulled her dress up.
She left the door open, peeing while making full eye contact with me and Nourah like we were just having a regular conversation.
“Somebody gon’ tell me something?” she asked.
Nourah put her hand on her chest and was like, “Girl, it’s not my business to tell.”
Nourah walked around the bathroom and pushed all the stall doors open, looking under each one to make sure we were alone. When she was satisfied, she turned back to me.
I sighed, then paused before looking over at Veronica. “So, you know that one-night stand I told you I had?”
Veronica flushed the toilet, pulled her panties up, fixed her dress, and came over to the sink to wash her hands.
“Oh yeah, of course I remember,” she said. “What about it?”
“Well, my baby daddy is kind of in the building tonight.”
Veronica’s mouth dropped open. She had her hands under the water, rinsing off the soap, just standing there with her mouth hanging.
“Wait. Like right now?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly.
“Okay, so that’s a good thing, right?” Veronica was thinking out loud. “I know you were saying you were looking for a job and wasn’t having any luck. So, do you need us to go march over to him right now and make that man give you some money? Because you know I’ll do it.”
I laughed nervously.
“Well, I can’t necessarily walk right up to him,” I said. “I’m pretty sure his security won’t allow that.”
Veronica looked confused. “What do you mean by his security?”
I took a breath. “My baby daddy is Ozy Love.”
Her mouth dropped even bigger than it did before, and her eyes got wide. She turned the water off and went to go grab a napkin from the dispenser.
“Bitch, shut the front door.”
“No, I’m serious,” I said.
“You did not tell me that! But that makes sense. The way y’all was making all them googly eyes at each other that whole weekend. Girl, spill the tea. Is it big? Or what?”
I felt my face get hot. I was blushing hard, and I couldn’t even help it.
“I knew it was big! He look like he’s hung like a fucking horse, walking with that big dick energy. That’s what he be singing about in all his songs!”
“Okay, okay,” I said. “But here’s the kick.”
“That nanny position I was applying for? I got it. But come to find out, I’ll be the nanny for his nephew.”
“Damn…working for your baby daddy though? Oh shit.”
“I know.”
“So have you told him yet?”
“No. I have to figure out how or when.”
Veronica shook her head. “Girl, that is complicated as hell. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with any of this.”
Nourah was standing behind her. “Yeah, me too.”
I rolled my eyes at them both, but I was smiling a little.
“Y’all shut up,” I said. “Let’s get back to the party because it’s your birthday. Let’s turn up. Let’s have a good time.”
“Girl, I don’t know how you gon’ have a good time,” Veronica said, smoothing her dress. “I guess y’all about to be making googly eyes at each other again.”
“Girl, you already know they are,” Nourah said, and they both cracked up.
I went and stood in front of the mirror for one more second.
My makeup was still good. My hair was still laid. But my eyes looked nervous, and my stomach was all twisted up in knots. I took one more deep breath, smoothed down my dress, and turned to head back out.
Girl just relax!