Chapter 3 #2
“Look, go out and have some fun. Don’t start stressing out to the point that you’ll lock yourself in your room. We’ll think of something, but until then, enjoy your night.”
I looked up at my best friend and smiled. “Thanks, bro. Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to change the subject to discuss my four-year-old problem. Did you want me to ride with you to check on your sister?”
Key waved a dismissive hand. “I enjoyed the change of subject for that brief moment. You know, I swear you and my sister are the same damn person. Keeping secrets from your parents, tsk tsk. Anyway, it’ll be a quick trip, and I’ll be back before Sunday.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Besides, I don’t think she’ll be happy if I bring random people to her crib.”
“Technically, I’m not random. Your sister was always MIA the few times I came to visit.”
“True, but hey, you’ll finally meet her at graduation. Anyway, get out of here and go have fun. Everything is going to be cool over here.”
I nodded before dabbing Key up and heading out the door.
After about twenty-minutes, I arrived at the restaurant.
I checked the clock and realized that I was right on time.
Looking around the parking lot, I shook my head.
Of course, George hadn’t arrived yet. I guess I should’ve known better that when he said 8 p.m, he really meant 8:30 p.m. That man wouldn’t be on time if it were his own funeral.
I walked into the restaurant and checked with the hostess to see if George had at least made reservations.
I was really giving him more credit than he deserved because, of course, he didn’t reserve a table on a Friday night.
Thankfully, a party had canceled, and we’d be able to book the area with a thirty-minute wait.
I figured that was fine since I was still the only one there and waited in the lobby.
After waiting 20 minutes, George finally walked in.
“My bad, I’m late, bro,” he said, dapping me up. “I had to make sure I had the right drip to make my girl’s heart melt. You feel me?”
“Yeah, okay. And I guess it’s your 'bad' that you didn’t make reservations, too? How are you going to invite people out to dinner and not reserve a table?”
Geo smacked his lips and waved a dismissive hand at me.
“Man, I wasn’t thinking that far. I got excited when Rachel agreed to meet up, and everything else went out the window.
Besides, I knew that by calling you, everything was going to be handled.
You’re the bookworm, and I knew without a doubt you’d always be the responsible one and get everything in order. ”
I rolled my eyes as the waiter came up to advise that our table was ready. We followed behind him toward the back of the restaurant until he stopped at a booth that was next to a private bar.
“Say, man, you don’t happen to have two tables back here?” George asked. “No offense, but I’m not trying to be looking across the table at another male while I’m trying to entertain my lady.”
I nodded. “For once, we are on the same page.”
The whole setup was quite romantic because the booth was secluded from the rest of the tables in the restaurant, but that was meant for a party of two, not four.
I wasn’t looking for anything serious, but it would be nice to have privacy with my blind date so I can get to know her better.
Who knows, maybe she could be the one for me after all.
“Sure!” the waiter said, moving me to a booth that was behind George’s.
As soon as I had settled into my seat, George abruptly stood up.
“All right, man, they’re here. Be nice.”
My eyebrows flew to my hairline. “What do you mean by ‘be nice’? I’m always nice!”
He scrunched up his face before rubbing his forehead in frustration.
“Let me rephrase. Don’t go nerdy and Mr. Know It All by turning the conversation into a lesson on the differences between RAM and terabyte.
You like to go into great detail about your computer science and gaming developing software engineering bullshit. ”
“First of all, you do not know how I talk to women. We only hung out like one time at my parents’ job, and I was talking to you about my degree because you asked.”
“Whatever! Look, don’t talk about that shit.”
I folded my arms across my chest. As much as I wanted to give George a piece of my mind, I held my tongue.
He was acting as if we were the best of friends, and he knows how I interact with other women.
He doesn’t know shit about me. Hell, the only reason I’m out of the comfort of my home was because I gave my word.
George huffed out a long sigh. “I apologize. Look, this girl is sexy as fuck, and her body is everything! I’ve been trying to get with her for a minute, and she’s finally giving me a chance. I don’t want anything to go wrong tonight. Plus, if everything goes right, we both will be lucky.”
I gave him a puzzled look. “What is that supposed to mean?”
His eyes briefly widened before he shook his head with a nervous laugh. “Never mind. Do me this solid, man, please.”
I rolled my eyes. All he wanted was to add another notch to his belt when it came to this woman. While that was his business, I couldn’t care less if I ended the night with a woman in my bed or I was alone building my game. I sighed before running my hand down my face.
“Okay. Okay,” I spoke. “I will not talk about my career or my degree. I will let Miss Blind Date Lady do all the talking.”
George gave me a thumbs-up and took off towards the front of the restaurant.
I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck before placing an arm around the back of the booth.
Leaning back in my seat, I masked my face to give off a nonchalant attitude.
However, deep down, I was a nervous wreck.
I didn’t have a problem speaking with other people per se, rather I didn’t like small talk.
I was already introverted and often ran into awkward silences.
Oh, don’t get me started when I’m so uncomfortable that my social battery starts to run out.
Hell, by that point, we might as well pack it up and call it a night because when I don’t want to people anymore—I won’t.
Ricky has been spending all our time in college, breaking me out of my shy introvert bubble, and over the past four years, I have gotten better.
However, there were times when I second guessed myself, causing me to shut down.
One thing that helped was for me to talk about my passion for designing video games, but with George telling me not to bring it up, I fear that he may have been right.
Now that I thought about it, the women I interacted with before would change their entire mood when I started talking about computer coding.
To be fair, I’d only bring it up when they asked what my major was.
I placed my hands on the table as I fidgeted with my fingers. The realization that my normal comfort conversations were being kicked through the roof had my nerves on one thousand. Clasping my shaking hands together, I briefly closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.
“Okay, Dex, you got this. Remember what Key said, get out of your head and have fun.”
The sound of heels tapping against the floor had me looking toward the door.
There, I saw George strolling to our area with two women by his side.
The first woman was a little over five feet seven inches with a short black bob that swayed with each step she took.
She had deep honey-almond skin and dark brown eyes.
Her long, glossy legs poked out of her hot pink halter dress that showed off her slim frame.
George beamed at me as if he were a kid in a two-story candy store with unlimited money as he wrapped his arm around the woman.
She was definitely beautiful, and I could see why he was cheesing so hard.
The other woman next to him was shorter than her friend, maybe a little over five feet, with a pixie haircut that was dyed burgundy.
Her sandal brown skin had a hint of mocha, giving her a red bone look.
She, like her friend, was slim but possessed wider hips, and her lips wore a deep red that matched her dark red halter-top dress.
I cocked my head to the side and realized that the friends were almost matching.
It seemed weird, but then again, it wasn’t uncommon for best friends to match sometimes. Right?
I shrugged it off as I finished examining the woman. She wasn’t necessarily my type, but there was no denying her beauty. While a romantic relationship was off the table, maybe we could keep things platonic. I stood up as they approached the table.
“Dex, this is my boo Rachel and her homegirl Tracy.”
“Nice to meet you two,” I said, extending my hand.
Rachel gave me a shy smile as her dainty hands fell into mine. I moved my hand toward Tracy when she gave me a disgusted look.
“Dex? I thought your name was Dexter.”
I glanced at George before I rubbed the back of my neck. “Uh, it is. Everybody calls me Dex for short.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense,” she said, finally accepting my hand.
It took everything in me not to ask her what she meant by that. I mean, Dex was my nickname, and out of my whole life, no one but her has had a problem with it. Not wanting to ruin the night, I guided Tracy into our booth with a smile.
“Why aren’t we sitting with them?” she asked, looking over my shoulder.
“I thought it’d be nice to have alone time so we can get to know each other.”
“Hmph. I guess.”
There she goes again with that ‘I guess shit’. I had a feeling it was going to be a long night, so I picked up the menu on the table.
“Would you like a drink?”
Tracy leaned out of the booth and yelled. “Bestie, what you drinking?”
“Girl, I don’t know. Get back in your booth and spend time with your date!” Rachel giggled.
Tracy smacked her lips. “Ugh! I guess I’ll do a glass of Hennessy.”
I nodded and waved the waiter over to place our drink order. I would’ve grabbed myself a beer, but I was driving and didn’t want to risk getting pulled over, so I stuck with a glass of water.
“So,” I said, once the waiter had left. “Tell me about yourself, Tracy.”
“What do you want to know?” she sighed, scrolling on her phone.
“Well, where are you from? What do you do for a living? How old are you?”
“I’m from here, and I’m twenty. I’m in between jobs, but I want to be an entrepreneur.”
“Oh, yeah?” I asked with a lift of my eyebrows. “What type of business do you want to start?”
“Who said I wanted to start a business?” She snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “See, that’s what’s wrong with niggas these days. They don’t listen.”
My head shook in disbelief. “Whoa! I am listening to you, Tracy. You said you wanted to be an entrepreneur, and I wanted to know more about what business you were going to start up.”
“Just because I said I was going to be an entrepreneur doesn’t mean that I wanted to start my own business.”
I looked around the restaurant before turning around to look at George. Was I getting punked? This had to be a joke because this was crazy. Clearing my throat, I ran my hand down my beard.
“I-uh, I’m sorry, Tracy. How about we change the subject?” I suggested as the waiter sat down our drinks.
Tracy scoffed before picking up her cup and taking it straight back.
I had to admit; I was scared as fuck. It wasn’t as if I didn’t drink or had never conversed with other women who drank, but this was different.
She threw back half the cup of brown liquor and didn’t flinch.
I’m not a punk, but gotdamn. My entire chest would’ve been on fire, especially if I didn’t have a chaser.
“Let’s get to the chase,” Tracy said, waving the waiter back over before ordering another drink. “You’re fine as fuck. Geo said you were nerdy, but I don’t see it.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Uh, thanks.”
“Anyway, if you’re down to fuck, I am willing to fuck you too.”
I choked on my water. “W-what? Me too?”
She nodded. “I mean, technically, Rachel and I were going to share Geo, but he insisted on bringing you. Something about you probably not getting any pussy, and I was only invited to help remedy that. Consider it a favor.”
She shrugged her shoulders as the waiter set another drink down in front of her. I stared at her in incredulity because there was no way that I was hearing what I had just heard.
“What kind of weirdo wannabe dysfunctional ass fake ass twin shit is that?” I spat, standing up from the table.
“Yo, it’s not a big deal. Stop acting like a crybaby punk bitch.” Tracy laughed, throwing back the rest of her drink. “Let me help break your dry spell, and then we can go on about our business.”
My jaw clenched as I balled my hands into fists before shoving them into my pockets.
I am usually not the type to get mad or raise my voice, but there was a part of me that wanted to curse her ass out.
Looking over at George, the smile on his face faltered, and he immediately dropped his head.
Of course, that muthafucka wasn’t about to say shit.
Luckily for him, I would talk for both of us.
Standing from my seat, I stood next to George and glared down at him. “What the fuck?”
George exhaled before turning to face me.
“Look, I was only trying to help. I mean, I have the perfect opportunity to fuck both women tonight, but I wanted to do you a solid. Tracy was willing to relieve that built up frustration you have before she came back with Tracy and me. Technically, she didn’t want to, but that was the only way I was going to accept both of them. ”
“Wow!” I yelled sarcastically. “So, I was solely collateral damage?”
“Bro-” George began, but I had already pulled out my wallet and dropped a fifty-dollar bill on the table.
“Consider my debt paid. I’m gone.”
With that, I stormed out of the front door.
I can’t believe I wasted my gas for this shit.
I could’ve finished more of my gaming prototype, but no, I was out getting offered sympathy pussy.
Shaking my head, I hopped into my car and headed back towards my apartment.
The only upside about this night was that I wouldn’t have to deal with George’s ass again.
.