The Playa Chronicles (9 page)

But not today.

Man, it ain’t easy, but not today.
 

“Good-bye, Yvette.”

“Good-bye, Rick.”

I closed the door behind her and headed for the bathroom. I stopped to change the radio station back to jazz. It’s not that I don’t like Rap, but I wasn’t feeling like all that. I glanced out the window to see if Yvette was gone. I felt a cold chill come over me as I watched April pull into the driveway, blocking Yvette in. April got out of her car and walked toward Yvette. I fought the urge to run out there, so I just stood there, looking on in horror at what Yvette was saying.

Whatever she was saying, April seemed to be taking it well.

Yvette must have said something funny, ’cause April was laughing like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.

Yvette turned away and April went back to her car and let Yvette out. Realizing that I had no shirt on, I scrambled to put it on before April unlocked the door and walked in.

“Hey, baby, you ready to go?”

“Not yet. I was about to get in the shower when Yvette showed up.”

“Who? Who’s Yvette?”

“The woman you were just talking to outside.”

“Hold up. Something ain’t right here. She knew my name and she seemed to know exactly who I was; then she told me her name was Marie and that she came to pick something up for Victor. Now you’re telling me that her name is Yvette. So whose friend is she, Rick?”

“She does know Victor, but she’s my friend.”

“She made it seem like she was with Victor. Why she lie?” April sat down. “You need to tell me something more than that. Who is she?”

“I was out with Vic one night and he had pushed up on her friend, and he introduced me to her. But I ain’t interested in her.”

“Well, if you ain’t interested in her, what was she doing here and why did she think she had to lie to me like that? If you ain’t interested in her, how’d she know where you lived?”

“Victor told her.”

“Oh yeah, right, Victor told her. You can do better than that Rick. Why would Victor tell her where you lived?”

“I don’t know why Victor told her. I didn’t invite her, she just showed up.” She didn’t believe a word I was saying, and the worse part of it was
,
I was telling the truth. I get caught with another woman after all this time and can honestly say there is nothing going on, and she doesn’t believe me. I was innocent, this time, and I had to convince her.

“Victor knows . . .” I looked at April and picked up the phone. “Pick up the phone in the kitchen.”

April got up and went in the kitchen. She picked up the phone. “Who you callin’?”

“Victor. Don’t say nothing, just listen.”

The phone rang and rang. Maybe he wasn’t home. I needed Victor to answer the phone. He finally answered the phone on the fifth ring.

“Hello.”

“What’s up, Vic?”

“Oh, what’s up, playa? Oh, I’m sorry. I
mean,
ex-playa.”

“Vic, why did you tell Yvette where I lived?”

“I thought about that as soon as I said it. Hey, man, she tricked me.”

“When did all this
trickin
’ happen?”

“Last night. I met her and Beverly. I was tryin’ to get you to go. Didn’t you get my message?”

“Yeah, Vic, I got it. Didn’t you get mine?”

“No, I left work early yesterday.”

“You got a three way?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Check your messages.”

“Huh?”

“Check your messages, Victor.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, Vic.”

“Damn! Hold on, playa.”

When Victor put us on hold, April came out of the kitchen. “You don’t have to do this. I believe you.”

“Yes, I do. You
weren’t believin’
a word I was sayin’ a minute ago. You just keep listening.” Victor came back on the line.
Audix
told him that he had two messages. The first message was from
Beverly
.

“Victor, Yvette’s here wearing me out. I hope you told Rick to come so she can leave me alone. I’ll see you tonight. Bye.”

April stood in the doorway to the kitchen, looking dead at me. It couldn’t have worked out any better if I had planned it. The next message was mine.

“Vic, this is Rick. I got your message about tonight, but I ain’t gonna make it. I ain’t trying to be about all that with Yvette, or anybody else for that matter. Hope I ain’t messing up your night. Holla at me.”

“I’m sorry, playa,” Victor said.

“How’d she trick you?”

“I met them for happy hour last night. I was glad you didn’t show. It just gave me a reason to jet that much earlier. Anyway, Yvette told me she was supposed to be hanging out with some girl that lives near you, and she might stop by your house.”

“So you told her where I lived?”

“No, Rick, chill out. I didn’t believe you told her where you lived and I told her that. She said she’d been there before. Then she starts callin’ out street names:
Covington
and Miller and whatnot. Then she says, ‘What’s the name of the street he lives on? You know, Victor, it’s got kind of a funny name.’ And I just blurted it out. Why? Did she come by there?”

“Yeah, she just left.”

“
Ooops
, wasn’t
no
drama, was it?”

“Oh no, she just met April in the driveway,” I said calmly.

“Oh shit. What happened?”

“She told April that you sent her here.”

“I didn’t send that knucklehead over there, Rick, I swear. She’s lying.”

“I know she
lied
, Vic. I ain’t mad at you.”

“’Cause you know I wouldn’t do
no
dumb shit like that. Is April mad?”

“I don’t know. April, are you mad?”

“April’s there?”

“No, Rick, I’m not mad. Hey, Victor.”

“Oh shit. Hey, April.
You been
on the phone the whole time?”

“Yes, Victor, I heard everything.”

“And?” I asked.

“I believe you.”

“So, y’all just used me,” Victor said. “Is that what just happened here?”

“Yes, Victor, we used you,” April gave up.

“Thanks, Vic, I’ll get with you.”

“Now you’re through with me, huh? I just want you to know I don’t appreciate being used like this. But it’s cool. I’ll holla at you. You have a good day, April.”

“Bye, Victor.” April hung up the phone and came out of the kitchen.

“So you believe me now?”

“I believe that’s what happened, but that don’t end it. I just have a problem believing that some woman you met once would just show up here and think that she had to lie to me. There must be more to it than that.”

“She’s just aggressive like that.”

“Bullshit, try again. No, let me put it to you like this: You tell me what you did to make her just come by here, and why she had to lie to me?”

“Okay. I did go out to lunch with her once. But today was the first time I’ve seen her since then. We have talked a few times on the phone since then. But that’s it.”

“So, if that’s all there was to it, why did she feel like she had to lie to me?”

“’Cause she knows who you are. I talk about you all the time.”

“
You’re not understanding
me, Rick. Even if she knew who I was, why did she lie to me? I can’t get pass that.”

“I guess she thinks she has a chance.”

“Now we’re getting
some where
. So what did you do to make her feel like she has a chance of getting with you?”

“April, I swear, I ain’t doing nothing to encourage that girl.”

“What are you doing to discourage her?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t huh me. Did you tell her that you weren’t interested in her?”

“Not exactly.”

“Did you tell her that it would be easier to take the cold from snow then to make you cheat on me?”

“Not exactly.”

“You see what I’m saying? If you’re not doing anything to discourage her, you aren’t doing anything but making her think that she can get with you.”

I knew she was right, so I decided to say it out loud. “You’re right, April.”

“I know, I’m right.
I see what kind of person she is. She talks shit and she’s funny as hell. I’m for real. She had me
crackin
’ up out there. And I know you like that about her. But, Rick, you’re a flirt. You were a flirt when I met you and that hasn’t changed the whole time we’ve been together. I accept that about you. What you have to learn,
playa
, is that you can’t flirt with everybody.”

“You’re right, April. I messed up.”

“Yeah, you did. Okay, so this time it worked out. But you see the trouble this could have caused?”

“I sure do.”

“Suppose Victor wasn’t home? Suppose he deleted those messages? We’d be going for it right now and nothing you could have said would have convinced me that you hadn’t just gotten through having sex with her, and y’all just got caught.”

“And you would have been wrong.”

“But all that wouldn’t have been necessary. ’Cause it wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t allow it. Work with me, Rick. That’s all I’m saying. I know that you’re an attractive man and women are gonna try to get with you, but don’t put yourself in these positions. Ask yourself is flirting worth risking our trying to rebuild our relationship.”

My answer would always be no. So I said it out loud. “My answer would always be no. I love you.” But the damage was done. April told me that I wasn’t ready and went home. I stood in the driveway and watched her drive away, knowing that I’d just done more damage to relationship. Damage that maybe I couldn’t fix.
This shit sucks!

Vanessa was workin’ me. There was nothing else I can say about it. The girl was insatiable. She’d call me just about every
day,
and at all hours of the night.

“I’m coming over.”

Always a statement, never a question. But I don’t care, because sex with her is incredible, and we’d go for it into the early hours of the morning. There are plenty of days when I’m surprised that I can stay focused at work, because some nights I don’t sleep. Days like this one.

My feet began to hurt, so I sat down on the curb. If there was one thing I hated, it was waiting. I hate missing the beginning of a movie; I’d rather not see it. And it was getting dangerously close to that time. I looked at my watch; it was 8:05. The new Denzel Washington movie was going to start in five minutes and there was still no sign of Vanessa. I’d already checked my voice mail; there was no message from her saying she’d be late or wasn’t coming.

Slowly, but ever so surely, I was coming to the conclusion that she wasn’t gonna show up at all. And the thought of it pissed me off. Getting stood up was something I’d gotten used to dealing with, with Laura. I’ve never done anybody like that. I thought that it was just flat-out rude to have someone waiting for nothing.

At eight-ten, I had a decision to make. I had already paid for the tickets and saw no reason why I should miss the movie because she could tell time. Eight-ten came and left and there I was still sitting. By a quarter to nine I declared Vanessa a no show and stood up. I ripped the tickets in half and started walking toward the car. I saw a car that looked like hers coming toward me, I ran back and picked up what was left of the tickets. The car drove past me; it wasn’t her. I ripped the pieces again and threw them in the air this time.

On the way to the car I decided that I wanted a drink, but I didn’t feel like being bothered with anybody, so I walked to the liquor store in the plaza. When I walked into the store, the lady behind the counter was busy talking on the phone. She acknowledged me with her eyes.

“Pint of
Stoli
. No, make it a fifth.” I gave her my money and the lady handed me the bottle without a word. “You’re the second woman tonight to show me no respect,” I said to deaf ears as I walked out. I cracked the bottle on the way back to the car. “No point waiting,” I said. And turned up the bottle.

As I drove home I felt stupid, sitting there all that time waiting. Watching people go in to enjoy the movie I’d been talking about seeing for weeks. She knew how much I wanted to see it. The least she could have done was call and say she couldn’t make it. That was the least she could have done. I took another swallow. “No! The least she could have done was show up!” I shouted.

Once I got to the house, it was about nine-thirty, and I was feeling pretty good for somebody who just got stood up. I turned on the television in the living room and checked for messages.

You have no new messages in your mailbox.

I decided not to be bothered with getting a glass and continued my assault on the bottle. A third of the way through the bottle, I decided to move to the bedroom. It wasn’t too long after I’d laid down on the bed that I felt a good, drunken sleep coming over me. I didn’t try to fight it.