“Aw, squash it, Janessa,” Tempest lashed back at her. “Cardio-karate is the bomb. You need to start doing the class three times a week like I do.” She turned around, positioned her spandex-clad ass in Janessa’s face, and slapped it for her benefit. “See this tight ass? I’m telling you, this shit pays off, gurl!”
“Hmm, quick question. What’s the point of having a slamming body if you’re holding out on your pussy like it’s a golden ticket from a Willy Wonka Chocolate Bar?” The eagle’s-eye view of Tempest’s ass was beginning to lose its appeal, so she added, “Kindly remove your buffalo butt from my face, please!”
“Buffalo butt?” Tempest took the towel from around her neck and slapped Janessa upside the head with it. “I look damn good, and you know it.”
“It’s all good, Tempest,” Janessa replied, giving credit where credit was due. Tempest was the bomb, and not just because she was her homie. “Just don’t ask me to come to any more of these classes, because my back can’t handle it. I’m celibate, so my joints are kind of stiff. Wait till I start getting my freak on again on a regular basis, I’ll show your buffalo-butt ass up in class. Like I always say, this is a sorry-ass substitute for fucking.”
Tempest straddled the bench and faced her. “Aiight, time for a heart-to-heart.”
Janessa played dumb. “About?”
Tempest punched her on the arm. Hurt like all hell, too. “About your little note from last night, Miss Thang!”
“Oh, that!” Janessa rolled her eyes and diverted them to the floor, waiting for her tongue-lashing. “Listen, Tempest, before you jump down my throat, I’m convinced I did the right thing. If I’d left it up to you, another good man would’ve slipped right through your fingers.”
There was an uncomfortable silence. Janessa could feel Tempest staring a hole through her. She couldn’t take it anymore. She jumped up and leaned against the lockers, crossing her arms in front of her. “Say something, dammit!”
Tempest glanced up at her. “What do you expect me to say, Janessa?”
“I dunno. Sheesh! Cuss me out, call me a trifling bitch, tell me I’m on your shit list, or sumptin!”
“Okay, I’ll say something.” Tempest stood up and got all up in her grill. Janessa felt a pimp-slap coming on. Instead Tempest kissed her gently on the cheek. “Thank you, sis!”
“Thank you?” Janessa was lost like a whore in church. “Am I hearing things up in here?”
“No, you’re not hearing things.” Tempest chuckled, grinning from ear to ear. “Thanks for hooking me up with Geren. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Say what?” Janessa sat back down on the bench before she keeled the fuck over. “You mean you’re actually happy about all of this?”
“Very happy!” Tempest opened her locker and got out her gym bag. “Come on, let’s hit the showers so we can go shopping for that bomb-ass dress you demanded I get for the wedding.”
“Damn, damn, damn! Do miracles never cease?”
“Don’t look so shocked. Like you said, he is attractive, successful and unattached. Why not go for it?”
“Exactly my point.” Janessa got up to get her bag out of her locker. “I just knew you were going to open a can of whup-ass on me. What a relief!”
They both fell out laughing. “Normally, I would. Most of your notes do piss my ass off. This one was a far cry from the last one, though. Remember?”
Janessa played dumb again. “Nope, sure don’t.”
“Yeah, right, trick.” Tempest chuckled. “Last year about this time, you wrote me a note telling me that you accidentally let Everett, that dude I was interested in, ram his dick up in you.”
Janessa turned her back to Tempest, ashamed. “That was an accident! I swear!”
“It doesn’t matter.” Tempest giggled. “As it turned out, he was a two-minute brotha, and you e
nded up having to go through hell to get rid of his ass. That’s what you get. Better you than me!”
It was Janessa’s turn to hit Tempest with a towel. “You’re so mean!”
“Then there was the first note you ever wrote me. Way back in elementary school, about Steven Miller, the first boy I ever had a crush on. You kissed him on the playground, and you were afraid to tell me.”
“You did kick my ass for real then!” Just the mention of the ass-whupping made Janessa’s butt start to ache. “You wouldn’t speak to me for weeks.”
“You’ve always had a thing for my men.”
“Not all of them,” Janessa objected. “Just a couple of them.”