“Girl!” she winked. The guy finally turned at the sound of my voice.
“This is, ah, what’s your name again, sweetie?” she cooed.
“Jordan,” he offered in a deep voice.
“Yeah, this is my new friend Jordan,” Chante said. “See, I told you I was waiting on someone,” she said to him.
Jordan’s beady little eyes ran up every inch of my body then back down, before he pulled away and glanced back to Chante.
“Well, my girl’s here, so I’d better spend some time with her,” she told Jordan who hadn’t really taken his eyes off me. “You know how it is, gotta spread the love around.”
He looked at her then back at me. “What’s up? She don’t like to party?” he asked.
Chante and I looked at each other then started cracking up. “Come on, Jordan, my girl and I need to catch up. We’ll get together later, I promise. But right now, we’ve got some private business to discuss,” she said like she was talking to a three-year-old.
Jordan took her hand to his lips and planted a kiss there. I rolled my eyes, but waited while he worked his jelly. “I’ll be at the bar waiting on you,” he promised. You’d think the two knew each other for years.
We admired the view as he walked away, then started looking over the menu.
“It is so packed in here,” I said.
“That’s why I grabbed this table. I figured if I had waited any longer, we might be eating outside on the sidewalk,” she said.
Dinner went pretty well. We talked about clothes, music and the latest black celebrity gossip. I marveled at how easygoing Chante was, and how we interacted like old friends. By the time we had wrapped up dinner, Jordan had passed by our table at least three times. Each time he did, he and Chante exchanged “fuck me” looks. I thought it was funny. I thought about telling girlfriend she shouldn’t be giving up the goods for free, but that would have led us down a conversational path I wasn’t ready to go down, so I kept it to myself. “Well, so what’s up for tonight?” I asked as I rose from the table with my doggie bag in hand.
“I’m gonna see what Jordan is talking about, then I’m gonna hook
up with you guys. Where are y’all partying tonight?” she asked.
“We'll be at Sensations tonight. Or at least I will. Simone has an appoint-I mean a date tonight, and I’m not sure about Diane.”
“Even if it’s just you, me and Bella, I’m sure we’ll have a good time,” Chante said.
“Why don’t you meet us at my place and ride with us?”
“Sounds good.”
“You sure lover boy is gonna cut you loose?” I asked.
“Please,” she said as stood up. “After I work him over for a few hours, he’ll be begging me to get out.” I gave her a hug and turned to leave.
Hours later, when we walked up into the place the way we do, Chante fit right in. We watched from our table as other half-naked women jockeyed for attention. Some tables were stacked with drinks. To the left of our table, a few ladies were having a divorce party, with the guest of honor wobbling in and out of her seat. A couple of her friends were doing seductive lap dances in their chairs as her friends cheered on, while another one held a camcorder.
“You having a nice time?” Chante asked.
I nodded, and then took a sip from my drink. I was having a blast. The dance floor was packed and the music was thumping. I sipped my drink again and enjoyed the atmosphere. Waiters walked around like busy mice, quickly running through the maze of a club from table to table.
It was about one-thirty in the morning when Simone and Diane walked into the place. “Hey, ladies. How’d it go tonight?” I asked as we each exchanged hugs.
“Great, Jada,” Diane said quickly. “It don’t even take me long to do what I gotta do.”
“Must not have been all that. Who comes to the club after a great date?” Chante asked.
Bella quickly looked away like she didn’t know us. Simone and Diane looked at her and then to me, with that handle-your-girl look on their faces.
“What?” Chante smiled and hunched her shoulders. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, Chante. You didn’t say anything wrong,” I said, searching for something to tell her. “A great date doesn’t mean you got to give up the goods.” Then I flipped it back on her. “I see you here after your date with Jordan.”