“Hey, Chante,” Bella finally said. She was smiling the way she always does, so I couldn’t be sure.
“Where we going?” I said as we got to Jada’s 500 Benz.
“Sensations,” Simone said.
“Again?” I said quickly.
“What, you don’t like Sensations?” Simone asked.
“I like it, but we were just there the other night,” I said and Bella looked at me. “Why don’t we go someplace else?”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Jada said and got in the car. Diane got in the front seat; I sat in the back between Simone and Bella. Once we were all in, Jada asked, “Where you wanna go, Chante?”
“What about the Twenty-Grand Club?” I suggested, but anywhere other than Sensations was fine with me. The only reason they were even on Lieutenant Gineconna’s radar was because they were operating so high-profile in the middle of his drug investigation. I was sure that if I kept them out of Sensations and out of Sam’s reports, Gineconna would forget all about these ladies.
“Haven’t seen you in a couple of days, Chante, what’s been up?” Jada asked. I could see her piercing eyes in the rearview mirror.
“You remember I said my paper was getting a little short? Well, I’ve actually been thinking about looking for a job.” I wanted to start laying some foundation for when my job started preventing me from doing lunch. Diane and Jada exchanged glances. Diane smiled and Jada looked in the mirror. “I just been gettin’ my resume together and whatnot, but it’s a start, right?” I couldn’t tell if she was looking for a reaction from Bella. I glanced at Bella. She was staring out the window as if nothing I said amounted to a hill of beans. I was way too paranoid and it was starting to get on my nerves.
“Tough break,” Diane said, “having to get a job and all. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find a job doing something that you like.”
“Yeah, maybe I will,” I said and shank into my seat.
It was a completely different event when we went to other clubs. No limousine, no major entrance, no reserved table. We parked the car three blocks from the club and had to walk. We stood in line for twenty minutes and there was nowhere to sit once we got inside. Low profile. That’s how I intended to keep them. I think they preferred it this way, except Simone. She, more than Bella and Diane, reveled in the attention they got at Sensations. Out of the spotlight Jada, Diane and Bella don’t leave the dance floor, but not Simone. Not being much of a dancer, you’ll always find her posted up at the bar, surrounded by men and holding court. The dance floor belongs to the three former shake dancers. Men come and dance with them, but eventually they fade away; usually when they realized that each lady was trying to out dance the others and were paying them no mind.
Of the three, Diane was by far the better dancer, while Jada was more seductive. And even though she may stumble every now and then, Bella is a “saltshaker” that had men mesmerized. Me, I flow somewhere in between. I can hold my own on the dance floor, but I’m nowhere near the level the ladies are on. So I drifted to the bar where Simone was in rare form. One of her suitors asked her to dance. “I won’t dance with you, but maybe Chante will,” she said and dismissed him with a hand. He was fine, so I danced with him.
When I came off the dance floor, Jada did to. She followed me back to the bar where Simone was. It wasn’t long before some good-looking man was handing me a drink. “Here you go, sweetie,” he said and began talking to me like I had known him all his life. Suddenly, I became aware that Jada was standing next to me.
“Chante,” Jada said and touched my arm, “do you have any plans after you leave here?”
“No. What’s up?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to ask you something.”
“What?” I asked, knowing she wanted to talk about me sweatin’ Bella.
“It’s really nothing-” Jada started. “But I was just wondering what you thought of me, Chante.”
Of all the shit that could’ve come out of her mouth, she asks me what I think of her. I wasn’t at all ready for that. “I don’t know.” I giggled and thought about an answer. “I like you, we’re friends, I guess.” And giggled again.
“I like you too, Chante. So that’s why when Bella said that you were-” Jada began.
“Hello, Ms. West,” a voice came from behind Jada.
When she turned to see who the voice belonged to, I got ready to give the speech I had ready.
“Ricky Stanton,” Jada said.
Oh shit! I thought as he stepped between us and kissed Jada on the cheek.
“How are you doing?” Ricky asked. He took a step back and looked at me. I could tell I looked familiar to him.
“I’m doing fine, Ricky.” Jada turned to me. “This is my friend-”
“Chante. We met a couple of months ago at Sensations. How’s the music business?” I asked him quickly before he remembered that he gave me Jada’s number after I got him drunk.
“Busy. Always something going on,” he said and turned to Jada. “Look, I gotta run, but I wanted to tell you we’re having a little party tomorrow night at my house. The One finished his next album, so if you’re not doing anything stop by.”