“You never heard of Dorothy Dandridge?”
“No.”
“You’re kidding. In nineteen fifty-five she became the first African-American to be nominated for best actress in a leading role.”
“Nope. Never heard of her.”
I didn’t eve
n ask him if he wanted to go with me, which now, in retrospect, turned out fine. I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy watching one of my favorite movies with him sitting next to me fidgeting all night, checking his text messages, and bugging me about how much longer the movie is going to last.
As I expected, seeing Carmen Jones as it was intended, on the big screen, was magnificent. After the movie was over, I picked up my empty popcorn and soda trash like a good movie citizen, and got ready to leave the theater. I had just placed it in the garbage when I turned and bumped into somebody.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and I recognized the voice immediately.
“Victor?”
When I first heard his voice, my heart began to beat faster. It was beating so hard that it felt like it was going to burst through my chest.
“Natasha?”
Since my breath was caught in my throat it was hard to say anything, so I just nodded my head. I was excited to see him again and I was nervous all at once. Even though I knew it was wrong because I had been there with Lloyd, I wanted to talk to him more at the reception. But now here he is.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, and once again his voice shook me to my core.
And once again, I shook my head like a dummy; but this time, I managed to speak actual words. “You didn’t scare me. I just wasn’t expecting to see anybody that I knew.”
What I was, was shocked. Shocked to see him there and extremely curious to know what movie he was there to see. For some reason, I didn’t figure him as the “I’m going to see Carmen Jones” type. But you never know.
“What did you see?” I asked.
“Carmen Jones. It’s one of my favorite movies.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
I wondered whether it was a sign.
I mean, really. What are the chances that I would bump into him at this place, at this time? Especially when I’m starting to tire of Lloyd and this trophy nonsense?
“I know what you mean. I wasn’t expecting to see anybody I knew either; especially you, Natasha.” When he smiled at me it felt like I’d known him all my life; and his smile was the most familiar and satisfying thing I had ever experienced.
That’s when I noticed that he seemed to be looking around for somebody. Probably the woman he brought with him. She probably went to the ladies room while he took care of their trash. I was curious about it, so I asked, “What are you looking for, Victor?”
“Honestly?” he asked, and looked around again before leaning closer to me.
“Honestly.”
“I was looking around for your man.”
I laughed a little. “No, I’m a solo tonight.” I looked around in the same manner that he was.
He smiled. “What are you looking for, Natasha?”
“Honestly?” I asked, and looked around again.
“Honestly.”