Where would I fit in the omnificent world of Maceo? How could I even walk next to him?
Surely, that ego would shove me into traffic as we strolled on the sidewalk.
The other reason why I wouldn’t date him was because he propositioned me like I was a gold digger or prostitute. Granted, my brothers and I desperately needed a discount on the plumbing emergency.
But, I’d seen enough craziness happen to my friends to never fall into the habit of taking money from men. Once you received a hand out, the guy figured he owned the woman. Then, he controlled her in every way possible, from judgmental comments on what to wear and where to go, to limiting the foods they ate or even the people they talked to.
Not me. Not now. Not ever.
I saved dollars like a squirrel held onto nuts in preparation for the winter. My brothers and I had enough funds for the pipe replacement. I’d just hoped to use that money for a new air conditioning system. Our units worked, but didn’t keep the club as cool as it should.
Oh well. Maybe, I’ll save up enough by this summer.
Sitting right next to me, Maceo leaned my way and draped me in that delicious cologne. “Are you paying attention? This guy is my top pick so far.”
For whatever reason, I hadn’t been paying attention. Instead, I just kept tapping my pencil against my pad of paper. I directed my view back to the audition.
A hunk gyrated on stage, wearing only a leather cowboy hat, solid black chaps, and a silver G-string packed to bulging perfection. The sight was a good one and gave me no complaints. I couldn’t believe I had even looked away.
“That’s right, baby. Wrangle that herd on home for mama!” Cora raised her hands in the air and clapped along to the country music blasting out of the speakers.
A silent Maria sipped her wine and stared at the piece of paper in her hand. She’d managed to grab a phone number from the guy she pointed to earlier outside, who actually had moved to Miami from Spain.
I bet a hundred dollars that Maria is daydreaming about the things she’ll be doing with him the next time she sees him. She’ll be no help the rest of the day with these try outs.
Maceo tilted closer to me … too close. If he moved in another inch, his arm would be pressed against mine and his lips brushing my ear. “You don’t seem impressed.”
“This guy is okay. So far he’s only danced in the center. He’ll have to do more to get the audience’s attention. After seeing their third or fourth naked guy, women want more theatrics than hip-swinging.” I pointed to the long rope that hung in the middle. “He should be grabbing that rope and using it to propel his body around, at least.”
“Like the last one?” Maceo scribbled something down on his pad. He’d been doing that for the past hour. Now that we were into the last two auditions, I wondered what he was writing.
“Yes, just like the last one.” I tried to get a look at what Maceo had wrote, but he moved it out of my eyesight. “What did you putdown?”
“My notes.” He frowned. “Why?”
“You’re taking this pretty seriously.”
“I have to. This is some guy’s dream and a beautiful woman’s business.” He returned his attention to the stage, right as the cowboy leapt up and grabbed a hold of the bars attached to the ceiling. “He may not have stage presence, but he’s athletic. Women like that, right?”
The cowboy did several pull ups with the beat. His muscles rippled with the action as his hat fell to the floor. When the chorus chimed in, he swung his legs up to the ceiling, planted his feet on the high surface, and commenced to humping the fixtures.
My whole table had to turn their heads sideways just to get a good look at the molestation of my lights.
“Not bad at all.” I nodded.
Maceo’s frown deepened. “Poor light bulbs.”
“Or happy ones, depending on what sex they are.”
Maceo wrote a couple things on his pad and flipped it over before I could get a look.
“What did you put down?” I motioned to his notes.
He widened his eyes and held the pages to his chest in mock shock. “None of your business.”
“Why can’t I see what you’re writing?”
“I don’t like to share my methods of judging dancers.”
“Oh.” I smiled. “You have methods?”
“Of course.”
“So it’s some sort of elaborate scoring system?”
“Pretty much. Five different categories. This performer received the top score so far. Although, I’ve taken points away for the light bulbs. Not cool. The lights have feelings, too.”
The cowboy jumped back down to the stage right as the song ended, did a bow, and blew kisses to all of us, especially Maceo. Most of the dancers had been giving him winks all night. It didn’t necessarily mean the men were homosexual.