"I needed that," he said. "Meeting a mother always makes me thirsty."
"I bet you've met a few," Buzz said. "Are you from Philly?" he asked me.
I nodded. There was so much noise in the club, you had to shout to be heard and I knew what that would do to my throat in short order.
"You know how dangerous this guy is that you're with?" Michael kidded.
I shrugged.
"His life story is X-rated."
"You're right," Buzzy said after more laughter. "She's cool. She doesn't look a bit worried, Shawn. In fact. I think you'd better start worrying."
The music began again.
"You like this music, Ice?" Sonny asked. grimacing.
"She loves it," Shawn said. "She's a jazz-aholic."
"Sure," Michael said. "You know this one?" he asked nodding at the band.
I smiled.
"It's a Benny Goodman tune," I said, They all turned to me. "Called 'After Awhile,' It's about 1929," I told them. Their mouths opened, jaws dropped.
"She's kidding. right?" Buzzy asked Shawn. He shook his head.
"Her mother said she's into it and guess what," he added, "she sings, too,"
"No. All this and talented too?" Michael cried. The other girls looked annoyed at the attention I was Zetin2. Dolores finally got Sonny to get up and dance and then Shawn asked me if I would like to dance.
I smiled to myself, remembering some of the steps Daddy had taught me.
I nodded and we tot up. Shawn had no rhythm and couldn't do much more than pretend. but I ignored him, closed my eyes and let the music into inc. I didn't realize how I was stealing the attention of the entire audience until the music ended and people applauded, looking more at me than they did the band. The leader, a tall black man with gray temples and friendly eyes, smiled.
When we returned to our table, the boys were all raving about me and the girls were looking much more annoyed. Shawn ordered another drink for himself. I had just taken a sip of mine.
"C'mon, drink up," he urged. "We've got a lot of night ahead of us. . ."
More reason to drink slowly, I thought, but everyone was ordering another drink by now.
We danced some more. Dolores tried to capture more attention with some very sexy moves. When Sonny asked me to dance, she looked like she would leap over the table to scratch out my eyes.
"Go on. Give him a thrill,' Shawn told me. "I'd rather not." I said as gently as I could.
It seemed to take the laughter from all their eyes. When everyone was drinking and being silly, there was no room for any serious thoughts. I realized. It put a damper on things.
"That's being cold," Michael told Sonny. "Now I see the ice."
"Hey, give her a rest," Buzzy said. "Besides. it's time she sang." I shook my head.
"No." I said.
He didn't listen. He jumped up and went to the bandleader. who looked my way and nodded. fuzzy beckoned to me.
"Go on," Shawn urged. "Show them a thing or two,"
"No," I said shaking my head. People in the audience were all looking at me.