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She hitSENDon Cash App, then slipped her phone back in her purse.
Iris knew the money wouldn’t be well-spent. Lark would go right back to Tom probably in a day or two, but that wasn’t her issue, and like she’d told her friend, her days of interfering in the matter were over. She refused to get involved directly anymore as it was a waste of time. Yet, she cared about those kids, and she loved Lark, too, despite the woman being grossly dependent on a man who was disgustingly insecure and mentally abusive, not believing she could truly make it without him.
Iris waved to another friend from back in the day, and good feelings warmed her all over as she stepped further into the pleasantries of her past connections. It wasn’t so bad, and if she said so herself, she was happy she didn’t miss this experience.
She caught a glimpse of herself in a wall of mirrors. Her curly afro was brushed slightly back from her face with a wide white satin headband. She’d paired it with gold hoop earrings, and a plum halter top jumpsuit she’d purchased for six bucks from a thrift store. She completed the outfit with a sheer gold shawl.
“There’s my beautiful first wife. Still pretty as hell!”
She jumped when the tall, skinny bastard popped up on her like a Jack-in-the-box.
He must be a damn vampire. Even with all of these mirrors, I didn’t see his crazy behind coming over here. She swished her drink around and sucked her teeth.I wish I had some garlic and a crucifix…
“So, what’s been up, queen?”
“Nothin’. Now that you have your answer, you can go on back to whatever gutter you done crawled out of, Pennywise.”
With a chuckle, Bennet sidled up next to her, cigarette in hand, and took a seat as if he’d been invited to stay and have a chat. He leaned in, invading her personal space, trying to look seductive and slick. The years seemed to have been hard on him. Dark circles surrounded his puffy eyes. His hairline looked slightly receded, the whites of his eyes bore a pinkish hue. Certainly, he didn’t appear as polished and put together as she remembered. She smiled at this realization.See? God don’t like ugly, but he beat you with the ugly stick all the same. Good. You ain’t as cute as you used to be, you ol’ rotten piece of dog shit…God sho is good!Perhaps she really was a mean old lady like Ayanna had stated one night in her dramatic, teenage, teary mode, after she’d forbidden the girl to go out with some random boy.I bet Bennet still got the mind of a boy, too.
Pockmarks along his cheeks were a product of battling acne in his teenage years. Now that face got too close, zoning in on her with his beady snake eyes. She focused on his thick goatee, the infamous breach between his two front teeth that had ironically been the source of great sexual pleasure when they were husband and wife, and his neat, low Caesar haircut, full of natural waves with a sprinkle or two of silver. His signature look. Dressed a bit too young for his age, he tried to act cool and yawned, as if the party was dead were it not for his presence.
Placing his drink down on the table, he whispered in her ear, “You lookin’ good, baby. Mmmm… Mmmm… Mmmm! Good enough to eat!”
His garish laughter rang in her ears.
“Get out of my mothafuckin’ ear with all of that whisperin’,” she snapped. “I don’t want yo’ hot breath near my face. Liable to give me the first STD documented in history that’s transferred from mouth vapors to an ear canal, all startin’ from the stank ass air comin’ out from between your crusty lips. Lips so cracked, you got drug addicts runnin’ ’round here tryna put your mouth in a pipe and smoke it.”
He hollered with laughter, but she wasn’t trying to amuse him in the least.
“Damn, baby. I hope you’re not still mad about that old shit. We’re older now. You gotta get up and around that.” He pulled back and stared at her, seeming to think he’d really said something smart. As if he somehow had changed the tide and made a difference. All their time apart had done was remind her that she was in a much better place in life. What a waste of time and energy he’d been.
“You want to dance, baby girl?”
“Bennet, go on now. You don’t want any of this. Go out there somewhere and ruin someone else’s night.” She pointed to where people were dancing. “I’m sure you’re up to the challenge. Destruction is yo’ middle name. Leave me be.”
“How’s your mama doing?” he asked, ignoring her call to action.
“She’s all right. She never liked you.”
At that, he burst out laughing again, as if she’d said the best joke in the whole damn world.
“I know that.” He tapped his cigarette in a nearby ashtray, then brought it to his lips. Ringlets of smoke curled out the sides of his mouth. “But she was the only mama I had, if you really think about it.”
“Well, before I bring out my tiny violin and play you a ballet full of sadness and sorrow, a number I like to call, ‘My Egotistical Ex, Sonnet 13,’ you can always give her a call and then when she realizes it’s you, get hung up on. She plays a mean dial tone. She’s going out on tour soon.”
Her words no doubt tickled him as he guffawed.
“Damn, girl… You still nasty nice I see, Iris. That was the funny thang ’bout you. You could be sweet as a damn angel one minute, and vicious as a python the next. Whew, you had a mouth on you, girl! That mouth could be used for good or evil. You could kiss me and suck this meat like nobody else, baby… mmm mmm mmm! Turn around and cuss somebody out like they stole somethin’.”
“…Youdidsteal somethin’. My peace of mind. I found it again though, and I will never put my happiness in the hands of another again. I thank you for the lesson. I’m over that now though.”
“Sure don’t seem like it. If you’re still holding a grudge, that means you ain’t over it at all. You ain’t over me, girl. And that’s all right. We had some good times together. I ain’t forgot about you, either. I will admit one damn thing though. Yo pussy was the best I eva had. You was damn good in bed, too. I gotta give credit where credit is due. I know whoever got my leftovers is happy as hell.”
Zap Mama crooned ‘Sweet Melody,’ but she felt anything but sweet.
“Just because somebody still don’t like you after a long time don’t mean they’re holding a grudge, Bennet. Sometimes people just don’t give a shit about certain people who were in their past. It’s like the person never existed. You barely remember a thing about them, with the exception of knowing it’s a person you don’t want anything to do with, ever again. So you can let those old memories of our romps in the hay go. Nothin’ on my body will you ever see, feel, taste, or slide inside of again. You’re still full of yourself, I see.” She took a sip of her drink.
“Confidence is key. You told me when we first met that I wasn’t gettin’ no honey from you. I proved that was a lie. If I can get you once, I can get you again.”
