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I laugh. Susan's right, as usual. I had my event planner handle everything. Except Jerrick doesn't owe me a dime, I'm happy to cover tonight's festivities. And my gift-giving will be officially handled after tonight.
“You think she saw the invoice?” Jerrick asks, scratching across his low-cut fade.
“No, she just knows stuff. It’s a woman thing and why my life runs seamlessly.” I watch Alexandria and Susan dart from one end of the room to the other.
“So, you and Alex back doing y’all thang?”
I nod towards the door. I see Alexandria and Susan talking to a group of women. We slip out into the hallway. “I proposed to her.”
He stares at me tongue-tied. “To Alex? What? Did I miss something?”
“No. She agreed to pretend to be my fiancé through the end of the month.”
“Only you would think of something ridiculous as a fake fiancé. What did you have to do to get her to agree?” His eyes squint suspiciously.
“That’s between us.”
“And how will you let her go again once the month is over?”
"I'm sort of hoping she'll stay." I'm slipping down an oil-slick slope with her. But I can't stop it, and I don't want to. Why fight it?
“And if she doesn’t?”
“She will.” I meet his direct gaze. It’s best to change the subject because I’m not letting her go. “You guys should come by for dinner tomorrow. My folks are flying in for Christmas.”
"You're telling your mother about this fake fiancé business?" His says louder than I'd like.
“Man, please talk a little louder the city of New York would love to participate in this private conversation." I glance around, ensuring we don't have an audience.
“Your mother will start planning the baby shower. Watch. All I can say is, don’t do it.”
I shake my head. “Wasn’t it you who begged Susan to marry you?”
“Man…you promised to never speak about that night.”
"My bad." I cough to disguise my laughter. I swallow hard, fighting to keep a straight face.
"Aw, man… That's how you do me?" His hands are open in surrender. "You're supposed to be my boy. You out here clowning me." His face drops.
I can’t hold it any longer. I burst out laughing.
"She had you begging harder than James Brown." I heave for air. My side is cramping, but it keeps flowing out the more he stands there with that stupid look on his face. "Please baby baby baby please."
“You foul man.”
I wipe the tears from my eyes. I stretch back, trying to relieve my stomach.
"Laugh, all you want. I wasn't losing my woman for nothing."
“I know. But that was funny as hell.”
We sober up, turning back to the celebration. He wanted to move in together before getting married, and Susan wasn't having it. She returned his ring and told him to lose her number. I knew she was over it the moment she told me, "I'm a wife, and I'm not waiting around for him to recognize it." I did everything but tell him, but he didn't catch my hints.
That was the first time I truly understood the weight of marriage for some women. Alex and I always talked like marriage was inevitable until her parents arrived at her place unexpectedly and found me living there.
“Mateo, if you ever trusted your boy…trust me now. Don’t tell your Mom.”
I look into my best friend’s eyes. “It’s too late. She already knows. It was the only way to get them here.”
