Natural Beauty (10 page)

Vinny
slapped his hand away. "What
are you doing in my...What are you doing in her apartment?"

Trent
looked at me. "Is he serious?"

I
started to get a little nervous.
Vinny
was being a
total jerk and I wasn't sure what version of Trent I was facing. Was it the
friendly drunk from last night, or was he going to be the usual foul-mouthed
obnoxious asshole I was used to. In either case, I needed to put an end to his
before someone got hurt. And given the size of Trent, I had a sneaky suspicion
it would be
Vinny
.

"We
had an office party last night. Trent was too drunk to drive so he stayed over.
Nothing happened," I said trying to calm the waters a bit.

"Mahogany,
you don't owe him any explanation," Trent said with a smirk. "You two
aren't together anymore."

What
exactly was he trying to do? He needed to stay out of this before things got
bad.

"You
need to mind your business, pretty boy,"
Vinny
said.

"Aw,
he thinks I'm pretty. Now, I know why you're not together. I think he's on the
wrong team, Mahogany." Trent laughed as he tucked in his shirt.

Vinny
didn't think it was the
slightest bit funny as evidenced by the punch he threw at Trent's face.

Oh
Lord drama. There was about to be a knock down drag out fight right there in my
living room.

But
to my surprise, Trent didn't retaliate. He rubbed his jaw for a second and then
said, "See you Monday, Mahogany," before grabbing his keys and
leaving.

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Accessories: This doesn’t mean your run of the mill
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~~~

I
dreaded seeing Trent that Monday morning. I didn't know why really. It wasn't
like we had done anything. Now
that
would be awkward. I still didn't understand how coworkers were able to casually
sleep together one night and then look at each other the next day at work. The
thought kind of grossed me out.

Anyway,
I didn't want to see Trent because I was just really embarrassed at how
Vinny
had behaved. I still couldn't believe he had punched
Trent.
Seeta
was right.
Vinny
was like a ten-year-old. And I was like one of his toys. He didn't want me, but
he also didn't want anyone else to have me.

But
as hard as it was to believe that
Vinny
had punched
Trent, it was even harder to believe that Trent hadn't punched him back. I
mean, I had gotten a glimpse of Trent's physique that night and he definitely
had all the equipment to put
Vinny
in a world of
hurt, but he didn't.
 

I
tried to sleep in Monday Morning. For me that means 7 a.m. I usually hop out of
bed at six no matter what. That morning I forced myself to stay in bed until
seven. I dressed slowly and took my time with breakfast. Even moving at a
snail's pace, I was still ready to leave the house at eight which meant I would
get to work by 8:30.
Still too early.
I didn't want to
run the risk of having too much alone time with Trent. And considering that
most of our coworkers had now started arriving at 9:30 or 10, I decided to try
to delay myself even more.

Apparently,
Trent and I thought too much alike because even though we both usually get to
work about a quarter to
8, that
Monday morning we both
arrived at 9:15.

Trent
and I hesitated at the elevator door. What if it broke down again and we were
stuck alone for an hour.

"I'm
going to take the stairs," he said when the elevator arrived on the ground
floor.

"Don't
be ridiculous, Trent. Just get in."

It
didn't get stuck. We arrived on our still empty floor seconds later. Trent held
the door open and let me step out first. I got a whiff of his cologne and had
to keep myself from leaning into him and taking a deep breath. He smelled
really good.
Had he always smelled that good?

"Thanks
again for Friday night," he said as he was about to retreat to the break
room.

"Trent
wait
," I said after setting down my purse.
"Can I ask you something?"

Trent
walked towards our desks and put down his briefcase. He didn't say anything. In
his regular Trent way, he just stared at me. I decided to just go ahead and
ask.

"Why
didn't you hit him back?" I asked finally.

He
took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Was he cursing in his head? Since he
didn't take out any money to add to the jar I assumed not. But I could tell
there was a lot going on in his head.

"I
wanted to. I really did. But you still love him and we still have to work
together. There are enough people who hate me at this job. I don't need to add
another."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Who says I still love
Vinny
?"

"No
one has to say. You forget. I'm an expert at knowing when a woman is in love
with another man." He stared into my eyes for several moments.

He
was right of course. For all his faults, I still loved
Vinny
.
I had been with him so long it was almost like I didn't know how
not
to love him.

"But
trust me," Trent said still staring at me. "If that ever changes, I
will gladly knock
the
sh
-" Trent pressed his eyes shut then reached into his pocket. "You get
my point," he said after dropping a dollar into his jar.

Yep,
I totally got his point.

Twist
out: A style formed by untwisting hair that has been in two-strand twists for a
period of time.
Very effective in stretching the hair and
combating shrinkage.

~~~

Hair
tip #16: Try two-strand twists on dry hair in order to retain as much length as
possible. After sectioning the hair, spray a little moisturizer and water, but
do not saturate the hair. Twist the hair and let it dry again fully before
attempting to untwist. The twists themselves can be a style for a few days
before a twist out is attempted.

~~~

"So,
how much money do you have on you?"
Carnece
asked over the phone. Since she rarely called me at work, I expected this to be
really important. Not an inquiry about my bank statement for a shopping trip or
something.

"Do
you mean on me?
Or in the bank?"

"Do
you think you can get your hands on like five hundred dollars in the next hour
or so?"

"I
guess. Why?"

"I'm
in jail."

~~~

Well,
this was a first. I had never had to bail someone out of jail before. I thought
about letting her just stay there, but considering she was perfectly willing to
help me cover up the suggested murder of my ex-boyfriend, I figured I better go
help her out.

"What
did you do?" I asked as we walked out of the police station.

Carnece
had to pull down her too tight,
too short mini skirt and practically run to keep up with me.

"Let's
just say it was a bad break up."

"A
break up that lands you in jail? Yeah, I'd say that's bad." I didn't know if
I wanted to know the details. But as we rode in the taxi to my place I found
myself beyond curious. What did she do? After a few minutes, my imagination got
the better of me. "So, what -"

"I
drove my car into his house," she said interrupting me.

"You what?"

"I
drove my car into his house."

"Carlos?
Why?"

Carnece
sighed. "I thought I loved
him. But the bitch that was in his bed told me I was wrong."

~~~

"Eleven
kids!"
Carnece
said passing the merlot back to
me an hour later. "I knew something was wrong with that man. No one spells
James with two ‘A’s."

I
took a sip of wine. "That's just what Trent said."

"Trent, huh?"

"Yeah,
if I remember correctly, Trent assured me that anyone who spells James with two
‘A’s has to be a prick."

"Trent,
huh?" she said again. "So, what's his story?"

"Who?"

"Don't
play stupid. Trent. What's up with him?"

I
shrugged. "He doesn't have a story. He's just a guy from work. I used to
think he was simply an annoying jerk. Just another person at work I would not
like to spend any more time with than I needed to. But he was actually turning
into one of the few people at work I could tolerate. "Have you ever dated
a white guy?" I don't know why I asked that. I guessed I was just curious.
Vinny
was my first boyfriend and he was Indian. I
guess you could say I technically dated James though it was only three dates
and he was black. My dating experience was admittedly limited. My limited
dating experience did not include white men. That was mostly because I never
had the opportunity. You would think attending a predominantly white university
would give me plenty of chances, but I found my experience was quite the
opposite. I had never been asked out by a white boy before. Interracial dating
just didn't happen. That's not to say interracial hook ups didn't happen. Once
the lights go out everybody looks the same so there were no boundaries on sex.
But the romance just didn't happen.

I
think that was part of the reason
Vinny
and I got
together. Both black students and international students were marginalized at
Cobalt University.
 
When we didn't get
invitations to the white mixers and frat parties, we had our own. Sometimes I
honestly felt he chose me by default. There was no one else to go out with so
why not me?

"Can
I just say, I think it is completely hilarious that you have finally joined my
world?"
Carnece
said.

"What
do you mean?"

"The single life.
It's crazy out there. And this
is the first time you've ever had to actually deal with it.
Vinny
was your first boyfriend and he lasted almost seven years. Now you're finally
getting a taste of what the dating world is really like."

"Well,
I can honestly say, I don't like the flavor."

"Please,
you are just getting started. Wait till you’re at it for a few years. Then you
will really have some stories."
Carnece
kicked
her four inch electric blue pumps across the room and put her feet on the
coffee table. "You remember the guy who asked me my shoes size on our
first date?"

"No,
I don't remember that," I said.

"Well,
on the second date he bought me four pairs of shoes."

"Are
you complaining about new shoes? You can't complain about new shoes."
Seeing that my glass was empty again, I set it down and just picked up the
bottle. Considering I had just bailed her out of jail, I didn’t think
Carnece
would look down on me for drinking straight out of
the bottle.

"Oh
yes I can,” she replied. “After dinner he took out a camera and asked me to
change my shoes over and over again."

"That's
so weird."

"I
know right? What's even weirder is that I dated him for three more months after
that!"

I
almost choked on my wine. "You're kidding right?"

"He
had really good taste in shoes."

Carnece
and I looked at each other and
burst out laughing. I wasn’t sure who was crazier at that point, a man obsessed
with women’s shoes or the woman who dates him.

When
the laughter subsided slightly,
Carnece
said,
"And then there was the professional Scrabble player."

"How
do you make a living playing Scrabble?"

"You
don't.
Which is why he lived with me for like two months.
"

"But
still, a shoe fetish and a scrabble addiction doesn't quite beat eleven
children,"

"Maybe not.
But what about that guy who was
on the Maury
Povich
show twice. Once because three
different women claimed he was their baby daddy and then once because his
two-year-old literally weighed 97 pounds."

"Maybe
I don't want to do this dating thing. Maybe I should just find a way to make it
work with
Vinny
."

"Oh,
‘make it work,’” she said with air quotes. “That sounds so romantic."

"Well,
I've invested a lot into that relationship.
Maybe too much to
let go."

"Listen
to you.
Maybe this.
Maybe that.
I may not be the best one to offer relationship advice, but I seriously think
love shouldn't be about maybe. It should be a feeling so strong you can't
breathe without that person."

What
she said made sense. I wanted that kind of love.
Which was
odd because honestly, I felt I could breathe so much better without
Vinny
.
As a matter of fact, I felt like I could
breathe for the first time in my life.