I CHECKED THE TIME again. Oh hell no! It’s only like an hour and a half of Winter Formal left. This nigga ain’t even answering my calls. That is one thing I don’t play. I called Jaylen and Q but they claimed they ain’t heard from him either. Ooooh! I can’t believe he goin’ play me like that.
I looked at myself one last time in my full-length mirror. I can’t believe all this went to waste. My dress was a hot pink ball gown, and the bustier was zebra print. It took me a while to gather all the materials I needed and put the one of a kind masterpiece together. I guess I just wasted my time making two gorgeous dresses. Hunter’s and mine.
Karma is definitely a biatch! I guess I shouldn’t have been talking about her when she said she couldn’t go to Winter Formal. O well, I’ll either store this up for next year or sell it on eBay. One way or another, it’s going to get some use. And I will let Hunter know she’s giving me back my dress.
I had my own photo-shoot by myself. I was thinking about posting them to Facebook but then I decided against it. I didn’t want to get bombarded with questions about where I was, or how come I didn’t go. Plus, people would know if I do decide to wear it next year.
I reached behind my back because I’m double jointed like that and unzipped my own zipper. I let my dress fall to the floor. I stand there for a moment staring at my two-piece pink and zebra striped laced undies. I sashayed a bit, looking at myself from each angle. His loss.
I called Roman again just to give him the common courtesy he wasn’t mature enough to give me…
AT THIS POINT IDGAF WHAT U DOIN OR WHAT HAPPENED. IM THROUGH W/ UR CORNY SELF… DON’T BOTHER 2 CALL BACK OR COME BY… I HOPE U WRECK UR GMA’S BEATER & GET HURT SO BAD U HAVE TO SIT OUT THE REST OF THE SEASON. KMMFA NIGGA! I GOTTA MAN & HE AIN’T U!!!!
I kicked my dress into the corner and laid down on my bed. I rumble through my purse until I found DeKing’s number. I twirl the card with my fingers wondering if I should even bother. I was bored and didn’t feel like talking to Hunter. I knew Spirit and Jaylen was already knee-deep into Winter Formal. I guess I had no choice but to call him.
He answers the phone right away, and I knew it was him. “May I speak to ‘The King’?”
He laughs and says, “Who’s speaking?”
That rather annoyed me because now I’m wondering how many women does he meet or deal with. But then again, we did just meet, and he is an older guy. At least I think he is. “This is-”
“I know. How are you Symphony?”
Wow, impressive, he did remember me. But then again, who wouldn’t… “I’m fine and you?”
“Oh, I can’t complain. So what are you getting into this evening?”
Well I sure couldn’t tell him where I had originally planned to go or else he’d know I was still in high school. “Nothing.”
“Nothing? Well, do you want to do something?”
“Something like what?”
“I don’t know what do you like to do?”
I was stumped. I never had to answer that question before. “A lot of things I guess. Going out to eat… to the movies… bowling.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… I guess.”
“That’s text book dating. Everyone goes out to eat, movies, and bowling. That’s like saying, “I love long walks in the park…” I’m sure that’s a cliché on all those dating sites.” He laughs but I’m wondering what he’s doing on dating sites. He clears his throat. “Okay, let me rephrase the question. What would you like to do but have never done?”
Y’all thought I was stumped on the first question, I was really stumped now. The farthest I ever went in my thinking was for Roman to take me to the movies on time. “Slow down DeKing… you asking me all these questions and I don’t even know how long you’ve been on this earth.” That was my way of diverting the question.
“Are you asking me for my age?” Hmmmph… his voice was so dang sexy!
“Positive.” I grab my laptop and log onto Facebook to see if I could secretly see if he had a Facebook page.
“Does age matter?” Hold up, why he don’t want to answer how old he is? “I’m asking because that’s such a routine question when you meet someone before dating… as if people will fall in love with the number and not the person.”
“True. But you have to ask these days because people have gone to jail getting caught up with those they thought weren’t minors.”
“Well, as long as you’re not a minor, we should be in the clear, right?”
“Do you not want to answer my question?” Again my way of diverting having to lie.
“I’m messing with you baby, I’m twenty-three.”
Daaaaaang!!! My mouth flew wide open and wouldn’t close. I shut the top down on my laptop and didn’t even finish searching for him. I didn’t know whether to hang up the phone or act more mature. Unfortunately, I chose the latter. At this point, the only thing for me to do was ask, “Do you have any kids?”
“No. No kids. But I do know you have a little girl right?” We both laughed because I now knew he was joking. “So, back to the matter at hand. Do you want to go out tonight? If it would make you more comfortable, maybe we can meet up for drinks at Charlie’s. Do you drink?”
He was asking so many questions because again, my mouth was open and nothing came out. How was I going to get out of this? I’m only 16! I drink, but not legally. “Yes, I drink a little here and there but I’m not really the bar or club scene type of chick. I’m more of a laid-back-stay-at-home and chill kind of female.
“Great answer. Most girls your age like to live in the club drinking and partying every weekend.
“Wait. Great answer?” I mimicked him. “Was that supposed to be a test question?”
“Isn’t all pre-dating questions?”
“You said, girls my age. I haven’t told you my age yet.”
“We already established we weren’t minors, right?”
We talked a little while longer getting to know each other. He invited me over to his house for some take-out. Normally I would insist on the guy coming to get me because I don’t do deliveries. But in this case the boy was a man, and I had to make sure I liked him first before he found out where I lived. I would have waited maybe a few more weeks before I went to his house but this was a special occasion since Roman stood me up. He still hasn’t called.
31 CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Winter Formal