someone else is making you hot under the collar is music to my ears. Now, of course, I have no idea what you see in men. But hey, I can acknowledge if a guy is cute or not.”
“Well, sweetheart, cute is what puppies are. This man is like a Greek God of some kind. And his voice…”
“He spoke to you? What did he say? Did you get his number?”
“No, nothing like that. So, I was talking to Lou, you know, asking him if I can get more shifts there. This guy is actually one of Lou’s fighters. Anyway, girl, I started to feel my heart beating faster, and goose bumps started forming on my arms again. I started getting this feeling in between my legs; this need or something. I needed some air. So I quickly tell Lou I had to go. I turn and smacked right into him.” I smacked my hands together for effect. Then I closed my eyes and hugged myself. “He wrapped his arms around me, and I’ve never felt so safe and warm in my entire life. Then to open my eyes and inhale him….I thought I was going to faint.”
Mimi started fanning me with her hand. “Do I have to hose you down?”
I laughed and nodded. “Oh, yes. Because when that man smiled at me again, and I saw the most beautiful pair of blue eyes you have ever seen, I almost creamed my panties; especially when he hit me with his Texas drawl.”
Mimi’s eyes bulged out of her face.
“Wait, he’s white? Here I am thinking you gave my race a break and was talking about some chocolate being. And you think he’s from Texas? How do you know that?”
I stood and shrugged. “Girl, I’ve never been the type of girl who cared about race. If you’re hot, then you’re hot. And I’ve spent more time with Texans than I would like to admit. I can pick up on their accents easily. Come on, let’s get to work.”
“Wait!” She grabbed my arm as she stood. “So are you going to sing with us tonight, or what?”
I groaned, “What are you guys going to sing?”
She clapped her hands together and smiled. “ Buttons by the Pussy Cat Dolls.”
I shook my head. “Mimi, I don’t know that one. Remember? You were supposed to show me the routine, and you didn’t get a chance.”
Typically when WDMD practiced, they did it at our place. I either helped with choreography or made up the entire routines, so I knew most of the songs they would perform. Mimi frowned and placed her shoulder-length, straight black hair behind her ear. I sighed, knowing that me doing this means a lot to her. I have to admit that, when I do sing with them, I have a ball. I completely escape who I am and become someone I only dream of being.
“Why don’t you guys do that song, and then we all can do a Rihanna song.”
I watched her smile and get excited. “Great idea! I’ll call Tiny to have her buy you an outfit too.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please don’t say we are going to be half-dressed again.”
“Of course not. This is my brother we’re talking about. It’s weird enough I’m dancing for a bunch of horny twenty-somethings. Believe me, I have some dignity.”
I pushed her out of the back room. “Please, girl. You know you love all attention. Male or female, it makes no difference to you.”
She laughed. “You got that right.”
****
The rest of the night grew extremely busy. It’s like everyone on the South Side anticipated our performance. I rarely see this many people in here. I found myself so swamped with drinks and men hitting on me that I didn’t even notice a pair of eyes on me.
What I did notice is the goose bumps that were forming on my arms and the increase of my heart rate. This feeling has happened twice before. So when my eyes searched the crowd in front of me, they met those familiar ice blue eyes and an unbelievable smile.
Suddenly at that moment I heard nothing else as I moved towards him. When I got close, he simply smiled broader, and I couldn’t help but smile too.
I said, which I tell you right now was not my finest moment, “Are you