Brown Eyes Blue Smile

Shanice glanced at her ringing phone, saw it was her boyfriend calling and picked it up. "Hi Chris," she said.

"Whose dick have you been sucking, Shanice?"

His tone made her sit up on her bed. "What're you talking about, Chris?"

"You know what the hell I'm talking about, you cheating bitch. I've been hearing a lot of strange shit about you lately. Now I want to know whose dick you've been sucking?"

"Is this really what you thought of spoiling my day with – asking me if I'd been sleeping around like I'm some tramp?"

"You are what you are, Shanice. Don't go denying that you ain't been doing it all this while just 'cause I've been keeping quiet on it."

Shanice took a deep breath, hoping not to lose her temper. "Listen to me, Chris. I want you to really open up your ears and seriously listen to me. I don't know who's been feeding crazy stuff into your head Chris, but don't you ever call me a bitch, you hear me?"

"Yeah right," Chris retorted. "You've been going around town cheating, and now you don't want me calling you a bitch anymore, is that it? Come on, I want to hear it straight from your mouth whose dick it is that you've been sucking other than mine."

"I don't know what on earth you've been smoking, or what stupid shit you've been feeding yourself, Chris. No, I haven't been cheating on you, you bastard, and no, I've haven't been sleeping or fucking anybody. Is that what you want to hear, asshole?"

"You're a lying dog, Shanice. I know you're lying, and you know it too. Or what, do I have to holler out the dude's name for you?"

Shanice couldn't help screaming into the phone. "Go ahead, asshole, tell me just who the fuck it is?"

The line abruptly went dead. She stared at her phone, flabbergasted. "The fuck?" she looked at her phone for a long time and almost felt like hurling it against the far wall but held herself at the last moment. It wouldn't look good for her to get so heated up and lose it because of that worthless piece of shit. Best not give him the satisfaction. She scrolled through her number and dialled one of her girlfriends, Michelle.

"Hello?" her friend answered.

"Michelle, it's me, Shanice. How're ya doing, girl?"

"Doing just fine, baby girl. By the way, what's up with your man today? I saw him earlier at that new burger joint up on Sallie's block and when I asked him about you, his face got all tangled up and red. What's up with the two of you again this time?"

"Girl, I've just about had it up to my neck trying to be with that fool. Seriously, I'm deleting his number off my phone once I'm done chatting with you. Girl, you're not going to believe the phone call I got from him less than a minute ago." Shanice proceeded to narrate to her friend the conversation that had between her and Chris. Her friend was just as shocked as she too had been.

"Why that miserable, raggedy church mouse-eating sonofabitch!" Michelle spat at the other end of the line. "That dog, having the nerve to say all that nonsense to your ear. Girlfriend, fuck that dude. You ought to come with me let's roll tonight and find you some new man that's going to tap your body right."

"Nah, I don't think so, Michelle –"

"The hell you're saying you don't think so. Girlfriend, you best not do anything thinking from now on – let me be the one to make that for you. Since that bastard thinks you're less than nothing without him, then you might as well go on out tonight and let him hear of it through whichever grapevine he'd heard that thrash from. How about you and I hook up at Alleyway's Spot this evening, and from there we could hit the club afterwards. There's going to be some hot guys in there tonight, I know."

Shanice couldn't help but laugh. "You're just so impossible, Michelle."

"I know. So am I going to see you there?"

"Yeah, okay, I'll be there at our usual seat. See ya."

And then the line went dead.

Shanice was at Alleyway's two hours later seated at a lone table waiting for her friend to arrive. She was seated at an advantageous spot that gave her a clear view of the entrance into the deli and between checking her watch and looking up anytime she noticed someone stroll into the place, she had nothing else better to do. But that and the remainder of the evening changed for her when a young man approached her table carrying a tray with some junk food and a can Coke on it. He appeared from behind her so she didn't take any notice of him until he stopped beside her.

"Excuse me," the young man said to her. Shanice glanced up at him. He gave her a warm smile and then indicated at the remainder of the table. "Is the rest of the booth taken?"

She shook her head. The young man said thanks, placed his tray on the table and sat across from her. He was probably a year or two older than her, she figured as she sized him up. Preppy-looking face, though cute. Light brown hair with blue eyes. She couldn't help it when a snigger escaped her lips. The man looked up at her, amused.

"Hope it didn't do something funny."

"No, you didn't, and I'm sorry. Just that I couldn't help but think you remind me of someone. An actor whose movie I'm fond of."

"Hope you're not going to say Brad Pitt?"

"Actually I was going to say Mickey Rouke. You know of him?"

He nodded. "He's the fellow that got nominated for that wrestling movie ... The Wrestler, I think."

"Yep, that's him. Though you kind of look a lot like him during his younger days. Back in the eighties when he did Angel Heart. You ever saw that one?"

"Scared me the first time I watched him make love to that Cosby girl with blood dripping down the roof. I kind of liked him better in Rumble Fish opposite that other actor, Dillon. He was much handsome back then."

"You really know your movies," she observed.

"The same as you know yours." He offered her a handshake. "I'm Eric, by the way."

She smiled as she shook his hand. "Shanice. Nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too. Care for me to buy you an ice cream, Shanice. It's the least I can do."

"No, really, you don't have to –"

"I know, but I can't help it. I hate having a full tray and chatting with someone who's got nothing before her. Please, allow me. Hope you like chocolate, 'cause that's all they have in here."

He was up in a flash and rushed towards the counter. He was back two minutes later with a cone of chocolate ice cream. Shanice took one bit of her ice cream and after that forgot about her actual mission of being at the deli. Eric listened to her talk movies while he munched on a chicken wing and sipped his canned Coke in-between.

"Where you here waiting for someone?" he asked her a while later.

"Yeah," Shanice answered. "My home girl, Michelle. She was supposed to have met me here almost an hour now. I tried calling but all I keep getting is her voice mail. How about you?"

"Me, I just got off work. I usually stop by here to have a snack before heading home."

"That's where the heart is, you know. Home."

"Not mine. I've got noisy neighbours who spend half the day yelling at each other. Drives me crazy sometimes, which is why I always kill an hour or two in here before heading to the pad. Hopefully by now they'd have cooled off the day."

"What if they don't?"

"Well then I'd be calling you later asking if I can come over and hide at your place then."

She laughed. "Whatever makes you think I'd want to give you my number?"

"If you don't, I guess I'll have to give you mine then. Either way, I'd like to see you again."

"I might be too busy. I need to make out time to get my hair done."

Eric looked at her hair admiringly. "Looks nice from where I'm sitting. Even then, I'd still like to see you again."

"What happens if I tell you that I have a boyfriend already?"

"I'd ask: 'is he white'?"

She gazed at him for a moment and then burst into laughter. "You're silly, you know that?"

"You wanted an answer, so I gave you one. Well, answer then: is your boyfriend white?"

"You know damn sure he's not."

"That's all the more reason why I'd like to see you again. At least talk some movies."

"And wouldn't your girlfriend be pissed if she knows you're talking movies with a black girl?"

"I'm willing to take that risk." He unearthed his wallet and pulled out a business card from a side along with a pen from his pocket. "Reach me at this number any time you feel like, night and day, winter or sleet or rain – I'll always pick up."

As if by a miracle, Shanice looked up and there was her friend Michelle pushing her way into the cafe. Shanice palmed his card and got up. "Thanks for the drink," she said. "So I'll see you around."

"I hope so."

She smiled and left him. Eric couldn't help but risk turning to see her hug her friend and watched both of them exit into the evening.

Two days went past before Shanice dug up the nerve to call him. Her hood boyfriend (ex-boyfriend for her), had been ringing up her phone since the last time she hung up on him. The last time she was in the kitchen preparing herself a casserole when his number showed on her cellular phone's screen.

"How many times am I going to tell you, Chris," she spat into the phone. "I don't want to have anything to do with your monkey ass no more."

"You ain't supposed to be talking like that to me, Sha," he retorted. "I'm your baby boy, girl."

"Yeah right, a retarded grown-ass baby who just don't know how to grow up."

"I was just playing with you, girl. You know I ain't never gonna take you for no tramp ho."

"Yeah you would, since you were bold enough to holler it into my ear that I other day, then I guess that is what I am. A no-good black tramp. I don't want to see you or hear from you anymore, Chris. Stay the fuck out of my life!"

She pressed the OFF button and slammed the phone on the counter. Her body trembled with anger and always when she was in such a mood, she always was afraid of losing it. She rested her hands on the kitchen's counter, let her hair fall down and shut her eyes and meditated for a brief moment. It was something she'd learned from her mom that helped against stress. When she opened her eyes, she no longer was feeling down, nor was the thought of Chris weighting down on her mind.

Her thoughts switched to Eric instead.

She reached for her phone and scrolled through it to his number and then pressed the dial button. The phone rang four times and she was just about giving up when suddenly the line got picked.

"Hello?"

She still recognised his voice; it brought a quick smile to her face.

"Hi Eric, you remember that lady whom you bought an ice cream for –"

"Shanice? Is that you?"

"Yes, Eric. It's me. Sorry I haven't called since ... had a lot of stuff to catch up on."

"No problem at all. Have been way too busy over here myself, but I'm glad you called."

"I thought you might have forgotten all about me by now."

"It's not always I a person like myself buys an ice cream to a beautiful someone who's good with movies and knows how to have interesting conversation. You'd have to walk a hundred miles before you can find such a person."

Shanice couldn't help but laugh. "Guess you didn't have to walk a hundred miles for this one then."

"I guess not, and I glad I didn't. I'd have worn off my shoes by now."

"Are you at work?" she asked.

"More or less, yes. Looks more like a dungeon to me, but who cares. How about you?"

"Home, making a casserole ... I'm thinking maybe when I'm done, I'll watch a movie."

"What film do you have in mind to see?"

"I'm thinking A Few Good Men."

"Really? You think you can handle the truth?"

Shanice laughed once more, recalling the famous line in the movie made by Jack Nicholson's character. "I sure as hell can. I'm a big girl, remember."

"Yes, you are. So, what's your Friday night this week going to be like?"

Shanice mulled over the question for a moment, and then shook her head. "Never have much going on for me on Fridays."

"I'd like to take you out, go see a movie with you."

Shanice decided to tease him. "Won't your girlfriend be mad you asking a black girl out?"

"Wouldn't care about adding no third party to us going out," he replied. "But I'm seriously looking forward to seeing you again. So are you going to be up for it?"

"You promise getting back home at about nine?"

"If that's going to be part of the contract, then throw it in and please say yes in the end."

Shanice smiled: Yes!

Friday night came and they went to see a movie – the latest Wachowski Brother's flick. When they exited the theatre building two hours later it was almost eight-thirty. The city pier was a stone's throw from the building; Eric thought they should take a walk towards it before taking her back home. Several faces turned to stare at them as they clasped hands together and went about their business, but if either of them noticed the eyes they pretended not to care. They were with each other and that was all that mattered.

A lengthy growl emanated from the underbelly of the sky and a blustery wind blew again them as they approached the pier.

"It's going to rain soon," Eric observed.

"Think I ought to be in bed by now."

He paused to look at her. "You want to go now?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

They approached one of the railings at the end of the pier and leaned over it. Before them lay the dark, unsettling waters of the harbour ... and further away from their eyes' reach, the deep blue sea. Sporadic lightening flashed across the horizon. Shanice wrapped an arm around Eric's, taking warmth and comfort in his presence.

"You're really beautiful, do you know that?" Eric said to her.

She pretended to shrug off his words, though deep inside, she was melting over them. "I'll bet that's something you say to all the girls you've met."

"Right now I'm not thinking of them. And you ought not be thinking about your past either."

"I don't mean to – the last guy I gave my heart to ended up being a real pig."

Eric laughed. "I hope if ever things don't work out between us that I don't end up being referred to as such."

"Whatever makes you think there's going to be anything between us?"

"Because of this."

Before Shanice could react, Eric turned her to face him and lowered his face towards her and sought her lips with his. Shanice resisted, but only for a second, before opening up to receive him. The world around them felt quiet when they released themselves from each other.

"Hope that helps," said Eric.

"Maybe if you hadn't stopped, I wouldn't have had to say no," she muttered.

Their lips met for a kiss again, and this time it was full and passionate. Above their heads, the sky opened its bowels and rain fell down upon the world.