After another typical three-day business trip I was excited to get back home to my husband in Texas. With the kids away at college our sexual intensity was off the charts. We'd fuck to say goodbye and we'd fuck to say hello. If we had time in between we'd get each other off with pictures or texts. We always had great energy, but our new condo in Austin had a certain freedom and youth that our house in the suburbs lacked.
When I boarded my flight I was pleased to see I was seated next to another woman of color in business class. She was in the window seat aggressively texting someone so I chose not to disturb her. I got myself situated and enjoyed my plastic cup of red wine.
"These women are driving me crazy!" my neighbor quietly exclaimed to herself as she loosened her perfectly tightened ponytail into an uncontrollable mane of natural curls. Beneath her luxury professional attire and minimal accessories was a dark skinned sister that was clearly my age and, like myself, didn't look it. "This trip is going to be a disaster," she said to herself.
"Meetings?" I quietly asked. I'm not usually a social person, but I related to homegirl. I was just leaving DC where three of my artists were showing in two different galleries. Three days ago I was in the exact same seat.
"I joined an all-female law firm to help women," she confessed, "but some days I really miss men."
I almost spit out my champagne as I laughed.
"I'm Whitney," I said as we shook hands. Her perfectly manicured hands said she never had kids.
"Latasha," she replied.
"Are Austin women in trouble?" I joked as our plane began to taxi.
"After my divorce," Latasha answered, "I assume all women are in trouble."
As we lifted into the late afternoon DC air we talked about our jobs, our favorite restaurants in DC & Austin and our hair regimen. I had recently cut my hair down to about an inch and she couldn't stop talking about how liberating that must feel.
She was right.
We laughed and bonded like old friends. Perhaps it was the third cup of cheap wine that put us over the top.
About 45 minutes into the flight Latasha mentioned that she'd gone to the University of Michigan. My husband went there the first two years of college before transferring to UCLA where we met. I innocently asked her if she knew Franklin.
She froze. Our nonstop sister-chat hit a wall and I realized that it had to have been Franklin. I replayed every story in my mind that I knew about Franklin before we'd met, but there was very little footage to go through. I knew about 10 of his friends that he went to school with but we didn't talk much about ex's.
I might have stepped on a landmine.
My new best friend at 30,000 feet took a deep breath, asked the flight attendant for two more cups of wine and held onto her seat as though the turbulence in her body was shaking the rest of the plane.
"Franklin Victor Hightower was my first," Latasha admitted with her eyes closed.
"Oh shit," I said as I began to feel a turbulence in my body. The way she said his name carried a weight of more than just a first sexual experience. I wouldn't say Henry Darius Young - the cute boy I would fuck after school my junior year in high school - with that much weight. However, I would have trouble lifting the name Myron Earl Dodge - my sophomore year college boyfriend - off the ground if I had just met his current wife.
"Oh fucking shit," Latasha responded. "You are so fucking beautiful!"
I melted as I realized she knew of me. I wondered why, in this day and age of social media, she hadn't seen me before. Then I remembered a conversation Franklin and I had one day about how none of the women he ever dated had a digital footprint. One of my ex's was a Senator that was always on the news so I would joke that his ex's must have all been losers. The truth was that Franklin, like me, kept a low profile so he chose women who were discreet like himself.
Of course Franklin would add that the biggest loser he chose was me. I'd joke that the Senator's dick was too big. Then he'd ask if the Senator taught me how to suck dick because my head game was atrocious when we met.
Our relationship had no insecurities.
"Were you..." I started to question Latasha, but stopped as I realized I was admitting that Franklin had never once mentioned her.
"It was puppy love," Latasha blocked, as she tried to cover for Franklin and herself.
We sipped from our freshly poured cups and politely stared forward in silence for two solid minutes.
Then, uncharacteristically, I broke.
"Did he take too long to come then?" I asked.
"For fucking ever," Latasha responded.
We broke out in laughter before spending the next 45 minutes comparing notes on everything from his eating habits to how his dick hung left. I never had a girlfriend that I shared these types of details with and there I was with a complete stranger discussing how my husband likes his balls licked now.
I would like to apologize or say your welcome to the old couple sitting behind us.
Latasha and Franklin had an on-again, off-again relationship that was never off-again for her until Franklin transferred schools. Then she got on with her life and focused on school. She had a few boyfriends until she "settled" on her current ex-husband. She said that they were perfect on paper but they never had "chemistry".
When she said "chemistry" I knew in my heart what she meant. I had better partners on paper than Franklin. There were bigger dicks, more money and better jobs before him. But Franklin and I had "chemistry".
"So I've been focused on helping other women," Latasha explained.
By now we had shared too much information, so I had to ask the question we were both thinking.
"How long since..." I started.
"Eric and I stopped fucking a year before we divorced and we've been divorced for three years," Latasha said with a realness I couldn't fathom.
"Oh shit," I said.