Living in a small town there's not much to do. Drinking and riding the strip is our way of having a good time. Occasionally a trip to the Mall may afford you an opportunity to meet a fresh face, but for the most part the people there are the people you see everyday.
My sister June works at the Mall and she use to always come home telling me about the people she would encounter at the little accessory shop where she worked. One day she came home and told me about this guy who came in to get his ear pierced. She said he was an old Black guy, maybe in his late thirties. I know that's not old, but my sister was only 18 at the time and to her that was old.
According to her when he came in he reeked of alcohol, he told her he always wanted to wear an earring, but his ex-wife wouldn't let him get one. But now that he was divorced, he was ready to wear one. But in order to do it, he told her he had to take down a couple of drinks to get up the courage to go through with it.
Two weeks later she mentioned him again, this time she talked about how often he was at the mall. She had seen him there several times with his three kids. At least she assumed they were his kids. He was always wearing a suit and tie or a shirt and tie. We knew by his attire he wasn't from around here.
Black guys around here just didn't dress like that. Dressing up around here entails taking off your jeans and replacing them with sweat pants. So he really stood out. I could tell she was starting like him, instead of referring to him as that "drunk guy", she was now calling him that "good looking guy."
One day I went to the mall to visit her, I walked in through the back entrance, the entrance employees usually come in and out of. But I used it as a short cut to her shop. The long hallway led to a door, which opened to the mall. When I opened the door, I noticed a older Black man sitting on a bench with three kids, and he was wearing a suit.
He was bald and the lights shinning down from the mall's ceiling reflected upon his head created an aura of light around him. Like a spot light shinning on the star of a Broadway play.
"Hello, how are you?" he said to me.
"Fine, how are you?" I said.
"I'm doing fine."
"That's good."
I was wearing a tight pair of Pepe jeans and I know his eyes were focused on my butt as I walked past him. I entered my sister's shop and she immediately hurried up to me.
"He's here, that guy I've been telling you about." she said.
"Where is he?" I said.
We walked to the doorway and she pointed him out to me. It was him, the bald Black man sitting on the bench. I shot the bull with my little sis for twenty minutes. She was like a little school girl as she went on and on about him. I had to admit he was looking delicious as he sat under the light, but on the other hand I thought he may have a little too old for my little sister.
After listening to her and talking for several more minutes my throat was feeling dry from talking so much, so I decided to go buy me a coke. There was a little popcorn shop diagonal to my sister's shop, so I headed for it. As I was heading to buy my coke, I noticed the "good looking guy" (my sister's name for him) standing at a kiosk in the center of the mall, he was looking at jewelry.
We made eye contact. At that moment he was looking even better than he was when I first saw him. Standing up he hovered over the tiny lady at the kiosk. He gave me a wow moment as I was taken back by how tall he was. Part of me was hoping he would approach me, but there was a side of me that didn't, that side of me wanted him to talk to my sister. But as my luck would have it, he approached me.
"Hey, what's up?" he said.
"Nothing much, just going to buy a coke." I said.
"Can I buy you a coke?"
"Sure you can, that's very nice of you."
"No problem, it's my pleasure."
He pulled out a wad of cash that was thick as hell. It took him what seemed like forever to locate the one dollar bills. Obviously he was trying to impress me with his money, but little did he know that turned me off. I asked him if the three kids were his. He said they were and he likes to bring them to the mall to shop and eat ice cream. I looked over his shoulders and saw the three of them across the way at the ice cream shop eating away.
"So what's your name?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, my name is Wendy. What's yours?" I said.
"My name is Dwight and I'm pleased to meet you Wendy."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Dwight."
I told him he should go in and have a talk with my sister. With a puzzled look on his face he wanted to know why. I told him I thought she may like him, and he should go in and maybe ask her out on a date.
I watched him walk to my sister's shop and as he did I wonder if I had done the right thing. For a split second I wanted to stop him and ask him to go out with me, but I didn't. With my coke in hand I walk passed my sister's shop, Dwight was inside talking with my sister and I continued my shopping.
I found out from my sister when she got home that she gave him our number and agreed to go out with him that Friday. For two days the only thing my sister talked about was their pending date.
When it came time to go she changed her mind, she was still hung up on her, on again/off again relationship with her boyfriend. He came back in town that Friday morning and like so many times before, she dropped everything and all plans in order to be with him.
When Dwight called Friday night to take her out, she made me talk to him. I gave him a lame excuse about her feeling ill. I could hear the disappointment in his voice. It made me feel sorry for him; after all it was my idea for him to talk with her in the first place. So feeling responsible for his let down, I asked him if he wanted to go out with me. He eagerly answered yes.
At the time I was at the end of a dead end relationship with a guy I knew was nothing but a player, but like a fool I was holding on, thinking I could change him. (But as we all know, they never change.) So for me it was a way to try to move on. We agreed to meet at the only club in town, Club New Wave at 9:00pm.
For the first time since high school I was going out on a real date, and also for the first time since high school I had butterflies all that evening. After I got off the phone with him I spent most of the evening trying to figure out what to wear. I finally decided on something, but not before I drove my youngest sister Anna almost crazy as she helped me find something to wear.
I arrived at the club about 8:50pm, as I drove around looking for a parking space, I saw him standing at the front door. I waved and shouted to him that I was going to park, he nodded his head okay.
I parked and proceeded to meet Dwight, I was wearing a white blouse with puffy ruffles at the wrist and a pair of form fitting black pants. The pants hug my butt tight and showed all my curves. I had my long blond hair pulled back and in a long braid single. As usual he was wearing a jacket and tie. I walked up to him and said.
"Dwight, you have to lighten up a bit."
"What do you mean?" he said.
"I mean this."
I undid his tie, and then I opened the top two buttons of his shirt. I stuffed the tie in his inside jacket pocket and we walked in. He had this "how dare you" look on his face, but I didn't care, it was a Friday night not a Friday morning. Save the suit for the office, not for me.
We stayed at the club for three hours, through our conversation; I learned Dwight had recently turned forty. The brotha didn't look a day over thirty. He was living in Nebraska when he got a divorce, his ex moved here last year. He had a hard time not being around his kids, so he left Nebraska and came here to be close to his kids, Denise, Derek and Desiree. He had lived here for six months, but hadn't gotten out much. His kids and his job consumed most of his time.
Most of our time at the club was spent talking about life and our hopes and dreams. I really enjoy talking with him because his focus was on me. He allowed me to do most of the talking and he hung on my every word. This made me feel special in a way no man had made me feel.
After three hours, a few drinks and some sexy ass dancing, I decided to call it a night. Dwight walked me to my car, as we approached my car, he grabbed me and turned me around and kissed me. I'm not talking about one of those school yard kiss a shy little boy sneaks in on a shy little girl, this was one of those "I can't get enough of you" kisses.
After thirty seconds of the most passionate kiss given to my over due lips, he backed off and apologized. I'm thinking to myself, "You need to apologize for stopping." He said he didn't feel right because he had asked my sister out, he said it felt weird to him. I reassured him that it was cool and not to worry about it. He kissed my cheek and we departed.
Driving home was the hardest thing for me to do that night. I actually stopped at a pay phone and parked next to it for 20 minutes as I contemplated calling him and asking him to allow me to come to his place. Although I was in a relationship and had been in others where I had been kissed, Dwight lips had done something to me; he had rekindled a fire that had burned out. I wanted him, and I wanted him bad, but the lady in me prevailed and I finally drove home.