It was a steamy night in the ATL and there was a power outage. No light, no AC, all the entire city could do was sit and sweat and sit and sweat some more. Luckily, I live on the top floor of my condo so I could go outside naked as the day I was born and enjoy a little breeze without the fear of anyone peeking at me. My balcony looks out over the parking lot of a major home furnishing store, you know, the one from Sweden, Switzerland, wherever the hell it's from so there isn't a building around that could spy on me. I made a pitcher of Sangria before my ice cubes turned to water and I was just chilling outside, in quiet reflection.
There's something about it being Africa hot at nighttime that really gets to me. It's one thing for it to be stifling hot at 12 noon, but when the heat is oppressive and it's 12 midnight, that's a whole nutha thing all together. I was feeling a buzz from my Sangria when the phone rang. "Who the hell could this be, calling at quarter after booty call o'clock at night?" I glanced at the caller ID on my cell phone and it was my friend Kristen who lived downstairs.
I was glad to have conversation because it was a little boring with no music or TV but I was also enjoying my naked solitude. Kristen was a white girl who started out as just someone I would see in the gym working occasionally. She and I were always deeply engrossed in some book and I would ask her what she was reading, she would ask me what I was reading. One thing led to another and eventually, we started a book club for the building. It's only about five of us: two white women, two black women, including me, and a gay Spanish cat. Once a month, someone hosts the group at their crib and we all bring a covered dish and dish about the book. Everyone brings their own flavor to the group, literally and figuratively. Luis has hipped us to all sorts of Latino fiction and Kristen had a love of erotica that went far beyond the trash that's in Borders. She loves storytelling and she often times reads selections that would get us all hot and bothered. I even noticed Luis squirming in his seat a couple of times. "Hey sweetness, what's up?"
"Ebony, I'm sweating like a pig down here. There's no breeze and I feel like I'm going to suffocate. Do you think I could come up to your place and crash on your couch?" Her unit was on the courtyard side and she was a couple of floor down. I can only imagine it was like an oven in her condo.
"Sure, come on up, not a problem." That's what I said, what I meant was, "Damn, I'm not really in the mood for company. I've got a buzz going and I'm enjoying my freedom." Kristen was really good people and I couldn't leave hear hanging in her hour of need so I opened my door with all the graciousness I could muster.
I grabbed a robe and tied it around my body. It wasn't much, just a little short silk thingie I had gotten as a present from an ex-boyfriend. I weighed the options of whether I should put on panties but my Sangria got the best of me. "Fuck it, this is my house, if she sees my pussy, then so be it. It's too hot to be wearing panties anyway."
I opened the door and Kristen was there, with sheet in hand and looking like she was dehydrated. "Girl, come on in, you look like who struck John and ran." She knew me well enough to just look at me and not say anything. It was one of the famous euphemisms my grandmother used to say that have become part of my daily lexicon. Kristen walked past me like she was in a daze and headed straight for the balcony. Now Kristen is a beautiful woman, there's no question about it. Her long brown hair fell just past her shoulders, she was skinny, I'm mean slender, whatever white girls call themselves when they are a size 3. I'm slender, but I have a lot more meat on my bones. I have bigger titties, bigger thighs, bigger hips, and a whole helluva lot more azz. I had my hair corn rowed and pulled back in a ponytail. To look at us, you wouldn't even think we ran in the same circles but we were most certainly friends. It was hard to find intellectual equals of any race and Kristen was cerebral and logical with the best of them.
Plopped down in a chair, she had her eyes closed and she was lying back like had just finished running a marathon. Sweat was visible on her white wife beater tank top that clung to her small breasts and her tiny shorts had to be damp because they were so tight I could practically see the outline of her pussy lips. I thought it was odd that she was wearing high heels but there wasn't much too them. She looked like she could have just gotten off the pole at the Cheetah Club
"You look like you could use some water, can I get you some?"
"No thanks," she said, "this will be fine, as she reached for the pitcher of Sangria and poured a big glass and downed it in one gulp.