“Oohzee is my future baby mama.” Cooley looked at Misha. “Well, that is, since Misha won't act right.” She grinned.
Misha rolled her eyes at Cooley. “Whatever, fool. Well, I guess I will see you there,” Misha said. “I gotta get to class. See y'all later.” She started to walk off.
Cooley jumped up and followed. “Misha, hold up,” Cooley yelled after her. She felt as though history was repeating itself. She had run after Misha the first time they met.
“What, Carla?” Misha responded with a hint of attitude.
“Damn, Misha, why you gotta act like that with me? I thought we are better than that.”
“Sorry, Cooley, I just can't be all around you like that. Tay doesn't likeâ”
“Misha, why are you dating that clown anyway? You know about her repâ”
“Oh, no, you didn't say anything about reps. After all, I did date you, and your rep is ten times worse than hers.” Cooley knew she was right. She was still known as “Killa Cap Cooley.”
“Man, Misha, that's not fair. You know how much I care about you. I changed all that for you.”
“Yeah, and you reverted back to your old ways the next damn day! Yeah, Carla, I know about your little fuck fest the last day of school,” Misha snapped.
Cooley knew then that Misha still cared about her.
Cooley lowered her head in defeat. “Misha, look me in my eyes and tell me that you don't still care about me.”
“Cooley ...”
“You can't do it, can you?” Cooley walked closer to Misha. Her eyes were piercing Misha like a knife. The heat began to rise between them. They were electric.
Misha cut Cooley off and backed up. “Cooley, we can't do this. I can't go there with you. I am with Tay now. I am happy. Let's just agree to work on our friendship. That's all we can have.”
Cooley took a step back. She refused to show just how hurt she really was. “A'ight, dig that then. See you around, shorty.” Cooley turned around and headed back to the courtyard. She refused to give up that easily.
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“Hey, Dee.” Lena finally mustered up the nerve to speak.
“How are you, Lena?” Denise asked. She had almost forgotten just how beautiful Lena was. Denise tried not to stare at Lena's frame. She noticed how Lena's short Baby Phat shorts were hugging her thighs and butt perfectly. She wondered if it was the breeze that was giving her chills.
“I am good,” Lena said. She tried not to pay attention to Denise's brown skin. She wanted to feel up and down her muscular arms. She loved seeing Denise in wife-beaters; they hugged her body, showing off just how toned she was. “Hey, want to walk and talk?”
Carmen and Nic watched as Denise and Lena walked off.
“Soooo, are you thinking what I am thinking?” Nic said.
“Yup, that's disaster waiting to happen.”
Denise and Lena walked in silence for a while. They made small talk about each other's summers. Lena could feel herself being drawn toward Denise and tried to fight it. They sat down on a bench in front of the library.
“I have, um, really missed you this summer,” Lena admitted.
Denise's heart skipped a beat. “Really? I have missed you too. I didn't want to bother you. I know you've been real busy.”
“Yeah, wedding planning andâ”
“Yeah, wedding planning and Brandon.” Denise could feel her stomach sinking.
They both became silent.
“Dee,” Lena whispered.
Denise looked at her. Their eyes met.
“Do you think about, you know, what happened last semester?”
All the damn time
. Denise thought to herself. “Well, yeah, sometimes I do. But I know it was just a kiss.”
“Do you really think it was just a kiss?”
“What do you think it was, Lena?” Denise looked at Lena.
“I was just wondering. That's all.”
“Lena, like I told you last year, you were just a little curious. It's no big deal. We made the right decision not to act on that. Hell, you are about to be married after all.”
“Yeah, I guess you are right. So, are we still friends?” Denise asked.
“Yeah, of course, you are one of my best friends.” Denise hugged Lena. Neither one of them wanted to let go.
They parted ways, both trying to shake the feelings before they got around anyone who would notice.
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Cooley stood in front of the bookstore bulletin board hoping to find a band or two to check out. She wanted to have something interesting to take to Atlanta during Christmas break. She knew she'd made a great impression over the summer at Jam Zone and hoped to secure a job over Christmas break.
“You don't see any ads for a freshman English book, do you?”
Cooley turned to see an attractive girl staring at the bulletin board.
“Naw, I don't. You know what, I think I have a freshman English book in my dorm. You're a freshman?” Cooley sized the woman up. She was definitely great potential, but she hadn't gotten the gay vibe from her yet.
“No. I'm a senior, but I am trying to help a girl from my church out. She was a Katrina victim. Lost most of her family.”
“Well, in that case, follow me.”
Cooley and the girl headed into the bookstore. Cooley picked up a new freshman English book and bought it. She could tell the girl was impressed. They headed out of the bookstore.
“Wow, that was really nice of you.” The girl smiled, exposing two rows of perfect, white teeth.
Cooley smiled back. “My pleasure. I am always about helping people.”
“And who should I say helped her get this book?”
Cooley figured the girl couldn't be gay. All the gay girls on campus knew who she was. “My name is Carla, but most people call me Cooley. And your name is?”
“I'm Lynn.” Lynn shook Cooley's hand. “I thank you again, Carla.”
Cooley watched as Lynn walked away.
Damn shame,
Cooley thought to herself. She hated to see straight women pass her up.
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Before Denise could make it into her room, there was a knock on the door. She opened it to find Rhonda standing there in a long black coat.
“Can we talk?” Rhonda asked her as she walked into the apartment before Denise could answer. She headed back to Denise's room.
Denise closed the door and slowly followed Rhonda back to her room. “What's going on, Rhonda?”
“I fucked up, Denise. I am sorry about that. Let's not throw away what we have over a small argument,” Rhonda said, turning her back to Denise.
“Man, I can't deal with you getting all pissed over my friends. They have been there for me for years, and your feud with them is bringing me stress.” Denise sat on the bed. “I'm too damn blessed to be stressed.”
Rhonda was still turned away from Denise. “I agree. It will never happen again.” She turned around slowly. The jacket was now unzipped and exposed her nude body.
Denise was in shock.
Rhonda walked up to her and began to sensually kiss her neck. She pushed Denise back onto the bed and straddled her.
Denise felt funny. She put her arms between Rhonda and herself.
“Rhonda, I am not ready to be doing this,” she said as she sat up, causing Rhonda to get off of her.
“Denise, we have been dating for almost five months and you have never put a hand on me. What's up with you?” Rhonda was quickly becoming upset. She jumped up and put her jacket back on.
“Man, I told you from jump that I am not looking for anything serious, and now you wanna act all brand-new.”
“Denise, I have been waiting on you for five damn months. I figured maybe you were fucking another girl, but we spend all our time together. So what's the deal? It must be that bitch you were all hugged up with by the library today!”
Denise's eyes widened. “Oh, so now you spying on me?”
Rhonda knew she was caught. “No, it's not like that. I saw you walk away with the girl and my friend saw you at the library with some girlâ”
Denise cut her off. “You know what, Rhonda, save it. This isn't going to work.”
“Denise, I'm sorry,” Rhonda said.
“Rhonda, come on now. I can't do this. Let's just be friends.”
Rhonda looked at Denise and sighed. “You know what, fuck you, Denise!” She stormed out the room.
Denise heard her slam the front door. Denise sat back down on her bed.
Drama,
she thought to herself. She decided to make the vow she made to herself again.
No more women until I graduate.
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Lena heard her phone ring. It was Brandon. She pressed ignore. She wasn't in the mood to talk to him. She picked up the phone and called Carmen instead.
“What's going on, girl?” Carmen said when she answered the phone.
“Nothing much. Hey, what are you and Nic doing this weekend? I was thinking you all could come over this Friday and have dinner with Brandon and me.”
“Oh, Friday won't work. Remember we're going to the club to see Oohzee perform?”
“Oh, yeah. I still don't know who Oohzee is,” Lena said.
“Girl, she's the baddest damn dancer in the land. You want to venture out to the gay club with us again?” Carmen laughed.
“No, I don't think that would be a good idea. I saw Denise today.” Lena expected a response, but didn't get one. “Carmen, did you hear me?”
“Yeah, I heard you. What did you want me to say?” Carmen responded. She knew that Lena was still feeling Denise.
“I don't know. I told her that I still think about her,” Lena confessed.
Carmen's mouth dropped. “Really now. What did she say?”
“She turned me down. Told me to go home to Brandon.” Lena felt her eyes starting to water.
“Oh, I'm sorry, Lena. You may not like what I am about to say, but she's right. That is something you need to let go of. You know curiosity kills many cats.”
“Carmen, it's not that easy. I have been trying to all summer.”
“Well, I suggest you try harder. Maybe you should talk about this to someone who is impartial. After all we're talking about my best friends here. I love you, girl, and I want the best for you. And the best is your fiance.”
Lena knew Carmen was right. “You're right, C. I just need to try harder.”
Chapter 5
The club was packed, just like it always is when Oohzee comes to town. Denise walked into the club with Cooley. Cooley immediately saw Misha hanging on Tay's arm.
“Are you OK, bruh? Don't pay her any attention,” Denise said to Cooley.
“Dude, I'm not trippin' on that girl. I got somethin' fo' her ass tonight. Now, let me go see my wife.” Cooley walked off to go to the dressing room.
Denise found Carmen and Nic sitting down near the stage.
“Hey, people,” Denise greeted Carmen and Nic, grabbing a seat next to them.
“Hey, baby, where is your little girlfriend?” Carmen asked, rolling her eyes.
“I wouldn't know. I broke it off with her.” Denise saw the smile form on Carmen's face. “Damn, C, you could ask me if I am OK.”
“Oh, fuck that. I am going to find you a real girlfriend. That's one down. I got one more to go,” Carmen said as she saw Misha and Tay walking to the bar.
“Baby, behave tonight,” Nic said to Carmen.
They heard the announcement for the show entertainers to come to the dressing room.
“Well, I guess I gotta bounce.” Nic kissed Carmen on her cheek and headed to the back.
“Hey, Denise.”
Denise turned around and was speechless as her teammate Stephanie walked up. She had never seen Stephanie dressed like a woman before. She usually wore sweats.
“Stephanie, damn, is that you? Why aren't you in Spain?” Denise asked.
“Spain wasn't working out for me, so before I signed I decided to come back to school to finish off the year with you all.”
“Dig that.” Denise felt an instantaneous attraction for the first time, but she shook it off. That was team drama in the making.
“Well, I will see you at the meeting next week.” Stephanie smiled and walked away.
Carmen noticed Denise watching her walk away.
“Now, that is the teammate you should have hooked up with in the first place,” Carmen said to Denise.
“Whatever, man. I never noticed her before. Damn, what a difference a skirt makes.”
They laughed as the show music began to start.
Instantly people stopped dancing and turned toward the stage. Lip synching shows were huge in Memphis. The Premiere family ran the Friday night shows at Escapade. Studs always performed male songs, and feminine women performed songs by women. The first number on the show was a group number featuring the mother of the Premiere family. She and a few of her gay daughters pranced around to Destiny's Child's “Bootylicious.”
A few more numbers passed. Two studs performed a Jagged Edge song together, and a femme performed Heather Headley's “In My Mind.”
Denise tipped her five dollars because she was feeling the song's lyrics. She lowered her head and closed her eyes, taking in the words of the song.
The announcer walked out on stage. “That bitch did that song, didn't she? Well, now I want to bring to the stage one of my new baby daddies.” The male MC snapped his fingers. “This muthafucka here gon' make me go straight for her. I will be her bitch, you feel me? Give it up for Cali Nic!”
J. Holliday's “Bed” began to play.
Carmen smiled, as Nic's tall, slender body appeared on stage in a pair of black silk pajamas. The women in the crowd began to flock to the stage as Nic began to lip synch the words. Women held up their dollars, hoping that Nic would sing to them personally. Carmen watched as the girls screamed and smiled.
Nic pulled off her ponytail holder and let her long, wavy hair fall down her shoulders.
“You all right, C?” Misha asked and placed her arm around Carmen.
“My baby is fine as hell. Ain't ...” Carmen paused when she saw a girl named Jamela walk on the stage. “What the fuck?” She watched as Jamela began to throw dollars on Nic one by one.
Jamela was one of the hottest women in the community, and she knew it. She wore her weave long and wavy to make it look like she was mixed with something. She showed her body as much as she could without being naked, but she could pull it off. Her pink dress was short, hugging her butt just right with a slit right down the middle for easy access to her breast.
Nic turned to Jamela and began to dance with her.
“Oh, hell no.” Carmen walked up on the stage and began to throw dollars on Nic. She gave Jamela a look that let her know to get back. Nic then turned around and began to grind on Carmen. Carmen dropped the rest of her dollars on Nic and left the stage.
Misha laughed. “Girl, you was claiming your shit, huh?”
“You know it.” Carmen looked out at the crowd. She no longer felt proud. All the girls were now looking like competition. She wondered which ones would actually try to get with her woman.
Nic's show ended, and she began to pick up her dollars as the MC walked back on the stage. “Damn, I will pick your dollars up for you. I will cook, clean. What you want me to do?”
Everyone including Nic laughed as she gave the MC a hug. He kicked his foot back while receiving the embrace.
Nic swaggered off the stage.
“How many of y'all liked that?”
The girls screamed.
Carmen watched Jamela smile and shake her head in approval. Jamela looked over at Carmen and rolled her eyes.
Misha grabbed Carmen's hand. “Girl, don't trip. Fuck that bitch.”
“I'm just gon' move on with the show so I can go change my panties after that last one,” the MC joked. “I'm wet. Now it's time to get you bitches wet. Y'all know what time it is. Coming to us straight from D.C., the bad girl herself. Y'all give it up for OOOHHHZEEEE!”
People crowded around the stage as the music began to play. A petite dancer came out in an all-white jacket. She lip synched to the beginning of her music. Suddenly she ran, flipped, and landed in a split. The crowd went wild.
Nic walked from backstage still in her show outfit. “That's my dog. I'm gonna tip her on stage, OK, baby?” She said to Carmen.
“Oh, go right ahead.” Carmen smiled. She hoped that her wish would come true.
As soon as Nic walked on stage, Oohzee approached her. She laid flat on the stage and placed her foot between Nic's legs. She raised her leg up, pushing Nic into the air with her foot. Oohzee then flexed her powerful leg, causing Nic to fly into the air and land on top of her. As soon as she landed, Oohzee rolled her around the entire stage.
Carmen loved every minute of it.
Oohzee then put a dollar on Nic's face. She jumped down and back up again, pressing the dollar into her G-string.
The crowd was on its feet, screaming at the top of their lungs and chanting, “Oohzee, Oohzee.”
Carmen was laughing in hysterics as Nic walked off the stage blushing. Other studs nodded approvingly as Nic walked through the crowd toward her.
Carmen could feel herself getting moist at the thought of what was in store for her later with Nic. She would have to thank Oohzee later.
It took the crowd a minute to get come down off of their frenzy. Nic and the MC helped to clear the money and clothes left from the performance off of the stage.
“Now, baby daddy, I don't know how I feel about you letting these other women feel on you and shit,” the announcer joked with Nic as she left the stage. “I'ma have to get these bitches right. Y'all can't have my man,” he said, looking at his show list. “And y'all can't have my other baby daddy either. I'ma have to get you bitches right when it comes to my men. Please welcome to the stage my original baby daddy, Cool!”
The women in the club went crazy when they heard J. Holliday's “Pimp in Me” start to play.
Cooley walked out in an all-black suit. The girls in the crowd went crazy running to the stage and pulling out their money to throw at Cooley. Cooley lip-synched the words to the song. Her eyes flashed and burned with focused intensity.
Carmen walked onto the stage and started tipping her, throwing dollar after dollar into the air.
Cooley got into the song. Misha watched with her arms folded as the song talked about not being a pimp anymore. She knew the song was directed at her. She could feel the steam rising from Tay, who was not happy about the song.
Suddenly the music faded out, as Avant's “Don't Say No” began to play.
Cooley walked to the back of the stage, took her jacket off, and unbuttoned her shirt. The girls screamed when she took her shirt off, leaving her wife-beater on.
Cooley turned her head in Misha's direction. Misha was standing up with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Cooley knew the song was getting to her. That was one of the songs they had sex to the first time.
Misha left Tay and walked to the stage. Tay reached for her hand but missed. Misha stood at the front of the stage with a dollar in her hand.
Cooley got on her knees and took the dollar, holding Misha's hand as she sang a piece of the song to her. They were in their own world.
Suddenly, Tay stormed up to Misha and grabbed her arm. She jerked Misha away from the stage so hard that she almost fell.
Cooley continued to perform the rest of the song, but she was also watching Misha and Tay walk off.
Denise and Carmen looked over at Tay and Misha, who were now involved in a heated argument.
The crowd near them stopped watching the show and started to focus on them, wondering if a fight was going to break out. The crowd soon got their wish. Misha tried to walk away from Tay but was met with a hard smack to her face.
Cooley instantly jumped off the stage, stormed up to Tay, and punched her in the face. Nic and Denise ran over to the scene, trying to break up the fight between Tay and Cooley. Misha was also trying to charge Tay, but Carmen held her firmly in place.
Three security guards eventually broke up the fight, and Tay was escorted out of the club.
Cooley turned around to see Misha standing with Carmen. “Misha,” Cooley said as she grabbed Misha's arm, “baby, are you OK?”
“Yeah, Cooley, I am fine. It really wasn't that serious, you know.”
Cooley was shocked. “What do you mean, not that serious? Misha, she put her hands on you!”
“Yeah, and, Cooley, I am a grown-ass woman. I don't need you rushing to help me. I was about to get in her ass all by myself,” Misha said, looking down.
“Misha, I was just trying to protect you,” Cooley said as she put her hand on Misha's face.
“Well, that's not your job anymore!” Misha snapped back. She looked at Cooley. “Look, I am sorry, all right. I didn't mean that. Thank you for coming to my rescue, but this doesn't change anything.”
Cooley felt strange. She was looking at Misha completely differently. “Yeah, whatever.” Cooley walked off, trying not to show any emotion.
Misha turned around and walked toward the dance floor, immediately regretting what she said.
Cooley walked into the game room of the club. She noticed a few faces that were new, but all looked too young for her to get involved with. She turned around when she thought she felt someone looking at her. She noticed a familiar face and smiled.
“Well, well, well, Miss Lynn, didn't expect to see you here,” Cooley said as she approached Lynn. Lynn had a natural beauty just like Misha. Cooley could tell there was a lot of potential there.
“I didn't expect to see you on stage or fighting. Guess we both got a surprise tonight, huh?” Lynn smiled.
“Why didn't you tell me you were family?” Cooley stared into Lynn's eyes. One thing that always worked for Cooley was her natural grey eyes.
“Because I don't walk up to people and say, âHi, I'm Lynn. I'm gay.' And besides, I don't know you like that.”
Cooley looked at Lynn in disbelief. “So, you really didn't know who I am?”
“No, I really didn't know. This is actually my first time coming to the club, and it's my first semester at Freedom. I transferred from Christian Brothers.” Lynn smiled at Cooley, who tried to keep her cool face on. “I didn't know you were the head stud around here.” Lynn laughed.
“Ha, ha, ha, very funny. I'm not the head of anything, I'm just Cool. So what are you getting into after the club?” Cooley looked Lynn in her eyes again. It made them weak. She could see it was working on Lynn.
“Nothing. Just going back to my room, unless I find something else to get into.” Lynn gave Cooley a seductive grin.
Cooley licked her lips. “I think I have something we can do. Watch a movie or something. Let me grab my things, and we can head out.” Cooley headed to the dressing room. Suddenly her night was taking a turn for the better.