Flyy Girl (25 page)

Yet Tracy destroyed his plans, deciding to approach him while he danced instead of waiting for him. “Ay, Bruce, you don't wanna dance with me or somethin'?” she asked seductively. She made it sound as if she was desperate and begging for him. And Bruce liked it.

“No,” he responded to her.

The girl he was dancing with became apprehensive. “Is she your girlfriend or something?” she asked, reading Tracy's tone.

“Naw, she just likes me,” he told her.

Tracy moved over to a nearby wall to continue staring at him. She was worried. Her plan to seduce him would never work if Bruce was no longer interested. And she was still standing there, several songs later, turning boys down as Bruce watched her watching him.

Bucky walked up beside him, grinning. “Tracy's here.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Bucky chuckled. “Well, you gon' game her up or what, man?” he asked, right in front of the other girl, not caring if she heard him. Tracy was more important in his eyes. She was one of the
flyyest
girls there.

“Yeah, but I'm gon' make her wait some more,” Bruce told him.

Bucky looked at his watch. “Yo, man, it's almost twelve o'clock, and she might have to go home soon.”

“Umm, excuse me, but it seems you have
other
things on your mind,” Bruce's dance partner commented as she walked off from him.
Who does he think he is?
she fumed to herself. She felt slighted.

Bucky looked at Bruce and hunched his shoulders. “Fuck her, man. Go talk to Tracy.”

Bucky was right, Tracy did have to leave soon, but she refused to. She told Carmen that she would stay until Bruce decided to talk to her.

Bruce finally called her over to him.

Tracy walked over to Bruce real slow, as if he was controlling her will with magic. She answered him like a child, once she had reached him, “Yes, Bruce.” Tracy was doing a good job of playing with his mind. Bruce actually felt like he was manipulating her.

“You wanna dance wit' me now?” he asked.

“If you want me to.”

Bruce took her hand for a slow song. The DJ played the Art Of Noise's “Moments in Love.” Tracy's emotions did not seem to be into it. Bruce assumed she was angry at him for making her wait.

“Are you mad at me or something?” he whispered.

“Why would I be mad at you?”

Bruce felt it was a weak question and tried to cover up. “When are you about to leave?” he asked.

Tracy lied. “As soon as my girlfriends are ready.”

“Well, me and Bucky can leave with y'all.”

“Okay,” Tracy happily agreed. Her plan was beginning to work perfectly, because she had to get home soon. Her mother was still acting bitchy about the midnight curfew.

Bruce told Bucky their plans and they all left. Bucky flirted with Carmen on the way to Tracy's house, but Bruce continued to keep his distance from her, to keep her guessing, of course. He wanted to act as if he was really in control of things.

As they walked, Bucky noticed they were nearing his cousin's house. He secretly let Bruce know, and Bruce decided to try his luck. He figured he had nothing to lose. He stopped and called Tracy over to him.

“Why don't you hang out with me, Tracy?” he asked, while holding her hand. “We can all chill over Bucky's cousin's house. He lives right up the street.”

Tracy jerked away from him. “No, I gotta get home.”

“Look, it's only one night. Sometimes you just have to say ‘Fuck it,' ” he told her, stealing a line from Tom Cruise's
Risky Business.

Tracy laughed at him, recognizing the line. “Boy, you've been watching too many movies.”

Bruce felt a strong impulse to go for it, like Victor and the other
playboys would do. “Look, if you don't go with me tonight, then it's over. So don't ever speak to me again,” he ranted.

Tracy backed away and continued to laugh. She figured his threat was harmless. She could twist Bruce around her little finger anytime she wanted to.
Who is he trying to be? s
he asked herself.

“Aw'ight then,” she told him, walking away to rejoin her friends.

Bucky shook his head and imitated Fred Sanford. “You, big,
dummy!”

Bruce sighed and said, “Man, I'll never get no ass.”

Bucky headed for his cousin's house. “Don't worry 'bout it, ‘Brucie.' Try again tomorrow,” he said, imitating Tracy. He laughed even harder as his cousin answered the doorbell to let them in out of the cold.

After Christmas, Tracy and Bruce saw each other at the USA Skating Rink in Northeast Philadelphia.

Bruce kept his distance while Tracy stared at him, driving him crazy. And eventually he was drawn to her like a fly to fruit, while still trying his hardest to resist temptation.

“Why you always starin' at me if you don't like me?” he huffed at her.

“I didn't say I didn't like you.”

“Well, do you like me or what?”

Tracy rolled her eyes. “I'on know. You tell me.”

“You know what? You're really gettin' on my
nerves!”

“So?” she snapped at him.

“So why don't you tell me what you want from me?”

Tracy lied. “I don't want nothin' from
you.”

“So why the hell you keep staring at me?”

Teenagers turned to see what was going on. Tracy was amused by Bruce's temper. She giggled and said, “You better calm down, boy.”

Bruce responded, skating away, “Fuck it, I quit. I'm tired of talkin' to you.”

Tracy shouted, “Come here!”

“FOR WHAT?!”

“Just come here,” she repeated, heading over to a water fountain on her skates. Bruce skated over behind her. “Do you want my phone number?” she asked, digging inside of her new white Sixers jacket.

“Is it gon' mean anything?” Bruce asked her.

Tracy snapped, “What 'chew think?”

Bruce started to skate away.

“Yeah, boy! God!” Tracy yelled.

“Are you sure? 'Cause I ain't playin' no more games,” he warned her.

“You'll find out when you call me.”

Bruce smiled helplessly. He was in love with Tracy's style. And for the rest of that night, she was the only thing that he could think about.

Bruce went home and dreamed about Tracy coming over to his house to make love to him. He imagined himself rolling over and spreading her legs while she lay in his bed. He would then melt into her naked body as she squeezed him and moaned his name. And when they would finish, she would cuddle up to him and whisper, “I love you.”

Bruce called Tracy up and was invited to visit her. He was so excited that he immediately began practicing what he would say and how he would act. He planned to toss on some of his Polo cologne and get a fresh haircut for his shiny waves. And as far as Raheema seeing him, he told himself, “So what? She ain't fuckin' anyway. I wasted my time with her, just like Bucky tried to tell me.”

“Mom, this is Bruce,” Tracy said, leading him into the kitchen.

Patti looked him over and said, “How are you? I've heard so much about you.”

“See, I told you I was talkin' 'bout you,” Tracy bragged, grinning at him. Bruce felt important, but what he didn't know was that Tracy had only talked about how he looked and how he dressed.

She led him back to the living room and sat with him on the couch. Jason then ran and jumped on him.

“What's your name?” he asked.

“Bruce.”

They shook hands, with Bruce's swallowing Jason's.

“You like Tracy?” Jason asked.

Bruce beamed. “I'on know.”

Tracy butted in. “You want something to drink?”

“Yeah,” Bruce said.

Tracy got him lemonade, and Bruce gulped it down in one big swallow.

“Dag! You want some more?” she asked, surprised by it.
He must
be thirsty or something,
she thought to herself.

“Naw,” Bruce responded with a nervous smile. But after playing with Jason, he began to feel at home.

Tracy took the cup back to the kitchen.

Patti grinned at her. “Tracy, he's cute.”

“I
know,
'cause I don't deal wit' ugly guys,” Tracy said, walking back out to the living room with a slight bounce. She sat back on the couch with Bruce.

Bruce moved closer to her. “You just wake up pretty, don't you?” he asked.

Tracy responded with a giggle, “No, you have to ask my mother about that.”

Bruce's eyes focused on the 27-inch RCA that Jason had turned on. “That's a big-ass TV y'all got.”

Tracy whispered, looking at her brother, “Watch your mouth, boy.”

Jason was a human tape recorder.

“Oh, my fault,” Bruce apologized.

“Dag, you ain't got no manners,” Tracy responded, still getting on him about it. She looked at Bruce's clothing and smiled.

“What's so funny?” he quizzed.

“Where you get your sneakers from?”

“From Footlocker's.”

“How you be gettin' all them glasses?”

Bruce lied, thinking that Tracy liked adventure. “We stole 'em.”

Her eyes ballooned. “For real?”

Bruce frowned. “No, girl. I bought them.”

“Well, excuuuse me, Mr. Money.”

Bruce cracked a broad smile while Tracy thought about making her move.

“Bruce?”

“What?”

“Won't 'chew buy me some stuff?” Tracy leaned into him.

Jason smiled, watching for Bruce's reaction to his sister's begging. Tracy was always begging for something.

Bruce chuckled and said, “Aw'ight. Give me the money.”

Tracy sucked her teeth and nudged him. “For real, Bruce. Please. I'm serious.” Her head softly met his shoulder.

Bruce insisted, “When you give me the money, I'll do it.”

Tracy was pissed. “Dag, you stingy, boy!” she huffed at him, straightening up from his shoulder. “I
should
make you leave,” she pouted.

Bruce didn't care if he left at that point. He had had a good time, and he could tell that Tracy was enjoying his company.

“Oh, well, I'll roll then,” he said, getting up to walk to the door.

“Sike, Bruce. I'm only playin' with you,” she said, pulling him back down on the couch with her. “But you gon' take me to the movies?”

“For what?”

“Because, I wanna go.”

Bruce grinned. “If I take
you,
I won't be able to talk to no other girls.”

Tracy rolled her eyes and sighed at him. “You a trip.”

Bruce leaned back into her couch and enjoyed the rest of his stay.

•    •    •

Tracy's plan to get Bruce's materials without giving him anything was going nowhere. Bruce continued to avoid all of her money questions. He liked teasing her. He knew what she was after, and he began to ask her for a proper trade-off. They wore each other out with their demands. Neither of them seemed to be getting anywhere. And soon they began to talk to other people, fading off from each other.

By early March, Bruce had a new girlfriend, and Tracy liked a green-eyed, light-skinned boy who had clout in her school. “Green-eyed Timmy” had been approaching her for weeks, but Tracy refused to be his plaything. Timmy already had a girlfriend. And Bruce was going through the same old charades, struggling with every girl that liked him. He had the same old problems: not being able to keep the girls interested, and never being able to score.

It was early April before Tracy saw Bruce looking deliciously tempting again. She was going out for a track team, and Bruce happened to show up for a girl who was going out for the team as well. Jantel was already a star on the team, but she was still not as close with Tracy as they had been before Carmen entered the picture.

Bruce looked shockingly handsome in the bright spring sun. His legs were strong and masculine in his shorts. Maybe that was what turned Tracy on. Or possibly it was the haircut; his thick wavy hair shone like it was waxed. Or maybe it was the gold rope chain that he wore around his neck with a $ sign hanging over his red Polo tennis shirt. Whatever it was that turned Tracy on, it hit her like a bag of bricks that day, and all she could think about was how much she wanted him.

“Ay Marcy, tell that boy right there that somebody said he looks good,” Tracy said to a new friend. She pointed the short, thick-built sprinter to Bruce, who was standing at the fence that surrounded the track.

Marcy walked right over to him and said it.

“Who said that?” Bruce quizzed, knowing who it was already. Only Tracy was
that
bold.

Marcy confirmed it, “Some girl named Tracy did.”

Bruce looked over at her, and Tracy smiled at him.

Bruce felt desperate. “Well, tell her that I love her,” he said to Marcy.

Tracy asked Marcy, excitedly, “What did he say?”

“He said that he loves you.”

A burst of joy flowed through Tracy's body. She had made up her mind. She decided that she would
do it
with him.
No boy ever said that
he loves me,
she thought.

She called Bruce up to talk, and he desperately tried to get her over to his house, but she refused. She wanted to wait to take her birth-control pills. Bruce was angry, having no idea why she had told him “no” again.

He tried unsuccessfully to score with other girls, becoming more and more pressed for a sexual encounter. Maybe it was the warm weather that was making him so restless for lovemaking, but Bruce was ready to
do it
with anyone who would let him. He felt as though he was being punished by the forces of nature.
I can't get no ass to save my life!
he told himself.

By the end of another sexless week, Bruce was devastated. His new girlfriend would not agree to consort with him either. He wouldn't dare to rape a girl. His mother would kill him,
after
she threw him out, so it was nothing that he could do to speed up nature's process but wait for his time to come.
Every dog has his day,
he mused,
but if I don't get
some sex soon, I feel like I'm about to turn into one.