Homecoming Weekend (32 page)

“Oh, and the other thing I read was there are a lot of health benefits to sex. So I'm having it at least twice a week. And that means, since I didn't get none last week, I'm hooking up with Tyrell again tonight.”

The women fell all over each other laughing. “You are a shonuff fool,” Mary said.

“Does Tyrell know this?” Tranise asked.

“You saw when I talked to him at the game, didn't you?” Charlene said. “I told him then.”

“What did he say?” Mary said.

“Nothing. He just smiled and smacked me on my ass,” Charlene said. “I took that to mean he is down.”

“Well, anyway, I am glad you have made a smart decision—about changing your eating habits, not Tyrell,” Tranise said. “I'm going to be calling you every week to check on you.”

“Yeah, right,” Mary said. “We might not see your little cute butt for another four years.”

“After these two days?” Tranise said. “I'll definitely be back. As a matter of fact, we should get together in the summer somewhere. Maybe you two should come to visit me in Atlanta.”

“Give me until the spring; by then you will see a difference in me,” Charlene said. “How about April? That's—what?—five months? Oh, I'll be light in the ass by then.”

“You're already light in the head,” Tranise said.

“I don't know about you, but I'm hungry,” Mary said. “You want to get something at the tailgate or go to a restaurant?”

“The game is over; the tailgate isn't?” Tranise asked.

“Girl, I've never been here when it was over,” Charlene said. “I always end up leaving at some point while they're still going, even out there in the dark cooking, eating, drinking and partying.”

“Well, let's go back there and see how it is, at least for a little while,” Tranise said. “Maybe I'll see Brandon down there.”

“Umm-hmm,” Mary said. “I thought you had gotten past that puppy love from afar with a man who didn't know you existed until yesterday.”

“That's funny,” Tranise said. “I'm good. I know how to handle Brandon. Don't worry about that. But Kwame could be another story. He's putting the moves on. This young guy has more on the ball than most of the guys my age that I've met. I gotta give it to him.”

“Give him what?” Charlene asked. “The booty?”

“Just because you let Tyrell get it and Mary opened them legs for Rodney doesn't mean I need to do the same thing,” Tranise cracked.

“Actually, you probably do need some,” Mary said. “It'll loosen you up some.”

“I am loose enough, thank you very much,” Tranise responded.

“Well, see if you're loose enough to handle Brandon, because there he is right there,” Mary said.

Sure enough, standing across from the baseball stadium with a plate of food in his hand, was Brandon, looking as distinguished and pleasant as ever.

“I gotta admit,” Charlene said, “That's a tall glass of chocolate milk right there. I'm lactose intolerant, but I'll be damned if I wouldn't sip him up with a straw.”

Mary laughed, but Tranise did not. She did not even hear her friend's comment. She was focused on fluffing her hair and applying lip gloss and generally getting herself proper for a talk with Brandon. They made a direct line to him, cutting from one side of the street to the other, entangling themselves with people along the way.

“Did you even go into the game?” Tranise asked him.

“How you all doing?” he said. “Yes, I did go in. I stayed until I knew we had the game won. Then I came out here to get something to eat.”

“That plate looks like you're eating for two,” Charlene joked. “I thought it was your wife that's pregnant, not you.”

Brandon laughed. “Well, I'm a growing boy, you know? We need our nutrition to keep our energy up,” he said.

“I'm sure that ain't all that gets up,” Charlene whispered into Tranise's ear.

“So what are you doing tonight?” Tranise asked.

“I'm going to the Best of Friends party at the Holiday Inn,” he answered. “Have you been to one of their parties before? It's actually a crowd that's a little older than us, but they party. Really nicely done, everyone dresses up. I'm sure you have a sexy dress you're dying to show off.”

“How did you know?” she said, smiling.

“It just made sense,” he said. “I'm sure I'll appreciate it.”

The conversation among the four became all about Brandon and Tranise, which was Mary's and Charlene's cue to move on. “Girl, we're going over to the Ques' tent,” Charlene said.

“Okay, I'll be there in a minute,” Tranise said.

Brandon smiled. “I thought they'd never leave,” he said, smiling more. He was coming on to Tranise. If there ever was any doubt, there wasn't anymore.

“Why did they have to leave?” she asked.

“Oh, where are my manners?” he said. “You want to get a plate?”

“I actually have a ticket to the buffet at the alumni tent, so I'm going to head over there,” Tranise said. “But you didn't answer my question.”

“I was joking, but when I think about it, it is good that they left,” he said, “because I was interested in talking more to you. It would be rude to leave them out of the conversation when we're all standing here together.”

“That's true,” she said. “And it is good that they left because I have a question I want answered.”

“Go,” he said.

“Are you flirting with me?”

Brandon finished off the potato salad on his plate and tossed it in the trash can behind him. “Do you want me to flirt with you?” he asked.

“I'm not ashamed to say I have wanted you to flirt with me since we were in college,” Tranise admitted. “I just don't know if I'm finally getting what I wanted.”

If he thought that because he was tall and handsome and charming and smart and popular that he was going to get somewhere with her, well, he was right. Tranise was weak to him. It was only when she reminded herself that he was married that she put up any real resistance.

Before he could answer, none other than his wife appeared from a group of people to Tranise's right. The look on Brandon's face said she should go away.

“Honey, you remember Tranise?” Brandon said.

Felicia just looked at her husband. He turned when someone called his name. “Honey, I'll be right back.” He was off, leaving Felicia and Tranise standing there frowning at each other. Nothing was said for about ten seconds, before Tranise decided to take the mature approach.

“When is your baby due?” she asked Felicia.

“When is yours due?” Felicia responded.

“I'm not pregnant,” Tranise snapped back.

“Then stop staring at my husband as if he's something you're craving,” Felicia said.

“Already that baby is making you crazy,” Tranise said. “And I thought you couldn't get more crazy.”

“You can deny it all you want; I saw it for myself just now,” Felicia said.

“As usual, you are way off base,” Tranise said. “Why would I want someone who has had you?”

“Because you haven't had anyone,” Felicia said.

Brandon returned before it got really ugly. Felicia grabbed his hand and led him away from Tranise before he could ever say anything. They both were heated. When they got out of Tranise's line of sight, Felicia went off on her husband.

“Brandon, what the hell are you doing entertaining that . . . that silly little woman?” she said. “I have told you how I feel about her. That's not acceptable. She's grinning in your face and you're grinning back at her. What's that about?”

“Calm down,” he said.

“Don't tell me to calm down,” she snapped. “That was totally disrespectful. And I'm not having it.”

“Baby, it's homecoming,” he said, remaining calm. “All I did is what all these thousands of people out here are doing. There was nothing out of bounds about speaking to Tranise.”

“I don't even want her name to come out of your mouth,” Felicia said. “What is it, because I'm fat, walking around with your baby, that you're looking to other women? Of all people . . . not her. You know how I feel about her.”

“If you saw, then you saw her come over to me,” Brandon said.

“And I saw you smiling and laughing with her,” Felicia said. “You haven't even been doing that with me. And from what I saw, it looked like you were flirting with her. I know you, Brandon Barksdale. I know you from your body language, and what I saw was a man enjoying the attention of a woman he knows I detest.”

“Why is that?” Brandon asked. “I don't understand. You never told me why there's such animosity.”

“Does it matter?” Felicia said. “Does it really matter? Bottom line, you knew and you didn't care.”

Brandon kept his composure. He felt like people were always looking at him, so he refused to be pulled into a blatant argument with her right there at the tailgate.

“Felicia, I love you,” he said, holding her shoulders while looking into her eyes. “You are my wife. I don't care how it looked—we were just having a conversation. You can't be carrying our child and getting upset about any little thing. That doesn't help the baby.”

He knew what cards to draw to get Felicia to throw in her hand. Talking about the health of the baby was it. Felicia immediately calmed down. “Well, I was going to stay home tonight, but I'm going to the Best of Friends party,” she said.

“You don't have to do that.”

“You don't want me to be there with you?” she asked.

“Of course, I do. As long as you're up to it, that's great.”

“Well, if I wasn't up to it I am now.”

Tranise was up for whatever might come her way with Felicia and Brandon. That encounter with her arch-nemesis had sent her into a fury. She was not planning on sleeping with Brandon, but that underexposed devilish part of her psyche had emerged. “I'm gonna make her so mad, she will have that baby right there on the damned dance floor,” she told Mary and Charlene.

“It's not time for that baby to come, so maybe you shouldn't wish for that,” Charlene said. “The baby could die.
She
could die.”

“Well,” Tranise said, “I would never wish harm on a baby. But that bitch. . . .

“
Tranise
,” Mary said.

“Well, okay, I'm sorry. I don't want her to die,” Tranise said. “How about close to death?”

“That's not good,” Charlene said. “You're putting bad karma out there. You get back what you put out.”

“I don't believe that,” Mary said. “I mean, she shouldn't want anyone to die. But even if she really did, that doesn't mean she's going to die.”

“She
is
going to die,” Charlene said.

“Yeah, but not because she wished death on someone else,” Mary countered.

“You don't know that,” Charlene argued. “That bad karma could come right back and she could die right on the spot.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Tranise finally interrupted. “Why you two heffas talking about my inevitable death? Really? Seriously? Can we talk about something else.
Damn
.”

They made it to the restaurant in the lobby of the Airport Hilton, and enjoyed a nice dinner before resting for the weekend's closing event. There was a Chuck Brown concert, but, while
they appreciated “go-go” music, they were not in love with it like most everyone from Washington, D.C. The Sweatbox was unanimously ruled out. There were other parties, including one hosted by the Ques in downtown Norfolk. But the buzz about the Best of Friends party was too loud to ignore.

“What are you going to wear?” Mary asked her friends.

“I actually went to MacArthur Mall before I went over to campus yesterday and found something so nice at Nordstrom,” Tranise said. “It's a little black dress—simple but elegant. And sexy. It's fitting all my new curves.”

“Showoff,” Charlene said.

“I have a nice dress, too,” Mary said. “I started to bring a black dress, but I'm glad I didn't. We'd be looking like we dressed together.”

“Remember when we used to do that, though?” Charlene said. “I remember going to The Broadway for some party and we all had on jeans tucked in our boots with polka dot shirts.”

“With different color polka dots,” Mary said.

“We were cute,” Tranise recalled. “Turned it out. And tonight I'm going to turn Brandon out. And turn Felicia into a basket case.”

Jesse, Don and Venita

N
either Jesse nor Don enjoyed the tailgate or the game as much as they should have. Jesse was working on a hang-over that took him until after the game to shake. And Don was missing his wallet, so drunk that he did not remember what he did with it.