Play The Game. Doug Dixon

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ stood in the center of the club and pulled our jackets off and laid them across our arms. I turned around to get a better look at the place and saw a bunch of brothers standing in the back, checking us out and whispering to one another.

      “Hey, don’t look now but we’re being checked out by some guys behind us,” I said.

      “Where?” Stephanie asked.

      “Directly behind Tangie, against the wall,” I described.

      Tangie looked discreetly around the club. “Yeah, they’re all right. We can do better, though. Let’s walk around and see what the others look like,” she said. We turned and walked toward the back near the restrooms and stood with our backs closest to the wall. This view was better. Instead of being watched by people, now we could see them as they came through the door.

      “So what do you think?” I asked, looking at Tangie and Stephanie.

      “There are more women than men in here,” Stephanie replied.

      “Soul brothers at that. Look at this brother with the red suit, matching red hat and shoes,” Tangie said. We all giggled.

      “Well, I didn’t come in here to stand around,” Tangie said.

      “I know that’s right,” I replied.

      “Are you ready to run the Decatur take’em or shake’em?” Tangie asked, looking over at Stephanie.

      “Absolutely,” she replied.

      “Take’em or shake’em?” I replied, confused. “What’s that?”

      “Girl, as much as we hang out together, you don’t know it yet?” Tangie said, looking at me.

      I nodded.

      “Watch this,” Tangie said as she got the waitress’s attention.

      “Yes?” the waitress asked.

      “What do you two want to drink?” Tangie asked, her eyes shifting to me and Stephanie.

      “I’ll have a glass of white wine,” I replied.

      “I’ll have a glass of Remy XO,” Stephanie said.

      “Make that two glasses of Remy,” Tangie replied.

      “Wine?” Stephanie asked, looking at me. “You ain’t at home in front of the fireplace.”

      “What? Girl, wine is what I want.”

      “Okay, well, wine is what you’ll be drinking all night, then,” Stephanie mocked. Tangie laughed as Stephanie continued. “See, Mya, the game is this. You order an expensive drink, right? You stand here and drink it until it’s half empty, then walk around the club. By then, brothers will be checking you out and offering to buy you a drink. When they see you drinking that expensive shit, they will either buy you another one—and chances are they got a little money—or they will refuse when they see what you’re drinking, at which time they can keep steppin’ because they’re probably broke as hell.”

      I laughed. “You two are some gold-digging hoes.”

      “It ain’t that. It’s just that I don’t have time to sit here all night trying to feel a brother out. Show me what you’re willing to do from the jump and we can work the rest out later.”

      I shook my head in disgust at this ghetto attempt to get a man.

      The waitress came back with our drinks and Tangie paid for them with the money she kept in her jacket pocket.

      We sipped on our drinks for several minutes, watching more guys come through the door. Moments later this guy came over, dressed in all black with a white Kangol hat. “Would any of you beautiful ladies like to dance with ole Roger?” he asked with a wide smile.

      We looked at each other, waiting on the others to give him an answer. “I would,” Tangie replied as she gave me her drink and put her coat on the empty chair next to us. His smile got even wider as they proceeded toward the dance floor.

      Stephanie looked at me with a grin. “Tangie must be desperate to have fun tonight.”

      “Not me,” I replied. “Where are all of the cute brothers sitting?” We looked around the room once more.

      “Maybe if we walk around we might run into some nice guys to choose from,” Stephanie said.

      “Yeah, but let’s wait on Tangie first,” I replied.

      Several minutes later Tangie came back to where we were, breathing heavily. “Whew, that old bastard can dance, but his breath smelled like shit.”

      “What?” Stephanie laughed loudly.

      “Yeah, when I danced with my back toward him, he tried to hump me, and when I danced facing him, I had to hold my damn breath.”

      We laughed hysterically.

      “So you guys aren’t going to dance?” Tangie asked.

      “Yeah, as soon as I find someone cute to dance with,” I replied.

      “Girl, you know cute guys can’t dance. They’re probably on the other side of the club, sitting at the table,” Tangie continued.

      “Well, that’s where I need to be,” I replied.

      “Not me,” Tangie said. “I’m gonna stay over here for a minute and dance some more. Besides, I didn’t come here to find a man, I came here to party.”

      I looked over at Stephanie. “You want to go over there with me?”

      “Sure, why not?” Stephanie replied.

      “Well can you hold on to my jacket, ’cause I’m going back on the dance floor,” Tangie said.

      As Stephanie and I made our way toward the other side of the club, guys were smiling as we passed by, some even winking, trying to get our attention. They looked decent but none of them gave me that warm and fuzzy feeling enough for me to stop and have a conversation.

      When we got to the back of the club, there were a couple of tables with empty chairs next to them near the emergency exit doors. We made our way through a narrow aisle and took a seat. Suddenly it was, like, all eyes on us. The brothers on this side looked a whole lot different. They were all dressed in sport coats as opposed to the zoot suits the brothers were wearing up front. As minutes passed, it seemed as though more cute guys were starting to filter in. Stephanie and I sat back and sipped our drinks, trying to look sophisticated to get some attention. At least I was, anyway. Stephanie was too busy looking at her watch, checking the time every ten minutes.

      A few moments later two guys came over. One was walking toward Stephanie, and the other guy was walking toward me. They both wore really nice dark-colored suits with open-collared shirts. The one walking toward me was a light-brown-skinned brother with a neatly trimmed goatee who stood what looked to be over six feet, while the brother walking toward Stephanie was a little darker in complexion and stood maybe an inch shorter. I noticed Stephanie as she put her drink СКАЧАТЬ