Caviar Dreams: The Prequel Novella to Champagne Life (3 page)

Naomi

“Are you sure they’re not going to kill us or something?” Ticia said, stepping into her dress. Ticia was always one for wearing skimpy clothes, but then again, she had the body for it. We both did. I simply chose to dress more modest.

“You promised to knock that off,” I said. “And I told you. I talked to Fabian downstairs while you were sleeping and he’s cool. If we end up in the back of his trunk, you can blame me, okay?”

Ticia clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “I guess it’s better than nothing. Plus, we’ll have our drinks and food paid for.” She pulled on her skirt, only it was more like a bandeau top. That tiny piece of material barely covered her goodies. Her red sequined halter dipped low in the front, showcasing all her cleavage. It left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

The funny thing was, she had the nerve to turn to me, scrunch up her nose and ask, “Are you wearing that?”

“What’s wrong with this?” I looked down at my gray trouser pants and white cotton sleeveless halter. The pants were tight in all the right places and the top showed off the biceps I had gained from all the curls I started a few months back. The thick black belt cinched my waist and made my boobs look bigger, which I could use all the help I could get in that department. In my opinion, my attire was sexy, yet not revealing. The real killer of the outfit was my three-inch strappy sandals that exposed my freshly manicured toenails.

“It’s a cute outfit,” Ticia said, “but I can’t see skin.”

“That’s my point.”

We headed downstairs, and at first, it crossed my mind that maybe Fabian wasn’t going to be there waiting for us and we had gotten dressed up for nothing. Kevin did the same thing. He’d call and ask me to meet him someplace and then would show up an hour late . . .if he showed up at all. He’d come strolling in all casual like and would have the nerve to get mad at the dude’s that were trying to buy me drinks before he even got there. They probably only bought the drink because they had pity on the loser sitting at the bar alone, waiting for her man. Thinking about it made me angry all over again.

My anger quickly disappeared when Fabian walked through the front door of the lobby. And he looked good too. He was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a black button down shirt. He took the time to shave and under that stubble was a cute guy. Not necessarily what I’d normally go for, but cute nonetheless.

“Ladies,” he said, walking up to us. “You’re late.”

“Sorry,” I said.

There’s that moment when everything in the universe changes and what you thought you knew, you never knew in the first place. I was in one of those moments. Fabian took one look at Ticia’s scant outfit and started grinning so hard, the corners of his mouth practically touched his earlobes. “You look beautiful,” he said to her. He turned to me, giving me a quick up and down. “You do too.”

“Thanks,” Ticia said, her grin as wide as his.

“We got a problem,” Fabian said. “We can go out, but I couldn’t reach my boy, so you may be kinda a third wheel.” He was looking at me when he said that. He held up his cell and quickly added, “but, I’m trying to reach him now.” He turned back to Ticia. “If I can’t reach him, I got another dude for your friend.”

I was standing there, thinking when did I become
the friend?
Whatever happened to
All Naomis are pretty?

A sour grapes moment took over for a brief second as I thought,
he wasn’t that cute anyway.
And for a brief second I felt I should’ve been disappointed by the fact that as soon as dude saw my girl in her skimpy outfit, I was invisible. I also felt like I should’ve been disappointed by Ticia’s obvious enjoyment of his attention. But for some reason I wasn’t really.

“Don’t worry about it,” I told him. “I can hang out by myself.”

“No way,” Ticia said. “We are going to find a guy for you.”

Now I was thinking,
when did I become the desperate friend?
At that moment, I decided maybe I should go ahead and keep Kevin as a consolation prize. Sure, he got on my nerves . . .A LOT, but we did have fun when we got together.

“Do you ladies have a rental?” Fabian asked. “I have my brother’s car but it doesn’t really work that well in the rain and if it rains, we’re screwed.”

Ticia looked over at me, not even trying to hide her disappointment with the fact that this grown, working man didn’t even have a car.

“It’s okay,” I said. “We can take your car and if it rains while we’re out, we’ll call a cab.” I looked over at Ticia, who shot me a look like she wanted to take a paring knife and jam it into my jugular.

That seemed good enough for him. We walked out the door, Fabian with his arm around Ticia, who still had attitude, and me sauntering behind them.

Didn’t matter. I was determined to have fun in the Bahamas tonight regardless.

DeShaun

I was glad when Fabian finally pulled up to the spot. The entire ride there, the car kept cutting off in the middle of the road. At one point, Fabian had to get out and push while I steered. Ticia sat in the passenger side and sulked.

At one point in the car, she leaned over and whispered, “If we find better dudes in the club, we’re out of here.”

The car eventually started and we continued on our way. I was relieved when Fabian pulled up in front of a restaurant and not a club. I really didn’t feel like doing the club scene tonight.

We went into the restaurant, but walked right through and toward a large wooden door situated in the back. As soon as Fabian pulled open the door, I heard the loud, blaring bass of reggae infused hip-hop.

So much for not going to a club.

“Would you ladies like a drink?” Fabian asked.

Ticia, not one to turn down a free drink, told him that she wanted a Bahama Mama, which was a little too tourist-y for me. I shook my head. “No thanks.” When he left, Ticia leaned over to me and said, “You’re not interested in him, are you?”

She couldn’t be serious. She spent the entire time giving him dirty looks when his car wouldn’t start in the parking lot of the timeshare. When he had to get out and push, she huffed and rolled her eyes, mumbling how she was sick of losers. Now she was asking me if I was interested in this dude?

“Would it matter?”

“Of course it would matter.”

I shook my head and said, “Nah, I’m good.” And to be sure she knew I was telling the truth, I added a smile. “The question is, are
you
interested?”

“Hey, there’s nothing better around.”

As soon as she said that, it hit me. How could I judge her when I was doing the exact same thing with Kevin? The reality was, Kevin was okay to hang out with but if someone better came along, I’d be out of there so quick, I’d leave tire tracks. Was Mr. Right Now better than nothing?

Fabian came back over to the table with a frothy red colored drink in his hand. He placed the drink down in front of Ticia. “A Bahama Mama for my Bahama Mama.”

She took a sip of the drink and screwed up her face. “How much rum did they put in here?”

“Not much.”

I watched him watch her as she took another sip from the oversized glass. For her to say a drink had too much rum meant there had to be plenty of alcohol swirling around in there.

He turned and looked at me. “You sure you don’t want one?”

Ticia must’ve gotten to me because images of the both of us, locked inside Fabian’s trunk passed through my mind. I shook my head. It wasn’t that I thought he’d do something like that, okay, maybe I did think that, but in any case, I wanted to be sober. Call it intuition, but I got that feeling something may be going down tonight.

DeShaun

He tried calling Shaneille at least four times and each time his call went straight to voicemail. That was it! She had one more time before he’d really dump her.

And this time he meant it.

He picked up his phone. Instead of hitting number one, like he usually did to talk to her, he dialed her number, slowly, as if actually dialing her number might make a difference. He hit the last number and held his breath.

Please pick up, Please pick up.

If she ever loved him at all, she’d pick up this one time. The phone rang once, then twice. Half a second later, his call was dumped into boyfriend hell—
This is Shaneille, I’m unavailable but if you’d like . . .

He chucked his phone across the room. It hit the side of a chair and tumbled to the ground. He had every right to be pissed off, and tomorrow he would be. Today he was sad more than anything.

He sat there, on the floor, for several minutes, trying to talk himself into believing that she was no good for him. But even if that was the case, in his heart he wanted her back. He wanted her back badly.

He had been so caught up in thoughts of her, he jumped when his phone rang. He scrambled across the room and dropped to his hands and knees, searching the floor for where his phone had landed.

“Yeah?”

“Yo man, where you been?” Fabian asked. “I’m down here with them two American girls. You was supposed to be here an hour ago.”

“I ain’t never said I was comin’. Besides, I’m busy.”

“Doing what? Crying over Shaneille again?”

“I ain’t hardly thinkin’ about that girl,” DeShaun lied. “I’m just tired.”

“Get down here,” Fabian said. “You ain’t got nothin’ better to do.”

“I’m not coming.”

“If you come I’ll give you twenty bucks.”

“You mean that twenty you already owe me?”

“Sure.”

He really could use that twenty dollars he lent out to Fabian a week ago, especially since he spent his last on that stupid engagement ring. “Fine. I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

“Make it a half hour.”

“Whatever, man.”

DeShaun hung up and jumped in the shower.

Naomi

I glanced over at the dance floor. Ticia and Fabian were grinding like they had known each other intimately for years. They were having a great time. Maybe they would hit it off after all.

I wasn’t having such a bad time either. I had danced with three gorgeous guys. The last one I was currently dancing with was the hottest of them all. Over the loud music I found out his name was Curtis and he was a bartender at a place called Roosters or Rumors, or something like that. I could barely hear him.

Curtis leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Want something to drink?” With my eyes closed, feeling the music—and his sturdy frame against my body—I shook my head. “Maybe later.” Even though it was a fast song, he pulled me close, swaying with my body in time to the music. He smelled good too. If he didn’t work out, he was definitely blessed because through his shirt, I could feel his pectoral muscles pushing up against my chest.

When I opened my eyes, I spotted Fabian and Ticia standing at the club entrance with some guy. At first I couldn’t see his face, but the body was nice, tall and lean. Fabian pointed in my direction and when he turned around, he looked directly at me. I didn’t know why I felt the need, but I pushed Curtis back a few inches, creating a sliver of light between our bodies.

“Thanks for the dance,” I said and walked off the floor. I felt Curtis watching me as I walked over to where my friend was standing at the door.

We made introductions and for a minute, I saw a glint of relief in his eyes.He smiled, revealing a row of perfectly white teeth and minty breath. I was tall, but he towered over me. I had seen that look in a guy’s eyes before. He was pleasantly surprised, too. I only hoped I showed the same reaction.

“What did you say your name was?” I asked, surprised by how shy I
wasn’t
. Normally, I couldn’t even look a guy in the face, interested or not. In this case, I was definitely interested and by the way he was looking at me, I’d say he felt the same.

“DeShaun.”

While DeShaun and I sat down at the bar, which I felt was cozier than a table in the middle of the room, Ticia and Fabian hit the dance floor again. The conversation with DeShaun flowed smoothly. I found out he was a server at a local restaurant in Port Lucaya Marketplace. He was also only twenty-one to my twenty-seven, but that wasn’t a deal breaker. I’ve dated younger guys before, if not age wise then definitely mentally. DeShaun seemed so much wiser and relatable than other guys I’ve been involved with, Kevin included.
Especially Kevin
.

“What brings you here to this island?” he asked.

“A much needed vacation. I go to school and work full time and I really needed a break.”

“That’s good,” he said sounding genuinely interested. “School for what?”

When I told him, he looked impressed. “I’m thinking about going back to school. Not sure for what. I’m keeping options open.”

“Well, education is important.” I sounded like a PSA for the education of public schooling.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” He asked.

I started smiling. Not on purpose, but I couldn’t help it. I really felt like an idiot. He didn’t seem to mind, though, because he was grinning right along with me as if we shared a secret joke between us.

“We were thinking about going to the beach,” I told him.

“Want some company?”

Before I could answer an emphatic yes, he turned toward the entrance. His smile faded and his face went white. I looked over. The only people at the door were some guy and his date.

“Would you excuse me for a second?” Before I could even answer, he hopped up from the barstool and bolted for the door. The music was so loud I couldn’t hear what they were saying but they were definitely arguing. Hands were being raised and they were both in each others’ faces like they were daring the other to do something. The next thing I knew, DeShaun drew his hand back and punched the guy dead in his eye. The other guy was knocked to his feet, but as soon as realization set in, the guy stood up and lunged at DeShaun and a full on brawl broke out in the club.

***

It seemed extra humid today, or maybe that was the sun blaring down on my bare skin. I was going to bring an umbrella but Ticia informed me that no one uses umbrellas on the beach anymore, even black people. This was the same person who slathered on sunscreen when we first got off the plane, warning me about skin cancer.

So there I sat, basting like a roasting turkey on Thanksgiving.

“We’re going out again tonight,” she told me. “Wanna come?”

“No. I don’t want to be a third wheel. I can go out by myself.”

Ticia sat up in her lounge chair. “Where are you going by yourself on an island? You can come with me and Fabian. We don’t mind.”

“Really, no thanks.” Fabian might feel the need to bring along another He-Man.

“Fabian told me DeShaun had a good time.”

“Was that before or after he decked that guy, ‘cause I couldn’t tell?”

Last night, as soon as the fight broke out, me and Ticia grabbed our purses and left. I didn’t even get the chance to say goodnight to Curtis, the guy I should’ve stuck with instead of Lefty LaRue.

“Give the guy a break. He was still upset about his girlfriend dumping him.”

I rolled my eyes, not believing Ticia had the nerve to try to defend that mess.

“How would you feel if Kevin showed up at the club you were at with his new chick on his arm?”

I glared at her. “Did you really mean to ask me that?”

“Oh yeah. Sorry. I forgot.”

“Besides, that’s his problem,” I said. “I want nothing to do with that.”

“So I suppose you’re going home, back to Kevin again?”

Her question caught me off guard, even though that was something I had been thinking about for the last day and a half. I decided that I didn’t need this or that. I finally reached my point, and not by some specific heated incident either. By thinking things through, I decided to take a break. I wanted to pursue baking again, maybe even full time. This morning, while Ticia was at breakfast with Fabian, I got online and checked out the small business loan process. I wanted to make this happen instead of always talking about doing it someday.

“I’m through with Kevin. In fact, I’m through with men, period.”

“You’re gay now?”

I playfully punched her in the shoulder. “Very funny. I’m going to concentrate on getting my stuff together. Then maybe I’ll see what’s out there.”

“Good for you,” she said. “Now I’m going to concentrate on this drink.” She picked up the glass resting on the arm of her lounge chair and raised it high. “Here’s to my girl getting it together.”

“Here, here,” I said, raising my water bottle.