Darius
TaMeeka James was my first thought when I woke up the night after Angie’s poly party. I was anxious to see if she wanted to date me. Throwing on my all-white outfit (sweatpants, a wife-beater and my Jordans), I skipped breakfast and headed to TaMeeka’s house. Just as I turned the corner onto TaMeeka’s block, my cellphone rang.
“What’s good?” I said when I answered the call.
“Hey Boo!” Angela chirped.
Smiling at the sound of my girlfriend’s voice, I replied, “Hey Sexy. I’m on my way to see TaMeeka.”
Excitedly, Angela said, “Oooooh! I hope she says yes!”
Grinning, I replied, “Me too, Baby. And thank you for allowing me to love freely!”
“You’re welcome, Boo. I’m gonna go and get my hair done,” Angela stated. “See you later?”
“Ya know it! And maybe I’ll bring my new girlfriend with me!” I cheered.
“Good luck, Boo! Love you” Angela said before I ended the call as I walked up to TaMeeka’s front door.
Nervously, I knocked a few times before Mrs. James opened the door.
“Hello! Can I help you?” Mrs. James smiled back at me.
“Hello, Mrs. James. My name is Darius Price and I wanted to know if TaMeeka was home,” I explained.
“Sure, honey! She’s just washing dishes,” said Mrs. James as she allowed me to enter her home. “Have a seat while I go and get her!”
Doing as I was told, I took a seat on the sofa. I smiled as I scanned the room. Pictures of TaMeeka and her mother were all over the walls. The room itself was decorated in earth tones of browns and dark reds accenting each piece of furniture.
“Darius?” TaMeeka exclaimed when she entered the room.
Smiling as I scanned her body from toe to head, TaMeeka looked sexy in her red sundress and bare feet. Her toes were freshly manicured with a pinky ring on her baby toe. Her lips looked glossy from chapstick. When I looked up at her, I stood up.
“Hey, TaMeeka. I hope you don’t mind me stopping by like this but I don’t have your number and I wanted to ask you this in person.”
“Ask me what?” she responded, folding her arms under her ample breasts, drawing my attention toward her cleavage.
“Are you dating anybody?” I asked, hoping she was old enough to have a boyfriend.
Laughing, TaMeeka replied, “Hell nah! My Mama wants me to focus on school so I can get into a good college. No time for boys.”
Not giving up, I inquired, “So, when you do start dating, do you have someone in mind?”
Grinning back at me, she said as she sat on the far edge of her couch, “Maybe. Why? You trynna date me?”
“Yes,” I replied directly, sitting in the middle of the couch, my knee brushing against hers.
Looking surprised, TaMeeka said, “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t know you and Angie broke up!”
Chuckling, I said, “We didn’t break up.”
“So you trynna cheat on her?! With me?!” TaMeeka snapped.
Taking her hands into mine, I said, “Nah, that’s not it at all. Let me explain.” Feeling the tension in TaMeeka’s hands, I squeezed them to help calm her down. “Have you ever heard of polyamory?”
Confusion covered TaMeeka’s face. “Poly what?”
“Polyamory. With honesty and transparency, Angie and I can date each other and anybody else we want, together or separately as long as everyone is treated with love and respect. In other words, I can date you and Angie. No lies, no secrets. You can date me and any other boys you want as long as they know I’m also your boyfriend.”
Clapping her hands together, TaMeeka said, “Oh, I see! You trynna be a pimp! Boy, do I look like a ho to you?!”
Frustrated, I replied, “Nah, I ain’t trynna be a pimp!”
“Ah’ight, playa,” TaMeeka said, as she rose from the couch, walking toward her front door. “Unless you want to be with me and only me, I’m not trynna play your little games with Angie.”
“Baby, this isn’t a game! You can ask Angie yourself! She wished me luck with you!” I exclaimed.
Taken aback, TaMeeka shook her head. “Well, she may be down with sharing her man, but I’m not. Y’all have fun with that.”
Creeping over to TaMeeka, slipping my hands onto her waist, I asked, “So, is that a maybe?”
Arching an eyebrow up at me, TaMeeka said, “Darius, as long as you aren’t single, it’s NO.”
Feeling torn, I didn’t want to leave that house without TaMeeka as my girlfriend but I didn’t want to lose Angela.
“So I have to break up with Angie just to date you? What if you and I don’t work out? You’re asking me to give up a girl that loves me?” I asked honestly.
“That’s the chance you take with love. I’m not sharing my man just to prove that I love him. I want a man that wants me all to himself!” TaMeeka stated. “If you’re not happy with Angie, please don’t cheat on her. If you’re that unhappy, let her go!”
“That’s just it! I’m VERY happy with Angie! And she wants me to share my happiness with you!” I explained.
Shaking her head, TaMeeka opened the door. “Holla at me when you’re single and not playing games with girls.”
“TaMeeka…”
Opening the door wider, TaMeeka glared at me.
Taking her hint, I took a step toward her. “So I have to be single to date you?”
“I want a man that only wants me,” she replied.
Without another word, I walked out of her house. My stomach grumbled as I reached into my pocket for my cellphone. I needed a ride to the barbershop and I had hoped I caught my boy before he left his house.
“Yo Kris! You up and rolling yet?” I asked as I paused my walk to check my pockets for my house keys.
Laughing, my boy said, “Maaaaan I been up like 5 minutes. I still got sleep in my eyes!”
“Cool! Come and get me so we can hit up Bill’s before we roll to the shop,” I suggested as I walked into my house.
“Ah’ight dawg!” Kris said before ending the call.
As I ran upstairs to my room, my cellphone rang.
“What’s good?” I replied, opening my bedside table to get my cigarillos and weed to roll a blunt before Kris arrived.
“Hey Boo!” Angela’s seductive voice was just what I needed to hear after TaMeeka’s rejection. “Did she say yes?”
“No,” I replied sadly. “I didn’t expect to be so hurt but I really wanted to be with TaMeeka.”
“Aww, I’m sorry Boo,” Angela said consolingly. “Maybe we should’ve invited her to the party so we could explain…”
“She doesn’t want to share, Angie. She wants a man that only wants her,” I stated.
“Oh…” Angela stayed silent for a moment. Her name was called in the background on her end of the call. “Boo, I’m about to get in the chair. I’ll see you later, OK? Love you!”
“Ah’ight,” I said before ending the call.
A car honked outside just as I finished rolling. Putting the blunt behind my ear, I put away my smoking tools before heading outside. I smiled to see my boys.
“Sup Ron! Kris! Jay!” I said as we all exchanged dap after I settled into the backseat next to Jay. “Where’s Devin?”
“He said he’ll catch up with us at the shop,” said Kris as we headed toward Uncle Bill’s Pancake House.
Lighting the blunt, I said, “Man, I wanna thank y’all for coming to the party. Angie was really scared y’all wouldn’t understand how she loves differently.”
“Yeah, she loves differently, dawg!” Aaron and Kris said in unison before laughing.
“Why don’t y’all just be swingers if you’re just trynna fuck everybody?” Jay asked as I passed the blunt in his direction.
“Because this isn’t about sex! Weren’t y’all listening last night?!” I snapped, trying to hold my temper.
“But Angie said we were talking about SEX!” Jay replied.
“She also said polyamory is about love, not sex,” stated Kris as Jay passed the blunt to Aaron. “As much ass as y’all already getting, the only change is letting ya girls know which of her girls you’re already fucking!!”
Aaron nearly choked on marijuana smoke as he laughed at Kris’ statement. “Nigga you got jokes! Y’all lucky y’all alive from ya girl not knowing which of their girls y’all fucking with! These girls ain’t going for sharing their man!”
“Nobody except Angela!” Jay laughed back. “Which makes Darius a lucky ass man!”
“Don’t forget she wants Aaron, too!” Kris chimed in as he pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot. Taking the blunt from Aaron after he parked in the back, he continued. “Face it, fellas. If you’re not with Angie, Nikki or Nina, your girl ain’t down with polyamory. You see ain’t nobody else was invited.”
“The invite said ‘For you and your Boo’. We don’t all have a girlfriend that wants to party,” Aaron said defensively.
“Or you’re scared Baby Girl would be all over it like Nikki is!” Jay chortled as Kris passed the blunt my way.
“Fuck you, Jay!” Aaron snapped. “Y’all know Baby Girl is a good girl! The fuck I look like letting her have a dick on the side?!”
Shaking my head at my boys’ ignorance, I sat in silence until we finished smoking before heading into the restaurant.
After a heavy breakfast, a few more blunts, and a fresh lining at the barbershop, I went home to get ready for Angela to braid my hair. My boy’s clowned me as Kris pulled up to my house.
My beautiful Angela was waiting on my front porch.
“You’ll never guess who wants to take me out!” Angela said as she kissed me on the lips before following me into my house.
“Who?” I asked, matching my girlfriend’s excitement.
“Devin Lawson!”
Shocked that the pretty boy bookworm wanted to date my girl, I said, “Oh, really? When did this happen?”
“This afternoon!” Angela said exuberantly as she followed me into the kitchen to wash my hair. “I kinda had a feeling he was feeling me but he said that, until the party, he thought I was off limits because I’m dating you. Now he wants to take me out!”
“Oh, really?” I replied again, feeling a twinge at the back of my neck.
Now I know why he wasn’t at breakfast or the shop with me and the boys.
“Tell me about it,” I encouraged as she began lathering my hair.