The Lobby Bar was crowded as usual after a long day at work. Mia talked Tatyanna and a few of their
friends to come out for a late drink, some laughs, and gossip. This wasn’t Tatyanna’s usual seen but after
the last few days she thought a drink or a few would do her some good. She’d been stuck in court hearings after
court hearings for the past few days and things weren’t getting any
easier. She was attorney to the rich and
famous and sometimes infamous. She loved
her job but longed for the chance to have her own firm.
The Lobby Bar was an
upscale bar and grill located near Lincoln Center on the first floor of the Empire
Hotel. It was known for its authentic Italian dishes and out of this world
Negroni; a mix of gin bitter capari, red martini, and garnished with burnt
orange twist.
“What are you drinking
tonight…on second thought I’ll order for you.”
That was Amber; she’d been friends with Mia and Tatyanna since college
and an associate at Ran and Brown Law Firm.
“Oh no I’ll order my
own drink I still have to get up and go in to work tomorrow,” replied Tatyanna.
“Won’t you be glad when
we can do what we want,” said Mia already slightly tipsy. She’d arrived early to grab the girls what
she called the perfect seat which she felt was essential to their long awaited
girls’ night out. “Ooh take a look at
the tall glass of handsome in the corner,” said Mia.
“Where,” Amber asked
taking sip of her drink. Tatyanna turned
to see who they were talking about and had to admit that the guy was
attractive. Tatyanna was often labeled a
work a hollic because of her lack of social life. Mia was determined to set her up just so she
could sow her royal oats as she’d put it time again. Zadayah her sorority sister was even worst
with her surprise blind date tactics.
The last time she fell for Zadayah’s ploy to set her up almost landed
her in jail, the prospective lay ended up with a broken nose and a black
eye. Since then her ideas of setting her
up had calmed down a bit.
‘Ladies the guys from
that table over there thought you all could use another drink,” the waiter said
as he sat there drinks down.
“I’ll bet another round
of drinks that the tall brother who just loosened his tie comes over. Ten, nine, eight…here he comes,” Zadayah
begin. Sure enough tall dark and
handsome was walking over giving them all a thorough once over.
“Hello ladies,” the man
greeted.
“Hello,” Amber,
Zadayah, and Mia chorused. He smiled.
“Ladies you are breath
taking. I’m not a man who likes to beat
around the bush, my friends and I would love it if you all would join us. I’m Andre by the way.”
“We’d love to but…”
Tatyanna begin.
“Why don’t you all join
us,” interrupted Amber. What in the
world were they up to Tatyanna thought?
Andre gestured to his friends to come over and stopped a waiter to bring
them a few more chairs. She would admit
they were all very attractive but she wasn’t looking for the company of male
companionship she truly just wanted to hang out with her girls. She should have known better, when they have
ever gone out without being distracted by males. Andre introduced everyone.
“This is Michael,
that’s Tyler, and he’s Derrick.”
“I’m Zadayah; this is
Amber, Mia, and Tatyanna.” Andre sat
next to Zadayah, Tyler sat between Amber and Mia and Mike sat on the right side
of Tatyanna while Derrick sat on the left between her and Zadayah. A little overcrowded she thought as she took
a sip of her drink.
Conversations begin
with Tatyanna nodding at the appropriate moments. She would be polite and entertain the idea of
wanting their company for about an hour and then she was hightailing it out of
there, with or without her friends.
An hour or so later she
found that it hadn’t been at all bad.
She’d found that Andre who stood about 6’2” tall was a Divorce Lawyer
from Queens. He’d attended Syracuse
University. “I regret I never ran into
you those four years in college,” said Andre to Tatyanna.
“What a shame,” she
replied and smiled. Derrick was a few
inches taller than Andre and Mike with dark assessing eyes, a gold tee, and
dark hair. He was also a Divorce Lawyer
the two worked for the same firm. Mike
the shorter one of the group, had brown eyes, curly hair, and a muscular build.
He was the Dean of History at the local University and recently divorced.
Tyler a dark skinned brother with a bald head that
kept Mia laughing and giggling the entire time couldn’t stop from touching Mia
was a Music Producer that neither of us had heard of; however, we had heard of
some of the artist he represented. The
first thing that came to Tatyanna’s mind upon hearing that was a possible new
client. It was one of the reasons she’d
stuck around for a little over an hour having a few more drinks than she
usually would have.
The conversation was easy and the guys were a
mature group. It was a little flirting
here and there but nothing uncomfortable or over the top. She felt comfortable but that was until Andre
placed his hand on her thigh. Her first
thought was to squeeze it as hard as she could and bend his fingers back. She thought better of doing that and ruining
their evening so she excused herself from the table to get a few minutes to
herself. She was slightly tipsy and felt
a head coming on. She walked over toward
the elevators in hopes of finding the ladies’ room. She heard the clacking of
heals behind her. “Mia I’m about to call
a cab, you go back and enjoy your night.”
“Why are you leaving I thought you were enjoying
yourself.”
“I was until Andre placed his hand on my thigh,”
she said still walking to find the ladies’ room.
“If you really want to go I’ll go with you,” Mia begins.
“No no.
Besides Mike is a producer he…”
“Girl, we’re supposed to be relaxing and enjoying
ourselves, why are you thinking about work,” Mia fussed. Tatyanna smiled. “Look I’m tired and you know I always think
about…
“Jarvis Cole!”
Mia almost shouted. The last
thing Tatyanna needed was to run into Jarvis Cole again.
“Oh my god, Jarvis!” Jarvis pulled Mia in for a hug with his eyes
still on Tatyanna. Tatyanna stood there
staring for a long moment into the grey eyes of the one guy who had broken her
heart all those years ago, the one guy she was still dangerously attracted
too. He was dressed immaculately in an
Yves Saint Laurent tailored suit with a crisp white shirt. He was the only man Tatyanna knew could pull
off tattoos and piercings in business attire.
Trying to keep her eyes off him and failing miserably she noticed as Mia
moved away from her embrace…smeared lipstick on his collar. Jarvis hadn’t changed, Tatyanna thought.
“Yannie...”
“I was just leaving,” Mia asked looking between the
two. His clothes were a little dishelmed
and he looked as though he’d just been caught.
What did she care, he wasn’t her man?
“There you are, is everything alright?”
“Andre Jackson,” Jarvis announced.
“Jarvis Cole,” Andre shaking his hand. Jarvis looked to Tatyanna and Andre slid his
arm around Tatyanna’s waist. Mia looked
out of place but Tatyanna played along. “How’s
it been man?” Andre asked.
“It’s been pretty good,” Jarvis replied. For a moment they all stood there awkwardly.
“You two know each other?” Asked Andre. Before Tatyanna could answer Jarvis replied, “Yes
we uh dated for a while.” Tatyanna
couldn’t believe his lie, they hadn’t dated, hadn’t even…I dare he she thought,
but hadn’t voiced it. Dated, where the
hell had he gotten that from? The last
she recalls is Lauren kissing him. Mia
too was confused. “We haven’t seen each other
since college. You went to Syracuse also
right a few years behind us.” Andre
cleared his throat.
“I believe I was a few years behind you, yes,” was
his tart reply.
“If you all will excuse me,” said Tatyanna pulling
herself away from Andre.
She had taken a few
steps away from a feud when she heard steps following behind her. She not dare look back, she already knew who
it was. Pushing forward she reached the
ladies’ room before he reached her. Standing
in front of the mirror she took a few calming breathes and rolled her neck
around to ease the tension building. No
sooner than she opened her eyes she felt a present fairly close behind
her. Opening her eyes slowly she noticed
a pair of dark grey eyes starring right at her with his arms braced to his
side.
“This is the ladies’
room,” she snapped.
“I can read,” Jarvis
replied.
“Why are you in here?”
“I wanted to talk to
you.”
“You could have waited
for me to come out of the…”
“Are you two together,”
he asked not letting her finish.
“What does it matter to
you?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well I think it’s none
of your business, now if you’ll excuse me.”
She turned to move around him.
Heading for the door she was just about to open it when he pushed in
closed and locked it. “What the hell are
you doing?”
“I wasn’t done.”
“I was.”
“Five minutes of your
time and I’ll let you go.” Her heart
beat sped up as he grabbed her shoulder to turn her around. Looking into his eyes would be a problem so
she kept her eyes glued to the smeared lipstick on his crisp white shirt.
“Isn’t someone waiting
for you?”
“No.”
“Really,” Tatyanna replied
as she dug in her purse for clinex. When
she found what she was looking for she handed it to him. “For the lipstick on your shirt.”
“Yannie wait, it’s not…”
“Doesn’t matter. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back
to my date.
Jarvis gazed at her and remembered that she had
quite a temper. It was nothing at the
moment that he could say. But why should
he even want to explain anything to her when she apparently was with someone
else?