I looked at him. “Hey, I heard so much about you,” I replied and smiled. I stared back at Kev until Jason interrupted.
“Y’all want somethin’ to sip on?” Jason asked.
“Yes, babe, you can bring me a diet drink back. Thank you.” I touched Jason’s hand.
Kev didn’t say a word to his best friend. He just watched me as Jay walked away. He stood there as if he noticed everything about my appearance in less than five minutes. He pushed his bottom lip in and ran across it with his tongue, forgetting that I was there with Jason, it seemed.
I watched him and imagined what he could possibly be thinking about me. I had on a pretty red sundress with the back out and a pair of chanel sandals, and my toes were perfectly manicured with a French manicure design. He examined my frame from top to bottom. I stood there letting him admire me; after all, what could it possibly hurt? I knew what he was thinking, but to be brutally honest, I liked it. Kev was handsome, way beyond the good looks of Jason. Kev was beautiful. So, I stood there, letting him make me feel like I was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on. And I wondered and imagined what he was thinking.
He looked at my ears and saw that I had diamonds in them. These diamonds weren’t cheap.
Kev was so caught up in me and I was so caught up with my imagination that I didn’t even see or hear Jason walk back over with the Diet Pepsi. “Kev, man, you okay? Why you lookin’ like that?”Jason asked.
Kev tried to get it together real fast before answering Jason. “What? What you mean, man, I’m straight.” He took one more look over at me and stared in my eyes, which were almost the same color of my skin, and then he said, “Breathtaking.” He said in a mesmerized tone that let me know he hadn’t meant to say the words out loud.
Jason wasn’t really paying attention to how Kev was looking at me. Obviously he didn’t think it was a big deal. I couldn’t imagine those two could ever let some broad come in between them, but I may have been wrong.
“Kev, you sure you don’t want somethin’ to drink? I’m goin’ back over to the bar.” Jason nodded over to the bar.
“Naw, I’m cool,” Kev said.
“Okay. I’ll be right back,” Jason said while he touched me on my back.
“Okay,” I said softly, and smiled.
“So, where you from, Reese?” Kev asked.
“I’m from Dayton, it’s about an hour away from here.”
“Yeah, I know the place. I’ve been there on business a few times or two,” Kev said, keeping his eyes on me.
I started moving to the beat of the jazz music that was playing in the restaurant. I stopped paying attention to Kev and shifted my eyes to Jason, who was at the bar talking to a couple of fellows.
“So, Reese, you work or are you in school?” Kev asked.
“I graduated from OSU a few years back and now I work.”
“Okay, okay, that’s cool. What do you do for a livin’?”
The music got louder so I moved closer to Kev to reply. I put my mouth to his ear to answer him: “I’m an electrical engineer.” I was so close I just knew Kev had to have been able to smell the perfume on my skin. He closed his eyes and bent down toward my neck to get a better smell of my scent when Jason approached.
“What’s up? What’s goin’ on over here? Y’all look like y’all havin’ an intense conversation or somethin’.” Jason laughed.
Kev backed away from me slowly with his hands behind his back, still staring into my eyes. My heart was fluttering because I knew I wasn’t imagining what was going on between us. I knew we had just shared a moment. I didn’t know what to think. Why would Jason’s best friend be coming on to me? Better yet, why did I like it?
I started feeling guilty and uncomfortable and finally blurted out, “Jason, let’s go. I need to get ready for work tomorrow so I need to get back to my house.” I said, as I motioned my finger toward the steps and moved toward the stairs that led to the exit, “Come on, babe.”
Jason caught me and grabbed me by the waist and pulled me close to himself, closing his eyes and smelling my neck. I looked over at Kev, wondering what he possibly was getting out of this. Jason interrupted our silent communication.
“Um, you smell so good. Stay wit’ me and have a drink. Or let’s get somethin’ to eat. You hungry?”
“No, Jason, I’m not. I need to go.” I rolled my eyes and pulled away from him. I was feeling uneasy, and all I could think about were Kev’s gray eyes looking at me and me looking back into them. What’s wrong with me?
After a few more minutes of Jason begging me to stay, he gave up. Jason grabbed my hand and said good-bye to his friends. He smiled all the way out of the place, not knowing anything had happened, but I, on the other hand, knew different.
I looked back as I walked up toward the exit and watched Kev watch me and smile as Jason and I left.
The next time I saw Kev was one night when Jason was away on business in New York. I still believed they were businessmen. And why wouldn’t I? They had businesses. They owned properties all over the city and were in business with Eva’s husband, so there was no reason to think anything differently or ask any questions.
Jason had called me but I didn’t hear the phone until he hung up. I was busy with cleaning my house and listening to some music. I listened to his voice message, and Jason said he was concerned and had asked Kev to shoot by and check on the boys and me.
I went in the front room to water my flowers when I noticed someone standing and pacing across my front porch. I went to the window and peeked out. That’s when I noticed Kev standing out there. I ran over to my “Louie” bag and grabbed my lip gloss to put some on my lips, and I turned down the music and listened to him through the window.
“Why am I doing this? He’s my man’s best friend.” I threw the lip gloss back into my purse, never shining my lips. I went back over to the window, then the peephole, and watched him talk to himself.
“Okay, what if she asks me why I’m here?” He paced back and forth outside. “I don’t wanna be here. This ain’t a good idea.”
He pulled out his cell and dialed, then appeared to think a minute. Kev’s back was away from the door and the cell was still to his ear. It must have been ringing.
I opened the door and touched him on the shoulder. “Hey, Kev, what you doin’ here?”
I believed I startled him a little. He turned around, still holding the cell to his ear. He put the phone down and away.
I was standing there in a T-shirt and pajama bottoms. My hair was pulled up in a ponytail, swinging back and forth while I moved.
