Chapter Twelve
I had found myself out on the terrace which overlooked the city. With all of the people I had been meeting throughout the night and all the talking I had done, I needed a breather. There was a light wind that seemed to cool me off for the moment while enjoying my bottled water.
“Hey there,” a voice from behind said.
I looked over my shoulder and saw Anthony coming towards me. “Hey.”
“It seems that you have been the talk of everybody here at the jam session tonight.”
“Really now?”
“Oh yes, I’ve heard some say how talented you were, how amazing your voice was and how you have the nicest ass that anyone has ever seen.”
“Say what now!”
He ended up laughing.
I knew he had to have been lying. “The devil is a lie and his name is Anthony about the ass comment.”
“Actually that was true, very true. You seem to have gotten everyone’s attention.”
“I tend to get that, especially when it comes to my singing. But you do have some great friends.”
“Well, I can say that they all have talked about you and like you as well. The guys were all worked up when you said you had to stop. They wanted you to continue singing.”
“Yeah, I would have loved to but I had to rest my voice. I know my limit when I sing and I don’t like overdoing it. I do know that my friend Sara and Momo have been keeping one another company all night.”
“Yeah, I saw them hugging up on each other in one of the corners back there.” All I could do was shook my head as I knew Sara all too well. She would get with a guy, end up talking with them and eventually, they would hook up either that night or later on during their first date.
“So you needed some air too, huh?” I asked.
“That and I wanted to check on you.”
“On me, why is that?”
He had this puzzled look on his face. “Why not?”
I just continued looking back out over the terrace as some of the other people that were there before me were going back inside.
“It sure is a lovely night though,” he said.
“That’s true and you do have a lovely view of the city up here.”
“Thanks, I like it too. Listen Mel, I wanted to ask you whether you had any plans for Sunday.”
“Well, I’m going to church, then to my parent’s house since I always have Sunday dinner with them when I get the chance, just time to relax and regroup before Monday comes around the corner. Why you ask?”
“Oh, I was just asking is all, thought you’d might want to hang out. A friend of mine is having an art show going on, thought you’d like to go with me.”
“How long is your friend’s show going to be?”
“I think for two weeks.”
That’s when a lightbulb lit in my head. I had an idea…a devilishly delish idea. “I’ll go with you but not tomorrow.”
“Well, when?”
“How about next Saturday…but on one condition.”
“And that is?”
“You come to church with me tomorrow and come have Sunday dinner at my folk’s house.”
He stared at me like I was insane.
I laughed. “And don’t worry, you won’t be the first white person who’s been to our church before.”
He chuckled, running his hand along the back of his head, still eyeing me the entire time. “When and where is church?”
“Gospel Light Baptist Church and service is at ten. Do you think you can get up that early on Sunday?”
“You act like this is my first go around at a black church. I’ve been to several in my lifetime, so I know what to expect. It’s just that I didn’t think you would want me going to church of all places and going to your parent’s house for dinner. Usually, that doesn’t happen until like what later, after you’ve been dating someone.”
“Well, for one, why not invite you? And two you need a good home cook meal and I know my mom would feed you until you popped and three, you are my friend who I am inviting to church, nothing more or less than that.”
“You sure about that? I mean, you never know,” he jokingly muttered.
All I could do was shake my head and laugh even more as we continued talking some more as the evening wore on.
“You did WHAT!”
This was the reaction I got from the rest of the gang after we’d left Anthony’s place.
Oh yeah, the person who said this was Simon.
“I knew you liked him,” Charles joked.
“Listen, I just invited him because he wanted to invite me to go to some gallery thing tomorrow. I told him that he had to come to church with me tomorrow and I’d go with him next Saturday since his friend will have the show going on for a while.”
Sara rolled her eyes. “You like him, hell you had the ample chance to jump his bones right then and there!”
“Like you did with Momo,” I reminded her while the others laughed. “Listen, what is the deal with inviting him to church and to my parents?”
“Doesn’t that usually happen after a while of you dating, bringing the guy to meet the parents?” Simon questioned
This struck me as funny and I laughed even more.
“What’s so funny?” Simon asked.
“Because that’s the exact same thing Anthony said.”
“But seriously, do you like him though?” Charles asked me.
“Of course, I like him, what’s there not to like about him? But not in the way you all might be thinking. At least, not yet.”
“So you have been thinking about hooking up with him?” Sara interjected while poking my side.
“Quit that now. Why do I share anything with you guys?”
“Because you love us is why.” Simon smiled.
I just rolled my eyes.
I had called mom when I got home to tell her that we would have one more for dinner. It wasn’t till I made it over to my parent’s the next day when I was actually interrogated about Anthony. “So we get to meet Anthony huh?”
“Yes, you will.” I watched her while she put on her makeup. It was something that I remembered always doing when I was a kid. She would have her dress already hanging on the side of the door, her bra, panties and stockings were laid out on the settee at the foot of their bed along with her shoes which were standing at attention underneath. After she had gotten dressed, she would put on an apron over her outfit to not get any makeup on it. She would get her little powder puff to put on some makeup powder even though she honestly didn’t need it. My mom has always had beautiful skin to which I was happy to have inherited. The only time my mom would wear full face makeup was at church, the rest of the time she would wear lipstick and maybe some blush but nothing more than that. But it was her Sunday morning ritual to get herself all dolled up for the parishioners to see her looking as beautiful as I had always known her to be…but with all of that makeup.
“So Charles told me this morning that he was coming over for dinner.”
“Was this before or after I called to tell you?”
“Oh, it was before you called me.” She smiled.
I let out a sigh of disbelief. “Is anything sacred around here?”
“You know when Charles tells me something then nothing is. But he seemed so happy that you guys had been talking. He told me that he saw you both out on the terrace, laughing and talking the night away. He also said that when you were singing with some of the others that he couldn’t keep his eyes off you.”
I was shocked to hear that this had even happen but more shocked to hear my mom tell me.
She caught my gaze from the mirror while putting on some blush and smiled at me. “I can’t wait to meet him though. I’ll be ready once I’ve done my hair.”
I smiled and walked away all the while thinking about what she had said. Had he been looking at me like they all said? He was just proud of my singing is all. I concluded they were all seeing something in this that wasn’t there.
The ride to church was a particularly quiet one even though the radio was playing. There was no conversation whatsoever going on. This never happened throughout our rides there. Yes, something was definitely different this Sunday.
The quiet went on until we pulled into the parking lot of our church and I heard my father say, “Is that him?”