35
We arrived in Memphis that evening, receiving our Coily-Con bags when we checked in. We spent the whole evening in our room, watching TV, eating room service, talking, and doing what we do best, trying out the bed. I think Ryan was actually more excited than I was, because after breakfast the next morning, he dressed in a pair of jeans and his complimentary Coily-Con t-shirt, and left to check out the convention center, which was adjoined to the hotel, saying, “I know it’s gonna take your ass a year to get ready. I’ll be back.”
I rolled my eyes, yelling from the bathroom, “Whatever!”
When he made it back twenty minutes later, I was sitting on the side of the bed in my bra and panties, untwisting my hair. He sat in a chair and grabbed the TV remote, giving me a smirk.
“I had to put on a full face of make-up, Ryan,” I offered as an explanation for still not being ready.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You thought it.”
He shook his head as he clicked through the channels.
I eyed him looking gorgeous from his face to his Nikes. “Have I told you lately how fine you are?”
He shook his head again. “Nah, but you keep talking like that, and we might never make it to the conference.”
“How’d it look?”
“Nice, filling up.”
“That your way of telling me to hurry?”
“Naw, baby. You’re 4C Angie. I know you’ve got to look your best, but honestly, you always look beautiful to me. You could’ve rolled out of bed and not washed your ass and you still would stand out in the crowd.”
I left the bed and slid into his lap, wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. “Aw, thank you, baby.”
He rested a hand on my thigh and kissed me back. “Mm-hmm. You’re gonna start someth—” His phone started buzzing and I stood from his lap. “Don’t run,” he said as he checked the screen.
I grinned as I stepped into the bathroom to finger-comb my hair.
“Hello? Hey, man…Yeah, we’re in Memphis…No, not yet…Waiting on Angie’s slow ass…”
“Who is that?!” I yelled from the bathroom.
“My boy, KC. He wants to talk to you.”
I walked into the room, and as I took the phone from him, Ryan said, “Put it on speaker.”
When I strode back into the bathroom, ignoring his request, he yelled, “KC, your ass better not lie on me!”
“Hello?” I said into the phone.
“Hey, Angela? First, I wanna tell you me and my wife love your videos.”
“Thanks, I appreciate you guys for watching.”
“KC! Man, I promise you better not be telling her some bullshit!” Ryan yelled.
“And I don’t know if you know it, but Ryan is crazy about you.”
I smiled. “I know. I’m crazy about him, too.”
“KC, I swear I’ma kick your ass the next time I see you!”
I closed the bathroom door. “Hey, he told me you work at Sable Inc., too?”
“Yeah, I told him about the job he has now.”
“Is everything okay at work? He won’t really tell me anything. He won’t discuss work with me since…”
“Since he got in trouble a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, Ryan doesn’t deal with problems well. But work is cool. Glenn, his boss? He’s a prick, one of the few that work at this company, but he actually likes Ryan because he’s good at what he does. The buzz around here is the project in Romey is going well despite the delay.”
“Good. He’s been working seven days a week since that happened and I wasn’t sure if he should come here with me, but he insisted.”
“No, I think he’s good. At least from what I can tell. Hey, I just wanted to thank you for putting up with his ass. You’re good for him.”
I giggled. “Well, he’s good for me. He’s good to me, too.”
“He better be. Be sure to get my number from him. Call me if you need me to straighten his ass out.”
“I will.”
A minute later, I opened the bathroom door to find Ryan standing on the other side of it. I handed him his phone, and said, “You really did all that stuff?”
His brow furrowed and alarm filled his eyes, which were more brown than green at that moment. “What stuff? What the hell did KC tell you?”
I laughed. “Nothing bad.”
He tossed the phone on the bed and grabbed me from behind, sliding his hand down the front of my panties, quickly finding my sensitive spot. “You wanna play, huh?”
“Wait, baby. I’m tryna get ready…”
He clamped his mouth to my neck, pulling my skin into it and ignoring my words. We finally left for the convention an hour later.
*****
The convention hall was a sea of aisles of booths and clumps of people. We barely had a chance to peruse two booths before a group of women wearing t-shirts that read, “I want Ryan to wash my hair,” accosted us, gushing about our videos and requesting pictures with us. Well, they really just wanted pictures with Ryan, but he always made sure I was standing by his side when the pictures were taken. It really didn’t bother me that he was now the star of my channel. I mean, if I were a woman watching those videos, my focus wouldn’t be on me, either. Shit, a blind woman would be attracted to his voice alone. So I let him have his shine, because I knew he was mine. Like KC had said, he was crazy about me. Even the droves of women who damn near tackled him in that convention hall knew it, with most of them declaring, “4C Angie, this man loves you! You could just feel it in that hair-washing video!” The same hair-washing video that now had four million views.
Four. Million.
Yeah, he loved me, and the world loved him.
We somehow managed to check out quite a few booths in between the impromptu photo shoots, and I made it to my panel on time. There was a huge turnout for the panel, and as I sat on a stool onstage next to a litany of natural hair stars feeling nervous about my first major live appearance, I locked eyes with Ryan who stood front and center, smiling at me. As anxious as I was, I murdered that panel.
When it was over, he met me onstage, pulling me into a hug and a kiss right there in front of everybody, and through the loud chorus of “oohs” and “aahs,” he whispered in my ear, “I’m so proud of you, baby.”