“You spent years thinking about him though,” Sienna reminded me. “You don’t know if it’s the same for him. You know what I mean? And… like I said… it’s just a dress. It wasn’t the only one made.”
I bit down on my bottom lip and turned to face the closet. Fingering through my clothes, I stopped when I got to it. The red, mid-length, V-neck dress screamed at me, urging me to slip it on. It was fitting for the event. Not too short, not too long. Not too tight, not too loose. It was sexyenough. Maybe they were right. What were the odds of him remembering it? And if it did ring a bell, so what? It didn’t automatically put me in Pandora’s.I was wearing a mask. He had no clue what the lady underneath the mask looked like.
“Okay… I’ll wear it.”
Hazel danced around in her chair. “Okay bitch let us see this infamous dress!”
I pulled it out of the closet and laid it on the bed. Naoki talked about how it was kind of out of style. Sienna said that didn’t matter. Hazel begged me to wear it with the shoes I wore that night too. I stood there with heavy shoulders, butterflies filling my stomach, staring down at it. Itwasa little outdated and… I did gain a few pounds. It was tight back then. There was no telling how tight it would be tonight.
I bit the corner of my lip and picked it up. “If I can fit it, I’ll wear it. The shoes too.”
When I went into the bathroom to change, they stood outside of the door waiting for me. I slipped my silk kimono robe off and tossed it on the vanity before sliding into the dress. It was a little struggle getting it down over my hips, but I did, with a shimmy. After sliding the straps over my shoulders, I turned to look in the mirror. I looked good in it. The spandex in it definitely saved my life.
I stared at my reflection, into my eyes and wondered what he would think if he did know I was the woman from the club. Would that change anything? Most likely it would. And not for the best. I couldn’t imagine him being into me as much as he was now, if he knew.
With a deep breath, I turned to walk out of the bathroom. When I did, they shrieked, telling me I looked good as fuck. Naoki went to touching my hair, talking about I should wear it down, to the side, over my shoulder. Sienna said I needed to wear a bold red lip, and Hazel searched my closet for the Tom Ford heels I told her I wore that night. While they went crazy, acting like school girls, my mind swam with thoughts of him.
What would the night be like? Would he be standoffish and an asshole? Or would he talk to me? And what would we talk about? I was antsy as hell, and I did not know why. The man drank my squirt for crying out loud. Apparently what we did didn’t matter because a bitch was a nervous wreck.
Before leaving the house, Naoki did my hair, Sienna helped with my makeup, and I doused myself in Marc Jacobs Daisy Love—a scent I used to wear faithfully years ago—before finally killing another glass of wine and heading out.
“You here?”Asked Tamia on the other end of my phone.
“Yeah, I just pulled up. I’m trying to find a parking spot. Damn it’s crowded.”
Beep! Beep!
“I just blew my horn—it’s a spot over here by me.”
I looked around the parking lot and told her to blow again. Following the sound of her horn, I found a spot right next to her. She waved, with a big smile on her face and I laughed, waving back. We got off the phone and I did the usual—flipped my sun visor down and checked my appearance. Wearing my goddess locs down, to the side was a good choice. Just as much of a good choice as the bold, red lip. I wondered if I was overdressed for a company party. I ran my hands down the front of my dress, over my thighs and took a deep breath.Relax Mahogany, you look fine.
I adjusted my gold necklaces and checked the gold stack on my wrist before grabbing my purse to add a clear gloss on top of my red lip. While I was getting ready, Tamia jumped in the car.
“Whew! You smell good. Damn,” with raised brows, she eyed me up and down. “Okay, bitch. You look good. Why didn’t youtell me you were dressing up? Look at me, with this damn work suit on.”
I looked over at Tamia and giggled. She had on a skirt and a blazer. Shaking her head, she came out of the blazer and tossed it in the backseat, exposing a white tank. “You coming sexy as hell. I see what type of time you on.”
I drew back and rolled my eyes. “What type of time am I on, Tamia?”
“Trying to throw it back on Mr. Carter tonight, hm?”
I sucked my teeth with a grin. “Shut up. What is that in that bag?”
She held her brown paper bag up and pulled a bottle of Don Julio from it. “Pregaming baby. You want a shot?”
“You pregaming but decided to wear a damn suit? Make it make sense,” I said with a laugh. “I’m good. I had a couple of drinks already.”
“I did too. But I need a lil’ mo. You remember how many fine black niggas walked into Couture that day? I got a feeling it’s about to be doubled. I need a coupledranks. Plus… I’ve been thinking about shooting my shot at Orion’s fine ass. If that’s okay with you Boss Lady. I mean, it should be okay with you… you gave the nooky to?—
“Okay, okay, shut up. Hurry up with your shot so we can head inside.”
After about five more minutes of talking shit and her tossing two shots of Don Julio back, we got out of the car. She joked with me about my heels, calling me the baddest thing walking, and I just laughed it off. Maybe I was overdressed. I hoped not. I hoped I wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb. Oh God. What if everyone else was in business casual? I should not have let them ho’s talk me into wearing this damn dress. It was too late to turn back now, huh?
When we walked into the venue, we were greeted by a doorman. He was a young man. Couldn’t be no older than eighteen. What the hell did Crescent have going on? He was polite and motioned for us to help ourselves to the open bar and refreshments. We thanked him and continued into the party. Meek Mills’ Dreams and Nightmares boomed from the speakers. The venue was just as crowded as the parking lot. And the niggas wereout. Tamia wasn’t wrong when she said the numbers would double. Hell… yes she was wrong. The numbersquadrupled, quadruple times.
“I told you it was going to be a lot of niggas in here, Ne,” she said, leaning in. “And I’m in here with this long ass pencil skirt on.”
I giggled. “It’s tight. At least that ass is poking.”
