“No, crazy! We make small talk because he’s a customer!” she laughed, amused by my out-of-character-ness today, I’m sure. I stared at her, and she stared at me, and then she broke out into a grin.
“Let me find out the strictest lady ever got a crush!” she cackled again, smacking me on the arm. I felt my face warming because this shit was a foreign feeling. I never just looked at a man and decided that he would be my man before. We hadn’t even exchanged pleasantries yet!
I gulped my second glass down and stood abruptly. I was about to break one of my rules and wanted to get it over with before I changed my mind.
Why so many rules, you may ask? Because if you didn’t have any rules, these niggas would think it’s shake that ass time 24/7, and Reign already told me that he wasn’t bailing me out anymore the next time I went upside a nigga’s head. But it wassomethingthat was drawing me to this unknown man at the bar. Something that had me wanting to break my rules.
As I approached, he looked up and gave me a nervous yet warm smile. Curiously, he eyed me as I sat down next to him.
“Hey. I’m Reina.”
“I’m Vasiah,” he said in a mid-tone voice. It wasn’t super deep, but it wasn’t high-pitched or anything either.
“What are you reading?” I asked, taking note of how his eyes lit up, then went back to normal.
“Just this cool manga I’ve been wanting to read for a minute… It’s about this group of kids who come upon this magicrock that grants them all types of superpowers and abilities. They can time-travel, teleport, move inanimate objects… all types of shit. Everything’s cool until the monster that the magic rock belongs to tries to take it back. So now they gotta fight this nigga. Are you into manga?”
I wasn’t, but this shit sounded interesting, so I let him know. I figured that women probably made fun of him for his nerdy interests, but I wasn’t like that. My baby could be as nerdy as he wanted to be.
My baby? Oh my God… who the fuck was I turning into?
“Are you new to the city?” I asked. Vasiah shook his head.
“Nah. Grew up in Chicago Heights…went away to SIUC, then came back once I studied abroad in Japan. I’ve been here for the last decade.”
“Japan? That’s so dope. I wanna go there one day,” I sighed wistfully. As a hairstylist, I didn’t get too much time away from the chair yet, so I usually only traveled around my birthday. We chatted for a few more minutes, and then I decided I would break yetanotherone of my rules.
Rule #111: Never hint or directly tell a nigga what you wanna do… You let a man be a man and plan.
“Imma let you get back to your reading, but before I do… I wanted to see if you wanted to exchange numbers? I would like to go on a date with you.”
Vasiah’s perfect brows shot to his forehead as he held my stare. He was stunned. I was too, hell. I was straightforward, but neverthisstraightforward.
Shit… maybe this rule shit was fake anyway.
“I’ve never really been on a date before,” he admitted, and I snorted. I found that hard to believe. Nerdiness aside, Vasiah was attractive to me. I’m sure some nerdy hoes were doing whatever to get his attention.
The idea made my trigger finger itch.
“I guess that makes two of us.” I smiled as he handed me his phone to punch my number in.
After a while, we parted ways, and I drove home feeling giddy. Imagine that!Me,giddy!Oh my God… I think I was going to throw up. Breaking my own rules was different… liberating even. I wonder where it would take me?
2
VASIAH HILL
Turning my key into my apartment, I kicked off my shoes and padded to my couch in utter disbelief at how the night unfolded. Never did I think that checking out my new favorite bookstore would lead to a fine ass shorty coming up to me and asking for my number, telling me that she wanted me to take her on a date.
I was floored. I never met a woman so straightforward. And though I knew I wasn’t no ugly ass or bum ass nigga, it was still challenging for me to interact with women from time to time. Coming up, I was the nerdy kid. I loved watching anime, reading manga, and playing video games. I also liked to draw and dreamed of owning my own video game design company. At 31, I still loved a lot of the same things I loved as a kid, and I was making my dreams come true. I always thought girls were pretty, but I didn’t always have the guts to shoot my shot. I’ve gotten rejected more times than I could count, but all that shit did was make me stronger. My Pops always instilled in me that if a woman didn’t like me, then it wasn’t the end of the world. There were plenty of fish in the sea.
Unfortunately, incel niggas gave niggas like me a bad rep when it came to rejection. If they wasn’t on the internet dogging Black women specifically out, then they were in forums complaining that Black women didn’t like dudes like us cause they were caught up in ‘thugs.’ I had a homie in college who thought like this. Swore that Black women ain’t fuck with him and how Asian, White, and Latina women were better. I had to tell that nigga he was tweaking. Nigga, she don’t like you cuz yo lining crooked, yo breath stank, and you don’t know how to hold a conversation. You wear dirty ass shoes, and you don’t even iron yo clothes. Not because you like anime and playing video games.
Needless to say, he ain’t wanna be cool no more after that.
And that was fine with me. I ain’t wanna be cool with lame ass niggas who thought like that anyway.
I plopped on my couch and grabbed my headset. After a long day, I liked to decompress and play a variety of games. Sometimes it was Fortnite. Sometimes it was Call of Duty. Sometimes it was 2K. I’d play for a few hours, or sometimes I’d draw up new designs for my own video game company. After like thirty minutes, my attention couldn’t be held, and my mind drifted back to me and Reina’s encounter earlier.
