By dotropolis on Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

…and the banquet room.

Esquire disappeared while everybody else was waiting in line at the club downtown. Different voices around me kept saying, “He went to the McDonald’s down the street!” So we walk there. I go upstairs and find him with his head resting on the table. He was drunk and didn’t even know I was standing next to him. Once the rest of the group got there, I went to the bathroom to piss and saw his vomit splattered on the toilet seat. The 11 of us talked about what we should do next but it was clear that we couldn’t make any moves with him being unable to hold his head up. So she looked at me and said, “Let’s just go back to the hotel.” I stared at her for a second and made sure that’s what she really wanted to do since it was her last night in Chicago. She was positive. She wanted to be around me as much as I wanted to be around her. She confessed this to me later that night. We told the group what our new plan was and headed back to the hotel.

She changed into some sweatpants and I took off my dress shirt to throw on my hoodie. After a while, everybody ended up back in the hotel with us. We decided to go for a walk and somehow ended up in the basement of the hotel. She led the way as I was pressed against her from behind. Kissing her on the shoulder here and there. The hallways were dark but not pitch black. As my kisses went up towards her face I could feel her cheek curve into a smile around my lips. We walked around half of the basement and found this empty banquet room. She grabbed my hand and whispered in an excited tone, “Come in here with me!” We sat on the floor in the dark as the clothed covered tables surrounded us. The brightest light in the room was this “exit” sign above one of the doors. And after a while we started to hear voices echoing from outside of the banquet room. We didn’t want to fall asleep because we knew time would speed up and the night would be over just like that. Honestly, this is one of the few times where I felt like the sex wasn’t necessary in order for me to say it was a good night. By the time we went back upstairs, the sun was out. She didn’t have heels on and I realized that she was only 5’5” while we waited for the elevator. She was holding my hand and swinging it back and forth a little bit before she asked if I wanted to get breakfast with her. We stared at each other again for a few seconds in silence. She looked happy. I don’t know what I looked like. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Yes I do. I remember the word she used.

Overwhelmed.

By dotropolis on Thursday, April 18th, 2013

…and the Asians.

I was trying to think of something funny to post but it’s not coming out because all of my thoughts and energy is focused on what happened Monday. Not the Boston bombing. When I saw that on tv and read about it on Twitter as it was happening, I honestly felt numb to it. Almost as if it didn’t matter because of what was going on Monday. I was in a drive-thru on my lunch break with my phone’s ear piece in listening to Bill Simmons talk about Jay Leno stepping down from his show. Side note: you ever notice how often food is a part of my stories? Anyway, the audio went out and the generic ringtone went off. My mother was calling me. With a groggy voice that I always have by that time of the day, I answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this RJ?”

“Yes”

“Hi, this is Regina. I’m calling because your mother was just rushed to the ER. She was at work and she had a seizure. We’re at the hospital around the corner from her job. I called your sister and she’s on the way right now as well.”

“I’m heading up there now.”

After I hung up, Bill Simmons’ loud voice erupted back into my headphones before I yanked it out of my ear. On the way there, my legs felt like noodles. That’s what I remember the most. Pressing down on the gas I clearly didn’t have all the strength in my feet. Wolf was in my CD player too but only becuase that was the last thing I downloaded. By the time I got to the hospital, there was an Asian family with swollen eyes and bloody faces in the waiting area. Two men and four women. They all got jumped because of their race. That’s my assumption because why else would you beat up old Asian women? Then the bombs in Boston started going off. And to be completely honest, I didn’t care. It was kinda hard to. But I’ll recognize the significance of it once this seizure stuff is over with. Her face and her arm is still tingling and that means it can come back at any moment.

How do you prepare for this shit?

By dotropolis on Thursday, April 4th, 2013

…and the barbers.

For my barbershop to be so small, it can be so loud. Yelling, arguing, and debating about current events and personal stuff. This one dude was talking about letting his girlfriend move in with him and everybody pretty much told him that he might as well marry her ass because it’s such a strong commitment. The short barber started going off about how he’s been living on his own, from one girlfriend’s house to another, since he was 15. He’s 24 now but finally has his own spot. Then the funny barber got really loud and the way he responded to him never left my mind to this day. ”Nigga just because you out of your mama house don’t mean shit! That’s called lateral movement!” He took one step to his left then two steps to his right. “You making all of these moves and steps but none of them are moving you forward!”  This is the best thing I ever heard in a barbershop by far.

On a completely different note, white women (of all ages) have been giving me a lot of attention lately and it’s weirding me out a little because they usually ignore me for the most part. Flirting with me when I’m at Best Buy, giggling and touching my shoulder while I’m out looking for a new apartment, complimenting me and staring into my soul when our eyes lock. Where is this coming from? One that looked like a real life version of Daria put her hand on my chest. I was like “Guh!” But low key I’m a little cautious because of what happened the first time I was intimate with a white girl. Knowing me, it won’t even cross my mind if me and another one got to that point.

I’ll save that for another post.