White Freshman, Black Coeds Ch. 23

"Nooo..." And then actually looking, I saw her eyes light up. She quickly scanned the area to see if anyone would see, then tried to drag me into the handicapped bathroom.

Laughing at her predictable response I said no, not now please. "But I wanted you to know I think about you, and you're not the only one who's scoped out secluded places..."

She hugged up on me and kissed my cheek, "Maybe next time?"

We went on around the corner and I showed her where my Engineering 101 classroom was. No class was in session, so I took her inside, mainly so she could see how old-timey it was. There was still a blackboard in it for cryin' out loud, and it had recent drawings on it. We took the stairs down two flights and exited through a door that was closer to the Performing Arts building.

Since she was early she took me down the hall to see her dance classroom/studio. There were 8 or 10 girls in there, most in their leotards already, about half black and half white. The room was a big rectangle, most of it given over to dancing space, with mirrors on 3 walls and those wooden rails you see ballerinas practicing on. The end of the room we'd walked into was set up with desks and a lectern, with a projector and a pull-down screen. It had never occurred to me that you'd have to read and watch stuff to learn how to dance, but it made perfect sense.

Some of the girls were at desks reading textbooks and things, and some waved at Nia as we walked over to the dance floor, where some other girls were practicing. Nia introduced me to two of them by name, but didn't chat much, so I figured she wasn't that close to them. Then a female voice behind me said very friendlily, "Hi, Mark!" I turned to see an almost carbon-copy of Nia smiling up at me, hand extended.

"Hello," I managed to say, trying desperately to keep my eyes on her face. Because what I'd seen of her body when I first turned around begged to be explored more.

"Mark, this is Sheila. She's a good friend of mine. Probably the best friend I have outside the House."

"Awww! Give me a hug, sister-girl." The girls hugged and I got to sneak a peek of Sheila's bottom, which protruded a bit more than Nia's. And when they pulled apart I saw that her bosom was a little larger too. And if she was a 'good friend' of Nia's, then maybe sometime Nia would... Mmm, mmm, mmm! That was too delicious to think about right now.

"Mark? Baby? I said, 'Show her your thing.'" I'd obviously missed some of the conversation, because I instantly thought, Right here, in front of all these girls?? But Nia helped me out, "You know, your bending down thing?" Ohhhhhh! That's a lot better!

So I set my backpack down, touched my toes, then stood back up with kind of a ta-da gesture. I saw Nia watching Sheila, who wasn't exactly impressed. But Nia expected that, and flicked her eyes down for me to do the rest of it. So I bent and put my hands flat on the floor. Then I grabbed behind my calves and touched my forehead to my shins.

"Whoa, he did that without even stretching!" Nia said Yep, and I explained that I'd always been pretty flexible, but since taking Tae Kwon Do as my PE elective I'd learned about stretching and stuff.

"Show her the other thing." Sheila looked interested, like what more was there? I felt a little embarrassed about doing it in front of all these girls, but they weren't really paying attention to us. So I assumed a fighting position and shot my left foot up in a side kick that would've caught someone my height under the chin. Not that you'd ever use a side kick that high, but it was kind of impressive, standing on one foot in almost a full vertical split. I held it for a couple seconds without wobbling, then brought it down crisply back into the fighting stance, then relaxed and stood normally, looking around to see if anyone else had seen.

"Dayam! Nia, you've got to get him into Dance! You know we always need guys, and these muscles..." She blatantly squeezed my bicep and I looked at Nia guiltily, but she was only grinning and looking proud of me.

"I'll work on him, but he's an engineer-type and probably not into that. Though he's not half-bad on a dance floor, so maybe....?" As much at me as Sheila. "Let me get him out of here now though, before he strains his eyes." Both girls laughed loudly, which told me I wasn't as slick as I thought I was scoping out the ladies. The place had started filling up more with dancer-honeys though, so can you blame me?

Nia walked me out the door into the hallway and then pushed me against the wall, pinning me with her body. "I want you so badly right now! If you haven't noticed, I get that way when other girls show an interest in you. Do you think that's biological?"

"Sounds like it could be. Maybe you could ask Rita when you get back." Then a pause for effect. "Or maybe we could ask Rita together next Wednesday. You did seem pretty horny last night." That got a punch on the arm, which is what I was after.

"Just kidding, baby! I told you I don't want to be with her again like that, and I meant it. But hey, talk to your mom about me soon, will ya? And this weekend would you help me shop for some new clothes? Maybe if we go to Ross I'll run into that French lady again and introduce you to her. I think you'd like her, and you could practice your French with her."

"Yes, the way you've described her she sounds like someone I'd like to meet." Her eyes were dancing and her whole face was smiling at me.

As she kissed me and turned to go I smacked her on the butt and over my shoulder told her to ask Brie if she was working Saturday or Sunday morning. She hollered after me that she definitely would, but I didn't reply or turn, I just gave her a thumbs up as I kept walking.

God, I loved that girl!

That evening

After getting off work at 11 I went by the coffee house and spoke to someone who got me the right person to talk to. I asked him if they were doing 'spoken word' again tomorrow night, and what time. He said yes, they did it every Friday night, about 9 till whenever, but usually past midnight. Cool, and you can do karaoke? Yes, they had a lot of songs to choose from. He gave me a binder that listed songs by Artist; I quickly found the song I wanted, then asked if he was sure he had it.

He looked at me a little sideways (he was black, and seemed like he cultivated a 'cool' persona), but when I assured him I knew the song (and even sang some of the lyrics) he said he for sure had it. I told him I'd never done karaoke before, but the words were on the screen, right? Yeah, just watch how the color changes over the text, and follow along with that. I told him I should be fine once I got started, I was just a little worried about hitting the beginning right.

"Hey, do you guys serve alcohol here?" He said beer and wine. "And how do you sign up for spoken word or karaoke or whatever?" After he'd explained, I asked if I could like sign up tonight for a slot tomorrow night. I wanted this to be a total surprise for my girlfriend, so I didn't want her to see me signing up.

"Hey, I remember you! You got the dancing started last week on Rapper's Delight! Yeah man, you were awesome, dude! Knowin' all the words and stuff. I got you, bro, just fill out this slip and when I see you come in I'll put you in the queue." Then he offered me the hand up, elbow bent handshake, the one that ends in a half-hug.

"Thanks, man! Can I give you a tip or something? I really appreciate you doin' this for me."

"Naw, dawg, it's on me. I don't think I've ever seen that song sung here, but I think it's gonna be awesome! Man, you're gonna pull all the honeys onto the floor."

"Well if I can't give you money, at least take this coupon for half-off a pizza from Domino's. I work there."

"Thanks, man, that's cool. I'll see you and your girl tomorrow night, man!" And then he went back to doing whatever he does. As I was leaving I realized I hadn't gotten his name.

I went back to my room and found my CD with the song on it and listened to it over and over through my headphones (Jake was asleep). I especially worked on the 'drop,' where the singer comes in with the words after the intro. This was going to be fun!

Friday, 11/4

>>Anything goin' on tonight?

>Not that I've heard of.

>>Coffee house about 10 then? I have a feeling

>>it's going to be good. Ask Gabby?

>Okay, see you about 9:30?

>>Yup!

"Hey Candace, you busy?"

"No, what's up?" I outlined my plan to her, but didn't tell her the specific song. She said it sounded fun, and she'd check with Keisha. She thought there was an away game so Keisha would be home alone.

"Oh, and hey: our car really is on the fritz this time, so could you pick us up? I promise this isn't another ruse to get you and Nia over here afterwards." I said sure, and I could come look at it this morning if she wanted. I wasn't really good with cars yet (that would come later in my life), but I knew my way around an engine bay. "It's that faded blue Ford Taurus parked out on the street. I'll leave the key under the mat because I'm leaving for class soon."

"Great, I'll swing by and take a look. Let me know about tonight!"

I won't bore you too much with all the details about the car, but after some basic troubleshooting Friday and talking to the guy at NAPA on Monday we figured out it was just the starter solenoid. The girls were so happy, and they paid me back for the part of course, but I wouldn't let them give me anything for the labor. I did have to buy one of those all-in-one mechanics tool kits from Walmart, but I needed one anyway. I told them they'd done so much for me already, and they were responsible for me meeting Nia, so I owed them a million times over whatever labor I'd put into the car.

Class, car, lunch, chatting with Nia about one of the Hundred Questions, and another class got me through the day till going to work at 4.

"Trey-dawg, what's goin' on!"

"Nuttin', playa, just bangin' out these pies, man." We 'shook hands' and shot the breeze for a bit.

"Hey man, do you know of any parties or anything this weekend?" He looked up and thought for a minute, but didn't have anything. "Oh hey, you know that coffee house thing over on 3^rd? I guess it's called the Daily Grind or something? Well...." I told him about Spoken Word and the dude last week who'd sang karaoke, and I was gonna try it tonight for Nia. I didn't tell him the song, but guaranteed that all the honeys would be dancin'. "So if you guys feel like swingin' by..."

On all my deliveries I listened to the song in the car until I had the timing down cold. Not just the beginning, but coming back in with the lyrics after the hooks and interludes. If I didn't get too nervous this was going to be epic. Me, a skinny white kid singing that song.

At 9:40 I was ringing the bell at the ZP house, Candace and Keisha in tow. When Nia opened it the girls rushed inside to get out of the biting wind. A cold one tonight. "Brrrrr!" "Gosh it's cold!" Like that. Nia hugged them both and commented on their hairs or whatever. Rita was sitting in the parlor and I waved at her. She smiled and waved back, but mainly she was watching Candace walk over to her. Rita stood and they walked back through the kitchen, then I heard them at the end of the middle hallway, going into Rita's suite. I was glad to see they were getting along again or whatever.

"Come into the kitchen, guys. Hot chocolates?" Keisha said yes, but I asked for wine if that was okay. "You seem jittery tonight, baby. What's goin' on?"

"Just excited to see if he'll sing the song again, I guess." And then Nia regaled Keisha with what had happened last Friday, how I'd known all the words and got all the 'honeys' (her word) dancing, and how she'd said she probably couldn't ever let me go back there again, but she was making an exception tonight. Keisha giggled all the way through it and looked at me with something like newfound respect.

"Keisha! A musical test for you: ♪You so crazy, I think I wanna have your baby.♪"

She pounced on it: "Whatta Man by Salt-N-Pepa! That's my jam..." And she started snapping her fingers and gyrating, singing whatta man, whatta man, whatta man, what a mighty good man...

I looked at Nia and said, "Finally! Someone who knows good music."

"But she's older than I am!" We all fell to laughing, and just then Candace came back, asking what was going on. So Nia had to go through the whole karaoke thing all over again. And when Keisha gave Candace the musical test she passed too, and like Keisha had, started dancing and singing the hook.

Nia said, "Candace: ♪Now push it real good!♪" And both girls turned and put their butts together, dancing seductively while Keisha sang and Candace sort of did the music. Then they about fell out laughing, which was infectious. That must've been a callback to something for them.

"What about Gabby? She going?" Nia said she was out with Sean, but she'd told her, so maybe they'd stop by. I downed my wine and asked if we were ready. We were, so we left. I asked if anyone had a problem with me driving after the one wine. No one did, it having been so recently and only one, but they thanked me for asking.

When we walked into the place I was glad to see it was pretty full. We were able to find a table for four on the side farthest from the bar. Threading through the crowd behind Nia we passed by Sugarhill Dude and I asked him if he was singing tonight; he said yeah, probly later. It was about 10:45 now. A waitress came over and took our drink orders: white wines all around on two tabs. A guy was at the mic saying some crazy ish, so since we'd missed the start of him none of us were paying attention.

The girls were all looking at a tent-card that was on the table, something called 'tapas,' which Candace told me was Spanish for 'small plates.' After getting them I figured it must really mean 'tiny portions that are too fancy and too expensive.' But they were good: lots of eggplant, goat cheese, and figs and other crazy stuff. There was a sausage though that was the bomb.

Somewhere in there DJ dude waved at me from his little booth behind the stage. I discreetly nodded back, trying not to draw attention to us. But he pointed over to the bar and then to his mouth, like he wanted to talk to me over there, so I told the gals I needed the restroom and headed that way. He was waiting by the end of the bar, which was the entrance to the hallway leading to the restrooms. I kept walking by, asking him to follow me.

When we were down the hall a little bit where the girls couldn't see us he said, "Glad you made it, bruh. I got you in right after Rodney. He's gonna do Bust A Move tonight, and that'll get a lot of people dancing, so we'll keep the party goin' with you next. Sound good?"

"Yeah man, I really appreciate it. Listen, what's your name?" He told me people call him 'G'. "Well alright, G, let's do this!"

"Alright, brother! Hey listen, who are your two friends? Are they single?" G was about 25 I guessed, and seemed like a decent guy. At least he wasn't all tatted up or anything, and he was dressed fly.

"Well 'Meagan Good' there, real name Candace, is single. But Keisha has a boyfriend. And they're really close friends of mine, man, so..."

"No I get it, man. They're just both fine as hell though. You think it'd be alright if I kinda talked to Candace though?"

"Yeah, she might like that. She broke up with her long-term boyfriend about a month ago, and I don't think she's seeing anyone new yet."

"Cool bro, thanks." We fist-bumped and he ran back to his booth to call the next person up, while I threaded my way back over to our table.

A black girl was up, doing a piece she called The Struggle, and the girls were raptly listening to her and hardly noticed me come back. In fact, the whole place was listening to her, and I suspected she was a regular who'd proven herself already. Her piece was pretty moving too.

She ended and the girls started talking about it, saying how much it resonated with them, etc. Our tapas plates started coming out and they were really good for the most part. I learned something else new foodwise that night, and that was hummus, which I absolutely loved with the soft pita triangles they served with it. I ordered another round of wine because I was getting butterflies now.

A guy came up and sang something I guess was called You Light Up My Life to his girlfriend. I didn't know it, but it was sweet, and he even walked over to her and got down on one knee for the last few verses. All the ladies started applauding at the end, and most of their men looked uncomfortable, like, she'd better not expect me to be doin' that...

"That was sweet, wasn't it? Give it up again for Chad and his muse Kristen." I felt better about G talking to Candace now, if he knew how to use the word 'muse'.

"Alright, who feels like dancing?" Some of the more-intoxicated girls in the crowd hollered. "We got Rodney next, and he's gonna try to wiggle your behind [a phrase from Rapper's Delight] with one I ain't heard him sing here yet. Rodney, where you at?" Rodney was Sugarhill Dude from last week, and as he made his way to the stage G started the music. Almost at the first note Keisha and Candace started wiggling in their seats, hands up and snapping fingers. Nia looked like she didn't know this one either. Kids, right?

"♪This here's a jam for all the fellas, Tryin' to do what those ladies tell us...♪" That was Rodney, nailin' it. Girls were running to the dance floor, and this time their guys were less reluctant. (Bust A Move is easier to dance to.) Keisha was up first, Candace right behind her, telling me and Nia to come on. So we all got on the floor and made a little square. I didn't know the words to this one so well, plus it's pretty fast, but the girls and I had fun singing the words we did know to each other, while Nia danced along, enjoying the groove at least.

At the part in the movie theater I could see the girls winding up for what was coming. Together they sang, "♪She's dressed in yellow she says, 'Hello, come sit next to me, you fine fellow!♪'" That last part they both sang to me, beckoning me over with their fingers, so I 'ran over there without a second to lose' and we busted a move.

Laughing and splitting back up from that we fell into our 2 groups of 2. "You're so crazy, baby! I can't believe you know this one too! I don't think I've ever heard it!"

"But it's got a great beat, right?!" I pulled her to me and sang some of the words to her, the ones I knew, anyway. We all had a great time, because it's just a great upbeat song.

"Give it up for Rodney, y'all! He killed that, didn't he?!" Rodney was smiling at the crowd and bowing his thanks. "Rodney, you're gonna have to do that one again, my brother! Alright, alright, don't sit down. Ladies, we gonna keep this party goin' with a newcomer to the Daily Grind. Where's Mark? Mark?" He knew where I was, but he was makin' a show of looking into the crowd for 'Mark,' covering his eyes like you do. (We'd worked that out in our chat down the hall.) I too turned and looked for 'Mark' to stand up, as did the girls.

"Mark Livingston, where you at?" The girls looked at me and I tried my best to look dumbfounded, looking at G like, "Me?" "Yes you, my man. Get up here and sing this song for your ladies." And then you heard from the sound system, "Oh my God. Becky, look at her butt!" The girls looked absolutely confused, as I tried to look too, but I moseyed to the stage, all like, "I don't know either!" I heard some grumbling and some people started leaving the floor. (I didn't know it at the time, but there's something called Kamikaze Karaoke where your 'friends' put you in for a song and then you have to sing it whatever it is, so I guess people were thinking this was that.)