Chardonnay: A Novel Read online

  “You bitch!” Fianna growled and it was on. Katura tried to call the police but I snatched the phone out her hand. I looked her dead in the eyes and said,

  “If you even look at my baby sister the wrong way your face will be sliced up as well—try me.”

  When the maid got up to the room she looked on in horror as Zasmyth and Fianna tore Konstance room up fighting. They both were bull headed and as far as who was winning, there was no fair and square answer. That’s when Konstance and I jumped in and pulled them both away. Fianna snatched from Konstance and spat in her face.

  “Get off me! I want Chardonnay’s ass! Yeah bitch you! You can’t fight like a man so you get ya home girl to do it. Y’all not friends for real because y’all fake ass hoes!”

  The maid cleaned up around the madness and I was sure she was making note of this to inform Konstance parents when they got back in town, evidence that she wanted a raise. Fianna went on until Zasmyth grabbed her by her hair and dragged her down the stairs. Katura was screaming as she followed behind.

  I opened the front door and Konstance pushed Katura out first and then Zasmyth let Fianna go outside. She slammed up against the wood framed doors leaving more of her blood. Konstance shrugged her shoulders as she pulled out her iPhone chewing on her gum and yelled, “Maria-front door!”

  11

  Naughty Girl

  This was the time of year that we usually planned our annual summer break party. With no Fianna or no Katura it wouldn’t be quite the same; yet and so we still went on with the plans. Zasmyth and I drove back to her house in her mustang to get showered and dressed. While I was painting my toes I could hear strain in Zasmyth voice as she talked on the phone to one of her “co-workers”.

  “Whatever—just don’t do this shit gain—man! This is a big event—yaur going to be sorry ya missed it.” she said and hung up. She suddenly turned and looked at me with pearly eyes.

  “Nay, can you do me a favor?”

  Zasmyth’s favor usually consisted of huge favors. I looked her over and asked,

  “What kind of favor is it?”

  She sat down and pulled her red hair back out her face with her red French tipped nails and started with, “Well last night at the industry party Micah invited us to—”

  “Me to—”

  “Whatever—I met this guy there and he and I were talking. Come to find out he heard my name before through the stripping scene from another friend of his who had seen me work. He’s throwing a party for his boss who is also his friend...it’s tonight.” she said not fully asking me her intended question.

  “And what do you want me to do?”

  “Ain’t it obvious?! Rosie called me at the last minute talking about her babysitter canceled...couldn’t tie the little mother fuckers up and leave em’?”

  My eyes bugged out and I said,

  “Um, if you have kids I will be first in line to get full custody.”

  “Anyway! She messes up my theme if she doesn’t show Nay.”

  “No.”

  “Please.”

  “You can’t possibly be serious! I’m not even cut out for that kind of work.”

  She chuckled,

  “Girl your cut out better than me! I wouldn’t of asked if I thought otherwise! And you’ve done a little for Slim...”

  “I don’t think I would want to experience it again...I—I’m too shy anyway.”

  Zasmyth walked around me and whispered in my ear,

  “How you going to pay for school? I heard your conversation with Konnie. Nay, baby girl, you could do this for me one good time and be alright for a good minute. We’re talking about a lot of money here, these guy are executives and stock brokers!”

  I thought about it and said, “Hell no.”

  Zasmyth began to wine and fall out in the floor. I looked at her with a smile and shook my head no. It wasn’t that I was afraid I didn’t have the body. I knew that was irrelevant. I was just shy.

  But looking at Zasmyth and with her suddenly saying,

  “Your clothes won’t be all the way off and it will be FUN! You’ll get paid and in control of you wealth!”

  I was in. “Yes! Girl, thank you! Yaur an aungel!” she said then called Konstance and told her we would resume planning the annual summer party tomorrow. Konstance was cool with it. Zasmyth called the other girls that would be flowing with us tonight and began to get me ready. As she pressed and curled my hair and we sat and watched Oprah my cell phone rang. I sighed knowing it was Slim but when I looked at the number it was from a different area code.

  “Hello?” I said.

  “May I speak to Chardonnay?”

  “Speaking...may I ask who is calling?”

  “This is Jase.”

  “Jase?”

  The voice sounded business like; threw me off.

  “Jase from the hotel and launching party for Superior Ethnic Models the other night.”

  I froze.

  “Oh..oh...hello. How you doing?”

  “Fine. I called to see how you were doing.”

  “Great. Perfect. Absolutely magnificent.”

  I lied. And I think I pushed it a bit.

  “Good. So, I guess what I really called to see was if we coul—”

  “Look, Jase...I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about you and I just got out of a really bad relationship.”

  The silence that thickened between our lines could have been cut with a knife.

  “Damn...I’m sorry about that.”

  “It’s not for you to be sorry about. Just don’t need any more...confusion.”

  “I understand. But, you gave me your number. You know, usually if a woman doesn’t want to talk to me she gives me a fake number. Not her real number so I’ll call and...hear her voice...remember how she stole my good sense with her beauty.” he said so damn sweet and seductive.

  I smiled and sighed. Fuck. I sighed and smiled hard. He heard me and I bet could sense the smile forming on my face. He chuckled and said, “You there?”

  “Yes. Just on the rebound, you know?”

  “Yeah, I do know. It will all configure itself out for you though.”

  I bit down on my bottom lip and closed my eyes. In my hearts of hearts, I knew if I had met this guy just even three months ago, Myron would have been an afterthought. Not that I didn’t love Myron as much, but this dude had me intrigued. It may have been theoretically because he seemed like a man-about- town. That itself excited me, to say the least, what girl wouldn’t be interested. However I wasn’t born a gold digger and didn’t plan on investing in the business. I just knew the ends and outs of how to sniff a well-endowed wallet out. Jase had every quality of a man who was established and secure. And after dealing with a man that had everything hand fed to him and knew nothing of hard work and diligence, the fresh essence was invigorating.

  “So you know of ...heartbreak?” This was a steep move on my part this early in our getting to know each other stage, but I needed to know.

  He chuckled and stated with a firm genuineness in his tone,

  “I know that the heart can never break, but yeah, I’ve experienced what you’re speaking of.”

  I took a minute to think about what he was saying and then responded.

  “Hmm, very different view on a man’s part.But why the coolness about it?”

  “Because you eventually get over it. I’m sure this isn’t your first heartbreak.”

  And just when I thought he was making sense he bit his tongue. I corrected him quickly.

  “Actually, it is.”

  “Oh—I—I—”

  “I know you didn’t know because you don’t know me. Just like I don’t know you. That’s why we’re talking, right...so you can get to know me better.” I said to sooth the panic in his tone.

  “Yes...it is. But I never meant to say it like that, as if it did not matter.”

  “You wasn’t? Then what were you going to say?” I asked, feeling slightly annoyed.

  “I want
to know how long you’ve been with this dude.”

  “Why is that any of your business?”

  Jase sat silent on the phone for all of a minute before he answered the question. For us to have never spoken to each other before besides the prior introduction to each other at the club, this was a premature conversation that I let my emotions carry me into. I had no clue what his excuse was. He took a gentle breath and said,

  “Because I can’t stop thinking about your smile. I just wanted to know...that’s all.”

  I felt bad for the empathy in his tone for me. In the beginning of our conversation I believed Jase was trying so hard to connect with me that I hadn’t realized how much I was actually connecting with him. But yet and so, his timing was horrible. I adjusted my seating position in Zasmyth’s chair, as she turned my head to her to curl back my bang, for what I was preparing to do. I was going to tell him what he wanted to hear and then...let him go. He seemed like a man that deserved a much better established woman who was able to take him head on the way he was fondling my brain. So with that I said,

  “I have been with him for some years.”

  “And how many times...has he broken your heart?”

  I smiled. This dude was slick.

  “Jase—you got me, okay?”

  “Naw, not just yet.”

  “I guess you are right. This isn’t my first heartbreak.”

  “It’s not about me being right, Chardonnay. I just have been around the block a time or two.”

  “You old so you’ve probably been around that block a million times.” I joked.

  We laughed and I said,

  “I’m playin’!”

  “You cool. That’s all to the good. But let me tell you about myself. I live in New York. I’m fresh out of graduate school, gaining my doctorate in marketing.”

  “Wow, seems like you know what you want.” I said actually inspired by his accomplishments.

  “And...I always get it.” he said softly.

  Zasmyth’s ease dropping self could hear him talking through the phone since she was standing right over me. She peered in my face and raised an eyebrow. I blushed and let out another soft laugh.

  “Can we meet at least? Drinks or something? For some reason your hard to forget. I mean I could move on, but something won’t let me.”

  “Sure. I guess it won’t hurt.”

  “Then let’s make it dinner—my place!”

  “Cool. But uh, when?”

  “Well tonight I have a meeting with a colleague of mine and it may run late. How about Tuesday evening?”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Alright then. Talk to you later.”

  “Oh, uh, Jase?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re hard to forget too.” I said with a girlie smile and hung up.

  Zasmyth and I both screamed like school girls and the thrill of me dating a guy that had his stuff together ignited our motivation for tonight more.

  It didn’t take much time for her to persuade me, but now that I was rolling down the street with her on our way to pick up the other girls, anxiety kicked in. Then sheer hate and madness took over as I thought about how my mother didn’t give me a choice but to be thrown out on my ass. And then there was Myron whose ring I was wearing...and for what? He had actually broken up with me. A first. I vowed that from now on I would control the man—he wouldn’t control me. My attitude changed. With no one controlling me and telling me what to do—I felt this would be the first step in me being free. If Zasmyth could get big exec’s talking about her and make fast big cash while doing it—I was all in!

  We arrived at the Marriot. As we began to walk down the hallway to the room, I noticed a room full of men to my right. It looked as if they were watching a basketball game.

  “Zas is that the room?” I said

  “Yeah but were changing in this room.” She pointed to the room across from it.

  When we entered there was dim lightening, up tempo music playing, Cristal on ice placed on a round table the sat in the middle of the medium sized suite, and four 14 karat gold plated vases with twelve dozen blood red roses in each one. Alongside each of the vases was a black folder with the imprint of a S on them. Zasmyth ran over to the table like a gullible child and with the brightest smile on her face opened the folder with her name written in gold cursive. The rest of the folders were nameless. She read off the little note and then took out the crispiest bundle of hundred dollars bills I had ever seen in my life. And from what I was looking at I knew it was more than a grand. Tonya got antsy and blurted out,

  “When do we get paid? My baby daddy check didn’t come!”

  “You’ll be getting paid after the party. See what’s in my hand? Dis is four thousand—for me. But in each of des folders is four thousand for each of you—not including what you’ll make during the party.”

  “Four thousand!Thats a lot of money.” I said while Tonya and Keisha ran over to their folders screaming.

  “Of course! Ya didn’t think I do private parties fa chump change? How’d ya think I can afford Gucci and Vera Wang?” said Zasmyth, alternating a whole another personality.

  Zasmyth’s family had money from the ground up as hard as her mother worked. I figured her mother was giving it to her. I didn’t understand. Then I thought about me. I was doing the same thing. Money was the root of all evil. It had gotten me into the depths of its womb. I opened my folder and looked at the words myself. At what seemed a sweet gesture by whoever was over this party, was actually a down right derogatory embellishment to us. It read:

  ‘For the beauties, get ready to shake that ass and pop that pussy, ‘cause tonight is my boy’s night so sho him how to get right.

  Thank you and Much love,

  S

  Zasmyth took it all as a hype drug and got us all ready while Tonya and Keisha drunk half the bottle of Cristal. I grew nervous and my body wouldn’t stop perspiring.

  “Zas, I can’t stop sweating.” I said to Zasmyth as she pulled the outfits out.

  “You should be cool. They like the sweat on our bodies anyway. Some men even like it a little stank down there.” said Keisha.

  I frowned at Keisha and wondered how many girls like her were out in the world. It took me to even a place I didn’t want my mind to think about going. I thought about Myron and how many girls stank pussy he put his dick in and if he liked it to smell that way. Keisha mugged me and said,

  “Is there a problem?”

  I waved her off and Zasmyth handed me my get up.

  “Aye, don’t front mi girl like dat!” Zasmyth said adjusting Ms. Keisha’s attitude.

  “And Nay, whatever you do, don’t mess up your hair I took my precious time doing. Dat new color is really cute on you too.” Zasmyth said admiring my hair she did back at her house. I wasn’t really feeling it since it was close to my actual hair color, called light auburn mist, but I knew Myron would fall at my feet when he saw it. He didn’t have to have me, but I would make him want me.

  “Umm...Zasmyth I don’t want to wear this!” said Keisha.

  “Girl, I don’t have nothing else! Plus you gone mess up the theme.” said Zasmyth.

  She gave me a white lacy number that intimidated Keisha. But it wasn’t what I had on. It was how sexy my body looked in it. Keisha wore a hunter green silk that I was sure I could turn out too. Her weave was sprayed green with glitter all over and it hung to the middle of her back. Zasmyth had styled my hair with big, loose curls, giving me a glamour girl look. I wore a mask over my eyes. Zasmyth’s hair was highlighted with blonder streak’s to offset her red base. She then put it in a long ponytail and put on her black and red dominatrix outfit. Tonya wore a pink teddy and had two ponytails.

  “Okay girls. We’re every man’s fantasy. Keisha your deadly, but sensually desirable Poison ivy, Chardonnay you’re the Angle (in public but freak behind closed doors) in disguise, I’m Painfully sexy, and Tonya is a Virgin.”

  We marched over to the next room. Za
smyth swung open the door and slowly walked in the room full of men with the aroma of good weed, blunts, and beer in the air.

  “Here we are gentlemen. Let us be your fantasy.” said Zasmyth.

  The men started yelling and cheering us on. The music started playing. Zasmyth, Keisha, and Tonya started dancing. I followed their lead. I bent over and started popping my butt. After about fifteen minutes, I started feeling it.

  Tonya and Keisha, who were very experienced, went off to another room with five men to do what I’m sure wasn’t dancing. Zasmyth and I took on the crowd of hungry man. I was down to my bra and thong. Zasmyth wasn’t wearing anything but knee high boots, which worried me. She was giving a man that was slinging a lot of cash a full on lap dance. The guy I was giving a lap dance to started pressuring me to take off everything but my stilettos. I backed up and waved to get Zasmyth’s attention. She finally looked over annoyed and danced over to me. The men began to clap and cheer on some girl on girl action.

  “What?!” said Zasmyth.

  “This negro wants me to take it all off.”

  “For how much? Mi sure it wouldn’t hurt.”

  “He said five hundred, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “Hell, for that much I’ll do him. Move!”

  I couldn’t believe it. She was buck wildin’ out! I stood there for a minute and noticed a younger looking man waving over at me. I guessed it couldn’t hurt.

  “You sexy, girl.” he said grinning to reveal his gold grill as I walked up on him.

  “How you feeling?” I said as I danced around him.

  “Better since I’m feeling you,” he said smacking my behind and making it jiggle.

  “You look real familiar.” he finished.

  “Oh really. Do you see me in your dreams?”

  He chuckled and sipped on his cognac. I sat on his lap and started grinding. I leaned back on him as I spread my legs and moved like a gazelle in an African forest as all the other men watched on.