Lynn shrugged with nonchalance. “I’m not really the concert type of person.” * 5:00pm Justin drove down the familiar Chicago streets that led to Samuel’s house. When he pulled Robert’s Suburban into Samuel’s snow-covered yard, the front door opened. Immediately Samuel ran out the house and up to the door of the car with a huge smile on his face. Justin laughed before opening the door, and he gladly hopped out of the care and gave his friend a bear hug. “I didn’t think you were coming at first, man,” Samuel said, referring to the concert at the Allstate Arena. “Now why would you think a thing like that?” Justin asked with fake shock. Samuel grinned and rolled his eyes before leading Justin into his home. Upon entry, Justin was greeted cheerfully by Samuel’s mother first. He then sauntered into the living room where everyone was seated. Leroy was the first to notice him, so he walked over to Justin and gave him a hard pat on the back. “Leroy!” Justin cheered like he usually did. “We’re supposed to leave now. We were all just waiting on you,” Leroy explained. “Oh, I’m sorry. If I would’ve known y’all were waiting…” “Oh no, it’s not like that. A lot of people just came early and decided to hang out for a while,” he reassured. Suddenly, the music that had been playing was cut off, and Samuel could be seen making his way to the middle of the living room. “We’re about to head out, so start figuring out who’s driving what and shit so all y’all can get the hell out of my house!” He exclaimed and laughed with everyone else. “I can take seven other people,” Justin announced. Samuel nodded at Justin and then turned to Chasity. “Where’s Melanie’s mom? Doesn’t she have an Expedition?” “She’s going with Tony and that’s it, so she’s not stopping by,” Chasity said. Samuel smacked his lips with disappointment and finished trying to organize rides. Justin walked over to him, offering his help. “Look, man,” Justin said, “I can take you, Damien, Leroy, Jerome, Mike, Chasity and Rita. The only people left are Victoria and her three friends that she brought. I think she drove them, so they can just ride together.” “Yeah, I know that,” Samuel nodded. “And then the girls that just walked in can go together too, right?” Justin looked over to where the front door was and saw four other girls walk into the house. “Who are they?” Samuel laughed at Justin’s lack of memory. “They go to Calumet, they’re seniors now and on the step team…duh.” “OOhh,” Justin drawled. “I remember their faces and that’s about it.” Samuel laughed and shook his head. “You’re so sad.” He then turned to everyone else and yelled, “Let’s go!” Everyone filed out of the house, and then into their designated cars. Jerome sat in the passenger seat of Justin’s car, after much fighting with Samuel, Damien, and Leroy. “Just get in!” Justin yelled. “I feel like a fucking soccer mom,” he said and started the car. Slowly, he pulled out of the driveway and onto the street. Suddenly Jerome turned to the people sitting behind him and asked if they knew how to get to the arena. Through the rear view mirror, Justin watched everyone shake their heads. So, he pulled over and waited on Victoria, who was driving behind him, to pull up beside him. She rolled down her window and asked if he knew how to get to the Arena. “I was just about to ask you the same damn thing.” Victoria laughed. “All I know is that’s it’s by the airport. You guys should call Melanie’s cell and ask her.” “Chasity said that she doesn’t pick up her phone this close to show time. She’s not allowed or some bull shit,” Justin said. “It’s only 5:30. The show doesn’t start until seven,” Victoria laughed. “I guess they have sound check right now or something.” Justin turned to everyone in the car. “Someone go in the house and map quest that shit.” With that, Samuel exited the big blue Suburban and went inside his house. About ten minutes later, he happily walked out of the house with a paper in his hand. He gave the directions to Justin and hopped in the back. Moments later, with Justin’s car in the lead, everyone was on their way to the venue. * 6:30 Melanie’s eyelids twitched as Kelly, another dancer, placed the fake eyelashes that had glue on them onto Melanie’s eyelid. When she was finished, Melanie blinked a couple of times and looked at her face in the mirror. She hated wearing that much make-up, and what aggravated her most was that all of the lights on the stage made her face look as though it was barely made up. Melanie then began to place rhinestones on top of the eyeliner that covered the glue from the lashes. Through the mirror’s reflection, she saw Eddie walk up behind her and felt him place his hands firmly on her shoulders. He massaged them lightly. “Don’t forget that we have to go out there in fifteen minutes to hype the crowd up and give away the free shit,” He said lowly. Melanie nodded. “Yeah, I know. I think I’m gonna save myself a shirt,” Melanie laughed. “What other dancers are going to be out there? Is it just us?” “No, I think some of the girls dancing with Destiny’s Child and Omarion are going to be out there.” “I’m really really nervous, Eddie.” Eddie looked down at her and grinned. “I know you are- I can tell. I guess what happened last night didn’t help either, huh?” Melanie chuckled. “Ya think?” “I’m sorry if it felt like I was pressuring you, but I got kinda worked up.” Melanie smiled. “No, I was perfectly comfortable. It’s jut been awhile since I’ve had that attention.” “Well then, I’m glad it was good for you.” “It was,” she grinned and looked at him.
A frantic stage manager stood in the doorway of their dressing room and announced that it was time for them to go out on stage. Melanie, Eddie, Dan, and Kelly met in the wings with the other dancers that would serve as an opening act for the other performers scheduled to go out on stage that night.
As she walked next to Eddie in silence, she thought about the night they spent with each other. At about 3 AM she walked into his hotel room that he shared with no one and saw that he was just getting settled in. They engaged in small talk and watched TV for a little while, but it soon became clear that they couldn’t ignore the physical attraction they possessed for one another. One kiss led to tons more, and soon they were naked and under the sheets. She was happy that there wasn’t much awkwardness between them at the moment. But, while she was with Eddie last night there was some awkward vibes coming from her because he wasn’t Justin. She wasn’t used to cautious, sneaky sex. She’d gotten used to Justin, the way his body felt on top of hers, the sounds he made, the way he situated her body, and his playful roughness. Justin knew exactly where her spot was, how she liked it, and Eddie…didn’t. However, Melanie did warm up to him after he seemed to warm up to her, and after 10 minutes of trying to find her comfort zone. Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of the DJ getting the crowd into the show. Loud bellows and screams were emitted from the huge crowd and the dancers passed around pairs of in-ears that would drown out some of the screaming. At the signal of the assistant stage manager, all of the dancers ran out onto the large stage. Animatedly, they threw shirts into the crowd, wet people with water, and threw beach balls into the crowd. Together Melanie and Eddie skipped across the catwalk that was situated in the middle of everyone in the floor seats and connected to a mini-stage in the middle of the floor. As she and Eddie stopped at certain spots on the catwalk, just as they’d rehearsed, Melanie saw her friends and she inevitably noticed Justin first. There he was, looking up at her, expressionless, with his arms crossed. The smile that she was routine to pasting on during shows had dimmed a little bit. Her mother, Rhonda, caught her eye and her smile returned full force. Melanie continued to prance around stage, clad in a long sleeve red and green striped shirt that stopped about two inches below her bra line and white cargo pants that were pulled up by a drawstring so her green hi-top Chuck Taylors were visible. Dan ran by her and placed a Santa hat on top of her head and she laughed at him as he addressed the crowd. * “How y’all doin’ Chicago?” That guy Dan yelled into the microphone and of course the crowd yelled. I watched Melanie clap her hands at the crowd’s response-she looks comfortable up there. I’d personally be scared if thousands of people were yelling at me. But she, she takes to the energy like it’s something she does on an everyday basis, which it is, I suppose, and dances around on stage like she doesn’t care about anything. “Well,” Dan continued, “I hope y’all are ready for a treat, cause we got some stuff that’s guaranteed to get you pumped up for this awesome show that’s about to go down!” I watched Melanie and the other dancer girls run back stage and pull out what looked to be humungous ass sling-shots and a bin full of shirts and other random merchandise. Dan announced that they would be giving out free stuff and crap like that. Melanie and another blonde girl, who I think is Lisa, walked to the edge of the stage together and then separated in order to walk down different sides of the catwalk that extended into the audience that was situated on the floor, where we are. I can see why she got us the seats she did. She’s practically right above us, well me I guess, because I’m in the aisle seat. Suddenly, BEP’s “Let’s Get It Started” could be heard through the sound system, and Melanie began jumping up and down, getting the crowd excited. Everyone else around me is jumping around like a flippin’ idiot. I’m not really the huge concert type. So, I’m not jumping. Hopefully, it doesn’t make me look like an asshole, but I’d rather be at the House of Blues watching a concert. Mama and her boyfriend Tony slid into the row behind mine and she touched my arm and said hi to me on her way back. A shirt was thrown by Melanie into our area and Chasity and Damien practically fought over who it was intended for, so Melanie threw another one their way. “Alright, y’all!” Dan yelled into the microphone again and cheers were heard once again. He was now on the stage by himself, for everyone else ran backstage. Jerome tapped my shoulder and grinned. “Are you having fun?” “Yeah, why?” I knew why. “I doesn’t look like it huh?” Jerome laughed and shook his head. “Hell no.” “Well…I am. I’m just not into jumping up and down and waving my hands, and screaming at the top of my lungs.” “Neither am I, but you look like a statue.” I looked down at myself. I guess I could loosen up and uncross my arms. “Is that better?” * Melanie ran backstage for a quick costume change. Everyone was backstage getting prepared for T.I. do a surprise performance. As she laced up the last string of her Adidas boots that extended to the bottom of her knee, she sighed deeply. Lisa noticed her friend’s discontent and walked over to Melanie. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” She asked. “He was just staring at me,” Melanie said, now standing and smoothing out the wrinkles of her black Dickies dress with the palms of her hands. “Everyone around him had all this energy and happiness and he was looking at me like I stole one of his Christmas gifts.” “Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.” “You’re sure what wasn’t that bad?” Kelly, another dancer for Mya interrupted and asked. Melanie smacked her teeth. “You didn’t see Justin mad-dogging me out there?” Kelly nodded slowly and chuckled. “I saw him. Maybe he just feels awkward.” The girls were interrupted by the signal given to them from the stage manager to go out on stage. Melanie lightly jogged to her designated spot on the catwalk and mouthed “bring em out, bring em out” and the crowd went crazy when they saw the rapper T.I. make his way on stage. * Melanie and the other dancers did a choreographed dance as T.I. rapped and then continued to hype the crowd a throw giveaways. It was hilarious watching some girl almost pass out because she caught his black shirt. Her friends with her obviously don’t care that much because they quickly continued to watch the show. T.I. began to walk down the catwalk and Melanie and that girl Lisa were on each arm. The girls smiled widely and waved to everyone, becoming every hormonal girl’s envy. The rapper then watched the two girls dance one at a time, which was unnecessary. Of course Melanie’s friends think it’s the cutest thing watching him stare at her ass like it’s a piece of meat. I don’t think it’s cute-it’s disgusting, and I don’t give a fuck if he is T.I. I’m JT and I say it’s disgusting. The song finally ended and T.I. and all the dancers walked off of the stage and to the backstage area. I think I’ll be giving “The King of the South’s” CD away. That one dude Dan came back on stage and announced that they were going to start the actual show and the first artist that came out was Shakira, so I sat down. *Melanie walked around backstage with a grin on her face, and smiled at all the bodyguards that acknowledged her presence. It made her happy seeing her supports sitting in the front, cheering her on. Justin’s facial expressions still got to her a little bit, but she knew he wasn’t a fan of loud concerts. However, she still felt that he could’ve given a bigger attempt to smile at her or look as though he was enjoying himself.
Entering the dressing room she shared with the other girl dancers she worked with, her mouth hung open at the dozen of red roses that sat on her beauty station. She ran to them happily and looked at the card. Her face changed to reflect the immense amount of confusion she felt inside. “Who are they from?” Kelly asked with excitement. “They’re from Justin,” Melanie stated quietly. “What?” Kelly yelled. “Are you serious?” Melanie silently handed her the card and allowed Kelly to read it. “Dear Melanie,” Kelly stated as she read the card, “Just so that you don’t think I’m a complete ass, I’m not a fan of these types of events, so that’s probably why I’ve been looking bored out of my mind. So this is a “sorry-excuse my behavior” I guess? Have a good show, and good luck!” “That is soooo sweet!” Lisa gushed. “Oh my God, I know!” Kelly agreed. “He’s so cute! “It’s not cute,” Melanie stated. “He can’t just give me some flowers and act like everything’s okay after he ignored me for six months!” “Well…”Lisa searched for something to say. “Do you know for sure that he’s been ignoring you? On purpose anyway?” “Yes!” Melanie exclaimed. “Chasity, my best friend, has called me numerous of times around him and even at his freakin’ house and he still didn’t bother to talk to me. She’s even asked him if he wanted to talk me, and not once did he give in and pick up the damn phone. So am I just supposed to run back to him after he sends me some stupid roses?” Kelly shrugged and looked down at her make-up that was scattered over the counter top. “Maybe he doesn’t expect you to run right back to him. Maybe he just wants to talk.” “Or,” Lisa added, “Maybe he just wants to wish you good luck.” “No,” Melanie stated defiantly. “This is Justin we’re talking about. He’s more complicated than that. Way more complicated.” “Well, complicated or not,” Kelly stated, “He’s a cutie! And I think it’s adorable how he was so color coordinated with his green polo and the yellow shirt under it- and then he had on the yellow and green Nikes!” “Yeah,” Melanie sighed, “He has to match everywhere he goes.” “That can be a good thing,” Lisa pointed out. “You don’t want a slob. Anyway, I think you should at least talk to the guy and give him a chance to explain himself.” “Well I doubt it,” Melanie argued. “It’s been too long since we had a real conversation.” Suddenly, Melanie’s cell phone began to ring to the tune of Ciara’s ‘Goodies’, so Melanie knew it was Chasity calling. “Hey,” Melanie answered and was greeted with loud screaming in the background. “Can you hear me?” Chasity yelled. “A little, yeah.” “You were so GREAT! You looked so cute, girl! And who do you think you are grindin’ all up on T.I. like that? You know he’s my husband!” Melanie laughed at her friend. “Did Justin tell you he sent me flowers?” “He did? I didn’t know that!” Chasity yelled back. “Do you want me to- wait…why did he send you flowers?” “I don’t know. The card basically said good luck, but I don’t understand why he’s all of a sudden trying to reach out to me now.” “Uh…Girl, I gotta go-you’re breaking up and I can’t hear shit. I’m sorry, but we’ll be waiting for you by the back door when you’re done dancing,” Chasity yelled over Ciara, who was the next artist to take the stage. Melanie hung up the phone reluctantly, and continued to re-touch her make-up. The boys, Eddie, Dan, and Brian filed into the girls’ tiny dressing room, and stood against the walls. “Mya called a group meeting,” Dan announced. The girls stopped what they were doing and waited for Mya to enter the room. She did moments later, and said a casual hello to everyone, before hoisting her small frame to the top of a counter top. “I decided to cancel the show in New York,” Mya announced. “Christmas is about three days away and I really need to be with my family right now, and I think y’all do too. So, after tonight, you don’t have to get on the bus if you don’t want to. I know your family’s here, Melanie, and I want you and everyone else to have a good time.” Melanie smiled with relief as did everyone else, because none of them were looking forward to doing another show that close to Christmas, and indeed Melanie was missing her family and friends. “Well,” Brian, a dancer and the choreographer of Mya’s set said, “I guess I’ll see y’all next year! I don’t know if we’ll be using studios in LA or New York yet, because we haven’t received the complete tour list yet. But, the information will be emailed, faxed, or I’ll call you.” “Alright, so let’s have a good show!” Mya announced. * I have to admit that Melanie, Mya, and all of the dancers on stage are doing it big. Everything looks like it was rehearsed to death, and it’s certainly paid off. I’m not gonna lie, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Melanie. That girl is too much for words. I think she’s found her niche, where she belongs. I don’t know if I’m ever going to be apart of her life as more than a friend anymore though. I’m pretty sure I ruined that chance. I know this because Chasity informed me that happiness was the last thing that Melanie felt when I sent her those flowers. I wasn’t expecting everything to be suddenly okay after sending the flowers, but I did hope to break the ice a little bit. Ultimately I just wanted to wish the girl good luck and I don’t see how she could’ve interpreted it for something more. Maybe I should’ve said the flowers were from all of us, and it would’ve made her happy. Anyway, they’ve performed at least three or four songs, and it’s moving along pretty smoothly because all of the songs were picked and are being performed to complete a story it seems. Basically, a girl, Mya, who goes through drama with men, and in the end finds everything she’s looking for in a man, and I’m assuming this whole thing has a happy ending. But, the funniest and coolest part was when everything ventured away from the little soap opera to have some fun. The band began to play “Take Me There”, that old song that was in the Rugrats movie-that was the cut in like seventh grade! Me, Leroy, and Jerome were doing the cabbage patch and shit-it was fun. The stage was filled with jumbo size toys and blocks with letters on them, rattles, and all the dancers were dressed up like little kids. During that song, Mya introduced all the dancers and stuff, and they came out one by one to do a little quirky dance that went with the song. Of course, Melanie would do the cabbage patch and the running man. Right now, they’re about to do my jam “My Love Is Like…”- Mya looked fine as hell in that damn video.The arena went black, and Mya’s name flashed on the screen in bold white letters while everyone screamed. Suddenly the words, “My love is like…my ass is like,” were being sung by a group of background singers, but still none of them could be seen. Music began to play and it felt kind of eerie because nobody could see shit, but people were still screaming. Since we were in the front row, and toward the end of the row, we were able to see two girls walk into the darkness and stand on the catwalk in their choreographed poses, waiting on the spotlight. As Mya was heard saying the opening words to the song, a spot light was lit at the back of the main stage, and she could be seen.
Everyone cheered again and Chasity leaned over and told me that Melanie and Lisa were standing right over me, on top of the catwalk. I forgot that she saw this when they were out in LA. As Mya chanted “1,2,3,4!” Different spotlights flashed on different dancers on different numbers. After the fourth beat, the whole stage was lit in a blue/ purple like color and the band was playing loudly, and it seemed like the whole stage was in motion. Every dancer on stage, including the guys, was wearing barely anything and everything was either black or silver, except for Mya, who was wearing all white. One dude had on some tight ass black pants, no shirt, some suspenders, and a bow tie. All the girls were wearing black or silver, Cabaret-type lingerie…me and the guys enjoyed that. That performance had so much sex in it, it wasn’t even funny. It felt like we were at a peep show or something. All the girls had their hair down, and that shit way flying everywhere while they swung their heads…hot stuff. I didn’t like how some dude…I think his name was Eddie, was Melanie’s partner and that he was all over her. I wanted to enjoy her in her skimpy underwear and stiletto heals by myself, but then I remembered that there were a whole lot of other guys in the arena were probably looking at her the same way. But anyway, he didn’t have to slide her garter belt down her leg with his mouth! And the way she was looking at him? That was out of line. Maybe it was acting, but still-she didn’t need to get that deep. Anyway, the ending of that song was sexy as hell. The guys had gone backstage for the end, thank God, so it was just the sexy women. Then, all of them, during the last beats of the song, they did some little fancy kick where their legs practically touched their face, and then when they put their legs down, they bent backwards hella far, and then just plopped into the splits! That shit was too hot for…I don’t even know. All I know is that Damien, Me, Jerome, Leroy, and Mike, all looked at each other and smiled at the same time. You know we screamed loud like some bitches for that one. After that song, she ended her set with her latest sing, “Never Gonna Drop”. It was fun, had a lot of energy, and when she was done she wished everyone Happy Holidays and said goodbye. About 10 minutes later, Chasity told everyone that if we were ready to go, that Melanie was waiting outside the backstage entry for us. I was ready to leave because all of the remotely entertaining people had performed already. So, we agreed on meeting Melanie outside-even though we would probably freeze to death. When we reached the backstage door, clarified by a big silver star, a big black dude who I assumed to be a bodyguard stopped all of us. After staring at each and every one of us for an awkward moment, he finally addressed us. “Why are you all back here?” He blurted rudely. “Um,” Chasity stuttered, “we’re with Melanie, she’s a dancer for Mya.” Suddenly, Melanie could be seen in a large gray sweatshirt, that I believe is mine, peaking out behind the bodyguard whose name we later learned to be Eric. “It’s okay, Eric, they’re my friends,” Melanie said meekly. Eric smiled and rubbed Melanie’s back. “Okay, you guys take care and have a good holiday season okay?” We all nodded and smiled, and then he addressed Melanie. “And you make sure you get some rest young lady, we don’t need you overworking-“ “Okay,” Melanie interrupted him, “I will,” she said hastily and smiled. “I see you next year, Eric.” That worried me a little bit. Everyone congratulated her and hugged, while the interaction between her and Mama was priceless. They were both crying like babies-I remember Chasity had told me that they had only seen each other once since Melanie left Chicago, and that was during the first week she was in New York. So, it’s had to have been hard on them both. After the congratulations for Melanie, which I idly separated myself from for some reason, was done I announced that I was going to pull the car around and headed over to the massive parking lot. I turned around when I heard a motor behind me, and saw that it was Eric riding slowly in a white golf cart. I stopped and looked at him. “Melanie asked me to take me to your car so you didn’t have to walk in the cold.” That was nice. “Thanks, man. I’d appreciate that.” I hopped in the cart and told him which direction to go. “So you take orders from her too, huh?” I joked. Eric laughed. “You could say that. So how do you know her? You’re a close friend too?” “Yeah,” I said sort of nostalgically. “We went to the same school. And all of us just clicked, and we all said that we would support each other after high school.” “That’s cool, man. So, are you in college right now?” “Yeah, I go to UCLA.” “Get out!” I guess he didn’t believe me? “Yeah.” I chuckled. “I play basketball there.” “So I’m gonna be seeing you on ESPN and shit, huh?” He laughed. “Hopefully.” We stopped behind Damien’s white Excursion, and I exited the cart after thanking him for the ride. I still don’t know why I’m driving Damien’s car, but whatever. Once Eric was out of the way, within minutes I pulled up beside the large and open tour bus and put the car in park. The other dancers that were on stage with Melanie were out mingling with everyone. I wrapped my scarf tighter around my neck, and tried to be a social as possible, but it was cold as hell and I wanted to go home. They introduced themselves to me while Melanie boarded the bus and came back with two big duffel bags. I opened the trunk of the car and helped her put them in. She could’ve said thank you, but I didn’t say anything to her. Instead, I tried to be nicer. “Do you have any more stuff to put inside?” “Yeah, my makeup,” she said distantly and walked off. Why don’t I just get a fat ass stamp with the word “reject” imprinted on it and slap it on my forehead? She looked at me as she came back outside with a small silver chest that held her make-up. “Anything else?” “Nope,” she said and walked over to Chasity. So, I guess she’s just going to leave my expensive ass roses in there to die. ** The car ride from the Arena to Samuel’s house was awkward for Justin, especially with Melanie sitting next to him in the passenger seat. She never spoke directly to him, and he never spoke directly to her. While she seemed to be fine with it, he hated every moment of it. Everyone else joked and laughed about their favorite parts of the show, and Melanie explained to them what really happened backstage and in rehearsals. “…New York was so fun. There was always something to do, and me and the other dancers went out all the time. I had so much fun.” “So you didn’t even miss us, huh?” Jerome teased. “Of course I did! I missed y’all like crazy!” Justin rolled his eyes because she obviously couldn’t have been talking about him. Soon he became frustrated with the traffic, and began to weave in and out of the cars. “Hey,” Leroy called from the back. “This is Chicago, not California-drive like you got some sense.” “You shut up,” Justin threw back and laughed. “Let me do me, and you do you.” After banter in the car, everyone reached Samuel’s house for the get together he’d planned. Melanie had greeted others who were already at Samuel’s and mingled with girls who were Juniors on the step team when she’d left. Meanwhile, Chasity, Justin, Damien, Jerome, Mike, Samuel, and Leroy headed to the living room and sat down with sighs. “So how have y’all been?” Jerome asked Chasity and Justin. “I’ve been good, and Chasity is always at my house eating up my food, so I assume she’s good too.” “Oh whatever,” Chasity argued and rolled her eyes. “She’s only over there cause she’s fuckin’ my roommate, though, so I guess it’s cool.” All of the guys laughed as Chasity’s mouth hung open. Before she could defend herself, Damien interrupted. “What’s that?” He asked with a smile. “Justin’s lying?” “Yes!” “Oh!” Justin yelled, and he and Chasity laughed because they both knew he was right. “That’s why Jared had to move his bed away from the wall because it kept hitting the wall in the middle of the night? Oh! And then remember that one time? I had to get up at 5 in the morning, and who was in the bathroom, in my way? He addressed his friends, “Chasity, of course! So don’t you even start girl, cause you got him sprung.” After hearing all the commotion, Melanie took a seat next to Chasity on the couch. Chasity leaned over her knees and slapped them as she laughed. She then stood up, and addressed her friends sitting around her. “Okay, so tell me why this fool has already slept with half of the girls on the USC dance team! My teammates! No, he couldn’t mess around with the bitches that go to his school! Oh Nooo!” Chasity exclaimed. It was Justin’s turn to adorn a face of utter shock. All of his friends patted his back and cheered for him, while Melanie looked on with intrigue and a little disgust. “You are such a liar!” Justin yelled and laughed. “I only messed with Krystal!” He laughed again when loud bellows were heard from his friends. “Well, that bitch is sprung as hell. She almost wanted to fight my ass because she thought me and you were too close! I was like ‘Boo, I don’t want him.’ But, she always talked so highly of you in practice and shit! Then her dumb ass was like, ‘Justin hasn’t called me in two days, and he said he would! Do you think I’m scaring him away?” She mimicked, causing everyone to laugh at her imitation. “Ok wait,” Justin started. “You see, what had happened was this. Deanna, who is my best friend, is good friends with Krystal, and she asked me to go pick her up and take her back to JC’s house, where we were all kickin’ it. So, you know, I said yeah, not thinking anything of it.” “But, Deanna didn’t ask you to fuck her!” “Oh, but Krystal did!” Justin exclaimed, laughed, and slapped hands with Leroy. “So, you know, I took her back to the house and messed around-it wasn’t anything to announce to the whole world about,” he said nonchalantly. Melanie shook her head at the guy she just dated. It amazed her how he acted as though he wasn’t using these girls, or better yet, that it was okay. “Well,” Chasity disagreed, “this girl thinks that the sex was amazing.” Justin beamed conceitedly. “Of course she does. Why wouldn’t she?” He laughed with Jerome. “No…I mean she’s saying how y’all are like falling for each other and shit, and how you constantly keep calling her.” Justin furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head firmly. “Oh hell no. I only fucked with the broad once…well, twice. And she’s the one who’s been calling me! I had to change the house number, and somebody gave her the number to my damn desk!” “See,” Leroy stated, “That’s what you call a psycho,” he concluded and everyone nodded their heads in agreement. “Well, that’s what your ass gets for sleeping around so dam much,” said Chasity. “Oh whatever. I only go out on weekends, so that’s the only time I get some.” “Justin, don’t play me. I’m not dumb.” “What the hell are you talking about?” Chasity smiled. “Remember that party we went to at the apartments that are across the street from USC?” Justin smiled slowly. “Yeah, and-“ “Which was on a Tuesday, by the way,” Chasity noted and laughed. “Well Tonya, who is also on the dance team…in case you forgot,” she added sarcastically, “was at the party and is saying that y’all went back to her apartment and did the nasty.” Justin laughed. “What the fuck? That bitch’s teeth are nasty. I didn’t do shit with her.” “Look at my man, Justin,” Samuel said happily. “He’s a true P.I.M.P.” Everyone laughed but Melanie, and Justin continued. “I didn’t mess with her, man, and you know I didn’t Chasity cause I came back to the party and told you that I was leaving.” “That don’t mean shit, Justin,” she laughed, “I still think you let her get some.” “Hell no! That girl has a messed up grill, I’m tellin’ you! Let me tell you what happened.” “Oh shit.” Mike sat back and said, “storytime!” “Okay, so,” Justin started. “Her apartment was in the same complex the party was. So, we get to her place or whatever, and we’re sitting on the couch at first watching TV. Okay, now I was drunk, but I wasn’t faded or anything, but I didn’t notice the retainer she had in her mouth-“ Chasity made a noise with her mouth and rolled her eyes. “Justin, a lot of people either wears or has worn retainers.” “No! Look-Can I finish, damn…just listen!” He complained. “So anyway, I didn’t notice the type of retainer she had in her mouth. She had one of them for when your teeth are just horrendous and it was covering up her gaps, and made it look like her front two teeth were aligned, but dude…they were just wrong. Her bottom teeth looked like a damn broke down picket fence-just GAPS everywhere. But I couldn’t tell though, cause she must’ve had that Invis-a-line or somethin’, I don’t know.” Everyone began to laugh. “I’m serious, when she took that bad boy out, I flinched on the real though.” Jerome laughed loudly and slapped his knee. “She took it off in front of you?” “Yeah, but she didn’t show me her mouth until she came back out. So we were sitting on the couch, watching TV and she started laughing, and I looked and was like ‘mmph’. So when she started touching me and shit, I lied and told her that I didn’t have a condom. Now of course with my luck, she had some in the drawer so I said, ‘Well why don’t you go put on somethin’ sexy while you’re in there?’ When her dumb ass walked in that room, I just ran out.” “No!” Damien yelled. “Stop playing.” “I’m serious!” “You just got up and left?” Damien questioned while laughing. “I ran, man! I ran right back to that party, told Jared ‘let’s go’, and bounced.” Chasity shook her head. “And it’s because of guys like you, why girls have low self esteem.” “So,” Samuel said. “That’s their personal problems, not ours.” “Maybe,” Melanie said, “but if y’all weren’t so hard on girls, they wouldn’t be that way. Girls already have to go through enough as it is and we don’t need ignorant boys like you messin’ shit up.” Justin rolled his eyes and looked at Leroy with a bored expression stuck to his face, while Leroy chuckled at his friend and shook his head. “Look,” Justin said. “If you don’t like it, you and Chasity can go in another room-“ “Don’t start with me, Justin,” Melanie warned. “Oh please. You need to take your offended ass in the other room if you have a problem with it. We were having a decent conversation before you tried to get all deep with the feminist bull shit.” “You know what?” Melanie said. “For someone who goes to UCLA, you’re dumb as hell.” “Ouch. That one hurt-at least I’m in school.” Melanie stared coldly at the new Justin that had obviously killed the kind one she once knew, and shook her head. A huge part of her wanted to punch him in the face and scream at him until she had let all of her anger out, but she shook it off and left quietly. With deep breaths, she put on her coat, scarf, and gloves, before exiting the house and sitting on the chair that sat isolated on the porch. A low blanket of snow had fallen on the December ground, and the moon was bright in the sky. She regretted riding along with everyone to Samuel’s house, just like she knew she would. Her body was tired and long overdue for a full night of sleep, for she couldn’t even remember when she’d experienced that last. But unfortunately, she could only leave when Chasity was ready, and she honestly didn’t know when that’d be. Melanie