Finally, You And Me. Lisa Jackson Harrison

Rather than go back and endure his intense stares and smirks, Alexa detoured to the coatroom. The attendant handed over her coat with a gold-toothed smile and had the nerve to ask for her telephone number. She rolled her eyes in response and abruptly turned away.

      The night air was chilly and instantly bit her face causing her to shiver despite the warm coverings she wore. Thank goodness there was a cabdriver waiting out front reading a newspaper. Alexa rapped on the passenger window with her knuckle. The East Indian man peered at her over the rim of his glasses and lowered the window a couple of inches.

      “Are you on duty?” she asked. She shifted her weight from side to side to keep her blood circulating.

      “Depends, where to?” he asked.

      Alexa swore that if there had been another cab waiting, she would have told him to kiss her butt and move on. She hated when cabdrivers, especially the foreign ones, acted like all black passengers were potential thieves or prostitutes.

      “Southfield,” she gritted through her teeth.

      “In that case, I’m open for business,” he said with a smile as if trying to make up for his ignorance.

      Alexa opened the door, slipped inside and quickly rambled off the address.

      “Wow, are you an entertainer or something?” he asked, obviously familiar with the neighborhood where her friends lived.

      “Yes, something like that,” she wryly replied. Then so that he wouldn’t ask any further questions, she turned her head and gazed out of the window. It was like déjà vu, she thought to herself, driving away in the night, escaping the same man who haunted her thoughts in the present.

      As the cab exited onto the expressway, Alexa contrived a story in her head that she was sick and didn’t want to interrupt Maya during dinner just to tell her so. The plan was to get back to the house and relax a moment before packing. Then following the wedding, she was out of there.

      Darius tried to concentrate on what Bryant was saying about their business venture, but his thoughts were on Alexa. From where he sat, it appeared as if the young Will Smith look-alike was talking her ear off. He almost wanted to rush over and free her from the boring conversation that she endured, but he didn’t. Alexa hadn’t given him much thought all evening. What attention she did give him was short-lived and then she ended up easing out of the room

      Bryant could detect that Darius was preoccupied. When he did not respond to his comment about not showing up at his own wedding, Bryant knew that Darius wasn’t paying attention.

      “Damn man, what’s with you?” Bryant asked, rapping his knuckles on the table in an attempt to get his attention.

      Darius turned to Bryant with a sheepish grin like a child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Whassup?”

      “I don’t know—you tell me? I’ve been trying to talk to you about the business and you’ve been spacing me off.”

      Darius eased back in his chair and tossed his napkin on the table. “Now, you know this isn’t the time or the place to be discussing business,” he reprimanded his cousin. “You’re supposed to be talking about wedding bells and stuff.”

      Bryant laughed and his eyes traveled over to where Maya sat chatting away with her mother and aunts. “I already got the bride in more ways than one. All of this was May’s idea. She said she always wished she had that big wedding. I told her it didn’t make a difference to me, because I love her as much now as I did then. But you know women always trying to come up with ways to spend some money.”

      Darius laughed. “Don’t give me that crap, man. I know you are just as down as Maya.” Darius sat up in his seat and held a fork to his ear like a telephone imitating Bryant’s call. “Hey, brother, you got to come to Detroit for New Year’s. Maya and I are renewing our vows!”

      Bryant burst out laughing and playfully punched Darius.

      “Mind your manners, boys!” Maya called from her place at the end of the long table.

      Darius watched as the two exchanged loving glances. A blind man could see that the connection between the two of them was tight and he envied that closeness. This feeling seemed to invade his thoughts more often than not in the last year. His eyes traveled from Maya and across the room where he last saw Alexa seated. All that remained was an empty chair and a lipstick-stained wineglass. He quickly scanned the room for her, but did not see her anywhere.