In Due Time

Hollywood

I pull up to FatBurger, sit at a table outside and wait for Arizona to pull up.

I went back home to shower and put on some fresh clothes. Then I cranked up my classic BMW and tugged it up the highway.

I wait for Arizona Medulo.

In the meantime, I go to the gas station a cross the street, buy a pack of crackers to settle my stomach, and a pack of Tums. I'm never drinking again.

I sit back down, watching car after car go by.

An off-white BMW, this year's model, pulls into the parking lot. The windows are extra tinted. The car parks next to mine.

She gets out. Long, dark hair with light brown highlights. Pretty smile. Dimples. Long eyelashes and full lips. Slanted eyes.

Too damn sexy to be cheated on. She's wearing a leotard with some high waisted shorts and a pair of pumps.

"Is this yours?" She points to the BMW next to hers. I nod. "What year?"

"'92."

"Nice. I used to have a '92."

"What happened to it?"

"Sold it to help pay for this one. '14." She points to it, then locks her car. "Have you eaten?"

"Just crackers. Stomach still hurts."

"Mind if I grab a shake or something? It's pretty hot today."

"Sure is."

We didn't come here to talk about cars or the damn weather, but it's just so hard to bring up the subject at hand.

She goes in, comes back out with two vanilla shakes, I thank her.

"Where are you from?" I ask.

"Oakland."

"Damn. Could've fooled me."

"How so?"

"Don't look like you're from the hood."

She smiles. "Where are you from?"

"Watts."

"Hmm, don't look like your from the hood either." she mocks me, sippin her shake. I sip mine. "Going to school at UCLA."

"Cool."

"Do you go to school?"

I shift, a little embarrassed. "I'm doing online school right now."

"School is school. Diploma is diploma. Money is money."

"How many years you got left?"

"One." She sips. "Did AP classes in high school."

"Damn, should've done that. What are you going to school for."

"Art major."

"You draw?"

"Draw, Paint, Sculpt." she pulls out her phone, shows me her latest.

"What is it called?" I ask.

"Liars"

That caught my attention. The picture was of a woman straddling a man while another woman watched. She was painting the picture of what she saw when she walked into her boyfriend's dorm.

"It started out like this. Cairo called me that morning, it was his birthday, said he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go out for his birthday. He insisted that I come the following weekend. But I was already halfway there. Thought I would surprise him...but he surprised me instead."

I nod.

"You never had suspicions that your girl was cheating?"

"Nah. Thought if I was faithful, she would be too."

"Thought wrong."

"Did you ever think your man was cheating?"

"Yes. Hell yes. That's why I plotted ahead. Tracked his messages. The only ones that stood out were the ones he was texting to your girl."

"Messages?"

"Kik messages. I've got them all. All printed out. From the first message to the last one." She sips again.

"Can I see them? You bring them with you?"

She shakes her head. "They're at my studio."

"Where's your studio?"

"Lawndale."

"Why we ain't just meet there?"

"I had to meet you in public...make sure you weren't lethal or crazy."

I laugh. "Oh really?"

She smiles. "Better safe than sorry."

"So now, that you've seen me, what do you think."

"We have two things in common." she says.

"What?"

"We are too attractive to be hurt, and right now we are too hurt to be attractive."She was right. She looks over at my melting shake, takes it and slurps it, unmindful of what type of germs I could possess."We're already biologically connected. Your girl swapping fluids with my man, then them coming back and kissing us."

She had a point. We get out of our chairs, I walk her to her car.

"When can I see those messages?" I ask.

"Call me." She closes her door, then puts her window down. "But you can't take them with you. They have to stay with me."

"Why?"

"In our relationships, we didn't get to make the rules, and now I'm making some."

"Iight."

"Goodbye, Calvin Kennedy." She drives off.