on friday i hung out with princess dominique, marcus harris, meko, tia, collette, and ej at barley's billiards off of peachtree street. i live literally down the street from the place and yet i didn't even know it existed. well, i know now. it's black-owned and on friday it has a live band performing all night. let me say this...the place was PACKED. not only that, but it has some of the best kept pool tables i've seen in a long time and i plan on stopping by just to shoot some pool. shit, i might be headed there TODAY.
special thanks to tia for picking up the tab for the ENTIRE TABLE. i'm not sure how much money was spent, but i know it wasn't pocket change. i made at least two new friends that night. meko had me cracking up about the men of atlanta (she's single and beautiful and STILL can't find a decent man in a city supposedly full of quality brothas). meanwhile, tia was beautiful too, fascinating me with stories about her childhood and her various adventures in atlanta as a single mother. collette had all kinds of stories about her life as a flight attendant (one day she just up and quit cuz the mothafuckas were getting on her nerves).
and then there was dominique and marcus. they were in town to promote marcus' new book of poetry, songs in search of a voice. let me just say now that you gotta get your hands on that fucking book. i'm gonna devote an entire post to that one cuz i can't say everything i wanna say in this post. too much...just too much.
anyway, i wasn't able to talk much to dominique but that's cuz i was surrounded by so much good conversation. marcus is one of those cats who is witty yet unassuming. he invites one to be comfortable around him and basically spill out ever facet of his or her life to him (he betta be glad i didn't cuz i would have just traumatized the brotha). he kept calling out my name and pointing to the television screen where uconn was playing washington. i think he wanted to see me lose my mind by jumping up and down frantically as i wished for uconn to lose. he didn't get to see me make a spectacle of myself, but he did manage to one-up me.
"i bet you order another glass within the next five minutes," he said with a grin on his face.
this dude is challenging me? no this mothafucka didn't!
"all i want is one glass," i replied to him, a defiant glint in my eye.
"we'll see..." he said a little cynically, but with the grin never fading from his face.
i had already finished my first glass when the bet occurred, so i figured i was good. then i looked up to the television and saw how close the game was...oh shit, if uconn loses this shit, t will have no teams left in the tourney! i'll win that fucking bet for sure!
the waitress came around and asked if we wanted anything else. i didn't even realize i had ordered another glass of merlot until afterwards...
"nikki," marcus yelled over the live music.
"what!" i responded, my eyes still on the television screen.
"uh, you just ordered another glass of merlot!"
i glanced at him absentmindedly, not comprehending what he said at first. when i saw his grin widen to grand canyon proportions i realized what i had done. i glanced frantically at the clock on my phone.
"SHIT!"
four minutes, thirty-nine seconds.
SHIT.
one bet lost, but damnit. i ain't losing the other one.
once the game was over (uconn pulled that shit out at the last minute, da bastids), we got up to take a group photo. that's when i noticed him. dark-skinned older cat sporting a full blown suit right down to the matching vest. he was staring at all of the women at the table. because he was at the table next to us, we had to scoot past him (i.e. stick our asses in his face) in order to get around the table. the bastid made a point of keeping his face right thurr in the crack of our asses as we made our way past him. no, that shit wasn't cool.
we were standing to take the photo and he was looking at us with a grin on his face similar to gargamel looking laviciously at scattering smurfs, his eyes all glazed over with an inherent evil. right before tia started taking photos i glanced over at him.
"uh, you can stop staring at us like we're dessert," i said derisively, "you've got an entire table of guys to devote your attention to."
FLASH!
shit...that photo was a do-over cuz meko's to my left snickering like muttley and i've got the "angry negro bitch checking some dirty old man" look on my face, my head turned towards the 'man' in question.it took a minute for meko to stop laughing, but when we finally got the photos taken, it was time for marcus and dominique to leave. after they departed, me, tia, and meko decided to stay and check out the sights. first order of business was to check out all the fine brothas in the back shooting pool...conveniently situated in the same vicinity as the restrooms. tia had just returned from back there and eagerly shared her findings with meko and i.
"yes, the brothas are aplenty! they're EVERYWHERE back there!"
suddenly a sista had to pee.
no really, i had to use the bathroom...conveniently situated in the same vicinity as the fine brothas.
"so meko, i have to use the bathroom, don't you?" i said slyly, my eyes saying "girl, you know we gotta check out the brothas in the back!"
she looked at me and started laughing.
"yes! it's time to go to the bathroom!"
we got up and made our way towards the back. now the way the place is set up, there are a bunch of tables in the front where we were, so there was alot of weaving and stiff walking as i tried to prevent my ass from smacking some poor unsuspecting patron in the face. once we were past the maze of tables, there was a long room with pool tables lining each side. the bathrooms were at the end of the room and the walk to the bathroom? oh, that had to take place right down the center of the fucking room, kinda like a catwalk only i ain't tyra (although i am too funky for them...)
we start walking.
actually, it was more like meko was walking and i was damn near running.
"hold up!" meko whispered quickly, "slow down so the brothas can see the goods!"
i slowed down my sprint, laughing at myself for the moment of nervousness. i glanced around the room from left to right, looking at the guys either leaning over tables taking shots or standing with pool cues in their hands.
oh my!
it was like walking into a black mens r'us and being able to have my look at every possible version of black man ever created. tall, short, dark, light, fat, thick, skinny, ugly, passable, handsome, straight up stunning...they were all there representing. i felt like i was a kid again, looking through the sears wish book, salivating at the easy bake oven on page 355 right before my eager eyes landed on the barbie dream house with matching car on page 356, right after i had already had my heart attack from seeing monopoly, life, AND chutes and ladders all on the SAME PAGE...354!"i don't want to go home...i'm a mens r us chick..."
*sigh*
anyway, a bunch of cats to my right stopped what they were doing and started staring at us. then i hear this rising sound of masculine discussion as they talked among themselves, their eyes never leaving us. then one of them, this tall, thick brotha dressed casually nice, sporting a baseball cap turned to the back, did 'the nod' thing. you know 'the nod'...the one that says "wassup, luv. i'm digging what i'm seeing." you know, THAT nod.
i grinned shyly back at him, the dimple in my cheek deepening as we continued making our way to the restroom. i mention the dimple because it always makes a stronger appearance when nikki's basking in the glow of male attention. it's like the dimple knows it will be the deal breaker, the final piece in the puzzle confirming nikki's beauty, cuz what brotha doesn't dig dimples? only the crazy ones and nikki don't do crazy.
anyway, so after the long walk down the catwalk that seemed to take forever, we finally make it to the bathroom. and proceed to burst out laughing. the tension from making that walk was immediately released. you know, just cuz we women know we're beautiful doesn't mean we're necessarily comfortable with the idea of walking down an aisle while surrounded by men who have nothing else to do but check our asses out. i mean, everything is scrutinized. i felt as though brothas could see right through to my areolas!after laughing some more and talking girl talk (you don't think i'm actually gonna tell what was discussed, do you? some shit i keep private you know!), i used the bathroom (TOLD you i had to go) and washed my hands. we checked ourselves to make sure the clothes were properly placed (nothing worse than heading past a bunch of guys with your underwear hanging out...especially if they're granny panties), then began the long journey back.
this time around, i was acutely aware of some of the discussion taking place around us. i heard softly exclaimed 'damns' from time to time as we made our way to the front. we were both smiling cuz we knew why the 'damns' were breaking around us. meko and i made small talk between us, casually observing the brothas around us as we sauntered back towards our table. i made a sweep of the area with my eyes, making sure not to connect attention to any one guy for long (i was in the mood to look but not in the mood to engage, feel me?). once we got back to the table, we started laughing again. our eyes widened as we stared at tia. she just looked at us with a knowing grin.
"what i tell you?" she said.
"you were right!" meko exclaimed, "there were brothas EVERYWHERE!"
"uh, i think we should make this place a new habit," i said with a devilish look on my face. meko and tia nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
after sitting around for a little longer, making conversation and listening to the great band performing there, it was time to leave. we all exchanged information and walked out to the parking lot where we parted ways. amazing how i'd only just met them but it seemed as if we'd known each other for a while. it got me believing i could start hanging out with more sistas in the atl. i never saw THAT shit happening.
SHIT. this post became longer than i thought it would be. i'm gonna have to write about meeting hassan later. in the meanwhile, i gotta call out someone...
GEORGIAPEACH. i was looking for your ass on friday! what the fuck happened to you?
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