âIâm sorry. I really wanna meet your niece now.â
âWell, what was the problem at first?â
âImmaturity on my part. Plus, I wasnât really trying to meet anybody new. I was thinking about contacting a couple of my old girlfriends to see what theyâve been doing and see if they were interested in hooking up again.â
Mrs. Kelly frowned and threw her hand. âUgh! Thatâs not the way to go at all. Been there, done that.â
Joel smiled and said, âIâve been there, but I didnât do all of them.â
Mrs. Kelly thought she had missed something. âWhat?â
âPut it like this, too much information and not enough time to explain.â
The sound of somebody approaching stole their attention for the moment. They listened closely as a pair of high-heeled shoes tapped to a certain kind of sophisticated cadence on the schoolâs industrial tile flooring. That was a sound Joel loved to hear.
Mrs. Kelly took a quick peek around the corner and said, âOh look, here comes my niece, Asia, right now. When you meet her youâll forget all about your old girlfriend.â
When he made eye contact with Mrs. Kellyâs niece, she reminded Joel of Renee. Her intricate hairweave of long blond spiral curls, big expensive Coach handbag, stilettos, manicured fingernails and toenails, and the annoying way she popped her gum all sent up a huge yellow caution flag. She seemed too artificial. After a quick introduction to Asia, Joel automatically shut down because he knew that he wasnât interested in her. No chemistry whatsoever. Then he thought, Whoa, hold on a minute. Sheâs got a cute face, nice ass and some big tittiesâgood. But she doesnât smile enough and I donât like this strong hoochie vibe sheâs got going on. All Iâd do is end up using her for sex. Hmm, that might be nice. But Iâd hate to dog this girl and then have to deal with her and Mrs. Kelly.
Asia didnât initiate much of a conversation and didnât strike Joel as being too intelligent. Her physical appearance was fine, but she didnât stimulate his mind at all. He was looking for a total package. In reality, Asia was okay, but was forced to pay the price for looking too much like Joelâs ex. He wanted the real thing or nothing at all. Thinking about Renee and looking at Asia was like comparing McDonaldâs to Burger King, Coke to Pepsi and Beyoncé to Ciara.
Asia only made matters worse by trying to act more glamorous than she really was. She began to come off as goofy. Every move she made ended with an awkward pose. It was obvious that she had been watching too many reruns of Americaâs Next Top Model and was emulating what she saw. Joel laughed to himself because the only thing sophisticated about Asia was the way her heels had sounded when she first walked around the corner. Joel could tell that they had very little in common and the last thing he needed or wanted was a carbon copy of Renee. Too much work.
Meeting Asia left Joel feeling severely discouraged and disappointed. He wasted thirty minutes of his life trying his best to humor Mrs. Kelly and her ghetto-fabulous niece.
Asia said, âIt was nice meeting you, Joel. Hereâs my number.â She handed him a colorful business card with her full name, Asia KellyâModel & Fashion Designer . It had a notation above her number, Available for fashion shows, photo and video shoots . She said, âCheck out my page on myspace.com whenever you get a chance. Just type in my screen name, Holla at this model chick and you can find me.â
It took everything inside of Joel not to burst out laughing. âAight, Asia. It was nice meeting you too.â
âDonât forget to holla at this model chick when you get home.â
Joel felt that strong urge to laugh again because Asia sounded so silly. His eyes got big and he said, âWow, I donât even know what to