Pretty Girls in the Vip (9781617730283) by Daaimah S. Poole Read Free Book Online Page B

I have a date.”
    â€œAbout time, Zakiya. I’ve been wishing for you to start acting like you are twenty and not seventy-two.”
    â€œWell, your wish has been granted tonight. I’m so excited. I don’t know what I’m going to wear.” I rocked from side to side around my room trying to figure out what I was going to put on.
    I met Brian at the movies. So far he was extremely well mannered, and our date was going okay. We talked between the action scenes and he let me have the last of the Raisinets.
    After the movie we were still talking and getting to know each other, so I agreed to go back to his house. We walked out of the theater and walked for several blocks when I finally asked him where his car was.
    â€œI’m not driving. I don’t have a car; I walk everywhere. If you want, we can walk to my place or catch the trolley. I live like another fifteen blocks.” Another fifteen blocks was about two miles and way too far to walk. I opted for us to take the trolley. We waited on the corner of Baltimore Avenue for the trolley to come. We boarded the crowded and noisy 34. There weren’t any seats left, so we stood and swayed each time the trolley came to a halt. At each stop, people pushed by us to get off and I was becoming a little irritated. I was happy when it was finally our turn to get off.
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    Brian’s block was full of rows of big Victorian-type houses with huge trees and bushes in the University Penn section of west Philadelphia. He unlocked a big wooden door with paned glass. On the other side of the door, there was a young white guy on the sofa playing a PlayStation 3. Brian said hi to the guy, and then like six more people poured into the living room talking and shouting. It was like a fraternity house. The group was a mixture of white and black, late twentysomething guys, who all were wearing T-shirts with logos and phrases, and ripped jeans or khakis. Between their shouting he managed to introduced me to every single guy.
    â€œHow many people live here?” I asked. He had to count and then said he had five roommates and a few guys who stayed over every now and then.
    â€œYou live here with five other people?”
    â€œYeah, we all have our own rooms. If you are uncomfortable, we can go into my room.”
    I looked around at the loud strangers and decided his room might be better than the overcrowded living room. We walked down the hall into his crammed space. His room wasn’t full of people; it was full of junk. He pushed things off the bed to make room for us, and then he turned on his television.
    â€œSo what do you want to watch?” I glanced around at the mess and decided I could watch television at home. His room was too junky and smelly. I stood up, gathered my bag, and very bluntly said, “No, I don’t think I want to watch television. I’m going to go on home.”
    â€œYou’re not having any fun?”
    â€œNo, it’s not that. I just have a lot of things I need to take care of.” I’m sure he could tell I was lying and I didn’t care. I needed to get out of there. Before he could say anything, I walked out to the living room past all of his friends and roommates. He caught up to me once I was halfway down his block and walked me to the bus stop. We talked a little more until the trolley came. I promised I would call him, but I had no intention of doing so.
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    Lisa heard me come in the door and ran downstairs to get tidbits about my date. She took a look at me and shook her head.
    â€œYour date must have been awful?”
    â€œIt was horrible. He didn’t have a car and we had to catch the trolley to his house. Then once we got to his house, he had a bunch of roommates and a filthy room. Lisa, you know I’m not hard to please, right? And I considered myself a pretty down-to-earth person, but don’t you warn someone that you don’t have a car and give them a heads-up that ten