The Third Wheel

I sat in Josies with Paris, his room-mate Blake and Blake's girlfriend, Cherish Watkins...Cherish was cute....She sat on Blake's lap and the two of them kissed each other every other minute..Gus looked at them from behind the bar and just shook his head... Paris quaffed down a bottle of Corona and then ordered two more ...One for me..and one for him... Me? My name is Chance..Chance Howard.

"Aint you ordering one for your boy there?" I said to Paris, who kept looking at his watch...

'Who? Blake? Nah..he aint wasting my dough..he high on love man.." laughed Paris.

It was of course true...Blake and Cherish hadn't come up for air since their last embrace ,which was a minute before..

"You two need a room." said Paris.... Blake used his free hand and gave Paris the middle finger..I just laughed.

I laughed and opened up my fresh Corona and gulped it down...Finnally Blake and Cherish stopped kissing and straaightened themselves up...She sat back down in her chair. Blake rightened himself and ordered an Apple Martini for Cherish and some Hennesey for himself..

"Now that's what I'm talkin about patna..." said Paris. I finnally realized why he was watching his watch..He was waiting for his date to arrive. When she walked in, I could see why she was worth waiting for.. She was stunningly attractive...Tall..a red bone...(Paris was what they called
a 'Redbone" specialist) with well defined features...Angular face, like a model..yet baby making hips and a pair of legs that wouldn't quit...A tight yellow dress that clung to every wonderous curve... Paris kissed her and then asked her what she was drinking...

"My usual babe...Long Island Ice tea..two of em.." she said.

"Excuse my bad manners baby...Everyone , this is Lola....and Lola, this is my room-mate Blake,
His friend, Cherish Watkins...and our friend Chance Howard..he lives down the hall from us."
said Paris.

"Chance eh? That's an interesting name." said Lola.

"Yeah, my mother thought so." I said. I noticed Blake and Cherish trying to conceal their laughter after I said that.

The night went on and we all continued to drink and laugh and talk. It was all very nice, but I felt like a third wheel..I was the only one at the table without a date...It felt weird and it must have looked weird...and then ,she walked in.....with him...

She was Sheena Pearson...a woman I had once dated and who now hated my guts. She was in Josie's , probably for the first time. The guy she was with was not Faunteroy...The cultured Black and married guy she was dating in D.C. No, this guy looked like trouble..He looked like a local guy and like a street guy...So not like her.

'Why you staring over there Chance? You know them?" asked Blake.

"I know her." I said.

" Ex ?" asked Paris.

"Kinda sorta....it was complicated....but that guy....that aint the kind of guy she usually dates and she looks like she got a lot of make up on.." I found myself saying aloud.

"Wow....you must not be over her....you sound like you still sprung." laughed Cherish.

"Yeah...what's up with that Mr. Chance?" chimed Lola..

"Leave him alone...Chance just observant, that's all." said Paris in my defense.

"I'll be back..I'm gonna go over and say something to her." I said as I got up from the table.

I waited until dude was at the bar ordering drinks and then I casually stopped by her table.

"Hey Sheena..how are you doing?"

"Hi Chance....I'm doing well." she said....but there was something about the way she said it that puzzled me...She seemed , well..like she was afraid.

"I see you've moved on from Faunteroy.." I said, expecting the tirade of insults I got at the soul food restaraunt about a month ago.

"Yeah....I did....don't you think your friends are waiting on you?" she said. It wasn't said in her usual smart alecky way...No, it was said as if she was trying to protect me...Get me away from her table...Or was she trying to protect herself??
Once I got up close and took a look...I could see that her eye was slightly swollen and that the side of her face was black and blue...sheilded by make up.

"Sheena ,you alright?...I'm serious? "I asked.

"Chance..I'm fine..don't worry about it." she said.. She didn't look right to me, but before I could

further examine her face-

"Yo Holmes...what you doin at my table?" came the voice.

I turned around, just in time to see the thugish guy Sheena was now going out with.

"Oh ..Hi...my name is Chance..Chance Howard....I went to college with uh Sheena here and I was
just stopping by to say hi." I said and extended my hand. He didn't even look at my hand.

"Okay,so you said hi...now beat it..and don't come over here no more." he said.

I smiled...then I whispered to him....

"Step over here a minute son."

'What?" He said.

"Step over here a minute ...let me holler at you.." I said...

"Nigga , what you want?" he said.

"Did you do that to the side of her face?" I asked.

"What's it to you if I did?" he said, getting loud. I smiled and looked away...then I grabbed his
testicles and squeezed hard like a vice...

"OHhhhhhhhhh....ohhhhhhhhhh.....let me..goooooooohhhhhhhh..." he screamed and then I gripped him by his neck with my free hand and slammed his head up against the wall...

"Don't go gettin me confused with somebody I aint homie....I was born and raised right here in Philly,just like you...I don't care that you're goin with her...but if I see another bruise on her...you and I are gonna have a problem....ya feel me?" I said, still smiling at him....

"ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...ummmmmphhhhhh....." he groaned..... I let go of his nuts and loosened my grip around his neck and let him fall to the ground.. He was still gasping for air...

By now, Gus, Paris ,Blake and Chess, who had just entered the bar had ran over to where the
altercation occurred...as stunned patrons looked on and thug boy held on to his neck and breathed hard..

"It's kool ,it's all good... Me and homeboy here was just gettin to know each other...aint that right
son? You understand me now a little better don't you? " I said as he slowly got up off the ground
grabbed his jacket and stumbled out of the club...

Sheena ran over to me and hugged me...she was crying and more vulnerable than I'd ever seen her..

"Oh thank you Chance..thank you...he was a brute..I had been seeing him for about a month now and he was slapping me every time I did anything wrong..I was so scared of him." she said.

"I know him....His name is Guy...Guy Hawkins...He's a wanna be tough guy, but watch your back
Chance...he packs and he runs with another cat named "Leap"..." said Chess.

"I'm good..you know I can handle Chess.." I said.

"I know kid...just keep it kool..we try to keep this place quiet, you know...no drama." said Chess.

"It's okay...he won't be coming back in here,ever" said Gus "Can I get your lady friend a drink?"
said Gus to me.

"Yeah, get her some coffee." I said.

"Chance...stay with me...stay with me tonight...please." said Sheena.

I guess because I wanted to hear those words so bad I decided to do it.....but all the while I wondered if this was the right move to make.

(To Be Continued....)