Part 3 (Missed part 2? Read it here.)
What is she doing? Barry had been looking for Keiyana for the last fifteen minutes. The last thing he expected to see was her flirting with some guy twice his size. And she was doing the tongue thing. That was their thing!
As he walked up, Keiyana was taking another bite out of her food and consciously wiped her mouth.
“There you are!” Barry walked up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She gave him a weird look, but he wasn’t sure why.
He held out his hand to the guy standing beside her. He looked familiar for some reason. He never forgets a face, just where the face is from. “Barry, how’s it going man?”
“Oh, sorry,” Keiyana tried to talk in between chews. “Barry, this is Roman. Roman, Barry. He’s an old friend of mine.”
Barry saw Roman size him up. Good thing he wore his Burberry suit tonight.
“Nice to meet you again, Barry.” Roman took a sip of his drink.
“Oh, you know each other?” Keiyana threw back the rest of her drink and looked back and forth between the guys.
“I was just thinking that you look familiar,” Barry started, “but I can’t quite place it.”
“Really?” Roman stared Barry in the eye. Keiyana saw his jaw pulse again.
“I’m sure it will come to me.” Barry shrugged and put his arm around Keiyana. “Did you get a chance to dance yet?” He was hoping she hadn’t danced with this guy. He looked like he had two left feet. Plus, he had been looking forward to getting closer to her in that dress. It resembled a nightgown, but an incredibly sexy one. When she showed him her dress options on the phone, he chose this one because it complimented her dark skin tone and left just enough to the imagination. He was hoping to take it off of her later that night.
She was wearing her hair curly now and he loved it. She always wore it straight when they were together, and he only saw it curly if they traveled or if she was having a rough week. He wanted to reach up and touch it but figured now was not the best time.
“Yeah, she got her two-step on,” Roman answered for her and Keiyana flashed him her best smile. Roman winked in response.
Barry cleared his throat. “Well, I wouldn’t mind going for a twirl.” She looked at him then back at Roman.
“Roman, will you excuse us?”
“No worries. I’m going to take a little walk. It was nice meeting you Keiyana. Barry.” He smiled toward Keiyana and jutted his chin towards Barry.
“You leave me for a bit and I find you making friends.” Barry pulled her close and began to rock back and forth even though the DJ was playing Cardi B.
Keiyana created some space between them and began moving to the beat. “Please don’t tell me you’re jealous.”
“Naw, he ain’t got nothing on me.” He saw Keiyana roll her eyes. “Hasn’t your momma ever told you that they’ll get stuck if you keep doing that?”
“Anywho.” Keiyana turned in a circle and saw Roman out the corner of her eye chatting with an actor who was also on the show she watched last night. There was something about him that just made her want to be in his presence. He was tall and a bit mysterious. She liked that he seemed low-key but still had a presence. She was starting to daydream about kissing him when Barry interrupted her thoughts.
“Keiyana, are you listening?”
“I can’t hear you over the music,” she lied.
“Oh,” he was glad to get closer and talked even louder. “I was telling you about a Director that I met after you walked away. He is interested in working with me.” Barry grinned.
So much had changed since they had last seen one another. He was no longer scrounging for spare change in his car and actually had a new car. He was excited to take her to dinner and tell her all about his new house and some of his new projects. He loved how they used to lay around and dream about the day everything would come to fruition.
It was the luck of the draw that he finally caught up with her. She had disappeared so suddenly years ago, and he never really knew why she cut off all communication. After no response to any texts or calls, he eventually got the picture. It was all for the better. He needed to focus on his craft and didn’t have the time nor income for a serious relationship.
Those were sacrifices he was willing to make and now, it has all paid off.
“I’m going to grab a bottled water. Want one?” Keiyana nodded and kept swaying her hips. He loved to watch her move and by the looks from some of the other guys in the room, he wasn’t the only one.
The line for the bar was longer than he expected. He told Keiyana he was going to run to the main bar in the adjacent room. As he walked in, he saw Desiree standing off to the right. He sighed, hoping she had changed her mind about coming. For the last two years, they had created quite the tumultuous “situationship” which is one of the reasons he was hoping to patch things up with Keiyana. Desiree was trouble. She was fun too, but it always led to an undesirable outcome in the end.
“Look what the cat drug in.” Desiree wrapped her arm around his waist and kissed him on the cheek. “I thought you weren’t going to make it tonight?”
“Um, no. That was you saying that. I was always planning to come.”
“Were you always planning to bring her?” He saw a flash of jealousy in Desiree’s eyes.
“Desiree, don’t go there.” He motioned towards the bartender.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to make a scene, even though you probably want me too. You love to start a fight, so we can make-up.” Desiree winked and bit Barry’s earlobe.
“Chill, girl.”
“Oh, there’s my cousin!” Desiree grabbed a guy’s hand and when Barry turned to his right, Roman was standing there.
“You remember meeting Barry, right?”
Barry was still trying to place his face.
“Yeah, but I don’t think he remembers me. I’m heading out. See you around, Barry. Desiree, be good?” Roman turned around walked out the nearest exit door.
“Barry, how do you not remember meeting Roman? He was at my birthday party. You know, the one where you and I ended the night in the hot tub?” Desiree giggled and whispered into Barry’s ear. Barry couldn’t help but smile in return.
“That must be one funny secret.” Barry jumped to find Keiyana standing behind him sipping on a bottled water. She waved and said, “I got thirsty and ordered from the other bar. I was coming to tell you don’t worry about bringing me one. But looks like you got sidetracked. Hi,” Keiyana stuck her hand out towards Desiree, “I’m Keiyana.”
“Desiree.” Desiree gave her a limp handshake and if Keiyana wasn’t mistaken, an eyeroll.
Keiyana recognized her as the same woman she had seen Barry kissing years ago. Instead of the heartbreak she had felt back then, she now felt indifference.
“I’m going to call it a night, my Spanx is about to expire.” Keiyana took another swig of her water before placing in on the bar top. “Enjoy the rest of your night.” Keiyana looked Desiree up and down and turned to walk away.
“No, wait.” Barry attempted to pull away from Desiree but she held on to his arm.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Keiyana heard her say. She heard Barry call after her before he started arguing with Desiree. She refused to turn around.
Once outside, she took a deep breath and shrugged. She dug her phone out of her purse, so she could call an Uber. She saw that half the street was still blocked off due to the event, so she had to walk one block towards Sunset Boulevard to get picked up.
Uber said a black SUV would be picking her up and there would be an eight-minute wait. She decided to play Wordscape on her phone while she waited. Groups of tourists stood nearby, hoping to catch a glimpse of a celebrity leaving the party.
Barry interrupted her game by blowing up her phone, but she didn’t bother answering. She lived a drama-free life and wasn’t about to change that over one night at Chateau Marmont. She was glad she came. While standing there watching him with that woman, she had an epiphany. Although she missed being in a relationship, she did not miss Barry nor what they had. They were in two different worlds and his involved him, himself and his career.
In the car ride and during the night, she realized, he never once asked about her job, her family or any of her friends. He talked about himself and his projects. She had been excited to tell him about her promotion and new travels but never quite found the time to do so.
A black SUV pulled up to the curb and Keiyana pulled on the back door handle to get in. It was locked so she looked towards the front of the car so the driver could unlock the door. She yanked on the door handle again, waiting for him to unlock it. She was about to knock on the front window when she heard a familiar chuckle.
“Need a ride or were you just going to pull my door handle off?” Roman was leaning on the hood and smiling that smile that she hoped to see once more.
“Oh, sorry! I thought you were my Uber.”
“I can be. Where are you trying to go?”
“Depends. Where are you willing to take me?”
“Anywhere you want to go.” He smiled and came over to open the front passenger door.
Keiyana hesitated to get in then asked, “You’re not going to kidnap me, are you?”
“The way you threw back that whiskey, I need to be concerned about you kidnapping me.” Roman smiled and Keiyana knew she was in good hands. She got in the front seat and waited for him to get in the car.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Always.” She grinned as he drove away from the curb.
