Sneak peek #5 of Jazzy Ladies Productions

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LIKE I NEED A REASON TO THROW A PARTY

Beverly put both pillows over her head to stop the ringing. It wasn’t until she listened closely that she realized it was the doorbell. She sighed and rolled over to look at the clock on her nightstand. 2:27pm. For most people, still being in bed at two ‘o’ clock in the afternoon was a sign of a good night. But for Beverly, she was just trying to sleep off the remnants of working the midnight shift.

“This better be good,” she mumbled as she rolled out of bed and dragged herself to the door.

“What took you so long?” Sonja asked as she pushed her way through the crack in the door with bags in her hands.

“I was having the best sleep. That Tide with Downy April Fresh is the business!”

“You were still sleep?”

“I worked last night, remember?”

“Yeah, but I woulda figured you’d be up by now since you having a party tonight.”

“What party?” Beverly asked confused.

“Logan texted saying you were having a cookout.”

“When?”

“Like an hour ago.”

Beverly rolled her eyes and helped Sonja unpack the food and alcohol she brought for the cookout.

“Man, she lucky I don’t work tonight.”

“Yeah right. She always do this to you and you still haven’t said nothing to her about it.”

“Well, I will.” Beverly opened a beer and carried on, “It’s not that I care that she invites people I don’t know to my house. It’ll just be nice if she asks me first to make sure I’m not doing nothing, like sleeping.”

“That’s what you get for fucking her.”

Beverly took a swig of her beer and spit it out at Sonja.

“Aye!”

“That’s what you get,” Beverly replied. “I can’t believe you recorded us.”

“My bad, I was drunk. I just couldn’t believe ya’ll were actually getting it on.”

“I was drunk.”

“But you kept doing it.”

Beverly hunched her shoulders and replied, “She’s good.”

Sonja laughed then asked, “So, what are ya’ll? Friends with benefits, more than that?”

“FWB, nothing more.”

“You sure? Robyn said Logan had a close eye on you at that speed dating thing ya’ll went to.”

“Nah, that wasn’t nothing. We just kicking it.”

“Okay, cool.”

Beverly grabbed another beer and moved to the living room to straighten up.

“Yo, you better eat something before you make yourself sick,” Sonja suggested.

Beverly looked at the bottle, thought about it and nodded her head in agreement.

“I’m gonna get cleaned up. If someone gets here before I come out…”

“I got you.”

Sonja emptied the bags she brought in and put everything in it’s proper place. She ruffled through Beverly’s wood grained cabinets for shot glasses and paper plates and cups. The liquor was placed in two horizontal lines on the countertop near the sink. Sonja smiled at her handiwork.

“Bev!” Logan yelled as she stormed into the house.

Beverly strolled into the living room with a white tank top on, a towel wrapped around her waist and a wave cap on her head. “Man, gon’ somewhere.”

“What?”

“Just one time, one time, can you call me and ask if you can have a party at my place.”

Logan rolled her eyes, “It’s not like you work tonight.”

“That’s not the point! What if I had something to do tonight?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, something.”

Logan smacked her lips. “You would’ve told me if you did.”

“Next time though…”

Logan raised her hand as if she was in court, “Next time I promise to ask first.”

“So Logan, what’s the reason behind this occasion?” Sonja yelled from the kitchen.

“Like I need a reason to throw a party,” Logan laughed. “But actually, there is a reason for this one.” Beverly and Sonja waited as Logan paused to build the suspense. “I gotta promotion!”

“You lying!” Sonja said, excited for her.

“Nope. I asked them about it the other day and they said because I did so good with the speed dating event, they’ll give me a chance to prove myself!”

“Congratulations!” Sonja hugged her.

“Didn’t I tell you? All you had to do was show them you could do it,” Beverly said.

“You did! And I know the best way to thank you.”

Beverly glanced at Sonja and winked until she saw Logan handing them a stack of flyers each. “Here. Hand these out to help promote the Halloween party at the end of the month.”

“Seriously, Logan?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m trying to make a name for myself in this biz and I need ya’lls help to do it.”

All of a sudden, the kitchen door leading to the garage burst open.

“Damn, you come in here like you ducking the FBI,” Sonja said as Robyn entered the kitchen.

“Ya’ll will not believe what I just saw!” Robyn said nearly out of breath.

“What?”

“This man just reached his hand out the window and adjusted the antenna on his Kia Rio!”

“Ha ha!” Beverly laughed. “You think the signal improved?”

“Wait,” Sonja cut in. “How could he even reach his antenna to adjust it?”

“It’s a Kia Rio!” Beverly said. “How could he not?”

“That’s so wrong!” Sonja laughed.

“So what are we celebrating today, other than the fact that it’s Friday, of course,” Robyn asked.

“Logan gotta promotion with Jazzy Ladies Productions,” Sonja said.

“No shit! That’s awesome!”

Logan split the stack of flyers she handed to Beverly and Sonja and placed some in front of Robyn.

“Thanks, and I can use all the free labor I can get.”

“Fine by me. Most of my clients are fam anyway.”

“How is it that in this small ass town of Marian, you can find gay people who wanna buy houses?” Sonja asked.

“You wouldn’t believe how many gays and lesbians there are in Middle Georgia especially when the colleges are in session.”

“But ain’t no college student tryna buy a house,” Sonja said.

“No, but there are a number of people who know what the market is like right now and they know houses are dropping in value. They buy the house, fix it up if need be and rent it out to college students.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Logan replied.

“That’s a great idea. One client bought a two-story four-bedroom house with two full bathrooms for $105,000. He told me his monthly payments are $750 a month and he’s gonna rent the rooms at $350 a month.”

“$350?” Logan asked.

Robyn nodded. “Think about it. That’s like the four of us getting a house together. If you know who you’re living with, you got it made and this guy gets double for his mortgage every month.”

“Fuck living in a house together. We need to buy a house so we can make that kind of loot.”

“You’re not making any money if you split the profit four ways, Sonja.”

“You know what I mean, Logan.”

“And I don’t think Steph would go for the idea of Bev and Sonja living together anyway,” Robyn joked.

“She still mad about that?” Logan asked.

“What can I say,” Beverly smiled. “My style always keep others shook.”

Sonja started to respond to Beverly’s goofy comment but decided against it. “She was, Logan, but we talked and she’s better now. No thanks to Bev’s crazy roach text.”

“She sent that to you, too?” Robyn laughed as she recalled the message.

“I sent it to everyone. Knowledge is key,” Beverly said.

“I seriously think you’ve been spending too much time on your spaceship,” Robyn said.

Beverly pointed to the bottles of liquor on the countertop and asked, “Wanna join me?”

“Anyway,” Sonja cut in, “I’m gonna start spending more time with Steph to build the trust between us.”

“Don’t you already see her like everyday?”

“Logan’s right,” Beverly began. “Ya’ll are like Lego pieces. You can hook and unhook yourselves so it’ll be easier to keep up with each other.”

Sonja frowned as everyone laughed. “Whatever and what about you, Robyn? You heard from the Doublemint twins, yet?”

Before Robyn could answer, Joshua entered the kitchen from the garage door with more bags of food and bottles of liquor.

“Hey Josh,” Robyn started with a sly smile, “Kerri ask about me?”

“Damn! Nice to see you too.”

“Yeah, yeah. Did she ask about me?”

Joshua placed the bags and bottles on the counter next to the refrigerator and looked at Robyn. “I don’t talk to my subordinates about their personal lives.”

“Whatever,” Logan smacked her lips. “That’s why you invited her to your birthday party.”

“No. I did that because I knew her and her girl didn’t know a lot of people and I thought they might feel comfortable hanging with other lesbians. I didn’t know Robyn was gonna end up sucking face with them.”

“I didn’t know they were gonna be so good at it.” Robyn slapped high fives with Beverly, Logan and Sonja.

Joshua rolled his eyes and grabbed the bag of charcoal and lighter fluid from the grocery bag. He found the quick start lighter in the kitchen drawer and headed out back to the grill.

“What’s his problem?” Robyn asked no one in particular.

“I still think he wanted to be the cream in that Oreo cookie sandwich but you beat him to it,” Beverly said.

“Joshua always trying to hook up with a lesbian,” Sonja said. “You’d think he’d get the obvious hint that they don’t want him.”

“Yeah,” Robyn replied. “He better get with Mandi and call it a day.”

“Getting back to Josh’s party,” Logan began, “What was up with Dionne and Kim not showing up together?”

“Yo!” Sonja yelled. “I saw that and I was like what the fuck!”

“Did you see the way Kim was gritting on Alicia?” Logan asked.

“Like she was ready to go Hitchcock on her,” Beverly replied.

“I don’t remember none of that,” Robyn said.

“That’s because you were getting it on with the Doublemint twins!” Robyn stuck her tongue out at Sonja who returned the favor.

“Damn, I never pictured Dionne for the player type,” Beverly said. “I was hoping she and Kim would get married so Alicia and I could start our lives together.”

Sonja burst into laughter. “What are you talking about?”

“We could’ve had a double wedding or do you think that would’ve been too awkward?”

Logan walked over to the kitchen counter and opened the drawer. She pulled out a roll of masking tape and tore off a piece. “Stay still,” she said to Beverly as she tried to tape her mouth. “No more alcohol for you until it’s time to get on the spaceship.”

Sneak peek #4 of "Jazzy Ladies Productions"

REESEY PSI STEPH

It was the first day of class at Frye College and State University. Stephanie’s nine-thirty class went the whole hour and fifteen minutes but her eleven ‘o’clock class let out early. Reesey had the same professor for two of her classes. She got out of her morning class early so she expected to get out of her eleven ‘o’clock class early as well.

Stephanie sat outside the Humanities building on the black metal bench waiting for Reesey when her nose caught the smell of garlic and hamburgers floating across the campus. Her hunger deepened and she could resist the temptation no longer.

“I thought you were going to wait for me?” Reesey stood behind Stephanie who was seated in the cafeteria devouring a cheeseburger and garlic fries.

Stephanie offered her bowl of garlic fries as a peace offering. “Sorry, Reesey. I was hungry. I had to skip breakfast this morning ‘cause I was running late.”

“How you run late for a nine-thirty class?”

“I catch the city bus, remember? I have to be at the stop by eight-thirty so I can be on campus between nine and nine-fifteen.”

Reesey sat down next to Stephanie and helped herself to another fry. “You live right around the corner but it takes the bus forty minutes to get here?”

“All the stops it makes in between and no stop is empty. It’s like everybody’s gotta be to work or class at the same time and we all on the same bus.”

“You need a car.”

“I know.”

“Your Aunt not gonna let you use hers?”

Stephanie gave Reesey a ‘yeah right’ look after sipping her sweet tea. “She got a motorcycle and the truck but I’m taking the bus to class.” Stephanie imitated Dionne to Reesey, “Do you know how much my insurance will go up if I put you on it?”

“Insurance ain’t no joke though,” Reesey replied. “My mom tried to put me on hers but they wanted like an extra two hundred a month.”

“Damn, for real?”

“Um hmm. That’s why she was so glad when my scholarship paid for room and board. That was her reason for not putting me on it saying I don’t need a car if I’m living on campus.”

“Well, Auntie Dionne did say she was gonna talk to my mom about getting me a car.”

“You think your mom will let her?” Reesey asked.

“I don’t know. It depends on what type of mood she’s in.”

“Hey, maybe you should tell them you’ll help pay for it. Make them think you’re being responsible.”

Stephanie wiped the ketchup dripping down her mouth then asked, “How am I gonna help pay for it if I don’t have a job, Reesey?”

“Work study. I know the Wellness Center is looking for referees for intramural sports. Basketball will be starting soon. You can do that or I can talk with coach and see if we need help. Like half our staff is work study and all they do is make sure the equipment is in good condition and make sure the water bottles stay filled.”

“I don’t know about all that but I can definitely see myself officiating intramurals.”

“That’ll look good on resumes too. Extracurricular activities or something like that.”

Stephanie gave Reesey the rest of her fries since she was the one eating the majority of them anyway. “Come on. Let’s head over there now so I can get an application.”

“Oh, I almost forgot, you almost got me in trouble,” Reesey said as they headed to the Wellness Center.

“How?”

“I forgot to put my phone on vibrate in class and when you called, it started playing Lil’ Wayne’s Lollipop.”

What did your professor say?”

Reesey looked at her and smiled, “Girl, he used the song to teach the lesson in class!”

“Now that’s an instructor I need to get.”

“Ooo, and that’s a man I need to get,” Reesey gawked at one of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity men stepping outside the Wellness Center.

“Un uh,” Stephanie frowned. “His muscles too big. I bet he can’t even hug himself.”

“Long as he can wrap his arms around me, that’s all that matters.”

They moved forward to get a closer look when Stephanie heard the shouts of female voices not too far away. She turned and saw a sea of red and black overshadowing a pond of pink and green.

Stephanie grabbed Reesey by the arm and led her toward the multi-colored group.

“Where are we…aw, come on Steph. I wanna see the guys.”

“And you know I wanna be a Delta…”

“Delta smelta. Let’s make our own sorority. We can call it Reesey Psi Steph.”

“Why your name gotta come first?”

“’Cause I made it up.”

“Whatever, I still wanna be a Delta.”

“Fine but just know you probably just made me miss out on meeting my future husband.”

Stephanie laughed. “You mean saved you from your future ex-husband.”

Both girls smiled as they found a seam through the crowd and made their way close to the front.

Stephanie smiled when she saw they had arrived just in time to see Delta Sigma Theta’s retort on Alpha Kappa Alpha cadence.

“Ooo!” A light-skinned girl with dreadlocks shouted.

Standing beside her was a tall, dark-skinned girl with flawless baby doll skin also laughing at the Delta’s witty comeback.

“Bae, them AKA’s ain’t got nothing to say to that skeet line!”

“I know right! That was off the chain!”

“Wannabes,” Reesey coughed under her breath.

Both girls turned and rolled their eyes in unison as soon as they saw Reesey.

“You mean ‘will be’s’ Reese’s Pieces.”

“Not in front of Chelle, Gabby,” Reesey teased Gabby. “I thought we said we wasn’t gonna use our pet names outside the bedroom.”

Gabby put her forefinger in her mouth, insinuating the comment made her want to vomit.

“Don’t act like you don’t like it,” Reesey wrapped her arms around Gabby’s neck and pretended to kiss her.

“Eww, your breath smell like garlic!”

“That’ll be garlic fries to you darling.”

“Chelley, help me!”

Reesey stopped and smiled at Michelle. “Chelley?”

“Don’t you start, Reesey.”

Reesey walked over and grabbed two of Michelle’s dreadlocks, one on each side of her head. She held them out like ponytails and danced them side to side. “Of course not…Chelley.”

Reesey interlocked her arms with Stephanie and skipped away before Michelle could respond.

“You know them?” Stephanie asked Reesey when they were safely away. Reesey was an athlete and lived on campus so she knew more about the fellow students than Stephanie did.

Reesey glanced back and answered, “Yeah, they freshman like us but Gabby, the tall, dark-skinned one, has a sister who’s a senior with the Deltas and the light-skinned one with dreads is Michelle, now known as Chelley. She plays ball on the team with me.”

“They from here?”

“Yep, and they together.”

Stephanie stopped in her tracks. “Together like a couple?”

“You got it.”

“Damn, I could see it with Michelle…”

“No, Chelley,” Reesey corrected.

“I’m not calling that girl Chelley.”

“Well, you know I am and I’m gonna make sure the whole basketball team calls her Chelley, too.”

“You need help.”

“And you need to get to know the people ‘round here. How you gonna be voted the most sociable person in high school but not know nobody? Better yet, how you gonna be my best friend and not know nobody?”

“I’m trying but my Auntie’s had a bug up her ass lately. I did convince her to let me hang out more and if it’s a school night, to let me just crash with you.”

“Now that’s what I’m talking ‘bout,” Reesey nodded in approval.

“But I can’t take advantage of it. Knowing her, she’ll be counting how many times I don’t stay home and then she’ll try to give me a curfew again.”

“You gotta curfew?” Reesey laughed.

“I said she tried,” Stephanie corrected. “And here I thought going to college would free me from my mother’s wrath.”

“I thought you said your Aunt wasn’t as strict as your moms?”

She’s not but her and my mom ain’t the best of friends.”

“They’re sisters. They ain’t supposed to be.”

“Yeah, well, I think Auntie Dionne wants to cl-clank me down just to get on my mom’s good side or to not piss her off more than she has already.”

“Why they so distant anyway?” Reesey asked.

“Something about Auntie Dionne being a lesbian and breaking the heart of one of my mom’s college friends way back when.”

Reesey laughed. “Are you serious?”

“Serious as a heart attack…”

“And a heart attack can kill you,” Reesey finished.

“My mom hates the fact that she’s a lesbian but Auntie Dionne dogging her friend out really put her over the edge.”

“Whoa! I can’t see your Aunt as the playa playa type.”

“I know. She got that whole ‘I don’t do nothing but stay in the house and walk my dog’ thing about her but I know she be doing her poetry thing and I think that’s where she be wooing all the ladies. I hear her in the room practicing, trying to memorize her poems, saying them all sexy and shit.”

“Say it like she be saying it,” Reesey baited her.

Stephanie cupped her lips and cooed, “I’m drowning in a sea of your sexiness as your body cries out to me from the bottomless pit of the ocean.”

Reesey laughed aloud. “I can see her saying that too!”

“That’s probably why my mom didn’t want me coming to Frye in the first place. She probably thought I’d pick up some bad habits from Auntie.”

“So what? Your mom thinks your Aunt’s gonna corrupt you or something?”

Stephanie batted her eyes like a little princess. “Who me?”

“If they only knew,” Reesey smiled.

Sneak peek #3 of "Jazzy Ladies Productions"

I THINK I’VE SPOTTED SOME POTENTIAL

“Bunnie, this is the last one of the night, alright?” Karen said as she turned the car off.

Jazmyne and Karen had visited every strip bar from Forsyth to Perry in search of girls to dance at their upcoming Red and Black event. So far, they were having no luck.

“Fine but if this place doesn’t have any woman halfway decent, we’re going to Atlanta this weekend.”

It was military appreciation night at the Sneak ‘a’ Peek Strip Club. Both women hoped that the overflowing parking lot was due to promising women they could solicit to work for them.

The strong odor of cigarette and Black and Mild smoke clouded the air as they entered. The bouncer inside the door frisked Karen twice but only checked Jazmyne’s purse.

“Who says it doesn’t pay to show a little cleavage now and then,” Jazmyne smiled as she shimmied in her mustard colored tunic top with sequined beads. 

Karen frowned, tucked her navy blue shirt back in her black jeans and buttoned up her black vest. She quickly scanned the club and said, “I’ll work this side and you work that side.”

“Meet you back at the bar after my rounds,” Jazmyne blew Karen a kiss before walking off.

Karen barely finished her sentence before being rejected by the first three women she approached.

“Excuse me,” Karen said to another woman dressed in a string bikini. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sorry honey, I’m working.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

The stripper eyed Karen from head to toe then replied, “Tempting but I got a girlfriend and she doesn’t like me doing other women.”

“I wasn’t going to suggest that.”

“She doesn’t like it when I let other women do me either.”

Frustration had set in so Karen went to the bar for a drink.

“This is just sad,” Jazmyne pouted as she joined Karen a few minutes later. “Either they aren’t cute, stuck up or want too much money.”

“At least you got that far in the conversation,” Karen said. “They see me coming and only think I want a show. I couldn’t even get my sales pitch out before getting shot down.”

“Like I said, stuck up.”

“Doesn’t make me a bit of difference. Saves me the trouble of having to fire their amateurish asses later on down the road,” Karen said as she sipped on her drink.

“I just don’t get how they can be so sure of themselves with no skills whatsoever.” Jazmyne pointed to the strippers on stage. “I could get up there and blow them all away. Walk out of here with their rent money, light bill money, gas money, all of it and I haven’t danced in years.”

After giving the strippers on stage a few more glances, Karen shook her head. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Jazmyne followed Karen to the door when something caught her attention out the corner of her eye. She looked back and saw a young mixed woman giving an older man a lap dance.

Jazmyne gently grabbed Karen by the arm and pulled her near. “I think I’ve spotted some potential.”

Karen looked in the direction Jazmyne motioned. They both watched as the woman winded up and dropped her bottom to the floor.

“Not bad,” Karen said as she positioned herself closer to the bar to see more of the show.

“Come here real quick.” Jazmyne pulled Karen to her and wrapped her arms around Karen’s neck, her purse still in her hands. “Pretend you’re dancing so I can get a picture of her.”

“Why don’t we just go over there, Jaz?”

“Because I just saw one of the girls I talked to talking with the guy in the corner of the bar behind me. He’s had his eyes on us ever since and I don’t think it’s because he wants to play Three’s Company.”

Karen peeked over Jazmyne’s shoulder and spotted a white man with short dark hair nursing a drink. He locked eyes with her for a quick moment before moving his eyes toward the stage.

“Yep, I think they’re on to us,” Karen whispered in Jazmyne’s ear. “Take the picture so we can go.”

With her arms still wrapped around Karen’s neck, Jazmyne stuck her hand in her purse and pulled her cell phone halfway out, just enough for the lens of the camera to be visible. She snapped a couple of pictures from that angle then dropped her arms around Karen’s waist and snapped a few more. After a few zoom-in shots at both angles, Jazmyne led Karen to the restroom.

Jazmyne was barely through the door before she was flipping through the photos. When she got to the zoom-in shots, her mouth dropped wide open. “Oh shit!”

“What?”

Jazmyne showed Karen the picture.

“Wait a minute. Isn’t that…”

“Yep.”

Karen had a sly smile on her face. “You know, she’s not that bad.” Jazmyne playfully punched Karen on the arm. “I’m only saying,” Karen continued, “we need dancers and Santé can move.”

“I’m sure Taneka would appreciate you complementing her girlfriend in that manner.”

Karen had planned to leave but she knew Jazmyne wanted to stay and spy on Santé a little longer. They went back to the bar, took a seat and ordered another drink to share. They watched Santé as she continued to wind and grind on a paying customer. Jazmyne gave Santé’s moves a few approving head nods but knew they couldn’t ask her to dance at their event. Even though they didn’t know Santé all that well, Taneka was like family and Jazmyne didn’t want to cause unnecessary friction between the two.

Jazmyne quickly shook the idea out of her head and sent the picture of Santé to Dionne through MMS text.

“What are you doing, Bunnie?” Karen asked.

“I’m texting Dionne.”

“Let’s just stay out of it, alright. It’s none of our business.”

“So you’re saying we’re not to get involved when we see one of our friends’ girlfriend cheating on them?”

“She’s just giving the guy a lap dance.”

Jazmyne’s phone vibrated and she read the incoming message from Dionne.

Taneka already knows her girl’s a stripper. That’s how they met.

“See,” Karen said reading over Jazmyne’s shoulder. “Look at you, always meddling.”

Jazmyne watched as Santé leaned in and whispered something in the guy’s ear. He pulled out his wallet and placed a credit card in the bartender’s hand. After it was returned, he signed the receipt and Santé led him through a curtained hallway.

“Do Taneka know her girlfriend’s a ho, too,” Jazmyne asked sarcastically.

“You don’t know what goes on back there.”

Jazmyne looked at Karen with devilish smile. “I know you don’t think I was always such a good girl. I used to be a wild one.”

“Naw, really? I couldn’t imagine,” Karen said sarcastically.

“Make jokes all you want but I was a whole different person before I met you.”

“So what made you change?”

Jazmyne rested her arms on Karen’s shoulders and said, “Let’s just say the right woman coming along at the right time opened my eyes to a whole new world.”

Karen smiled, kissed Jazmyne on the cheek and swiped her cell phone from her hands.

“Wait, that could be the evidence Taneka needs to finally break up with her.”

“Do you really think she would?”

“Well, if she doesn’t, I don’t want to hear her complaining about her anymore. You can’t have me out using my superspy skills for nothing.”