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.”