Azmir
I just left a lucrative signing at the Sunset Marquis with Richard. Now, I’m headed into a much different meeting, one with law enforcement. I walk into a low-key bar that’s on a lower level from the outside, so when I enter, I skip down several steps. The place is half-full with patrons at the bar and those at tables. Televisions dispersed in the front area, near the bar plays various channels.
The bartender nods my welcome, to which I reciprocate. Towards the rear there’s more of a restaurant feel than the front. The place has dim lighting and I can smell the aged carpet beneath me. I presume the place has been in establishment for decades, and the stale aroma corroborates that theory. I’ve been here before, creeping with a local assembly woman with a propensity for fucking for donations to her cause, so the layout isn’t new to me.
The place is so small, yet still I have to scan the room in search of my party. I see David, waving with sheer enthusiasm. I make my way to the back of the room where I see the men are finishing up on their meal.
“D, man!” David rises to draw me into a sincere embrace after giving me some dap. “I’m glad you could make it. I know how busy you get, bro.”
“Never too busy to break bread with my peeps,” I greet with genuineness in return before turning to David’s guest.
He also rises from his seat, eager to make my acquaintance. “Divine, a pleasure,” the older man murmurs before we shake hands.
“The pleasure is all mine, David,” I return.
“Dave, please,” he insists. “Join us,” the senior David gestures to the available seat.
This is only my second time seeing him face-to-face. The senior David has given his son several of his distinctive facial features. And I wonder with age, would he inherit his father’s pot belly and salt and pepper hair. It’s kind of odd to experience his aura. As humble as he’s coming across, nothing can hide the authoritative air that he exudes. I’m not too fervent about this meeting, but he was insistent.
I take a seat and ask, “How was the food?”
“Oh, delicious, man! Wanna order something? It’s all on me, D,” the younger David offers in earnest.
“Nah, man. I’ll just have a drink, if you don’t mind. The lady will kill me if I come home fed,” I say in jest, though it’s partially true.
Rayna should be finishing up in dance class and we’ve agreed to meet home for a late dinner.
The waiter appears and takes my order.
“Well, I appreciate you coming to meet my old man,” David glances over at the elder with gleam in his eyes. I know the look. After being in leadership for so long, I know when subordinates need and thrive off approval. David needs that and in my opinion is due it. “I gotta shift I gotta start in like thirty minutes, so I’m glad you stopped by, even for a few minutes.
“It’s no problem at all. If you’re free next Thursday night, the Black Eyed Peas are trying out a few cuts they’re working on at Cobalt. It’s a private party, but I’d like for you to stop by and meet my lady.”
David’s cup stops short of his mouth, midair. “Sure, man! That’ll be great, bro.” He can’t fa?ade his excitement.
It’s weird with him. I’ve never been in the practice of exposing Rayna to much of my world, particularly anything that relates to my dark world. However, David resembles a part of me that’s relative to Rayna. His turnaround from a formal morbid life into a promising horizon, encouraged my plan to give the drug grind up. If David could reform, so could I. Rayna may never know what significance David plays in my life, but I’d like to share his eager energy with her.
“You think I could bring Sabrina?” David asks, throwing me.
With narrow eyebrows, I ask, “Who’s Sabrina?”
David’s cheeks go from pale to pink in two seconds. “My girl, man,” he offers bashfully.
“Oh, shit. That’s what’s up, D,” I respond in earnest. “This is news, man!”
Sheepishly, David smiles as he throws a cursory glance to his father. Whoever the chick is, she got my dude blushing. But that’s David. Since his sobriety, everything is a new and unadulterated venture. You couldn’t be anything but happy for him. The waiter returns with my brandy.
“I know. I was just telling my old man and couldn’t wait for you to get here to tell you, too,” Almost instantly, David’s crestfallen smile catches my attention. “Don’t worry. Dr. Halsom has agreed with certain “provisions”,” he uses air quotations. “Whatever the hell that means.”
I’m sure it means that David shouldn’t, at this stage in his recovery, involve himself in a relationship that could distract him on his journey; something I agree with wholeheartedly. I won’t crush his spirit though. He’s had enough of that.
“You’ll do what’s right,” I nod.