His Games, Her Rules

“Robbie? We’re waiting for deets.” Monique says, snapping her fingers in my face. I slap her fingers away, playfully glaring at her.

“There are no fun deets. Nothing happened, really. I just had dinner with Richard.”

“Richard? Who is Richard?” Tiwa asks, with Monique staring at me with a small smirk playing on her lips.

“Doctor Sanders.”

“Ooh.” They both say together, both girls wiggling their eyebrows and Monique going as far as biting her bottom lip.

“Y’all are pervs.”

“Oh, come on. He’s hot.” Tiwa points put.

“Especially with that accent,” Monique says, air-quoting the word accent.

I roll my eyes. “It was a friendly dinner. We talked mostly about work. Then Dominique Gray showed up and fucked shit up with his masculinity and dominance. Fucking asshole.” I mumble the last part.

“Dominique showed up?” Tiwa asks.

“Fucked shit up, how?” Monique asks.

“You know? Inquiring if we were dating and then it felt like he was threatening me that he would report us if we were actually dating.”

“No, he didn’t,” Tiwa says with wide eyes and a grin.

“Well, he didn’t use that exact word. I mean when I told him Doctor Sanders and I aren’t dating, he was like, and I quote, ‘Of course that would mean breaking a lot of ethical rules.’ What does that mean anyway?”

“That he’s jealous?” Monique shrugs her shoulders.

“Wait up. How did you two get to know each other anyway? You and Dominique.”

I sigh, grabbing my bottle of water as I lean back in my seat. “It’s a long story.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll shorten it for you,” Monique says to Tiwa. “She hit his car twice and ran away a few weeks ago. Then they met again at this party that I invited Robyn and they had a little confrontation and then they met at St. Jose. Just like that.”

“Damn. I sense chemistry.” Tiwa teases, grinning.

“Yeah? What about biology? Don’t you sense that too?” I say to Tiwa, playfully glaring at her. She chuckles.

The familiar sound of my ringtone put a pause to our conversation as I reached for it from inside my jacket pocket. I stare at the unknown number displayed on my screen and send the call straight to voicemail.

“Katy Perry Roar? And I thought you’d change your ringtone.” Tiwa says.

“What?” I ask, feigning innocence.

“That’s her theme song. It means a lot to Robyn.” Monique adds.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“Yeah, well, it’s old. Look for a new theme song. Or maybe get an iPhone so you don’t have to use the songs from your playlist.” Tiwa says.

“Isn’t that why Apple is losing a lot of its customers? Because they aren’t allowed to choose a ringtone from their stash of never-ending favorite jams?” I point out, giving a defeated Tiwa a triumphant smile. “Samsung to the world.”

“You and I know Apple isn’t losing any of its customers.” Monique smiles at me.

Yeah, I know that. I just don’t give a shit.

Monique is also an Apple user. She literally gets a new iPhone every year. The minute Apple releases a new smartphone, Monique is the first to pre-order. It’s exhausting watching her spend a lot of money on technology such as phones.

My phone rings again, blasting Katy Perry Roar so loudly as I pull it out of my jacket. Same number.

“You should probably get that. Whoever they are, they are not planning on stopping.” Monique says, a familiar glint in her eyes that I can’t quite put my fingers on.

I groan and stand up. “Be right back,” I say to the girls and walk to a corner to answer the phone.

“Hello.”

“Robyn?” A voice says on the other end. It’s a man and he sounds really familiar.

“Damien?” I say to the other person on the phone. It’s him. It gotta be him. There haven’t been a lot of men in my life since we parted ways so I’m pretty familiar with voices as with faces.

“Hello, Robyn.” I can hear the smile in his voice. “You do remember my voice.”

I exhale. Oh, I’m gonna kill you, Monique. She probably knew it was him calling that was why she insisted I pick up.

“Hello, Damien. Yeah, I remember.”

“I don’t know if it was out of line, but I sort of bumped into Monique and I begged her to give me your number. I’m sorry, I just wanted to hear your voice again.”

“That’s okay. How have you been? How are you doing?”

“Good. New York sort of feels a little strange since my return.”

“Your return?”

“Yeah. I moved out of New York straight to Maine about two and a half years ago. I got this work stuff. I came back like a month ago.”

“Wow. I didn’t know.”

“Yeah. Look, if you’re not too busy this weekend or anytime you’re free, could we grab a coffee and maybe talk about New York and…” he exhales on the other end. “You know, just talk?” Damien says and I laugh.

“Yeah, of course. I’m gonna have to check my calendar and get back to you.”

“Sure. That’s cool to me. I’ll be expecting a call from you.”

“No problem, Damien. Be careful, I’m gonna see you soon.”

“Can’t wait, Robyn.” There’s a click on the other end as Damien ends the call.

I sigh, staring at my lock screen as I head back to our table.

“Who was that?” Monique asks the minute I sit back down in my seat. Lola is back from her skating and she’s eating ice cream and pie. She’s sitting in between me and her mom with Monique on my left side.

“Oh, you know. Damien?” I stare at Monique as I answer her, my eyebrows raised. She smiles.

“Damien? The ex from three years ago?” Tiwa asks.

“The one and only,” I mumble.

“You two back together or what?” Tiwa asks.

“That’s not happening. And I haven’t heard from the guy since we parted ways until today.” I say. “Did you know he moved out of the state?” I ask Monique.

“For real?”

“Yeah. He wants to meet and talk over a few drinks. I told him I was gonna look through my calendar, see if there’s a free day.”

“I think you should see him. It’s just a friendly meet-up.” Monique says.

I expel a deep sigh. “Of course.”

“You know, I thought he was the one,” Tiwa says, handing her daughter napkins to wipe her mouth clean from the ice cream smear on her lips.

“Right?” Monique smiles triumphantly. “I thought that too, but little miss Denver over here was emotionally unavailable.”

“Whatever,” I mutter. “You know what I need right now? I just wanna hit a club tonight and get hammered and maybe get some.” I wink at my friends, grinning as I watch them smile brightly in return.

“You for real?” Monique asks.

“Yeah.”

“Mom, what does ‘getting some’ and ‘hammered’ mean?” Lola asks, turning to look at her mom with her big brown eyes.

Oh shit.

“Um…” Tiwa says, glaring at me from under her eyelashes and pleading for me to step in at the same time.

“It’s the adult way of saying I wanna shop for junk food.” I flash Lola a big smile. Monique smiles and rolls her eyes.

“I thought we weren’t allowed to eat junk food,” Lola says.

“Yeah. True. But sometimes you just need to make an exception even if it’s for a day. We call it cheat day.” I say.

Lola nods. “I guess that’s understandable.”

“Yeah, it is.” I wink at her. She giggles.

Tiwa gives me an appreciative smile.

“So… who’s getting hammered with me?”

“I definitely am in. I gotta let loose a little.” Monique says.

“You always let loose, darling.” I grin at Monique.

“Oh, go fu-” Monique spills out, stopping halfway as she glares at me and looks at Lola who’s staring back at her. Monique clears her throat. “Fudge you,” Monique says to me, discreetly giving me the finger.

I chuckle.

“What about you, Tiwa? I guess you’re not coming out tonight?”

“No.” She sighs, tilting her head toward her daughter.

We nod in understanding, not needing to pry for more information. As a nurse who works almost every day in a hospital as big as St. Jose, she barely spends time with her daughter. The few times she gets to leave work or a day off, she prefers to spend it with her daughter and I admire her for that.

“So, Club Rogue then?” I turn to Monique as I ask.

“Yup. But why Club Rogue?”

“They just refurbished and changed the place up. We should check it out. It was once the hottest club in the city to party. Still is.”

“True. It’s a place where bad boy billionaires and millionaires like to visit. You’re definitely gonna get some.” Monique winks at me.

Definitely.