Page 22 of Queen of the Pole

I sat my ass there for two fuckin hours, only for them to tell me that they didn’t think they would get it fixed today, and I had to come back tomorrow. You know I was annoyed for real because I left that loaner right there, so that I could call up an Uber to take me home. With the fucked up mood I was in, I had to text Blue and let him know that I wasn’t going to come in to dance tonight. He was cool about it, but he told me to make sure I had my ass there tomorrow, and I assured him that I would be there.

Now, here I was, sitting in the passenger seat of Wolf’s car, and I couldn’t believe this shit. I didn’t move like this. I was breaking one of my own rules this evening. You gotta understand that I had the kind of job where men lusted over me. These men would probably give up their own souls just to get me outside of that club with them. Away from the security, bouncers, the cameras, and all the other club goers. In the five years that I’ve been dancing, I’ve never left the club with a man that I’ve danced for. My auntie taught me that game my first year of dancing. Told some horror stories to me about women she personally knew that’s gotten in the car with one of their customers and were killed.

Knowing what I knew and knowing that there were so many niggas out here that were grimy, it made me question why I decided to get in the car with Wolf. He went so hard for me to cancel my Uber. He kept saying how he didn’t trust the driver, and that he looked at me like a predator. I could have looked at that as him just being a creep, trying to get me alone with him, but that’s not the vibes I was getting. My decision to get in the car with him was solely because I’ve always heard good things about him. His face wasn’t attached to no bullshit, and that’s why I was sitting here.

We continued to drive, and my phone began to buzz in my lap. It was my best friend, Dream calling me. She was out of the country right now in Jamacia. She’s been dating this new guy for a few months now. They went to Jamaica for his birthday. She’s been gone for about three days now and won’t be back until the end of the week. She was facetiming me. I thought about declining her call because I was still in an aggravated state, but I didn’t. Knowing that she was out of the country with a man, and might have been calling me for something serious, I went ahead and answered the call. Her beautiful face appeared on the screen, and she looked annoyed.

“Deja, what the fuck! Where are you? I see you canceled the Uber. I got the alert that you canceled. I texted you when I got the notification on who your driver was, telling you to cancel the shit because I didn’t like the way he looked. Where are you, and who’s driving you?” she shot off question after question.

I shared my location with all the women in my life, except for my mom. All my friends had access to seeing my Uber pickups and drop offs too.

“I’m on the way home now,” was all I said to her.

I guess I was in such an eager mood to get home that I didn’t see the crazed look about the Uber driver that Wolf, and my best friend had obviously saw. All I was paying attention to was his license plate number. I was trying to make sure that the license plate matched what was on the app, and it did.

“I see that, but who’s driving you?” her voice rose a little bit, causing me to turn her down some. The radio wasn’t turned up too loud in the car, so I knew that Wolf heard her.

I looked back at Dream, giving her a look with my eyes that only she could understand. The bitch knew how to take a hint because she nodded her head and stopped with all the loud ass questions that she was asking me.

In just a second, I was no longer able to see her face anymore on the facetime call. The screen paused. I knew her well enough to know that she was texting me. Sure enough, my phone buzzed, and it was her.

Dream

Who the fuck are you in the car with?

Girl. Wolf!

Dream

What the fuck! Deja, how? How did that happen?

I’ll call you when I get home. I’m like ten minutes away.

Dream

Okay.

“Where are you getting ready to go? Your makeup is tea,” I said, playing it off, so I didn’t look like we were sitting here talking about him.

Wolf really didn’t give me vibes that he was paying attention to anything that I had going on though. He looked to be focused on the road, and in his own little world. Since we’ve been in this car, I’ve only glanced over at him like two times. I couldn’t keep looking at him. The nigga was too fine. I’ve seen so many handsome men in my lifetime, but I swear that there wasn’t another man that could hold a candle to Wolf. He was in a league of his own.

“We have a driver tonight. We’re going to go to dinner, and the club. I don’t know, Deja. I think I like this nigga,” she looked around after she said it. She even whispered what she said to me, so that he didn’t hear her.

Her revelation made me laugh. It was surprising too. I loved my friends, God knows I did, but all of them were young hoes. Granted, I was young too, some would even label me a hoe because of the profession that I worked in, but Poison was literally just a character that I played. I was Deja in real life, and Deja was such a lover girl. I liked the idea of only being tied to one nigga. The only nigga that I’m fuckin is Hitta. My girls on the other hand, they kept them a nigga in rotation. Eden used to be the same way. My godsister was wild just like Dream, and Lyric, but she got with an NFL player, and he slowed her ass down. I felt like that nigga purposely got Eden pregnant, so that she could sit the fuck down.

Dream liked to go after the nigga with the coin, just like most Miami women, but Dream had her own business. She made her own coin, but like so many of us, she liked to tuck hers away and spend the niggas money.

Dream was an esthetician. No shade, but I’m not talking about one of those small-time waxers that didn’t go through the basic training, and licensing to get to where she was. My baby was big time. She’s made a name for herself in Miami with her business. Brazilians were her specialty, but she offered all kind of services like facials, vajacials, and she catered to women who needed ingrown- hair treatments. You couldn’t just wake up today and try to book a service with her for tomorrow. My girl was always booked. Even though she was my best friend, I never looked at her for any special kind of treatment. I booked my appointments in advance with her just like the next person, and whatever her fees were, I paid it, plus tipped her big.

“Oh bitch, I’ll be calling you back when I get home. Well, you might be out, so just call me whenever you get home. Take pictures and send them to me. I want to see what you’re wearing tonight,” I voiced.

I was so obsessed with all my friends. The heart that I had, I know for a fact that it came from my auntie. I loved to love on people, pour into them, and boost their egos. I was glad that that was the kind of spirit that I had. Truly thankful that God didn’t give me the same ugly soul that my mama had.

“I got you. Text me when you get home. I love you,” she announced.

“I love you more,” and after that, I hung up.

Now that I wasn’t on the phone anymore, the car was quiet. Just the music that was playing softly. We were sitting at a red light, and I found myself fiddling with my fingers because it was one of those awkward silences that was going on. I was getting ready to unlock my phone, so that I could just tend to that, but he eventually cleared his throat, gearing up to say something to me.