Bookstore & Chill

Zora's Night Out

         It was rare for me to have a girl's night out. Oh, but when I did, I had a great time. Kenzie and I were at our go-to spot for happy hour. She had to do a lot of convincing to get me out of my comfortable pajamas on a Friday night. She picked me up from home and didn't tell me where we were going until we got on the interstate. I knew immediately we were going into the city, Blakewood, the beautiful lamp posts that lined the interstate along with the trees and murals of brown faces always made me smile. I looked over at Kenzie who had this grin on her face. "What you got planned?" I asked while pulling down the sun visor to access the mirror. I grabbed my lip gloss and glided the brown tint across my lips. "A night of drunk laughter and free drinks from these young college niggas, let's make them spend their refund checks sis." She said excitedly. My laugh filled her car. "I'm down." I said, fixing my boobs so that they could sit up a little higher. She laughed as she turned up her radio and the flow of Meg Thee Stallion filled my ears. I wiggled my hips in my seat as Kenzie rapped along to the lyrics.

We did this every other weekend and every other weekend she had to convince me to get out of the house. She turned her music down after the third song, looked at me for a quick second before looking back at the road. "So, tell me about Derek." She grinned. "What about him?" I asked. "Like how is he?" She asked. "He's good." she groaned. "Bitch, you know what I mean." I laughed. "He's Just," I took a moment, choosing my words wisely. "He's really great, he's a very nice man, he's fine as hell, always smells good, hard worker, ambitious, did I say fine already?" She chuckled. "I went to high school with him but we never ran in the same circle, which is weird because Bradwood is small as fuck." She said confused. "I almost didn't recognize him when he came by the office that day." She confessed. Kenzie knew Bradwood, Blakewood, and every surrounding city and town like it was a part of her, well it basically was. I think that's why we clicked, she knew I was new here and she loved showing me around. "Does he have any friends in town that I can talk to during the holiday, I be cold at night sis." I chuckled. "I'll have to ask him, we haven't talked about our friends really," I confessed, maybe because we just focused on the details about ourselves. "Oh, so you don't talk about me, bet." I smiled. "You know I love you Kenzzzzzz." I dragged. She held back her smile as we took our exit to downtown Blakewood.

With Christmas rapidly approaching, string lights, garland, red and green ribbons lined the streets. It was really beautiful. She pulled into the parking lot of our favorite restaurant, Lola's Juke Joint. It was a wooden building with metal roofing sheets as the roof, adding an old school feel to it. You could hear the blues music spilling from the windows. "Maybe we can get some Suga daddies tonight." I grinned as we stepped out of the car. Kenzie laughed, hooking arms with me as we excitedly hurried inside. The live music filled my ears and made me spread a contagious smile across my face. The hostess immediately smiled and welcomed us. She grabbed two menus and led us to our favorite table near the stage. I looked around at the many different shades of brown faces who were enjoying the contagious ambiance of the place, that's why it's my favorite, it always made you go to a place that made you forget about your reality. Kenzie was already swaying her hips by the time we made it to the table, initiating the turning heads from the older men and definitely men our age.

We sat at the round table with a dimly lit tea candle in the middle of a red-stained candle holder, giving off this red glow on the table. The hostess gave us our tattered paper menus. I didn't even need to look at it but I did anyway just because. I scanned the menu as the music caused my head to bob. I loved this shit. The atmosphere, the music, the aesthetic of a juke joint in the south was everything I needed. I looked around as Kenzie yelled over the music, talking about the opportunities that surrounded us. Opportunities meaning Suga daddies. I grinned as I settled on my usual meal, bbq smoked pork chops with garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and Lola's famous fried in bacon fat cabbage. Nothing was healthy about it but fuck nutrition tonight. I looked at Kenzie as she finally scanned her menu. I looked around at the crowd, everyone was either dancing, eating, or drinking way too much. The drinks at the bar were potent and always cheap. My eyes landed on a familiar smile.