And My Heart Goes

"Proposals"

            Instead of being the three amigos that night, we were the four amigos because I invited Clyde to join us since I rarely spent time outside of the office with him. Bakari had us all picked up by a Lyft driver and we rode over to a somewhat upscale gay nightclub in West Hollywood. Zade had promised me that the place was perfect for the stunt we were all pulling off so that Chad could propose to Kendall. When we got there, the first thing I noticed was a large number of white gays present in the waiting line. I didn't want to make a big deal about it but I knew all too well how exclusive those kinds of clubs were.

            "There you guys are," Zade said after stepping out of the entrance door. "Come on in, I got y'all a good table with bottle service already."

            "Shit, let's go drink up some of these white folks' liquor," Bakari called out while flinging his braids off his shoulder.

            As we were entering the club, Zade grabbed my hand and looked at me with the cutest look on his face. We made it to our table and Zade made sure to sit beside me. I had many complaints about the club and the looks we were getting from a lot of the men there, but I kept my mouth shut because Zade had secured us a great table and some pretty damn good liquor. Bakari was the first one to reach for the liquor and I automatically knew something was wrong between him and Travis.

            "Dang, B," I said to him. "You just opened that bottle a minute ago and you're already on your second glass."

            "And?" he asked. "You know I don't turn down free hooch."

            "Hooch?" Clyde asked with a laugh. "Doesn't that mean cheap liquor?"

            "Boo-boo," Bakari snapped at him, "nobody invited you to spout lil' inconvenient knowledge. Zip your lips like you zip your pants."

            "Bakari, chill out," I said while looking at him. He rolled his eyes and went back to drinking. I moved closer to Zade and asked in a whisper, "Did you get everything set up?"

            "I sure did," he whispered back. "The lights are gonna dim and there will be a spotlight on the dance floor where Kendall and Chad will be."

            "Thank you so much for this."

            "Anything for my baby." He put his arm around me and started kissing on my neck, which tickled and caused me to laugh.

            "I have to go to the restroom," Kendall said while standing up. "Anybody else gotta go?"

            "I do," Clyde said before standing up from his seat. "I'll go with you."

            "The door for the restrooms is in that back corner," Zade told them as he pointed in the direction.

            "We'll be right back," Kendall told me before he and Clyde walked off.

            I turned my attention back to Bakari and asked, "Everything okay with you, B?"

            "I'm good," he said while looking at something on his phone.

            "Bakari, look at me."

            He looked up into my eyes and asked with an attitude, "What?"

            "There's obviously something wrong and you know you can talk to me about it."

            "Do I have to talk to you while your puppy is all up on you?"

            Zade smirked and asked, "Puppy?"

            "Baby, can you give us a second? I'm really sorry."