The Baby They Bonded Over

The sound of Nadia’s doorbell ringing got her away from the mirror, into her stilettos, and down the stairs to answer the door. Jeremy stood there in a black and gray button up shirt, some well fitted slim dark denim jeans, and a pair of shoes she was sure cost more than her entire ensemble. He looked good and he smelled even better.

“You look beautiful this evening,” Jeremy smiled. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes, I am,” Nadia returned his smile. He took her hand into his and led her to the car waiting at the curb. The driver got out to open their door for them. Nadia sat inside and Jeremy followed after her. The partition was up to keep their conversation private.

“Are you ready for this?” Nadia asked making sure Jeremy was still on board.

“I’m always ready,” Jeremy grinned.

“Good. Paul said he’s bringing his new girlfriend with him so this should be quite the event,” Nadia revealed.

Jeremy sighed as he stared out of the window. Nadia looked good and Sylvia was his best friend, but he was starting to think this was going to be more trouble than it was worth. The only reason he agreed is because he hated Paul and cared about Nadia. Sylvia always trusted him to look after her when she couldn’t and it’d been that way since they were kids.

He peered over to Nadia who was tapping her nails on her handbag. She was nervous and he could tell. He reached over to touch the top of her hand calming her nerves a bit. She smiled at him warmly and somehow, in that moment, he knew that whatever happened after this night; it was going to be alright.

They arrived at the restaurant and there was a line of people waiting to be seated. Nadia saw Paul standing near the door with a white woman on his arm. She felt like she knew the woman but couldn’t place her face. Jeremy placed her arm in his drawing her attention to him instead of Paul. They walked up to Paul and his waiting beauty.

“They say the wait is gonna be about forty five minutes,” Paul told them as they approached.

“Don’t worry brother,” Jeremy patted Paul on the shoulder. “I’ll take care of this.”

Paul, his date Madilyn, and Nadia stood by the hostess booth in front of the long line of people and watched Jeremy work his magic. Paul introduced Madilyn to Nadia and the women were cordial. Jeremy spoke to the manager and soon they were waved in to a nice booth by the window. There were a few shouts and upset people who saw they cut the line, but they didn’t realize Jeremy was in the building.

Paul gave Jeremy an unimpressed glare as they were escorted to the table. Jeremy stood at the table until both women were seated while Paul slid in next to the window, making sure to get the seat he wanted. His manners were deplorable. Nadia never noticed it until Jeremy showed her how a true gentleman was to behave.

Paul sucked his teeth while he looked over the menu. The waitress came over and Jeremy gave her both his and Nadia’s drink choices along with their meals. Madilyn’s eyes could have seared a hole into Paul’s head as he ordered for himself and himself alone.

“Well what you staring at me for? Tell the lady what you want,” Paul hissed to Madilyn. She rolled her eyes and with an apologetic gaze, she gave the waitress her order.

“That’s a wonderful dress, Nadia,” Madilyn complimented.

Nadia returned her compliment with one of her own, “Thank you and those are wonderful shoes, Madilyn.”

The women began to talk about clothes and other things which drove Paul absolutely insane. “What the fu*k do you think you’re doing?”

“Excuse me?” Madilyn looked at him like he was crazy.

“You heard me! What do you think you’re doing? You’re not supposed to be friendly with this hoe.”

“Whoa!” Jeremy interrupted. “Don’t disrespect these women here. I’ve heard enough and you’re not going to talk to them like this, while I’m here.”

“Oh yeah?” Paul stood up and leaned over to get in Jeremy’s face. “What you gonna do about it chump?”

Jeremy stood up and backed Paul up a little bit, but not enough to make him sit back down. “You ain’t gonna chump me in here. I can tell you that much right now. Don’t make a scene. We can take this discussion outside brother!”

“Oh you don’t want that brother,” Paul countered.

“Both of you need to sit down! People are looking at us!” Nadia whispered aggressively to the two men. Jeremy scanned the room to see people staring at them; making their judgments so he straightened his shirt and took his seat.

“Yeah I thought so,” Paul flinched at Jeremy. “You lucky Dia got me, or I would’ve turned this joint out!”

“I told you not to call me that and I’m not worried about you. Jeremy’s got an image to protect and I’m going to make sure you don’t do anything to ruin it.”

“Why couldn’t you support me like that when we were together? You done got me switching teams and sh*t,” Paul pulled Madilyn’s cheek and gave her a quick kiss. She was embarrassed and irritated that she agreed to go out with him. She wished she would have known he was going to behave like this; she would have stayed home.

“Now wait a minute,” Jeremy started. “I already told you about how you speak to and in front of these women. Just because I sat down doesn’t mean I won’t get out of character. You need to be thanking me anyway. As many times as my lawyers helped you out and paying for this dinner? You got sh*t real twisted my man. You messed up a good thing with this woman right here, so don’t be mad that she finally got with somebody who knows how to treat her.”