Rel made several other attempts to holla at females in the club, but they were all failed ones. He reeked of liquor and couldn’t walk without stumbling. The heat trapped within the club only added to his inebriation. A face loomed in the crowd that snapped Rel partially back to sobriety. His eyes zeroed in on the girl with the long black hair and his face glazed over in anger. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Rel bumped his way through the crowd to settle an old score.

Yoshi bumped her way through the crowd, side-stepping dancing couples and swatting away curious hands. She tried to spot Billy, but there were so many people in the spot that she had a hard time of it. She spied Rhonda off in the cut and thought about asking her if she had seen Billy. From the looks of it, the girl was exchanging words with True and some girl, so she left it alone. She could only imagine what kind of bullshit Rhonda was over there starting, but she wanted no parts of it.

Moving farther within the crowd, Yoshi spotted two of the regulars who came to the club to see her. They tried to get her to stop and have a drink, but she declined, explaining that she was looking for someone and promising to be right back. Yoshi moved from the center of the club to the bar and was about to make her way toward the bathroom when a voice stopped her.

“‘Sup, Yoshi.”

As soon as she heard the voice, her skin began to crawl. Conducting most of her business in the dark had taught Yoshi to identify people more by their voices rather than their faces. Rarely did you get a good look at the face of a trick, dancing in the dimly lit VIP sections or turning tricks in a dark motel room. Already knowing who she would see, Yoshi turned around to face Rel.

“Small world,” he said, teetering on drunk legs.

“What up, yo. I gotta make moves,” Yoshi said, turning to move away from Rel.

“Hold on,” he said, grabbing her arm, “you acting like you ain’t got time for a nigga?”

“Rel, I was looking for someone.” She tried to pull away, but his drunken grip held.

“Fuck all that dumb shit, ma.” He fished around in his pocket and pulled out some bills. “I got a buck for you, let’s get up outta here and do something.”

Yoshi looked at the crumpled bills as if Rel were holding a fist full of shit. “Yo, I ain’t got time for this right now, Rel,” she said and jerked free, “I told you I’m looking for somebody!”

Rel suddenly became very angry. “You little freak-ass bitch, I know you ain’t in here trying to stunt, like you don’t know what it is!”