She was answering all of my questions with clarity. Rachel wanted me and she didn’t care who knew about it.

She said, “So if you don’t mind me saying it, I want some unconditional, no-strings-attached sex.”

I grinned from ear to ear. “Okay.” What else could I tell her?

“Now, you’re not gonna disappear on me again, are you?”

She wanted my commitment to sex. Not that it had never happened to me before, but I don’t remember it being mapped out that obviously. I couldn’t stop from smiling. It was flattering to say the least. I even wondered if I should charge her a few hundred dollars for it. Wouldn’t that be something? But I wasn’t ready to turn into a gigolo. I still made a good living providing nothing but good face.

When I hung up with Rachel, I had a warm feeling about things. It was great to be that wanted. Then I thought about returning a call to TaShay. I hadn’t spoken to her since the party. Since I was two for two on positive phone calls, I figured I would go for three for three and keep it moving.

“Hello,” she answered on the first ring. When that happened it usually meant you were waiting for a call or already on a call.

“You’re on the phone already?” I asked her.

“Who is this?”

She sounded bothered like a lot of young women did when they have too much going on in their lives.

“Terrance.”

After hearing my name, she changed her tone. “Oh, hi. You finally called me back, huh?”

The question still stood. “Yeah, but are you on the other line? I can call back later,” I told her. I didn’t want to destroy the streak of my positive phone calls by being rushed.

She said, “Oh, no, wait a minute, let me clear that line.”

I guess that established me as a priority. TaShay clicked over to the other line for a few seconds and returned to me.

“So, where were you last night? I tried to call you,” she commented.

Since she was still under the drinking age, I had a total different approach for her.

Nonchalantly, I said, “I was off being a grown man somewhere.”

She stopped and said, “Oh, it must have been nice then.”

I immediately changed the subject back to her. “What were you doing?”

“Watching movies with my aunt. At first I was hanging out in the lobby,” she answered.

“Out in the lobby? What were you doing there?”

She giggled. “Hoping to see somebody.”

“What, Usher was in town and staying at the same hotel? What a coincidence.”

She laughed and said, “I hardly would have been waiting for Usher. I mean, I like his music and he’s cute and all that, but he’s still like a little boy to me.”

“He’s like five years older than you, at least. He’s not that young anymore. He’s old enough to drink at least.”

“Oh, you got jokes,” she commented. “Well, I can get drinks when I need to. But anyway, Usher’s still, you know, in that young crowd. He’s young. All that pop and crunk music stuff is young to me. I like real R&B and soul music.”