Page 42 of The Dating Prohibition
Lani shrugged. “No judgment here.”
The club was just starting to pop. People were on the dance floor. The girls had a curved booth facing the floor. On the otherside of the massive throng of people swaying to the beat was a long bar. Below the counter, neon lights shone, changing colorsrandomly.
“We seemed to have the attention of several,” Kendra observed, sipping on a dirty martini.
“Ooh, where?” Lani whispered.
“Okay, but you have to be sly about this. You can’t be obvious, okay?”
“Of course, I won’t be obvious,” Lani scoffed. “I know what I’m doing.”
Kendra and Shonda exchanged a knowing glance. Lani’s frenetic energy rarely allowed her to be covert in her observations orher actions.
“Yeah, okay.” Shonda laughed.
“I’m serious. I won’t be obvious,” Lana whined.
“Okay, so, there’s a guy with long curls that are tied into a man bun. He’s to the left of the DJ booth.” Lani’s head whippedaround so fast that she could have started her own breeze.
Shonda jabbed Lani with her elbow.
“Ow!” she exclaimed.
“Could you be more obvious? You almost broke your neck looking at that dude.” Shonda shook her head and pursed her lips. “Hedefinitely saw you.”
Kendra snorted, covering her mouth as she continued to laugh. “You really did look like you might have pulled something. Youdidn’t feel that? You might need a chiropractor tomorrow.”
“Shut up.” Lani’s cheeks boiled red.
“Okay, so where’s the other one?” Shonda nudged Kendra with her shoulder.
“Far end of the bar in the black leather jacket.” Shonda turned to look at Lani, catching glimpses of their admirer in herperiphery. “Oh, he is cute. Look at those curls...”
Lani’s eyes rolled around, searching for an explanation for Shonda’s inconspicuous admiration. “You never even looked in hisdirection. How do you do that?”
“It’s called being subtle,” Shonda teased.
“Yeah, buthow... how do I do that? I don’t... I don’t have that ability.” True to form, she turned her head in the direction of thebar and made direct eye contact with the man in the leather jacket. “Oh shit, now he’s coming over here,” she said, panicked.
“Probably because you just invited him over here,” Kendra muttered.
“Well, maybe it’s not that bad.” Lani ran her hand over her hair and pressed her lips together, redistributing her lipstick.
“No, it’s that bad,” Shonda whispered under her breath.
As the gentleman drew closer, they could see the glistening curls atop his head led to tapered sides. Instead of a smile,he almost grimaced, exposing a grill over his lower teeth.
Hmm... He was cuter from afar. And is he wearing a grill at his big age?
Shonda shielded her mouth with her hand, pretending to fix her lip gloss.
Kendra turned to look at her, practically whispering into her shoulder, “Is that why his curls are hydrated like that? It’slike he’s got a Jheri curl situation going on.”
“That man must bathe in activator,” Lani giggled.
“Ladies.” Their admirer addressed them, his arms held out wide. “Hello.”
Kendra glanced at him briefly before returning her attention to her cocktail.
