Nairobi Dreaming - Complete!

Chapter 4: Cracks

Back in my room I changed into my little black dress. I smoothed on some tinted moisturizer and combed my hair with the tiny and barely effective black travel brush I had brought along.

I felt simultaneously guilty and excited. Guilty, because I had failed Kay and excited because I hadn't spent time with two guys as attractive as Kwame and James in a long time.

When I got back to Kay's room James was busy filling four shot glasses with some brown liquor. Kay thrust a glass into my hand.

"What is this?"

"Just drink it," Kay commanded and I knocked it back. It went down like liquid paprika but I smiled through the burn.

"God damn," I said, slamming the glass down.

"Want another?" Kwame was already filling everyone's glasses again.

The second time it just felt warm and I could already feel my mind softening around the edges and my mood lightening.

"So how do you two know Nairobi so well?" I asked. "You seemed to know all the places. Have you been here a lot?"

James rolled his eyes, which were, I noticed, an unusual light green. "Too many times," He said, "Don't get me wrong. Great city if you're a city person. I don't happen to be."

"James and I met a few trips back," Kwame said, "I was here recruiting tech talent for my start up in Accra. And he was here being all White Man's Burden."

"I work for a foundation," James explained. "One that specializes in education."

"You mean you're the head of that foundation, don't be shy," Kwame said with a wink. "Gotta impress the ladies."

"Would you hate us if we told you we were here to volunteer?" Kay asked as she made big, babyish eyes at Kwame and blinked at him with an almost cartoonish level of seduction.

"Knaw, I figured," Kwame said. "That's what half of you are doing here. You two aren't exactly white, but close enough."

"I'm Chinese and she's Mexican," Kay said, "That's not white."

"Half Mexican," I corrected.

"What's the other half?" James asked. "If you don't mind me asking. You just have a look. Hard to place."

"Russian."

"Beautiful mix," Kwame said appreciatively. "But out here that's still pretty much white." He laughed. "I'm kidding. Kind of." He poured another round of shots. "A few for the road?"

By the time we got to the Uber I was already drunk. James sat up front next to the driver and Kay sat in the middle between Kwame and I, pressed so close to Kwame that I was left with plenty of room to stretch out. There was something embarrassing about watching her be like that but I couldn't figure out if I was just being prudish or if her lack of subtly with a new stranger lacked social consciousness.

Kay purred at Kwame like a cat who had just found the perfect lap to luxuriate on and grabbed his bicep through his shirt. "You're so ripped," She rasped. "I love a guy with muscles. Which is not how my ex was." She sighed, dramatically, "My ex who just broke up with me, actually."

"And what man in their right mind would break up with you?" Kwame asked.

"An asshole, that's who," Kay's voice started to rise and she started to use her hands more. Beneath the soft drunken blanket that had wrapped itself around my brain I tensed. I could tell she was about to go on a rant, the kind that would probably make it clear that she wasn't alright, even to two guys who had just met her.