"You must got the tables mixed up. No sissy's over here, shawty." One of the men chuckled. His smooth dark skin was a full contrast to the bright white smile that peaked through his neatly trimmed beard.
Sabrina stood her ground with her arms folded across her chest, "Sending drinks over but not making yourself known don't sound corny to you?" She shrugged, nonchalantly.
Sabrina hated when men sent drinks as a way to temperature check women, thinking a few drinks will get them the panties.
A second man at the table spoke next, instantly seizing her attention "Or, it's less confrontational to the dude you havin' dinner wit," he began, with a smooth, yet deep voice that caused Sabrina to relax a bit in her stance. He raised a thick eyebrow and smirked, revealing a deep dimple on his caramel-brown cheeks. He rubbed a tattoed hand down his goateed face before continuing, "If you accepted the drinks, proper introductions could have followed, but this works too."
She bit the inside of her bottom lip, understanding his statement. Something about this man allured her and what he was saying did make sense, but she'd already insulted the group.
The first man chuckled before speaking again, "My name's Kirk," he then motioned a hand over to man number two, "this is my client and best friend, Amir, and a couple of our colleagues."
"Colleagues? You's a asshole." A third man, brown-skinned with an extremely athletic build, said, erupting into laughter. Sabrina lightly smiled at their interaction, while taking the time to check him out. She could tell he was no stranger to the gym. He had a head full of freshly twisted locs.
The fourth man, who also looked like a gym rat, but lighter-skinned with long hair that was braided back, finally spoke, "I'm Daniel and that's Vic." he told her with a southern drawl which piqued Sabrina's interest because she couldn't pinpoint the origin of his accent.
"I'm Bri." she introduced herself, after learning everyone's names. "So which of you... Gentlemen sent the drinks?"
"Which of us would you want it to be?" Kirk asked leaning forward, analyzing her with no shame. She was dressed in a pair of skin-tight black leather pants and a cream-colored sleeveless blouse that showed off her curvy figure. Sabrina worked out 3 times a week. She'd be damned to not be proud of her body.
With a playful roll of her eyes, Sabrina responded, "Doesn't matter to me, I just wanted to say thank you, I guess." She uncrossed her arms and smiled, "You fellas have a good evening." She turned and walked away without another word, making sure to add some extra strut in her step knowing the men were watching her.
Her food was arriving at the table as she returned to her seat. Chantelle looked at her with a concerned look.
"Someone sent drinks over, I went to...thank them." She half explained, knowing she'd tell her friend the entire story later.
"Oh. I thought you might've stepped out to check on things." Chantelle conveyed making a face that Sabrina understood.
Immediately checking her phone she saw the message Chantelle had sent in her absence.
He got baby mama drama,
back child support, & a felony.
Block't
Dammit Chan, she thought to herself while locking her phone.
The three ate in silence. Once Sabrina was full, she pushed her plate forward a bit, unable to hold back a bored yawn, looking at her friend.
"How was it?" Josh asked, trying to strike up a conversation with Sabrina since he could tell Chantelle's mood had drastically changed.
"Good. Did you enjoy your burger?"
Josh rubbed his belly, "One of the best I've had, really." He chuckled.
"Good." Sabrina said before slowly standing from the table, "Excuse me a minute." She headed to the restroom.
After doing her business, she washed her hands and checked her notifications. Bingo, she thought to herself as she typed a response to the message that read 'wya?'. Once she saw him in her story views, she knew he would take the bait because men are predictable.
My place in an hour.
She sent the text, then captured a video of the view from the large windows of the restroom that she saved in her drafts to post once she left the restaurant.
Walking out of the ladies' room, not paying attention, accidentally she bumped right into someone and dropped her phone. Before she could see who it was, their cologne infiltrated her nostrils. "Excuse me," she blurted out, locking eyes with the Carmel brown-skinned man from earlier.
"My fault, gorgeous." he apologized while bending down to pick up her phone.
"Oh, I wasn't paying attention." She confessed, craning up at him as he stood his full height. Her cheeks began to heat from the eye contact as he gave her back her phone, "Amir, right?"
He nodded, smiling, "and you're Bri."
"Yeah." She looked down, feeling unnerved at his intense gaze. The man was fine, she couldn't deny that. With a beautiful smile, dimples included. A weakness of hers.
She checked to make sure her phone was okay.
"Did we break it?" he asked, leaning closer.
"No, it's fine. Thank God, this is my third phone in the past year. I'm clumsy." she laughed at herself.
"She laughs, that's a good sign." He teased, before starting again, "I wasn't tryna do too much with the drinks. I just, um, assumed you wasn't on a date since there were three of yaw. Unless one of you is third-wheelin it," he laughed.
She laughed a bit, to play it off, "No, just dinner with a friend. Thank you for the gesture. I'm sorry for insulting you guys." She looked down, embarrassed.
"We been called worse. You good." He told her causing them both to laugh.
"Well, enjoy the rest of your night, Amir." She said goodbye and began walking away when he spoke again causing her to stop and turn around.
"I'm havin' a really good night, but you make it amazin' if you agree to have dinner with me sometime." He lifted a thick brow and smirked.
She smiled, rolling her eyes playfully. What the hell, it's just dinner, she decided. "We'll, when you ask like that, I guess I have no choice," she giggled.
"You always have a choice," Amir said, licking his full lips as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Sabrina took the opportunity to check him out as she gave him her number. He towered over her as his large hands typed her number into his iPhone. He wore a simple black t-shirt, with two gold chains peeking from the collar, but tucked safely inside. Light blue distressed jeans. On his feet, a pair of black pirate Yeezy sneakers. He sported a high-top tapered cut with kinky twists springing from the top of his head. In his ears a set of small gold diamond hoops. She liked what she saw.
"Have a good night, Bri," he said, slipping his phone into his pocket before they walked away from each other, him finally going to the men's room, and her returning to her table.
Sabrina approached the table seeing Chantelle sitting with a disappointed face.
"Hey," she sat down. "Everything alright?"
"Josh wants to split the check, so he wanted to wait until you were back to calculate everything properly." Chantelle cut her eyes in the man's direction.
Sabrina rolled her eyes internally, "Oh," she looked at the man, and offered a weak smile, "If we knew you were having trouble with your finances, Josh, we would've planned something different."
Josh straightened in his seat and his eyebrows dipped as the confidence left his body, "I didn't say I was having money problems, like that," he whispered the last part, "I just didn't expect the bill to be so high and I didn't know I'd be paying for my date and her friend."
Chantelle looked at Sabrina before speaking to Josh, "We'll take care of it we wouldn't want to be the reason you can't afford something for your child."
Josh stayed silent, contemplating what to say next.
Chantelle looked at the empty glass in front of her and smiled. "Bri, who did you say sent the drinks? I'd like to go over and thank them before we leave."
"The guys across the way, seated near the corner. Girl, and they all fine." Sabrina threw subtle shade at the tinder date still seated with them.
"So you just gon leave my table for some other niggas just because they sent you drinks?" Josh's face soured.
Sabrina pulled out her credit card and placed it in the sleeve with the bill, "Well, this is technically my table since I'm paying, but you can stay as long as you need."
"No, put your card away. I'll take care of the bill, boo. It's the least I can do since I brought you out with me tonight when you could've been out doing your own thing." Chantelle said, gratefully.
As they debated the check, the waiter returned to the table and placed a receipt down, removing the card from the sleeve. "Ladies, your bill has been taken care of. Courtesy of your friends over there," the waiter winked.
The two ladies looked at each other and laughed, "That's how you make a lasting impression. Come on Chan, Let's go over there." Sabrina and Chantelle held hands once they stood from the table.
"Goodnight, Josh." Chantelle declared over her shoulder.