The Meet Up

A Chapter by Melomane

Tracy gathers her pick of 3 women. Everything seems all fine and dandy but one things turn for the worst

Tracy's red bottom heels clicked-clacked their way to a seat with a scenic view of downtown Dallas on the 5th floor of the Omni Hotel. She sipped on her strawberry smoothie very anxiously. She could not wait to meet the three women who she thought were successful, smart, business women and most importantly successful like her. She had specifically chosen three women who she thought could be great business partners and hopefully friends. She tapped her hot pink glue on nails on the wooden table and glanced around the upscale cafe. Reruns of last nights football game ran on the flat screen TVs on the brick wall while The bartender mixed drinks for a couple who was probably having lunch together and a man sat anxiously just like Tracy waiting for someone. Blind date maybe. Tracy thought about getting a drink herself. "No I shouldn't. I'll just stick to my smoothie, " she said to herself. "Where could these ladies be?" One tall lady walked in but she quickly went to the man who was waiting. He stood, they both shook hands, introduced theirselves and sat. Seconds after her, a long blonde haired lady with olive skin and big shades and a glitter clutch walked in. She removed her shades and looked around. They both caught each each others eyes and smiled. She hurried over. "Are you Tracy?" She smiled. "Yes, Tracy Wells." "Hi nice to meet you, I'm Stacy Kay." " Oh yes of course," they hugged. "Hey Stacy and Tracy rhymes," Stacy giggled. Tracy did a quick laughed and ushered her to have a seat. "I'm so happy to be here. As soon as I heard 'The Tracy Wells' wanted to meet up with little old me I just couldn't say no," she talked with her hands. Stacy had a voice of a fifty year old smoker. Her nails were twice as long as Tracy's and every nail had a different color. Her clothes were a little to tight in all the wrong places but overall Stacy seemed like a cool person to Tracy. Tracy just smiled and listened."So how many girls were we expecting," she asked. "Well just two more ladies, " Tracy nodded and so did Stacy agreeing. There was an awkward silence and Tracy sipped on her drink. Stacy looked around and wondered why she didn't have a drink. She looked at Tracy's drink and then at Tracy. Tracy saw her staring. "Oh I'm sorry do you want a drink too." Stacy hesitated but said yes. Tracy snapped her fingers at the waitress. "Can my friend Stacy here get a drink please. What kind of drink do you want?" She whispered back to Stacy. "The strongest thing they have," she laughed. "Get her the strongest thing you have please," Tracy laughed. She could be a fun person to have around, Tracy thought. Stacy quickly raised her eyebrows and giggled. I won't get carried away, Stacy promised herself.
Suddenly two brown skinned ladies walked in. They both had long weaves but one was wavy. Tracy and Stacy both made eye contact with the two and they didn't hurry over but sort of strutted over as if they were the most popular of the cafe. This quickly annoyed Tracy. Stacy thought nothing about it. " Are you Tracy? " the one with the wavy hair asked. "Yes!," Tracy smiled. Does anybody around here know my last name, Tracy thought. "Hi I'm Tisha Thompson "And I'm Lisa Monae," the one with the straight hair said. "Of course, of course! Please have a seat." "And I'm Stacy," she smiled and waved. "Hi Stacy," they both said. "Well FINALLY we are all here," Stacy forced a smile on her face. "Waiter can you please get a drink for my friends," she rudely hollered across the room. The bartender ran over and took their orders. "Excuse me ma'am I never got my drink," Stacy whined. "Oh yes I'm sorry," the waitress smacked her head. "Right away ma'am." So here were the most talked about ladies in all of Dallas metroplex sitting together in a booth with their most expensive perfume and shoes on. "I'm sorry that were late. It is hard to get Lisa out the house on time," Tisha apologized. "We'll better late then never I always say," Lisa said taking up for herself. No one seemed to laugh but everyone tried. The waitress swung by and dropped the drinks off and quickly left. "Well I am so excited to have all you fine ladies here with me today. Hopefully we can all build a relationship with each other and get along As friends. Um, I guess we can all go around and introduce our selves. I'll start first. Everyone knows my name already but I am Tracy Wells," she laughed. She rambled on and The girls just listened and pretended to be interested. Who didn't know Tracy Wells? A 35 year old well known respectable author of 'How to be Wealthy Too' and 'When love goes wrong'. She appeared twice in Essence magazine 100 most powerful black women in America. Some would laugh and say she barely made it because she was number 98 both times. "But where is your face in the magazine, " she would say to her haters. She had been married three times in six years, two years each to be exact, and was a wealthy thousand-air. Tracy was the best and she knew it and makes sure everyone knows it too. "And so after my essence interview I decided to take a break and work on my third book, 'Who Needs Love.' "Ok, enough about me, Stacy your next," she smiled and sipped on her drink knowing and hoping no one would be able to top her life story. "Well I'm Stacy Kay. I'm 33 and my husband is Chris Kay, star of the Dallas Cowboys. I have a lovely two year old at home named Kristine and she's the love of my life." Stacy smiled and took a sip her drink. Everyone one knew Stacy Kay from page 3. The headline always read, 'Football players wife drunk...Again.' Why did Tracy even pick her, the other girls thought. Stacy Kay was born in Tyler,Texas on a farm. She moved to Dallas and got one taste of the city life and it almost destroyed her. Chris divorced her for a good month after a three week marriage and they oddly got back together after she announced she was pregnant. Everyone turned towards Tisha because she was next in line to tell the good side of her life like everyone else was properly doing. "Ok I'm Tisha Thompson. 35. I own my own makeup line, Chic Beauty, and I am not married nor do I have kids and that's it." Everyone smiled and became a little jealous because Tisha seemed like the only sane person with no flaws. Lisa looked at Tisha like she had forgot to say something. "Oh and I forgot my best friend is Mrs.Lisa Monae." Tisha gave a sarcastic smile and kind of brushed Lisa away. Everyone noticed it. "Trouble in paradise," Stacy murmured and sipped on her drink. Lisa just pretended not to hear. "Thanks bestie," she said with a stern look. "We'll I'm Lisa Monae. My husband is the wonderful Daniel Lee maker of the hottest shoe line for only the classiest men. We are doing very well for ourselves and hopefully- no scratch that. Soon I WILL have my own shoe line," Lisa smiled and clasp her hands together. "We'll thank you ladies for telling about your selves. I just can't wait to see the things that will happen in our future."
An hour had passed, the ladies went back and forth about their lives, had small talk and the alcohol had finally kicked in. The sun had disappeared and the classy cafe hAd become a rowdy night lounge. More people were there and the music was pumping a little louder. "I feel like dancing," Stacy said snapping her fingers to the beat. The girls pretended not to hear, because club dancing days were just about over. "Come on Tisha and dance with me," Stacy laughed and tugged at Tisha's arm. A whiff of her breath caught Tracy's attention and she knew right then Stacy was drunk. Tisha and Lisa guessed it too. "Uh, no thank you Stacy," she tried to push Stacy away. "Ah come on Tish-Tish," Stacy slurred. Tracy and Lisa snickered. Tisha shook her head no. "Well ok I will dance all by myself." Stacy stood up on the booth and stumbled her way on the table top and started shaking her hips and dancing just like a drunk chick in a movie. Tracy became angered by her wild behavior and pleaded with her. "Stacy get down please. This is not the way ladies act. You are embarrassing yourself once again." "We'll this is how SHE acts," Tisha smiled. "Shut up and just let me dance," she yelled and waved her arms like a wild monkey. Stacy was barely aware of herself and her surroundings and she just kept on dancing like it was nothing. People in the lounge was laughing and pointing. Phones started to flip out of pockets and purses and flashes were going off like at the super bowl kickoff. The girls embarrassed by this tried to pull her down. "No!" Stacy hollered. As the girls were fussing, tugging and trying to persuade her to get down Stacy fought back. One of her monster sharp nails suddenly ripped through her tight dress creating a slit that tore itself from top to bottom splitting the dress right apart like paper. The crowd was wowed and more flashes were going almost blinding Stacy. "My dress!" Stacy cried. "Cheap thing," Lisa murmured. She climbed down finally feeling guilty and ashamed of what just happened while clinging to keep her dress. "Oh wow," Tisha smiled and shook her head in disbelief. "She's a mess," Lisa sneered. The girls grabbed their things and headed out while helping Stacy to keep her dress up. A cab was waiting and Tracy pushed her in and shut the door. "I will have your car sent to your house," Tracy said through the window. Stacy's face quickly turned a pale yellow color and her mouth smushed up. She responded by letting all her troubles out on the back of the passenger seat and all in her lap. "Oh no," the girls said turning away. "I'ma have to go. I will talk to you later Tracy. Come one Tisha," Lisa walked away disgusted while Tisha followed away worried. Tracy was so embarrassed and lost for words. She just waved them goodbye. They clicked-clacked away and Lisa put her shades back on as if she was too good to be seen with the table top dancing girl. Tracy told the extremely annoyed cab driver Stacy's address. "Who's gonna clean this mess up," his rough voice scolded. "Well not me," Tracy sassed. She gave the cab driver a hundred dollar bill and expected him to be happy with it but he wasn't. He looked back at Tracy and did a double take. "Aren't you Tracy Wells?" He squinted his eyes. "Yes I am," she proudly responded glad to know that someone knew her last name. "And all you give me is a stinking hundred?" Tracy's face turned into an old prune. "Well give it back sir," she stuck her hand out but The cab driver threw it back instead and zoomed off like a get away car. Tracy hurt by his rudeness bent down to pick up the bill and slipped it back into her purse. She snapped it closed tight and held it close to her heart because she knew she needed every bit of it. Tracy's face looked like a child that just had her ice-cream stolen by the neighborhood bully before the first lick.

Tracy slammed the gossip filled magazine down on her glass coffee table next to her fruit basket and mug that read, Top 100. She had been reading page 6 and the headline read, 'Another Mishap for Football Star's Wife.' Pictures caught Stacy in her worst moments of last nights events were on three full pages. "I know. I was just as embarrassed as you guys," She said to Tisha on the phone. "We have to make sure this doesn't happen again," Tisha responded. "We'll I was going to go by her house today. Did you and Lisa want to come." "I will come but I don't know about Lisa. I will see if she wants to though." "Ok well meet me at my house around 2." "Ok cool. See you then." "Smooches," Tracy gave a fake kiss through the phone and hung up. She grabbed her mug and walked to her balcony and stared at the view of Downtown Dallas from her penthouse up on the 30th floor. She tapped her nails on the railing and watched car after car pass by like little ants. "How long is this gonna last," she said to herself. She took a deep breath and sipped her coffee. Stacy's mistake was not on her mind but the cab driver was. The way the cab driver treated her stumped her pride in the ground six feet under. "How long before I am the one dancing crazy on table tops and catching cabs?" She took a long sip of coffee. "Not long I tell ya," she shook her head and went inside to get ready.
Tisha swerved her range rover into Tracy's penthouse parking lot with Lisa in the passenger seat. "I can't believe you actually convinced me to come over here, Lisa bragged. Tisha ignored her and pulled into a parking space. "What are we here for anyway. I forget." "Lisa we are here to go and confront Stacy about her behavior last night." Lisa laughed and said, "Whatever." They both exited the car And caught an elevator up to Tracy's floor. Once they got to Tracy's door Tisha knocked. "We better make this quick," Lisa mumbled. "Hi miss.Tisha and Lisa." The girls hugged and Tracy welcomed them into her home. "Nice home Tracy," Tisha complimented admiring the glass sculptures and the bright luster wood furniture. Tracy just nodded her head agreeing. "I'm going to slip my shoes on then we can head out." Lisa whip her finger across the coffee table and then brushed the dust off in disapproval. "You know Tracy, Daniel and I have a coffee table just like yours but its a little bigger," she hollered back at Tracy. Tracy rolled Her eyes and mocked her. After putting her heels on She came out and grabbed her purse that was sitting on be couch. "Maybe you could invest in some dust cleaner maybe." Tisha said being disrespectful on purpose. "Now Lisa-," Tisha interrupted. "You stay out of this little Tisha," Lisa cut her off and put her hand up. Tracy smiled in disbelief and place her hand on her hip. "We'll maybe you could invest in some manners and remember whose house you are in Mrs.Monae because last time I checked this was Tracy Wells home," Tracy gave a sarcastic wink and walked towards the door. "Now we should be off ladies. There's a limo waiting right outside the door downstairs," she smiled. Tisha had a smirk on Face and Lisa had a blank look like 'whatever'. Tracy showed the. The way out and locked her doors.
After 30 minuets of the most awkward and silence ride, the limo finally pulled up in the circle driveway of a castle-like white home. Three columns that resembled those of the white house stretched from the top to bottom. "Wow you would think people with this amount of money would know how to act," Tisha said trying to break the ice that had frozen back. "It's his money not hers," Tracy said belittling Stacy and Tisha for making that comment. The driver came around and opened the door for the ladies and they got out one by one. Tracy led them up the stairs to the front door and rung the doorbell.
A very disheveled woman with dried up mascara running down her face quietly opened the door. She peeked from behind the door and looked like she hasn't seen daylight in days. It was Stacy. "Uh hi Stacy. We just wanted to come and check up on you," Tracy said sounding like she was trying to get a little puppy to come from behind the tree. "I'm good. Thanks for checking up on me," Stacy tried to slowly close the door. "Wait. Can please come in?" Tracy asked. Tisha smiled hoping she would say yes and Lisa was just frowned up and very irritated. Stacy opened the door back just a little more and said,"ok," in a faint whisper. The girls slowly walked In and and her house almost looked as as her. Furniture was thrown around, baby toys were everywhere and trash stunk up the place. "Please excuse the mess," she said not really caring. The girls took a seat on a couch and pushed trash to the other side of it. Stacy sat on a chair across form the them. The living area was dim and the girls felt a little uncomfortable. "I know you guys are upset and whatever and I just want to apologize. I'm sorry. I'm working on somethings," Stacy looked and sounded very tired. "We understand," Tisha said trying to be cordial and soften the mood. "There is nothing understanding about getting drink and embarrassing us all and adding another page to your record," Lisa saying adding more tension. "I am sorry. I don't know anything more else to say," she pleaded. "It's ok Stacy. Just please make sure it doesn't happen again," Tracy said quickly trying to ease the mood back. Stacy returned a thank you smile. "So where's the baby?" Tisha asked. "Oh she's with her father and I think their at the park," Stacy said not really wanting to stay on that subject. "Stacy were not gonna stay long so were
gonna get going," Tracy said. "Ok well thanks for checking up on me," Stacy hunched over stood up and motioned the girls toward the door. They hugged and agreed to leave the horrid incident in the past but how long would it be before Stacy cracked and turned into a table top dancing monkey again. Tracy wished it wouldn't be before she got what she needed, Lisa couldn't wait because it just made her look better but had something else on her mind, and Tisha really hoped for the best. Stacy just dreaded the thought of her husband coming home and if he even brings their child back.