The African Guy

So we go out for some Bachelorette fun. Maid of Honor has some stoopid game we are supposed to play. We are each supposed to ask some random guy to do some random thing to the bride, who is wearing a tiara and bride to be sash.

Corny, but if I was getting married I'd wear it I guess.

I really don't want to play. I really just want to eat my turtle cheesecake. Most of the guys in this place are with women and if I were out with a guy I would not want some bridal party asking him to do pranks on a bride.

So my thing is to ask a guy to go up to the bride and ask her for relationship advice. Finally I spot a guy who is alone. I walk up behind him at the bar. I tap him on the shoulder (he's really tall) He turns around. Wow, he's really cute. So I ask him to do the prank. He says okay.

So he comes over to our table. He sits down and starts talking to the bride like they are old friends. She is open to this because random men have been coming up to her all night doing the pranks. He does not ask her what he's supposed to ask her. I'm looking at him like "dude you are getting too comfy...ask the question and move along! He asks her about marrying someone of a different religion. She responds that that's an issue for because she is Baptist and her husband-to-be is Catholic. (Those aren't different religions, but whatever).

So then he leans over and asks what I'm drinking. I don't "drink" so he gets me another cranberry juice. (That's my "bar drink") He asks me my name. I have an African name. He asks if I'm African. I say no. He says I look African (whatever that means). He says, "I bet my friends will think you're African." huh?

He has 2 friends with him. The friends were older, like pushing 40, but the cute one was 27. All three are from Kenya. He tells me not to say anything so they don't hear my American (southern) accent. He asks if they think I'm African. They stand there literally examining my every pore. I blow my cover and say something. They looked shocked. I look at them like they are crazy. One of the guys says, "you look African, but your hair is too good." He then proceeds to grab a handful of it, I presume, to see if its real.

I really was stunned, I had no words so I just yanked my head away blinked at him. I told the cute one, his name is JP, to tell his friends to behave.

So anyway, JP and I ended up hooking up the next night, after the wedding. I sent my friends his full name and license plate number in case I turned up missing. We went to this house party. I didn't want to go because I didn't feel like being in a crowd of people I didn't know. Plus I had done enoughe schmoozing at the wedding. But I was in dowtown Chicago and I didn't want to go to bed.

So we end up at this small apartment. Music blasting so loud you could hear it 4 stories below. I'm thinking I'm too old to be in someone's house with music playing this loud. And whose house is it anyway? I had just slunked into a corner and was poking my lip out when I see this chick in the corner of my eye. I think to myself, she looks familiar, but she's not black. Meaning: if I knew she was black, she would look familiar, but the person I'm thinking that could be doesn't live in Chicago.

So I turn my head and turn back and this girl has her nose in my face and is screaming my full name (which is a tongue twister to some). So she obviously knows me.

It's RL. RL stayed in my dorm Freshman year. There were only 50 of us and we grew close. RL's physical characteristics could cause one to wonder about her ethnic heritage. (In other words she's real real fair.) And she had chopped her hair off so I didn't really recognize her ..and I had no idea she lived in Chicago. And her boyfriend, who was there, knew JP and had travelled to Kenya with him. What a small world!

Back to the party. We ended up playing taboo, which is one of my favorite games. Then some white girls started arguing. Then they started threatening to beat each others arses. Then the police came. The music was too loud. Then we left.

I flew back to Charlotte the next morning. JP and I still chat on the phone and he even called me while I was in England.