I knocked on the door and waited for him. No one came. I knocked a second time and waited no one came.

"Hm." I knitted my brows, I raised my hand to knock a third time but the door swung open.

"Hey."

"Hey. You're here. I was gonna leave, I didn't think anyone was home."

"I'm sorry. I dozed off." He looked me up and down, and flashed a smile.

"Oh." I rolled my eyes, shifting my weight. The first thing I noticed when he opened the door was the scent of his cologne. He smelled really good, kind of like Prince. Prince always smelled heavenly, I wonder do him and Prince use the same thing.

"Come on in." He stepped aside and let me in.

"You look great. You're all dressed up. A lil' too dressed up for a friends dinner but that's neither here nor there."

"Well just because we're friends that doesn't mean that I have to bum it. Let me get that for you" He took my jacket from my hands and hung it on the rack by the door. "You're lookin' casually fine tonight. Can you give me a little spin."

I cut my eyes at him. "For what?"

"I have a 6th sense for fashion, I was just admiring you outfit. That is a lovely sweater." I looked at him still, not falling for it. I've built up an immunity to bullshit since my episode with Prince.

"No." I shook my head and started to look around his condo. "Eddie. This is a very nice place you have here."

"Thank you very much." he smiled, walking behind me. "Thank you. Check out over here." he pointed to his dimly lit bedroom.

"That's a big, wonderful bed."

"Yeah, well, I need my space."

"Don't we all."

"Cool. Music?" He picked up a remote and turned on some soft jazz. "Just like New Orleans right?"

I nodded, giggling. "Yeap, just like home."

"Have a look around." he pointed up past the bookcase, there was a small set of stairs that led to what looked like a dining room. "Go check out upstairs."

It was a nice place I had to admit, a true bachelor pad.

"Eddie. Eddie." I furrowed my brows, looking around to see where the voice was coming from. was coming from. "I know you hear me, you slimy, sleazy, sneaky, slitherin' son of a bitch."

I followed the voice to the screen door, I peeked outside and saw a girl leaning on her balcony. She waved her arm frantically in the air, wine glass in the other hand.

"So. " She looked me over, sizing me up. "You must be the victim tonight?"

"Victim you say?" I leaned over the balcony, full intrigued.

"Girl he's slept with everything with in a short skirt and a fat ass. Let me tell you." She threw back a glass of wine and started to pour another. "He's good too oh he's charming with all the flowers and candy, the love notes. The off guard pictures of you but he'll toot it and boot it girl, and he won't think twice."

"Psh, don't they all." I scoffed, my mind immediately shooting to Prince. "They ain't shit. You'll end up being a glorified side piece if you--"

"Stick around yes girl yes..." She lit herself a cigarette. She offered me one but I declined. I care about my lungs, my health, more importantly my voice. That's my instrument.

I pursed my lips in fascination." So what you telling me is...Eddie is a.-"

"A hoe. He's a straight-up hoe." I laughed at her bluntness, I like her she a funky cat.

"Hey- Don't-Hey." He beckoned me to come back in.

"No. I like her. Keep goin' girl." I yelled, rooting her on.

"Don't... Come on." he scooped me up in his arms and carried me off. She was still screaming my name behind us. "Stop!"

"He's a no-good barking mutt!! Run girl!! Run!"

I grabbed the doorframe to stop us. "Really!?"

"Nothin' really happened between us... She's crazy."

"I ain't crazy boy. Come and get yo' shirt Eddie. No good ass Murphy. Mr. Three Minute Man."

I gasped, putting my hands over my mouth trying not to laugh. "Oh my God!"

"She's bugged." He tried to force us in the house but I tightened my grip on the doorframe.

"Hey, girlfriend. Don't let him do it to you. He got a plan. What, you 'bout my size, my height, my weight? Doggy style. Doggy style. I know, girlfriend. I'm tryin' to help you out. It's a sister thing."

He pulled my arm off the door and carried me inside. I still heard her screaming behind us, telling me not to do it. He set me down in a seat at the table and kissed me on the temple. My breathe hitched in my throat, because that's exactly what Prince used to do to me. I'm not gonna lie. I missed those temple kisses. 

"I'm going to to get the plates." He left, allowing me to wallow in my misery for a hot minute. I felt a burning sensation in my nose, I knew I was going to cry. I put my hand over my mouth to fight it off. I did just in time for him to come back and set the plate down in front of me. 

"Looks yummy." I smiled, which quickly turned into a frown when I noticed a big piece of salmon on my plate. I forgot, I never told him I didn't eat meat. 

"You know, the secret to my salmon is the rosemary in the butter sauce. 'Cause-"

"I'm a vegetarian." I cut him off. I rotated my fork in my hand, picking at the salmon. I hated saying that I was a vegetarian to people. You can never say that without looking or sounding like a bitch, which is what i'm sure it both looked and sounded like at the moment. 

"Oh, i'm sorry would you like me to-"

"No no it's fine uhm..this rice looks really good." I gestured to my plate with the fork.  "I'll just eat this, i'm not that hungry anyway."

He lowered his eye a little. I placed my hand on top of his to assure him it was alright. He smiled and took a seat.

We dug in and it was a bit of an awkward silence, which I hated to the core.

"I never met a man who cooked so well." I complimented him, trying to break the ice.

"Well thank you." he smiled. "Just a few things I picked up over the years."

"Speaking of, you said you were gonna show me your moves."

"My what?" his eyes widened, taking what I said sexually.

"You told me you were gonna teach me the art of seduction. Class is in session boo."

He wiped his hands off with his napkin."No! No. I umm, just try to be myself and if they don't like me for--." He noticed how my face had dropped and bursted into laughter. "I'm bullshittin', sorry I couldn't even get through that."

"Ha! Come on tell me your moves, mack daddy." I dropped my fork, ready to listen.

"Oh alright. Umm, well, okay, I usually start by having a bottle of wine sent to my table from a fan."

"Oh my god." I rolled my eyes. "And that stupid shit works?!

"Well it does when you combine it with, "This is so embarrassing, I just want to have a normal life!". 

"Oh, you poor little famous man." I said, as sarcastically as I could.

"Oh okay, how about this one." He leaned in, putting on a serious face and putting more bass in his voice. "I was gonna wait until the end of the night to kiss you, but you're so beautiful...I don't think I can."

I titled my head to the side, a little mesmerized before snapping back into it. "Oh my God! Wow! That was fantastic, I almost leaned in. I really almost did!" I laughed, clapping like a little girl.

"See that one always works. Alright, so...so tell me one of your moves."

"Alright." I cleared my throat and rubbed my hands together. I leaned in, propping my chin on my fist.  "So where'd you grow up?"

"That's your move?! ........Damn you're lucky that body is set great."

"Come on, just answer the question!"

He exhaled. "Brooklyn."

"And so were you close to your parents?"

"Yeah, with my mom. ...not so much with my dad."

I pouted, titling my head to the side. "Awe why not?" 

"I don't know. I guess there's just always been this distance y'know. He was drunk a lot." I nodded, trying to seem interested. "I mean we both try to pretend it's not there, but it is."

"Oh." I started rubbing his wrist with my fingers, lightly. "It's gotta be rough."

"Yeah, it is. It's really tough. Y'know sometimes I think—" He squinted, finally catching on. "That's some pimp shit!" He wagged his finger at me. "That's smooth. I like it! Not bad. Not bad."

"I know!"

"Where'd you grow up, it's so simple! I'm gonna stash that one away."

"And you owe me for every piece of pussy you get."

"Believe me i'll be thinkin' of you." He smirked, licking his lips.

"And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get more rice."

I took my plate, and headed to the kitchen. "And now you're watching me walk away."

"Yes I am! Again so simple!"

"Us southern girls are." I scooped the rest of the rice in my plate, almost having it spill over the side. I had no clue ol' boy could cook. I'm milking him for all he's worth in the kitchen. I looked up at the kitchen clock

9:30

"Hey Eddie, The Mavericks game starts in a minute. Do you mind if we eat in front of the tv?"

"No, not at all. Sure."

"Great!" I carefully, made my way to the living room and somehow he beat me there.

"Let me get that for you." He grabbed my plate and set it down on the coffee table. 

"Thank you!" I smiled and took my seat next to him, I grabbed the remote and flicked through the channels and found it just in time for the jump off. 

"Your a basketball fan?"

"Fan? I used to play. I grew up in a family full of boys and everybody used to go outside to the basketball goal and I would just join in. It was my little break from singing." I shrugged, turning back to the tv. "Did you see that? Ever since the Mavs drafted Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Dale Ellis, Derek Harper, Sam Perkins, Detlef Schrempf and Roy Tarpley. Their averaging almost 115 points per 100 possessions. It's a damn shame how they practically self- destructed the finals. I had really high hopes for them."

He went quiet, so I glance over at him and he looked shocked. "What?"

"You know,I have yet to meet a girl who genuinely knows anything about basketball or any sport as a matter of fact."

"Maybe your messin' with the wrong girls"

".......Maybe I am."

We watched the rest of the game together and it was actually enjoyable, he gets just as riled up as me. Most people tell me to calm down, but he didn't which I appreciated. 

He walked me outside to my car, toting my jacket in his arms. 

"That's not even fair!" I chuckled, pulling my keys from my purse.

"Oh come on! Just pick one! Between Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin McHale, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson if you had to, if you had to, who would put on your all-star team?"

"They all play different positions, they'd make the most perfect starting 5 in the history of the NBA." We stopped in front of my car.

"I had an amazing time tonight." I admitted.

"Ya' know, me too actually. Can I just say I think this is the best date I ever had."

"Date?" I squinted. "I thought this was a friendly dinner."

He shrugged, and handed me my jacket. "It was friendly."

"I'll say it was a date. I had a good time. Your not as annoying as I thought you were."

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me....and that says a lot."

I raised my brow. "About me or you.."

"See there you go again."

I laughed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry....So tell me, what are Eddie Murphy's end of the night moves?"

"Ah, well, if I want the girl to kiss me, first thing I do is make my lips look irresistible."

"How do you do that?"

"Now you can't tell anyone, but uh..." he looked around, making sure we were alone. It's 12:30 who would be around. "I put on shiny lip balm."

"Wow." I chuckled. "That's hilarious."

"Yeah, like a moth to a flame baby, I'm telling ya. Okay all right, so now you go."

"No, I don't want to tell you." I hid my face with my hands. 

"Why not?"

"Because it's embarrassing."

"More embarrassing than shiny raspberry lip balm?!" I pursed my lips, looking at him. 

"I didn't say raspberry before did I?"

I shook my head. "No you didn't"

"Alright just tell me." He waved his hands, trying to get the attention off him.

"Okay. All right. Well, when we're at the door, I lightly press my lips against his, and then move into his body just for a second." I wrapped my arms around him, he was taller than me way more than Prince was so I rested my chin on his chest and looked up at him. "and then I bat my eyes a couple of times for good measure...... Okay, I know it doesn't sound like anything, but I swear it works. When your boobs are small, it's all in the eyes." I let him go and opened my car door and tossed my jacket into the passenger seat.

"Yeah." he cleared his throat. I could see how that would work for ya..."

"I-"

"So.... lunch, tomorrow?" he blurted out.

I smiled. "You got it."

"Followed by hot, butt-naked car sex?" he held both thumbs up, cheesing.

"See..." I started to get into my car but he stopped me.

"I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding."

So, now's the most difficult part of the evening. "So I guess we kiss goodnight right?"

"Yup! But I got an idea. Count from five backwards real fast, and go for it." I nodded in agreement. "All right. Close your eyes." I closed my eyes. "Go."

"Five, four, three, two, one." I went in but I missed, and he kissed me on the nose. I missed intentionally though. I haven't kissed another guy in a while and I was a little scared.

"I'm sorry. I missed...I guess I'll have to do it again." 

The bass in his voice dropped. "No. I'll do it."

I was a little caught off guard, i'm not gonna lie. "Ok."

He kissed me softly on the lips and then the tip of my nose, causing a giggle to slip out. His mustache tickled me. "Night, Jasmyn."

"Night. Thank you, it was lovely." I got in the car and drove off, he waved me off.