Midwest BSFA Writes: new fon who dis?

In honor of Black Speculative Fiction Month, Midwest BSFA member, Renee, has written some flash fiction for us! (With art by her daughter, Jamilah!) Check out her story, new fon who dis?

Hey everyone! I lost my phone and all your numbers with it. DM me with your numbers, please.

Next to the public proclamation on the popular social website, Kyle thoroughly examined the picture of the young woman that accompanied it. Fawn colored, heavy makeup with jeweled lashes; her big breasts and round bottom were in a basic black tee and white shorts. Her name was Daysha and she was just his type.

Kyle had been smoking kush and playing around on social media all morning long. It was his off day and he needed to de-stress. The message had come up on his newsfeed because a few of his friends had liked her status. A couple took the time to comment on her status, lauding her with all manner of compliments on her beauty. He wondered if she was the new dancer working at the club. He hadn’t been there in several months, not since things got serious with Jerricka. His pockets have been a little fuller since spending less time with his boys at the club – but not by much. Jerricka likes to do stuff and in doing stuff it takes money even with both of them paying. He lit up a black and mild and realized that, obviously, he’s been missing out.

Daysha wasn’t showing that she was online but he saw that her new number was listed on her profile; he typed it into his phone and shot her a message.

hey bae what u doin?

It wasn’t even a minute later before she replied back:

new fon who dis?

He wasn’t expecting a response so quickly, who should she say he was? Trayvion was one of his friends who liked her stat. He wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t hooked up once or twice.

it’s tray from the club

Kyle watched  the ellipses that denote a person was formulating a message for at least two minutes. Maybe she couldn’t remember him so he decided to give her a visual.

dude with red dreads, black leather jacket
grey eyes

The dots were still blinking on his screen. Maybe he picked the wrong friend to gain entryway; for all he knows she might not have liked Tray, but she would be the first. All the women like him. Finally her message popped up:

oh yeah, i remember you
you cute

He felt like he hit bingo. Hardly any women he knew could resist Tray.

what you up to Tray?

nothing, he answered then decided to turn on the charm. thinking bout you

and when you gon let me come through, he added, taking one last drag on his cigarette before putting it out.

Her next message stayed on the dots for what felt like a long time. Finally, four minutes later she answered.

Y? you thirsty?

Kyle felt a wave of indignation flush over him. Women have always accused him of behavior that stepped over the line of coolness around them and, truthfully he always felt lacking comparatively to his friends. It was in that moment he realized he wasn’t Kyle in this conversation, but Tray whom no one would ever call thirsty in the need for attention for women when Daysha’s LOL popped up.

but i’m thirsty, doe

Oh, she game? From her picture she looked like she would be. All these thots on social media just want money and sex.

All he would offer (and was able to give) was the latter.

so let me come thru, he coolly typed.

can’t, she answered. my roommates are here

Roomates? Oh, that’s on!

they sleep

“Oh,” he thought sadly. He was getting ahead of himself. All he could handle was the attention of one woman on a good day although his lifetime goal since he could remember was to be able to juggle a few at a time. Things never worked out that way for him, though.

but I can come to u place

When Kyle saw the message his face broke into a wide smile.

This time Kyle decided to wait two minutes to reply. He would have waited longer but since he had her on the hook he didn’t want her to get off the hook.

you want me to come get you? he asked. He had already decided to do that though. As soon as he pressed to send he was walking to his room to put on a clean shirt.

yeah, do dat, she answered.

He was brushing his teeth when her next set of DMs came through:

i’ll be at the owls nest park
you know where that is

He answered back that he knew where it was and he’d be right there. He could take his time getting there, it was just a few blocks away. He wondered if she always lived closed, he’s never seen her around the neighborhood and he knew he would remember someone who looked like her; she was just his type.

********************************

He was fumbling to unlock the car with his left hand, his right hand on the door handle when looking at his reflection in the glass jarred a revelation for him: he looked nothing like Trayvion.

Kyle was just as attractive as Trayvion, in his mind, but no one would get them mixed up.

Tray was medium brown, with light colored eyes and dread. He was also 6’2” and on the muscular side.

Kyle was the same coloring, but no dreads, dark eyes, and a small black fro. Plus he was 5’6” and self-described as chubby. Well, fat when comparatively next to Trayvion.

But he won’t be next to Trayvion; he will be Trayvion (misrepresenting Trayvion, actually). Besides, it was too late for him to turn back now—a beautiful, horny woman was waiting for him. He would just have to come up with an explanation on the fly or ignore her questions and ply her with compliments.

Within minutes he was at the park. It was cold that Saturday afternoon and since it was mid-November, no one was in the park. Scratch that, there seemed to be one person on the periphery of the park. Driving up he saw a woman leaning against the fence. She was dark skinned with her hair in a big afro bun. Her body was on the thin side and it was clothed in a light blue bubble coat, black boots and black leggings. The uniform of thots and good girls alike for their generation, he mused to himself.

The leggings showed she had a nice butt, he thought. He drove past the young woman, checking her out. Is that her? Could Daysha have been catfishing him? As he turned the corner he thought if it was her he’d still get the sex but she’s really not his type. He hated that females these days were fake like that.

The drive around the small sparsely wooded park only confirmed that no one was out that day except for the lone woman leaning against the chain link fence. He pulled into a parking space, deciding to approach the potential hook-up.

As he neared the figure, Kyle noticed it was a different person standing there now. The woman was still in the requisite bubble coat, leggings and boots, but this coat was pink and this woman was the fairer skinned, full bodied hottie from the social media picture. The wind was slightly blowing, tousling her smooth cascading curls over her face.

“Trayvion?” her voice was tentative as she turned toward him.

“Hey girl!” Kyle shouted feeling relieved to keep up the rouse but also on guard in case she finally came to the realization that the man she was waiting for had undergone a sudden metamorphosis. “Sorry I just got here,” he lied.

“Oh, I did, too. How’ve you been?”

“Good,” Kyle was waiting for a smooth way to segue from polite pleasantries to what they were both really there for. He noted how attractive she was, way hotter than her profile pic. It didn’t do her justice, really.  He also realized they can’t be hanging out in the open like this. Jerricka was at work but someone could see them and report back to her that he was talking to a woman in the park that day.

“Are your Saturdays usually free?” he asked. Good banter, he thought.

“Yes and no,” Daysha pulled her arms around her body tight, making the universal gesture for being cold. Still leaning against the fence she took a step toward him, cocking her head coyly to the side. Her hand moved behind him, still on the fence; she leaned in. “It’s kind of cold out here, don’t you think?”

Kyle blinked. She’s making the move on him! Maybe pretending to be Trayvion has been the way he should have gone this whole time. He was just emanating coolness. But then she’s a sure thing, isn’t she? She’s expecting payment, which he doesn’t have and didn’t intend to hand over. Something can be decided on later.

“Yeah, it is,” he agreed. He looked over his shoulder and pointed to his car. “I’m right over there.”

She walked in the direction of his car, he followed closely behind her. Opening the door for her he checked out her body as she climbed inside. When he got inside the car he decided to make his move on her there, no one was around.

Kyle began to slide his hands up and down Daysha’s thigh then he began to slowly kiss her neck.

“Girl, you are just so sexy,” he whispered. I bet you have all the men at the club emptying their bank accounts to get some of your time.”

Daysha kissed him on the lips gently then looked him in the eyes.

“We can’t do this here,” she said.

“Yeah, we can,” Kyle tried to slide his hands between her thighs.

“No, we can’t. Them kids.” She nodded her head forward, pointing.

He looked out the window to see four kids walking in front of their car. One glanced in their direction.

His mind was saying they should stop but his hormones were already working up.

“They won’t see,” he said trying to move his hand up further. Daysha caught it, holding it in place. She kissed him on his lips again.

“It’ll be better at your place,” she said. Then she shifted in her seat, positioning as if to leave. “Unless someone is there, then we can do it some other time.”

“Nah, no one’s there,” he sat back, pulling his exploring hands onto the steering wheel and started the ignition.

********************************

“What did you say you did for a living? When we met at the club, I mean. Didn’t you tell me something like day labor or something.”

“I work construction,” that was the truth. “Both Kyle and Trayvion worked for the same construction company. “Journey man work.” Then Kyle chuckled. “It’s not as sexy as dancing at the club, though.”

“Everyone dances at the club,” Daysha said.

“For work, though.”

“What?”

“Ain’t you stripping at the club?”

“Nnnnoooooooo,” Daysha dragged out, her face looking out the passenger window.

“Oh,” he had judged wrong. “Then what do you do for a living.”

“I just do… things” her face was still looking out the passenger window.

Usually Kyle didn’t care what anyone did for work but suddenly he was curious. Plus he was bringing this woman, this stranger, into his home. A woman he hadn’t known existed an hour ago and now he was about to cheat on his girlfriend with a woman who could have leaped from his wet dreams. He had kissed her, he thought. He shouldn’t have kissed her. That’s how people catch stuff, kissing all on strangers.

Now she was looking forward and her head movement caused Kyle to glance at her out of the corner of his eyes. For a second, she looked different. Like a person wearing the mask of another person but transparent. He turned to look at her suddenly and the effect was gone. Suddenly he heard a loud honk coming from his right side. He had swerved his car. Daysha turned to look at him wide eyed.

“Sorry,” he said. Man, I smoked too much this morning. He tried to bring back the feeling of ease between them. “So, what do you do to make the rent? How do you eat?” He eased the car into his parking space.

“Eat,” Daysha said almost wistfully.  “Do you have something to drink?”

“Yeah, come on.”

********************************

Kyle opened the door to his apartment building for her and was suddenly struck with a feeling of apprehension. To quell the feeling he grabbed Daysha’s behind.

“Up the steps,” he said guiding her by her glutes.

Once hop opened the door he was all over Daysha again. Quickly forgetting his self-admonition about kissing her, his lips were again on her lips, his body pressing her body against the wall. He was groping her wildly.

After a few minutes Daysha gently pushed him away. She smoothed her hair then gave him a sweet smile.

“Hey, can I get that drink first before we get started?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. He walked into the kitchen looking for a clean glasses and liquor.

“Hey, do you live here alone?” Daysha’s voice called out from the other room.

Actually, he didn’t. He lived there with his father, but the old man was never around. He was usually always at his girlfriend’s condo.

“Yeah, this place is all mine,” he said.

Daysha was nosy, he thought. Maybe she’s thinking she can get to girlfriend status.

Girlfriend! Jerricka suddenly came to mind but he quickly wiped her away. Keep your mind on Daysha and then it’s done.

But then Daysha. What if she is lying to him and she is trade? What if she has a pimp that followed them to his place and was ready to jump in here and pound him for money? He had no idea how these things worked but immediately thought of the gun his father kept in the chest drawer in the living room. If someone came in he had something for them.

Kyle drank a quick shot of Hennessey before adding it to the Coke in the glasses. Kyle was feeling like the morning buzz was beginning to wear off, but the drinks should fix that along with sex with Daysah. He picked them up and went back to meet his date.

Daysha was standing by the window looking out which made Kyle reflect on the location of the gun again. Then Kyle thought of the first girl at the park. It was so odd that one minute she was there and then Daysha was standing in the same place, like maybe the women were up to something. He shook his head as if to shake out the thoughts, the smoking had him paranoid.

Kyle sat down on the couch, setting his drink on the coffee table. “Here you go,” he held out Daysha’s drink to her, beckoning for her to join him. She sat down beside him, holding her drink in her both hands, place on her lap. She was sitting, expectantly as if waiting for him to do something.

Now that he had her in his lair Kyle decided to take his time with her. He picked up his drink, leaned back on the couch and began to sip slowly staring at Daysha over the rim of the glass. She just smiled at sweetly and he suddenly had the thought he wanted to kiss her. He set down his empty glass –when did his glass become empty—and pulled her head into his, giving her a long sloppy kiss.

Daysha pulled back and set her full drink next to his empty one on the coffee table. She pushed him back against the couch, straddled him and began to kiss him slowly and deliberately. Daysha’s hands began to roam around his body, her tongue carefully outlining the side of his neck from ear to collar bone. Kyle felt himself move and he grabbed Daysha’s hips at the same time she was pulling his shirt up over his head. When the shirt was off Kyle turned to back to kiss her but she was looking fuzzy again. Actually she was flickering but instead of the light brown face it was a dark face peering into his eyes.

“What the fu—“ Kyle jumped up, pushing Daysha off of him and onto the floor.

“What’s wrong Kyle?” Daysha said slowly getting up from the floor. “Did I do something wrong?” Her dark brown arm reached for him but he pulled away.

“What the fuck! What the fuck! What the fuck!” Kyle ran to the other side of the couch.

“What’s wrong?” Daysha asked. She looked down at her arms and then a look of recognition came over her face.”Oh,” she said as her body and face morphed back to the girl he had driven to his place.

Kyle ran to the drawer and got his father’s gun. “Get the fuck out of here!” he yelled.

“Kyle,” Daysha said, smiling. She was choosing her words slowly and deliberate.” You’re high.” She shook her head.

“I ain’t that high, bitch! You fucking changed in front of me!”

“Nnnnnnoooooooo,” she said in that odd way again. The smirk was still on her face.

“Get out or I’m going to fucking take you out!” Kyle said, still pointing his gun.

“You don’t want to do that, Kyle,” she shook her head from side to side still moving slow like she was dealing with a wild animal. “You want to get something and I want to get something. It’s almost a fair exchange.”

She took another step forward, “And I’ve come a long way to get something.”

Kyle fired the gun. The bullet hit Daysha in the shoulder. Suddenly she began to flicker, different faces of different women began to sift in and out like the changing of a television channel. She was black, she was white, she was Asian, she was Latina, tall, short, fat, skinny, then a face that was blank, shapeless, colorless with a huge gaping mouth, before shifting back into the beautiful Daysha again.

Kyle emptied the gun chamber and then threw it at Daysha. In the blink of an eye Kyle was on the floor, Daysha thick frame heavily weighing down on him as if she weighed hundred out pounds more than what her body conveyed.

“I’ve been tracking you all morning Kyle,” Daysha whispered in his ear. She licked the side of neck, searching for the vein. Suddenly it registered that she had been calling him Kyle, that he was her prey.

“I’ve been looking for you because you are just my type,” Daysha whispered into the side of his neck. “And I am so thirsty.”