Micki Wall, Matchmaker

The next morning, I wake up with a smile on my face. I was really excited about the matches I had set my client, Celeste, up with. I felt like all of the matches would be great for her. Except one. His name was Devon Byrd. He was the typical dude that Celeste went for. He was rich, divorced, and kind of older. I saw problems with him when he revealed to me he was divorced twice and dated over 10 women. This told me that he had commitment issues and probably wouldn't settle down anytime soon, and that's all Celeste wants. The upside is that Devon has kids. Two 6 year old boys. They were adorable and I hoped that maybe I'd run into them during a grocery store run or something.

I had let all eight matches know that they had to look their best.

I told them no jeans, no sneakers, just show up looking dapper.

I couldn't show up in bummy clothes, either.

After showering, I put on a red undershirt and a black blazer. My pants and shoes matched. I left my hair down today. Why not? I haven't wore it down at work in a couple weeks, the bun life was too good. No having to deal with hair flopping in my face while driving, no having to check it every hour...

When I headed to my car, I had to go get gas. I stopped at a station and went inside the store to pay for the gas.

"Can I have 30 on pump 4?" I ask, handing over two crisp twenties.

"Yeah." The cashier answered, as she puts the money in the register and hands me a ten.

"Would you like to donate to the local hospital? It's for cancer research."

Although I knew it would probably do no good, I decided to, anyway.

"Yeah, can I have two fives?"

I hand her the ten back and she reaches for two five dollar bills and hands them to me.

I put one in the jar.

"Thank you." She says.

"You're welcome. Have a good one."

"Same to you." I heard her say, as I walk out. I head to my car and begin pumping gas.

I almost flip shit when I feel a hand poking me on my shoulder.

I laugh when I realize it's Chez.

"Hey, how ya doin'?" I say, just to be courteous.

"I'm cool, heading to work." She replies.

I finish pumping and I turn to her.

"That's good."

"Yeah, I just wanted to know if we're still on for tomorrow?"

"Oh, yeah."

We're supposed to be bowling.

"Aight, see you then."

"Yup."

She smiles as she walks back to her car, her hair blowing in the wind. Ah man, she was really fun to look at.

Once I get to work, I walk in half annoyed that I'd decided to leave my hair down. I rationalized it with the fact that I looked fucking adorable.

Heh, adorable at 22.

My hair wasn't a complete mess, although I did spot a little frizzing. I really only thought that was an issue for like, white girls.

Oh well.

I get to my office and Sydney immediately follows, with a smile on her face.

"You in love with Chez yet?"

"Jesus, I only met the girl a couple days ago! And you didn't mention to me that she has a daughter! I'm not ready to deal with children! A stud with kids. Unreal."

"Mick, she had the baby in high school and--"

" 'Kay, but you didn't mention that to me! I actually sort of remember her from the one time Liz said she was gonna be on Teen Mom."

"Hah, Chez was so mad that day!"

I chuckle.

"Man, speakin' of her, I saw her at the uh, gas station today. We're supposed to go bowling."

"Aha! I knew yall would...."

"As friends, Sydney. As FRIENDS. Besides, I'm kind of lookin' into getting back with my ex."

I smiled hard when I thought of Tina. She was a really curvy caramel skinned woman, a little like me. Her eyebrows stayed immaculate and she always had this smell I loved about her. She had short hair. If you asked anyone I went to school with "What kind of girls did Micki Wall usually go after?", they would say "girls with short hair".

"Tina is a cheater."

"Tina gives GREAT head."

"Typical. You don't care that she cheated? And that she tried to turn the whole thing on you?"

"I'm just hornier than a teenage boy right now," I admit. "I'm tryna knock boots!"

"Why, when you can knock Duchesne's Jordans?"

"Get out." I said, laughing.

Sydney giggles as she exits.

Why can't she understand that I. Am. Not. Stud. For. Stud?

I like women in makeup, heels.. Weave, even.

I can't mess around with a girl that wears boxers and sneakers like mine. I can't deal! I can't.

I start to kick myself when I find that I am the slightest bit curious in how it would be if I were to mess around with another stud...

A half hour later, my client from before, Celeste meets me in my office. Today, she was wearing a red dress that went mid-thigh and some black heels. Her blonde hair was curly and cute.

"Oh my goodness. You look great! I can't wait for everybody to see you!"

Celeste beams. "Thanks, Micki."

"You're welcome. You ready?" I ask.

"Ready as ever."

I smile. "Alright, lemme go see if all my matches for you are here. You can just hang out real quick. I'll be right back."

I scamper to the Luv Inc Ballroom and spot seven of eight matches.

I spot Andrea, Kia, Farrah, Lisa,Frank, Greg, Dan. No sign of Devon.

Why can't he be on friggin' time?! Augh. I should be glad that he isn't here, since I don't really want Celeste to choose him. He's basically a test, to see if she is still drawn to the same type of guy.

I like punctuality. It irritates me when people are not on time!

I heave a sigh and tell the matches that Celeste was gonna be in, for them to wait a minute. I headed back to my office to grab Celeste, and walk her to the ballroom. I walked her to the back Of the room, since Celeste wasn't going to be the only love seeker today. Sydney AND Mike had their little "speed date" sessions going on today. We had our own designated areas. Celeste smiles as she (basically) prances through the room. "Wow. It's beautiful in here."

And it was. The tables were covered in white tablecloths. The floor was wooden, but it was shiny as ever. I sort of hated that, because oftentimes, I hear heels clicking.

This isn't Kansas, but I don't need to hear shoes clicking.

"Hi, everyone." I say, stopping in front of the possible suitors; Celeste beside me. "This is Celeste. After about ten minutes of a group mingle session, You will all have five minutes to chat wirh her one on one. There's food, wine. Do NOT get super drunk, though, no one likes drunkies."

Small chuckles echo.

"No more than two glasses, am I clear?"

"Yes." Everyone says in unison.

"Good."

"Alright. Have fun and be yourself."

I step aside and go to where Sydney and Mike are standing, since their clients were already doing their mixer.

"Mindy definitely doesn't know what she wants." Sydney sighs.

Mindy was her client, and she'd been telling me this ever since she got her.

"This might not end well for her."

"Yeah? I'm certain Celeste knows exactly what she wants, but it's not what she needs." I say.

"I have nothing negative to say about Shawn. He's cool. He wants a family oriented woman with an education." Mike says, proudly.

"If only I could get a woman like that." I say.

"Duchesne is ver-"

"Sydney." I say, cutting her off.

"No, spill." Mike's nosy ass said.

"Well, I set Mick up with a girl that dresses.... Well, like her. I don't understand why she won't give her a chance."

"I do not want anything more than friendship from her. She cool, I can admit that. But, other than chillin' at a strip club, or like, a casual setting, I can't. I won't."

The thought of being anything more than friends made me nauseous.

The thought that I even entertained the thought earlier made me even more so.

"Micki. You alright?" Asked Mike.

"Yeah, I'm cool." I say, trying to erase that thought from my memory.

Get ahold of yourself, Mick.

Chill.

Be weird some other time!

I check my phone, and see the time was up.

I blow the horn and all three of our clients picked someone to go on a little speed date with. I figure I'd better go make small talk with the matches.

"Hey, how y'all doin'?" I ask, a big, white smile plastered on my face.

"Fine," said Kia, also smiling.

"How do y'all like Celeste so far?"

"She is gorgeous." gushed Lisa, looking dapper in her red and white lady tux.

"You're lookin' sharp, Lisa." I say.

"You got a little swag, yourself, Micki." She says, taking a sip from her glass.

"Ah, thanks."

"Greg, how you feelin', man?"

"Whew, pretty nervous. She's beautiful, man."

I chuckle. "Don't be. I promise you, she doesn't bite. Relax."

"Really?" He asks.

"Yeah. Loosen up." I suggest. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Devon Byrd.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes, and wave him over.

"Sorry, had a prior engagement."

Translation for "I got sloppy drunk last night, brought a stripper home, fucked her, woke up, and forgot that I had to meet another chick."

"It's cool, just jump right in."

When that five minutes went up, I backed up and blew the horn. All clients chose a different person. And much to my dismay, Celeste chose Devon Byrd.

This was gonna be a long session.

So when the end came, and I asked Celeste in private which matches she liked best, and she told me she'd like a separate date with him, I shook my head.

"Absolutely not."

Celeste's mouth tightened.

"You fell right into my trap. Devon has NO regard for other people's time. He was late to the session, he'll come home late from work, he'll show up late to the wedding, nope."

"Wedding? Whoa, whoa. You're going too fast."

"I'm zoomin' through the future. C'mon, woman. You deserve better than that. So, you wanna know my top two for you? Lisa and Greg."

Her face lit up.

"Well, Lisa was actually my second choice."

"Yeah, Lisa doesn't have kids, but she's open to starting a family. And Greg actually has a daughter from a previous marriage."

"Okay, great. So, then, those are the people I'm gonna go out with?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'll call them and all that. They're gonna plan the dates, okay?

So you don't have to worry about that. One thing I'll advise you not to do, okay? Don't give up the cookies until you decide which person you want. Y'all are grown, so if you decide you're ready to get down an' dirty on the first date, it's really whatever. BUT you should wait til you go on a second date with whomever you choose."

"I hear you."

"Okay, see you in a couple days."

"Alright, thanks."

I beam. "You're welcome."

Yes!!

I just KNOW either one of them would be a great match for Celeste!

That night, I got in my car and drove to Rae's house. Tonight was the night that I would meet the girl she gushes about.

After I couldn't make it the other day, I'd,promised Rae I'd come see her today.

So here I was, in a black tee shirt. It said "SWAG". The S and W were white but the A and G were in red.

I had on jeans too, because fuck it.

If I'm gonna be casual, I gotta go all out.

My hair was in a pretty sloppy ponytail but I could still get a number if I wanted to.

I hop in and vibe to some great music.

Before long, I'm in the driveway of Rae's place.

I hop out, head up the stairs, and knock.

Rae opens the door.

"Mickiiiiiiiii!" She says, excitedly.

"Come here, come here." She ordered, while shutting the door. She gets ahead of me and I follow her. In the living room is where I find a really pretty stud.

Rae smiles widely.

"Mick, this is Remy. Baby, this my cousin I told you about."

"So glad to meet you." She said.

"Nice to meet you too, Remy."

I squint my eyes at her.

"Is there a problem, Mick?"

Rae asks me.

"Where do I KNOW you from?" I ask myself out loud. Then it comes to me.

"You the girl that gave Dana a nosebleed a while back."

"Yeah," she chuckles. "That's me."

"Yo, I actually wanna thank you for that. All that girl did was talk crazy to people. You shut her up quick."

She and Rae laugh.

"Man, she always did the most!"

Remy agreed.

Hours later, I got up and hugged Remy. "Nice meeting you, man."

"Yeah, we gotta do something soon." She says.

"Alright." I said smiling, and heading over to Rae.

"Ima see you later, okay?" I said, pecking her on the cheek.

"Stay safe, little one. Call me soon."

"Aight. Love you, drive safe!"

I nod. "Okay."

I head over Tina's house and knock. No answer. I knock again.

"Hold on, damn!" I hear, echoing through the walls.

"Hi, baby." I say, upon her answering.

"What are you doin' here?" She asks.

"Here to see you." I say, stepping in.

Good Lord, Tina was lookin' great! She had on a light blue BSU Tee and some really short shorts on.

"Came to see me, or came to get some?"

I smile slyly.

"Mick, I don't give up the cookies when I'm not in a relationship. My eyebrows rose. "Oh, really?"

She nods.

"I guess Bri was an exception, huh?"

"Please do NOT bring that girl up."

I roll my eyes. Bri Harper was the girl Tina cheated on me with.

"Look, baby. I'm stressed, YOU'RE stressed, let's release it together." I said, in my smoothest voice.

I place my bare lips squarely on her painted red ones and felt an eletrical shock.

Damn, I really wanted her right now.

Tina looked like she needed some more convincing, so I did it again. This time, she kissed me back.

"Take me." was all she said, before I pushed her onto the couch, her legs wrapped around me.