Free Valentine's Day Is Killing Me by Mary Janice Davidson, Susanna Carr, Leslie Esdaile

booty call, she didn’t know what! If it weren’t for the fact that her telephone was a cheapie model that couldn’t handle the abuse, she would have thrown it. But common sense told her not to press her luck with plastic.
    “I cannot believe you!” Jocelyn shouted. “We made a pact! Oh, Lawd, give me strength.” She erased the message, sure now that her other girlfriends were blowing up her line while she’d been out to fuss about this transgression. But to her amazement, Freddie…level-headed, got-it-together Freddie had a long story, too?
    “Girl,” Freddie’s voice was near shrill, breaking and hitching as her cell phone transmission sputtered into Jocelyn’s voice mail, “see, what had happened was, I was minding my business, and this guy, an attorney, who comes in every day, just to cut through my store to get to his offices on the other side of the mall…well, the brother is fine—no, restatement, fionne , and uh, he came up on me at the end of the day, said he’d been watching me, but never approached, on account of the fact that he was waiting for his divorce to go through, respect, and uh, what had happened was, his papers came in earlier this week, and he was all messed up…said he just couldn’t deal with doing Valentine’s Day alone—girl, you shoulda seen the tears sitting up in his fine eyes—pretty lashes, all black and shiny and whatnot, and he asked me if I’d just have a drink and listen to some jazz with him, girl, you know what I mean, and uh, on the way to the jazz spot, he stopped at a vendor on the street and brought me flowers— roses , chile! I’m in the ladies’ room at the club right now, trying to call you— where you at ? Holla. Call me. I know you all gonna be mad, but this is a love 9-1-1, and y’all can’t be mad at a sistah, for real. I love you, boo. I’m taking this one home tonight, so I’ll call ya tomorrow— peace . I’m out!”
    Jocelyn gripped the telephone so hard, her knuckles were turning white. When she saw Freddie, she was gonna kick her natural behind! “Oh! You and Jacqui are crazy! What a lame story! What a crock! That fool was plottin’ on your booty since the day he saw you, girl! Arrrgggghhhh!”
    Pacing, she erased Freddie’s message, hitting the button so hard she almost broke a nail. “C’mon, T, don’t you stand me up, too, girl…we go way back,” Jocelyn yelled, listening to her last friend’s message. “Somebody has to hold the line tonight!”
    “Jo-ce- lyn , my sistah, my sistah …”
    Jocelyn closed her eyes as she listened to Tina’s voice mail message, knowing what was coming next—an excuse.
    “It happened so fast—I was going on an internship run, trying to do some volunteer work for the Philly sports teams and children’s foundations they work with…and this tall, fine, NFL brother walked in…girl, we got to talking, and uh, he’s single, and uh, he was all caught up in the post season ‘what-am-I-gonnado-till-spring’ thang, and liked my posters, and my T-shirt designs for the kids…and uh, he was like, whatchu doing tonight, and uh, I was like, me and my girls was supposed to be hanging out at uh, our friend’s apartment, chillin’, and uh, he asked me if I’d like to uh, maybe roll up to the Poconos with him, given it was Valentine’s Day, and uh, he has a cabin in the woods, and broke up with his lady before the season, and was trying to stay away from drama so it wouldn’t interfere with his game—girl, lemme just say, the man is six-six, two-eighty, built like, oh Lawd, ain’t been with a woman since the season began, chile, see, so, I’ma have to make this run, but I got y’all’s gifts, and tomorrow, or maybe later in the week, we’ll catch up for dinner, you know I love y’all, right, but Joce, girl…Okay, look, he’s coming back into the gym and uh, I gotta run. ‘Bye. Luv ya. Don’t be mad.”
    Jocelyn set the phone down in its cradle very precisely and put the wine and champagne