I don’t really remember the first time I met Jo, but I’m sure it was some time in the 9th grade. She was short, funny, and had all the confidence in the world. We ended up becoming great friends over the years. We’ve had funny, tearful, crazy, and outrageous moments. She’s the person I would call if I needed someone to be in the passenger seat to do some investigative work. She was the person I would talk about God with. She’s the person that would have dance battles with me in the middle of dance floor in a nightclub or in the middle of my living room. She’s the person I would call between commercial breaks during our favorite television shows to talk about what just happened.
She is also the person that made Boy #1 and me official for the first time. One day during my sophomore year in high school she said, “Why don’t ya’ll just go together?” I said, He never formally asked me.” She said, “Must I do everything?” She hung up the phone and a few minutes later she called me back and said, “Ya’ll go together now.” Family, friends, and boy drama we remained as close as close could be. So, people thought it was super strange that our friendship ended abruptly.
I don’t remember exactly what happened. It wasn’t an argument and there was no yelling, but one day we didn’t see eye to eye. I wasn’t angry and she wasn’t either, but for some strange reason neither one of us picked up the phone and called the following day. I woke up one day looked at the calendar and realized we hadn’t talked in about two months and by then I felt too embarrassed to call and say “What’s up?”. So I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. It was almost a year and still not a word spoken between the two of us so when I received a text from an unfamiliar number that said, “What up E.B.?” I didn’t even need to read the rest because it is only one person that calls me E.B. and that is Jo. I responded to the text in lightning speed. We talked over the next couple of days and finally decided to meet up at a day party at Sky Sixty.
Even after all of those months it felt like we hadn’t missed a beat. We sat on a sofa overlooking the dance floor and she said, “So what’s up with you and Boy #2?” I raised my right eyebrow and she said, “Nooo!” I said, “Yes girl!” She said, “I didn’t think you would ever stop talking to him.” I said, “Hell…me neither. I was going to admit myself into rehab because I was acting like a fiend, crack head, J over that boy.” She laughed and said, “I’m just thinking about all the stuff that happened between ya’ll in Tally-ho when I was living there.” I said, “Don’t remind me.”
A guy approached us and said, “Can I sit here?” Jo and I both said, “Yeah.” We kept talking and I noticed the guy hadn’t looked up from his cell phone once since he sat down so I put my hand over his screen and said, “You could have played on Facebook at home.” He laughed and said, “And what you been doing? You have been in this corner talking to your girl the whole night.” I said, “How you know? I just got here.” He said, “You lying! You were here before me and I got here at 6:36.” Jo and I both laughed.
He said, “I’m The Atheist.” I said, “I’m Ebony and this is my friend Jo.” He said, “You guys from here?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “You don’t sound like you from here?” I said, “And how is that supposed to sound?” He said, “Country! You can’t be from here.” I said, “I was born in Tampa, but that’s like an hour from here. And Jo was born in Trinidad.” I said, “Where you from?” He said, “Texas.” I said, “You’re a long way from home?” He said, “Yeah, but I work out here now.” I said, “You like it?” He said, “It’s cool. I’m usually at work.” I said, “Where do you work?” He said, “At a college.” I said, “UCF?” He said, “Nah, do you go there?” I said, “I graduated from FAMU.” The Atheist said, “What was your major?” I said, “Political Science and my minor was Religion.” He said, “Religion?” With a straight face I said, “Yeah, I’m an ordained minister.” He gave me a look of confusion. Jo busted into laughter and I said, “I’m just kidding…”
The Atheist said, “So you one of those people that believe in the “higher power”?” I said, “Do I believe in God, heaven, and hell…yes. Don’t you?” The Atheist said, “Nah.” I cut my eyes at Jo and looked back to The Atheist. I said, “So who do you believe in?” He said, “Myself.” I said, “So if things get rough who do you go to?” He said, “Myself…who do you go to?” I said, “God.” He said, “You go to God for solace, but you usually find the answer within yourself.” I said, “So how do you think we all got here? You believe in that whole evolution of the monkeys’ theory?” He said, “I don’t know how we are here, but at least I can admit that.”
Jo sat there shaking her head and said, “If somebody holding you over a balcony about to drop you from the 100th floor or somebody puts a pistol in your face and threatens to shoot you I bet you will say “Oh God”, “Please Lord”, “Help me Jesus”…something” I laughed at Jo’s comment and I said, “In all honesty what you do is your business, but I feel bad for people who don’t believe in a higher power. I’m not saying you have to believe in what I believe in, but faith is a powerful thing. I couldn’t imagine not believing in something because it keeps you sane, it keeps you warm at night. And when nobody is around it makes you feel like there is somebody there, it helps you be optimistic when it seems like nothing is going your way…I don’t know.” Jo said, “Seriously, we’re at a day party and religion and politics are the two topics that people usually have to agree to disagree.” I laughed at her comment and said, “So basically you want to enjoy the music and the atmosphere?” She said, “Exactly.” I looked over to The Atheist and said, “Nice meeting you though, we’re going to head to the dance floor.”
Jo and I stood around the dance area and watched people dance to house music when the DJ started to play a familiar song “Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world…” I started singing along with the song when The Atheist approached me and said, “I’ll buy you drink if you can name the artist of this song.” I couldn’t think of the name for anything so I looked over to Jo and she mouthed “Journey.” I said, “Journey?” The Atheist said, “Your friend gave you the answer?” I said, “Is it right though?” He said, “Yeah. I guess I owe you a drink?” I said, “Don’t worry about it. I’m good.” He said, “Well, I guess I’ll just get myself one.”
Jo and I looked at the time and decided it was time to head home because we both had to work early in the morning. She said, “Are you going to tell buddy bye. I think he kept coming around because wants to get your number?” I said, “No chance. I know I’m not a hard core holy roller like some people, but I’m sure one day I will be and I know I can’t deal with nobody who doesn’t believe in God. Me and him could never date or get married because I know I always say I don’t want kids, but if I have them I know for sure I want them believing in God. I must be sheltered or something because this is my first time meeting a black person that doesn’t believe in God.” She said, “Yeah, buddy said no bueno to Allah.” I said, “He doesn’t believe in Jah though?” She said, “He said the only thing he knows about 40 days and 40 nights is that movie.” I said, “So he not a soldier in the army of the Lord?” She said, “I guess Jesus not on his mainline.” I said, ”Sooo all Jerusalem is to him is a good vacation spot?” She said, “So he doesn’t know anything about Eve and the apple…he just know about Eve the rapper?” We both looked at each other and busted into laughter.
Jo and I were heading back to the parking lot and I said, “Not to be all lame and super emotional, but I missed you homie.” She said, “What? I missed the hell out of you.” I couldn’t make this ish up if I tried.
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