Read Online The Black & The White by Evelin Weber - Free Book Online Page A

It’s old. It’s big. It’s yours,” Kim winked.
    I left Kim’s place feeling confident
as though for a moment, I was Kim.
    I met Carin at a bar near the office.
Our plan was to have a drink, then meet Kim and M.D. a short cab
ride away, at Nobu Next Door in Tribeca.
    The restaurant was packed. People were
squeezed in shoulder-to-shoulder, undeterred by the discomfort of
the small space. Patrons were leaving as they were being told of
the hour wait.
    I expected to see just Kim and M.D.,
but when Carin and I arrived at the restaurant we saw that they
were seated at a large table at the front of the restaurant with
three other people. There were two men, introduced to us as
colleagues of M.D.’s named Ben and David, and a statuesque,
six-foot-tall black girl with a short afro named Zozo, who was from
Somalia. She looked about eighteen years old.
    Kim excused herself right after
greeting us, grabbed my arm, and led me through the crowded diners
and into the bathroom.
    “ I’m so excited that you’re
here! Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that no one, absolutely no
one, knows about M.D. and me. Okay?”
    She began rummaging through her purse,
eventually pulling out a plastic contraption she inserted into her
nose. I watched her sniff something into each nostril. I was
shocked.
    She wiped her nose before she
responded to my look. “It’s just a little pick-me-up.”
    When had she started doing cocaine? I
wondered. Hadn’t she told me that cocaine was a bad habit
ubiquitous amongst the traders on the trading floor?
    I had always been adamantly against
drug use, culturally and morally. Seeing her do it made it seem
slightly less reprehensible. Yet, I felt conflicted because I felt
I’d been lied to, deceived. I wondered just how much of herself Kim
was hiding from me.
    “ So who are all those other
people? I thought it was going to be me, you, and
Carin.”
    Kim pinched her nose with her fingers
and checked her nostrils in the mirror. She then wiped her nose
with the back of her hand.
    “ Whatever.” She paused
before she continued. “It’ll be fun with a group of people. The
more I make it obvious that I hang out with M.D. and his friends,
the less people will suspect we’re having an affair.”
    I watched her primp and press her
clothes down.
    “ How do I look?” she
asked.
    “ Like a rock star,” I
answered.
    “ Because I am,” she said,
blowing me a kiss. She seemed exceedingly confident.
    En route to our table, Kim said, “I
actually ran into them at Playright’s after work the other
day.”
    “ Who’s they?” I
asked.
    “ M.D. and The Wife.” She
acted as if I should have known.
    “ What did you do?!” I asked,
surprised she was mentioning it so casually.
    “ Shhh! Nothing. I’ll tell
you later,” Kim said as we reached the table.
    Kim wiped her nose again with the back
of her hand and said, “Let’s just say not impressed.”
    When we got to the table, M.D. stood
up and pulled Kim’s chair out for her. Carin was already engrossed
in a flirtatious conversation with Ben. It was hard not to notice
Zozo take the flat side of her fist to her nose and
snort.
    We drank copious amounts of sake. The
crowd grew louder, making it hard to hear what anyone had to
say.
    Kim, Carin, and I became engaged in a
private conversation among the three of us.
    “ Okay, so carry on. Spill
the beans on the run-in with his wife,” I said to Kim.
    “ The wife?” Carin asked.
“Whoa! I’m missing a story here.”
    “ Kim is dating a married guy
and met the wife,” I explained. “Get it? M.D? Married Dude.” I
explained the acronym.
    “ I think I can tell my own
story,” Kim said.
    “ Oh, come on. I just want to
know what happened,” I said.
    “ Yeah, me too. What’s his
name?” Carin asked.
    “ It’s not important.
Anyway…” Kim clapped her hands in excitement about her own story,
and Carin and I fed off her energy. M.D. was across the table, too
far away to hear anything we were saying. Our