Faces of the Game by Mandi Mac

moment to pray, he’s probably alright you would know if he wasn’t, trust me” Ash said trying to comfort her friend.  They both sat there silent for a few moments, Chelle did what Ash suggested and took a few moments to send up a special prayer for Chip.  “Girl I don’t want to go anywhere until I hear something from him, anything could be going on” Chelle said still confused about the private phone calls and the guy asking where “he” was.  Five times out of ten the guy had the wrong number, but the private calls made it all too strange.  Chelle was going to worry herself sick if she didn’t get her mind off of the situation.  “Girl, let’s go get some lunch it’s almost three o’ clock and you still have on a night shirt.”  “I just got out of the shower, I just don’t want to leave I will cook us some lunch.”  “I want an appetizer, meal and desert so let’s go to ummm, Friday’s” Ash suggested.  “No, you go ahead, I am going to stay here a little longer; maybe we can go out for dinner later on tonight.”  “I am not leaving you in here by yourself, you are confused and afraid that could be dangerous” Ash said trying to add humor into the conversation.  “Shut-up, I will be alright you know how I get when I am worried”.  Chelle got up and went into the kitchen to thaw out a pack of chicken wings.  She scanned the refrigerator and saw a bag of salad, so she decided to put the wings on the grill outside and make salad to go with them.  “You want some grilled wings and salad?”  She asked Ash as she walked into the living room.  “Yeah, that’s fine” Ash said wishing Chip would call Chelle before she had a heart attack.  “Chelle it’s cold outside, are you sure you feel like grilling those wings?”  “Yeah, I will be alright once I light the grill” Chelle went into the bedroom and put on one of her new sweat suits, a pair of socks and her Jordan flip flops.  She threw her hair into a ball and went back into the kitchen.  She grabbed a few lemons out of the refrigerator and began rolling them on the counter to soften them.  Once the lemons were a little softer, she boiled them for about eight minutes just to kill time and to make sure they were good and soft before making the lemonade.  She went in the living room and sat on the sofa next to the one Ash was sitting on.  “What are you watching?”  Chelle asked as the commercials were playing.  “Girl something on Oxygen, it’s a movie I don’t know what it’s about yet”.  “I can’t believe he just left like that without saying a word, he didn’t answer or call me back” Chelle said as a tear rolled down her cheek.  “I know you are not crying” Ash said chuckling a little.  “Whatever, don’t act like you are so hard you would shed a tear or two also” Chelle said wiping her tear away.  “Dang, it’s almost five o’ clock, that nigga better hurry up before I snap on him too” Ash said running her fingers through her hair.  Chelle went back into the kitchen and took the lemons out of the pot.  She cut them into two, squeezed as much juice out as she could and got the rest out with a spoon.  She poured just enough sugar into the pitcher as well and she ran some hot water in it to dissolve the sugar better.  Once she stirred the sugar and juice, she ran cold water in the pitcher and filled it up; she stirred it again and sat it in the freezer.  The chicken had thawed out enough, so she ran warm water in the sink and washed it off with the warm water and salt.  Once she washed the chicken off she seasoned it and went outside on the balcony to light the grill.  It took her a few minutes to get the grill going because the wind was blowing a little, but she finally got it lit.  A few minutes later, she put the chicken on the grill and came back in to sit down for a few minutes.  “Girl, I am about to lose it” Chelle started before Ash shushed her, “this is the good