What could be better than Atlanta in the summer, having a cookout with your friends, chilling in the backyard, and having a ole good time? My crew is ranked high up on the roster of the who's who of the Black Urban Professionals who have migrated to the ATL from New York, DC, Chicago, all over to make our mark. You'd think with all our collective success there'd be a lot of drama and egos to be stroked but all my peeps are down to earth and really chill. Being as we are all transplants, we sort of formed a bond and we all hang together. None of us went to Morehouse or Spelman, none of us belong to the super-huge mega churches that require a W-2 form and a pint of blood to join. There's me, my name is Nowell, and my boy Tracy who is a lawyer for the DA's office. He would make a helluva lot more money working in a private law firm but he's all about fighting crime and balancing the scales of justice. Then there is my boy Ezra, financial wizard extraordinaire and banker to the stars. Well, they aren't really stars but they are the first and second generation rich, white, fat-cats who live in Buckhead. I have my own cleaning business, specializing in cleaning office buildings at night and I'm pleased to say that I've done well for myself. And no, before you ask, I don't hire no damn undocumented workers thank you very much.

My homies Theresa and Vivian were in the house as well, prettying up the scenery. T is a professor at Ga. Tech and Viv works at the CDC doing what exactly I don't know but I know it's some crazy shit that turns my stomach every time I hear her talk about work. I learned my lesson and stopped asking a long time ago. Rounding out the group was my special little shorty, Imani, who is running her own spa and retreat off RDA Blvd. No disrespect to the Georgia belles or the southern peaches or whatever the home grown ladies from the dirty south call themselves but I prefer my women with a little more spunk and a lot less subservience than the native ladies seemed to offer up and Imani had the perfect mix of intellect, beauty, creativity and FI-YAH that suited me perfectly. We're going on two years together and, truth be told, I am planning on putting a ring on her finger and making her mine but I want to plan it out perfectly how I'm going to ask her but me and my procrastinating ass just haven't taken the time to work out all the details.

My house is always the central meeting place for everybody because I have the big pool, the enclosed backyard and the gigantic grill that looks like something they'd install on Extreme Home Makeover. I was having a little theme party of sorts. It was my Latin night, nothing special, informal really, but I had some smokin hot salsa CDs, all the fixins for do-it-yourself fajitas, a couple of pitchers of mojitos and a chest full of Corona's on ice. I gotta pat myself on the back sometimes for being able to pull off my little theme parties with such little effort and a lot of success.

We were all chillin in the back yard, dancing and making up words to songs in Spanish, well, they weren't real words, we were just trying to sing along to the steamy Afro Cuban melodies. We'd played a game of Spades and Tracy and Teresa spanked everyone's ass, like they always do, and made sure to gloat and brag for the rest of the night. While Imani and I are officially the only real couple, there is always a lot of flirting going on amongst the rest of the crew even though I have no first hand knowledge of anybody ever seriously hooking up. I do know for a fact that Tracy has a thing for T and I've seen Vivian and Ezra flirting on more than one occasion. Imani often fantasizes that they will hook up and we will all live in the same subdivision and have kids and the whole nine but, to date, e'rybody was just trying to make sure that the friendship didn't get fucked up so extracurricular lovin was off limits. Imani and I were together before the crew so we were exempt. In fact, we were the anchors of the crew, we both brought our friends to the table and everyone just clicked.

"Damn, Nowell, these Mageetos are good as shit. I gotta make me some of these." Ezra was letting the alcohol go to his head.

"It's pronounced MO-HE-TO silly, and sit your drunk ass down before you fall in the pool and bust your skull open." Vivian was playing mother hen but she looked more like a Sports Illustrated cover model in her skimpy little bikini and that thingie that wrapped around her booty. Ezra wasn't really that drunk; he was just playing it up so he could pull Viv on his lap and get his feel on. He winked at me as he snuggled in her neck and whispered sweet nothings. Knowing E, it was more like nasty somethings rather than sweet nothings.

Tracy and Teresa were in the Jacuzzi, talking about the meaning of life and cosmic, karmic shit like they always do. The rest of us could have stripped down butt naked and done the limbo and they wouldn't have noticed. It was all about intellectual connection with the two of them and whenever we got together, the two of them always ended up in some deep philosophical discussion about the meaning of life. It's not that they rest of us were uninterested or incapable of participating in the dialogue, it's just that they only seem to have eyes for each other whenever our little get togethers go past 9 PM.

I poured Imani another drink and I popped another beer. "Nowell! Are you trying to make me pass out? I've barely finished my last drink. Besides, I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

I grabbed her hand and pulled her close. "Wait, dance with me first. I love this song."

"You've never heard this song before," she resisted, pulling away, "come on, let me go."

"Just because I've never heard this song before, doesn't mean I don't love it. Besides, I love you and I want to dance." That was all it took and she was in my arms and we were doing the forbidden dance. My shit was getting rock hard and it was a good thing it was now dark outside because the glow from the citronella candles wasn't bright enough to illuminate the big bulge in my trunks.

Dancing didn't last too long before we were interrupted. "Hey, y'all, it's getting late and me and Teresa are going to head out." The girls started kissing each other goodbye n' shit and Ezra and I pulled Tracy to the side. We wanted to know why the speedy exit was in order and why he looked like he had just hit the lotto. "Maaaaan, me and Theresa gettin' ready to take things to the next level. I'm following her back to her place, yo. She's the one; I don't know why I been frontin' for so long. She's everything I've been looking for in a woman and the friendship is there ... man, I gotsta roll, I'll holla at you cats manana. Adios, I'm outta here." Ezra and I were giving him pounds and congratulating him when we looked over and saw the ladies were huddled together whispering and looking like sexy-ass Charmed sisters, only the chocolate version, getting ready to cast a power of three spell on Tracy. I broke that shit up quick fast before they could talk Theresa out of anything and started passing out more drinks in congratulations of our friends when they left.

We couldn't stop talking about Theresa and Tracy after they left, hoping things worked out, hoping they didn't fuck up our friendship and force us to choose sides if there was a messy breakup. Overall, the tone was positive. They were both great people and they seemed to have a shitload of chemistry between the two of them. Neither of them was prone to drama or bad breakups in their other relationships so we were pretty assured that they had the makings of a long term joint. We were all sitting around chilling, when out of the blue, Imani blurts out, "So Vivian, when are you and Ezra going to hook up?"

If you could have seen the look on both of their faces you would have peed your pants. They both looked like deer caught in headlights, coughing and stammering, trying to play it off. Vivian played it off and said, "Ohhhh, I'm not Ezra's type."

E-Z-E put that shit in check with the quickness. "And what is my type?"

Vivian looked uncomfortable and got up and got more beer. She bent over and I had to look away real quick before I felt a hand upside the back of my head for staring. That big ole booty was looking de-mutha-fucking-licious. Iman's not jealous and I try to be respectful but damn, a brotha can appreciate a fine thick azz when he sees one. She came back with two beers, "Anyone else want one," trying to avoid the question.

"I'll take one but I want to know what you think my type is. You don't think I'm attracted to beautiful, intelligent, sweet, successful women? You think I like chicken heads?" Ezra wanted an answer. "I've been feeling you since the day we met but you was always talking about dude in LA, Gerald, and I wasn't trynta holla when you were into some other guy."

Viv looked like she was offended. "First of all, his name was Levar, where the hell did you get Gerald from? Second, that was over a year ago. You haven't heard me mention anyone since then, at least nothing serious. I just thought that because you never really tried to push up that you weren't attracted to me."

I grabbed Imani's hand and pulled her over by the pool because I could tell things were about to get serious. She was protesting, saying she wanted to stay and clear things up, defend her friend that, in fact, she had stopped talking to Levar at least a year ago. I know my boo and she has been dreaming about the possibility that all our friends would get together since shortly after we first introduced them. And know her like I do, she was going fuck shit up if she interfered. I explained to her that it wasn't about Levar Burton, Gerald Levert or anybody else under the sun at that moment, it was about the two of them admitting that they were attracted to each other and that they've both been fighting it.

When we looked over, Ezra had pulled Vivian down on his lap and they were talking. We could see Vivian take the initiative and lean over and kiss Ezra softly. "See," I said, "just let them work this out. They'll be fine." Things went from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye. I guess all that pent up attraction to one another had to find some sort of release. E flipped Viv over and lay her back on the sofa thingie, I keep forgetting the name of it but Imani always tells me what it is. Vivian's legs wrapped around him and they started doing a slow grind. I have to admit, it was sort of sexy to be watching them like that.

I glanced at Imani and she was showing signs of arousal as well. Her nipples were poking out and I could clearly see them through her bathing suit. She was breathing heavy and her eyes were fixed to the two brown bodies that were going at it. It was hard not to get turned on by their display. Except for the fact that they were both wearing bathing suits, our friends fucking right in front of us like they didn't give a damn if the whole world could see them. The moonlight, the mojitos, the making out all made my dick harder than Chinese calculus.

I started mirroring Ezra's actions while Imani kept her eyes focused on our friends. When he would kiss Vivian's neck, I would kiss Imani's. She tried to push me away but I could tell from the gentle moans she was making that she was really turned on. Ezra undid the tie on Vivian's top and let it fall to the ground. He lowered his mouth to her hard nipples and started licking them, causing her to arch her back and cry out into the night. I did the same to Imani and she went crazy, grabbing the back of my head and pulling me to her tits.