Single Lamentations, Part 1

"What am I doing here?"

The smell of sweat stained the air. The scent of cheap perfumes and colognes were an uncomfortable cacophony of smells.

"What did you say Angela?" Sylvia tried to project her voice over the music and voices.

"Nothing," Angela pouted, "I'm ready to go when you are."

The pair eventually made their way outside the nightclub.

"Never again Sylvia, never again."

"Angela, you need to learn to have fun. Don't complain to me anymore about being lonely. I tried to help."

"I'm not sure Mr. Right is in there."

"You never know...You just need to put yourself out there." Sylvia used a pause in their conversation to unlock her car. The red sedan greeted them with a flash of its lights.

"I guess I don't know what I want." Angela confessed. "I hate these clubs, but I'm also so tired of being single."

"Angela, I don't think you have to find someone in a place like that. I like clubin' as much as the next girl, but if it's not for you then it's not." Sylvia fought with her purse before throwing it into the back seat. A low roar of the engine and they were on the street. Lights flashed by at an almost disorienting speed. The bass crept out of nearby clubs and low riding vehicles.

"There must be something wrong with me, Sylvia." Angela hugged her purse, "Four years without a boyfriend. Four years...Everyone else our age is either getting married or getting close to it."

"Come on girl, you're beautiful. You are so smart. And funny, everyone loves to be around you." Sylvia kept her eyes on the road, but she felt the need to reach out to her friend.

"I just don't know what to do. I don't want to seem desperate, but maybe I am after all this time." Angela watched as the dancing city lights quickly transformed into the monotonous highway greenery. "I just don't know."

Sylvia leaned into the drivers seat uncomfortably. She was at a loss although her urge to help her friend was great. And then she had it. The red sedan came to a complete stop on the highway. The sudden stop threw them forward.

"Sylvia, What the hell!" Angela barked out when she caught her breath.

Sylvia busied herself with fishing in the backseat for her purse and then with rummaging through its innards.

"Why are we stopped on the interstate?" Angela's question was punctuated by a passing tractor trailer whose speed rocked the sedan. Angela smiled and pulled out a pink pen and notebook.

"Found it!" Sylvia exclaimed softly to herself.

"What is that for? Sylvia, what's going on?" A tint of irritation started to take over Angela's features.

"Okay, you want a man? You got him." Sylvia pushed her pink notebook and pen into her best friends hands.

"What? You are confusing me girl." Angela reluctantly took the gifts.

"If you want something done, do it yourself. Write out your man, every detail of him, in that notebook. We are not moving until we know what your man looks, smells and tastes like. I want his likes, his dislikes. His quirks and everything that makes him cool. That's part one of the two part assignment." Sylvia put on her hazards, quieted the engine and reclined her seat.

"Are you serious?" Angela looked at the keys that no longer engaged the engine.

"As a heart attack." A click and Sylvia no longer wore a seat belt.

"You're crazy." Angela admitted with a small smile as she took off her seat belt and got to work.

After a few minutes of writing, Angela looked up at Sylvia. "Okay, I think I'm done."

"Alright, now I don't want the details yet, but I need a list of ten things you can do to get to your goal of a relationship."

Angela went back to work. A few more minutes of effort and she was done. "Okay, now what?"

"Nothing," Sylvia said as she put her seat back up and fastened her seat belt. "A change in your life starts with a change in your behavior. Men don't fall out of the sky. Good relationships aren't built on good luck and opportune meetings. Don't tell me what you wrote in that notebook. Show me."

With a rumble of the engine the red sedan floated back onto the highway.

"You're a piece of work, you know that?" Angela reclined her chair and went to sleep.