Differences

“All right, I’ll do it.” Martin put his glass on the bar making a loud sound.

The bar reeked of cigarette and alcohol, especially in the back. The two gentlemen stood away from the crowd, unnoticed by everyone except for the cantineer. They were some of the few whites in the bar, something that started to become more common lately. Of course they didn’t try to mix with the black, there were still some restrictions and they didn’t want to get in trouble. Fortunately for Martin he had a permit so there shouldn’t be a problem in going to the front with them, as long as he didn’t break any rule he should be safe. 

“Alright, it’s settled then.” Tom took a sip to his drink. “But remember, if you don’t get her you're gonna cover my two extra shifts for the next three weeks.” For Martin this was the easiest bet he would ever win, plus he would see how his friend did something extremely ridiculous

“Sure, but you better be ready cuz I won’t lose.” Martin took another sip to his glass and made the same noise as before. “So be prepared to pay for the drinks.”

“You do realize she’s a black girl right?” Tom made sure. 

“I’m not blind you idiot.” Martin looked at the girl at the front of the bar. “I can clearly see with these two eyes how beautiful she is.” He looked away, he didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention. 

“Just please don’t do anything reckless. I don’t want to have to pick you up at the police station... again”

“I already told you, that was a complete misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding that could’ve cost you your life.”

“You worry way too much.”

“That's because you’re an idiot.” Tom took a deep breath “Just be careful, ever since we got here I can’t help but wonder what is a girl like her doing here.”

“What do you mean?” For the first  time Marti looked at Tom.

“I mean, just look at her” Tom turned around to see the girl had her back at the two men. “I mean, you can clearly see that she’s pure, just look at the skin tone. She's also gorgeous, how come she doesn’t have a boyfriend, or maybe he has but he’s not here, you need to be careful.” He looked Martin in the eyes. “It could also be a trap, you know, so that you make a mistake and then she will.”

Martin ordered two drinks, drank one immediately and held the other in his hand. “I still don't know how you always manage to think only about the worst scenarios. For all I know that girl is here to have some fun.” He stood up and started walking towards the girl. 

As Martin started to approach the front of the place the gazes appeared soon. He could feel them, he could even listen to the people asking to themselves things like “What’s that guy doin´ere?” “I hope he has a permit” He noticed how people started putting their wallets and purses away. He wasn’t going to steal anything, he tried not to mind them and kept walking forward until he was at the side of the girl. 

Martin took a sip to his drink. “It’s odd to find someone without company in this place you know?”

The girl turned to look at Martin, she was absolutely stunning, big round eyes, a small nose and beautiful red-ish lips “Why you say that?” She fixed her eyes on Martin

“Well” Martin stuttered. “It’s a Friday night, a bar, y´kno’ people are usually with friends” He tried to sound like them , a little more classy. “Anyway, the name’s Martin. Nice to meetcha” He extended his hand

The girl just look at his hand until he put it away “Nia”

Martin smiles, but before he could say anything the girl looked at the front of the bar.

“Then maybe I’m not like da others” Nia continued. “You idiots think we’ all the same. But you can’t be mo fucking stupid”

“Well I could say the same about you, don’t you think”

“What do you mean?”

“That, you all think that we’re gonna hurt you all. Just pay attention, around us everyone is staring at mea, ready to jump at any, even the minimum sign that I may hurt you.”

“Then why are you here? Do you even have a permit?”

“Wanna see it?” Martin took out his permit from his wallet.

Nia inspected it “So, Martin Lexington. What kind of name is that?”

“The name of the most amazing person you’re ever gonna meet.” Martin smiled

“Ye, sure” Nia replied sarcastically. 

“Why don’t you gimme a chance?”

Nia examined Martin from up t down and started laughing “Why in hell d’ you think i’d ever be with someone like you”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“Think you’ve never looked on a mirror”

Martin finished his drink and placed the glass on the table making a loud noise. The people around became more attentive and were about to approach them but then Martin got up from his chair. “Anyway, I’m leaving. Just realize that you really are like the rest.”

“Like the rest.”

“Just guided by appearances, won’t even take me seriously because of how I look. It’s your loss anyway. Seriously, you should consider that we can be funny and smart and all kinds of things. But you like everyone else just stay on the surface, afraid of even getting to know us” Martin took a step closer to her. “Because in reality you are scared that if you got to meet us you’d realize that we are just the same.”

“Like hell we are.” Nia laughed. 

“Really.”

Nia smiled, there was something in the atmosphere that she couldn't describe, but it made her want to know more about the man she had in front. “How about this.” Martin got close to Nia and she whispered something to his ear. 

“Deal” Said Martin as he slipped a napkin to her. “Can’t believe I’m gonna  be allowed to enter a blakc neighborhood”

“Well, gotta say you’re good with words.” Nia handed him a card and left the bar. 

Martin followed her with his eyes until she exited the place. Then with a silly smile, with all eyes on him he walk towards his friend who was waiting for him at the back. 

“Well well, look who’s got a pass to one of the nicest places in the city.” He showed him the pass Nia had given him. 

“How do you do it?”

“Confidence man. Just confidence.” Martin asked the bartender for another drink. “You gonna see, tomorrow that precious lady will be all mine.” He gulped the liquid and grabbed his coat. “before I leave, when are you gonna pay your debt?”

“I’m only paying it until you get a date with that girl.”

“Ok, all right, but then you better be ready to clean my garage tomorrow.”

The next day Martin got up early, he couldn’t wait for his date, he did some workout before taking a shower. He made sure to clean every inch of himself, afterwards he put lotion and some fragrance. He took a look at the mirror and stared at his deep blue eyes, he wished they could turn brown, even black, just for today. He wanted to look better, darker, more attractive. He picked the best clothes he had. Finally at exactly twelve o’clock he went to the bus stop. 

The bus was completely full. He sat at the back and waited. As time went by the bus started to look emptier with every stop. Finally the bus came to the last stop, there were only four black men and Martin. The driver stared at Martin as he got down. 

Before entering the place Martin was asked by a police officer to show his credentials, he showed him his ID and the pass he had been given. The policeman didn’t pay a lot of attention. attention. He thought that if a person like him was in that place they must know what they're doing. 

Martin took a look before he started walking, it surely was a nice neighborhood. Nice houses, big enough to fit at least three families. He started walking down the street looking at his phone. Nia had given Martin an address and Martin was following the GPS along what seemed like a really long street. He kept walking down the street until he heard a voice.

“Hey! Martin” It was Nia, she was at the end of the street leaning on a door. 

Martin smiled and started walking towards Nia. “Hey, how are you?”

“I’m fine, it’s a really nice place” Martin took something from his pocket and offered it to Nia. “Here, I thought I’d bring you something, so I hope you like chocolate”

“What a gentleman” Nia took the chocolate and put it in her purse. “So, what now? How are you gonna show me that you’re like the rest of us?”

“Just talking, the way we humans have understood each other for ages.”

Nia looked at Marin expecting something else. “All right then, so...”

Martin was taken away from his thoughts, he tried not to sound nervous but the truth is that he could hear his heartbeats. “Is there a park nearby? or something like that.” He stuttered, which only made him even more nervous. 

“We could go to the lake.” 

“That’d be amazing”  Martin offered Nia his hand. “Shall we?”

Nia ignored him and started walking. Martin followed her, trying to stay by her side. The walk for about 20 minutes when Nia finally talked to him “So what you do for a livin’?”

“I’m a technician at LabzGen” Martin started. “I’m in charge of making  sure that all the equipment has an optimal functioning” He felt uncomfortable at Nia’s silence so he decided to continue. “Anyway, it’s a really big place so I have to do a lot of stuff.” Silence, again. “So, what do you do?”

“Me?” Nia took a time to think. “Well, I’m in college, tryna get an engineer degree.”

“Oh that’s amazing! Congratulations.”

Nia looked confused at the compliment “See, that’s the difference.”

Martin didn’t know where the comment was coming from “What?”

“Between you and me, between you and US” Nia realized that Martin really had no idea what she was talking about. “Education, since we are born we know that we gonna go to school, get a degree. What you people don’t understand is that we are different since the moment we are born.”

“That’s just a way to continue the cycle. I’ve had to work since a young age cuz my parents couldn’t keep up with the expenses. If it weren’t for that I’d probably be in college like you.” Martin stopped. “If we really had the same opportunities from the moment we are born everyone would understand that we really are the same.”

“You’re cute y’know”

“I’m trying to be cute, this is real.”

Suddenly they heard a police siren. Martin immediately froze for a moment, he could hear his heartbeat. They weren’t doing anything wrong, but it seemed like a subconscious reaction. They both stopped and looked at the police car. 

A police man got down from the car “Is everything ok, miss? We received a report about a man that was harassing women in the area.”

Martin looked at Nia who had gotten away from him and started walking to the police. 

“Thank you for coming.”

The policeman didn’t proceed to take out his gun and pointed it at Martin “Freeze!”

Martin didn’t understand. Unconsciously he lifted his arms. “I'm nor armed. We were just walking.”

“Is that true lady?”

“No, I never agreed to this, but I thought he was gonna hurt me. Please officer, I was so scared.” Nia started crying.

“Do you have a permit sir?”

“Yes, I have it in my back pocket.” Martin slowly reached for the permit. 

The officer approached Martin and took it. He read it and looked at Martin again. “This permit has expired.”

“What? That can’t be. She gave it to me yesterday.”

The officer handcuffed Martin “You are under arrest for being in an unauthorized zone and for harassing women on the street.”

“Did you have all this planned? You know it’s not like this.” Martin said to Nia as he entered the car.

“I told you, we’re not the same. Who do you think they're gonna believe you, or me?” Nia looked at him respectively. “I just needed to prove to you how things are, gotta admit it was quite fun.”

“So that’s how you see us, as expendable, someone you can ruin their lives without consequences.” Martin took a deep breath, knowing what awaited him after that incident. “You say that we’re the worst of society, unworthy of anything, that we’re the crime and subhuman. But in reality, it’s you, you heartless people.” 

The policeman closed the door and Nia watched how he took Martin.