The Girl in the Shower Scene

I think everyone knows at least one "famous" person. From school, or church, or drunken, anonymous house party sex, we all know some poor sap who had their wish to be renowned granted. How they feel about it now we can only guess, because once the dream-chasing paid off, they forgot our asses quicker than a spouse's favorite food.

I know/knew a few; here's one. True story.

We've all seen Baby Boy, right? One of John Singleton's best movies, might I add. Remember Jody's baby momma Peanut? Her real name is Tamara Laseon Bass. Well, at least it was when we were friends. She might have gotten all Prince Roger Nelson on me & changed her name to Stardust Bunny or Rayne'Bo by now. You never can tell with those celebrity types. Anyhow, if you've never seen the movie, see it. She's the girl in the shower scene. You can't miss it, trust.

We met at LMU in the mid-90's, at a party. I was with a buddy, & him & I were the ONLY two guys at a dorm party with about 10 girls. My homeboy got drunk & throw up all over some random broad's bed. Like the gentleman I am/was, I cleaned up his barf & one of the chicks volunteered her room for him to sleep it off. So, after I walked him across the hall, back I was in a room full of halfway decent young ladies.

Now, back then, my Bullshit ability was unparalleled. Undetectable by the naked ear. & I'm not an unattractive guy, so by the end of the night, all the girls had given me their connects because they said I was the coolest, most down-to-Earth guy they'd met in Los Angeles. I eventually called a couple of them just because, but the coolest girl's name was Tamara. She moved out here from New York, & her accent was so intriguing that I could/would talk to her for hours about nothing at all. We even wrote each other when she went home to visit her Mom. She was the first person I ever saw wearing Old Navy. A blue zippered sweatshirt with the company name plastered across the front.

We were close friends from jump; she'd invite me to the school, I'd go (of course), hang with her all day, swim, eat, smoke the occasional blunt. But, our whole friendship was strictly platonic. I never looked at her like that, & truth be told I tried just based off of how cool she was to me. No Dice. She even spent the night at my house when I moved from my parents' & slept on the couch. I slept on the floor. One day, she started hinting that she wanted more than a friendship, acting jealous of other girls being around me & whatnot. & she would always find a way to lock her arm into mine, like I was her escort around campus. But, she wasn't on my radar. We stayed friends though. She became more serious about her studies, while I became more adament about whoring myself out to every girl I smelled & time passed on.

The last time I saw her, she had invited me to a play she was in at LMU. I, being the egotistical maniac one becomes after buying a car & getting their own spot, showed up with a date. Tamara didn't see her, crept out of the shadows & kissed me on the cheek, real soft. Then she glanced around my shoulder & saw a girl, a fellow Lion at that, peering back at her. I said, "You did good!". She smiled partially, mumbled "thanks" & walked out of my life.

Sometimes I still miss her. That's the kind of person she was, to me at least.

Oh wait. That's not the last time I saw her. The last time was actually when I saw a sneak preview of 'Baby Boy' at the Magic Johnson Theater on Crenshaw Boulevard.

Again, she's the girl in the shower scene.