by J. Gail
The two women argued back and forth for some time before Quanisha’s assistant manager came over and broke it up.
“What the hell is going on Quanisha?” she asked. The assistant manager, Sharon, was a young sister, only a few years older than Quanisha. Sharon was going to school at Temple University in North Philadelphia part time to get her degree. Everybody at the job knew that Sharon was a lesbian, and she didn’t do much to hide that fact – she was glad they knew. Sharon and Quanisha usually got along, and she was a big reason why Quanisha still had her job. Quanisha respected Sharon’s confidence and drive to succeed, and aspired to be like her in a lot of ways.
“This chick just threatened me, talkin’ bout she gonna get ghetto on somebody,” Quanisha answered without hesitation.
“This girl got too much attitude! Everytime I come in here she throwin’ nasty looks at everybody. I asked her to do a damn price check and she won’t do it!” the lady screamed.
“You ain’t even supposed to be in my line, don’t you read? It says ‘Express’ E X P R E S S, ten items or less. You got like 50 things in your cart!” Quanisha said angrily.
“Yes I read, you little bitch. I can read the ‘Thriftway’ stamped on your shirt. You working at a damn supermarket and tryin’ to get cute with folks,” the woman scoffed, trying to get back at Quanisha for her earlier comment. But her comeback was no match for Quanisha’s sharp tongue.
“At least I work for a living instead of living on welfare you stupid stamp-swiping bitch!” Quanisha shot back.
“Quanisha!” the assistant manager Sharon called out to stop the back and forth. She called one of the people working the floor up front to handle Quanisha’s register and took her to the back room. When they got there, Sharon grabbed her by the arms and laid into her.
“Quanisha you can’t talk to the customers like that. I know some of them are annoying as hell, but you still can’t talk to them that way!” she exclaimed.
“Sharon I ain’t about to let some tired old raggedy bitch talk to me however she want!” Quanisha cried out, trying to regain her composure. Her blood was surging through her veins with a vengeance. She knew she had to calm down; she had had problems in the past with high blood pressure and mild heart palpitations.
“Nish, I don’t know what is wrong with you, but you are going to have to adjust your attitude. I can’t keep covering for you! One of these days these incidents are going to get to Roger, and you know he ain’t having it.”
Quanisha opened her mouth to say something, but instead put her hands up to her face and rubbed her temples. “I know, I know. I’m just having a bad day. I wasn’t even supposed to be here today Sharon! I’m just… I don’t know I’m just tired. I’m sorry girl, I just…”
“I get it Nish, but you can’t do this anymore babe. You know what?” Sharon said looking up at the clock on the wall. “Go ahead and finish out this shift on the floor, I think you got another 40 minutes, then go ahead home. I’ll cover your second shift, alright? Go home and get your head straight.”
Quanisha sighed and looked at her assistant manager. “Thanks Sharon.”
“You’re welcome girl, I just want you to be alright,” Sharon replied and pulled Quanisha into a warm embrace. She was a good friend and Quanisha really needed one of those at that time in her life.
When Quanisha got back out into the store, the rude lady was long gone. She was relieved that for the rest of the night she could just stay in the aisles and help stock the shelves because she didn’t feel like dealing with people. For some reason she thought about Tony for the whole 40 minutes she remained at her job.
On her ride home, Quanisha listened to the Hot Boys on Power 99 talking about the party at Palmer’s that was being thrown that next night. She considered giving Trina a call to see if she wanted to go to the party again for Round Two. Just as she was turning at a major intersection, her cellphone started ringing in her pocketbook. She nearly ran over the curb trying to see who it was. A 267 number flashed across her screen and her eyes lit up.
“Hello?” she asked, trying not to sound desperate.
“Yea, who dis?” the voice asked.
“Uh, you callin’ me right, so who dis?” Quanisha said, twisting up her face.
“This Randy, who this? Quanisha?”
“Yea, how do I know you?” Quanisha asked, already having an idea of where he knew her from.
“I met you up at… up what’s that club name…” Rob said, trying to recall.
“Up at Palmer’s?”
“Yea, up there. What’s goin’ on?” Rob asked, settling into the conversation.
Quanisha had butterflies fluttering in her stomach as she drove down her street towards her apartment building. “Not much, what about you.”
“I’m trynna see you. Where you at?” Randy said urgently. Quanisha could hear a lot of people talking in the background.
“I’m just getting home from work,” Quanisha said as she got out of her car and slammed the door. “Why?”
“I was gonna come scoop you. But if you busy…” Randy said, leaving his sentence open ended.
Quanisha sensed that he was trying to bait her. As badly as she wanted him to come over, she resisted. She had already given him the advantage that night at the club, she didn’t want him thinking she was easy. “Yea, I’m tired. I need to go lay down.”
“Lay down?” Randy asked, surprised that she was turning him down. “You’d rather lay down then go sit down at Fridays?”
Quanisha smirked at his comment. He was doing exactly what she wanted. “I don’t know, I gotta get up early tomorrow for work…”
“Girl come on and stop playin’. I wanna see you tonight. It’ll be worth your while.”
“Uh, hold on.” Quanisha pretended to think as she pulled the phone away from her face and walked up the stairs to her apartment slowly. Her whole attitude had changed since leaving her job, and she was now floating on air. “I guess I can come out for a couple hours.”
Randy and Quanisha sat across from each other at the booth in Fridays. Randy had been staring at Quanisha, for more than a few minutes, as if he had never seen a woman before. But it wasn’t really flattering; it just made Quanisha uncomfortable. But Quanisha continued to be her usual boisterous self, and was trying at the same time to be as reserved and proper as possible. She didn’t want this guy to think she was just another chick that he could get quick sex from. She wanted him to know that she was the relationship type. And she wanted him to replace Tony.
“You don’t talk a lot,” Quanisha said to Randy as they ate.
“That’s cuz I got a lot to think about instead, yah mean?” Randy answered.
“Like what?”
“Like… private shit,” Randy said seriously.
“Oh. Well my bad. I thought you might have been thinking about me or somethin’,” Quanisha said as she twirled one of her braids around her finger. She was trying to make the conversation fun and light, but it wasn’t working out that way.
Randy just looked at her and lifted his head to acknowledge her comment before digging back into his food.
“So where you live at?” Quanisha asked innocently.
“Damn you nosey,” Randy said rudely. “I stay down North, but I be out West too.”
“Asking you where you live is nosey? I ain’t gonna ask you nothin’ else then, damn.” Quanisha was becoming annoyed at his arrogance. What bothered her even more was that he balanced it off just enough to make it seem as if she was overreacting when she called him out about it.
“Naw, I’m just cautious about who I let into my B-I baby,” he said cocking his head to the side briefly. “You know, like how you cautious about ‘some of these niggas out here’.”
Quanisha remembered what she told Randy that night at Palmer’s. “Well you know, it’s the truth. You can’t trust every nigga that come your way. Some of them is just out for the coochie, you know?”
“Me? I don’t deal with niggas like th
at so I don’t know what the hell you talkin’ about,” Randy said sarcastically.
“You know what I mean,” Quanisha said, getting slightly annoyed again.
“Naw I don’t, but whatever,” Randy said flippantly and waved his hand at Quanisha dismissively.
“You know, I don’t know if you’re big-headed or just an asshole,” Quanisha said, screwing up her face. She was just about done with this date.
“I’m both, and the quicker you realize that the better we’ll get along aiight?” Randy replied, not missing a beat.
Quanisha looked up at him and knew deep down that she should make up an excuse to end the date and keep moving, but something about his overconfidence was very attractive. It didn’t help that he was good looking and well groomed, with narrow sleek features that came together to give his face an edgy, mysterious feel. His dark brown skin was smooth and even, and his hair was trimmed to perfection. He was the best looking guy she’d gone out with, probably ever in her life.
“Listen baby doll, I ain’t trynna scare you off. I just stay real eight days a week. I don’t candy coat shit. Love me or hate me, but most bitches love me. Now if you want, we can go see that flick and continue this little date, or you can be out. It’s up to you.”
“So what, you classifying me as just some bitch now?” Quanisha asked, totally blocking out everything Randy had said after the word ‘bitches.’
Randy sighed. “You know what ma, I don’t got no patience for these little kids’ games. You wanna go or not?”
Quanisha was grinding her teeth as she mulled over what she wanted to do. She was fuming at this brother, but was still curious about him. He seemed like a complex person who most people probably had a hard time understanding. Quanisha decided that she would take some more time to get to know who he was. She nodded her head and took a sip of her drink.
“Aiight, that’s more like it,” Randy said. He pulled a wad of money out of his pocket and paid for the meal.
When Randy pulled around Quanisha’s block, she was surpised when he passed right by her front door and pulled into a spot down the street. They had just finished seeing a really boring movie that Quanisha almost fell asleep on, and she was so ready to climb under her sheets.
“What you parking for?” Quanisha asked as he backed in.
“I’m coming up. Is that aiight wit you?” Randy said putting the car into park.
“Uh, I never invited you in.”
“I’m inviting myself. Yo, what’s your problem? I spent up all that loot out there trynna show you a real good time, and all you do is run your mouth. Do you want me or not?”
“I do like you Randy, but man! You are a little too much. What makes you think you can just talk to me anyway you like? This is a first date, you gotta show some respect,” Quanisha spoke up.
“Listen Quanisha, I been with a lot of bitches. Most of them think they can come at me anyway they want but then they get that rude awakening. I ain’t lettin’ no woman tell me what to do, or try to take my money like these schemin’ ass bitches out here. So I establish shit from the gate so there won’t be no confusion, feel me? This is how I am and if you don’t like it then that’s cool, but we can’t be cool.”
“And I ain’t trynna take your money or none of that. I got my own job, my own place and I take care of my own shit. I ain’t got no reason to scheme on you.”
“You right, I feel you baby doll. Maybe I came off a little strong, my fault. I never met no female that had a job. That’s real,” Randy said turning in his seat to look Quanisha right into her eyes.
“Exactly, I ain’t like all these other gold digging bitches out here. I don’t even got no kids.”
“No kids? You ain’t tell me that.”
“That’s right. You ain’t give me a chance to tell you,” Quanisha said with a smirk as she folded her arms and rolled her eyes. This was one of those moments when she was truly proud of herself for not having kids like all of her peers.
“True. Well, we gonna go upstairs and you can tell me all about it. Oh yea, and we can puff on this while we at it,” Randy said as he pulled an already rolled blunt out of a compartment under his driver’s seat.
“What’s that? Oh shit,” Quanisha said, nodding her head with a smile.
“That’s that purest of the pure, you can’t get no better haze than this right here,” Randy said as he waved the tightly rolled blunt in her face.
“Well damn, what we waiting for?” Quanisha said, opening the car door and getting out.
When Randy rolled off of Quanisha’s back they were both sweating heavily. He smacked her behind one more time and then dropped his head back on her pillow. Quanisha collapsed onto the bed as well. She couldn’t remember ever coming three times in a row in less than an hour.
“Damn Randy, you just don’t even know,” she said breathlessly. She couldn’t open her eyes or stop grinning for a long time.
Randy didn’t respond. He just removed the condom from his now limp member and threw it on the floor. Quanisha had begged him not to use a condom, insisting that she had gotten her tubes tied and could not have kids. Of course, Randy didn’t believe her and wasn’t about to take the risk of getting some chick he just met pregnant. Besides, Randy was also extremely cautious about the STDs that were going around the hood like an epidemic. He had gotten burned once, luckily with something that was curable, but he had seen one of his best boys get herpes from one of his baby’s mothers. Another close friend of his had gotten a real nasty case of crabs from his cheating girlfriend. One of his cousins had even contracted the monster, HIV, several years before, from a one night stand. Not one of them had been using condoms. So Randy wasn’t taking any chances – he was strapping up every time.
“Randy, how you gonna throw that condom on my floor like that,” Quanisha complained. She had opened her eyes and gazed in his direction just in time to see him do it.
Oh boy, here this bitch already go nagging at me and I ain’t even her man, Randy thought. “I’ll pick it up later,” he lied. She was going to pick it up later.
“So what did you want to do tomorrow? I got off of work,” Quanisha asked, jumping the gun.
“Girl, go to sleep,” Randy said as he rubbed his balls and got ready to take a nap.
“What? I’ll go to sleep when I feel like it!” Quanisha said, getting an attitude.
Randy didn’t respond again.
“Randy? Randy, nigga did you hear me?” Quanisha asked a few times before she realized that his heavy breathing had turned into snoring.
* * *
Quanisha was awakened by someone slamming a door in the next apartment. She jumped and sat straight up in bed. She came to her senses when she realized that Randy was no where to be found.
“Randy!” she yelled out, even though she knew that he was long gone. “Randy you here?”
When she got up and looked around the apartment her earlier thoughts were confirmed. She looked for any trace that Randy was around, or that he planned to come back. When she finally accepted that he had left without a word, she sat down butt naked on her raggedy old couch and cried. For some reason, she had never felt more alone in her life than at that moment. Randy didn’t even leave her a note to say ‘thanks’ or anything. Quanisha was becoming an emotional wreck, and being used for sex by a guy that she really liked wasn’t making things any better.
“What is my problem,” Quanisha said, rubbing at her eyes. I’m probably jumping to conclusions. Maybe he’ll give me a call later today, she thought hopefully as she got up and grabbed her pocketbook to search for her phone.
Then, as if God had read her thoughts, her cellphone started ringing on queue. However, it wasn’t a 267 number. It was the phone number to her job calling, probably wanting her to come in to work on her day off again. They were the last people she wanted to talk to right now.
Chapter 12
“You ain’t my woman, so you don’t got no say in what I plan to do,” Scoop yelled, five inches
from Shellie’s face.
“Nigga you don’t know who you fuckin’ with. I will cut your ass while you sleep!” Shellie threatened.
“Bitch you won’t do such a thing, cuz you sprung,” Scoop said confidently. “You know if I ever catch you so much as looking at me wrong in my sleep, you cut off.”
“That’s what you think. I don’t need you nigga. The only thing you got going for you is your dick game,” Shellie scoffed. “And even that needs work.”
“Yea, whatever. If that’s so, then how ‘bout I ain’t coming to see your stupid ass no more,” Scoop said, grabbing his baseball cap off of Shellie’s kitchen table.
“Fine then, bye,” Shellie said and waved him off as she stomped to the bathroom. Scoop wasted no time taking this opportunity to hustle to the front door and leave out.
“Scoop!” Shellie yelled out after him, coming back out of the bathroom. He closed the door before she could say anything else. She couldn’t believe he had actually left.
Scoop didn’t even have a chance to step up into his truck before his cellphone was ringing. The name ‘Shemar’ came flashing on the screen, his code for ‘Shellie.’ He wasn’t trying to talk to her, so he put her number on block and started up his car.
He had to think up a good lie to tell his girlfriend Shaquita this time. He had gone over Shellie’s house after a long shift at work, and ended up falling asleep by accident. That was against the rules.
Shaquita was going to trip, but if he thought up a good reason to tell her why he stayed out and couldn’t call, the blow would be easier.
It didn’t help that Scoop hadn’t been feeling well for almost a week. He was tired and weak all of the time, falling asleep at work, throwing up and feeling like crap. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but his boss had told him to take the next couple of days off. They couldn’t risk having Scoop at work spreading something contagious to the other workers.
