by Shana Burton
“Chill out, Catt. It was a joke.” Turning his back to her, Jamal began shuffling papers attached to his clipboard. “Dang, don’t they do that where you come from?”
Catt put her hands on her hips and looked at him squarely in the face. “Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“I mean, one minute, you’re acting like my drill sergeant and the next . . .”
He set the clipboard down. “The next what?”
“I don’t know. It’s like you’re messing with my head or something,” she blurted out. “Just forget it,” she huffed.
“I believe the word you’re looking for is flirting,” filled in Jamal. “Does it bother you—the flirting, I mean? Do you like it?” He pressed against her. “Do you want me to stop?”
Her head started spinning again. “Jamal, we can’t . . .”
“Can’t what . . . this?” He leaned down and set his lips above hers as if he were going to kiss her. Fumes from an overheated beaker caught his attention, and he immediately broke away from Catt to attend to the overflowing beaker behind them.
A thin cloud of smoke hovered above him. He smiled back at Catt. “You see what you do to me? That was a close one,” he said, pouring the scorched mixture down the drain.
In more ways than one, thought Catt.
She wondered if he was just joking around again or if he was really going to kiss her. “Now you see why I don’t approve of all this playing around in the lab.”
“I was just trying to get you to loosen up. You’re wound way too tight. This is an office, not a military base. Even Christians are allowed to have some fun every now and then.”
She didn’t really like that he thought she was a prude nor did she like the emotions he managed to stir up inside of her when he looked at her the way he was right then. “It’s getting late. Maybe we should call it a day.”
“Are you sure? Things were just starting to heat up.” Jamal locked eyes with her and moved to touch her face.
Suddenly a bell chimed, and the elevator slid open.
A leggy, saucy-eyed woman stepped off and strutted past Catt and over to Jamal. “They said I could find you down here.” She tossed her long ringlets back and held up a gold watch. “You left this on the nightstand.”
“Thanks,” he replied warily and clasped it onto his wrist. “I was looking for it this morning.”
“I was looking for a lot of things this morning too. You’ll never guess where I found my panties.” She giggled and clamped her arms around his neck. “Will I see you again tonight?”
He licked his lips. “I’ll call you.”
“I’ll be waiting.” She kissed him and departed.
Jamal approached Catt, who pretended not to pay the whole scene any attention. She silently prayed, asking God to forgive her for the moment of weakness she had with Jamal and thanked Him for bringing back to her remembrance of the kind of operator he really was.
She began readjusting her formula. “Don’t!” barked Catt when he tried to assist her.
“I thought that we were working on this together.”
“You thought wrong. Excuse me.” She swept by him and moved to another station.
“I want to finish our conversation.”
“Yeah, well, I want to finish this up so I can go home before dawn.” She looked up at him. “You don’t have to hover over me. I’m sure you have skirts to chase or something else important like that.”
“At least let me apologize for what just happened. Even I have to admit that wasn’t very professional. It won’t happen again.”
“Yes, it will, Jamal, because that’s just who you are. You have no respect for the workplace and, obviously, no respect for women. You may be a whiz in the laboratory, but you’re a complete dud when it comes to having integrity and character.”
“And you’re a real killjoy when it comes to anything even closely resembling fun or having a life. Even the Lord Himself took Sundays off!”
“You don’t need to speak about things you clearly have no concept of, such as righteous living. If you’re going to give in to every lust and temptation that crosses your path, at least have the decency to keep it behind closed doors.”
“So you’re so holier-than-thou that you never get tempted? Don’t you have the same sexual urges as everyone else?”
“The Bible tells us to flee fornication and to resist temptation,” she admonished. “You should try it sometime.”
“I suppose it’s very easy to resist temptation when there’s no one out there trying to tempt you. I’m no expert on the subject, but isn’t it just as big a sin to have the desire? The only difference between you and me is that I act on it instead of denying it.”
“You’re not going to make me feel bad for trying to live right.”
“Unlike you, I don’t judge the way you live your life. I just think you need to get one outside of the church and the lab . . . and the kitchen.”
It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before, but that last comment was a kick in the gut. She was quiet a moment to recover. “Say what you want, but I live a life that I’m not ashamed to bring before the Lord. You, on the other hand, seem to live a life that would make the devil blush. Don’t think you won’t have to account for that on the Day of Judgment.”
Jamal conceded. “Well, Catt, I’ll make a deal with you. Why don’t you keep your Bible-totin’, scripture-quotin’ observations to yourself, and I’ll keep my hedonistic desires to myself. Deal?”
She threw up her hand in capitulation. “Fine.”
“And don’t think I don’t know the truth either,” tossed in Jamal. “I saw the way you were looking at me when you thought I was about to kiss you. I wasn’t going to, by the way, but it’s painfully obvious that you need to be kissed by a real man, very badly, I might add. Of course, we won’t even get into what else you need to have a real man do for you. Maybe then you could chill out some.”
She made a face and returned to her work. Catt didn’t know if she was more bothered by the fact that he’d said it or the fact that there could be some truth to it.
Chapter 8
“He tried to pull rank on me today. Can you believe that?” recounted Catt to Toria over the rush of the water being sprayed down her scalp. “Does he really think I’m intimidated by him because he has that little title and a bigger paycheck? Please!”
Toria lathered shampoo into Catt’s thick mane. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a guy get to you like this.”
“And talk about attitude!” ranted Catt. “He acts like he’s God’s gift to Telegenic, like there’s no way the company could function without him. What does he think we’ve been doing for the past five years?”
Toria shrugged. “Waiting for him to show up, I suppose.”
“Just to show you how unprofessional he is, he had the nerve to have some hoochie up in there today slobbering all over him, talking about how she couldn’t find her panties this morning. And for the record, she wasn’t all that cute, and her outfit—can we say—total skank?”
Toria thought for a few seconds. “So how long do you think it’ll be?”
“How long before what—he gets fired or gets an STD?” asked Catt.
Toria waited until she finished rinsing Catt’s hair again to reply. “No, before you’re letting him light your fire in and out of the lab.”
“Tori, are you still on that? How many times must I tell you that the mere thought of him touching me makes me want to get tested for rabies? And you know what? That son of a gun tried to kiss me! Can you believe that?” exclaimed Catt. “Just out of the blue, right there in the middle of the lab!”
“Were you disappointed that it wasn’t successfully executed?”
Catt gagged. “God, no! I have done nothing but try to stay as far away from him as I possibly can. And out of nowhere, he just ups and tries to kiss me, saying I looked like I needed to be kissed. If I do, I certainly don’t need to be kissed by him.”
Catt hesitated in responding. “Well . . . no,” she finally admitted.
“Why not?”
“With someone like Jamal, a slap would have just turned him on even more.”
Toria gathered Catt’s wet hair in a towel. “Did the almost-kiss turn you on?”
“What kind of question is that, Tori? That man repulses me. Why would I want him to kiss me?”
“That’s not what I asked you.”
There was no way that she could lie to the person who knew her best, but Catt wasn’t ready to reveal the truth to herself, much less to anyone else. “I am turned on by kisses from men I actually like,” she replied, dodging a direct response.
Toria sat Catt down in an empty styling chair. “You just need to be honest with yourself, Catt. Every single thing he does causes some kind of reaction in you. What else could it mean?”
“It could mean any number of things, but what it doesn’t mean is that I am in any way attracted to him, especially given the way he runs through women and lives any ol’ kind of raggedy life.”
Toria began combing out Catt’s hair. “You know what they say about that thin line—”
“It’s not a thin line. More like a large ream of yellow police tape with ‘do not cross’ stamped all over it!”
Toria laughed out loud. “Point taken! But he does seem to spark more of an interest for you than the minister.”
“You mean Eldon?” Catt smacked her teeth. “Girl, my dad already has us married with three or four buns in the oven, a cat, a white picket fence, and a dog!”
“Is that your vision too?”
“I don’t know. I mean, Eldon’s a good dude and all, but something’s missing. He doesn’t have that umph factor, you know what I’m saying?”
“I know, but too much umph can get you into trouble. Need I mention Greg?” asked Toria in reference to Catt’s last boyfriend.
“No, you need not! But I will say that Greg could capture and keep my attention. I can’t say the same for the minister.”
“Can you say the same for Jamal?”
“Jamal is not my type, and I’m almost positive I’m not his. He seems to go more for the beautiful airhead model chicks, and that’s not me.”
Toria broached her with caution. “So we’re back to the weight issue?”
“The weight is not an issue for me. I’m comfortable in my own skin, but for guys like Jamal, it’s the issue. Do you know he had the nerve to tell me that I need to get a life outside of the kitchen?”
Toria winced. “Ouch!”
Catt shook her head. “I’d never waste my time on a man like that. Plus, our lifestyles are just too different. Can you imagine what it would be like if I brought him home to meet my father? Daddy would be casting out demons left and right!”
“What are you going to do if he tries to kiss you again?”
“He won’t,” guaranteed Catt. “I made sure of that.”
Toria stopped combing. “But what if he does?”
Catt pursed her lips together, unable to answer.
Chapter 9
Francine bumped into Catt inside the elevator the next morning. “I guess you’re headed to the big mystery meeting too, huh?” she asked.
“I think we’ve all been summoned,” replied Catt. “Whatever is going down must be pretty major. Jamal and Oni have been hard at work on it for weeks.”
“Well, you know Oni,” hinted Francine. “No doubt she’s been mixing a little play with all that work.”
Catt followed Francine into the conference room, where they were met by Oni, Jamal, and the cadre of cosmetic chemists.
“Is everybody here?” began Oni, rising from her seat at the head of the conference table.
Jamal looked around, then positioned himself at her side. “It looks like everyone is here and accounted for.”
“Great, let’s get down to business, shall we?” Oni turned to address the group. “As all of you know by now, Telegenic has taken a hit lately. Our sales are down, the competition is killing us, and we’re struggling for business during a time when most people are more concerned about putting food on the table than they are about the new lipstick colors we’ve added for spring.
“Telegenic is in desperate need of a new image and a reason to get our customers excited again, which is why we hired Mr. Ford here. I’m sure by now all of you have had the pleasure of meeting him.”
Jamal nodded.
Three of the women responded with flirtatious smiles.
Catt rolled her eyes.
“We’re in the process of rolling out our new fragrances for fall, but before we officially launch, we would like to get a campaign going to generate a stir. By the time it’s released in October, we want these fragrances to fly off the shelf.”
“Who’s our target?” asked Francine, taking notes.
Jamal spoke up. “Women, of course, professional, thirty-plus.”
“Are we going for something fun, something sexy—what?” asked another.
“All of the above. The head honchos are giving us carte blanche on this. All they want is a product that’s going to knock the consumers off their feet.”
Francine looked up from her note taking. “Do we have a name for it?”
Oni turned to Jamal. “Mr. Ford, do you want to answer this one?”
He cleared his throat and addressed the room. “Oni and I have been working with the marketing department, tossing around ideas for a few days now. We wanted the name to convey passion and sensuality without being overtly sexual. Of course, it had to be something original and something that could draw our buyers to the counter, and that’s when we came up with it.” He paused, milking the suspense as much as he could. “We want to call this line Allure. The name alone evokes magnetism, sex appeal, intrigue.”
Oni jumped in. “And we’re going all out here—perfume, makeup, lotion. We’re rolling out the fragrances first, which, Catt, you and Jamal will be in charge of. Telegenic wants to have the first of it on the shelves by October, in time for Christmas.”
“Is that going to give us enough time for data testing and research?” asked Catt.
“It’s going to have to,” explained Oni. “Telegenic’s sales have taken a dive for the past two quarters. Unless we do something major, the problem is only going to get worse. We’ve got to get people talking about us again. More important, we’ve got to get them to the cash register—the sooner, the better. Your department is the heart and soul of this company. We can’t afford to fail here.”
Jamal spoke again. “In an effort to do some out-of-box promoting, Oni and I have decided to hit all of our major markets from here to New York on a promotional blitz for the new products,” he revealed. “Over the next three weeks, we’ll be setting up shop in Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, New York, Milwaukee, and Memphis, just to name a few. We’ll be housed in the cities’ major shopping districts giving out samples, surveying the customers, and really getting out there to connect with our buyers. We don’t want them to feel like they’re buying from a company. We want them to feel like they’re shopping with friends, like they’ve had some input in the products we’re putting out there.”
“Obviously, this is a massive undertaking, but it’s what we feel we have to do to get out of the red,” said Oni. “And we’re open to good ideas. If you have some suggestions, we encourage you to share them. We need the creativity and brainpower of everyone seated here because the bottom line is, whatever happens from this point on affects all of us.”
After some initial hesitancy, various people began to raise their hands and put in their two cents. Some of the ideas were gems; some made Oni regret asking them to offer suggestions.
Jamal glanced over at Catt. “You’re being mighty quiet over there, Miss Cason. Do you have any suggestions?”
Catt lifted her eyes. “I’ll let you know when I come up with something brilliant.”
Oni faced the
group again. “Look, no one said that we had to get this done all in one day. I only intended for this to be a brainstorming session, and we’ve already gotten some great ideas out of it. Let’s just go to lunch and pick this up again around two.”
As they adjourned and began filing out, Catt picked up Oni’s list and began skimming through it, mentally checking off the ideas that she liked most.
“Didn’t you hear her say break for lunch?” asked Jamal over Catt’s shoulder.
Catt jumped. “Why are you always sneaking up on me like that?”
“Why are you always so jumpy and tense? Do I make you nervous?”
“Yes, the same way murderers do when I’m alone on a dark street.”
He feigned being shot in the heart. “That was cold!”
“It’s a cold world,” she snarled, dropping her pen and notebook into her bag.
Jamal’s expression changed. “I want you to do me a favor.”
Catt zipped her bag. “Don’t worry. I already have. My father is a pastor. I took the liberty of asking him to add you to this week’s prayer list. Now that I see you’ll be gone for three weeks, it appears that my prayers have been answered.”
“Yes, I’ll be gone for three weeks. While I’m gone, I want you to try to get laid or get high or do whatever it takes to make you less of a pill by the time I get back.”
She bristled at the suggestion. “You’re not the easiest person to get along with either, Jamal. I know you’ve got these women hanging on to your every word, but they’re not stuck down there in the lab with you. They don’t know what’s beyond the good looks and nice body.”
He chuckled a bit. “At least that’s some progress.”
“What?”
“Hearing you acknowledge that you’ve noticed these good looks and this nice body. I was worried that you might be a lesbian.”
Catt resented the notion. “What’s the exact date you’ll be leaving? This tour of yours can’t come soon enough for me!”
“I’ll be gone in a week. Try to find a way to live without me.”
“Living without you isn’t the problem. It’s living with you—that’s keeping me near the cross.”
