Some Day One Day

23

While taking their seats, Ojay spotted me and smiled cheerfully before waving at me. I wanted to poleax his hand and tell him to go to hell. Then he had the nerve to nudge Shawn in an attempt to grasp his attention. Before I could see Shawn's face as he lifted it from looking at his cell phone, I cast my glance down at my notepad and stalled for time by studying and unnecessarily recounting the number of tables I had for the umpteenth time.
"Beyonce." I heard my name and jumped around to find my co-waitress brimming over with excitement. She was a few years older than me, but still young compared to most of the workers. She was a likeable, easy person to work with most of the time.
Her wide eyes and thrilled grin were no mystery for me to put two and two together and figure out what had her that way.
"Oh my fucking god..." she grabbed my arm desperately and pulled be further away from the cash register as if that wouldn't hinder them hearing her words, "Girl...my damn...do you see those niggas you have on one of your tables? Oh my god...I know this is too much to ask but I will never ask anything of you after this...can we switch sections? Please?!"
Her plan sounded so impeccably appealing to me but we'd done the same thing once this week when she wanted to serve some fine football player patrons who dined here. Being new and all, I was the one who received the brunt of Miss Carolyne's fury with the horrifying threat that she would throw me out of the kitchen if I didn't buckle down and do my assigned work.
"Wealready got in trouble about this—"
"Blair!" we heard a sound whisper of my colleague's name and turned to the corner that led to the backdoors. Miss Carolyne's head was sticking out of the stark white wall and she was motioning Blair to go to her.
Blair turned to me and bit her lip, her urgent hand still on my wrist.
"Damn! You're so lucky. Anyway get their numbers...better yet, the one with the black shirt...without the tie. You know the one I'm talking about?"
"Have you lost your damn mind? I can't do that! You think I go around and about asking customers for their numbers?" I looked at her like she was crazy but she didn't seem to hear me because she could barely wrest her eyes away from them.
"Oh my word it's been a while since a nigga that fine walked up in this bitch! Damn!"
Blair's squeal made me reflexively look back at them and I nearly melted before the smoldering eyes that pierced at me. Whereas Ojay was laid back on his chair conversing with his father who seemed deep in explanation, Shawn was seated with ease in his chair, his arm resting on the arm of the chair with his fisted hand on his neatly trimmed chin. Whatever Ojay's father was saying seemed important enough for Shawn to have been listening, but his eyes were set squarely on me.
"Girl he's already checking you out!" Blair nudged me with so much force that I nearly stumbled.
"Blair! Go to the back before Miss Carolyne comes here and has your head." I told her sternly. Still looking at them lustfully, I had to give Blair an encouraging push until she eventually scuttled to the back, of course looking back continuously. Before she disappeared behind the wall, she held up a hand emulating a phone and I rolled my eyes at her before facing forward and deciding to go face my doom.
After several deep breaths, I decided to put up the acting perks I did everyday when working this job. Lifting my chin with temporary confidence, I somehow managed to make my way over to their table without giving into my unstable legs and without dropping the carafe of coffee and the three mugs I hooked by their handles.
I couldn't help but look at Shawn briefly. I wanted to strangle him for looking so calm, so placid. Most importantly I wanted to wipe that amusement burning in his dark orbs. What the hell was so amusing? Did he enjoy seeing me work at a job neither of us would've predicted I'd end up in? Was that giving him some kicks?
Mastering a smile, I rolled my shoulders back and waited as Ojay smiled at me but continued listening to his father.
When his father followed his gaze, his smile was bright and handsome.
"My baby! How are you?! Long time no see!" Ojay's father's personality imitated his size. Large and unable to be ignored. He was a warm, fun-loving man. The moment one met him, they liked him instantly. Along with Angie, he treated me like a daughter of his own since from what I heard, Ojay never failed to speak highly of me. When I was going through my problems, he'd been there and insisted on doing so even when I tried not to let him. Being the CEO of a prestigious real estate firm, he'd even offered me living space but I'd persistently declined.
"Hello Mr. Grandberry. How are you this morning?" I greeted him, appreciating that he welcomed me so warmly and placing the four mugs with the hotel's logo on their table.
"I'm fine my dear and you? You know you should come visit me more often than you do." He said boisterously and I couldn't help but smile bashfully.
"I'll make sure to come see you soon. I've just been so busy." I explained.

Knowing that it was mandatory to speak to the other customers, I turned to a smiling Ojay and chocked on my words when I looked at a suspiciously faintly smirking Shawn who looked as comfortable as a lion king in his throne. Why the hell was he smirking?! Where was the look of hatred and angst...where was the frown he had whenever looking laid his eyes on me?!
"Um, how are you all doing this morning?"
"I'm good Beyonce. How are you?" Ojay answered with a smile that I wanted to claw off of his face. I was still pissed at him and Angie for not telling me Shawn had a son.
"I'm doing fine thank you," I noticed that Shawn still hadn't spoken, so I swung my gaze to him, pasting a smile on my face, "How about you sir?"
"I'm good. I'm always good." He said silkily with a boyish look on his face that made my heart vault and my knees buckle. He would've been irresistible to me if I didn't continuously think that this was the way he treated all his other female associates. I reflexively looked at Ojay who had a small, suspicious smile on his face
"That's...nice. What will you all have to drink this morning? We have coffee, orange juice—"
"Coffee." Came their prompt, synonymous answers.
I started with Ojay's father mostly because I felt the least bit nervous around him. As I drained the contents into his coffee mug, I felt Shawn boring a hole into the side of my head. A part of me could've sworn that he was doing all of this purposely just because he knew he made me nervous. Upon realizing that, my hand shook slightly but I willed myself to stop overreacting.
It was just Shawn damn it.
"So what brings you here?" I asked, truthfully concerned as opposed to with other customers.
"We're meeting having a meeting later this afternoon." He said.
"Yeah...on Saturday..." Ojay grumbled. I laughed softly and heard someone else snicker.
"It was imperative. My boy here Shawn may have gotten us our biggest clients to date. So we're meeting up with them after the meeting."
Even in our less than pleasant situation, I couldn't help but feel proud of him. I recalled the times when Ojay would talk about Shawn and be in awe of his agility and proficiency to do whatever work he was given well. I always knew Shawn was smart and always the aggressor when it came to work or education. That's juts the type of ambition he'd always had and it galled me.
"Congratulations." I said, still looking down at the coffee I poured even though my words were directed at Shawn.
"Yeah we don't know what we'd do without this crazy nigga in that business." Ojay commended his friend. He'd never been jealous of the quick success Shawn acclimated simply because he knew what Shawn had been through. I'm sure everyone felt that Shawn deserved every bit of luxury he had now because he deserved it.
"I don't know what I would do without the two of you...my golden boys." Mr. Grandberry said like a proud father of his children. Ever since I could remember, his father had always treated Shawn as one of his own.
I moved to Ojay who was sharing a few terse words with his father about some upcoming party that I knew if he even dared asking me to accompany him I would turn him down in a heartbeat.
"Aye Beyonce." He called to me and I sustained a bothersome sigh.
"Yes?"
"You know what this coming Wednesday is right?"
"A nice warm bed and a lengthy sleep I hope." I told him with a sweet smile and he laughed.
"No. My birthday." He clarified with a large grin.
"What?!"
Damn! Birthdays. He must have been talking about his up and coming birthday party. There was truly never a proper way to get out of going for birthdays in the type of family that I had. They were sacred amongst all of us. Especially when I promised a while ago that I would go since I'd missed most of his for a while.
"Yep. And you know you're coming right?"
Fuck! I cursed mentally.
"I wish I could but if it's on a Wednesday I can't. I work all week. Now if it was on the weekend—"
"It is. It's going down on Saturday. You'll be there right?"
Even though I was still a little bit upset with him, I couldn't refuse. Ojay and Angie had done way more for me than I could ever repay them. They'd already told me countless times how shunning them hurt. And in his plea I could tell he was also referring to the past two weeks and how I'd excommunicated them from my life.
"Of course I'll be there." I told him with a polite smile and drew in a nervous breath when I had to move to the last person at the table. I'd stalled long enough with Ojay and it would look awkward if I skipped over Shawn as much as I wanted to. Leaning forward, I tried not to let my senses become tickled by his nearness but wasn't so successful. He was wearing different cologne today. It was as soft and cool as his demeanor and I scolded myself for reacting to it when I felt the need to inhale deeper. It didn't help that the table had grown too quiet for my taste. To keep my straying mind unified, I decided to talk.
"So how long will you all be staying with us?" I addressed all of them the question I asked most customers who came here just to seem like I gave a damn. Those times I didn't. This time I did. They lived in the same area so I knew that they wouldn't be staying overnight. At least I hoped they wouldn't.
"How long would you like us to stay?" I heard the borderline sarcastic voice, ruling out Ojay and his father. It had come from Shawn himself and that set me more off balance than I would've liked. Because of that, I sloshed coffee recklessly into his mug, sending the scorching liquid sprinkling not only onto my exposed skin but also to Shawn's pants. "Holy fuck." I heard someone mumble before hearing the dragging of a chair on its coasters. I bet he hated me tenfold now for what I had done. I just couldn't seem to win with this guy. Nevertheless, I never had time to brood over that because I was too busy reacting to the sizzling combustion on the back of my hand. Thankfully I was mindful enough to place the carafe on the table before examining my hand.
"Damn. You iight?" I heard someone ask but didn't know whom because I was still writhing in pain, wriggling my hand as if to shake the pain away.
I'm not too sure when all of this happened since I was so focused on myself and the embarrassment I'd just caused, but Shawn was standing in front of me.
"You got some on you right here." Shawn said softly, dabbing a napkin on my collarbone and at first I was too distracted with the pain of my hand to care.
"Huh?" I asked absentmindedly, for a moment not in touch with the world and our situation.
At first, I didn't think too much about what he was doing because of the pain, but when I felt the napkin continued to inch lower, soaking in the light coffee that had sprinted onto my chest. I only noticed that the napkin was on my cleavage when Shawn's dabbing slowed. My eyes flew up to his just in time to see his doing the same.
Our eyes locked and held.
"Um..." he swallowed hard and cleared his throat as he moved his hand away, "You might wanna get that."
For a few seconds I couldn't move because of the unexpected flare that went through me, reminding me starkly of my sex when the napkin was on me. What the hell was happening to me? I was not supposed to react like this.
With an immensely flushed face, I took the napkin from him with a murmured thank you, drying the remnants of missed coffee on my chest and still painfully throbbing hand.
"How bad is it?"
"I don't know..." I mewled frustratingly, gripping my stinging hand close to my chest in my other hand.
"You okay sweetheart?" Ojay's father asked, scrambling with Ojay to place napkins on top of the table and soak up the spilt coffee.
"Yes. I'm fine." I told him for lack of better words. What was I supposed to say? No I'm not okay?
"No she's not. Lemme see it." Not giving me the option to refuse him, Shawn took my bruised hand and examined it, his hands surprisingly delicate as they turned my hand over. The burn was clearly detectable with its crimson coloring marring my usually smooth brown skin beneath my thumb and index finger. His touch made heat wash over me and I shivered. My hand began to convulse and I tried to convince myself that it was the pain making it react that way.
"It's not that serious." I told him curtly, snatching my hand away from him. I realized then that I was moreso mad at the way my body was reacting to him and not really about him touching me.
I liked him touching me and damn me for liking it.
"Looks pretty serious to me." Shawn said steadily as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Why was he being so cordial? Was this the part of the pattern where he decided on a whim to be nice to me? Would he treat me like the dirt on his shoe the next time we met?
"Well...that's your opinion." I found myself retorting lamely and Shawn gave me a funny look.
"Well...you need to put some ointment on it or something. The pain will only get worse with the way you're holding your hand like that Beyonce."
There he went again, trying to get smart with me.
"Thanks doctor Carter. Anything else I should do?" I snapped before I could stop myself, realizing this was just the shield, the defense mechanism that I used in preparation for anything harsh that he may have to say to me.
I waited for Shawn to attack me, or give me that withering glance he did whenever I rarely snapped at him.
Much to my surprise, he did none of those. Instead, his expression was only slightly taken aback and I felt ashamed for lashing out at him like that. Our eyes locked and held for a while, a silent battle waging between us up until a cleared throat made both me whip my head to the table to find both Ojay and his father staring at us strangely—Ojay's father mostly. Shawn followed my gaze slowly before shaking his head and sitting back down.
A wave of humiliation spiraled through me and from the look on Shawn's face, I knew that he felt it too.
"I'm sorry about that um..." my mind was astray and it was a little bit hard to collect my thoughts, "...All the food is by the buffet. I'll be back to see if you need anything else." The words stumbled over each other's because I was rambling, desperate to get myself out of there.
"Okay sweetheart. Make sure you do like Shawn said and put something on it. Liquid burns can be real vicious."
"Okay..." I consented without much of my doing. Since they'd already cleared off the table, I left with hurried steps like the devil was chasing me. Blair was already back out tending to the other guests that had just arrived and for that I was glad because she led them to her section.
I was making my way right around the corner when I nearly bumped into Dreux.
"Dreux!" I impulsively wound my arms around him as though he were a life saver before remembering I was on the job and pulling back with my hand back to my other pulsing one, "Sorry. Man, please tell me you're staying."
"Nah girl you think I'm crazy—" he cut himself off and looked at me worriedly, taking my hand into his, "Why you holding your hand like that?"
"I spilled coffee and got burned." I told him with a frown as he turned it over and studied it. As he did so, I was casually looking around when I met with Shawn's eyes. I wasn't expecting the aversion and maybe, maybe if I hadn't been seeing things that day, a hint of jealousy.
"Come with me to the back. They might have something there." Dreux said and when whipped my head to him I was thankful that he wasn't looking up and was yet to notice Shawn's presence. Without looking back up, he took my hand into his and led me to the back. I know that I shouldn't have, but I looked back one last time to find Shawn turning away with his jaw tensing. A new, fresh guilt settled in my chest, guilt I'd never had before.
The rest of the day was mild. Ojay, his father, and Shawn were too engrossed in their business talk to be concerned any longer with my presence. I served them when I had to and left when I needed to. Since Blair was at the cash register, I didn't have to deal with them when they paid for their meal. Ojay and his father waved at me goodbye when they were leaving. To Shawn I was completely nonexistent.
When breakfast was finally over, I went around picking up the tip left on tables.
The tip they'd left me was much more than what I received in a week. I didn't know whether to be angry or elated, but before I could make that decision, Blair was right over my shoulder.
"Damn girl! That's what they left you?" she'd walked around to the opposite end of the table, envy painting her features green.
"Yeah I guess." I mumbled.
"Mmm...Fine and rich too? Can it get any fucking better than that?" Blair chimed and I sighed at her with a dismal shake of my head. She went off to raving about how when they were paying up Shawn gave her the sexiest smile she'd ever seen. She said she would've asked him for his number but wanted to remain professional.
With the rent being raised and bill deadlines approaching, I knew that I couldn't go home as much as my body pleaded with me to. So when I was done with the kitchen by mid day, I talked with my manager and we came to a decision that for the rest of the day, I would work at housekeeping.
Most of the rooms that I had were what we liked to call 'stay ins', which meant that guests were still occupying them. It was a rarity that the guests would want the housekeepers to clean while they were present, so I was thankful that I wouldn't truly have to deal with them.
There were the other types of stay ins that if the guests weren't in the room, I'd still have to clean them. I'd reached my second last room of the day and found it to be one of those rooms with a guest still occupying it but not present. Sighing heavily, I picked up a bundle of folded towels, groaned before knocking tiresomely on the door and calling out 'housekeeping'.
The room was silent and I knocked once again before the person grumbled out a 'coming'.
Impatiently, I waited until the door flew open and felt like I'd been struck by a bolt of lightning. With the way things had been turning out, I shouldn't have been surprised when I saw Shawn, bedraggled and all, standing in front of me. His eyes, which had been filled with sleep, were now widely alert. He was no longer wearing the shirt, like merely having it on irritated the hell out of him. All he had on was his wifebeater and pants. My mouth watering and my eyes sliding down him were beyond much of my control. He looked like he'd just gotten out of bed, and I don't know why the thought alone made me tingle. Then I thought of him being a father and the tingle diffused. After staring at each other for a long while, both Shawn and I sighed exhaustingly.
"Damn man. Why are you everywhere that I go?" I asked him with a faint scowl, completely frustrated.
"I could ask you the same damn question." Shawn murmured, not at all razzed the way that I was. I expected a come back and was surprised when I received none.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him before I could bite my tongue.
Shawn folded his arms as he leaned against the doorjamb. In doing so, I caught clear sight of his brawny arms and the inked artwork inscribed all over them.
"That how you speak to your guests?" the amusement that he'd had earlier was back on his face, "You just snap at them and ask them why they're all up in your space?"
Sighing both exhaustingly and with chagrin, I looked passed him as I spoke.
"Do you need me to clean your room, sir?" I was deciphering how untidy his room was and how much needed to be done. I dreaded his answer, hoping that he would tell me I didn't have to do anything. It wasn't even because I didn't want to be around him. It's because I was so tired and my hand still ached fiercely.
"Call me Shawn and," his eyes shifted down to my hands before returning to my face, "no I don't need you to clean my room."
The amount of relief I felt was the first of its kind for that entire day and I would've hugged and kissed Shawn if I was crazy. I was surprised that he remembered my injured hand.
"Do you need towels? Anything?" I asked, holding up the stack of towels in my arms.
Shawn simply shook his head but continued to stare at me. Getting defensive, I nearly asked him what and why he looked at me that way, but swallowed my words. I was about to tell him goodbye and wish him a well day when he surprised the hell out of me by speaking without saying something mean and hurtful.
"How's your hand?" he said rather than asked, hitching his chin forward and glancing down briefly at my hands before looking back at my face. It was a simple question, but my heart lurched because he'd been mindful to remember. Trying not to show how he was making me feel inside, I swallowed hard and shifted to prevent my weakening legs from caving in.
"It's fine. How was your meeting?" I asked him, feeling a tad bit awkward since we weren't jumping at each other's throats as usual. Then I remembered the look on his face when Dreux led me to the back and felt guilty despite myself.
"It was good."
I nodded and we both stood there for a few more awkward seconds.
"You met with your clients yet?"
"Nah. In about two hours or so we will."
"Oh okay. Sorry for disrupting your sleep."
"Sleep?" he shook his head, "I wasn't sleeping. I was working on a paper."
"Paper?" I'd seen a laptop on the coffee table in the living room, but hadn't thought what it was for.
"Yeah. Got one due on Monday."
At my confused glance, Shawn said with the faintest of smirks, "I'm in grad school..."
"Oh." I remembered that he'd told me he was getting his masters when we were sitting on Ojay and Angie's porch. It still galled and amazed me how Shawn was able to do so much at once. He'd been that way in highschool, working and going to school, and apparently he was still the same. Grad school was really difficult and I was surprised he was able to do that, work, and still have time to do all of the extra stuff he did.
"Yeah."
It felt really strange, not arguing with him that is. So far, that's all our communication had been based on—acidic words. I was still very uneasy around him because for all I knew the next words that left his mouth could be one that would ruin my day entirely. Sadly, I wasn't used to him being cordial with me and that was a shame.
The quietness became so thick that I was nearly chocking on it. Uppermost in my mind was the kid, the damn kid. I wanted to ask him about it, but I couldn't bring myself to it.
"Well, you have a nice afternoon. Goodluck with your clients." I said as I turned away.
"Thanks. Hope your hand gets better." Though there was no inflection of emotion in his tone, his words surprised me nonetheless. I was surprised he hadn't spit venom at me already. I then recalled how I overreacted today in the dining room and felt bad once again.
"Thanks. Sorry again for...um..." My voice tapered off and I faltered because of the way he was looking at me with amusement in his eyes. With cheeks that flushed and a stomach with numerous butterflies fluttering, I turned away from him to place my towels back on my assigned cart. It was quiet a moment, and since I didn't hear the door catching the latch, I knew that he was still staring at me. I began to get nervous.
"Me too."
Either I'd officially lost my mind and I was hearing things because I thought I'd heard someone say 'me too'.
When I spun around and shot shocked darts at him. I couldn't understand what he meant, or at least I felt that it was too good for him to be apologizing for how he'd been behaving.
Shawn raised one brow with false innocence.
"What? Forgot something? Missed a spot?" as he'd asked the last word, he smirked a teasingly and my stomach flipped. Narrowing my eyes at him, I couldn't help but smile a tremulous smile at him. I was still uncertain, wondering why he hadn't bitten my head off yet. And I hated myself for being glad that he hadn't.
"Sorry my ass." I grumbled to him playfully when I knew that he was just joking. I caught sight of him chuckling before we both stepped back. Eventually, he closed the door to his room and I went on to finish my work.
For the very first time that day I felt something other than weariness, dread, or sadness. I felt this unexpected giddiness and warmth in my chest. What was I feeling good about anyway? All we'd done was barely talk like civilized human beings Finding a reason not to feel the sudden elation I felt, I brought the image of him holding his son, making the warmth within me turn cold.
As I moved to my last rooms, I began to wonder if him not snapping at me was only thanks to him having a good day. I wondered further if he'd treat me differently the next time we met.
With the way I kept running into him in all these unlikely places, I was sure that I would see him soon.
All I could do was just wait and see.