Chapter 8: Sophistication
“It’s enough that we are women, but black women at that. That makes things so much harder for us, which is why we should stick together, not tear each other down,” Sharon said to Epiphany.
“You know that’s so much more easier said than done. The number of times I’ve tried to be nice to girls that give me the evil eye!” Epiphany said.
They were out having lunch at an upscale bistro in the north side of town. Sharon frequented on her time off. She was treating Epiphany as well as giving her pointers on everything that she felt a woman needed to know; Especially in the fashion and design industry.
“A lot of girls on my campus don’t know what it means to stick together though. They’d fight over a man or because they’re jealous of what some other chick has that she doesn’t,” Epiphany said.
The waiter came to their table with their mimosas. It was happy hour at the bistro.
“Thank you. We’ll be ready to order shortly,“ Sharon said. “You saying that reminds me of my days in college. I had to fight girls off of my boyfriend with a stick!”
“Wow. I hope you married him after putting up a fight over a man.”
“Of course I married him! I was a smart one.” Sharon and Epiphany laughed.
“So let me see these sketches that you have to show me. I’ve been waiting to get in touch with my connects but I need to see what we were working with before anything becomes concrete.”
Epiphany pulled her sketch pad from her messenger bag and handed it to Sharon.
“I wasn’t sure if I should change the name of the line or not. It’s Epiphany. Would that seem too…conceited?”
“Of course not. Most designers use their real names anyway. Roberto Cavalli, Donna Karan, Christian Louboutin. You get my drift. Don’t worry about what people might say about you name it after yourself. Just focus on your goal at hand. Now! Where is this waiter because I am ready to order?” Sharon said.
Epiphany smiled and picked up her glass of iced tea.
Dream woke up early that Saturday morning, something he was not used to doing, but he had to get up. His community service hours that were required by the university to graduate had to be fulfilled.
So he chose Habitat for Humanity to get his fifteen hours in for the semester. As he approached the community service building, he noticed a few members of ASKO, Nu Pi Psi, some Ques and other random students standing outside waiting. They were all going to ride on the shuttle to the location of the house that they were going to help build.
Dream parked his car and nervously walked over the crowd. He felt his heart began to beat faster.
“Okay, I assume that everyone is here. We are going to be taking two shuttles because it seems that we have an overwhelming number of people to come out and volunteer. I thank you all in advance for choosing Habitat for Humanity,” said Rosalyn Gold, the director of community service.
Everyone piled onto the two waiting shuttles and headed to the site.
Dream and the rest of the students had been working on the house for almost two hours, when he noticed that Calvin Wynn was there with his bruhs. ASKO men always put themselves at the front of any and every charity event to make sure they were seen. At least that’s what Epiphany always said they did! Dream still wanted to know what the animosity between Epiphany and Alpha Kappa Sigma Omega Incorporated.
Calvin also noticed Dream sitting by himself eating the food provided the community service center. He went over to where Dream sat under the shade of a tree.
