Too Young

THREE

   "Girl, you still haven't told me about why you left me like that last week."

   "I don't wanna talk about it." I shook my head.

   "You keep saying that," she folded her arms.

   "I just don't want to talk about it, okay?"

   "Did you and Gene get busy and you were too afraid to tell me?" Her lips curled into a small smile.

   "Ew," I frowned and shook my head. "No. Stop."

   "Did you get busy with a handsome stranger?"

    "No."

   "Did you get busy with anyone?"

   "No!" I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Is that all you care about?"

   "That's all I care about for you!"

   "What's that supposed to mean?" I stopped and turned to her.

   "I mean girl, you are everything that a good man should want in a girl. You hardworkin, you don't take crap off of anyone and you got it goin on. But, damn you need to loosen up a little!"

I shook my head, turned back aroumd to continue walking.

My hair was still recovering from me pressing it last week, it was slowly going back into it's afro state. It just looked like a strange limbo of an afro and pressed hair.

I shoved my hands into my pockets as we walked down the street. I stopped at the corner where a man had walked out of the oriental cuisine restaurant with a bag filled with garbage in his hand.

I looked at him and he looked up at me as he opened the dingy trashcan. He seemed to notice me right away.

   "Hi!" He aknowledged me with a wide smile, his eyes nearly disappeared. The light changed and Pat and I moved to cross the street. "Wait! Don't leave!" He called as he placed the lid on the can and wiped his hands on his pants.

I was thinking about leaving anyway. But, he was a nice person and I didn't want to be rude to him when I barely knew him.

   "Hi." I waved weakly.

   "You live around here?"

   "Yeah. Right down the street."

   "Is this your friend?" He gestured to Pat.

   "Yeah, this is Pat."

He stuck his hand out to shake her hand then pulled it back when he realized why she hadn't moved to accept it.

   "Sorry, I forgot. I just took out the trash."

Pat chuckled awkwardly. "So where are you two headed?"

   "We just walking. Maybe I'll find a job before I make my way back home." I answered.

   "You're lookin for a job?" He asked. "I can get you one here," he gestured to the restaurant behind himself.

I looked to Pat and she looked back at me, unsure.

   "Naw," I shook my head. "I don't know..."

   "I insist."

Another guy walked out, his shirt and red apron greasy. His jet black hair stuck to his sweaty forehead as he wiped his hands on his stained apron.

   "Thomas!" The guy called and said something in a different language which I wasn't familiar with at the time.

That made me a little more scared.
The fact that they were speaking another language that I wasn't familiar with or know of.

He turned to me and said, "I have to get back. But, if you want the job... Meet me back at this spot tomorrow at noon."

   "Okay." I said quietly.

He waved again before going back inside and leaving us on the corner.

   "Girl, he fine." Were the first words Pat uttered as soon as he disappeared. She nudged my shoulder and chuckled. "He the first oriental brother I've seen that I'd date in a heartbeat."

   "You'd date anything in a heartbeat."

   "You always gotta throw me under the bus like that," she shook her head. "Is he the guy you left with at the club the other day?"

   "How do you know?"

   "I didn't. It was just a guess. But, now I do!" She smirked.

I rolled my eyes and she laughed. "So you gonna take the job?"

   "I don't know," I shrugged. "I don't think I'm gonna be comfortable working with a bunch of people that don't look like me. What if they all talk about me behind my back in their language?"

   "Girl, people gon talk bout you regardless. See it like this, you just got a job offer by a cute oriental guy, you don't have any other offers and what else you got to lose?"

Pat's words stuck with me until the next day at noon.