Under the Radar (COMPLETED)

Fourth of July

About a week and a half goes by, since I last saw Dre. But we've talked like three times since then. It's always short but he asks me about my day and what not. It's mind boggling to me. I'm almost certain he was gonna invite me to his Fourth of July party, today but I'm working all day. I know Denisha did that shit on purpose. Speaking of her, before I walk into work, I'm emailing corporate. I've had this email in my drafts, making sure I say the right things. I attach the recording and send it off. No matter what, I'm going to have a good day today, since Denisha's off.

The first four hours go by hella slow. Everybody's out barbecuing and stuff. "She ain't shit." Keisha says and I know she means Denisha. She got me, Keisha and Jordyn here. "Nah for real. I'm telling you I wanna beat her ass." Jordyn says. "Same, sis, same." I chime in. We notice a couple come in, so we turn our attention to them. "Welcome to Rainbow!" I shout and smile. "Why thank you." The man says. "I know you all don't want to be here but I see you have some deals, today." We all laugh a little. "Yep, up to 70% off." Keisha says. "Well, we're not actually here, for the deals." He says, throwing us all off. "I'm Martha Wallace and this is James." The woman says. The three of us all internally freak out. We recognize their names, from emails. This is corporate!!

"Wow, well it's so nice to meet you!" I reach my hand out to shake. Keisha and Jordyn do the same. "It's nice to meet you ladies as well." Martha says. "We wanted to talk to you, Maya and we figured today would be best." My heart drops. I didn't think they'd see my email so soon. What if they fire me instead, for using my phone on the clock? They lead me into the break room and I'll be surprised if my heart doesn't stop, before we get there. Once we're there, they close the door.

"Let's cut to the chase Maya." James says. "We've owned this franchise for a while and never have I ever experienced anything like this." OMG, they ARE firing me. What did I do? "We've gotten multiple complaints and the one you sent today, was the last straw." Now, I'm confused. "I don't understand." I say. "We have received complaints about encounters with Denisha but your recording really set me off. We've never had anyone like that work for us. We would like to apologize for the stress she has caused you, as well as other workers, here. That is not what we do here." "We want you to know that we will be taking care of this, immediately." Martha adds. "Oh wow. I seriously appreciate this. It's been a struggle, to be honest." I say. "I apologize for how long it took. We've been opening new stores but please know it wasn't going unnoticed. We came in town, just to set up a time, to speak with you and then her." James says. I couldn't be happier.

"Are you gonna fire her?" I ask. "I can't answer that but I'm sure you'll find out soon." James smiles. Yes!! "Thank you both again." "It's no problem. However we also wanted to speak with you about something else." I'm sure I have a scared look on my face, now. "You've worked with us for almost a year and you've shown great responsibility and customer service. We'd like to make Denisha's comment about your pay invalid." James says. "We'd like to give you a promotion, to shift leader. It's not manager, I know but you we know you'll get there in no time." Martha says. "Are you serious?" I ask. "Yep. If you sign this contract, you'll be at $10.50/hour." "Where's the pen?" I ask, making them laugh. Although I got money from Mason and I'm leaving, for school, soon, I'm not missing out on this opportunity. The more money, the better.

Once they get done with me, we walk back out to meet Keisha and Jordyn. "We would like to thank all of you ladies, for your hard work." James says. "We especially thank you for coming in on this holiday. Has it been busy?" It's never busy but I won't tell him that. "No not really. We've only seen about 10 people today." I say. "That includes you two." Keisha chimes in. This girl. "Well how about this. We give you these and you all go home?" James hands us each $100 Visa gift cards. We thank them over and over, before they head out. It's about 3 o'clock and I know people haven't finished grilling, yet. See I knew today was going to be a good one.

We finish locking up, around 3:30 and head home. "You might as well call him." Keisha says. I really do want to but I don't want to pry. I suck it up and call him anyway. I want some good food and my mom is at Gina's house, in Decatur, so she didn't cook. "What's up?" He answers. I can hear the music and people, in the background. "Uhhh, just checking on you." I slap my forehead at how dumb I sound. Keisha laughs. "Nah, don't worry bout me. Worry bout working." Dre laughs. "Well for your information, we got off early." I say. "Oh word? Well y'all can come this way, if you want to. It's some folks out here already." He says, making me happy. "I guess we can slide through." I say, trying not to sound too excited. "Bet!"

We rush home and get cute. Everybody that's anybody is going to be there. We can't be looking any kind of way. We texted Daisy and Trevor but Daisy's family has something planned. Then Trevor's never home, so it was no surprise when he said he already had plans. I knock on Keisha's door and I can agree that we both look too damn grown, for 18. "Zammmnn." Keisha says and pulls on my shorts. "I thought mine were short." "You got more ass though." I laugh. "That's true!" She says and we both crack up laughing.

We take the 18 minute drive to a house Dre rented, just for this party. It's huge! There's like no where to park though, since more people have obviously shown up. There's one spot left in the driveway, but there's cones there. Must be for somebody important. Before driving down, I see Dre come out the front. "Aye!" I hear him yell. He moves the cones and motions for me to park there. "Special treatment." Keisha smirks. "Shut up." I hit her arm, before parking. "Thank you." I yell out the window, as he walks back inside. "It's about to be lit!" Keisha shrieks.

We get inside and some staff is passing out champagne and jello shots. Keisha and I both take one of each, since they're not checking IDs. I scan the house and see almost all of Dre's boys. "This is wild." Keisha says, as she sees food, in the kitchen. "Get it while you can. This the second batch." Some random man says. We waste no time and fix our plates. We eat and talk in the kitchen and secretly people watch. It's hella criminals in here, so we need to be alert. "I see he invited you, too." I hear Sade's voice. I turn around and her and her sister are standing there, arms folded. "Yes. He did." I answer, just as sternly. "Mm. Well let me not say anything else before you go run and tell him." Sade says. I guess he did end up talking to them, about what I said. "I wouldn't have to if y'all stopped bugging me." I say. "Bitch, don't talk to my sister like that!" Sanai yells, causing a crowd to form around us. "What is y'all problem with me? I ain't do shit to y'all and we used to be cool, Sanai." "Well we damn sure ain't no more." Sanai says. "Gladly." I respond.

Dre comes from outside, angry. "Didn't I tell y'all stop messing with her? Fuck wrong with y'all?" He yells at his cousins. "Oh so you gone stick up for her? We're family!" Sade says. "By marriage, relax." Dre says, causing everybody to "ooooh". "Oh so that's how it is? Bet." Sade says and walks away. Sanai follows. "I should've just stayed home and cooked my own damn food." I say to myself. "Can you even cook, young ass?" Dre asks. "Yes. I can. Thank you very much." Him and his cousins trying me, today. "Everybody let's get back to getting lit!" Dre yells and the house goes into an uproar. For the rest of the night, I forget all about Sade and Sanai.