“It’s not a problem. See you tomorrow.” He hung up.
I sat there speechless. I knew Love told me he no longer worked there. However, it didn’t process until now that somebody else would be monitoring me.
“So, you getting a new officer, huh?”
“Yup!” I looked down at the time on my phone. “Let me go in. I’ll call you when I’m done. You still gong pick me up, right?” I stayed seated with one foot out the door.
“Yeah, I get off work early. Have a good day, boo.” She grinned at me.
I was halfway to the entrance when I heard her yell. “Don’t break nothing, Baby! You know you clumsy as hell.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, sticking up my middle finger. Her laughter carried until I closed the door behind me. It was a few people in line, so I stood off to the side until the store was damn near empty. Since I didn’t have much to wear, I had on a pair of black skinny jeans, the purple shoes Jayda got for me and a plain white t-shirt.
“Baby Wilcox?” I heard from a distance and turned to see a guy walking my way. He was not the one that hired me.
“Yes, that’s me.” He reached out to shake my hand.
“I’m the manager on duty. I’ll be walking you through this process. Come with me,” he directed.
He led me into an office on the side, and as I sat down to fill out paperwork, my nerves eased up. The day turned out better than I expected. I didn’t break nothing and learned how to work the cash register and the gas pumps. My break was only thirty minutes, so I grabbed a bag of chips and something to drink and sat in the small break room.
Once I clocked back in, time moved faster. The next thing I knew, I was calling Jayda to pick me up. I felt real proud of myself for surviving the first day. After taking care of my sister for so long, I could finally do shit just for me and it felt good.
Since I was sitting outside on the bench, I saw when Jayda rolled up on me. She had the music so loud, I felt embarrassed to get in the car when I slid into the passenger’s seat.
“Girl!” I yelled, reaching over to turn the volume down.
She slapped my hand away quickly. “That’s my jam, Baby!”
I pushed the lever on the side of the seat when she started to twerk. Once I was laid all the way down, I shook my head. “Just pull off, Jayda. Damn.”
She sucked her teeth as my phone rang in my pocket. I knew it was Love because I set a specific ringtone for him.
I pulled it out but decided I was gone be petty and not answer. He had me waiting, so it was his turn to wait on me.
Jayda glanced down at the name. “Girl, you not gone answer?”
I stared at the screen, waiting for it to stop ringing. “Nope!”
“Give me this phone.” She used one of her hands to snatch it from me.
“Jay, drive. Quit playing around.” I tried to get it from her grasp, but she pressed the button to answer it.
I groaned out loud.
“Hi, Love,” she answered, sounding out of breath. I watched her like a hawk to see what she was gone say. A part of me wanted to talk to him myself, but I was still mad he left me hanging.
“No, she’s good. She ignored you on purpose.” My eyes widened.Why would she tell him that?
“I don’t know what the problem is, she probably needs some dick,” she joked with her tongue out, laughing hard.
Omg!I covered my face with my hand.
“I know that’s right, Cousin-in-law,” she cheesed, looking over at me.
“He said you better not be giving his shit away,” she relayed the information.
“Child please. He can’t even call me back when he says he will, but this his?” I spoke with attitude. She put the phone to her ear, listening intensely.
