At six-fifteen that evening, Kareem pulled into the King of Prussia mall parking lot and gave his car, a pearl white Lexus ES300, to the Neiman Marcus’ department store valet. He had worked for the elitist boutique for six months and had access to his grandmother’s car. He checked his Etro tie in the valet booth mirror, before he and Dre shook hands and parted ways.
Dre had passed several of his classmates as he went to meet Tasha. The mall was a hangout for the Upper Merion High students. He could not wait to show Tasha off through the mall. He turned into the food court and instantly saw Tasha standing there with a pretty smile on her face. She jogged over to him and they hugged tightly. Tasha’s younger sister Sasha and her best friend Talibah walked over to them. Dre and Talibah stared at each other intently. It was a lustful intent, indeed.
“Hey, Dre,” Talibah said softly, not letting her voice go to the sexual octave she desired it to reach. Her chocolate complexion could put Hershey out of business. That day she wore light pink lipstick, and a tight short hair do.
“What’s good, Tah and Sasha?” Dre replied smoothly, letting Tasha go.
“So, where to now, because I know you have been through here showing off,” he told them checking out Tasha from head- to-toe.
“I don’t know about them,” Tasha said, pointing at her pals, “but, I’m going where ever my man takes me.”
“Don’t get cute because you have a boyfriend,” Sasha told her sister and rolled her eyes.
“Not boyfriend. Man friend! Something that you need, okay, boo-boop,” Tasha replied laughing. She grabbed Dre’s arm and said, “Tootles. Call your girl when you’re ready, or find a man, whichever comes first.”
***
Kareem walked around Neiman’s men department. He was
bored, but enjoyed work, and all of the benefits that came with it, but his mind was not there that night. That changed when Toi entered the department. His night was suddenly bright. They hugged as if they clung to life with the embrace.
“I didn’t think that you were playing the mall tonight with you on punishment and all that jazz.”
“My mom is trippin’, but she let me come here. I have to buy a gift for my grandparent’s anniversary.”
“Oh, so she’s using you to buy the gift,” he said, jokingly.
Toi had an un-tanned, golden complexion, all wrapped tightly around a stature mirroring a Nelly video vixen. She was half Filipino and Black. The exotic look was lethal, but she had a lot of African features available to the eye.
“Slavery that I am cool with,” she said, and stepped closer to him. She wrapped her hands around him and gave him an amatory kiss. “How else would I have given you that?”
“You couldn’t, and I needed that,” he said. He was mesmerized by her allure. His cell phone rang and he answered it. Dre informed him that he would get a ride home from the mall with Tasha, so there was no need for Kareem to wait for him. Kareem hung up and told Toi that he had to get back to work.
***
Later that night, Dre arrived to the Sears parking lot and spotted BG leaning on his Camry. He paced towards the car, and wondered what his life had in store after that transaction. He didn’t believe the hurdles that he had jumped to get away from the drug game. And there he was up to his old criminal behavior again. What would Kareem think about his decision to follow in their father’s footsteps and possibly earn a life sentence, just like dear old dad? There was no need to contemplate the question at that point. He was there, and going for it. Period!
“Glad that you could make it,” BG said, as Dre approached him.
“Save the small talk. Where’s my gym bag? Good lookin’ for grabbing it from the field,” Dre replied. He was properly preparing the tapes for possible undercover recordings.
BG looked at him perplexed and Dre ran his thumb over his four fingers, indicating for BG to show him the money.
“Just what I like, a true business man.”
Dre ignored BG’s quest to garner respect, as the white boy opened his trunk. He grabbed a gym bag with the high school logo on it and slammed the trunk shut. He passed the bag to Dre, and said, “That’s $13,000 cash. I need a half-K of powder —“
“What the fuck are you talking about, clown?” Dre said cutting him off. He threw the bag over his shoulder, and asked, “Car keys?”
BG passed along the keys to a Chevy Impala and informed Dre that he needed to be careful with the rental. Dre, without a response, turned and walked to a white Impala. He jumped into the driver’s seat, after he tossed the bag into the trunk. He pulled off into the night and left BG to wonder if he had been scorched again by Andre Bezel.