Chapter 11: Evergreen
“Should I go with the gray or the cream?” Dom
muttered to herself.
At Evergreen
Plaza , a mall located in the scenic Chicago suburb of Beverly
Hills
Dominique worked at Walgreen’s on 127th
and Halsted street a few blocks from her house. She’d been there since her
junior year of high school, when Ava told Dom that since she was putting a roof over her head
and food on the table, Dom was going to have to get her own spending money. Dom
was hired in as a cashier and she quickly moved up to the cosmetics counter. In
spite of that, Dom quickly grew to dislike her job, but she stayed for the
money and freedom it earned and her manager Tundria, who originally hired her.
Tundria was everything Dom wanted to be: Beautiful,
successful, confident and very much in control of her life. Whenever Dom had a
problem, be it professional or personal, Tundria was the one person she went to
for a friendly ear or good advice. Tundria had two daughters and a son and
sometimes, Dom wished Tundria was her mother and not the angry, bitter woman
who actually gave birth to her. Dom sighed and avoided that train of thought.
After a few
moments, she decided to go with the cream midriff baring top with matching
stretch pants. On her way to the register, a tall, light-skinned brother, who
had been watching Dom the moment she’d entered the store, interrupted her train
of thought and asked, “You findin’ everythang, okay?”
She held up her outfit and raised her eyebrows at
the guy.
“Oh—yeah—you got somethin’.” He muttered. “So—what’s
your name?”
“Dominique.”
“I’m Will.”
“Hi.” She said and continued shopping.
“So, how’s
your day going?”
Dom sighed. “Fine.”
“You got a man?”
So much for subtlety, Dom thought. “No.”
“Word? Yo, check dis out: can I get yo number?”
“Uh--no.”
Will’s face scrunched up in annoyance.“Why not?”
“Because I don’t like you.”
“Give me a chance and you will.”
“Look: You seem nice, but I got enough man problems
right now, ‘kay?” Dom walked off towards the register so she didn’t see Will’s
face harden and his mouth twist as he hurled these words at her back:
“Fuck you, den, ya stuck up bitch.”
The moment the b-word escaped from his mouth,
everyone in earshot knew that Dom was going to explode.She didn’t disappoint
them.
She stalked back to Will and shouted, “Bitch?! If
yo’ tired, non-game possessin’, threadbare, Payless shoe wearin’, stinky
breathed ass knew how to talk to a woman, you might get some play, bitch.”
“You betta back up off me! I’ll hit a girl!”
“A punk like you would.”
At that point, the manager of the store came and
calmed things down. He sent the young man, who was an employee to the back and
gave Dom a sizable discount for her trouble. She quickly paid and left the
store. Dom was so engrossed in her anger she ran into someone who was standing
in front of her. She was about to mutter an apology when she looked up and saw
Terry standing in front of her with Eric and Lisa standing to the left and
right of him.
“Hi.” He said simply.
(c)2014 W.L. and Courtney Sherrod
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