Faces of the Game (19 page)

She placed the boxes on the floor.  “You go first” she said; “no you go first” he said laughing.  They both grabbed their gifts and decided to open them at the same time.  Chelle grabbed the first bag, it was silver with white snowflakes on it and pink tissue paper, and she pulled a box out of the bag first.  It was wrapped in solid gold paper.  She unwrapped it and opened the box to find a sleek Movado watch.  She grinned, “Ohhhh, I love it thank you!”  It was silver with a sky blue face, one solitaire diamond at the 12 o’clock mark and a cluster of four diamonds above the face and four diamonds below the face on the band.  Chelle decided she could wear this on days she didn’t wear any other Jewelry until she got her wedding band of course.  Along with the watch, there was a bundle of t-shirts.  A sky blue, light pink, and a white t-shirt; they were all Dior collection.  “I got those for you to throw on for class, do you like them?” He asked Chelle as she laid them across the pillow.  “I do, thank you baby” she leaned over and gave him a kiss.  He then ripped into the first big box; he couldn’t wait to see what was in it.  Once he got the box opened, he pulled out two Ralph Lauren sweaters, the first one was a white v-neck cashmere sweater with a small navy blue signature horse on the left.  Chip shook his head and smiled, “Niiiice” he said picturing himself wearing it with perfectly creased dark RL jeans and chocolate leather boots.  The next sweater he pulled out was a tan colored crew neck Ralph Lauren sweater, this one was a blend of linen and cotton and had a green signature horse on the left.  Separately wrapped there were a pair of Dark Ralph Lauren jeans, Chip was planning to buy the same exact jeans while he unwrapped his sweaters.  He was very pleased with his gifts so far and so was Chelle.  Next Chip grabbed one of the smaller boxes; he shook the box a little and proceeded to open it.  Inside was a statue of praying hands, it was big enough to make the centerpiece for the mantle or the coffee table.  His heart melted, he went into deep thought for about ten minutes...
This girl really loves me, damn.  She’s so mature for her age, and the meaning behind this gift is priceless.  I wish I could get down on one knee and marry her right now.  Damn, why did I mess up like this right when I found the best thing that has happened to me since birth? 
“So, what do you think?”  Chelle said excited that he opened his second gift, this was her favorite.  It meant so much to her, she prayed for his safety, freedom and life every day.  She prayed that God guided the two of them in the right path, she prayed often about a lot and he knew this.  “This means a lot to me, thank you” he said with empathy in his voice.  Chelle grabbed the huge red bag with a teddy bear on the front, as she pulled the tissue paper out of the bag and a Gucci shopping bag sat in the bag.  She grinned before she could even open the bag.  It was a brown leather village double G Hobo bag, it was perfect.  “I love it, thank you baby!” She opened it only to find it filled with things that she would carry in her handbag, there was a small bottle of Gucci Envy Me 2 perfume which was her favorite, a tube of pink tinted Mac lip glass, a Gucci mirror that came with the perfume, a small bottle of hand sanitizer and a small tube of hand lotion.  When she opened the zipper inside, she found a wad of money; it was five hundred dollars all in $5 bills.  Chelle laughed, “What in the world?” He laughed too, “I knew that would throw you off”.  By this time Chelle was shocked, he had outdone himself.  Chelle opened her last gift, it was a small white bag with pink tissue paper in it; inside was a pair of solitaire they were .5 karats a piece, perfect not too big not too small.  Tears welled up in her eyes, she loved diamonds.  “Thank you so much, this was the best holiday I have ever had.”  She was gracious; she couldn’t believe he had put so much thought into her gifts.  He had never done this much in one holiday since she met him, in fact he wasn’t much of a celebrating type of man because he randomly bought ‘just because’ gifts all of the time.  Chelle started to question his motives at this point, she knew better than to think this was simply because he went all out for holidays. 
The earrings are beautiful; they go perfect with my watch.  The bag is so fly; I got my favorite perfume, what is this nigga up to?  I wonder who helped him pick out these gifts he does have a little bit of style.  Maybe he hit a lick at the bookie right before he went shopping.
Chelle snapped out of it by giggling, Chip was opening the rest of his gifts.  He was digging' the white Crossbill Love Story collection bedding that she got for him.  It was refreshing and very nice, the sheets were 1600 thread count, it looked like it belonged in a 5 – Star hotel or an exclusive resort.  She was very proud because the original price for the set was $625 she got everything on sale for $180.  After they celebrated Christmas, they decided to take showers, get dressed and head out for a night on the town. 

“Do you want to go to Barnacles?  It’s a nice laid back spot, you’ll like it.”  Chip said as he lotioned his face and arms.  “Sounds like a plan.  What are we doing tomorrow?”  Chelle asked.  “It’s a Surprise” he smirked.  Chelle was confused, the smirk slightly aggravated her but it tickled her at the same time.  He was always up to something, and she liked to be prepared with the appropriate attire.  “Well if we’re going to Central Station, I can put on some jeans, a white beater and some heels.  If we’re going to Justin’s, I need to be classy.”  She said with emphasis on the word ‘classy’. The two of them were so silly when they were together, he was a joy to be around as was she. 

It’s Our Anniversary

              Chelle woke up on New Year’s Eve morning to breakfast in bed; turkey bacon, fresh fruit, cinnamon and sugar oatmeal, and a cold glass of iced water.  Chelle was in paradise, this was the perfect breakfast combination.  “This shit looks so nasty” Chip chuckled, he knew this was her favorite combination for breakfast.  “But it’s so good” Chelle said “thank you babe”, she added before continuing her meal.   She hit the power button on the remote control and flipped through the channels, Sex and the City was on, perfect. 

              “Oh, so you just gon’ act like it’s your birthday all day huh?”  Chip asked.  “Exactly” Chelle stated as she focused on the conversation between her two favorite characters; Samantha and Carrie.  Chelle often found herself relating to these two women because of her career objectives.  “I hate when this show is on, this should only come on while the games are on, I swear” Chip said stealing a strip of Chelle’s turkey bacon.  Chelle continued to ignore him, just like he always did her whenever the basketball games were on.  She was tickled at the fact that he was begging for her attention and couldn’t get it.  “Baby, I have to go bust a move I’ll be back in about an hour” Chip said as he threw a pair of grey sweats over his basketball shorts and slid on a crisp white-tee along with a pair of Air Jordan’s; gave Chelle a kiss on her forehead and headed out of the house.  “Hey wait, what time will you be back?”  “I told you about’ an hour, I won't be gone for long.”  “Ok babe, be safe.”  Chelle said as she laid her breakfast tray on the floor and continued to watch television.

              An hour later, Chelle decided to get out of bed and get dressed for the day.  She put on a pair of navy blue tights, a loose fitted v-neck white tee a fresh pair of white footies and she layed across the bed.  Since she didn’t have anywhere particular to go, she decided to get on her laptop for a few minutes.  She logged into Facebook to see what everyone from school was up to for the Christmas break, and then she checked her emails.  There was nothing exciting in her email, so she decided to Google a few things. 
Publicists in Atlanta… Hmm, let’s see.  Wow, she works with a lot of people.  How did she get started, I wonder if I can find her biography.  Ahhh, bingo.  Nice, she seems well established.  I can dig it. 
Chelle was interested in doing a little PR work before pursuing her dream of working for a Magazine; she figured that if she worked as a Publicist first she would learn the ins-and-outs of publishing requirements, media placement, and the industry as a whole.  Her passion was simply writing, but she knew that writing took extreme knowledge in various arenas so she wanted to take it one step at a time.  After doing a little research, she decided to at a few website to stay current in the music industry.  She read a few blogs, and looked at a few internships and entry-level jobs in the Metro Atlanta Area. 
Oh shit, my grades! 
Chelle always got nervous and excited when it came to her grades; she typed her email and password in at the speed of lightning.  PR Case Studies: A, Persuasive Communications: A, Media Law: __, Statistics: B, Persuasive Communications: __.  The biggest smile spread across Chelle’s face, she was satisfied so far;
everyone had me shook about taking Statistics and I actually liked it, it came quite natural it was common sense to me.  I got a ‘B’ but that’s better than nothing.  I think I did pretty damn good. I wonder about this Media Law and Persuasive Communications class though.  Lord please, no C’s. 
The biggest scare of Chelle’s grades was actually over, Statistics.  Chip walked in the house about ten minutes later.  “Sup baby, what you on here doing?”  He laid across the bed and took a peep at the computer screen.  “Guess what? I got some of my grades back, and I did well in Statistics!”  Chelle said smiling again from ear to ear.  She couldn’t help but be proud.  “Let me see” Chip turned the laptop in his direction.  “Oh, two A’s and a B so far?  You da shit.”  He smiled at her, “we have to see what the rest of your grades look like before you get a surprise”.  Chip was always supportive, she was the first girlfriend he had who was a full time student at a university, had a job, and hustled non-stop; he was quite impressed.  Chelle had made him realize exactly what a true fly girl was made of.  Chelle was trying to figure out how to check her grades from her blackberry, she was anxious.  “Let’s go to the mall.”  Chip suggested.  He figured she was dressed to run to the mall and do a quick and laid back lunch date with him before they got ready to go out for the night.  Chelle realized that she hadn’t bought him anything for their anniversary, she agreed to go.

              They pulled up at South DeKalb mall, Chelle wasn’t thrilled about being at that particular mall but she knew there was something about that hood ass mall that he liked so she rolled with the flow.  Chelle went her separate way and decided to look around in a few of the stores.  She found a pair of Nike slide flip-flops for $11, since it was cold summer items usually were on clearance if they were available.  Chelle tried on a pair; they were black with a silver Nike check on the top.  They weren’t cute, but she knew she could sport them with sweats and a t-shirt to class.  She decided to get Chip’s daughter a black and pink pair since they were only $5.99 in her size.  When the two of them linked up, he had a few bags and she had her little bag.  “What did you buy?”  Chelle asked as she peeped into his bags.  “What did you buy?” He asked as he took her bag.  “Aww, how cute” Chelle pulled the coat out of the bag that Chip had.  It was the cutest little brown, tan and pink coat ever.  The two walked to the car and shared a few chuckles about people they saw and things they heard while in the mall.

              Next, stop Lenox mall.  Chelle had to get away from Chip for at least 20 minutes she was brainstorming while riding and pretending to listen to him telling her about their plans for the rest of the night. 
What would he like, or what do I want to see him in?  A nice watch would be cute, but what kind?  Hmmm, maybe an earring no I hate those things in men’s ears anyway.  Her mind wondered, she came to the conclusion that she would get him a watch and if she didn’t find one she would just get something else very nice. 
They got out of the car and allowed the valet driver to take over.  “You know I don’t want to be in here around all the fags and what not.”  Chelle ignored Chip, she didn’t care what he wanted after being held hostage in the other mall.  She sashayed towards the entrance and immediately went towards the Armani store, she tried to act as if she was shopping for herself.  After realizing Chip wasn’t going to go off and do his own thing, she decided to ask him to stop hovering over her while she shopped.  “I'm not hovering over you crazy, I just don’t have anything to buy in this mall.”  He didn’t like being in that mall because he felt like the homosexual rate was outrageous in Atlanta and that was their territory.  Chelle thought it was ridiculous, she didn’t care what they did as long as she was able to look at fly pieces she was cool.  “It is, they have a Ralph Lauren store, Macy’s has really dope clothes, and Neiman is in here.  Go somewhere; I will call you in like 30 or 40 minutes.”  Chip didn’t want to crowd her space, but he did understand why she was so animate about getting away from him. 
I know she isn’t cheating on me with somebody who would even come in here, damn who is she meeting I wonder? Maybe she just wants to call somebody and she can’t talk around me.  She is acting real strange, any other time she would be trying to swindle me into buying her something.  Oh well, let me find somewhere to go for a few minutes. 
Chip walked away with a slight attitude.  Chelle was relieved, she had peeped a slick watch while he was complaining.  As soon as he was out of sight, she went over to the sales associate and asked for help with the watches.  She bought the black steel chronograph watch; it was really nice not too flashy it was perfect.  She decided to get herself a few things that were on the clearance racks.  She asked for the watch to be separately bagged in one of the smaller bags.  She stuck it in the bottom of her handbag.  She called Chip, he didn’t answer the first time.  She decided to go to Neiman Marcus and look around for a few minutes before she called him back.  She found two pairs of shoes on clearance, they were so fly.  One pair of hunter green Prada shoes that were drop dead gorgeous, they were sandals but Chelle couldn’t wait to get her feet in them; she made a final decision to get them.  She called him again, he answered.  “Yeah, you done being sneaky?”  Chip asked.  “Yes, if that’s what you want to call it Chip.  Where are you at?”  Chelle asked as she rolled her eyes. 
He is crazy
Chelle chuckled to herself as she walked towards the entrance of the mall.  Chip walked up behind her and put his arm around her shoulders, “Let me let him know you're my girl” he said joking.  They both giggled and walked out of the mall, “You are crazy, I don’t know how I deal with you” Chelle said; “you are sneaky, but you don’t lie so I can’t be mad at you”  Chip replied.  He handed the valet driver his ticket and they walked over to the curb to get into the car, Chip popped the trunk and Chelle threw her bags in.