Faces of the Game (2 page)

A day on the Town
                                                                                       “So was the food good last night?”  Chelle asked Chip as she stepped into his charcoal grey Cadillac DTS.  They were both still in Atlanta for the holiday so they decided to hang out during the day.  “Yeah it was good for some 4 o’clock in the morning food” he answered. “So what’s on the agenda for today?”  “It’s up to you just as long as were together; I don’t care what we do.”  He told her.  “Well I was planning on doing a little shopping today, what were your plans?”  Chelle asked as she turned down the music slightly.  “Shit just chill out all day and find something to get into, shopping sounds like a plan where to first?”  “Let’s go to Lenox.”  “Alright, then we have to go to South DeKalb is that okay with you?”  “Sure, it’s on you after that.”  “Deal.”  With that he was on Peachtree Street.  Chip turned up the volume; he felt that it was so ironic that the radio played a song that reminded him of Chelle.  Best friend was playing, although they had just met he enjoyed hanging with her already and she also enjoyed hanging with him.  They instantly had a connection and they both felt the positive vibes from one another.  “You know, I really think I am going to like you I’ve been checking you out for quite a while and I have never heard anything bad about you.”  He told her as he leaned towards her and placed his hand on his chin.  “Well, I have done my research on you too and you’re not that bad yourself I guess.”  She responded while leaning back and checking out his expression.  They pulled into the mall parking lot and Chelle directed him to park in the lot right in front of the main entrance.  “You know this is your mall, I don’t really know where to go so you are going to have to lead the way.”  He said as he pulled into a parking space.  Chip got out of the car and walked over to her side to open the door for her.  “Aww, thanks you’re such a gentleman.”  Chelle said sarcastically.  “Whatever.”  He responded as he closed the door behind her and put his arm around her.  Chelle told him the entire story about the limo driver and he listened to each word she was saying not missing a beat.  Chip wanted to give Chelle his undivided attention whenever possible and he could see that she would open up to him before long.  From the outside looking in you would have thought they had been together for years, and for some strange reason they both felt like they had.  Chelle decided to work her way from one end of the mall to the other, when they walked in she turned left.  “Let’s go in Urban Outfitters first” she suggested.  He walked and thought to himself
damn she can have whatever I got in my pockets; I will go back and get more money if I have to.  What can I do to keep her?  What does she like besides going shopping and out to eat?  How in the hell am I going to keep that stupid ass drama with Kiki and Mo away from her?  I gotta make sure I keep this chick around…
  “What the hell are you thinking about you look like you’re in deep thought.”  “Thinking about what I am going to do later.” 
Literally later, damn I can’t even tell a whole lie because honestly that’s what I was thinking about, later. 
“So what are you going to do later?”  She asked hoping to catch him off guard.  “Wife you up, nah I’m just playing I don’t know probably go out to eat before the club want to come?”  “Yeah, where are we going?”  “I don’t know somewhere nice, quiet where we can talk more.”  “Sounds good.”  They walked into Urban Outfitters, Chelle walked over to the right side where a stand with all types of graphic t-shirts was neatly folded.  She found the Run-DMC t-shirt that she wanted every since she saw someone with it on television.  “Look Chip, I have to have it.”  “Yeah it’s hot, get it.”  She smiled and continued to look around the store.  She didn’t see anything else that caught her eye so she decided to head over to the register and check out.  Chip paid for the shirt and they left the store.  “You didn’t have to do that you know” she told him.  “Yeah, I know but I wanted to.”  He put his arm back around her and they continued to the next store.  “Hmm, I wonder if Guess has anything different from what we have at home.”  She asked not expecting for him to answer.  They walked over to guess and she headed towards the sale rack.  Chelle always started at the sale rack in Guess; believe it or not they always had a pretty good selection on the sales racks too.  She found a deep mustard yellow shirt that hung slightly off of her shoulders with gold chains as straps, it was by Marciano it was only $50 so she grabbed it.  She plundered through the sale rack for a few minutes longer and she didn’t see anything else, so she made her way to the front of the store.  She found a pair of jeans that would go perfectly with the shirt, they were dark with brown stitching and they had gold chains connecting from one end of the back pocket to the other end of the pocket.  “Yeah, that’ll do it.”  She said as she held up the outfit for Chip to approve.  “Get it” he told her as he made his way to the register before she did.  He grabbed the bag and took her other bag and they continued over to Bebe.  “Oh lord we're going to be in here all day.”  Chip said rolling his eyes to the ceiling.  “No we won’t I’m just browsing” she assured him.  He immediately sat down as Chelle went from one wall to the next looking at everything and loving it all.  She saw a nice handbag she loved it and it went perfect with her Versace dress that she planned on wearing later that night.  It also would go good with the outfit she had just purchased in Guess.  “Look Chip, I love it” she told him as she held the bag up for him to see.  “Yeah, that is nice” he said, sensing that she had great taste.  It was a silk, chocolate brown hobo style bag with a brown strap covered by a gold chain with the logo printed in various places on the front of the bag.  She also saw a beige sweat suit with orange and gold around the wristband and the waistband, she grabbed it also and headed towards the register and he closely followed her.  The bag was a little more than he expected, but he was cool with it just a little shocked. 
Damn I probably could’ve gotten her a Prada bag or something for that amount
he thought as he pulled out the money to pay for the items.  “Thank you so much, you really don’t have to do all of this.” 
Damn I hate doing damage on the first date; I should have offered to pay for it myself. 
Chelle thought to herself as she watched Chip grab the bag.  “Okay we can go to Saks 5
th
Avenue and I’m done” she said wishing she hadn’t let him pay for her things.  “I’m following you” he said.  She headed to Saks.  When she walked in she saw a camel brown leather bummer jacket that went perfect with her camel brown leather timberland boots.  “Ooh, now that would go so hard with my tims.”  She looked through the rack until she found her size,
yes and it’s on sale for $139 can’t beat that. 
She asked the sales associate to unlock the coat; the sales associate then took it to the register and assured Chelle that it would be there when she came to the front to purchase it.  She continued over to the shoes where she saw a pair of Gucci loafers,
should I?  I’ll wait until the next time I don’t want these right now, I need to calm down and hurry up.
  She grabbed a shopping cart that was a few feet away from her and threw the shoes in.  Then she walked over to the sunglasses and she saw an off white colored pair of sunglasses that she would have almost died for.  She grabbed them without thinking twice and headed over to the register.  On her way, she saw the perfume and realized that she had run out of her favorite a few months ago.  She took the perfume off of the shelf and reminded herself that she had to contain herself.  She put a pair of sneakers she had picked up on a nearby shelf “You could have gotten them” Chip told her.  “No, I don’t need them they will be here.”  She said as she placed the items on the counter to check out.  As the cashier rung the items up, Chelle pulled out her wallet.  “Don’t worry about this stuff I will get it” she told Chip.  “Put that up man, I got it.”  He said as he stopped her from opening her wallet.  “Are you sure?”  She questioned him, she definitely didn’t expect to spend so much money but she really didn’t get too much.  “Positive, now put your wallet back in your bag.”  “Okay, whatever you say.”  Chelle said as she put her wallet back into her bag.  Wow, she had done about $1,200 worth of damage in one day and she didn’t want to do anymore so she was more than ready to leave. 

“Finally, now we can go to my mall” Chip said ready to get to his shopping.  He already knew what he wanted, a pair of Jordan’s, an outfit to match and maybe a few other things.  “Thank you so much Chip, but you didn’t have to buy me those things.”  “Chelle, knock it off.  I told you I wanted to.”  “Okay” Chelle said in a monotone voice.  Chelle wished so bad that Chip hadn’t spent so much money, but little did she know, he didn’t mind.  It wasn’t a big deal to him as a matter of fact he had projected to spend more than that although he was glad he didn’t.  Since the damage had already been done, Chelle wasn’t going to beat herself up over it. 

He popped the trunk and placed her bags in there neatly.  “Back to the music”, he said ready to play some recent hits.  He was getting tired of listening to CD’s, so he hit the AM/FM button and listened to the radio for a little while.  After the DJ announced the big party going down at the Velvet Room, he played the hit “So into you”.  Chip turned up the radio and exaggeratingly bobbed his head to the song.  Chelle laughed and turned it down just a few notches; she was feeling the hell out of this song at that moment.  They hit Highway 85 and headed further South while listening to the song that was perfect for the atmosphere.  After that song played, he waited to see what was next and he didn’t like the selection by the DJ, so he shuffled the CD’s until a Wayne mixtape played.  They let it ride out and they cruised down the highway, feeling worry free and happy that they met each other.  As they arrived at the South DeKalb Mall Chelle looked around and said, “Oh, I have been to this mall before, it’s alright too, they sell a lot of Urban wear”.  “Yeah, this is more my speed” he said parking his car.  They got out of the car and walked to the front door.  First, he walked straight to the urban clothing store Up Against the Wall he saw a polo-style red and black coogi shirt that he had to have.  “Chelle, you like this with these jeans?”  He asked her holding up the shirt to himself and pointing to the jeans on the rack next to him.  “It’s alright; you can find something hotter though.”  She said.  “I’m about to get it anyway, it’s hot to me”.  He said walking up to the register.  As he put his clothes on the counter, Chelle begin to walk around looking at the clothes for her.  She didn’t want to push her limit, so she didn’t see anything worth asking for although there was some hot shit in there.  “You ready?”  He said walking up to Chelle as she was checking out a roc-a-wear sweat suit.  “Let’s go” she said snapping out of it.  They went to Jimmy Jazz next; he saw an Akademics coat that he had to have.  “You can’t tell me this isn’t hot” he said pointing to the coat.  “Yeah, now that’s fresh to death you have to get that” she said back to him.  The coat was made like a letter jacket, it was brown with tan leather sleeves and a little detail on the upper left of the jacket.  He walked to the register and purchased the coat while glancing around the store to make sure he didn’t want to check anything else out.  On the way out Chelle saw the store Unica so she decided to dip off in there without his consent.  “They don’t sell dude clothes in here” Chip said walking behind her as if he was telling her something she didn’t already know.  “Ooh, I know but look at this jacket and it’s on sale”.  She said admiring the artwork on the jacket.  She also found an adorable plaid Akademics coat for his daughter, “Aww, you have to get this for your little girl.”  He looked at the jacket and said, “oh yeah, that’s hot get it, get both of them”.  So they walked to the register and he paid for the jacket and coat surprised and happy with the price.  On their way out, he told her that once they went in Footlocker they could leave.  He picked up a pair of brown Nike boots and a pair of black, red and grey Air Jordan’s, “which ones?”  He asked her.  “I like them both, but the Nike boots go hard with that coat you just bought.”  She replied.  “But these J’s are sweet” he said holding up the Jordan’s.  “Get both pair” she suggested, knowing that’s what he was going to do anyway.  So he told the sales associate to let him get both pair of shoes in a size 11.  He walked over to the register and picked up a pack of socks.  Chelle looked around, she thought about asking for a pair of Jordan’s too, but she decided she didn’t really want any sneakers unless they were the Gucci ones she had just saw in Saks.  He purchased the shoes and they were on their way out of the mall.  “See how quick that was, short and to the point” he said poking her in the side.  “Whatever, I am hungry” she said pushing him.  “Where do you want to go eat?”  He asked her.  “Umm, somewhere nice I don’t care”.  She said to him as he opened the door for her.  They cruised through the parking lot listening to Jada Kiss.  She gazed out of the window wondering where they were going; she didn’t ask because it didn’t matter, she was hungry.  They were silent as the music played, he was into the music and she was wondering how long they would last, and what all she would go through once they returned home.  She thought about how they spent their first couple of days dating out of town and how great that was since they could also see each other once they went back home.  They pulled up at Houston’s, his stomach growled as he cut off the car; she giggled and opened her door.  As they walked up to the doors, he scanned the parking lot looking to see if he saw any familiar cars.  She looked too and surprisingly they didn’t see any familiar cars.  “Hello, welcome to Houston’s how many are in your party?”  The hostess asked.  “Two non-smoking” Chelle requested.  “Okay, right this way” the hostess said walking towards the booths to the right of her. 
Damn, she is bad she probably has a boyfriend or maybe not. 
Chip thought to himself looking at the hostess from head to toe appearing nonchalant.  “Hello?”  Chelle said answering her phone.  Chip snapped out of his day dream and focused on Chelle and her phone conversation.  “Nothing, eating, what are you doing?”  Chelle said back into the receiver.  As they sat in the booth, the hostess told them that the waitress would be there right away and she placed two menus and a drink menu on the table.  “Houston’s why?”  Chelle said still holding her phone conversation.  “What are you eating?”  Chip said, hoping that the person she was on the phone with heard him.  She shrugged her shoulders while listening to the person on the phone.  “Okay, well let me call you back when I finish my food”.  Chelle said and hung up the phone.  Chip wondered who it was on the phone, but he decided not to mention it.  Chelle started looking at the menu without even acknowledging the phone conversation she had just ended.