The Prettiest Woman (3 page)

I sounded more certain than I felt. My stomach felt like it was tied in knots just thinking about putting up a profile. What if someone I knew saw me there? Would my profile be found on Google? Oooh, if my mom found out she would go bat shit crazy.

Jaime and me headed back to work and I focused on trying to get through the rest of my shift. Before the end of my shift, a customer complained that I brought her the wrong order. She didn’t tell me about it, she took her complaint straight to Georgia. I swear to you, I brought her what she asked for. The problem is, she had wanted to substitute her order but we don’t allow substitutions.

Instead of backing me up the way a manager should, Georgia yelled at me directly in front of the customer, “Were you paying attention to anything that she actually wanted or were you too busy doing something else?”

“No, of course not. I did my best to provide her with what she wanted.”

“Your best isn’t good enough! The food that was wasted is coming out of your check.”

“Wait but…”

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience ma’am.” Georgia said to the customer. My face was flushed red and the customer looked at me with sympathy. I wanted to slap the sympathetic look off of her face. She had the nerve to feel sorry for me after she lied on me and fucked with my money.

That’s the one thing that I don’t play about. Incidents like that prevent me from being able to pay my bills. I needed all of my money.

I walked away because I didn’t want to argue with my manager while on the floor. Georgia followed me to the back, “Do we have a problem?”

“Yes we have a problem.” I said, “She’s lying. She got exactly what she ordered so I don’t understand why I have to eat the cost for this.”

“Because the customer is always right.” 


“The policy is…”

“I don’t care what the policy is. It was your job to create an option that would work for her. We’re all about customer service here. I don’t know what kind of places you’ve worked at before but here the customers come first.”

“But the last time I asked you about a substitution, you damned near bit my head off because of the policy.”

“Are you arguing with me?” She asked.

“I’m not arguing, I’m just stating facts.”

“Well the fact is that we have an unhappy customer out there and I have to make it right with her. You know what, just go home for the rest of the day. You’re not needed.”

“Wait, I need to work.”

“You should have thought about that before you mouthed off. Maybe you’ll be in a better mood for your next shift.”

I clenched my jaw and took off my apron. Tears welled in my eyes and I bit my tongue. I didn’t speak to anyone on my way out. I headed straight to my car and cried. I made a resolution to go home and sign up for the website as soon as possible. I was willing to do anything to get away from that job. Even if it meant going against my morals.

#Chapter4

The next day I checked my emails and was surprised at the lack of interest. I’d signed up for dating sites before and my inbox was always full. I didn’t respond to a lot of them but it was a huge self-esteem boost knowing men wanted to talk to me. My damned near empty inbox was a bit of a blow to my ego. It had to be because they didn’t like black girls.

I only had two messages in my inbox. I went to Jessica’s room and woke her up.

“Seriously? You’re going to plop on my bed at like six in the morning?”

“It’s 10 o’clock.”

“Same thing.” she said groggily.

“I need to know what’s going on. I only got two messages since I put my profile up. I don’t think they like me.”

“You can’t expect them to approach you. You have to approach them in this setting. Since they have the money, they’re the ones holding the cards in the beginning.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to do that.”

“Tough, get over it. Now get out so that I can sleep.”

“You suck.” I mumbled as I walked out of her room.

I hated approaching men, but I went and scrolled though the profiles as I remembered the events at the restaurant from last night. The men left a lot to be desired in the looks department and most of them were over fifty. I guess that made sense because rich, good-looking men generally didn’t have to go looking for women on the internet. They probably couldn’t keep the women off of them.

A few hours later I got an email from a “Chris” who was forty and he looked alright from his photos. He was white and in decent shape. He said that he liked my profile and wanted to meet for coffee to see if we connected. I sent him an email to ask when, and he wanted to meet the following day and said that he could give me a gift of $100.

“Holy shit.” I exclaimed, knowing that I would need to work almost a day and half to make that kind of money. Now I was going to make it from sitting for coffee. It seemed like pretty easy work so I took his number and agreed to meet him.

I hoped everything would be smooth sailing. I was about to make the money back that I’d lost from having to leave work early.

*

“See I told you that the fish would bite eventually. You already have your first date.” Jessica said at the breakfast table. She looked really pleased with herself.

“I know, I’m trying not to be nervous.” I admitted.

“Girl, you have nothing to be nervous about. Wear something really cute because men love eye candy and turn on that charm.” she suggested as she guzzled her coffee and got up from the table. She was fully dressed at eight in the morning.

“Where in the hell are you going so early? I know it isn’t for work.”

“Ha, ha, very funny. I’m on my way to meet Steve for breakfast.” she said.

“But you already ate.”

“I had to girl. He’s always taking me to fancy ass places. I don’t want eggs Benedict, it’s fuckin’ disgusting. But I grin and bear it.”

“Oh yeah, you 'bare' it alright.” I said as I looked at her sheer top.

“Shut up and stop judging me. He likes it and that’s all that matters.”

“If you say so. But you’re walking around looking like a woman of the night in the daytime.”

She laughed, “I swear that your mom dropped you on your head when you were a baby.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. Have a great time.”

“You too.” she said before she left.

I breathed slowly and tried to calm the tension in my stomach. What if the guy that I was meeting was horrible? I wasn’t in the mood for a bad date. In the middle of my thoughts, my phone rang. It was from a number I didn’t recognize but it was local. I answered it.

“Hello”

“Hi is Roxie available?”

“This is she.”

“Hey, this is Chris.”

It was the guy that I was supposed to meet for coffee later. I was almost tempted to make fun of the way that he spoke. ‘Hey this is Chris’ he sounded so uptight and stereotypically white. What in the hell was I doing?

“Hi Chris, it’s nice to speak to you.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing you today.” he said in more of a relaxed tone.

“Same here.”

“I’m just looking to confirm the location and time.”

We confirmed all of the details and talked for a bit. I was a little more relaxed because he seemed pretty normal. Then again, I guess most weirdos seem normal at first. I checked the clock and saw that I had quite some time before I had to meet him. I had a two and a half hour class at eleven and we were meeting down the street from my school.

I went to my closet and sighed. I hated dressing for dates. I never knew what to wear. I wanted to be cute but I didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard. I pulled out damned near all of my clothes from my closet and looked at them with sadness. I needed more clothes.

I sifted through my selection and settled on a pair of shorts, with a beaded tank, and a pair of heels. I headed to the bathroom to do my hair and makeup.

“What are you doing?” I asked myself as I put on my eyeliner. “I’m going on a date with a rich man, and I’m talking to myself like a psycho.” I applied my Barbie pink lipstick from MAC, and headed to my room to get dressed.

I felt like I was operating at a snail’s pace. I grabbed my things looked at myself in the mirror one more time and headed out of the door.

*

“Well good morning.” my professor said as I walked through the door. I cringed, feeling a little self-conscious. I always looked presentable but it was rare when I dressed up. There wasn’t any use to dressing up daily because I just had to go to the diner. When I did dress up, it was business casual for my internship.

“Good morning.” I mumbled as I headed to my seat.

“I’m sorry have you seen my friend? She looks a lot like you but less…decorated.” my classmate Rodney said.

“Hush up Rodney. Can’t a girl look good sometimes?”

“Shit, I would love it if you could do this every time. Now I’m happy that I got here early, I got a full view of you walking through the door.”

“You are so full of it.”

“I’m just saying, you’re looking good girl.”

“What would you wife think about that sir?”

“Well, my wife isn’t here and I’m still a man. I’m married but I’m not blind.”

I laughed and shook my head, “I swear you make me afraid to get married sometimes.”

“Why? I’m an excellent husband.”

“Yeah, with wandering eyes.”

“All men have wandering eyes.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. For my sake, I hope you’re wrong.”

He shrugged, “You know I’m always going to keep it real with you, even when it hurts.”

“It doesn’t hurt, it just makes me cautious.”

“Go into everything with two eyes open, baby girl.”

I’d met Rodney a year before and I just knew that he was going to be my man when I saw him. He was chocolate, tall, and had a set of pearly whites that would put Taye Diggs to shame. Our friendship got flirtatious really fast and I felt like an idiot when he told me that he was married. From that point, I kept things strictly friendly, much to his dismay. I have no doubt that I could have kept things going and had something physical but I didn’t want to share another woman’s husband. I wanted a husband of my own and nothing good comes to people that do stuff like that.

Professor Yates cleared his throat, “Alright everyone, you know what time it is. Put everything away and get ready for the test. I hope for your sake that you studied because it’s comprehensive.”

I heard the groans around me and I snickered lightly. I was made for this shit.

*

I walked out of the building with a smile on my face. I knew I kicked that test’s ass. Lord knows I studied enough. Then a slight grumble in my stomach started. The nervousness set back in, I considered flaking but I willed myself to go to the coffee shop, anyway. I couldn’t go home and tell Jessica that I flaked him out. I had to at least give it chance and I needed the money.

I was a little early so I planned on scoping out a nice table and taking some time to collect myself before he arrived. When I stepped through the door, a man waved at me. He was sitting near the window and already had a cup of iced coffee in his hand. Ugh, he was early too.

I gave him a once over and was severely disappointed which only increased the closer I got to him. He looked to be older than the photos he posted and about thirty pounds heavier. Why do people do that? But I was the sugar baby, so I guess I was the only one that had to look like my pictures.

He extended his chubby hand, “Hi Roxie, it’s nice to meet you.”

I smiled and shook his hand, “It’s nice to meet you, Chris.”

“Do you want something?” He asked.

“Just bottled water.”

He rose to his feet and quickly got what I requested. I sat and stared out of the window as I waited for him to return.

“You look exactly like your photos.” he said as he sat next to me. “Actually you look even better, I’m impressed.”

“Glad to hear it.” I smiled.

“So do you live in this area?” He asked.

“No, I live in the Bronzeville area, I go to school downtown.”

“Nice, what school?”

“I go to DePaul.”

“See, now I’m really impressed.”

I laughed, “I take it that you like DePaul?”

“Absolutely, it’s my alma mater. I bleed white and blue.”

“Now that I’ll have to see for myself.” I giggled.

“I like that.” he said as he looked at me intently.

“Like what?”

“Your laugh. It’s really cute.”

“Thank you.”

So far our little meeting was going well. I realized he was an average guy.

“So what do you do for fun?” He asked.

“Honestly I don’t have much fun. I work a lot so I don’t have time anything else.”

“What a pity. Maybe I could help you out in that area.”

“Maybe.” I said uncomfortably.

“I can’t believe that you aren’t enjoying yourself. This should be the time of your life. I did nothing but party when I was in undergrad. I drank a lot, fucked a lot and went to class when I wasn’t hung over.” he laughed.