DOWN 4 REAL

TWO

Eric and I exchanged pager numbers that night, and the following morning around 8 o'clock, he paged me to let me know that he was ready to take me mattress shopping just as he promised. I had already been awake when I saw his code flash across the screen, so all I had to do was clean up my post-breakfast mess that I had made in my kitchen before he arrived.

I thought about what the day was going to be like for us. Maybe he was only going to take me mattress shopping and call it a day.  I was thinking about offering to drive myself to the furniture store because I knew I wanted to do a bit more shopping.

All the times I went shopping with Jahmil, he would verbalize how slow of a shopper I was and how I should learn how to scan things quickly. I always ignored his remarks, I didn't care how unsatisfied he was. All that mattered to me was if I was getting a good deal or not on something that I thought was suitable for me.

I was just hoping Eric wasn't going to be impatient with me.

About thirty minutes after he paged me, Eric was knocking at the front door. I let him in and almost instantly offered for us to drive in our own cars. He refused, telling me that he didn't want me to waste any of my car's gas. "Don't worry 'bout the extras. I got'chu, I promise." He told me ever so confidently.

Soon after that, we were making our way to a small furniture store in Inglewood. During the car ride, we shared more basic facts about ourselves to each other.

I learned that Eric was born and raised in Compton, and he learned that I was born and raised in San Francisco.

Instead of driving on the freeway, Eric drove through the LA streets. He pointed to all the places he wanted to take me as we passed by their buildings, lots of them being restaurants or food trucks.

I was in awe of it all, there was so much happening around us that I felt overwhelmed with extreme joy. It felt so good to drive with the top down as the wind blowed through my curly hair. It was slightly chaotic after awhile, so I searched in my purse to find a hair tie but had no luck.

We came to a red light and I turned to Eric in hopes to ask him for some help. To my surprise, his eyes were already fixated on me. I immediately gave a shy smile and Eric slightly laughed. "All that hair fuckin' wit' you, huh? Here, I got'chu."

He reached over into his glove compartment and retrieved a large hair tie that was made from satin. He closed the box and handed me the accessory.

"Are you sure I can take this? It looks like it belongs to someone," I told him, carefully eyeing the hair tie.

He shrugged me off, "Don't worry, it's my mom's. She left it when I dropped her off at bible study last Wednesday, but she got like a million more so it shouldn't be too much of a loss for her."

The way he casually spoke about the matter made it seem like he was telling the truth, but a part of me still didn't believe him. I was careful how I presented myself action-wise. Even though we both had mutual people in our lives, I still didn't completely know what he was about.

I proceeded to work on my hair, but Eric seemed to sense my uneasiness.

"I'm not lyin', I swear," He reassured, keeping his eyes on me. "I'll pull up to the house and let you meet Moms if you don't believe me."

I shook my head with a small laugh, "I believe you."

The light turned green and he continued to drive down the not-so busy street. I tied my hair up in a half up-half down ponytail while observing my appearance in the side mirror.

I looked over at Eric and suddenly asked, "Do you do this with all of your friends?"

"Do what?"

"Take them shopping," I giggled.