SAMIRA
"Good morning, how did you sleep? I'm sure you slept well courtesy of Mr sexy African butter, yeah?" Rose gave me a dreamy look, while waiting for me to get dressed so we could go to work together. I smiled at her, sure I spotted an identical dreamy look on my face. I still couldn't believe I had not only talked to Mr Sexy African butter, but he had accompanied me home as well and I didn't even flirt with him for that to happen. Oh well, I did flirt with him mentally but didn't have the balls to do so physically. At least I scored a chance to have dinner with him this evening.
"Ooh! She's even blushing, wow!" she commented and I blushed the more. It wasn't everyday one met a very good looking man who agreed to hang out with you. "Come on, tell me what happened and don't you dare leave out any detail." Rose added domineeringly.
As I got dressed, I gave her the full gist, trust me. I filled her in on our conversation and how we agreed to meet this evening for dinner.
"Oh no! Why did you offer to treat him for dinner? How can a poor, miserly woman like you decide to take a fancy looking man to dinner? You could spend your lifetime's savings yet you won't be able to buy him a decent meal." She flicked my head and I groaned by the sheer pain she inflicted. "I can't believe you did this, oh my goodness!" she facepalmed, swearing over my apparent stupidity.
"But it all happened in a blur. He offered to go somewhere fancy but I declined and offered my treat instead because I was hoping this would be a different experience for him." I defended my actions, giving the ultimate reason. I was certain he had never been offered to eat somewhere less fancy therefore, my idea sounded great for a change.
"Yes, a terrible idea! È così orribile..." she switched to fluent Italian and for five minutes, I was lost. I stared at her until she was done so I could get my English and French speaking friend back. As a fluent french speaker myself, I could understand a little Italian. Keyword is little and it was nowhere sufficient to understand what Rose spoke at the moment.
"I could go on and on but that wouldn't solve anything, would it?" I shook my head in response to her question. "Anyways, what are you wearing for dinner?" She asked and I twirled, showing off my skinny jeans, black tank top and a sleeved shirt that I tied on my waist for fashion and for use when it became chilly in the evening.
"Isn't this what you're wearing to work today?" She looked askance, her gaze threatening to murder me if my answer was positive.
"Um, yes. I figured once he showed up in the evening, we could just leave for dinner together." I murmured, hoping she liked my response.
"Are you kidding me? You're going to wear the same clothes that will be all sweaty and dirty after all of today's work, to dinner with him? I don't think you know who you're going out with." Her expression was that of fatigue. She was getting tired of me. Rose was only thirty years old but I treated her to be older than me because of how experienced she was in so many ways. She was my mother figure and best friend here in Canada.
"Okay, what do you suggest?" I enquired, ready to do what she said if it made sense.
"Let's find something worthy in that crappy wardrobe of yours first." I rolled my eyes at the adjective she used in modifying my wardrobe. It wasn't like hers was any different. I had been to her apartment on occasion and though she tried to clean up the place, it was still one crappy apartment. Instead of making a fuss over her statement, I chose to stay silent and walked side by side into my bedroom in search of what to wear. I sat on the bed and left the whole thing to her. She didn't buy my idea of going out in what I was wearing so she had to go through the stress of searching for something better herself. She surfed through each hanger in my wardrobe, mumbled in distaste until she finally picked out one and tossed it on me.
It turned out to be a yellow chiffon dress with spaghetti straps and flared from the chest down to the base above my knees. It was a fancy dress one of my cousins left behind when she last visited us in France, she lived in Belgium and had told me to take the dress since she wouldn't be visiting again in a couple of years. I had only worn it once to know if it was my size and it ended up being my exact size. Now, I feared I had gained some weight over the years and it wouldn't fit me. However, I was surprised to see that it did after I took off my current clothes and tried it on.
"Perfect!" Rose chanted, the light in her eyes. "Now wear this dress and those fancy slippers over there," she pointed at a pair of white slippers I bought at the mall last year. "And take along this denim jacket for the chilly night, though I hope he gives you his jacket instead." she winked at me and I giggled. Nevertheless, I wondered if this wasn't too fancy to wear to work first before going to dinner.
By a miracle, she read my expression and answered me. "You're going to wear the initial outfit to work and then when it gets to dinner time, you'll leave the shop and come back home to change." That was absurd! I couldn't just leave the shop to change and then return to have dinner, or could I?
"It isn't as hard as the look on your face, Sam. You're going to leave eventually for the evening aren't you? All you're gonna do is leave earlier, freshen up and then return to the shop to wait for him. Wait a sec, where did you both agree to meet, here or at the shop?" I remembered telling him but now I forgot my exact words. Did I say meet here or at the shop? Hmmm. We were at the main floor of my apartment when the subject of hanging out came up, wasn't my house the ideal place to meet?
"No, I won't return to the shop. I'll wait here and if he stops by the shop, you'll tell him to come meet me here. This makes more sense, right?" I suggested. This was a better idea than going back and forth.
"Yeah, it sounds better. Okay girl, it's settled. Go get changed, let's head to work." That being said, I changed back to my initial outfit and we left for work.
On our way, I couldn't stop grinning and feeling euphoric over how the evening would turn out. It seemed I was a teenager or young adult again and getting ready for my first date.
***********
As usual, the day went smoothly. There wasn't a lot of costumers until noon, clearly lunch time for a lot of workers in Quebec City. I loved how affiliated I was to the customers; knowing their orders even before they could place them. Smiling and laughing with children who couldn't quell their excitement over getting their daily ice cream. This was one reason I loved working here, the ambience was never dull and if I had a case of worry, anxiety or depression, all it took to get better was to come to work and watch these people's faces light up over ice cream. This always made me realize we were responsible for how we faced our problems. We could either choose to burden ourselves or overlook what we were going through and smile more.
Time always seemed to run fast at work, proving that the statement "Time flies when you're happy" was true! I checked my wrist watch astonished to see the time was almost 4pm. I had to leave now if I wanted to get home in time and get ready for dinner. Chiké would be here anytime and I didn't want him to consider me a tardy person.
"Rose, I'm leaving." I announced. For a brief moment, I wondered how she would cope running the shop alone, just then, an old pick-up truck pulled-over by the shop and a funny looking man jumped out of it. He looked weird in his complete cowboy outfit and boots that made a loud and squeaky noise whenever he walked. I glanced at Rose, expecting her to look as astonished as I was but hers was that of excitement as she walked over and gave him a solid kiss on the mouth. Gross!
"Hey Sam, this is Malcolm. He'll be taking your place for the evening and sleeping at my place tonight, huh?" He returned her grin, showing off crooked teeth. Gee, where did Rose meet this man and why was she kissing him over and over again? She seemed to have a poor taste in men. Ugh!
"Okay, thanks Malcolm." I whispered and hurried out of the way to cater to my own business. Rather than my usual walk home, I ran the whole time, panting when I eventually got into my room. I landed on my bed, gasping for air, making a mental note to resume exercising. My bones had grown stiff and lazy. After resting for more or less fifteen minutes, I showered, got dressed, did a natural makeup look, adorned my neck, wrists and ankle with some accessories, sprayed my favorite vanilla fragrance and drank some coffee, waiting for my dinner guest to arrive.
At exactly thirty minutes past five, my phone rang, displaying an unknown caller. I picked up, interested in knowing their identity.
"Hello?" I said
"Hey this is Chiké. Rose gave me your number." oh my! It was him. But how and when did Rose give him my number? "I was by the shop this evening thinking we would meet there but you weren't there so Rose told me your whereabouts and gave me your number too." he replied as if answering my unasked question.
"That's fine. Where are you now?" I inquired so we could meet up and get the show on the road.
"I'm at the main floor of your building so if you could just come out, we could go have dinner, yeah?" He seemed to be in doubt that we would still dine together this evening.
"Sure. I'll be right there." I hung up and looked at my reflection on the mirror for the millionth time. Grabbing my jacket and purse, I made sure I had everything intact, including the money I would be making use of this evening. It was enough for the night I had planned.
Locking the door behind me, I took a deep breadth, clearly nervous and excited at the same time. The elevator took forever to descend but when it did and I walked right out, out the main floor and out of the building, I found him leaning by the door of a shiny black luxurious car, phone in hand, receiving a call. He was dressed so casually yet fashionable. And when he looked at me, smiled and waved, I suddenly couldn't breathe.