Chapter 3 #3
“Go ahead. Ima sit down while you go look,” he said, knowing me too well.
With a smile on my face, I scurried off, going right for the Christian Louboutin brand because I saw that there were new thigh high boots, and with it being wintertime, this would be the perfect time to add these to my collection.
From where I was, I could see that Tank had found a spot that wasn’t too far away, and just that quickly, he had the phone glued to his ear, as he sat in the chair, with his legs spread just a little bit. Like he was my personal security, he kept his eyes on me the entire time.
It wasn’t long before a sales associate came over to me. She remembered me from when Tank and I came a few weeks ago. I quickly let her know the boots that I wanted, gave her my size, and she went off to get them from the back.
While she did that, I went over to Tank, and he was still running his mouth on the phone.
“I would have to come Friday morning. I have too much to take care of at the shop these next couple of days,” he said to whoever he was talking to, and immediately, I found myself pouting as I stood in front of him because something told me that he was about to go out of town.
He reached his hand out for me, pulling me to him by the loop on the jeans that I was wearing, as he intensely listened to the caller that was on the other end of the phone.
“Yeah. That’s cool. We can do that,” he responded, and a few seconds more, he hung the phone up.
The second he was off the phone, he looked at me, and he laughed.
“What? Why you looking at me like that?” he wanted to know.
“Because I feel like you’re about to go out of town. Are you?” I asked, hoping that he would say no.
“Yeah, but it’s going to be quick, baby. My realtor out there in Cali found this spot for a potential new location, and I just want to go see it in person. Get a feel for it, you know? I’ll fly up that morning and come back at night. Come with me then,” he offered.
“I can’t. This is the first week at the warehouse with all the staff and we have too much going on for me to leave. Ugh. I hate when you leave me,” I groaned, about to take the seat that was next to him, but he pulled me by my arms, so that he could lower me down, and sit me in his lap.
He buried his face into the crook of my neck, and even though my stomach was nowhere near showing any signs of pregnancy yet, he picked up his right hand and placed it there.
“Ima leave out first thing in the morning, baby. By the time you get home from work, I’ll be back. You be ready to crash out,” he said it in a joking kind of way.
Before I could even respond, the sales associate was coming back over with the boots. She found me, and I stood up, so that I could take the box from her.
I sat in the chair that was next to Tank, and I pulled the boots out.
He whistled when he saw them and clapped his hands in appreciation.
I knew my man would like them. He told me before that he loved it when I wore thigh-high boots.
I was able to roll my pants legs up, and I easily slipped into both boots, and I stood up, walking effortlessly in them.
There was a mirror that was right next to us, and I walked over to it, standing directly in front, checking myself out.
“I like those on you, baby. Gotta wear that shit with a short ass dress, and a fur coat. Have all the hoes hating,” he hyped me, and I laughed because if Tank was going to do anything, he was going to constantly remind me that I was in a league of my own, and that these other hoes couldn’t compare.
I was sold on the boots, so they were packed up for me. I didn’t really see anything else that I wanted, so after getting the boots, that’s when we went over to Chanel because that’s where I wanted to exchange the sneakers for a bigger size and possibly see what else they had in store.
Tank had his head down in his phone when we walked in because he was trying to look for a flight for Friday morning.
When we walked in, my eyes immediately went for a dark-skinned woman, who was pretty much the same color, height, and size as me, and she was standing there with another woman that could have been a friend of hers.
They were browsing, looking at the shoes, which was the area that I was going to go.
I only looked because she was very pretty.
It was her side profile that had gotten my attention.
There was designer shopping bags by her feet, so she was probably having a shopping evening, just as I was trying to have.
“They got something that’ll leave out at six in the morning. Ima book that—”
Tank was letting me know, but then he stopped talking once he looked up. His eyes went for the same woman that I had been staring at. The way his eyes shifted, going from her to me, and when he sucked his teeth, I knew from that, that he must have known her.
“Let’s go to another store, and then we’ll come back in here. I had a long day, baby. I ain’t trying to have her come over here, say something to you, then some bullshit pop off between you, and her,” he voiced, and you could hear the annoyance dripping from his voice.
“Who is that?” I wanted to know because I didn’t have a clue who she was.
“Crystal,” he replied, and at first, I didn’t know who he was talking about.
Then, I thought about it, and Crystal was the bitch that I went back and forth with a while back when I answered his phone.
That hoe had me livid because she was talking so much shit.
So much has happened in my life since that last conversation with her, so I had completely forgotten about her.
One thing for sure, I wasn’t about to leave out of this store because her ass was here though.
“I won’t say anything to her. Just hope that she doesn’t say anything to me, either,” I announced with a smile on my face.
Like I had his ass stressed out, he sighed, ran a hand down his face, and followed behind me.
“Dionne, is that you? Why didn’t you text me, and tell me that you were coming? I would have put some stuff to the side for you,” that was Hailey, my favorite client advisor from Chanel.
She was so happy as she walked over to me with the biggest smile on her face.
Hailey has seen me through so many phases.
I’ve spent a lot of shopping trips in here with Garrus, my sisters, my mom, and now Tank.
Because I’ve been shopping with her for about four years now, she knew what I liked, and what I hated.
Usually, whenever I knew that I would be coming to Chanel, I would text her.
The only reason why I didn’t do it today is because I really didn’t know if I was 100% on coming down here after work. I thought that I would be tired.
The loud outburst from Hailey caused Crystal to turn her head and look in our direction.
Crystal was standing in front of the mirror at this point because she was trying on a pair of heels.
When she turned, and she saw me, and Tank right here, it’s like she did a double take.
She didn’t even try to be discreet with the way she tapped her friend, so that she could look as well.
I was on whatever they were going to be on with me. I wouldn’t say anything to either one of them until they said something to me. That’s just how we were going to play this game.
“Hi Hailey. Look at you. You look so pretty. I really didn’t know if I was going to come or not, so I didn’t want to text you, and have you waiting on me. Hailey, I’m a working woman now, so I thought that I might be tired from work,” I let her know, and she laughed.
My man was behind me, laughing too because lately, that’s been me, and Tank’s running joke. I was quick to let the world know that I was a working woman. It was something that I was still getting used to.
“I knowwww. I know that I texted you already, telling you how proud I am of you, but Dionne, I really am. Me, and all the ladies here are already following House of Henry on Instagram, and we signed up on your mailing list. Everything about that brand screams you. Luxury, and sexy,” Hailey replied, right before she reached in, so that she could hug me.
Like we were long lost sisters, we squeezed each other during the hug, and then eventually let go.
“This is Tank. When we came a couple of weeks ago, you weren’t here. This is my man,” I let her know, proudly. She smiled, happy to see it.
“I wasn’t here, but it was the talk of the store, so I know all about it. How are you, Tank? I’m Hailey,” she responded, reaching her hand out, so that he could shake it.
“How you doing?” his voice was deep, and I could tell by how red her pale skin changed that she was caught off guard by his voice.
That voice did the same thing to me, so I couldn’t even blame her.
I let Hailey know that I was here to exchange my sneakers for a bigger size, and she told me to browse around, so that she could do what she needed to exchange the shoes.
I couldn’t even fake like I needed to go over and look at new purses.
I literally had too many, and I was only in the mood to look at new shoes.
I didn’t care that Crystal, and her friend was over there either because I knew that they wouldn’t touch me.
Tank was continuing to play that role, where he walked behind me, securing me, making sure that I was safe.
“Tank, I get that your with your girl, but nigga, you can speak. You and I were friends before any of this shit. Don’t act like that,” Crystal said it probably two minutes into us standing over here.
I had a pair of slides in my hands that I was gushing over, but the sound of her voice made me pause, and I turned around to look at Tank, just to see what his next move was going to be.
He stood there with one hand in his pocket, and the other hand was holding onto the shopping bag from Saks that held my new boots.
“You called my girl all kinds of bitches and hoes. I don’t have to speak to you, love,” his voice was cool, and causal, as he pulled out another pair of slides for me off the display stand, putting them in my hand, and I knew that was his way of telling me that he liked the shoe, and he wanted me to get them.
“Because she started talking to me crazy—”
“Girl, I can talk to you however I want. You shouldn’t have been calling his phone,” my voice was calm.
I was in Chanel. I knew damn near every sales associate in here, and the last thing I wanted right now was to put on a show in front of these people, going back and forth with a bitch from Tank’s past.
She had this look in her eyes, and you could just tell that it was so much more that she wanted to say.
Nothing about her gave that she was the kind of woman to just allow things to drop, but for whatever reason, she did it this time.
Maybe she saw that there was no argument.
Maybe, it hit her that Tank had moved on, and whatever it was that the two of them shared in the past, was just the past.
Her friend, or whoever the hell that was with her ended up tapping her on her arm, telling her to just drop it, so that the two of them could leave. That was the best thing that they decided to do since we came over here.
Before Crystal walked away though, she shot Tank and I one final look, and then they disappeared to the front of the store, so that they could pay for their items.
“I gotta check hoe after hoe dealing with you. This the second bitch, Tavion!” I snapped on him, as he sat down on the luxury plush couch that was near us.
Like this shit was funny to him, he laughed, picked up his right hand, and he ran it down his face.
“I can’t control the shit these bitches do.
Don’t even try to get mad at me either because it ain’t like I’m still fuckin around with them or keeping tabs on them.
You don’t have shit to worry about when it comes to that.
If I was still fuckin around with her, trust me, that would have been the first thing that she said to you,” he let me know, and I just ignored him.
“I told your ass to go to another store. You ruined your own day,” he kept fuckin with me, and I was continuing to ignore him.
I purposely started pulling down all kinds of shoes from the display stand, that I was going to hand over to Hailey when she made it back over. I was going to take my anger out on his pockets.
It’s almost like he knew that that’s what I was doing because I heard him laugh. His laugh is what caused me to turn my head and look at him.
“That don’t hurt me, baby. I like all the shit that you’re picking out. I want to see you in all those shoes,” he shot, leaning up a little bit in the chair, so that he could slap me on my ass.
I wasn’t upset. Just annoyed. I felt like I have become so prone to bullshit these days. I couldn’t catch a break to save my life, and that’s the part that I hated.