“Baby, you getting a lil’ thick, huh? That ass and them hips look a lil’ wider today,” he joked.
“Really? That shit is rude as hell. Now I just wanna stay inside!” I cried.
“Baby, I’m just joking with you. You are gaining a little, but it’s in all the right places. You know you fine as wine,” he said as he walked up behind me and kissed my neck.
I shook him off me and headed outside to wait for him by the car. He came outside, winking and smiling in my direction. I couldn’t stand his ass sometimes. He played Dimeo’s new EP on the way to the mall, and I was feeling every song. My girl was so talented, and Rowdy was a proud big cousin when it came to her. He always played and promoted her music.
When we arrived at the mall, I had to coach this man like he was a kid. I told him we needed to be in and out within an hour and we didn’t need to make unnecessary stops. He laughed, ignored me, and damn near dragged me into the mall. When we got to Footlocker, he pulled out a stack of money and peeled off a couple hundred. The line was all the way out the door, but he grabbed my hand, and we skipped to the front of the line. As one of the employees started telling him that he couldn’t skip, he slid him the money, and the employee escorted him to the register. He got his shoes, and we were out of the store in a matter of minutes.
Somehow, we ended up in Apple, and I was now smiling from ear to ear.
“I thought you ain’t wanna come to the mall, and we needed to get in and out,” he mocked.
“Welllll, you did say I could get what I want. I know what I want now.” I smiled.
I asked him why he couldn’t pay for us to skip the line in Apple, and he told me they took their jobs too seriously and wouldn’t take his money. When it was all said and done, I had to wait almost an hour, but when I left, I had my matte black m4 MacBook Air and the viral hot pink iPad with the Apple pen.Rowdy side eyed me when he swiped his card for my purchases, but he was the one who dragged me out of the house.
I had my head down, looking inside my purse as we walked out of Apple, but I could feel someone looking at me. When I looked up, I thought I caught a glimpse of Diamond passing in the crowd. I wasn’t sure, but I really thought that was her. At that same time, Rowdy’s whole demeanor changed. He was now in a rush and ready to get out of there.
“Come on, baby. Let’s get out of here. I’ll take your bags,” he insisted, walking swiftly as if he had seen a ghost.
I didn’t know what had happened in a matter of seconds, but I felt his vibe shift completely. As he held our bags in one hand and my hand with his other, he maneuvered us through the crowded mall. With my hand in his, it kept brushing against his pants pocket, and I could feel his phone constantly vibrating. He ignored it and never pulled it out.
Once we were outside the mall, I had to ask him what happened. “Why did you rush us out of that mall so fast? I spent too much of your money?” I joked.
“There’s no such thing. My anxiety had started acting up. It was just too crowded, baby. A nigga can’t do all that traffic for too long,” he lied.
I gave him a fake smile and didn’t say anything else. I didn’t want to be that scorned girl who expected all men to be the same, but I just felt that he had seen someone he knew and wanted to rush me out before shit hit the fan. I told myself to chill because he wasn’t from Texas, and he didn’t know a lot of people, but something was definitely going on with him.
When we got in the car, he took his phone out and powered it off. I made a mental note of that. I wasn’t going to ruin our day, but I wasn’t about to go through this shit again with any man.
Next, we pulled up to a place called Royalty Cutz. It didn’t look like a barber shop, though. It was very nice on the outside.Rowdy opened my door, helped me out of the car, and held my hand as we entered the building. As soon as we walked in, I realized we were at the jeweler. We went through a detector, then walked up to the counter, and Rowdy tapped the bell.
“What’s up, my guy? I been waiting for you. I thought you didn’t want your stuff, man. This must be your beautiful lady,” the owner said as he came out and greeted us.
He extended his hand and shook mine, then he dapped my man up.
“What you mean you thought I didn’t want it? All the money I gave you? Don’t play like that, Abdul.” Rowdy laughed.
I stood off to the side and waited for Rowdy and his jeweler to finish talking. As I looked at the jewelry he had on display in the glass case, Rowdy walked up behind me and put his hands around my waist. I instantly got nervous because my stomach was now really hard, and I didn’t want him asking me questions.
“What you see that you want?” he asked.
“You know I’m not really picky. Whatever you wanna get me is cool.”
“Good, ’cause we’re here to pick up the custom piece I ordered you,” he announced as Abdul slid him two black suede boxes.
Rowdy opened the largest box first, and inside was a diamond heart shaped baguette necklace that had a pendant with my name on it in diamonds. The diamonds were dancing so hard that I needed to have on some sunglasses. The second box he opened contained the matching bangle bracelet. I covered my mouth because I was smiling and blushing too hard.
“Tell me you didn’t! Baby, I love it so much! It’s beautiful,” I said as he walked behind me and placed my necklace around my neck.
“Anything for you, Moni. Whatever I have to do to make you smile like you smiling right now, that’s what I’m always gon’ do,” he boasted.
Abdul put my boxes in a nicely packaged bag and told me to keep my receipt because with it comes a lifetime of free cleanings. I took the receipt out of the bag and almost fainted. My necklace and bracelet came up to over twenty racks. This nigga must thought I was a rapper or something. I did not need jewelry that expensive, but I was definitely grateful. Nobody had ever cashed out on me like that. It was so much thought put into my gift that I knew this wasn’t a last minute surprise. I smiled all the way to the car. I was on cloud nine, and nothing could mess up my day, or so I thought.
I thanked Rowdy several times as we got into the car. The sun was beaming, so I reached into his console to get my Versace shades that I had left the last time I rode with him. On top of my shades was a long receipt. I unfolded the receipt, and it was from Coach. It was for women’s luggage, a wallet, and a purse. I didn’t wear Coach at all, and this nigga knew not to bring me no shit like that.
“So, what low-class bitch you buying Coach for? You went all out, didn’t you? You spent almost seven hundred on the bitch,” I said with a scowl on my face, and my nose turned up.
