“You need help or something?” He asked as two of the other men nodded at me, then walked into the gas station. My eyes quickly roamed over him. He had to be at least 6’3”, long brown locs pulled into a ponytail. My eyes darted from his sleeve of tattoos to his lips as he spoke.
“I said, do you need help? I got somewhere to be, beautiful.”
“Yeah, uh, I do actually. Can you help me put air in my tires, please?”
“No doubt. Which ones?” I pointed to the back passenger tire while he walked around.
“You riding clean in this Wrangler, shorty. Where you headed to?” He asked, taking the pump off the base and securing it to my tire.
“I was supposed to be celebrating my birthday but, unfortunately, I’m running errands.” I shrugged.
“Oh, word? What yo man got planned for your birthday?”
“That’s smooth. Who said I had one?”
“Girls like you always do,” he laughed while I joined in with him. “Do you have an air chuck?”
“What’s that?” I asked awkwardly. “Ohhh, the little thingy you use to check the pressure?”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “The little thingy.”
“As a matter of fact, I do. I went to Firestone earlier, and the guy convinced me to get one.” I added, pulling it out of the glove compartment.
“You mean to tell me you were at a car shop today and they didn’t put air in your tire? Somebody needs to lose their job.”
“Well, in their defense, I rushed them to get everything done so I could get my nails done.”
He walked around seemingly checking the pressure of the other tires. He placed the air compressor back on the rack while I thanked him graciously.
“No problem, beautiful. I’mma be at this spot tonight. You and your girls should come through. Leave that nigga at home though if you do,” he added, handing me five one-hundred-dollar bills and a flyer.
“Oh no,” I laughed awkwardly. “I can’t take that from you. I don’t even know you.”
“The name is Kier, and you?”
“I’m Sibley.”
“Your name is as beautiful as you. Guess we know each other now.” He smirked down at me. “Happy birthday. I hope to see you tonight.” He added, placing the bills in my hand and kissing it as he backed away.
The bills sat in my hand as I watched Kier and his entourage drive away. He wasn’t driving; he was a passenger. And we all learned from TLC what that meant. But giving away five hundred dollars was crazy, so how much of a scrub could he really be? The gesture felt nice, though, I had to admit that. I was a few hundred dollars richer on my birthday and hadn’t evenmade it to dinner yet. Still, it wasn’t really about the money; it was the way he did it. He hadn’t hesitated to come to my aid. I folded the bills slowly, sliding them into my wallet, and glanced down at the flyer again. Kier. I had a feeling this wasn’t the last time I’d see him..
two
. . .
I was showered,dressed, and ready to go by 7 since Damien requested I be ready to go at 8. Damien was the definition of one and done. He pulled out all the stops to get me, but once we were together, the flowers stopped. The good morning and good night texts were few and far between. So, I was excited when he asked me to be ready, and he’d take it from there. But then 7:30 came, as did 8:30. It wasn’t until 9 p.m. that I stopped giving him the benefit of the doubt and realized that I had been stood up. I checked my phone again like something would be different this time. I set it down slower than I picked it up, because at that point, I understood clearly.. Stood up on my birthday and I knew the relationship was over.
Birthdays used to feel exciting. Somewhere along the line, they started to feel like something I needed to get through without being disappointed. I told myself that was growth, that not expecting much meant I was mature. But standing here on my birthday, I knew the truth was simpler than that. I just didn’t want to be let down again, but here I was, unfortunately.
Sulking wasn’t an option, but calling the only person who knew how to get the party started was. My bestie, Treasure. She had all but begged me to go to a resort to celebrate this year. Ishould have gotten on it when she first mentioned it, but I didn’t want to take off for work. Now that I was calling her to come out tonight, I knew it would be a matter of time before she hit me with the ‘told you so’.
“What you doing, Tre?” I asked when she finally answered the phone.
“Birthday Bestie! Did you take care of everything earlier?”
“I sure did.”
“I see, your eyebrows look nice! What do you want, girl? I told you I wasn’t talking to you since we’re not somewhere turning up in Jamaica.”
