Not Like Me At All…

We were about halfway to the front of the mall, walking at a slow stroll, when Gavin himself passed right by us and went into The King’s Music Café.  Tawana saw me eyeing him again. 

“Why is he so tall?!” I said, trying to mask my interest.  Tawana knew better.

“Wanna listen to some music real quick before your mom gets here?” She asked, smirking.  I had to smile.  Tawana knew me way too well in the small amount of time we had become cool with each other.

I glanced at my watch.  Fifteen minutes to go. “Yeah, let’s see what they got.”

We walked into the small shop and I saw Gavin over in the rap section.  I went over to where he was and stood about five feet away, pretending to browse the selection of cassettes and CDs that covered the wall in alphabetical order.  When he finally chose a CD, I hurriedly picked one, too.  Naughty By Nature.  Great, I already have this one.  I would just have to return it later because Gavin’s long strides had him at the cashier already.  What could I say to him?  I thought as I came up behind him.  He had chosen a CD by Onyx.

“Oh is that the one with ‘Slam’ on it?” I asked a little too anxiously.  Stupid question.  Of course it is.

“Oh, yeah, that’s my jam,” he replied, glancing back at me.  Then he turned back around, about to leave.  I realized I was still holding the Naughty By Nature CD in my hand and would need to pay for it in a hurry.  If I just left it on the counter, I would be embarrassed if Gavin overheard the cashier ask me about it and thought I couldn’t pay for it.  I had to get his attention immediately.

“Hey, don’t I know you?  You go to my school or something?” I called to him while I reached into my purse for the money.

Gavin turned at the entrance and faced me.  “I don’t think so,” he said, “but what school do you go to?”

“Herschel.  I’m Desiree.”

“I go to Agnes, but we play yall all the time.  You might have seen me then.  My name’s Gavin.  I have an aunt who works at Herschel.  Ms. Tyler.”

“The librarian?!  Okay, she’s really nice.”  I couldn’t think of anything else to say about her.

“Yeah, I know,” he said with a small smile.  He probably knew I was nervous and I bet he was cracking up inside.  I looked to find Tawana still browsing music, glancing up to check on me, and I turned back to Gavin with my new duplicate CD in hand.  Then, occurred to me.

“My grandmother does Ms. Tyler’s hair.  She owns a salon in Herschel.  Every time Ms. Tyler comes to the salon and I’m there, she gives me a peppermint.  Ever since I was about five.” Grandma Vonnie had owned the small salon on the Reef since my dad was little.

“Oh, that sounds just like her!” Gavin laughed.  “She loves kids, even almost grown ones.  She still offers to bake me a chocolate cake whenever I go to see her.  Well, hey, I gotta go, it was nice talking to you.”  Then he walked away.

I was utterly disappointed.  Gavin must have had a girlfriend because he obviously didn’t want to talk to me, or maybe he just didn’t like me at all.  He hadn’t even thought about asking me for my number.  I felt as rejected as if I had asked him to dinner and a movie and he said no to my face.  He seemed so nice.  Oh well, I thought as I turned to get Tawana who was still in the music store.

Feeling embarrassed, I was formulating what to tell Tawana about what happened, because she was definitely gonna ask me if Gavin had asked for my number.  I couldn’t lie about it, because once I did that, she would continue to ask if he called me.  She looked up at me and started tucking a cassette back in its spot on the wall, when she suddenly stopped moving and smiled, interested in something behind me. 

“Hey, Desiree?” Gavin spoke.  I drew in a breath in surprise as I whipped around to face him. “Why don’t we exchange numbers, keep in touch?  You seem like a cool person.  That is, if you want to.”

Was he kidding? Of course I wanted to!  I didn’t know what it was about Gavin, but I really wanted to learn more about him as a person.  I just needed to seem calm about it.  Calm down, Desiree.

“Sure, we can talk,” I said. He borrowed a pen and scrap of paper from the cashier and we switched numbers.

“I’ll holla at you later then,” Gavin said as he tucked my number in his wallet. 

“Okay,” I said.  As soon as he left, Tawana walked over to me.

“Happy now?” she asked with a big grin.  “I’ve never seen you act like that before…putting yourself out there like that.  Gavin’s alright, though.  He’s real popular, and nice too apparently.  And he can definitely play some ball.”

I wondered what else he could do with those big hands and nice lips…then I had to clear the thought from my mind.  That wasn’t where I wanted to go with Gavin.  But I couldn’t wait for him to call me so I could hear his deep voice in my ear.

“Just tryna be like you, playa!” I said, playfully bumping into Tawana as we left the store to meet Mama out front.

“Whatever!” Tawana said laughing. “Right now, I wouldn’t mind being like you instead.”

Question: Have you ever gone out of your way or behaved in an entirely different way just to meet someone?