Faces of the Game (11 page)

The corporate world of Ignorance

              After class, Chelle prepared for her interview she gathered all the important things that she needed and organized her portfolio.  She styled her hair in a soft but curled up do it was a very conservative look but it wasn’t all hanging down.  She wore a short sleeved black button down shirt, and a grey executive signature skirt from express that came a little past her knees a pair of black stilettos and sheer black colored pantyhose.  She carried a black leather clutch with sliver buckles and she only wore her white gold diamond earring studs.  “You look good baby?”  Chip said smiling; he was so glad that he had finally snagged a classy, smart and sexy lady.  He could already sense the lifestyle that she was destined for and that made him proud to be her man.  “Thanks babe, wish me luck” she said to him as she gave him a pop kiss and grabbed her portfolio on the way out.  On her way to Charlotte she listened to a Lil Wayne mix tape to keep her alert and motivated.  She drove for an hour and a half before she made it to her destination, when she did she called G.J.’s secretary to get the exact directions.  They ended up at an exclusive restaurant to discuss the career opportunities that were available.  G.J. explained to her how his business worked as far as getting people financial assistance; it was sort of like a loan corporation.  It sounded good to Chelle, and she knew that this would ultimately help her out with connections with all types of people for when she entered into the sports world.  She told him that her ultimate goal was to become the C.E.O of her own magazine, but before she did that she wanted to become a Sports Agent.  He was amazed at her goals, as any other person that she had shared her goals with was.  After dinner, she followed him to his office to discuss the particular position, the salary and to possibly fill out paper work.  As she filled out an application and gave him her resume, he talked about things that had happened with his companies.  He also talked about where his companies were located, how many houses he had, all the cars he owned and so forth.  He even told her about his ex-wife and how she was pregnant but it wasn’t his child, and how much money she had spent of his.  None of that mattered, he was a mess on the personal level; Chelle wasn’t interested in any of that so she tuned him out as she reviewed the application and stapled her resume and cover letter to it.  “Here you go” She said as she handed him the paper work.  “Thanks” he responded.  “So looking at your resume, I guess you would be a Public Relations Coordinator for my company; what you would be doing is basically drawing up contracts with borrowers, creating relationships with existing customers and clients and also writing press releases about our company for the media.  Also, if you had time we would have you to write the company newsletters.  Let’s see, we could start you off with $90,000.00 once you graduate, but we can discuss some part time work while you are still in school.  How does that sound?”   “Wow, that sounds wonderful it almost sounds too good to be true.”  Chelle said becoming sort of skeptical.  “Well this profession calls for a lot of work, and a lot of pay.  Welcome to the corporate business.  Are you willing to do anything for this position?”  He asked her.  “Well, not anything but for the job yes.  If I am getting paid 90k I will do whatever it takes to keep the business running properly” Chelle said excited to start working.  “So, do you remember grinding from middle school?”  He asked her.  “No, what’s that?”  She asked, puzzled.  “Well, you know, umm” he sort of sounded as if he was trying to find the words to say, and he chuckled slightly.  “No, really G what?”  Chelle asked sort of wondering what he was talking about.  “Well, not actually sex, but more of just you know grinding with our clothes on.”  He said almost as if he were embarrassed.  “Okay, I don’t actually remember it but what about it?”  Chelle said, now more confused and irritated with his hesitant attitude. “Well, I was wondering if you would be willing to do that with me.  I will pay you $2,500.00 a week and we could just maybe meet up in Charlotte once a week.”  Chelle’s eyes got as big as golf balls, her mouth dropped and she thought for a slight second what she was going to say to him.  “Look, I don’t know what you thought this interview was about but it’s definitely not about you grinding on me or whatever.  I don’t need a job that bad, I am still in school therefore I am well taken care of.  I can’t even believe you had the audacity to ask me such a question; you should be ashamed of yourself.  No thanks, ugh!”  Chelle said as she grabbed her clutch and backed out just to make sure he wasn’t behind her.  Once she felt the door knob to the front entrance she opened it, and she heard him say “Suit yourself” as she left out of the building.  Her heart was pounding as she couldn’t believe what he had just said to her.  She drove down the ramp in the parking deck as if she was Jeff Gordon, making sure she kept her eyes on the rear view mirror.  She didn’t see any signs of him so she felt comfortable that he didn’t follow her out.  Chelle ended up going to Ash’s apartment; she went to UNC-Charlotte so that was convenient for Chelle. 
Knock, knock, knock
Chelle banged on Ash’s door as if someone was after her.  “Who is it?”  Ash said as she walked to the door.  “Chelle open the door please!”  “What is wrong with you, psycho hold up!”  Ash said chuckling.  “Girl, I just went to that dumb ass interview and he was talking all good talking about he could start me off with ninety thousand and all of this shit, and then he asked me for an extremely perverted sexual favor.  I could have thrown up all over him and his fucking office, looser…”  “Wait Chelle, slow down I can hardly understand what you are saying okay you went to the interview, you look nice so what happened?”  Ash said as she went to get Chelle a bottle of water.  “Okay, the interview went wonderful until his perverted ass asked me if I would grind with him for money”.  “Grind?”  “Grinding girl, he goes
do you remember grinding from middle school
?  So I’m like no, I didn’t know if he was talking about a song or what so anyway, he goes
well it’s not actually sex but you know grinding with our clothes on
.  Then he offers me two and a half stacks a week, girl I wanted to kill his nasty ass!”  Chelle said with tears welling up in her eyes “Oh my goodness Chelle, come here.”  Ash held her arms out and hugged Chelle; Chelle hugged Ash back and let the tears fall from her eyes.  “Is this how it is out there, am I going to run into this while I am trying to get my career on the road?  I just used my gas, my time and most of all I actually trusted that dumb fuck!”  Chelle sat down, took a gulp of water and wiped her face off.  “I hope he didn’t think I would sell my soul for money, what is he crazy?  Does he know who the fuck I am?  He can’t, man if my daddy knew this shit he would kill that little dude.  Should I tell Chip?  What is he going to think?  That nigga might not even want me to go on anymore interviews if they are going to be like this…”  “Chelle, calm down and yes tell Chip he will want you to go even harder, and please don’t tell your daddy he is shell just like his crazy nephew.”  “Ohhh my gosh!  That shit is sickening.”  Chelle said as she fanned herself so that she could gain her composure.  “I know girl, just calm down you will be alright I thought someone had physically hurt you, you are such a drama queen.”  Ash said chuckling a little.  “Shut up” Chelle said in a guilty chuckle as well.  “I’m glad you are alright now.”   Ash said, and she turned the television on.

              The girls watched television for a while and Ash made a mixed fruit bowl, she knew that would make Chelle feel better it was her favorite.  “I know you want some fresh juicy fruit” Ash said as she brought a bowl of it to Chelle.  “Oh, thank you girl I am just over here in a zone wondering if I am going to have to go through this, sis what if I don’t get a job because I keep running into ass holes like G.J.”  “Girl please, you will find a wonderful career you are about to graduate and you are strong, determined and business minded.  I wouldn’t be surprised if you became a boss pretty soon, I can see you owning your magazine before you expect to.”  “Aww, shut up you are just trying to butter me up.  But you are right, besides God is not going to allow me to fall, I made the right decision and I feel like a real lady.  I wonder how many women actually fall for that nonsense.  I am just glad that he now knows I am a lady and I will always be respected as one no matter what, who, where or when the question arises, I demand respect and I will always get it once I set the record straight.”  Chelle said proudly.  “Tell him girl” Ash said laughing.  They both laughed for a few moments and continued to eat their fruit bowls.  “You know this was my breakfast for the rest of the week” Ash said pointing to the fruit bowl.  “So, eat on it for the rest of the week.”  Chelle said shrugging her shoulders.   “Well, I was going to alternate fruits each morning.”  Ash said still joking with Chelle.  “Umm, these mangoes are delicious, and the grapes are so sweet, the pineapple is scrumptious and the kiwi oh my I think it’s the best kiwi I have ever had, not to mention the strawberries they are pretty sweet too.”  Chelle said making over the fruit bowl and rubbing it in Ash’s face.  “You are so greedy!”  Ash said laughing at Chelle.  They laughed and talked for a while longer, and Chelle decided to stay in Charlotte for the night.  A few moments after the television show went off, Chip called “What the fuck are you doing?  What did you move in with the nigga or what?”  He said ready to jump through the phone.  “Chill out, I am at Ash’s house”  “Oh tell her I said what’s up, what time are you coming home it’s getting late.”  “Oh, I’m just going to stay the night I will be home early tomorrow.”  “Just stay down there, I have to come that way anyway.”  “But I don’t have any clothes down here besides the change of clothes I brought with me.”  “Well don’t worry about that, we can spend the weekend in Charlotte we will go to the mall tomorrow, know you like that.”  “Shut up, when are you coming?”  “I will be down there in a minute, how was the interview?”  “It was horrible; I will tell you all about it when you get here.”  “Tell me now.”  “No, me and Ash are talking see you when you get here you know where she stays right?”  “Yeah, I think so.”  “Okay baby, call me if you get lost.”  “Alright.”  Chelle and Ash stayed up all night talking about everything from serious things to silly things, as soon as they started getting sleepy Chip came knocking on the door.  Chelle let him in, she packed her interview clothes and told Ash she would see her later.  Although Ash went to UNC-Charlotte you would have thought she still lived in Winston as much as she was at home during the week.  Ash and Chip talked briefly while Chelle was making sure that she wasn’t leaving anything.  Chelle told Chip that she was ready, she gave Ash a hug and they left. 

              “So where are we staying?”  “At the Hyatt” he responded as he took her bag and put it in the trunk.  Chelle told Chip how bad the interview was and how everything went down, Chip was upset but he knew how to maintain his temper.  He just told Chelle not to worry about it and she was safe with him.  Chelle wouldn’t look at him because she was silently crying, she felt so uncomfortable about the whole situation.  Although she didn’t do anything wrong, she still felt nasty and degraded for some reason.  She couldn’t figure out why G.J. would even come off on her like that, it disgusted her.  She reminded herself that she was with the realest dude out there, and she felt so comfortable again.  When they got into the room, the both took long showers and he held her all night rocking her to sleep, she was safe in his strong, warm, comforting arms.               

Ironic Sermon

              “Have you ever felt like giving up, because nothing seems to be going right?”  The preacher asked the congregation as Chelle walked into Church.  She couldn’t agree with those who were saying amen, because she wasn’t feeling like that at the time.  Although Friday had been awful, Chip came and rescued her, she slept peacefully and Saturday ended up being awesome.  “The devil will test your faith whenever he feels like he has a chance” the pastor continued.  “Preach Bishop” one young lady said as Chelle directed her attention towards the message.  “Whenever he figures your weakness, he will test you to see if you are strong enough to stand up for what is right.”  Chelle thought about how G.J. had offered her a lot of money just to let him hump on her, she knew that the message the pastor was preaching was meant for her to hear.  As he went on, he talked about temptation and how the devil would test those who were trying to walk up right with Christ, and how when everything seems to be going perfect the devil will come and try to steal your joy.  Chelle was on her feet clapping and tears were rolling down her face, she thought that she had come across a legitimate business man and old classmate who would help her with the beginning of her career but she had to find out that he was not sincere, he was a fake.  Chelle still couldn’t believe that someone would come off on her like that, she always thought that everyone knew better.  She thought that she was intimidating if nothing else, but the devil will test even the toughest people.  Chelle knew that she wasn’t living like a pure saint, because she was sleeping beside a man every night that she wasn’t married to.  However, she also knew that Jesus died for her sins and she didn’t feel so bad because they hadn’t had sex yet.  Her mind was all over the place as she tried to search for the answer as to why the devil would have tested her, then she just reminded herself that everything happens for a reason and she let it go.  “Leave it up to Jesus to sort things out” the pastor said as he made eye contact with Chelle.  “If you are going through rough times, remember joy is on the way” he added.  “Let us pray” he began to pray for all of the saints of the church, the sick and shut in, the ones who search for guidance and for all those that he had forgotten.  “The doors of the Church are open, if you desire to give your life to Christ, please come to the alter at this time” the pastor offered the audience the opportunity to be saved if there was anyone in there who wasn’t saved.