Tender Love

Arcades and a food court were absent from the mall. Some clothing stores that we passed had racks overflowing with sale items, but only a candy store piqued our interest because of the sweet artificial aroma. Glancing over towards Tammy, I heard odd swooshing sounds as she dragged her feet on the floor with each step. Sasha had her shoulders drooping with fatigue and boredom, but we were determined to find a music store. Although we desired to purchase new music tapes, the mall disappointed us and was sparsely populated. The Jersey mall near us had a constant influx of teenagers because of the movie theater and lively atmosphere. Looking around, and listening to the echoes of the mall because it was so empty and dark. Dullness trailed as we roamed through, hoping to find one store that would excite us.

We saw up ahead four young boys, who looked around our age. One boy came up to us and said, “Wow, y’all sure are pretty. Y’all not from around here?” Sasha laughed, then me and my sister. This was normal back then, for random kids to go up to other kids they did not know and just begin talking. In that time period, it felt easy because boys were just so bold and came right up to you and flirted like it was nothing. It was an exciting time because most of us kids were spontaneous and loved taking risks. Being adventurous was in our nature. I am sure there are kids today who are just as adventurous, but it feels more to me like kids today like to remain inside rather than taking advantage of the glorious sunlight and freedom of exploring outside.

I spoke first. “We are from out-of-town visiting our grandparents.”
He introduced himself; “My name is Jarred, and that’s Darryl, and those two over there are James and George.”

Among the group, Jarred was the one who held his shoulders high and with ease, while the other boys were fidgeting. He had an unwavering gaze that met mine steadily, and all his physical actions seemed effortless. You can tell he was confident in his actions and the way he spoke to us, whereas the other boys kneeled back on the wall looking away from us. It was Jarred’s aggressive stare at me that made me feel both nervous and excited at the same time. George kept leaning into James, whispering something and pointing to Sasha, perhaps curious about her.

I kept staring at Jarred, at his face, but would look down when his eyes locked with mine. His beautiful brown eyes were so wide and vivid, they seemed almost cartoonish. Despite his unusually long eyelashes, they surprisingly suited his face. As I kept leering at him, I thought he was really attractive. His red Adidas tracksuit contrasted with his dark brown skin tone, which made him more attractive to me. In New Jersey and New York, the break dancers wore those outfits and made him stood out from the rest of his friends. This made me think he had to have some relatives up north because he definitely does not dress like his other friends. His friends looked like they were from the country; they had on overall jeans and white color t-shirts. The sneakers they had on were not name brand like Nike, Reebok, or Jordans.

Time flew as we wandered through the mall, and suddenly we were at the opposite end. We are still talking to the boys. Darryl was holding Sasha’s hand while George kept removing it, and then he placed his arm around her shoulder. The two of them were competing for her attention. Hoping to impress Tammy, James repeatedly recited lyrics to various songs, such as Stevie Wonder’s “Part-Time Lover” and “Oh Sheila” by Ready for the World. Babysis stiffened, crossing her arms over her chest as he walked closer to her, which was a clear signal of detachment. Every time he moved in closer, she would take a step back, keeping a safe distance. I smirked because James was completely clueless about her lack of interest in him. Suddenly, this powerful sensation had fallen upon me; I turned my head to the side and noticed something strange. Lurking around the corner, I saw the same guy in the red jogging suit from the rest stop store. He held his hoodie downward with his right-hand, covering half his face. Then he slithered across the wall towards us; now I realized his mouth was slightly open, as if he was smiling at me.

My jaw dropped, and I immediately ran over to Tammy; “Hey sis, now do you see him?!”
“See who?”
“It’s him, I swear it’s him! That dude in the red outfit from the rest stop.”
Tammy turned around, but then a bunch of girls walked past us; there were a lot of them, maybe 15.
The group glared at us and then yelled out, “Look at those white girls, thinking they look cute.”
It was funny to hear them refer to us as white girls because we were light-skinned but definitely not white. In an effort to deter the girls from following us, the boys yelled at them to get away. Throwing their fists up in the air, the girls walked fast behind us threateningly.
The girls were hollering out things like, “Wait till outside, so I can punch you in your face.”
Sasha had no fear; she kept talking smack to them, making them even more riled up.
“Come on and try it, bi@&$!”
“Who you talking to?!”
“I’m talking to you!”
“Nah you not talking to me, cuz you don’t want none of this,” one girl said, grinning and looking over her shoulder to the other girls.
“Whatever, you ain’t gonna do jack s$#*!”
“Oh this one got a mouth on her, ok let’s go! You the ugliest one too!”
And this would go on, and the girls kept getting closer to us and the boys kept pushing them back.

They created such a distraction that I forgot about the creepy man and tried to locate him, but he was gone. Most of the girls did not have their hair styled, at least not how we styled our hair, which was usually crimped or in braids. A lot of them had thick hair, and a few had short ponytails because their hair was not long. Also, their clothes looked just like the other country boys, similar overalls or plain color t-shirts. Some of them had on green and blue plaid shirts, which I found unappealing. A few girls’ chests puffed out their shoulders as if they were ready for a confrontation with us. Green with jealousy, it was obvious in their sneering remarks and scorching glares. They wanted to land the first punches or hoped one of us would, to give them a reason to fight us.

We finally got to the entrance, where my dad told us to meet him. As luck would have it, there he was in the car, waiting for us. It was great timing because I’m pretty sure those girls wanted to beat us up.

Before I got in the car, Jarred ran over to me and yelled out, “Wait! Here is my pager number; don’t leave North Carolina without paging me. I want to see you again.” He handed me a small piece of paper with his pager number written on it.
People had beepers back then, way before cell phones. You call that number, and then it would page or beep them on this tiny device. This was the decade of boys not worrying about taking chances; they had one chance to stay connected because we did not have multiple ways like social media to remain in contact during those times. I took the piece of paper and ran to the car.
When we got in the car, that fast, my dad pulled off from the mall. I saw Jarred staring at me, but then one girl came up and pushed him. She argued with him, probably about us.

I stared at that tiny piece of paper and just smiled. Sasha nudged me and was like, “Ooooooh, he likes you, girl!” We laughed, and I blushed. Looking in the back window, glared at Jarred one last time, and he looked right back at me. He walked towards the car, ignoring the girl who had pushed him. That song from Force MDs, “Tender Love”, ironically started playing on the radio. How the lyrics invaded my mind. We locked eyes; our stares were so intense it felt like an MTV music video. I believe he was my first crush. We just kept staring at each other like two love-lust teens, hoping I would see him again.

That spooky vibe came over me again as I looked on the other side of the street, and now my attention was gone from Jarred. The man in the red jogging suit appeared again, just casually walking on the sidewalk. I tried to show Sasha and Tammy, but Dad drove too fast that now he was out of our view. This man infuriated me because I questioned my rationality? It was pointless to bring him up again to my sister. If you can’t see him, there is no proof that he exists, and Tammy already questioned my sanity from before. I did not want to argue with her again. Then I looked at Sasha and said in a low tone so Dad would not hear me, “Girl, you are crazy!” Me and babysis cracked up and then Sasha laughed, shrugging her shoulders. Sasha replied,
“Well, those girls were pissing me off; we could have taken them.” The 3 of us just smiled and stared at Jarred’s number. We all probably thought the same thing; we still got that boy’s number.