"Yes, Mr. Jackson," the young man said. After Mr. Jackson walked away, Michael Hightower, better known as 'Street Justice,' because of his reputation of being the judge and jury on the streets, trotted up to the car.
Michael had listened to the girls' conversation about the mysterious guy. He said something to the guy and then pointed in the girls' direction. Shayla looked at Ronnie and then to Gladys, shocked. She was even more dumbfounded when Michael jogged back over and addressed her directly.
"My cousin wants you to come over and holler at him, Shay," he said.
"Street, what does he want with me ?" she asked, waving him away as if she was not interested. On the inside, she was ecstatic.
She wished she had a mirror to do a quick touch up. A laundry list of nagging thoughts crossed her mind as she thought about approaching him. Is my hair in place? Do I need a piece of gum? The Thousand Island dressing from my salad at lunch has probably got my breath kicking, she thought, along with a million other things.
Finally, Street said, "I told him you said that 'I'm sure that fine man is taken, but I want him.' " He laughed at his embellishment of the truth.
"You can't be serious!"
Picking up on Shayla's ambivalence, Michael said, "On the real, just holler at my boy, Shayla. He's good people."
Checking and admiring from the sidelines was her modus operandi, but to actually walk up to a guy and start a conversation was an entirely different ballgame for Shayla. Schoolwork was her expertise. Boys were more complicated.
"Nah, that's okay, Street. Tell him I'll catch him next time," she said.
"Woman up and go handle that," Ronnie said, giving her the quick pep talk she needed to get her confidence level up.
Shayla held her head high as she strutted to the car. "Hey. You wanted me to come speak to you. What's up?" she said once she reached the car.
"Really? I thought you were speaking of me," he said, jokingly raising his sexy left eyebrow. His pearly white teeth flashed brightly and caused her to smile.
"Well, yeah. Actually, we were talking about you when you drove up," she admitted. "But, that was between me and my girls, not for Michael to tell you."
"Is that right?" he said, sliding his tongue across his luscious lips once more.
Suddenly, she found her confidence. "Yeah, and you must have liked what you heard and saw, because you requested my presence. Now that you have my attention, what's up?"
"You." His answer was simple, but it was game over. She blushed, but she didn't respond. "Since you're holding conversations about me, without including me, you have to give me those digits," he said.