Beneath Read online

  “I’m sorry, it’s the detective in me.” She laughed.

  “Detective? That’s interesting.”

  “Well, let’s not get into all of this before our first date.”

  Derek’s eyes widened again. He was definitely interested in her, but didn’t know that she was going to take the helm and ask him out first.

  “Take my number.” Elise said. Derek pulled out his phone and went into the contacts to add her as she gave him her number.

  “Where do you want to go?” Derek asked.

  “Seeing as you don’t know the town well, I’ll meet you at Harlow’s between Bard Avenue and Sycamore Street at eight.”

  “Okay, I will do my best to find it.”

  Elise started to push her cart towards the next aisle.

  “I’ll see you then, Derek and dress up!” She grinned. Derek smiled back and waved. He smiled all the way through his shopping, elated that his good day had got even better.

  Tareeq’s school day finally ended. He turned the lock’s knob to open his locker and grabbed some of the books that he needed for homework later on. As he was about to leave the school when the last bell rung, King ran over to him flailing his arms.

  “Yo!” King yelled catching up to him.

  “What’s up?” Tareeq greeted back.

  “You walking home?”

  “Yeah, got some homework to do.”

  “Nah, let’s get some pizza with the fellas!”

  “Can’t; my dad grounded me, remember?”

  “I’m sure your dad will let you get some pizza with me. It’s not like you’re following the Blue Crew again. Just text him and let him know.”

  Tareeq sighed and pulled out his cell phone. He sent his father a quick text hoping that he would be able to get pizza with his friends. However, knowing his father, he wasn’t too sure that his father would let him go out. He was surprised when he got a quick reply from Derek.

  Tareeq read the text message with a beating heart.

  Dad: Since I’m having a good day, you can go get pizza with your friends, but make sure your butt is home before 7! I got a date. ;)

  Tareeq almost broke his phone when he read the last line of the text. He wasn’t expecting his father to have a date; in fact, he didn’t want his father to date.

  What about mom? He thought to himself. He was interrupted from his brooding when King tapped Tareeq on his shoulder.

  “Hello?!” King said. “What your pops say, man?”

  “Oh ah, he said I can go, but I got to be home before seven.”

  “Alright, Cinderella. Let’s go.” King chuckled.

  “Whatever, bro.” They exited the school and met Jamir, Gary, Mason and someone one else that Tareeq immediately recognized.

  “You delivered pizza to my house before.” Tareeq blurted.

  “Hey man! I didn’t know you knew Josh!” Mason grinned.

  “Remember I told you that I delivered pizza to a new kid’s house?” Josh asked Mason. “Well, this is who I was talking about.”

  “Wow, it’s a small world! This is my older brother, Josh.” Mason revealed.

  “Alright, now that we’re all one big happy family, can we get to Elli’s?!” Jamir yelled. “I’m starvin’!”

  Gary walked in front of the friends towards a large black Cadillac SUV that looked brand new.

  “Dang! Where’d you get the whip?” Tareeq asked, admiring the car.

  “My parents got it for me for my sixteenth birthday.” Gary grinned. He unlocked the car door and everyone got in. Jamir sat in front while King and Tareeq took to the two single seats in the behind them and Mason and Josh took the back seats.

  Gary started the engine while Jamir grabbed the AUX cord and plugged his cell phone in.

  “Play that new Migos album.” King said.

  “Bro, you like Migos?” Mason asked. “They’re so trash.”

  “I like old school music myself.” Tareeq chimed. “But I’ll take Drake over The Migos.”

  “You guys are dumb as hell.” King chuckled. “The Migos is the new school and the new school is better than the old.”

  “Watch your mouth.” Tareeq chuckled. “If it wasn’t for the old heads, these guys would never be poppin.”

  “Don’t forget Eminem!” Josh blurted out.

  “Em is cool, but he isn’t Kanye West!” Gary said. All of the friends nodded their head in agreement.

  They made it to Elli’s Famous Pizzeria in the heart of the town. When they all got out of the SUV, after Gary parked in front of the restaurant, Tareeq took the town in. He noticed that there were people bustling around the streets either shopping or on their way to the bus stops to get where they were going. There were stores and buildings that hogged the streets; kind of reminding him of Brooklyn.

  Tareeq followed his friends inside of the restaurant. He looked all around him at the establishment. It was bright inside with walls painted in blue with graffiti written all over it. The graffiti looked very tasteful to him though. There was a long pizza bar with customers his age in line getting their favorite pizza slices. He bobbed his head to the low old school rap song that played from above him. He turned to the left and saw that almost all of the patrons of Elli’s went to Wittington. The dance troupe that performed at the pep rally was there with their team jackets on, giggling and talking. Loud jeers from some of the football team were there watching the football game that played on the wide flat screen television that hung on the wall nearest a lounge area.

  Tareeq’s mouth dropped; he was starting to get more impressed with Springbrook. The friends all took a seat at an empty table. A waitress that looked to be about seventeen came to their table.

  “Hey, Cassie!” Jamir greeted.

  “Hey, y’all. Who’s the new addition?” Cassie asked. Cassie was short in height, but had a lot of personality to make up for it. She was one of the funniest students in Wittington and wanted to be a comedienne one day. She brushed back her black tresses and smiled at Tareeq exposing her pearly whites.

  “This is Tareeq; he’s from Brooklyn.” Josh chimed.

  “Brooklyn! My cousin lives there, Bed-Stuy to be exact.” Cassie exclaimed.

  “What’s his name?” Tareeq asked. “I might know him.”

  “His name is Jose, but everyone calls him Joey Fatone.” She giggled. Tareeq thought for a moment, trying to put a face to the name that he heard of before.

  “Oh, he goes to Robeson?” Tareeq asked.

  “Yup!”

  “I seen him around the way before. He’s an alright dude.”

  “Everyone loves Joey. Hey, if he ever comes up for summer break, I’ll let him know you’re here now.”

  “No doubt.”

  “What can I get for you guys though?” Cassie asked, pulling out her notepad and pencil from her apron pocket.

  “We’ll have a pepperoni and pineapple with Sprites. Make it a large.” King ordered. “Homeboy over here is starving.” King pointed to Jamir who rubbed his large stomach. Everyone laughed.

  “Alright, I’ll get those on the double.” Cassie said. She winked at Tareeq and left them.

  “My man sure has a way with the ladies!” King exclaimed, patting Tareeq’s back.

  “It’s because he’s a city boy! Upstate girls love city boys.” Gary smirked.

  “That ain’t true.” Tareeq replied with a half-smirk.

  “Yes it is. Mia is on you like white on rice.” Jamir boomed. Mason and Josh chuckled.

  “King told us all about your stalking fiasco.” Mason said. Tareeq turned at glared at King who smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

  “I wasn’t stalking. I was just curious about what they were up to.” Tareeq explained.

  “What were they up to?” Josh asked. The group fell silent as they waited for Tareeq to respond. Before he could say something, Cassie came back with a tray of drinks filled with soda. She set each glass in front of the five friends and disappeared again.

  “You were saying?” Ki
ng whispered.

  “Why are y’all acting so weird?” Tareeq quizzed.He took a sip of his soda as he eyed their suspicious looks.

  “Because those girls are strange as hell!” Mason said.

  “Exactly.” Gary added.

  Again, before Tareeq could respond, Cassie came back with a large pizza tray and sat it down in front of them. She then placed white paper plates on the table along with napkins.

  “Enjoy, fellas.” She beamed. “Let me know if you need anything else.” Cassie turned and went to take the orders of another table.

  “Come on, dude; before she comes back and you won’t get to tell us.” Josh said.

  “Alright, damn.” Tareeq laughed. “So, after the pep rally. I saw them leave. Me and Bozo over here decided to follow them in the dark—’’

  “Where did they go?” Jamir interrupted.

  “I’m getting to that. Well after King ran off, scared like he seen a ghost because the Blue Crew said they thought someone was following them, I followed them all the way to the woods. Once they got there, they started getting naked-’’

  “Bro!” King exclaimed. “You didn’t tell me that one!”

  “Because you ain’t ask.” Tareeq chuckled. “They didn’t get naked per say, just down to their bra and underwear.”

  All of the friends started to hoot and laugh.

  “I can’t believe I missed it!” King replied, shaking his head. “To see Tam—’’

  “We all know, King.” Gary said. “What else, Tareeq?”

  “Well, then the weirdest thing happened, they all got into the lake and started to splash around and swim like it was summer time. Then they went underwater and didn’t come back up for a while.”

  “That’s really weird.” Josh gulped.

  “What are y’all making a fuss about?” Cassie asked refilling their drinks with more soda. “Are y’all talking about the Blue Crew?”

  “How’d you know?” Tareeq asked.

  “Maybe because they’re looking right at you.” Cassie pointed to the door.

  The group all looked at the restaurant’s entrance and saw that the Blue Crew was glaring at them. Mia and her friends walked past them, but Mia glared at Tareeq intensely. Suddenly, he started to feel guilty for what he told his friends about Mia and the Blue Crew. He wanted to take it back.

  “Looks like whatever y’all was talking about, made them angry.” Cassie mentioned. “I’ll see y’all later.” Cassie walked off leaving the friends still sitting there quietly.

  “Damn, bro. Mia looked like she wanted to fight you.” Jamir said.

  “I know right.” King added.

  Tareeq sighed and turned back to his friends. He finished eating his pizza in silence, thinking of a way to make up his transgressions to Mia.

  Chapter 7.

  Derek adjusted his blue and white tie under his neck as he stared at himself in his full length mirror. He could feel his heart beating hard as he thought about the impending date. He never been on date since the death of his wife and he wasn’t expecting to so soon with Elise. Something about her really interested him.

  “I hope I’m doing the right thing.” He muttered to himself. He took a lint roller and brushed whatever lingering lint that was on his black suit. He took one last look over himself before checking his watch to see what time it was. He sucked his teeth, hoping that his son was home on time for him to leave. He grabbed his phone and car keys from his dresser and headed downstairs. To his surprise, he found Tareeq sitting at the dining table working on his homework with his headphones in his ears. He lightly tapped his son’s shoulder and signaled for him to take out the headphones.

  “How do I look?” He asked his son. He adjusted his cufflinks and smoothed out any wrinkles that he had in his jacket. Tareeq nodded his head and went back to his homework. It was apparent that he wasn’t interested in his father’s date.

  “I need an answer.” Derek said, not wanting to get defeated.

  “What do you need me to say?” Tareeq snapped. “You’re cheating on mom already.”

  “No, I’m not. I am just going out for dinner.”

  “Then it will turn into something more and then before you know it, you’re down on one knee asking her to marry you.”

  “It’s not like that, but can I ask you one thing?”

  “Shoot.”

  “Can your old man have some fun? I mean, can I have a life again?”

  Tareeq shot his father a quick glance that could’ve been a dagger to Derek’s heart. Derek sighed and started to head out.

  “Don’t get married, again.” Tareeq mumbled underneath his breath. He put the headphones back in his ear and continued to do his math homework.

  Derek made it to Harlow’s earlier than he expected and he was already nervous that his impeccable timing might look a certain way to his date.

  “You’re desperate aren’t you?” Derek asked himself. He sat in the car for a while contemplating whether or not he should go through with the date. He looked at his wife’s picture on the dashboard. He smiled at it, praying that his wife would approve.

  “I hope you’re not jealous up there.” He whispered. He jumped when his cell phone beeped. He looked at the message and it was from Elise; she was already inside waiting for him. She wondered whether or not he was actually coming himself. Derek smirked at the text and replied letting her know that he was outside already.

  She’s as nervous as I am. He thought to himself. Derek breathed a sigh of relief and got out of his car. He entered Harlow’s and was taken aback at how classy it was. The lighting was dim with candles on the table. Smooth jazz played from the ceiling speakers.

  People were already seated, talking and enjoying the atmosphere. Derek thought that the place was a bit too romantic for a first date with a woman that he barely knew.

  “Good Evening, sir.” The host greeted. “Welcome to Harlow’s; will you be needing a table or are you meeting another guest here?”

  “Hi, I’m meeting a lady by the name of Elise Carter.” Derek replied, still looking around like a kid in a candy store.

  “Ah, yes. She is expecting you; follow me.” The host grabbed a menu and led Derek to a table booth nearest the warm fireplace that cackled in the restaurant.

  This place is fancy as hell! Derek thought. The host stopped walking and his mouth almost dropped when he saw Elise. She was wearing a long sleeved red dress that stopped mid-knee. Her braids were down and she wore diamond studded earrings in her ear.

  “Here you go, sir. Your waiter will be with you all shortly.”

  Derek took a seat on the opposite booth from Elise. She smiled at him and closed her menu.

  “Wow, you look—’’

  “Don’t say it, Mr. Cooper.” Elise giggled. “This is our first date; let’s get to know each other first.”

  “Alright. This is a really nice place!”

  “It is isn’t it? To give you a brief history lesson, Harlow’s was one of the many first African American restaurants established in Springbrook.”

  “That’s really interesting.” Derek replied, rubbing his chin. In fact whenever he was intrigued, he always rubbed his chin.

  “Yep, Springbrook was founded by an African American family dynasty. They still live here to this day. Also, there is another town founded by a black man called Black Hallow not too far from this town. Oh! I can’t forget Mayberry and that other small town, Summitville.”

  “I’ll have to check out Mayberry then.” Derek added. “I’ve been to Summitville before but only for vacation with my wife.”

  “Wife?”

  Derek sighed and frowned.

  “My deceased wife. She died a year ago.” He replied. There was a silence between them that seemed long. Elise shifted in her seat and sighed.

  “My husband died not too long ago as well; leaving me to be a single mother to two girls.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be, I should be saying sorry to you.”

&
nbsp; There was another awkward pause between them. The waiter came and took their orders. To break the silence, Derek decided to break the ice.

  “So, what made you want to ask me on a date?” He asked her.

  “Too be completely honest, I thought you were cute.”

  “You must be going blind.” He chuckled. Elise laughed too.

  “No, I’m serious. Also, I wanted to at least get to know the new man in town.”

  “There’s nothing really, I am a writer—’’

  “Wait, I knew I recognized you! You wrote ‘Loving Mrs. Jones’!”

  Derek chuckled. He was amused that someone actually knew who he was from his books.

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “I should’ve known by your name. I’m so silly.” She blushed.

  “It’s alright. I’m just glad someone notices me.”

  “I really loved that book. I would read it in between my shifts at the station. You have a knack for romance.”

  “Thank you. I’m a romantic guy.”

  “Your wife was really lucky.”

  The waiter came back with their food and Derek was saved. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about his wife. He wanted to get to know Elise. They both started to dig into their food, talking about things that they found in common.

  He was starting to feel more at ease but couldn’t stop thinking about the look that Tareeq had gave him earlier. For some odd reason, knowing that Tareeq wasn’t ready for him to move on, made him think the same thing.

  For the remainder of the date, Derek couldn’t help but think about his wife. He had a feeling that Elise could sense it too. He could also sense that she wasn’t ready herself for a new relationship.

  After their date was over, Derek walked Elise back to her car. He knew what he had to do.

  “Thanks for a lovely time.” He said grinning.

  “Thanks as well. So, what do you think? Are you ready for another one?”

  “About that—’’

  “You don’t have to say it.” Elise interrupted. “I thought I would be ready too. All I could do was think about Robert. It felt like I was cheating on him.”

  “I felt like I was cheating on Felicia.” Derek said, nervously laughing.

  “I guess this means that we can’t go on another date, huh?”