I was in the check out line at Walmart, waiting to get helped. A lady in front of me with a walker and a big bag of clothes she was purchasing turned back towards me and started saying something with a smile.
I had my Google earbuds in. I motioned for her to wait while I took them out. Once I could hear what was going on around me, she apologized and said that I could go on ahead of her.
I smiled and replied, “Thanks miss lady but I’m ok. I’m not really in a rush like all of that so I’ll wait. Go ahead.”
She asked if I was sure - I was holding only two items - and I nodded, smiled again and placed my earbuds back in my ear.
Just before I had put them both back in, I expressed to her how nice it is that some people still think of others in a situation like that.
Just then, I noticed a woman.
I had seen her in the parking lot beforehand, perhaps 100-150ft away but even from behind and this only being my second time seeing her, I recognized her instantly. She was headed to her car and intuition told me that she was going on her break.
My dad and I had passed her perhaps a week or two before in Walmart and my dad, as we were approaching her had muttered, “Goddamn…”
I was feeling similarly, though more vocal about it.
“Excuse me, miss.”
She turned to me and slowed a bit as we were passing each other.
“I did not want to leave this store without letting you know that I think you are goddamn beautiful.”
That time, she had smiled and responded, “Blessings, thank you so much for that.”
“Pbbbt, thank YOU. C’mon, dad.”
And we left.
Beautiful black woman. Shoulder length dreads, caramel skin complexion, a bit taller than usual for an American woman with hips to balance the upward proportions beautifully. An easy smile, and cute even with braces.
Cut to now (earlier), when I saw her walk past me again. I couldn’t - or wouldn’t - take my eyes off of her. I tracked her to the self check out, as she was sipping on what looked to be Starbucks. Debated leaving my line to talk to her but decided to just enjoy the visual.
I watched as she walked past her coworkers, I observed how one of the men was just as stuck on her as I felt and how the women treated her.
I glanced away to keep scanning the store - my eyes never stop moving in public - and when I came back to her, I had the strong sense that one of the women had told her I was staring at her.
Instead of dismissing the thought, I let it stay and continued observing.
She mosied her way back in my direction, threw away her coffee cup underneath one of the checkouts. I started to get out of line just to talk to her and get it over with but restrained myself because, again, I got a sense; “she’s going to open up that line and call for me to come over.”
I thanked myself silently for turning down the elderly woman’s offer to go ahead of her and ‘waited’. I can’t explain energetically beyond waiting.
Sure enough, she diddled for like 3 seconds, looked up and made eye contact with me and nodded while waving me over. Maybe it was because I had my earbuds in but the nod felt like an acknowledgement of my thoughts rather than a ‘get over here’.
Anyways, to confirm I wasn’t crazy, I pointed at myself while taking out an earbud and she nodded at me again and I felt it again.
Weird, but I can’t explain it right now.
I walked around and took out my other earbud while saying, “Thank God for that.”
She smiled and said “I got you.”
I replied, while putting my stuff on the belt, “Well you opening up the line was cool. Mostly because I had been looking for an excuse…”
I trailed off, pretending to be particular with how I put down one of the items
“To once again…”
Final adjustments of my item, then complete and total eye contact. She was grinning a little, as if she felt it coming.
“Tell you that you are oh so goddamn beautiful. How’s your day going?”
Enormous grin from her, followed by “Blessings” (I’m gonna have to find out if she’s Hotep or something) and"I appreciate you so much for that. Ironically, I don’t hear that too much."
I said, “Ironically is the exact word that I would use in this situation too, what the hell? Something’s off about that.”
She blushed, looking around at her coworkers and the customer behind me and beamed.
“This your off day today?”
I replied yeah, and it’s a good day for me to handle things I’ve needed to get done.
She immediately asked about a lighting thing that was one of my items of purchase, saying, “Oh, somebody’s about to have some fun up in there room?”
I laughed and looked deeeep in her eyes and said, “Yeah, it’s all coming together as we speak.”
She laughed again and we started a mini convo about room decorations and then, I felt that she was thinking about my compliment.
I told her, “By the way, you know that this isn’t the firs-”
She cut me off, talking about “Oh yeah trust me, I remember YOU.”
I laughed out loud saying “Damn ok ok shit I didn’t wanna assume.”
She repeated “Oh trust me, I recognized you when I saw you were standing over here.”
I was like, “Oh cool. Good.”
She smiled at me.
I continued, “So, I hope you know. From this point forward, it’s on sight.”
She gasped and said “OH MY GOD, you need to staaaahp!” If she had been standing next to me, my arm would have been slapped playfully. I felt that she wanted me to ask for her number.
No, I responded to myself.
I continued, unfazed by the people looking, “Every single time I see you, so I hope you’re ready.”
She repeated oh my gooood while staring at me, then she said, “Well, I’m here aaaaaall week!” with a bit of flair.
“Good to know, I’ll see you soon I’m sure.”
Then stroller away.
We did not look back.
We did not pass GO.
We did not collect $200.
9 minutes)