What We Learned Along the Way by Nadirah Angail

She didn’t waste any time eating her wings. They
were gone in a few minutes.
    “Why, don’t you look at that,” Rashad said.
“The holy girl can throw down on some wings. Who knew?” he laughed.
Jaime was offended by his comment and started to get upset, but
Rashad didn’t let her.
    “Relax, it was a joke. You don’t have to
curse me out. You know, it’s okay to laugh sometimes. It won’t
hurt. I promise. Plus, you know you want some more wings, and if
you curse me out, I won’t give them to you,” he said with a smile.
Jaime laughed, and it felt good. She spent so much time being
serious that she rarely let down her guard.
    “Hey, by the way, have you heard from Aliya?”
she asked. She had been waiting for nearly 30 minutes.
    “Oh, that’s right,” he said. “It’s been so
busy, I forgot to tell you she’s not coming in. Something about a
bad argument with her father.”
    “Not coming in? I came all the way down here
for nothing then,” Jaime complained. She was in a good mood and
didn’t want to ruin it, so she tried to find the silver lining.
“Well, at least I had some good food,” she said. “It’s getting a
little late. I should be calling my cab now.” She got up and walked
towards the pay phone.
    “It is pretty late. It may not be safe for
you to catch a cab alone. If you want to wait around, I can take
you home when I get off.” Jaime was quiet for a second. She didn’t
feel right being alone in a car with her best friend’s fiancé. At
the same time, she didn’t want to take a cab alone at night, and it
was pretty expensive. She didn’t even know if she had enough cash
on her.
    “I get off in another hour or so, but, it’s
your decision. I just thought I’d try to help.”
    “Actually a ride home would be nice,” she
said. “Now, I’ve just got to find something to do for the next
hour.”
    “There’s always work to do in kitchen, if
you’re down, but I know manual labor isn’t really your style.”
    “And how do you know that?” she asked.
    “I don’t really. You just look too proper to
be working in a kitchen,” he said matter-of-factly.
    “I’m actually a pretty good cook, for your
information. What do you need done?” she asked, eager to do
something other than sit in the break room.
    “Oh, I’ve got the cooking under control, but
you can hit those dishes over there.” He pointed to the sink over
in the corner.
    She had washed dishes before, but no amount
of dishes she had ever washed had prepared her for the pile of
dishes she was looking at. She looked at Rashad and then back at
the dishes. “Get me an apron,” she said. Rashad was surprised and
didn’t expect someone like Jaime to roll up her sleeves and wash
dishes at a restaurant. He thought it was pretty cool.

Chapter 9- Aliya
    Aliya had always been a happy, energetic
person, but for the past few weeks, she had been happier and even
more energetic than usual. Everyone noticed.
    “What’s cooking, good looking,” she said to
Rashad as she bopped into the front door of Starr one morning,
dancing as if there were music playing that apparently only she
heard.
    “What’s gotten into you?” he asked.
    “Oh, nothing. I’m just enjoying life. Is that
a problem?” she asked as she brushed invisible lint from his
shoulder.
    “I know what’s got you so happy,” Rashad
said. “It’s that man I’ve been seeing you with. What’s his name? Du
Bois isn’t it?” he said with a laugh.
    “Very funny. His name is Langston, and don’t
hate on my renaissance man,” she said.
    “I’m not hating. Hey, I should be thanking
him. Ever since he came around, you’ve actually been showing up to
work on time.”
    Aliya laughed. She and Langston had only
known each other for a few weeks, but it felt like she had known
him forever. He was so different from all the other guys she had
dated. Aliya was very beautiful, but she had horrible taste in men.
She always managed to date the worst guys.
    She dated