URBAN: Chosen By A Kingpin (41 page)

Aaliyah smiled as she pulled a few more articles of clothing from her closet. She was still packing. It would be for an entire year, after all. The internship had her working for an editorial company, helping put together articles, layouts, and photospreads for various fashion publications. It was exactly what she wanted to do in life and this was helping her get her foot into the door. She was just as excited as Jasmine, probably even more so.

“I know. I never thought I would get it but I did! I can’t wait to get over there. All this time in between is just making me anxious. Did you set up the person who’s going to stay in my room yet?” Aaliyah asked.

Jasmine nodded. “Yep, she should be moving in like a week after you leave and she'll pay your half of the rent so you don’t have to worry. And once you get back, the room is all yours again!”

“Perfect. I’ll be back in no time. Hope you won’t miss me too much,” she joked.

Jasmine laughed and rolled her eyes. “It's not like I’m even going to have the apartment to myself. I can’t even enjoy the time while you’re away! What time does your flight leave?”

“Tomorrow morning at 6 am. I have to be there at least by 4:30 am. Hopefully I can get them heavy-ass luggages into the cab.”

“I hope they’re not going to charge you extra for how heavy them luggages are. You gotta carry all those jackets and rain boots and shit. It rains all the time in Britain.”

“Girl, you know they will. I think the internship will reimburse me, either that or just take it out of my paycheck.” Aaliyah jumped on top of her luggage and zipped it up. It was over-stuffed and would definitely be expensive but she had to make sure all her outfits were on point. It would take her a few weeks to get the money situated, so that meant she couldn’t even go shopping in the meantime. That would be the hardest part, other than actually getting the hang of where to go in the city and how to get from her loft to her job. At least she was sharing her loft with a few other interns. They weren't people that she knew, but she hoped they could stick together and learn the city.

“I don’t even know if I can sleep tonight. My nerves are all over the place.”

“Even if you don’t sleep here, you can always sleep on the plane. How long is the flight?” Jasmine asked as she headed towards the kitchen. She searched through the cabinets to find a snack to satisfy her cravings. Meanwhile, Aaliyah looked at the itinerary that was on her bedside table.

“It should be like, ten to thirteen hours, depending on the layovers and stuff. I hope I can get some sleep. I hate when people be trying to lay on your shoulder, or snoring in your ear or trying to talk to you. That’s the only bad thing about airplanes.”

“The only bad thing?” Jasmine scoffed as she tossed some mini pretzels into her mouth. “They overcharge for food, it’s always cramped, and then on top of that it's always fuckin’ cold! It’s like they want you to use your frozen nipples to cut the windows or something. Make sure they give you a free blanket or you swipe one.”

“You crazy, Jazz. But I will hopefully get a blanket. At least try and get one. I’m gonna set my alarm clock and get to bed,” Aaliyah said. She grabbed her phone and opened up the clock app, setting the time for just four hours from now.

“Alright, girl.” Jasmine went over to her roommate and gave her a tight squeeze. “Stay safe and take care, ok?”

Both women smiled at each other and laughed. “Don’t make me cry! I’ll be back before you know it!” Aaliyah tried to assure her. Both friends couldn’t help but tear up at the thought of being separated. Ever since their first day in college, when they got paired up in a dorm together, they’d been best of friends. Since then, they had moved out of the dorms and into a nearby apartment together, living out the rest of their college education together. It was the first time they’d be truly separated for more than a summer vacation. “I promise to email you and facebook you whenever I get settled in. And I’ll send you a bunch of pictures, and we can Skype whenever our time zones meet up at a decent hour.”

Jasmine kissed her bestie on the cheek and gave her one last squeeze. “You damn right you will. Now get to bed. You don’t have that much time left before you have to get up all over again.”

Aaliyah nodded and parted from the hug. She headed towards her bedroom and climbed into bed, welcoming the warmth of the pile of blankets she had. Staring up at the ceiling gave her some time to think. She wouldn’t see her room, her family, her friends for an entire year. Now all the excitement was turning to nerves. What if she hated the United Kingdom? She turned onto her side trying not to think of it anymore, but a bunch of doubting questions still swam around in her mind. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to will the thoughts away. You’re gonna have an amazing time in London. Just have faith.

***

4 am. Get up. Get dressed. Hair. Makeup. Comfortable shoes. Do I have my neck pillow? My cellphone charger? Is everything packed?

Aaliyah fluttered around the house getting her last-minute things together. She still needed to call the cab to take her to the airport and she hoped to God that she didn’t forget her passport. She tried to be as quiet as she could, but she knew that Jasmine would sleep through anything, no matter how loud.

Towing her two large suitcases behind her, Aaliyah set herself on the biggest adventure of her life.

***

About thirteen hours later, after a few layover flights, she was in a new country. She was captivated even by the airport. Large glass windows, spacious tiled floors, and trams that stopped at different gates. It was much more beautiful and extravagant than any American airport she had been to. It took her awhile to get to baggage claim, since she got distracted at all the little shops and food places and ended up lost. There were so many people surrounding her, it became a little overwhelming.

She waited for her bags to come around on the baggage claim while trying to think of what she had to do next. There should be a person from the internship to direct her towards where she was staying and even take her there. There should be the other interns there too; she just had to find them or a sign pointing her in the right direction. It took her a minute to get to the entrance of the airport after getting her luggage, but thankfully, she did see somewhere there.

A woman dressed in a tight pencil skirt dress with intimidating heels was standing near the airport’s sliding doors, looking horribly pissed as she stared at her watch. Her only saving grace was the sign she held. Aaliyah got close enough just just to read the name of the company she was interning at.

“Hi, sorry I’m-” Aaliyah was cut off quickly by the woman.

“You’re late. There was a designated time to be here. If you’re ever late for this job you can say sorry to it, I can already tell you that.”

What the hell is her problem? Aaliyah had to stop herself from saying anything else to the bitchy woman. She wouldn’t normally let anyone talk to her like that—her weave would get snatched real quick—but her job was on the line and she wanted to make a good first impression. So she straightened up, put on her best white-girl working voice, and apologized.

“I’m sorry Ma’am. It won’t happen again.”

The woman seemed to hiss at her. “Don’t call me Ma’am. Do I look old to you?”

The look on Aaliyah’s face probably said it all. She woman narrowed her eyes and turned to address who Aaliyah assumed was the rest of the interns. “It is 10 am now. We will drop you off at the lofts you’ll be staying at. You’ll get your keys and settle in. Wear something attractive, you are representing a fashion magazine after all. At 12 pm, we’ll be heading to the lunch where you’ll get to know everyone you need to know at the publication. At 2 pm, we’ll take a tour of the place and assign your work for tomorrow. We expect you all to be in the office at 8 am sharp tomorrow morning, NO excuses. Understood?”

She didn’t give anyone time to respond before turning on her heels and heading towards the limo that was outside. Some men in suits outside began taking the interns' suitcases and piled them into a different vehicle, not far behind from the limo. Aaliyah held onto her purse and stepped into the limo.

It was the first time she had ever been in one, so she was shocked to see how nice it was. She had planned to get one for senior prom, but after her younger sister got pregnant, the family had to start saving up to help her with the baby. Aaliyah was lucky enough that she got a nice dress in time for the dance.

She looked around at the other faces, most of the girls were white and looked like they could be runway models themselves. Blond, straight hair, blue, green, or hazel eyes, tiny little tits and asses. They didn’t look anything at look like Aaliyah. She seemed to stick out like a sore thumb with her curly afro, dark chocolate skin and big brown eyes. But she wasn’t about to let that stop her. She was gonna be better than these stuck-up bitches in every sense of the word.

The other girls would glance in her direction but never gave her the time of day. They talked amongst themselves instead. The only one who did say something to her was a girl so tiny that Aaliyah was sure she hadn’t even seen her before they got into the limo. She was a petite Asian girl with an even smaller voice. “Hello,” she said, smiling at Aaliyah.

Aaliyah looked her over and realized she wanted to give her a makeover right away, but that would have to wait until later. “Hey, I’m Aaliyah. What’s you’re name?”

“Crystal,” she replied. She was surprised to hear that Crystal had a British accent. She had thought that maybe the internship was for foreign students only and wasn’t really expecting a local.

“Do you live around here?”

Crystal shook her head and adjusted her glasses. “No, I live in Leeds. It’s about four hours away, but I have some extended family that live around here, so I’ve visited London before.”

“That’s real cool. It’s my first time ever overseas. I’m kind of nervous about it all.”

“It’ll be alright. The most difficult thing is to learn how the tube and buses work and then you’ll be able to get around the city in no time.”

Aaliyah gave her a look of confusion. “What the hell is a tube?”

“It’s the underground train system.”

“You mean like a subway?”

“No, a subway is what we walk on. Like a walkway system… oh, you mean the American trains like in New York? Then yes, like that.”

“Man, learning ya’lls language is gonna be a pain in the ass. I know ya’ll speak English, but all these new words are crazy,” Aaliyah laughed.

“It’s not that much different than how American’s create new words for things. And I know people like you have their own sort of language, too.” Crystal shrugged.

“What do you mean, 'people like me?'”

“Black people. Like when you said “ya’ll,” that’s your own way of saying something. But just like I’ll get used to how you say things, you’ll get used to how we say things.”

Aaliyah scoffed and looked out the window. She knew Crystal didn’t mean no harm in what she said, but it still threw her off. There were ton of minorities in the UK, but she wondered if she wouldn’t be treated as an equal over here. She could do her job as good as the next person. She let out a deep exhale and watched as the streets rolled on, taking her closer and closer to her new home.

***

Aaliyah was dead tired by the time 12 pm rolled around. She had been busy all morning trying to get her things situated in her new room. She, by default, roomed with Crystal since the other girls paired up in their shared loft. It wasn’t so bad, at least she would have someone to talk to. But trying to get things unpacked left her little time to get freshened up, and she was almost late for the limo again, which upset Miss Snooty Tits.

She wasn’t making a good impression with her, but she was hoping to make a better impression with other people once she actually got into the office. Snooty Tits looked and acted like she had the world’s biggest stick shoved straight up her ass. Either that, or she was just racist as hell. She seemed to get on alright with the other white girls. Even at the little meet-and-greet, mingling-type thing for the interns, Snooty Tits stayed far away from Aaliyah. But Aaliyah didn’t mind. She was ready to go in on the free food. It was just a bunch of finger food, but she hadn’t eaten since the plane ride over and was starved. Even when the presentations started, she was the last to sit down after getting a few last bites in and the first one to head back up again.

“I’m glad you like our food,” she heard a voice say behind her. Aaliyah quickly looked at the man, her mouth still stuffed with a bunch of finger sandwiches. Her eyes widened as she wiped her mouth, trying to look presentable.

This man was gorgeous and she was already making a fool out of herself. His blonde hair was slicked back making his bright blue eyes the focus of her attention. They seemed to sparkle with varying shades of blue and grey depending on how the sunlight hit them. It was one of the most beautiful things Aaliyah had ever seen. She swallowed hard and straightened out her dress.

“Y-yeah…sorry. I had a long flight and hadn’t had a chance to eat anything. I could eat a whole bucket of chicken wings right now if you had them.” She thought that she sounded stupid and wondered for a moment how they even cooked their chicken over here. It wasn’t gonna be as good as the stuff she had in the US, but she thought she’d try it. But her mind was wandering, trying to make a fool of herself on the inside so it wouldn’t happen on the outside.

“That’s alright. I normally think our food tastes too…fancy for me. I prefer pub food over anything. They’ve got much bigger portions.” He extended his big hand for a shake.

Aaliyah took his hand and shook it. His grip was firm and his hand seemed to engulf hers. “I know that’s right. I probably could out-eat all the other interns here.”

His blue eyes seemed to scan her curves in a sign of approval. “I do like a woman that eats well. When you’re surrounded by fashion models that all look the same, it can get very stale. I’m Anthony, by the by. Anthony Taylorton.”

“I’m Aaliyah. I’m going to be working in the editorial and fashion spread areas. It’s nice to meet you.” She could feel her cheeks heating up even as she said those words. Her eyes glanced over his finely tailored suit that hugged every inch of him perfectly.