"Nice," Tariq Sheikh said to himself as he walked through the Eaton Center in downtown Toronto, Ontario. At this hour, the mall was crowded, Covid be damned, and there were so many hot young women walking around. Tariq found himself checking out a big-booty young Arab woman wearing a Hijab and too-tight jeans. The young woman bent down to tie her shoelaces, and naturally, Tariq checked out her ass. The things I would do to that booty, Tariq thought to himself.
Tariq was really surprised when the young woman got up and turned around, fixating her gaze on him. Tariq blinked in surprise, for the Hijabi's reaction was definitely out of the ordinary. The young Somali-American stud had been practicing the ancient art of booty gawking for a long time now, and this wasn't the way most women reacted to being ogled. This dame had a lot of nerve, and Tariq found that quite interesting.
"Shit head," said the young Hijabi, and Tariq grinned, amazed by her feistiness. He was about to go over and introduce himself when he felt something strike him. It was like an invisible wave, a force of sorts, and it knocked him right on his ass. Tariq fell over as though he'd gotten knocked out by his favorite boxer, champion Anthony Joshua himself. The Hijabi walked away, smirking triumphantly.
"Need a hand, player?" came a mocking voice, and Tariq looked up to see Shawna Williams standing over him, a cocky grin on her lovely face. Shawna held out her hand and after a brief hesitation, Tariq took it. She pulled him to his feet. They were almost the same height. Shawna, a tall, curvy young woman with short, curly dark hair and brown skin wore a men's hooded sweatshirt with the Ryerson University logo on it, black jeans and boots.
"Did you see that?" Tariq asked his best friend, and he pointed in the direction that the Hijabi had gone, but she was gone. Shawna followed Tariq's finger and saw nothing but casual shoppers walking around the busiest mall in all of Canada, enjoying the pre-Christmas sales. Shawna scratched her head, and smiled at Tariq. The brother was going to lose his mind over a piece of ass one of those days, that's for damn sure. Tariq is far from the only brother with such an obsession...
"Yeah, I saw you fall on your ass because you got too distracted by a piece of ass, I'm embarrassed for you," Shawna said haughtily, and Tariq shrugged. The two best friends walked toward the food court, their favorite hangout. Sixteen months ago, Tariq and Shawna met during orientation for international students at Ryerson University. Tariq is a newcomer to the City of Toronto, Ontario, by way of Duluth, Minnesota. As for Shawna Williams, she came to Toronto from the City of Miami, Florida. They went straight to the Chinese food stand, and got themselves some rice, egg rolls, fish and Pepsis.
"Can I get your notes for anthropology? I am so not ready for Friday's test," Tariq said, and Shawna looked at him and frowned. Tariq is six-foot-two, lean and athletic, and quite handsome. He was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota. Tariq's father Jibril Sheikh moved to America from the Puntland area of Somalia ages ago, and his mother Yadira Suarez was originally from the Oaxaca region of Mexico. Like a lot of mixed men, Tariq is fine and all too keenly aware of it, and Shawna found that both annoying and charming at the same time.
"Dude, you should start studying if you want to get in the MBA program," Shawna replied, shaking his head. She looked at Tariq, but much to her surprise, while he was lost in space, he wasn't looking at a female this time. A tall, good-looking young man with blond hair, blue eyes and alabaster skin walked by, dressed in a red flannel shirt and jeans. Tariq looked at the dude intensely, and for a brief moment, the blond guy turned and looked at Tariq. They made eye contact, exchanged a smile, and then the blond guy walked away.
"Yeah, I'll start studying," Tariq said absentmindedly, and Shawna bit her lip, wondering if she'd just seen what she thought she saw. Everyone on the Ryerson University campus knew that Tariq was a womanizer. He loved chasing big booty women. In fact, a month ago, Tariq got dumped by his Dominican girlfriend Alima Nunes because she caught him messing around with her best gal pal. Tariq evidently loved pussy and couldn't get enough of it. Shawna reminded herself of that while musing over the fact that she caught Tariq checking out another guy...
"Damn, not another one," Shawna said, and when Tariq queried her on the subject, she showed him her cell phone. CTV News Toronto had a pretty blonde reporter going on about another victim of the most elusive serial killer in country. A man named Lucas Strutt had been found dead, torn to pieces. According to his social media pages, Lucas Strutt was strongly conservative, a gun enthusiast and a hater of immigrants. He was the third person of a similar background who'd been found dead in the GTA over the past year or so.
"Oh, another dead racist? I am so sad," Tariq said mockingly, and his callousness actually bothered Shawna. The two of them ate their food, and then walked back to campus afterwards. The Ryerson University campus was bustling, even during Covid. The City of Toronto and her people weren't about to let a little thing like a deadly virus stop them from living their lives. Let folks in places like Ottawa or Vancouver kowtow to the virus. Toronto does its own thing and bows down to absolutely no one. It's not the Toronto way...