Breakthrough

Feelin' Like a Showstopper

Blake left for San Antonio the next morning as I decided to pack my single bag and check out of Casa del Mar. It was nice while it lasted but I needed to get back to reality. Graduation was in two weeks and I needed to start looking for a permanent position as a physical therapist. After checking out and grabbing a coffee I decided to swing my a couple of little stores to see if I could find a dress for graduation. Something short and light it was going to be hot as hell. And possibly a fun color. Maybe mint or coral. As I pulled into a parking spot my phone lit up with Blake's name across the screen signaling me to pick it up.
"Hello."
"Good afternoon, from San Antonio Texas where the temperature in 92, the sun is shining and we are ready to play a basket ball game tonight. Los Angeles?" He asked smoothly into the phone as I began to laugh.
"Well, it's currently 82 here and I am on the way to go shopping," I said waiting to here his rich voice.
"Going shopping? You going to The Grove?"
"No, not today. Just looking in a couple of stores in Santa Monica, what are you up to now?"
"Just hanging at the hotel with the boys, gotta head out to the shoot around in a couple of hours."
"Ah, well don't stir up too much trouble," I said while getting out of my car.
"I'll try but no promises," he said laughing.
"Hmmm, alright well I'll talk to you later ok?"
"Yeah, I'll call you tonight."
"I'll be waiting." Which I would be.
"Bye."
"Adios," I said hanging up the phone as I headed inside one of my favorite stores, The Ivy. Just a moment after opening the door I was greeted by a young girl who was hanging up some clothes on the sale rack.
"Hi, welcome to The Ivy. Can I help you find anything?"
"Um, just looking for a dress," I said browsing the first display closest to the window.
"Any special occasion?" The girl asked with a sweet smile.
"Graduation. It's in two weeks."
"How exciting! Definitely a good excuse to buy a new outfit. Are we looking for accessories too? We just got a bunch in," the girl chirped.
"Possibly! I'm just gonna see if I find a dress first."
"Ok, just let me know if you need anything else," she said going to the back of the store as I nodded. As I continued to browse through the store I found three options. The first was a black and white striped tshirt dress with a band of vibrant flowed on the sleeves. Perfect for spring. The other dress was a shift dress. The top half was white and the bottom half was printed with light, navy blue, and turquoise paisleys. The last dress I found was a simple cobalt blue shift dress that was scalloped at the bottom. After trying each of them on I decided to go with the cobalt blue one. Since it
Was pretty plain I needed some accessories to go with it. As I was looking at the table full of earrings and bracelets the girl came over to check on me.
"Finding everything ok?"
"Yes, got the dress now just looking for something to dress it up with."
"Well, if I may. I suggest you go with some big dangly earrings and then swoop your hair up into a low bun. Maybe two braids coming back into the bun too," she said demonstrating with her hands.
"Mmmm, I like that. Any earrings you have in mind?"
"Yes! I think that these ones over here would be perfect," she said picking up a pair of gold and jet black stone teardrop earrings.
"I like them. And they will go with fifty other things in my closet," I said nodding at her.
"Yes, so versatile!" She piped as my phone vibrated in my purse. As I pulled it out I saw that I had gotten a text message from Jada,
Hey girl. Some of the wives and I are going out since the boys are off in TX. Gonna meet at 1 Oak at 9pm. You in?
As I read the text and thought about what I had to do tomorrow I decided that maybe it would be good to go out with some girls. I don't even know when the last time I went out. I quickly sent a reply back saying
Yeah! Sounds good. I'd love to meet everyone!
"So are we all set?" The girl came up to me and asked.
"Actually I need one more thing. I'm going out tonight and I wanna look good. Bad bitch good. I'm thinking black. Gold accessories. What do you think?"
"I think that I have just the perfect thing for you," she said leading me toward the back of the store. We approached a rack that was full of black and sequined pieces of clothing. Very New Years Eve. That's where she pulled out a solid black thin strapped deep v neck wrap over tulip dress paired with thin gold belt around the waist. It was simple yet sexy. It was perfect.
"Try this," she said handing me the hanger as I scurried off into one of the dressing rooms. When I slipped it on I felt like it fit like a glove. Accentuating my curves and making my boobs look ten times better than they ever have before. I immediately decided that I was saying absolutely yes to this dress. I put the dress back on the hanger putting my own clothes back on before heading to the counter to check out where the girl was ringing up another customer.
"How'd you like it?" She asked as the other customer walked out.
"Probably one of the best LBD's I've ever seen. And so comfy!"
"Right? I love it too, and this cobalt one you got. Girl lets just say where ever you're going in these dresses you'll be turning some heads and breaking some necks!"
"Haha, hopefully not too many. I really just want one in particular. He's not even here but oh well," I said handing her my credit card.
"Oh girl please. You can still break his neck. It's called click click take a pic. I mean you're gonna look hot," she said winking.
"Huh. I never even thought of that but thanks for the tip," I said taking the bag out of her hand and returning my credit card to its rightful place in my wallet.
"Mhmmm, trust me girl. Thanks for coming in," she said as I walked out and toward my car.
***
After getting home, finishing up some work for one of my classes and taking a quick nap it was already seven. Jada had texted me asking if we wanted to ride together and said that she would be here at 8:15 which meant I needed to get ready. I jumped in the shower and shaved my legs and thought about what I was going to do with my hair. After getting out and putting on my robe I blowed out my hair and straightened it and decided to go with a middle part. I was no Kardashian but I sure liked to feel like one. After my hair was done I began putting on my makeup. My usual concealer and powder and then I applied some champagne colored eye shadow which worked well with my toffee toned skin. Next was mascara and perfume which I put on my neck, behind my ears, and on my wrists. I went into my walk in closet where another vanity sat to pick out some earrings. I decided to go with gold hoops and my newest addition to the Rolex family. By then it was already 8:00. While in my closet I threw on my shoes for the night, nude ankle strap Louboutins. The last thing I had to do was put on a bra, thong, and the dress and I was good to go. After putting on everything I plucked a gold glittered clutch from my dresser and popped in my ID, money, keys, and phone and headed down stairs. I looked at myself in the full length mirror and applied some last minute lip gloss before hearing a knock at my door. I quickly opened it without even looking to see if it were Jada.
"Hey hot mama!" She exclaimed stepping inside.
"Oh stop. Look at you!" I said to her admiring her red strapless jumpsuit and her newly cut hair. "I love the hair."
"Why thank you. I thought I needed something new. You ready to go?"
"Yes! Let's go!" I said shutting and locking the door behind me.
"You excited to meet the girls?"
"I haven't been out in so long it felt good to get dressed up for once," I said as Jada backed out of my driveway.
"Really? I would think you'd be going out every other night while you have the time!"
"Yeah, not really. Haha, I'm not really a club person you know? Unless I'm with a pretty big group."
"Well there are going to be six of us tonight. Me and you. Then there is JJ's wife, Chelsea. Amber, DJ's girlfriend. Gloria, Matt's wife, and then a friend of Gloria's."
"Oh ok," I said.
"They're all nice girls trust me. I think they'll really like you. Don't be nervous," she said reassuring me.
"Right. It's just a few girls going out," I said trying to reassure myself. When we arrived at 1 Oak Jada had the car valeted so we could go find the rest of the girls. Jada had no problem spotting them at a table in the back corner where champagne had been popped and a dent had been put into a bottle of patron.
"Hello, ladies!" Jada exclaimed as I stood behind her.
"Sophie this is Chelsea, Gloria, Amber, and Lori. Everyone, this is Sophie," she said grabbing me by my shoulders and pushing me in front of everyone. I was greeted by all the women with simple hellos and compliments on my dress. I took a seat next to Amber who poured me a glass of champagne.
"Are you new to LA?" She asked.
"No, I've been here all my life. Just haven't really stepped out into the city scene lately," I said taking a sip of my champagne.
"Ah I see. So you and BG?" She asked raising her eyebrow playfully.
"I guess you could say we're kind of a thing?" I said nodding my head.
"Mhmm, I can see that from what DJ tells me he says about you and your recent article in Us Weekly," she said jokingly.
"Oh yes, the magazine that was like the shot heard around the world," I said laughing.
"It happens. It's what ever. They will find someone else to talk about next week."
"Very true. I think I'm gonna go get a drink at the bar you wanna come?" I ask her getting up smoothing out my dress.
"Sure!" She says as we walk over to bar where it is infested with people. Some sweaty bodies others that are in pristine condition. We both take a seat at the end and order blackberry mojitos as we sip them and talk about food, music, and fashion. Amber was a really sweet girl. Funny too. We had the same taste in clothing and were both young women trying to make a life for ourselves in this big city. Amber told me how she had moved here from Dallas to continue her modeling career and it just so happened the DJ moved out here for basketball. They met back home in Texan and were no starting a new adventure together here in LA. After a while of sitting at the bar Amber turned to me and asked if I wanted to go and dance. I said what the hell. There was nothing holding me back and from the amount of alcohol I had already consumed it felt like I was being encouraged by the mojitos to go and dance. Amber knew how to dance. I don't whether it was her Latina flare or the shots we did in between songs but she knew how to have a good time. We hadn't seen the others in quite sometime but we didn't care. We were having a great time for a weeknight. Soon we had gone back to the table and talked to the others. Of course everyone was asking me about Blake and of course I told them. I told them that I didn't know exactly what we were but I really liked him and he really liked me and whatever we were doing we liked it. It worked for us. It was getting close to 1am and we were all getting a little tired. But, before heading out and saying out goodbyes we all decided to take a picture. First Amber and took a picture together at the table and then all six of us stood against one of the brick walls and had someone sitting at the table next to us take a photo. We all gave each other hugs and I exchanged phone numbers with everyone.
"I hope to see you at the next game chica," Chelsea said grabbing her purse before heading toward the door.
"Yes! Let's do dinner afterwards," Gloria said giving me a hug.
"Absolutely!" I said.
"And you missy. Call me tomorrow. After like 2pm and we can maybe do lunch? Early dinner?" Amber asked locking her elbow in with mine.
"Sounds fabulousssss," I said slurring my words a little.
"Alright Soph, let's get you home," Jada said taking my hand as we crossed the street. Jada had dropped me off and made sure I got inside ok. I was starving by the time I got home so I decided to make a pizza. It was nearly 3am. It was an acceptable time for pizza. After I put the pizza in the oven I saw on Instagram that Amber had tagged me in a photo. It was the photo of just the two of us that was captioned "she badddd," which made me laugh. That's when I remembered. Shit. I forgot to call Blake. Or was he supposed to call me. I found his contact and started calling him. The phone only rang twice before he picked up.
"Hey you. I was gonna call you as soon as I got back up to my room. Were you that excited to talk to me?"
"Actually. I thought I was supposed to call you. So I'm glad we have all this figured out," I said giggling.
"Uh huh. What are you doing?" He asks curiously.
"Well right now I'm waiting on my pizza to finish baking. I feel like I have the worms," I say opening a bag of chip to hold me over until my pizza was done.
"Your making a pizza at what? It's like 3am in LA. You're making pizza at 3am?"
"I mean when is it not the appropriate time to have pizza? I mean really," I say giggling again.
"Someone is extra giggly tonight," he said. I could hear a door opening in the background.
"Someone had one too many mojitos and shots of patron tonight. I felt the Latina realness," I said slurring the end of my words.
"The Latina realness? Oh, did you have like a party of one in your bathtub again?" He said sarcastically.
"Actually, I had a party of six. I went out with Jada, Gloria, Lori, Amber, and Chelsea."
"You went out with the wives? And the girlfriend?" He asked confusingly.
"Yes. Yes I did," I said crunching on more of the chips.
"And how did it go?"
"It was great. We drank and danced and drank some more and we're going out again."
"Looks like you're meant to be a basketball wife then huh?" I could tell he was grinning.
"Mhmm, maybe. Not quite yet. But maybe." There was a long pause between us before either of us said anything. "Are you alone?" I asked him.
"I'm alone in my room, why?" He asked confusingly.
"Just wondering," I said hearing the oven timer go off. After taking my pizza out of the oven I put my phone on speaker so I could scroll through my photos. I finally found the one I was looking for. It was before I went out. I was wrapped up tightly in my short white robe. I took the photo from an angle where you could get a clear view of long legs and cleavage. I quickly selected the photo and sent it to Blake. A little tease didn't hurt anybody. I could hear his phone vibrate against his ear.
"What was that?" I ask acting surprised.
"Just a text."
"You aren't gonna look at it?"
"It's probably just my mom telling me goodnight," he said brushing it off.
"Mmmmm, ok. Well let me go devour this pizza and possibly this entire bag of chips," I said cutting a slice of pizza for myself and putting it on my plate.
"Ok, I'll call you from New Orleans in the morning."
"I'll be waiting here in California," I said hanging up the phone feeling a tinge of naughtiness tingle in my toes.