ꨄThe Debutanteꨄ

71.

...

End of Vacation

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This early morning, the two women had to say goodbye to the beautiful Cayman Islands, and board a plane back to New York City. It was bittersweet. Cookie excited to see her sons and sleep in the comfort of her own bed again, but she wasn't excited about dealing with that same salty dog that Lucious was.

Anika felt the same way. Hated to leave because she would miss her family and her stress free island home, but at the same time she didn't want to go back and deal with Lucious and the antics of New York.

"Got everything?" Cookie asked, trudging her suitcase towards the front door. "I sure do. Can' wait tah' start workin' half to death again." Anika said. Cookie laughed. "I'm going to miss the sound of that accent." She said.

...

Cookie sighed, looking out of the window at the island becoming smaller as they rose higher into the sky. "We can alway' come back yah' know." Anika whispered. "Dis' is our getaway." She continued.
Cookie nodded.

A few more moments later, Cookie was on her laptop an scrolling through her emails, checking to see what  emails she had gotten. Anika raised up her phone to her, recording her. Cookie noticed this, then raising up her hand to wave. However, once she started, Anika began to let up the separator between them, making Cookie playfully frown.

...

New York City

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The women walked through the JFK airport, shades and jackets on to better cover their appearance since they were back in the state they reside in. Cookie had asked a worker about bringing her car to the front; it was parked in a secluded parking area for the duration of the trip. Not something many people do when traveling, due to the high priced expenses per day.

...

On the way back towards the city, Anika had dozed off in the passenger seat, her hood and shades still covering her eyes. Cookie grinned, looking back at the road.

...

"Are you sure you didn't want to unpack first then come over?" Cookie asked Anika. The women were currently at Cookies place, and Cookie began to unpack her bags and walk around the penthouse, putting the clean clothes with the rest and the unclean ones in the laundry bin. Anika yawned, stretching her arms into the air and walking towards Cookies bedroom.

"Nah. I wanna stay here tah' nap." She replied, laying into the woman's bed and wrapping her legs around one of the pillows, then laying her head on it. Anika had dropped her bags off at home, almost as if she was in a race to do so. She left them at the front door inside, then swiftly got back into Cookies car to shut her eyes again. She seemed to be extremely jetlagged from the flight.

"Fine by me." Cookie said. "Babe..." Anika said. "Huh?" Cookie replied, and Anika began to chuckle drowsily. "So yah' answerin' to it, ah wah?" She said. Cookie smacked her lips. "Go to sleep, girl." Cookie replied. "Okay babe, I will." Anika replied. "Hush, boo." Cookie retorted. Anika released a satisfied hum.

...

Once Cookie had finished unpacking, she began to go into the bathroom to take down her braids. Meanwhile, she FaceTimed Jamal. The call took awhile to be answered, but eventually she saw his face pop up in the screen.

"Guess who's back in grimy-ass New York." Cookie sighed. "Dang ma, y'all back already? So much for a bae-cation." He said. "Boy, what the hell is a 'bae-cation'?" Cookie asked. "Y'know, when you and your bae take a vacation-" Cookie sighed, closing her eyes and showing an annoyed smirk.