The Friend

Alicia

As soon as Maxine and Alicia saw Dezzi at the Electric event, they died. Maxine of laughter, Alicia of horror, because as soon as they got to Lotus, Dezzi approached them, dressed in matching colors with Alicia's dress. When she told him last week that her dress was navy blue, she did it out of excitement. She bought the dress with Maxine and was thrilled to be wearing something that showed off what little figure she had to offer.

After meeting Rodney's brother, Derek, she realized that she didn't care what anyone thought anymore. No matter what people always had something to say and she wasn't fooling anyone by wearing baggy dresses or overalls. So, why not emphasized her figure instead of hiding it?

Now Dezzi and her were matching like they were dating and he wouldn't leave her side. Discreetly, his arm rested around her waist and every 5 seconds on the couch he'd lean in to whisper something un important in her ear. Their bosses didn't notice because no one was paying attention to them of course.

When the event began to finally pick up, that's when Dezzi and she got a chance to sit down. Maxine sat with them, eyeing all the single bachelors that were eyeing her back, with a drink in hand. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes that someone glided through the dancing crowd that faced them and came to a stop in front of the three of them. Alicia was the first to look up. Rodney.

She sat up at the same time Maxine did, but Maxine was the first to officially rise from the couch and approach him. He seemed to be frozen in his spot for some reason. Alicia's heart wouldn't stop pounding in her ears. She felt Dezzi sit up, too and secure his arm over her waist. The music picked up as Alicia watched Rodney and Maxine talk. His eyes flickered to hers. There was something in them that he was having trouble masking. Alicia couldn't read them anyway. Dezzi got her attention.

"Who is that?" he frowned.

Alicia forced herself to shrug, "Just some guy that Maxine use to talk to."

"And he followed her here? That's weird," Dezzi said, "He probably charmed his way into getting in. He seems the type. I don't like the way he keeps looking over here. Do you know him, too?"

"Not really," Alicia said, but her eyes wouldn't leave Rodney.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Dezzi said, rising.

Robotically, Alicia followed, forcing herself to finally look away from Maxine and Rodney, but she couldn't silence her thoughts. What was he doing here? Did he know that Maxine would be at this event and so he decided to use his invitation? But how did he know? She didn't think it was weird that Rodney came to see Maxine. He was going after something that he wanted. Most guys wouldn't do that, but of course Maxine was different. Most guys acted different around her. Something sunk inside of her as she allowed Dezzi to lead her away, but quickly someone grabbed her arm.

"Can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Rodney asked her.

"Wh-where's Maxine?" Alicia asked.

His eyes were unreadable, "She went to go get drinks. Can I talk to you?"

Dezzi stepped up to the two of them, removing Rodney's hand from Alicia's wrist and standing in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Dezzi. Nice to meet you," he said.

Briefly, Dezzi sized him up before extending a hand out to Rodney. Rodney didn't even glance at it. Dezzi waited for him to take the hand, but Rodney refused to. Finally, Dezzi smiled and placed his hand in his pocket.

"I work with Alicia," he added.

"Hey," Rodney said, before looking back at her, "Alicia—"

"We're kind of busy here. What is that you want to talk to her about?"