Still

10.

Chapter Ten

"Do we know where Eli is?" Lauryn asked Malik and Maia. They'd all made plans to have brunch at The Brunch this morning. A lot of things had transpired since their last time meeting at the restaurant and they just wanted to catch up. Of course, Jourdan was unable to make it due to other obligations.

Maia looked down at the Apple Watch on her wrist, hoping that there was a response to her text message she'd sent him. Today, she was starving like shit and if she was on time, she hoped everyone else would be. "No," she answered.

Lauryn groaned a bit. She didn't want to start without him. She knew that he'd started the cases, so he was probably not coming. "I'll fill him in later," Lauryn said waving the thought off. "Jourdan wants us to FaceTime so he can be included."

Maia had briefly spoken to him a few days ago, but she knew that he had a lot of shit on his plate. He was prepping his new album while also working on different projects. The zone he had to be in was different for this album. This time he didn't have a sob story to tell.

The waitress came over, took their orders, and advised them of their wait time. Malik was too busy in his phone to care about any of the chit chat that Lauryn and Maia were doing at the moment. His mind elsewhere and both women could tell. "You aight, Lik?" Maia asked in a concerned tone.

He cut his eyes over toward her. He had the pleasure of sitting directly next to her at the table. "I'm trying to figure out how the hell I ended up alone with y'all." His answer was so serious that Maia couldn't help but burst into laughter, pushing him playfully.

"You love us," Mai reasoned.

"In a group. Please call Jourdan to get some more nigga at this table, please," he playfully begged.

Lauryn obliged and went ahead and pressed Jourdan's contact in her phone. It didn't take long for him to pick up. He was still in the bed, wearing his normal durag, white tee, and shorts combo. "What's up, y'all," he answered, looking at everyone.

Lauryn happily clasped her hands together. "So, I called this meeting today," announced happily, catching everyone's attention. No one knew what was about to happen and when it came to Lauryn, it could be anything. "Remember the date that I was on a few weeks ago?"

"The one that you conveniently failed to tell us all about? Because I've asked everybody and nobody know who you were with. Plus, you've been postin' this Wizard Kelly ass nigga on the 'Gram," Jourdan immediately went in, wanting answers.

Lauryn scrunched her face up. "For once, I wanted to keep something from you guys and just enjoy it, but I've talked to him and I'm ready to bring him around you guys. He's already my boyfriend."

"So you commit before you let us check him out?" Jourdan asked. "Lik, you hearin' this shit, man?"

Malik looked at Lauryn with the most displeased look on his before looking at the phone that was propped up so they could all see Jourdan. "It's like we don't matter to them until they're in some shit. Because the minute some shit go down -"

"They callin' us!" Jourdan finished. "Sounds like they be usin' the fuck outta us, man. When have they ever come to our rescue with women?"

"Oh please, Jourdan, I have come to your rescue with girls many of times," Maia spoke up in her defense. Jourdan looked at Mai for a moment and opted to not even respond. She was right, she'd definitely saved his ass many times, but this wasn't about her.

"Exactly, Mai," Lauryn boasted. "We help y'all."

"You don't do shit," Jourdan replied to her. "Maia has rescued me, you just talk shit. Lik ain't ever need help, because he wifed the first girl he gave a damn about. Eli don't even put y'all in his business."