|A L W A Y S & F O R E V E R| B O O K 1

27||A u d i t i o n s

Date: 11/21/15
Day of the Week: Saturday
Location: Los Angeles, California
Place: Lala's House

Ciara
Two weeks passed, and it was four days away from my auditions for the movie role. I was excited, yet nervous because I had never done this before. I have been trying to overcome this feeling, but it's been hard. God, I pray this feeling goes away. If I'm acting like this now, imagine how I'll be when it's time for me to audition.

"You're going to worry yourself to death, Ci." La grabs ahold of my hands.

"I know. I'm trying not to worry so much. I'm just nervous."

"I'm sure you're not the only one. At the end of the day, if things don't go how you want them to, there are always other open doors. If it's meant to be, it'll happen." I smiled at her softly. She always knew how to calm me down.

"Thanks, La. You always know what to say in the time of a crisis."

"Of course I do. I'm your best friend." We both laugh at her response.

Today, I stopped by La's house to hang out with her. Thanksgiving is five days away. A day after my audition. We were making a grocery list of the things we needed for Thanksgiving dinner. This year, I decided to host the dinner at my place. With me being here in LA, Russ and his family in Seattle, and my parents in Atlanta, it was kind of hectic. I didn't want us to choose who we were going to visit. So I invited them all to my home. La, my mom, grandma, and Russ' mom were going to help me prepare dinner. They're supposed to come the day before. I'm beyond ecstatic. This will be the first time our parents meet. The dinner will be held at my other house because it has more space than my condo.

"So...are you ready for your parents to meet his mom?"

"Yes. I'm so anxious. I have a feeling our moms are going to get close to each other. It just sucks that we can't meet his father." I frowned. Russ' father had passed away years back.

"Aaaw, yeah. That sucks." I nod my head in agreement.

We finished putting everything down on the grocery list and relaxed around the house afterwards. La was off from work for the week for Thanksgiving break. So we had plenty of time to catch up with each other. We sat in her living room, sipping on a bottle of red wine. It was Saturday, and Zahir was with his dad for the weekend. I would be picking him up from the park Monday morning. I made sure of that. I couldn't have any more incidents with him popping up at my home like that.

"Girl..."

"What?" I looked over to La as we lay back on the sectional couch. It was comfortable as hell.

"We're sitting here in this house with nothing to do." I looked at her suspiciously.

"Okay...and what about it?" She sat upright on the couch with her wine glass in her hand. She put the glass to her lips, drinking what was left of the wine before sitting it down on the table.

"Think about it. We're kid-free for the weekend. Men- free. Our work schedules are clear. We should go out." I shook my head at her, already knowing where this was headed.

"I am not going back there. Last time, things got way too crazy." She poked her lips out like a sad child.

"Please? For me." I stared at her blankly while blinking once.

"No." She smacked her lips and slumped back on the couch.

"Ciiiiiii, but I'm bored. Pleeease? Pretty please?" I shook my head while chuckling.