Just Friends

one.

Naveah P.O.V.
Location- San Francisco
Time- 9:05 am
September 8th

"Josiah, wake up," I say while opening the blinds in his room

"I don't want to, it's too early," He mumbles as he pulls the blanket over his head.

"I know but I have clients and I can't leave you here by yourself," I walk over to him pulling the blanket off of his body.

I'm a hairstylist at a local hair salon: Mystic Beauty Lab. I'm trying to work my way up with my clientele and my biggest goal is to own my own shop. And if we're talking big, I want to own multiple shops across the state.

Doing hair slowly became my passion after I moved in with my dad while I was pregnant with Josiah. Braiding hair, installing wigs, cutting hair, everything I could possibly do to make money to support myself and my son.

Josiah sits up and stares blankly for a couple of seconds making me chuckle. As you can tell he's not a morning person.

"Morning," He mumbles after rubbing his eyes.

Josiah Saint Valentine-my four-year-old son- the light of my life and the reason I keep going. He's the sweetest and smartest kid ever and I would like to take all the credit for him being this way.

"Morning bubs," I smile as he gets off of his bed.

"You good to get ready on your own?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"Nope too tired," He comes over to me putting his arms up. I pick him up and walk over to his bathroom. I let him pee before I helped him brush and wash his face. He took a shower last night so there was no need for him to take one right now.

"You wanna pick out your own outfit?" I ask and he imminently nods his head.

"Yup," He chirps.

"Don't put on anything crazy and meet me in the kitchen for breakfast when you're done," I say before exiting his room. I walk into my kitchen and go into the fridge grabbing eggs and sausage. Josiah isn't a big breakfast person but I try to make him eat as much as possible. I prepare his scrambled eggs and sausage before placing them on a plate.

While I'm pouring apple juice into a cup for him, he makes his entrance.

"I'm done momma," He announces making me turn around. He dressed himself in a black tee and shorts.

"You did a good job bubs," I praise him as he hoists himself up to sit on the chair at the island. I place his plate in front of him as well as his juice.

"This is a lot," He frowns.

"If you eat most of it then we can get wings after work," I compromise creating a huge smile on his face before he starts digging into his food.
-
Location- Mystic Beauty Lab.
Time- 9:30 am

I'm the first one in the shop today so it was my job to open the shop. Being that there are multiple people working in the shop, I have my own station to work at.

"Mommy, how many clients do you have today?" Josiah asks as he sits on the little couch on the side.

"Um, I have two today, but we're still gonna be here for a long time," I say beginning to set up my station for my first client of the day who is supposed to come at 10. My first client was getting knotless braids and my second client is getting a wig installed.

"Okay," He sighs. If you didn't notice by now he definitely doesn't like coming to work with me especially when I have more than one client.

"Here's your iPad so you don't get so bored," I dig into my bag and take out his Ipad, handing it to him. I finish setting up just as the door of the shop opens.

"Morning," They greeted I turn around to see Ayesha Curry and her daughter walk in.

"Hey nice seeing you again," I smile as I give Ayesha a quick hug. She has come to me multiple times to do her hair, so I can say she is a loyal client.

"Nice seeing you too girl. Riley wanted her hair braided before school starts, of course, I had to book with you," Ayesha states.

I smile, "I appreciate that, you can have a seat right here Riley," I say while patting the chair. Ayesha made her way over to the couch and sat down.

Josiah catches the eye of Riley as she sits in the chair in front of me. He tends to be a little shy around new people so he never really engages first.

"Hi, I'm Riley," She smiles while waving her hand at Josiah as I take her hair out of its ponytail and start sectioning off her hair.

He looks up from his iPad, "I'm Josiah," He says softly.

"Is he your son?" Ayesha asks and I nod my head.

"I didn't know you had a kid girl," She says.

"Yeah, if he isn't here with me he's usually with my dad or a family friend," I tell her.

"He's adorable, and looks just like you," She compliments.

"Thank you, ma'am," Josiah thanks her.

"Oh and he's polite," She giggles.

"Mhm, gotta teach them young," I say and she hums. We made small talk while I did Riley's hair.

"You cut hair too right?" Ayesha asks.

"Yeah, I can do anything that people want me to when it comes to hair," I respond.

"Okay great, 'cause Steph has been walking around with no haircut, he needs one asap," She says with a chuckle causing Josiah's head to pop up from his iPad.

"Whenever he wants he can make an appointment or you can text me for a walk-in," I say and she nods.

"Steph who, momma?" Josiah questions making me laugh.

"You're so nosy Jojo," I roll my eyes playfully.

"Whenever he hears the name Steph his mind automatically goes to Steph Curry, rightfully so," I explain.

"You're a Steph fan Josiah?" Ayesha asks and he nods excitedly.

"Yeah! He's my favorite player," Josiah responds.

"He's obsessed with Steph, had me buy his jersey and everything. He's the reason Josiah got more into basketball," I explain.

"Aw that's cute, I'll definitely tell him about you Josiah," She says.
-
2 and a half hours later

"Girl, you did your thing, her hair looks so good," Ayesha smiles as Riley gets up from the chair and stretches.

"Thank you Miss Naveah," Riley smiles.

"No problem pretty," I smile back at her.

"Here's your tip, and if you're up for it, the team has an open practice coming up soon. It'd be a great way for Josiah to meet his favorite player," She offers.

"Please, mommy?" Josiah presses his hands together while showing off his big adorable smile. Can I really say no to that face?

"Okay, we're down to do that," I say.

"Great, I'll text you the details later," She says and I nod.

"Thank you again, bye Josiah," She waves at him.

"Bye Miss Ayesha, bye Riley," Josiah waves back at them. Ayesha takes hold of Riley's hand and makes her exit. I finally look at the money in my hands, counting it. $200 tip? Wasn't expecting that.

"Damn, she gave you a $200 tip for what?" Destiny one of the other hairstylist in the salon spoke up from behind me.

"Um you can back up, why are you all up in my space?" I roll my eyes putting my tip in my pocket.

"I ain't never got that much for tip, I just wanna know what you did?" She crosses her arms.

"I provide a good service and am actually good at what I do," I say smugly making the others in the salon ooh. I turned away from her and began cleaning up my station.

"Give me a couple of minutes to clean up bubs and then we can go get something to eat," I say and he gives me an okay.