Confessions of a Material Gurl・❥・

☆ THIRTY-FOUR ☆

Wednesday afternoon ・❥・
2:34pm

"Well look who finally decided to show her face." Talia taunts, whirling around in her seat as Blanche as enters their apartment. She sat at the island counter, snacking a bowl of fruit. Blanche chuckles, playfully rolling her eyes.
"First of all, I saw you yesterday." She shoots back, placing her purse on the counter.
"Uhh, yelling hi at me through the door while you get you wig split does not count ma'am." Talia retorts and Blanche gives her the bird, before stealing a piece of fruit from her bowl. Talia reacts by sticking out her butterknife, "Just cause you pregnant doesn't mean I won't cut you." Talia fusses, holding up the butter knife that sat on the counter.
"Bite me." Blanche replies, sticking her tongue out.
"Grey does enough of that. That's why yo ass pregnant now."
"And my man does it very well." Blanche jokes in response, popping her ass.
"You're a fucking mess." Talia says, laughing and shaking her head at her as Blanche's phone starts ringing. Looking at the name, she groans.
"Who is it?" Talia questions.
"Yo friend." Blanche replies, holding up her phone and Talia reads Leena's name, rolling her eyes.
"Girl, that's yo friend."
"Ehh, I'm starting to believe that isn't the case."
"Ohhh, so now you wanna believe a bitch?" Talia exclaims, dramatically throwing her hands up.
"Shut up, you know you're opinion be biased as fuck." Talia responds with a shrug.
"So what? I don't like the bitch."
"And that's exactly what I'm talking about." Blanche replies, in between laughing.
"Whatever," Talia responds, waving her off. "She was foul as hell for even suggesting you getting an abortion...shit at least you were smart enough to get pregnant by a nigga who could take care of you and yo baby." Talia spiels in annoyance making Blanche sigh, shaking her head. Unlike Talia, Blanche still felt like she owed Leena some type of loyalty, so she wasn't down for taking shit about her choices in men.
"It's not like I need a nigga to help anyways." Blanche reminds.
"You right. But still."
"Yeah but anyways, I'm about to head out." Blanche says, shifting the focus of their conversation,
Talia smack her lips, "Girl where are you going now?" Blanche waves her off, heading towards her bedroom.
"I have to meet up with Power."
"You need to tell yo dad, so you can sit your pregnant ass down somewhere B!" Talia yells after her making Blanche groan. She was tired of everyone telling her what she already knew. Eventually yes, she would have to come clean but for now Blanche was in the clear, at least until she started showing.
           Once in her bedroom, Blanche quickly changed pulling out a pair of gray tights from her dresser and slides them on before pulling the sun dress she wore, over her head. Going into her walk in closet, she grabs one of her favorite black hoodies and tossing it on before sliding her feet into a pair of black and white low top Nike dunks. She grabs her black beanie off the dresser and makes her way back into the living room. Of course, like always she was running late. Blanche could already hear Juice's nagging in her head. She was hoping though, she wouldn't have to run into him today. When she spoke to her father earlier, he had Juice making runs for him.
"I'll catch you later girl." Blanche says to Talia, opening their front door.
"Okay. Be safe. Love you!"
"Love you to." Blanche replies before closing the door behind her.

・❥・

About thirty minutes later, Blanche pulls up to the warehouse, immediately spotting Juice posted up outside with her cousin, Javi. She sighs, massaging her temples and parks her truck. For a moment, Blanche sits there before turning off he engine and exiting the vehicle. Her palms become sweaty and her heart rate quickens as Juice's gaze falls onto her.
A blunt hung loosely from his mouth, as the sun made the diamond chains around his neck glisten, illuminating his chocolate skin. He was casually dressed in a Carrots green and orange sweatshirt and matching sweats pants and a pair of green and white Jordan 1's adorned his feet. Fuck this nigga for always looking so damn fine, Blanche thought to herself, breaking his gaze.
"What's up cuz?" Javi exclaims, pulling her into a bear hug. Javi was Blanche's favorite aunt's youngest son. Frankly, her father's side was her favorite. Carter had three siblings, two of which who were boys and one girl. Power's dad, Cedric was the eldest of them all.
"Where you been at?" Blanche inquires, hugging him back.
"Shit, in the studio." He replies, as a handsome grin spreads across his face. To Blanche, Javi always reminder her of Skepta. He was her second favorite cousin after Power.
"Mhm well excuse me. Don't forget about me when you get famous." She teases.
"Never B." Javi says chuckling in response and running his hand over his fresh cut.
"What's up stranger?" Juice taunts making Blanche wave him off.
"Shuttt up, ain't nobody been acting strange." She retorts. Juice laughs, licking his lips before pulling her into a hug. Feeling something different, he pulls back staring at her skeptically. Blanche cowers away.
"What?" She demands.
"Nothing, ma." Juice replies letting her go.
"Where's Power at?" Blanche questions.
"He's inside." Javi says. Blanche nods okay before going inside the warehouse. Inside, she finds Power surrounded by stacks of money. 
"What's up?" Power says, noticing Blanche entering the building.
"What's up?" She replies, plopping down on one of the couches. "Everything straight?" She asks, nodding to the pile of money.
"Looks like it. This is this weeks profit from all the shops." Power responds, finishing his count on the last stack. Blanche nods in response, relaxing into the couch and propping her legs up.
"You good?" Power probed, seeing the tired look on her face.
"I'm tired as hell. This shit is no joke." She retorts, rubbing her belly as Power laughs, "You sound like Kenia."
"I see ol boy took the news well." He curiously adds.
"Ol boy." She mocks, smirking, "But surprisingly, yeah he did."
"Why surprisingly?"
"Cause the shit is messy...I still can't get over him being Zora's dad." Blanche replies in disbelief, staring off in the distance. The hardest thing about coming clean about her pregnancy was not knowing the reaction she would receive from her father or Zenobia. Blanche didn't want to be the cause of their relationship ending. Zenobia was the first woman in a long time, Blanche saw her father genuinely happy with and revealing that she was pregnant by her father's girlfriend's baby daddy would only complicate shit. Plus how would she explain it to Zora? She already thought of Blanche as a sister, so confessing that she was pregnant by her dad would only confuse her little mind.
"You really had no clue?" Power questioned.
"Fuck no. Shit, I didn't even know he was the one we were going to be meeting that day." She truthfully replies. Her and Grey's whole affair was a one night stand, that was turning out to be something much more than Blanche was ever expecting.
"Damn B, you sure know how to pick 'em." He jokes, making Blanche flip him the bird.
"So when you planning on telling Carter you're pregnant?"
"Yo, you pregnant B?!" Javi yells, walking inside the warehouse with Juice following behind him. Instantly, Blanche's heart drops to her stomach seeing Juice's jaw tense up. This was the last way she wanted him to find out, especially after their last encounter. Blanche blows out her breath, "Yeah I am." She admits as an awkward silence falls over the room.
"Damn, congratulations." Javi happily tells her, coming over and giving her a hug.
"Who's the daddy?" Javi probes.
"You don't know him." She vaguely replies, briefly glancing at Juice. He stood off to the side, remaining silent, making it difficult for Blanche to read him.
"Well shit, call that nigga up so I can meet him." Javi press.
"He's busy with his daughter." She replies in between laughing, "You'll meet soon." Blanche assures him.
"Yeah right after she finally tells Carter." Power cuts in snidely. Blanche rolls her eyes at him.
"I am." She declares. Just right before I start showing, she saying to herself. "So let's focus on the task at hand." Blanche tells them, waving to the stacks of uncounted bills, trying to shift the focus of conversation. Talking about her pregnancy in front of Juice just felt cruel. They talked about kids in the past and had a whole vision planned out. But in life, you can never really plan, which Blanche had discovered the hard way. The life she envisioned for herself as a child, was completely different than the one she was currently living.