Eye for an Eye

Chapter 17

The beginning of February rolled around and everywhere you looked, you saw couples holding hands, hugging, kissing and a bunch of pink and red, literally everywhere. Arielle opened the door to her office and noticed a valentine's day card on her desk with a candy attached to it. immediately groaning, she snatched it off her desk and chucked it into the garbage, not bothering to take look at what it read and who it was from.

valentine's day wasn't the loving holiday for her as it was for everyone else. it was so cliche to her and maybe she was a little salty because no one asked her to be their valentine, not even delano because he always assumed she knew but even if, it still didn't bring her any joy. she sat down at her desk and grabbed a arnold palmer from her fridge and took a sip, smiling to herself at the taste. the door swung open and erica walked in, a cheeky grin plastered on her face and arielle rolled her eyes, expecting some bullshit out of her.

"I come bearing good news"

"good news for me? or good news for you?" she retorted.

"depends on how you take it. but we're going on a road trip!!" she yelled, extending her arms out with a huge smile and arielle raised an eyebrow, intrigued to know more.

"who's we?"

"the assistant managers, duh."

"why?"

"corporate is building a new store in New Jersey so we need to train the new workers. it's only for 3 days and we'll be staying in Atlantic City." arielle cocked her head to the side.

"why are we staying at a place that's known for gambling your money away if we're there for work?"

"ugh, you're no fun. the first two days are for work but the last day is for us"

"fair enough, when do we leave?"

"tonight" arielle looked up at her, her eyes wide with look of horror of her face.

"tonight!? why are you just now telling me this?"

"I was gonna tell simba to relay the message because I know how close you guys are but I haven't seen him since the morning shift" arielle scoffed, leaning back in her seat with a frown on her face.

she hasn't spoken to simba since the incident that happened at the club and honestly, she was too embarrassed to have that conversation with him. the fight with nicki was completely uncalled for, even if she felt like nicki wanted him, she should've never felt the need to put her hands on her. all and all, she couldn't deny the fact that she missed him and their weekly outings. they talked almost everyday and he always gave her a ride to and from work but now she was stuck taking the train in the coldest month of New York.

"well I haven't see him either but I need to leave now if you want me packed and ready, by tonight." erica gave her a death stare, hating the idea of her leaving early but she understood.

"fine, meet us back here at 4am." arielle nodded and got up to get ready to leave to go home.

**

she entered her apartment and saw delano laying down on the couch, scrolling on his phone and didn't look up from it to greet her. she rolled her eyes and went straight into the bedroom, slamming the door. every since the jail situation, they have yet to have a full conversation, only speaking to each other if need be and it was always straight to the point, only muttering a few words to each other. also, he still hasn't apologized but she knew she wasn't gonna get one because he still thinks she ratted him out. she decided to take a nap and a couple hours later, she got up to start packing.

she grabbed her duffel bag and started packing various outfits and bathroom essentials for the trip. she quickly dressed into a tracksuit and fluffed her curls up, letting them be free. once it was full, she grabbed her gallon sized water bottle and went to the fridge to fill it up. once it was filled, she went over to cookie to give her a kiss goodbye and then she stood up straight, looking at the back of delano's head.