Shades of Sepia

XII

Onika Tanya Maraj
August 18th
Houston, Texas

"Where are y'all going again?"

I cut my eyes at Beyoncé through the mirror, saw her eyes raking from my heels to my bare back. She wanted to keep me here, to take me out of this dress that she had helped put me in, but we had a deal. We had a conversation.

"Numbers babe."

"You sure you wanna go there? I heard they get ghetto."

I chuckled as I leaned over to wrap my shoes up around my ankles, "I'm good with ghetto babe, you're the one not used to it."

I felt her hand on the small of my back, sliding into my dress, and holding onto my ass, "I got you."

I stood up and watched her lace me up through the mirror, kissing my thighs every few seconds. She was lighting my body on fire and she knew that. Wanting me to stay home like this was not going to work for her, but I damn sure wasn't going to stop her from trying.

"You won't even think about staying?"

"I been thinking about staying since I told you I was going."

"What you saying?"

I chuckled as she stood up and I kissed her, "That you won't stop talking."

"Stay," She was breathless, the look in her eyes telling me exactly why she wanted me to stay here.

Since she'd been here, we used my bed and my floor and my desk chair. She couldn't get enough of me and it only made me wonder how we would operate if we actually lived together. I wondered if I would ever be able to leave the house messing around with her.

She held my cheeks and brought our lips together. She held onto me, kept kissing me slowly, "You are beautiful, you know that?"

I was grinning, genuinely never got tired of hearing that come out of her mouth. From the moment she met me, at every turn, I knew I was beautiful. Every compliment felt like she was in awe of me. I loved that about her.

"I hear it from you every day."

"You'll never stop hearing it from me. I really wish I could get you to stay."

"I'll see you when I get back. Be awake?"

"I've gotta make sure you make it back into this house safely. I'm tempted to send Darius or Julius with you. You know what? I am."

"Beyoncé be reasonable."

"I'm not there. I can't make the decisions for you that I usually would. I can't look after you. I can't do anything so Darius is going with you and Julius is driving you both. I'm being very lenient, don't push no more."

"Bye," I wanted to roll my eyes, but my punishments up to this point stopped me.

"Speak nicely."

"I'll see you later tonight. Hopefully you'll give me what I want when I get back."

❦

I waved with both hands as I joined all of my coworkers in their section. They greeted me warmly, finally, but I already knew there was much more work to be done. It took a lot to change people's minds, especially a group that worked so closely together.

"Hey y'all," I took a seat next to Luke and took a shot when the bar girl brought the shots I'd ordered when I walked in.

I let everyone take theirs off before I grabbed up the last two, stacking the shot glasses on the table when I was finished with them.