All That Matters

14 | November 14th

Suspiciously, she eyed the phone stand that Yasmine gifted her. It was one of the nice ones since Yasmine accidentally bought two while ordering one for herself. She'd just gotten off of work and picked Dylan up from school, sitting in her bedroom with Dylan's hair bucket beside her.

Just as impulsively as she put up the tripod, she impulsively attached her phone to it with the camera app open. "Come on, Dylan!" Mila yelled in the direction of Dylan's bedroom, knowing she was wasting time on that tablet.

She came bouncing in, dressed in her soft pink leotard, skirt, stockings, and shoes. Mila instructed her on where to sit while she checked her phone to see if the angle was alright. She then went to refresh Dylan's hair into a ballerina bun, rushing a little since time was limited. Clipping the pink satin bow to her curly donut was her finishing touch before continuing the rest of her routine. Kiddie perfume here and kiddie lip gloss there. Mila made sure to grab her phone on the way out of the door along with her purse.

House of Flow was the girls' dance studio, tucked in a major plaza in the middle of the busy neighborhood. The weekly sessions were only an hour and a half, and Mila was excited that Dylan was finally enjoying it, and not crying the whole time like she and Halle did when they were younger.

While she sat in the room with a one sided window, she watched them do little dance moves to a fire and electric Kaytranada beat. Mila recorded Dylan following along as usual, but with a different intention this time. The impulsive idea she had earlier was to create a little video, showing her and her daughter's evening. She'd started making short form for A Bite of Blue's socials but tried to keep herself out of it as much as possible. Her videos were doing well on the algorithm and the itch transferred to her personal life, and now she'd begun easing to putting herself back in front of the camera.

She spoke to no one of her renaissance. Especially Yasmine since her reaction would be so obnoxious if she knew her true intentions behind the camera. She didn't feel like having to hold her by a leash with the information, mostly because she didn't know how to handle the news herself. Mila didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, just for her to change her mind and let the videos collect dust in her camera roll.

"You wanna get some food after this?" Yasmine asked, picking up her things since the class was nearly over.

"You talking to me or your man?" Mila teased, playfully pushing her hair back to check if she had any headphones in.

"No. You on the phone, texting with yours?" Yasmine slimmed her eyes, swiftly snatching Mila's phone from her hand.

"Yas!!" Her phone was right open on her and Damon's texts. "You're being so childish right now." Mila said, seeing her finger scroll with light chuckles escaping from her lips.

"When I get back from Ohio, I'll really make it up to you. Hmm, what does that mean?" Yasmine's eyebrows raised in intrigue.

"You're bored." Mila crossed her arms, not playing along with her games.

"Oh, it's like that?" Yasmine chuckled, moving into their corner and away from the other moms. "Make it up to me with a kiss, perhaps?" She moved her fingers to mimic the typing motion. Mila snatched her phone back, praying she didn't accidentally hit send on the nonexistent text.

"No, I don't want to get food with you after this." Mila rolled her eyes, pushing the door open with her things in tow. Yasmine heavily sighed behind her, hating how serious she could be at times.

"I was only messing around, Mila. Please." She trailed behind her as she waved goodbye to the teacher and headed for the door.

"Still no." Mila replied, going straight for her car.