She got me up all night.
BEYONCÉ
I waited all day for a text.
I texted her on the way out of the hospital and didn't stop checking my phone for the rest of the day after that.
Embarrassingly enough, I woke up with still no text back.
I went throughout the day checking more phone more times than I'd like to admit... but still no text back all day.
I didn't hear from her at all until later that night after I was already ready for bed. Instead of just texting me back, she was calling me, and I of course answered. "Hello?"
"Hey, Bey. It's Onika."
I chuckled, "Yeah, I know. How have you been?"
She let out a deep sigh before she spoke, "Tired. I worked a twelve hour shift, plus overtime, so I went straight to sleep after work. I felt bad about not texting you so I decided to just call you instead."
Oh... well that made a lot more sense than what I was thinking.
"Damn, a twelve hour shift plus overtime? I would've had to sleep for days after that so I don't even blame you." She was better than me.
She laughed, "Yeah. I'm used to it but it's still crazy. How have you been?"
"I've just been chilling with my family, making sure everybody's good." And waiting on a text back. "It feels weird being back here even though I grew up here so I haven't felt like going anywhere."
"I know you haven't been in Houston because I haven't seen you once, but where have you been?"
It surprised me to hear her ask that, because most people knew what I was up to. I wasn't completely out of the public eye so people talked, but I guess when you're working majority of the day you don't have time to care or notice.
"I go back and forth between Atlanta and La for the most part." I had penthouses in both cities.
"Oh?" That piqued her interested. "Doing what?"
"Songwriting, producing, engineering, a little bit of everything."
"Aww!" She squealed. "You were always such a creative, so that's so fitting. I love that for you. I remember the little poems you would always get lost in writing in class."
They were all about her. Each and every poem.
I laughed at the memory she just brought back. "Damn, yeah, I did do that. I can't believe you remember that."
"How could I not? They were so good, I remember having to beg you to let me read them. I probably still have the one you let me have somewhere in my old stuff."
"There's no way."
"Yes, way. It wouldn't have felt right throwing it away because of how good it was. You have a gift."
I chuckled, to myself mainly. "I appreciate that. Don't gas my head up too much though."
She teased, "I'm sure you get enough of that already, huh?"
"Groupies will be groupies," I spoke plainly. That was the only way to put it. "But that's the least of my concern. It's all just so fake and disingenuous because of what I am and have, so I have no interest in it."
When you go from being dirt poor to rich, you see the change in how people treat you and it's a turn off.
That wasn't to say I didn't ever entertain women, but always in private.
"I get that. How'd you get into writing and all that?"
"It kind of just happened." I started to reminisce. "I wasn't even trying to get into music but I ran into the right person, Jay-z. I was broke and could barely afford gas or rent for my dingy ass apartment so I wasn't in any space to say no to any money, and then things just went up from there. It's been a blessing, especially from where I started."
"That is a blessing, I'm glad your talent is being put to use."
"Yeah... but what about you? How did you get into nursing? Last time I remember, you were trying to go to school for something completely different."
"Life. Remember Nas from high school?"
I cringed. "Yeah. What about him?"
"We started dating and that got... crazy. My life got kind of derailed and when I went back to school I decided to do nursing."
"Damn." I couldn't even say I was surprised. Nas wanted her just as bad as I did back in the day. "I guess that's why you changed your number, huh?"
"Unfortunately. I lost touch with pretty much everyone but I needed it at the time."
"I get that. Post grad was a lot. I'm glad things worked out for us both though."
"Yeah... me too."
There was a heavy but comfortable silence and I took the moment to just take everything in. It felt just like high school.
Onika broke the silence first and we started talking about everything until the sun.
The amount of time that passed didn't even cross my mind until I started to see the sun started to peek into my room past my blinds.
I yawned, "Damn, the suns already coming up. I can't believe we talked all night."
She softly laughed. "I didn't mean to keep you up this late, my job made me somewhat nocturnal."
"Catching up was definitely worth it." I hated how corny I sounded but it was the truth.
"Agreed. I'm off tomorrow if you want to catch up in person and at a reasonable hour."
"Yeah, I'll plan something just let me know what time you're free that day."
"Will do." She yawned. "Goodnight Bey. It was nice talking to you."
"You too. Goodnight."
I hung up the phone with a big smile on my face and went straight to sleep.
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Bey?
Onika?
Them staying up all night talking?
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