I'm in your city and I'm wondering if you're home now.
BEYONCÉ
I'd never been more inspired in my life.
Since being back in contact with Onika, I couldn't do anything but pour all those feelings into music. I was in a zone and practically living in the studio.
Onika and I kept our word and continued speaking even after I left. We were both bust with work and otherwise, but we talked as much as we could. Thankfully, with me working and the industry and her being a nurse we both ended up being awake a lot at night so that was when we spoke the most.
It was friendly for the most part, but we flirted sometimes. It was harmless but obvious enough for me to raise an eyebrow at it.
The second I got an opportunity to go back to Houston, only a few weeks after I got back, I took it.
Drake offered to fly me out to Houston to help him finish up his album and "network." I knew what networking meant to him, but money was money and I knew I would get a lot from working with him.
As soon as I found out, I told Onika to call me when she got the chance because she was at work at the time. I was in the studio and would probably be there the entire night so I went back to making songs while I waited for her.
It was way after midnight when I finally got a FaceTime call from her. I set up my phone on my keyboard stand before answering the call. "Hey, how was work?"
She had her phone set up in her car already and had a Patagonia sweater on over her scrubs. She sighed, "They wore me out. We were understaffed today so I barely had a moment to breathe the whole time." She looked drained like she did most times she got off work.
"They always have you working like you're a superhuman or anything." I smiled. "But guess what?"
"What?"
"I'm coming back to Houston."
Her face lit up and she smiled for the first time since we got on the phone. "Really?! When?!"
I smiled and nodded, just as excited as her. "Yeah. I'll be there before the end of the week, probably." I wanted to see her, so the sooner the better.
All the tiredness seemed to leave her body. "Yess! It's been way too long already. I'm ready to beat you in bowling again."
"You and this bowling shit. You just know that's the only thing you can beat me in." I waved her off but I couldn't hide the big grin on my face. "We'll do something else the next time I come. Something better."
"Oh, yeah?" She moved closer to the camera with a smirk. "What, like a nice dinner or something?"
I matched her smirk. "If you want me to take you to dinner, just say that."
She shrugged, still smiling. "I'd show up."
This was exactly what I was talking about. Things didn't feel completely platonic when we spoke like this.
Either way, I still entertained it. "Well text me your schedule for next week and we'll see."
We continued talking about our plans for when I got to Houston until she got home and hung up to go to sleep.
If I wasn't already excited to go home, I definitely was after our phone call.
The next couple days leading up to me going back to Houston didn't do anything but build the anticipation. We were talking even more than normal knowing we would be back in person again soon.
