How Do U Want It?

xxvi

September 21st, 1989

"Every little step I take, you will be there, every little step I make, we'll be together girl..." The stereo blared the Bobby Brown song from on top of the white regal dresser.

Today was my 18th birthday, and I've come so far. To call myself a legal adult was a major achievement, and I was proud.

Dre and the guys saved a bit of cash to book a hotel for a few days, and invited all my friends to join us. I was majorly grateful, I loved them so much.

We decided to throw a pool party at the hotel, and it was guaranteed to be the best thing ever.

"Blue or black tank top?" I asked Faith as I stood in front of the full body mirror, holding the two garments up.

"Uh, blue" She said as she separated her honey blonde hair into 2 parts.

I threw the black tank top on the bed, and slid the blue one on. The sunlight illuminated the entire hotel room, and I went to the balcony doors that overlooked the large pool and palm trees. "I'm so excited," I spoke in a jovial tone, "do you think everyone is gonna come?"

Turning back to face Faith, she was in the process of braiding 2 pigtails in her hair. "Yeah, of course." She said before smiling. "I talked to your boyfriend, he said he was coming." She joked, referring to Tupac.

My face fell at her words, "It's not like that and you know that, what happened was over a year ago and it was a one time thing."

There was no doubt that Tupac and I had feelings for each other, but we never took the time to act on them. I was starting to think that maybe being friends was the right thing for us. And when we hooked up that year, it definitely played a non factor in our relationship. We acted as if it didn't happen.

I guess I was finally giving up on him. When and if I saw him at my party, it'd be all platonic.

"I'm just playin' with you. I like us bein' single at the same time, we're all we have." Faith giggled before sliding her flip flops on and standing up from the bed.

I rolled my eyes and a smirk came upon my face.

Even though some of my actions in the past kind of ruptured me and Faith's relationship, she still remained my best friend throughout it all; and I loved her for that. Instead of turning her back and leaving me to deal with things on my own, she took my hand and guided me through it.

No one, not even Faith, understood how grateful I was for her and her friendship.

A knock on the door was heard, and Faith and I looked at each other before she went to go open it. I walked over to the dresser and turned the stereo off.

Hearing faint 'heys' and 'hi's', I turned my head around the corner to see who our visitor was. "There's the birthday girl." Caine, who I was happy to see, greeted me with a hug.

"I didn't think you'd come." I said in a relieved tone of voice.

"Why wouldn't I come?" He let go and gave me a confused look.

"We don't see each other as much, y'know, I thought you were gonna disregard the invite." I admitted to him.

He scoffed, "Man I wouldn't miss this party for the fuckin' world." We both laughed and he started to speak again. "I went to see O a couple days ago."

"What'd he say?"

O-Dogg, or so I heard, was on a 15 year bid. When he was arrested, he was only 17, so they couldn't sentence him at the time. He sat in a juvenile center for about a year or so, and when he finally turned 18, they put him on trial. After about 6 weeks of court dates, he was finally going to jail.