Empire State (Ronnie Banks)

02. His Penthouse

I thought about it for a moment as I felt pity for Ronnie. He looked as if he had lost himself and he needed help finding himself again. I chuckled and said, "Okay. When do we start?" as I walked towards him. "Right now," he said as he dragged me by my arm and out of the park. Damian and Omarion, of course, followed behind. As we stood walking on the sidewalk, I heard a beep-beep as I saw a limousine waiting for us. What? I thought to myself. Ronnie opened the door for me as I giggled and sat down on the leather seats inside the black limousine. Ronnie sat right next to me while Damian and Omarion sat in the seats facing us. The doors then shut automatically. Did that just happen? My eyes wandered about as I caught myself staring at Ronnie.

Damn, he is fine. I will go out with him in a heartbeat.

Ronnie couldn't stop smiling for an odd reason and I wanted to know why. "You know, I haven't been to New York in such a long time. I'm just so happy I found you guys!" Ronnie said as he laughed.

Oh my god, his laugh! It's so perfect.

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Ronnie's POV

Damn, Clarberry Middle School September 2006. I remember the first day of middle school in the 7th grade, I saw this 6th grader with pigtails, braces, bony legs, and no curves at all. She dropped her books the moment she walked into class and all I did was laugh at her. Her brothers were cool, Damian and Omarion. Omarion was in a grade higher (8th Grade), but I was in all my classes with Damian so it was an amazing year since we were best friends. I hated that girl, but then I found out that she was their sister so I'm like "damn it." I guess I had to be friends with her. After a while, it turned out that she wasn't so bad to be friends with. She was into the same music I was into and she played basketball with us after school so she wasn't a complete geek. Although, Omarion and Damian knew there'd be a day where I'd fall in love with her, but I'd always denied it since I never found her attractive at all and I was just a kid anyways, unaware of the fact that I was moving to California around the middle of my 8th grade year. I was devastated. I was leaving the city I grew up in, the people I grew up with. I couldn't handle that at all!

January 2008, 8th Grade. The day came and I had to leave everything behind. I'm not going to lie, I was going to miss Demi even though we weren't that close. Even months after I moved, Damian and Omarion would still tease me about her whenever I'd ask to show me pictures of her. They knew I'd fall in love with her. And maybe now, they may be right. The girl sitting next to me right now (perfect hair, perfect teeth, thick body) might turn out to be something amazing after all.

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"Hey, Ronnie." Omarion said as he winked at Ronnie with me noticing.

"What?" Ronnie said as he slowly put his arm around me to turn off the light in the limo.

I expected him to move his hand, but then I noticed that he didn't and kept it there. That's strange, but I'm not going to comment on it.

"Remember what I said about Demi six years ago? Ha, I was right!" Omarion said as he high-fived Damian.

"No, you're not right." Ronnie said in denial.

"Then, why do you have your arm around her?" Omarion said as he smirked at us.

"Uh, what's going on?" I said as I chuckled nervously.

"Nothing, it was something that we used to joke about a lot," Omarion said as he stood quiet with Damian.

I then admiringly gazed out the window as I saw the concrete jungle with its busy roads. Lights flickered and many voices could be heard through the thick glass. The driver of the limousine made a sharp turn to the left and into Times Square.