ONNAXOFF

Chapter 13

Jessie

Less than a minute after I put it down, my phone buzzes. I laugh as I pick it up. It must be Rose telling me something she forgot to say in our three and a half hour long phone conversation. Wrong. It’s a message from Abel.

The text reads:

Whts ur room no again?? lol im wastedddd

I shake my head and reply:

707

Last time I saw him, he said he would be too busy to hang out for a few days and then he was going to California. I should have known he meant he was gonna be busy getting ‘wastedddd’.

Three loud knocks later, I open the door, cheerfully expecting Abel’s drunk face to be blinking at me. But where Abel’s face is supposed to be, a broad chest fills my vision. I look up to see Lamar grinning down at me.

"Surprise!" He announces, Abel's phone still in his hand.

"So... You gonna invite me in or what?" I consider closing the door in his face.

"Come in." I say finally.

He takes a seat on the edge of the couch. Even with me standing cross-armed in front of him, we're still almost eye level.

"So this is where you live..? Nice place.” he nods approvingly.

"What are you doing with Abel's phone?" I ask accusingly.

"Can you believe he left it in the living room before he went to sleep? I walked into his apartment and found it right there on the table." He laughs, as if that explains why he’s sitting on my couch.

"So you decided to creep on me?"

"Don’t be so full of yourself." He smiles softly. "I decided to creep on everybody. I even texted all his cousins."

"That's crazy." I shake my head, holding back a smile.

"No, what's crazy is that he hasn't changed his password since the last hijacking." He chuckles at the fond memory.

“What are you doing here, Lamar?”

“Well, my dear sweet Miss Taylor, I came to invite you to Cali with us.”

“This weekend?” I ask.

“Yeah!” He grins. “I still have his phone and card details. I can book you a seat on the plane right now. First class of course.”

“No, l can get my own ticket.” Unlike Lamar, I don’t feel comfortable using Abel’s money. Or even intruding on his trip. “Are you sure Abel would be okay with me coming?”

“Yeah. Of course! He’s gonna be busy working a lot of the time anyway so you’ll be hanging with us. It’ll be fun.” He says happily.

“Alright. But can I bring a friend?” Jetting off to LA sounds perfect but spending the whole time with Abel’s friends? Not so much.

“Sure, but you’ll have to share a room. The house we rented only has 5 bedrooms and I sure ain’t sharing.”

“That’s fine.” I know Rose is definitely busy this weekend but there’s one person I know who’d be up for an impromptu trip across the border. I dial her number.

“Hey Max, you free this weekend?”

__________

The morning of the flight, I wait anxiously in the hotel lobby for Max so we can go meet the others at the airport. She’s even later than I usually am. When she finally shows up in 4 inch heels, her black wet look leggings shining in the warm light, she kisses me on both cheeks, greeting me excitedly with “What’s up, hoe? Ready to fuck shit up on the West Coast?”