Habibet Albi (Incomplete)

Chapter 10: This is Halloween

ON THEIR BREAK, Phoenix sat at a tall table across from her bestfriend in a Dunkin Donuts. Since she was exactly five foot, her feet dangled a foot above the floor. Childishly, she swung her legs back and forth. Dunkin' Donuts...that's where poverty-ridden people bought coffee. In her case, she hadn't consumed coffee from a chain in almost eight months. Every morning she brewed her own coffee. This morning she slept through her alarm and didn't have enough time to do anything besides get dressed and brush her teeth. Hence the messy mop of curls spewing from her head, held by a hair clip.

"When we're done with this bs we're going halloween shopping." Jose stated without any input from Phoenix.

She inhaled the scent of the hot, pumpkin spice latte she ordered and wistfully sighed, savoring it. "Halloween is in two weeks. Chill, we've got plenty of time to get costumes." She reassured.

"So? Exactly we should go shopping asap before all the good costumes are sold out." He continued.

She sipped her coffee, welcoming the warmth of the liquid to slide down her throat, relaxing her. "Do you even know what you want to be?" She asked, her eyebrows raised.

"I wanna be Ariel and you can be Ursula." He answered, examining his nails.

She nearly choked on her coffee, "Absolutely not, you go on and be the little mermaid. I'm gonna be Catwoman." Phoenix objected.

The kind of smile that elicited when a mother was proud of her offspring stretched his full lips. "Sexy, dark and mysterious. A massive improvement from the past few years. Last year you were Jack Sparrow, the year prior to that Edward Scissorhands." He recalled.

Phoenix hid behind her hands, "I have a Johnny Depp infatuation." She admitted.

Jose rolled his eyes, picking at his cuticles, "No shit Sherlock. I mean how could you not? That man is dripping with sex appeal. There's only one other man on this earth that has cheekbones as immaculate as his." He rambled on, catching himself.

Instantly it clicked in her head like two jigsaw pieces fitting together. He was talking about Malik. The thought alone sent a jolt of electricity through her.

"How's it going with that guy on tinder?" Phoenix inquired, sincerely curious, also trying to change the awkward topic.

Jose nearly jumped at the opportunity. "Biiiiitch." He prolonged the word for dramatic effect. The only acceptable time a guy could call her that.

"So we fucked as per usual. It was so weird. This nigga was doing the most for dead no reason." He began, paused to observe her face.

She hated when he did that. He always wanted to see her reaction. How could she react when he didn't get to the end of the damn story? "Proceed." She ordered impatiently, motioning with her hands.

He clapped his hands together. "He took my nipple piercings out with his tongue and sucked on em. I dunno what the point of that was. Was he tryna be sexy or some shit? It was just gross and unnecessary. I didn't put em back in until I washed them. After we fucked and he passed out I dipped." He explained.

She bursted out into laughter and he did too. "Yooo that is hella sketch. I woulda dipped long before that. I swear to God you pick the shadiest dudes out there. How do you not get bad vibes? God forbid something happens. You really need to be more careful. Serial killers don't exclude gays, Jeffrey Dahmer for example."

He shrugged indifferently as he chewed on his straw. "He was cute. Not until he did that then I realized something was up." He said as if that made sense.

"Don't you wanna start taking dating more seriously? I mean you do you boo. As long as you are healthy and happy I don't care who or what you do. But doesn't this kind of..." She struggled to find a suitable term. "Activity get unstimulating after awhile?"