KASHLAND

21

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I looked at the other side of the bed and noticed I was still by myself. I answered my phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey best, hows your trip?" I heard Mila.

"Oh hey, It's fine. Guess what?" I sat up excited to tell her the news.

"What, what, what?" she got excited too.

"Well, I have a boyfriend now.. officially." I smiled remembering last night. I wondered where Clarence was. He probably left before I woke up to handle business or what not.

"Oh my gosh! Bitch!" she screamed. "Finally! I been waiting forever."

"Oh shut up, so have I. How's your grandma?" I asked getting up out of bed and into the bathroom.

"She's ok.. for now. The doctors said to keep her in the hospital for another week for tests and just in case she has another one." she sighed.

"She'll be fine. I hope." I pulled out my toothbrush.

"I didn't call you to cry best, I called you to gossip." she laughed.

"Ooh, bitch what's tea?" I put her on speaker.

Me and Mila talked on the phone for about an hour until I told her I had to go and get ready. She told me that the girl she had fought in the club a while ago was at her nail salon earlier. She was talking about Andre and our beef and that it was on sight when she was Mila. I guess she didn't see Mila in there with her because she was getting her nails done as well. I edited my video with Octavia and uploaded it to my channel. I responded to a few comments then shut my laptop.

Today I really didn't have a lot to do. Octavia told me she had business to handle all day and she'll call me if she gets any free time.

It was going on 2pm and Clarence still wasn't back. I decided to text him and see where he was.

Me:  wya?
Clarence: had to pick up a few things. you want something to eat?
Me: oh okay, and yes please.
Clarence: what you want?
Me: chinese?
Clarence: i got you.

I sat down on the couch in the living room area and turned the TV on. I checked my social media's. One girl that I went to high school with was at the party that Clarence hosted. I saw him for a split second in a section with a bunch of dudes. It had better been some dudes. I clicked through her story and saw her with some girl taking shots.

I texted in the group chat with my brothers and sister telling them about how my trip was going and that we needed to get them to spend a weekend at my house again. Israel was talking about how our mother was bugging out again. She had put her hands on Aiyanna so I made it a must to go see her when my trip was over. I dreaded the day I would have to talk to my mother again, but I didn't want to leave my younger ones over there with her.

I heard the front door open after a while and Clarence walked in with a bag of Chinese food. He separated our food and gave me mine.

"You lucky, I had to drive all over LA to look for a chinese spot."

"Thank you, baby." I kissed him and began to dig in.

"You must've been really hungry." he laughed. "Yes, I was. I didn't feel like cooking." I shrugged. "How was the party?" I asked.

"It was cool, NY parties are better though. They do too much drugs over here." he sat next to me.

I laughed at him," What?"

It was getting late, going on 11pm. Clarence was in the shower and I sat on our bed scrolling through my phone while the TV sat on HGTV.

Clarence's phone chimed and brought me out of my thoughts. I reached over to the nightstand where his phone was and grabbed it. I looked at the screen to see what the notification was from.

It was a text message from an unsaved number.

I put my finger on the home button and unlocked his phone looking at the message.

Here goes my nosey ass. I might find something I don't want to see. But I couldn't help but look.

I clicked on the message thread and read from the beginning.

- hey is this Clarence?

• yeah, who this?

- it's mishae.

• oh wassup

"Oh wassup?" I read aloud. "You really about to entertain this bitch?" I rolled my eyes at the bathroom door where he was.

- nothing much. it was great seeing you again tonight! i missed how we were back in the day. being best friends and all. we should hang out soon

"Oh she was the best friend, I already know how this is gonna go." I scrolled down further.

• yeah it was cool seeing you too. imma hit you back tho, i'm busy at the moment.

"Ha!" I laughed. She thought she was gonna get a decent conversation. He sent that text right before he got in the shower. He really wasn't texting her back very fast. I felt some type of relief.

- ok text me soon.

I locked his phone and waited patiently for him to come out of the bathroom. He curved the shit out of this girl. I kinda felt bad for her.

Several minutes I heard the bathroom door open and Clarence walked out with a towel wrapped around him.

"Why you looking at me like that?" he furrowed his brows.

"Why is your old best friend texting your phone?" I wasn't even that mad to be honest. He handled it perfectly in my opinion. I just want to know how she got his number.

"Kali, it ain't even like that."

"Please, explain what it's like then." I crossed my legs on the bed.

"She saw me at the party yesterday and must've decided to text me when it was over. My number hasn't changed since high school." he dropped his towel and slid his boxers on.

In that split second I caught a glimpse of what he was working with. Let's just say I would like to keep my walls.

I nodded at what he said. The image of his manhood still burned in my brain. He did it on purpose.

"I know you ain't mad." he came over to me fully dressed.

"I'm cool, It's too early in our relationship to be making mistakes already." I looked at him.

"I know baby, I got you." he kissed my forehead. "You ready to go home? Our trip is ending." He fake cried.

I sucked my teeth. "This trip was trash. It was only business. We'll plan to go somewhere again soon." I got comfortable on my side of the bed.

Tomorrow morning we went back home. I couldn't wait to get back to New York anyways. I missed my apartment and my best friend.

Besides when I get back into New York i'll be making my Youtube career full time. I was branching out. I was meeting with Que's friend Laura who's highly experienced with developing formulas for different types of makeup. She resided in New York but was in LA a lot for business.

Clarence turned the light in the bedroom off before climbing into bed next to me.

I turned the TV off and cuddled close to Clarence who's hands travelled down to my butt, rubbing it lightly. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Kali."

"Hm?"

"I love you."