Try Me

17.

-party and....

The girls and I were buzzing with excitement as everyone enjoyed themselves at our launch party, we'd been pulled into an interview with a local magazine, though I wasn't giving the reported my undivided attention.

"You three have built an incredibly successful online business, what prompted you to create a physical store?" The reporter asked us as she held a recording device closely.

"The experience of interacting with our customers was a huge driving force; yes, we're able to respond to comments or post stories to our social media apps but that isn't the same as physically talking to them and helping them find their perfect outfit." I answered.

The reported nodded, "Now you ladies only recently became an official trio and from the posts on the Lavish Instagram it seems like you had Jasmine on board for a long time before you gave her the proper recognition. Why did it take so long to properly include her in the business that she has worked so hard to help build?" This shady bitch did not. I subtly squeezed Lea's hand because I knew that she would want to react.

Thankfully, Jazzy answered before Lea could. "Actually, Lea and Kira held off on that because one; they didn't want me to lose focus of my studies and two; they felt like it would hold me back from pursuing my dreams of becoming a designer. Yes, we're part of a business but we support each other as friends before anything else." Jasmine responded calmly, ever the diplomat.

"She has helped us out since the second that we became friends; Kira and I both knew that we wanted her to be a partner, it was only a matter of when. Jasmine is an amazing human being and she was never being purposely excluded; we simply wanted her to keep her priorities straight." Lea pasted a fake ass smile onto her face as she spoke.

"We didn't want to force anything on her; it took time because we wanted her to be sure. For any change to be successful it has to be a natural progression." I smiled sweetly at her. "Thank you for taking the time to speak to us and feel free to help yourself to a goodie bag on your way out, but we have to move on to the next interview." I said as I shook her hand, we then proceeded to walk away.

"She tried it." Jasmine snorted, I hummed in agreement before we all went up on the stage.

Vashtie nodded at us from her station and lowered the music. We each grabbed a microphone and began to speak.

"Thank you to everyone here for coming out to support us! This would not be possible without the support and hard work of so many people." I said, the audience whistled and cheered.

"Although tonight is supposed to be about us and our store opening, we want to take this time to thank our models, our amazingly talented photographer who is responsible for all of our ad campaigns, Brown's Construction for completely necessary renovations in such a short amount of time, our amazing realtor Tasha Lenard and last but not least the extremely talented artist who is responsible for this mural!" Jasmine said enthusiastically, everyone clapped again.

"Darian Moore! Come on up!" Lea said as she pointed to the man in question, even in the pink lights it was obvious that his face was red as he approached the stage.

Once he was standing with us on the stage Lea continued, "This man right here has worked day in and day out on this mural for us; most times we had to force him to stop to eat and for this we are infinitely grateful. He also owns several art galleries that feature his work as well as other talented artists, so for anyone who is interested in his work, his contact information has been added to the wall and will stay there from now on. On behalf of the girls we just want to say thank you Darian, you're amazing." With that, two of our models came out with a large check.

Although he said that he would accept payment, he'd continuously dodged the topic, so the girls and I decided how much it was worth and wrote him a check for the amount.

Darian smiled and shook his head in disbelief before accepting the check and leaning over to speak into Lea's mic, "Um, I want to say thank you to these amazing women, if you ever get to spend time with them you'll be truly lucky; I only worked nonstop because they did and their work ethic inspired me to do my best for them. Actually, in the interest of full disclosure to the people, I told them that I would do this piece for free and they continuously refused. In a world where people love to take everything for free, they keep it real and always want to show their appreciation. Thank you, boss ladies; I appreciate it." Darian gave Jasmine and I quick hugs before kissing Lea on the cheek and walking off of the stage.

"Alright y'all, we talked enough. It's time to let Vashtie do her thing. Refreshments are being handed out and the bar is open! Thanks again for coming and enjoy yourselves." Jazzy said to the audience.

We waved to the crowd and then rejoined the party; I felt a hand cover my eyes and knew who it was instantly.

"TJ get your crusty hands out of my face." I elbowed him in the side.

He dropped his hands and laughed. "The place came together really well KK. I think that you should start selling men's clothing so I can be out here thottin' it up."

I rolled my eyes, smacking him lightly on the chest. "Thanks ugly and don't worry bro, I got you covered."

We talked for a while before TJ said, "Aight bye, I'm about to go talk to Jasmine. She can't front on me forever." He gave me a quick hug and walked towards her. I watched them interact for a minute and smiled, Jasmine looked to me for help, but I quickly averted my eyes, the only way that TJ would learn was through constant rejection.

"I'm looking for the big boss, have you seen her?" I heard a deep raspy voice say into my ear, I immediately blushed and turned around.

"You're the big boss; I'm only a little boss for now." I said to him as he pulled me into a kiss.

"What you girls did for D was great, his humility keeps him in the shadows, but he deserves to shine." Jay said as he looked over at Lea and Darian, they looked to be in their own little world.

"It's sad that something so basic is regarded as something huge in this day and age. We didn't even think twice about it while someone else would have taken the free work and not even given credit; the shit is wild." I said as I led Jay over to the open bar. "Two shots of Hennessy please." The bartender nodded and smiled.

As I was about to take my drink a security guard tapped me on the shoulder and handed me his phone, "Hello?"

"Hello ma'am, there is a Theodore Price outside, his name is on the list, but it has already been crossed off, should we let him in?" The guard on the outside asked me, I looked over to where TJ was talking to Jasmine in confusion.

"My brother is standing right in front of me." I said but then my face fell.

"Brother? Miss Price the man out here looks to be in his fifties." The guard responded but I already knew.

I motioned for Jason to give me a minute; I walked quickly over to TJ and yanked his arm, "Theodore is outside." I was trying not to get angry as I handed him the phone.

.......bullshit