1995

XXIII

Ari 🤍

Xavier.
Chanel and I sat on my bed as I dialed Ari's number and placed it on speaker. After one ring she answered.
"What X? I already done heard about you and your new girl. It ain't nothing else you gotta say to me.. What's weird is how I find out through everyone but you?"

"Well that's why I'm calling you now. I don't need you trynna get close to my mama cause I know you thought that'll give you hope I really hate the fact that you got her trippin like you her real friend you didn't even like her when we was together. Ari best believe if I knew my mama befriended you before I left I would have ended all that. On top of that why would I deal with it again knowing you ain't want nothing but money?"

She sucked her teeth. "Boy you know you needed me just as much as I needed the money. You had your dick in me all August now you wanna act like you don't care? Boy pleaseeee! All your new girl is to you is a fresh piece of ass, you'll be back!" She hung up the phone leaving me and Chanel laughing.

I turned to Chanel looking her in her eyes. "My bad for that August thing." She shook her head. "I'm not tripping we both was doing us, but as long as you know I'm not giving up this time so we both gotta be faithful." I nodded my head and looked at her sexy ass lips. I opened the door to my room and headed to the backyard where my mother was. She was letting her dog coco roam around while she texted on her phone. "Good morning mama."

Gia.
Things with me and Daniel were going pretty smooth. I woke up at the crack of dawn looking down at my phone as he slightly snored. Hailey went out last night so I asked him to stay on the phone with me. I honestly liked where were going. It wasn't fast paced we were just chilling. We may have kissed here and there but were not having sex. Even though I convinced him we should be friends I still felt attached to him. Last week Tony came down and they went out to a club I kinda got jealous.

I started overthinking that maybe he'd consider someone else. I know for a fact that I'm gorgeous, but I'm not the baddest girl in the world I know if he wanted to he could squeeze in a relationship with someone else also.

I tied my hair in a tight pony and put on my jeans and put on a checked crop top with no bra. I smiled as I looked at my perky breast in my mirror. I walked to Hailey's door and knocked. I heard the shower streaming so I let myself in. I sat on her bed looking at her tv until the shower stopped. She came out fully clothed in a black dress and fenty slides the same ones I had on.

"Good morning. Now where we going first?" She said coming through her straight hair.

"Nails then food." I ran to my room grabbing my keys and we headed out the front door. I looked at Hailey as she drove. I was amazed by all the tattoos she had. I was twenty-two and still had none. "Did those hurt?" She took her eyes off the road for a minute then looked at me. "Some of them.. Well the one in my wrist and the bigger tattoos hurt."

During the car ride I texted Daniel back and forth telling him about my whereabouts and that I was going to be over later.

He responded a few minutes later so I proceeded to do what I was doing.

Ava.

I sat on my computer typing as Idris laid next to me. I was on Trulia and Zillow looking for houses for me and Idris. My phone buzzed across the room which soon popped up on the Mac-book. I rolled my eyes in annoyance as the contact read Drew. I quickly declined it, and continued to do what I was doing. I cut my eyes over at Idris as he stared at the computer in confusion.

"Who was that?" I stopped scrolling through houses and turned my body to face him. I closed down the computer and folded my arms over my chest. I closed my eyes preparing for a long discussion about trust. "My ex." I watched as he nodded his head. Just as I was about to open my laptop again he spoke again. "You either gonna tell me about him and block his calls and texts, or we're going to have to reconsider moving in together and taking this relationship to the next level." I sighed out of frustration. I hated being given the ultimatum , but I understood where he was coming from. I spent the last thirty minutes blocking and explaining the history of me and Drew. For some reason, this made me afraid for the future for me and Idris. He asked me for the computer unblocking Drew and calling him back on FaceTime. Even though I was safe this call made me almost go into an anxiety attack. It rung for a couple of seconds before Drew answered. I almost gagged when I looked at the screen. There Drew was having sex with my cousin Tanya, smiling in the camera as he gave her backshots. I called him just in time as he began to nut on her back. He blinked rapidly as he seen me and a man in the camera. I guess he expected me to be alone.

Idris smiled calmly but I seen his jaws clenching from the side of his face. "What type of miserable motherfucker you must be! The fact that you took time out your day to prove that your fucking bitches is lame. Just admit it Drew, you miss her don't you?"

I heard Drew suck his teeth. "I don't miss that bitch for shit."

"Then what point do you have to make in calling her?" Just then the line went dead and Drew hung up. "He's a piece of shit." Idris mumbled. I nodded my head prepared to reach for the computer until he moved it onto his nightstand closing it completely. My heart skipped.

"I think we're moving too fast." He looked like he was questioning his words but he grabbed my hands and kissed them. "I'm not breaking up with you, I love where we are. What I'm saying is that I feel that we're moving too fast without really getting familiar with each other. What I really wanna know is what happened between you and him and I know you wanna know why I'm single also. We still gonna move in we just need to talk.