recognize / b.simmons

38

"don't worry, i got it," julie says with a smile, pushing amaris hand away and handing the host her visa card. amari smiles at her and puts her card back in her wallet. the three of them: bens mom, olivia, and amari were just finishing up brunch and were now going to go shop for the rest of their girls day.

"she'll never let you pay, not saying that's necessarily bad," olivia whispers to amari and she chuckles. julie takes her card back from the host and motions for the girls to follow her.

olivia and amari follow julie out of the restaurant and outside into the freezing philadelphia air. amari pulls her canada goose jacket tighter over her zips it up. luckily, their car was already parked and waiting for them on the cub when they got outside.

"you can't ever get used to winters in philadelphia," julie says, turning the heat on all the way. amari pulls her coat off and folds it on her lap.

"they're not as bad as chicago," amari says. winter in chicago starts in october and ends in march, and it snows 70% of the time, which has allowed amari to become accustomed to the weather there. philly winter, though, is just pure freezing and brutal.

"you like philly?" julie asks from the front seat, turning around and smiling at amari.

amari shrugs and wrinkles her nose. "it's aight," she says, making julie and olivia laugh. she likes philly and being with ben, but seeing him has been a rare sighting ever since the season started. yeah, theyve seen each other and she's been to some games, but it's only happened a few times, and the two of them can't keep flying out every time there's a break because amari has a day job and it's just too much.

even their phone calls are dwindling. they're happening less and the conversations are getting shorter. every so often, amari wonders whether or not it'd be different if she lived in philly rather then chicago—but that doesn't make sense because he'd still be busy.

they talk while they make their way to downtown philly. amari really likes bens family—so far they've been accepting of the two of them together, even if they only met last night.

amari can't lie, when ben told her that his parents wanted to meet her, she wasn't as excited as she would've been if he had told her before the talk they had back in november. she felt like it was a pity meeting, because she got so upset.

but she likes his family and they like her, especially dave, his father. dave thought she was funny and he took a particular liking to her because she wasn't like any other girl ben had introduced them too—the girls he usually brought home were white girls looking for the wrong things. the closest he got to dating a girl with a darker complexion was tinashe. dave is still kind of upset about that one.

but dave liked the fact that amari looked more similar to the other half of bens heritage. he also liked how much she liked ben for ben, and not everything else. he could see the love between the two of them despite the fact that neither of them have said it out loud.

the driver drops them off downtown at the city square and the three women suit up again in their winter coats. "we can buy anything, i have dads card," julie says to olivia and winks at amari.

"gucci it is," liv says and leads them in the direction of all of the designer stores that amari didn't realize philly had out in the open like this.

the moment the three of them enter the store, amari knows that she's about to burn a hole in bens check book.

-

amari tilts her head back and tried to gently slide the contact into her eye. it slips out and she squeezes her shut. "fuck," she mumbles, her eyes tearing up.