Personal Stylist: The Sequel

Chapter 19

* Asia's P.O.V *

"Hello?" I said into the phone. "Hey, what're you doing?" Jade asked. I adjusted my AirPods as I got in my car. "Hey, girl. I'm leaving the nail salon now. Why wassup?" I say. "What're you doing later on tonight?" My friend wanted to know. I laughed. "Jade, you act like I don't have a whole ass son." I said. I put my purse in the passenger seat and put on my seatbelt.
I've been working on becoming a better person not only for myself but for my child. Things have been going pretty good on my end. My mother and I were now on good terms. I've been going to therapy, and I'm single. I'm also working on being a better friend. Terrell and I were now in a better place, but only for the sake of our son Amari.
""You act like you can't be a mom but also go out. Don't be boring!" Jade complains. I fixed my hair in the mirror, put on my shades, and finally pulled off. "Girl, I never said that! All I'm saying is that when you have a child you have to make sacrifices. I can't be running the streets like I used to. You wouldn't understand because you've never been pregnant." I said. I never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth. I was so proud of myself.
Jade was the only friend I had at the moment. These past couple months though? She's been really getting on my nerves. It's almost like we switched personalities. Like, she was now the toxic friend that only cared about money, partying, and drinking and I was now the more zen friend. I don't care about any of that shit anymore.
"Whatever. Call me when you not tryna be a grandma." Jade says. Before I could say anything, she hung up in my face. "That made absolutely no sense but go off, sis." I said to myself. I put my phone in my purse and continued driving. Before I had to go pick up my son, I stopped at McDonald's to get us something to eat.
"Hi, papa!" I said, taking my son from his father. Terrell handed me his Spider Man book bag. "Thank you." I say to him. "You say bye to daddy?" I say to our son. We were about to leave when Terrell pulled me back by my arm. "Wait, Asia. I um... I wanted to talk to you about something." He says. "Wassup? Everything okay?" I said. "Everything's fine. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry." He tells me. "For what?" I asked. "For everything. When I said you were an unfit mother? I didn't mean it." He says to me. "You don't need to apologize. What you did and said was nothing compared to anything I've put you through. So I'm sorry for that." I said.
"I've seen your progress and I'm so proud of your growth. You're an amazing mother, A." My baby daddy says to me. I smiled. "I appreciate it." I said. "I also wanted to ask you something." Terrell says. I was confused. "Okay?" I say. "Would you wanna go out to dinner tonight? We could start over." He said. "I'd love that." I grinned. Terrell smiled from ear to ear. "Okay, cool. I'll pick you up at 7." He says. "Okay. See you then. Bye!" I say, walking away. I strapped my son in his car seat and then got in the drivers seat.
"Hi, mama. How are you?" I said. "I'm good. How you doing, baby?" My mother asked. "I'm great. I just picked Amari up from Terrell's." I told my mom. "How are things between y'all?" My mother wanted to know. I sighed. "Things are good between us. At least when it comes to Amari." I said, giving Amari a bath. "What do you mean by that?" Asked my mama. "I mean, you know how I've been going to therapy and I'm on my journey to become a better person?" I said. "Yeah." "Well, I know we should leave things in the past. But I just can't help but think about everything I've put Terrell through when we were together. He's a good man and an even better father to Amari." I said. "Has Terrell forgiven you?" My mama questioned. "Yeah, he has." I say to her. "Well, at the end of the day, all that matters is Amari. Y'all gotta make sure your son is good. Whether the 2 of you are together or not." My mom tells me.
"Wow, you look beautiful, A." Terrell says to me. I smiled and looked down at my shoes. "Thank you!" I said to him. I was dressed in a red dress that stopped right at my knees. My hair was slicked back in a bun. Red was Terrell's favorite color so I knew exactly what I was doing. I wanted my family back. "Shall we?" Terrell says, reaching for my hand. "We shall!" I said to him, taking his hand. He lead me to his car. "So where are we going?" I asked him. He opened the car door for me and helped me in the car. "It's a surprise." He said to me. I hated surprises and Terrell knew that. But I'm a changed woman so I wasn't gonna go back to my old ways.
"Terrell, you shouldn't have!" I yelped. I stood there shocked. Terrell took me to this beautiful Italian themed restaurant. This was the restaurant that I've been tryna get Terrell to take me to when we were together for the longest. We were standing outside the restaurant. "I know you been wanting me to take you here for a while now. So I figured why not." Terrell says, amused by my excitement.
"I'd like the lasagna, please." I said to our waiter. "And I'll have the shrimp Alfredo." Terrell says. The male waiter smiled and wrote down our orders in his notepad. I took a sip of my red wine. "Your orders will be out in a few." The waiter says. "Thank you!" Both Terrell and I said. Our waiter finally walked away. For some odd reason, I was nervous. I had no reason to be nervous. I had a child with this man for God's sake. "Did I tell you how beautiful you looked?" Terrell says, trying to ease the tension. I smiled. "Thank you!" I said. He smiled at me.
Our food came earlier than I thought it would. Terrell and I really had a good time. We just spent the whole night laughing, talking, and vibing. Tonight was successful.
"Thank you for tonight." I said to Terrell. We were standing outside of my house. "No, thank you for allowing me to take you out. I had an amazing time." My baby daddy says to me. I blushed. "I did, too." I said. There was an awkward silence and I hated it. "Where's Amari?" Terrell questioned. "He's at my moms house. He's spending the night there." I tell him. "Oh aight. So we kid free?" "We are." I said to him. "Can I come in?" Terrell asked. "Of course." I tell him.
I was glad that I wasn't the one who drove home because I had at least 3 glasses of wine. So, I was feeling a little tipsy. "You good?" Terrell asked. I damn near fell over and Terrell caught me. "I'm fine." I told him. We both locked eyes for a minute. Then, we kissed long and passionately. "Wait, we cant do this." Terrell says. "Why not?" I wanted to know. "Because you a little drunk. That ain't right." He says. I smiled. "You're a good man." I tell him. Yeah, I had been drinking. But I was sober enough to know what was going on. I wasn't gonna have a hangover in the morning.
The next morning, I woke up with a little headache. Okay, so I did have a little bit of a hangover. I look over to the left of me and see that Terrell was sitting at my desk. He was staring at me. "Did you spend the night?" I asked him. He nodded. "Yeah." He says. "Did we...?" "Nah. Nothing happened. You were a little tipsy so I would never take advantage of that." Terrell tells me. I let out a sigh of relief. "Wait, was I acting a fool?" I wanted to know. Terrell laughed at me. "Nah, you was straight. But I think we need to talk about something important." He says. I got nervous because he sounded serious. "Okay." I said.
"So last night, you said something wild." Terrell says. "What did I say?" I asked. "You were crying and you kept telling me that you wanted your family back. So my question is; did you really mean that?" I took a deep breath. "You want me to be honest with you, Terrell?" I said. "Of course!" He says. "Okay, well.. yes. I do want us to be a family again." It was silent. So I kept talking. "I know I put you through a lot when we were together. So I don't blame you if you don't feel-" I was interrupted by Terrell when he kissed me. "You still love me?" I said to him. "Who said I ever stopped?"

- I know, I know... Asia really should be single but everybody deserves a second chance 🤷🏽‍♀️