It was finally Sunday, December 19th. Today was the day that Samara was flying into Savannah to see Zay. She was nervous and excited. She couldn't wait to see the look of surprise on his face when he saw her.
"Sammy you got everything for your trip?" Samara's dad asked.
"Si papito. My bags are already in the car."
"Okay good. Where's your mom? Valencia!" he called out.
"I'm coming Don," she shouted back. "I'm fixing my lil braid out. Give me two seconds baby."
"Okay, cariña. I'll be in the car."
"Samara, come help me," Valencia called from the bathroom. Samara walked upstairs, through her parents bedroom, and into their master bathroom. She looked at her mom through the mirror.
"Ooh. You look cute mommy," Samara grinned as she grabbed her mom's hair pick off of the sink. "You gettin' better. These curls look good!"
"You think so," Valencia said profiling in the mirror. "You're dad helped me do the braids this time. I was tired of my arms hurting every time I got done."
"Wow. That's a first," Samara chuckled.
"Right! And surprisingly he did good."
"I guess having six sisters and a hairstylist for a mom paid off."
"You telling me," Valencia laughed. "And girl, I've been watching those YouTube links you sent. Chile, the YouTube girls ain't nothing to play with. They can do it all," she laughed.
"I know! I was trynna tell you; that's why I had to put you on!" Samara laughed. She grinned at her mom through the mirror and began to help fluff out her hair.
Attempting to steer the conversation in another direction, Valencia said, "So, me and your dad thought it was so sweet of Imani and Zayne to fly you out for the holiday. How's Zay doing? I'm sure he'll be excited to see you." Samara shook her head at her mom and tried not to smile. "Unh huh. I know you his favorite girl," she smiled. Samara laughed.
"That boy likes you," Valencia continued, "and quite frankly I like him too."
"I know and you make sure to tell me every chance you get."
"Girl, he is smart, handsome, and athletic. If you were smart you'd jump on that before he makes it to the NBA. You know those lil fast tail girls can't wait to sink their claws into him and bleed him dry. Whew! I know Imani ain't going for that. You are much better suited for him, plus your daddy and I ain't raise no slouch and he appreciates that I'm sure," she winked.
Samara just shook her head in the mirror and laughed. Her mom had no idea about her feelings for Zay, but she was right, she needed to act quickly. As Samara thought about him, she began reapplying lipgloss and fixing her hair. "Sammy, I'm just saying y'all been best friends for close to four years and I ain't never seen those other little boys you was foolin' with cater to you the way that Zay has." Samara playfully rolled her eyes at her mom.
"As I recall you thought some of those boys were nice."
"And they were. They just didn't measure up to Isaiah."
"Ma. The boys you're talkin' about I dated in high school. There was no Isaiah back then."
"Well if I recall you were in college when you first started dating one of them. You know which one I'm talking about."
"Alright. I don't need a trip down memory lane," Samara laughed.
"I'm just saying that it's sweet to see how much Zay cares about you," she smiled. Samara handed the lipgloss back to her mother and chuckled to herself. That's all she could do, because her mom was right.
"Alright. That's enough of my two cents for today," Valencia smiled. "Let's go. Your dad has probably gotten tired of waiting on us and we know how he gets." She grabbed her phone off the sink and headed out of the bathroom.
"Sammy! Vee! Let's go! We gotta be leaving now if we want to get to Reagan Washington on time."
"Aw hell," Valencia mumbled. "We coming Don!"
..
Finally on the airplane, an hour after hugging her parents goodbye and wishing them a happy holiday, Samara was now settled comfortably into her seat. She was happy to be in first class and even more excited that she would be able to get a little rest on the flight. On the way down she wondered about how Zay would react when he saw her, what she would say to him, and what they would do when she got there. The thought of it made her a little jittery, so much so that even in her sleep she could feel the nervousness creep in. Her body settled however, when her mind wandered to things like his smile, the warmth of his body next to hers, or the scent of his body oil lingering in the spaces he'd been. For the next few hours he was all she could think about.
When Samara finally woke up from her long nap she was surprised to learn that they had landed in Savannah. After quickly stretching, she unbuckled her seat belt and stood to grab her luggage from the overhead bin.
Outside of the airport Samara was surprised to be greeted by not just Zen, but by another young woman as well. The mystery woman was tall with a golden brown complexion. She had protruding, amber eyes, low cheekbones, full lips, and the body of an athlete. She wore her hair in long, neatly adorned box braids. Samara could already tell that she played a sport. Her guess was basketball.
"Sam," Zen said rushing up to her. "I can't believe you're finally here," she squealed. "I'm so glad you made it safely!" When she let Samara go she was excited to introduce her to the young woman accompanying her. "I want you to meet Lovie." She pointed to her. "She's one of Zay's and I's childhood friends. I was so shocked to find out that she was home for the holiday when I ran into her this morning. How crazy is that?" she grinned. "She offered to ride down with me so we could catch up. Until today we hadn't seen each other in what," she turned to look at Lovie, "five years I think?" Lovie nodded her head yes.
"Oh wow. That's a long time," Samara smiled. She extended her hand for Lovie to shake. "Hey! I'm Samara, but everybody just calls me Sam. Nice to meet you Lovie."
"Hi," Lovie greeted with a polite smile. "So you met Zay in Chicago, right? At school?"
"Yeah. We met at freshmen orientation and have been friends ever since," Samara replied. She grinned at the thought of their first encounter.
"Oh. Well, that's nice," Lovie said giving a quick smile. "You don't need help with your bags do you?" she asked looking down at them.
"Oh no. I got it, but thank you for asking."
"Sure," she said giving a placid smile. Samara smiled back and placed her bags in the trunk. She was relieved when Lovie finally walked away. She quickly grew tired of the niceties as she suspected Lovie's gestures were ingenuine. Samara closed the trunk, walked around to the passenger side of the car, and slid into the backseat.
For the majority of the car ride Zen and Lovie continued to catch up. Nothing stopped Lovie from going on and on about how much fun they used to have growing up and how she couldn't wait to see Zay in person after being away for so long. Samara did not like where she saw this going. She was not interested in competing for Zay's attention. She never had to and she wasn't trying to start now, but the more Lovie yapped away about him and the closer they were to the Adams' home, it was beginning to look like she would have to.
...
