Chapter 7 #3
Lauryn’s coppery-brown skin blushed a beet shade of red. “Thank you! After I drop this baby and lose all this baby weight, we plan on renewing our vows in a real intimate ceremony with our friends and family. I’ll be able to drink then, so you already know we gon’ be lit!”
“Yassss!” Brielle hailed before making her long, honey blonde box braids pop against her ass as she did a quick twerk.
“So what has been going on in your life, Cass?” Shauna asked, putting the spotlight on me.
“Yeah, what’s up with you and Hendrix? Have you spoken to him?” Brielle inquired.
I shook my head with a huff. “Not really since Christmas. You know he told me his side of the story and then he told me to take some time and think about what I wanted, so that’s what I’m doing. Now with this new job promotion on the table…I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“Pause! Job promotion?” Shauna asked, folding her arms across her size DD chest.
“See! I ain’t the only one that’s been keepin’ secrets!” Lauryn called out.
I rolled my eyes. “I literally just found out I got the job a few days ago. You kept your shit tight for months. It’s not the same!”
Lauryn sucked her pearly white teeth. “Whatever.”
“Keep going. What about the job?” Brielle urged.
“Okay, so it’s a really good opportunity, but uh, it’s in New York…”
“New York? You know what, you bitches got me feelin’ like I went to sleep and woke up in the Middle East with all these bombs you’re droppin’ today!” Brielle gasped while throwing her hands up in the air.
“Shut your ass up!” I said before tossing my neck back with laughter. “But yeah, I’d be the director of operations at a new office they are opening up in New York.”
Brielle shot me a warm smile before turning the champagne bottle back up to her lips. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with new beginnings.”
“I know, I know.”
“How soon would you have to go?” Shauna asked.
“They are giving me ninety days to find a place and relocate.”
“You nervous?” Lauryn jumped in.
“Extremely! Cali is my home, you know? But at the same time, like Bri already said, it’s a new beginning.”
“All I wanna know is if New York is closer to Kansas than Cali is, or further away?” Shauna asked. “Y’all know I barely passed geography back in middle school.”
We all burst out into tears of laughter, falling back against the soft pink, plush pillows under the cabana. “I’m not sure, but why does that matter exactly? It’s not like things are really anything between us right now.”
“So you gon’ sit here and tell me you haven’t already calculated the air miles? Oh, aight,” Lauryn said, calling my bluff.
I rolled my eyes for the millionth time. “There you go! What more do y’all want from me? I told the man I loved him, and he basically told me to work on myself.”
“He ain’t wrong. Sometimes, we all need somebody else to hold up the mirror for us to realize our own missteps,” Lauryn replied.
“So wait, you are in love with him?” Brielle asked, cocking her head to the side. “I mean, I knew you were a fan of the D, but I didn’t know things had gotten deeper.”
I sighed. “I am, but to be honest, seeing those photos and hearing what y’all had to say on top of what complete strangers had to say, sent me spiraling into survival mode. I just feel like I need to proceed with caution with my heart right now, okay? Can y’all just be okay with that?”
“We’re fine with it. The question is, are you okay with that?” Shauna questioned.
“Yeah, and you do know it’s okay to fall in love with the wrong people sometimes, right? We’ve all done it. And I’m not saying falling in love with Hendrix was a bad thing or that he’s the wrong person, but you gotta learn to be gentle with yourself,” Lauryn added.
“Nah. Fool me once shame on you. That’s it. You don’t get to fool me twice. I’m good,” I told them all.
Shauna frowned. “So what do you do with all the feelings you accumulate, besides tuck them under the pillow of the next nigga you hop on?”
Brielle’s closed lips spread wide across her face as she turned away from me and mumbled, “Damn. That was a whole read.”
“Whatever. Y’all know I’ve always been like this. I don’t need a mothafucka that don’t need me, and once I’m off you, I’m off you,” I defended, looking down to rotate the stack rings on my fingers.
Shauna’s dreads shook from left to right. “Your ass has gotten way too comfortable with sayin’ goodbye to niggas and running away from your feelings is a race you’ll never win, boo.”
I ran my tongue along the front of my teeth before parting my lips to speak. “Who says I’m running?”
“Girl, what? Your track star ass stay running away from the good and running straight to the bullshit,” Shauna declared, continuing to call me out.
My eyes shifted downward to my ankle as I wound it in circles. “I guess some old habits die hard.”
“You said it yourself, he checks all your boxes, right?” Brielle confirmed.
“Yeah, and?”
“So, stop being childish and go get your man, Cassidy! People are gonna talk shit regardless, but if you believe him when he says that he ain’t know that bitch, then nobody else’s opinion should matter,” Brielle continued.
Lauryn dipped her head in a nod. “Mmhm, including ours.”
“But the question is, do you believe him?” Shauna inquired.
“I didn’t at first, but I’m not sure if whether I believe him or not even matters at this point.”
“Has he ever lied to you before?” Brielle added.
“I’m sure he has in some capacity, right? Niggas lie all the time. It’s practically embedded in their DNA.”
“Yeah, sure. but what if he wasn’t lying about this?”
“Damn, you mean I slapped that nigga for no reason?” Lauryn asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Hold up, you what? When did you see him to slap him?”
“Girl, I slapped the dog shit out his ass for what he did to you, in my dreams, though girl. I was tearing his ass up, too! Ain’t nobody going to get away with embarrassing my blood! You know I’m ‘bout it, ‘bout it!”
I chuckled. “You know I appreciate your crazy, pregnant ass, right?”
Lauryn shot me a face-splitting grin. “But for real, Cass. You need to take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself what you really want. If it’s him, great. But if it’s not, you gotta be okay with that, too.”
As hard it was to sit there and take everything my girls threw at me, it was what I needed to hear. “You’re right. You all are right. And I think maybe that’s why things are aligning for me the way they are right now.”
“So, it sounds like you’re moving to New York, huh?” Brielle asked.
“Yup. Looks like I am,” I confirmed.
Shauna raised the glass of Moscato she had in hand. “Well, congratulations, girl.”
“Look at us, y’all! We’ve got new jobs, new promotions, new houses, marriages and shit! Life may feel like some bullshit most days, but it’s days like this that I feel like things are really going to turn out great for all of us,” Lauryn cheered.