20- Ariyah “Nova” Stevens
“How did you know what to wear if you don’t know where you’re going?” Charly was genuinely confused.
“That’s why you dress for any occasion. I have on some cargo joggers, a crop top, and sandals.” Charly went quiet, so I knew she didn’t approve of what I was wearing. “What’s wrong with what I got on?”
“Do you ever dress like a girl? You could have at least thrown on some heels. I’m almost there, maybe we will have enough time to find something else.”
“You know I don’t wear heels. Anyway, you sure you can’t tag along? A double date will be fun.”
“Your man is a millionaire. A regular date for him might cost thousands. He’s not about to embarrass my lil bus driver.” We both fell out laughing.
“Okay, I’m pulling up.” Hanging up the phone, I ran down the stairs to meet her.
When I opened the door, Landon was climbing out of his car as well.
They talked for a little bit, so I assume Charly was interrogating him.
While they did that, I nervously tried to fix my clothes one last time.
He walked up, and I immediately began to blush.
Handing me flowers, he leaned in to kiss me.
“Hey, beautiful.” Smiling, I pushed my hair behind my ear before letting them in.
“Hey.”
“Well damn! Hey, bestie.” Laughing, I leaned in and hugged Charly.
“I just talked to you. Don’t do that.” She nudged me in my side as we walked behind Landon.
“He is much finer in person.” We giggled causing Landon to turn around.
“Am I missing something?” Grabbing his hand, I walked him around giving him a tour.
“I didn’t know we were having company?” Stone appeared out of nowhere causing Charly to roll her eyes. Landon approached him and stuck out his hand.
“I’m just here to pick Ariyah up for our date.” Stone shot me a look, but gave Landon a fake smile. “If you don’t mind, can we get together soon and go over some plans for our girl.” This changed Stone’s demeanor.
“Just let me know when, I’ll make time for you.”
“Sounds like a plan. We can link up and have a couple of drinks. You ready, beautiful?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, I’m going to get out you young folk’s hair. Have fun, and be safe.” Stone walked off and Charly looked impressed.
“Oh, you’re good. Call me later, Bestie. Well, if you don’t end up with your legs spread eagle in this Black American’s bed.” She gave me a kiss and left out. Landon looked confused as hell.
“Don’t ask.”
“Before we go, do I get to meet your mom?”
“Yeah, if you go find her. She’s not home.” He didn’t comment on it, and I appreciated that. Tonight was about fun, I didn’t want to think about her absence or anything else that would piss me off.
“Well, who is this?” Briana had a slick smirk on her face.
“Landon,” I said through gritted teeth.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Landon.” The way she said his name had me ready to knock her ass out.
“Wish I could say the same. Let’s go, baby.” He grabbed me around my waist and walked me out the door. If I hadn’t pushed so hard for this date, I would have been ready to give him some cat. We climbed in the car and I had a thought.
“Do you even know how to drive?”
“I made it here, didn’t I? Now, put your seatbelt on and trust yo man.
” My man? Those two words gave me butterflies while sending my nervous system into overdrive.
Not responding to his declaration, I did as he asked as I waited in anticipation.
I watched frantically out the window trying to guess where we could be going.
I didn’t expect us to pull up to The Real Food Academy.
I know it was a cooking school, so I was confused.
I told him I wanted a regular date, but we could have gone to a real restaurant.
Not having students cook for us. We climbed out, and headed inside.
“Reservation for Mercer.” The lady handed us some aprons and now I was confused.
“What are we doing here?”
“We’re on a date,” he said nonchalantly.
“I know that jackass. I mean, what kind of date is this?” I looked around and saw a bunch of Stepford wives and a few couples pouring wine as they stood at stations.
“We’re taking a cooking class. Come on, this is our spot over here.” I followed him to our set up.
“Nigga, I know how to cook.”
“Do you though? I remember you saying you were about to, but I never got a biscuit. Besides, if you know what you doing, this should be a breeze.” I put my apron on, but I must say I would have never expected him to pick here for a date.
“Why here?” he shrugged as he began grabbing utensils. His ass was really taking this seriously.
“Because it’s low key. You said you wanted Landon, and I figured this the last place somebody would recognize my ass.
Now hush up, I’m trying to hear the instructor.
” Shaking my head, I listened as well because I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it if I fucked this up.
We were making pasta and steak. So, I knew I had this in the bag.
Well, I thought I did until she started instructing us on how to make the pasta from scratch.
“Do it supposed to look like that?” I looked at Landon’s and his shit was about as thick as a finger.
“Worry about your lil baby thin pasta. My shit gone be fye.” As soon as he said that, his shit broke into pieces.
“At least mine don’t look like crack. Did you even use water?” he ignored me while he tried to fix his pile of mess. Mine wasn’t good either, but it was better than his. Landon reached over and grabbed my wine, so I tried to snatch it back.
“Mannn, give me some. You see a nigga over here frustrated.” His response made me actually look at him causing me to fall out laughing. He had flour on his forehead and shirt that probably cost a fortune. Pasta was broken up everywhere, and his pot was burning.
“Baby, let me help you.” I stepped in front of him and grabbed all of his scraps. Adding some water to it, I put it in a ball and kneaded. Once I had it the right texture, I grabbed some and put it through the roller. Now his shit was looking better than mine.
“Aight, I got it from here.”
“I bet you do.” A few minutes later, the instructor came by looking over our work.
“Landon, this is really good for your first time. You sure you haven’t done this before?”
“Naw, I’m just like that. A nigga can do anything he put his mind to.” She patted him on the arm before looking at mine.
“You need to thicken it up some. Maybe Landon can show you how to do it.” The hoe walked off while his ass laughed.
“You want me to help you, baby?” Grabbing his pasta, I balled it up and threw it on the floor.
“You ain’t shit.” I laughed hard as he walked towards another station to pick his dough up.
“Hey, you’re Breaker. Can I get a pic?” One of the husbands recognized Landon. He looked to me for my approval before he answered. I nodded giving him the okay.
“Yeah.” They took the pic and then he walked back to our station. I dropped my pasta in the water and put my steak in the pan.
“Are you really the champ?” A lady walked over to Landon with all thirty two teeth showing.
“Wrong nigga, that’s Landon.” I said without looking up.
“Oh, they said he’s a boxer.” She walked off, but she kept her eyes trained on him. Landon just smirked as he put his steak in the pan. His fire was too high, but I wasn’t helping his ass no more.
“Now, why are you over here trying to be inconspicuous. We know you’re Breaker. You acting funny?” The girl came back with another groupie in tow.
“He’s closed.” They looked at me confused while Landon laughed.
“Excuse me?”
“Closed. Not open. Shut, blocked against entry.”
“Girl bye,” she waved me off.
“Your eye gone be closed with him if you don’t back the fuck up. Gone over there and finish making your lil pasta before you get your feelings hurt.” She looked back at Landon, but he offered her no help. He was laughing too hard.
“You heard what she said, gone now before you get both of us beat up.” They stalked off, so I went back to work.
Landon grabbed me to him and tongued me down right in front of everybody.
“You know I like it when you’re toxic. Keep on we about to cut this date short.
” Giggling, I was ready to tell him we can go.
The groupies had ruined the mood. Instead, I grabbed some pasta and threw it at his ass.
His eyes lit up in amusement. Grabbing some flour, he threw it on me.
Seconds later, we were having a full on food fight.
Everyone else was staring at us in horror, while we laughed hard as hell, and were having the time of our lives.
The fire detectors went off causing us to look over.
Landon began frantically digging in his pocket while I tried to put the fire out, but somehow making it worse.
“What are you doing? Help me,” I said as the flames grew.
“I know you want Landon, but I need to pay these people so we don’t go to jail.
” He passed the instructor a wad of money before grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door.
Not about to argue, I giggled as I followed behind him.
We ran all the way to the car. As soon as we got inside, we fell the fuck out.
“Now what we gone do? I’m hungry as hell,” I said with a fake pout.
“I wasn’t eating that shit. Did you see what I took that pasta through?
” Thinking it over, he was right. Thirty minutes later, he pulled into Slicy Pizza.
We got our food, and was now driving through the city taking bites, looking at the scenery, and just enjoying each other’s company.
The simple things. It was exactly what I asked for, and Landon succeeded.
“You’re a bad influence.” Until he said that, I didn’t realize I was sitting there with a goofy smile on my face. Turning my mouth up, I looked at him confused.
“How is that?”
“I’m supposed to be on a diet, but I’m sitting here eating this greasy ass pizza. I’m probably on the news cus I done damn near burned down them people place.”
“I ain’t did shit, but try to make my pasta.
Everything else was on you.” Seeing a big glob of sauce on his face, I leaned over and licked it off.
Using his hand that wasn’t holding the pizza, he held my head as he kissed me.
Our moment was ruined because the car started wobbling and making a weird noise.
“Nigga, did you hit something?” He was driving when he pulled me into kiss him. Did he close his damn eyes?
“Naw, I think something wrong with the tire.” He pulled over, placed his pizza in the container and got out. When I saw him grab his phone, I climbed out as well. “Yeah, it’s a flat.”
“Okay, so what are you doing?” He looked up confused.
“Calling somebody. The fuck you think I’m doing?”
“Naw, regular niggas change tires,” I said reminded him of our deal.
“Regular niggas also have roadside assistance.”
“Say man, your ass tweaking. It’s dark as fuck out here, and I see a couple of unsavory characters walking this way.
” Hearing him say that caused me to laugh.
However, he walked to the trunk without putting up any more fight.
He was standing back there so long, I decided to go see what was the holdup.
His ass was probably trying to sneak and call somebody.
He was standing there just staring in the trunk.
“What you doing?”
“Trying to figure out where the tire would be,” he answered honestly. Laughing, I pulled up his compartment and his ass shrugged it off. Grabbing the tire and the jack, he laid it on the ground, and started trying to remove the bolts with his hands.
“Landon, use the lug wrench.”
“The who?” My mouth fell open when I came to a realization. His ass wasn’t calling help because he thought he was too rich to do it, this negro didn’t know how. Giggling, I grabbed it and handed it to him.
“Don’t take them off, just crack it.” He did as I stated, and then looked up at me to hear what’s next. “Okay, jack the car.”
“I know how to jack my body, but how the fuck do I make a car dance?” This time, my eyes opened just as wide as my mouth. “What? You know I don’t know how to do this shit.” You can tell he was getting frustrated. Getting on the ground with him, I showed him.
“Here, take this and put it here.” His hands were fumbling at first, but he was a great listener, so we had finally finished up. Seeing my hands was full of grease right along with his shirt, I wiped my hands off on him.
“Oh, you got me fucked up.” Grabbing me, he picked me up, slammed me on the car, then wiped his hands on my cheeks before kissing me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but now you owe me again.”
“Damn, your ass stay begging for something. What you want now?”
“I wanna see you jack your body. What the fuck is that?” He let me go, and started grabbing the tools putting them away. “Don’t walk off now. Is it a masturbation dance?” This time, he laughed.
“I’m telling Pops what you said. He already don’t like yo ass, and now you disrespecting his heritage.”
“Wait, so you telling me killers and gang bangers are in Chicago jacking their body on dance floors?” His head fell back he laughed so hard.
“Naw, it’s an old school dance. They used to do that shit at house parties.
That and the percolator.” I could honestly say I was speechless.
We climbed in the car and got back rolling.
“If you win your real fight, I’ll show you.
” I wanted to say if I ever get one, but I kept quiet.
Grabbing my phone, I searched jack your body and a video came up.
As soon as I pressed play, his head whipped around and tried to grab my phone.
I laughed so hard I had tears coming down my face.
“Baby, ain’t no way you be doing this dance.”
“Fuck you!” Was all he said while wearing a big ass smile on his face. I don’t care what I had to do because I would give anything to see him do this dance. Connected my phone to Bluetooth, I turned the song completely up trying to mimic the dance. Landon shook his head and just smiled at me.
“You not doing it right.”
“Then show me?”
“Soon.” Hearing him say that, made me realize he believed I was ready. Saying when I win my fight, and then soon. He thought I was better, and thought the others would too. That one word was better than any date he could have ever planned. Smiling, I went back to dancing.