Chapter 15
Galentine’s Day Surprise
THYRI
Danae and I stood in line at Auntie Anne’s pretzel stand like we didn’t already know the menu by heart.
I was currently having an internal debate on whether I should go salted or have cinnamon sugar on my pretzel.
We’d been walking around the mall, in and out of stores non-stop, and my stomach was touching my back.
While Danae stood tall beside me like she hadn’t been powerwalking the whole time, my feet were politely asking for downtime.
“Next in line,” the girl behind the counter called to us.
Danae ordered first. “I’ll take two originals. What you getting, Thyri? I’ll cover it.”
“I’ll have two cinnamon sugars with extra icing.”
“Ooop, not you tryna splurge on my dime,” she said. “Charge the extra icing separately please.” Danae went in her wallet to pull out cash.
“I’m sorry,” the girl stated, confused.
Danae laughed. “I’m just joking, boo. Ring it all up.”
She paid, and we were handed our pretzels. I slipped a five-dollar bill into the tip jar before we walked off to the food court to sit down. The smell of butter and sugar wafted up my nose as I tore through the packaging. I was all too happy to devour the pretzel, no drink needed.
“Okay,” Danae said, biting into her pretzel. “We came in here to get an outfit for tonight and matching pajamas for Saturday night. Explain to me again how we ended up with all this?”
She pointed to the bags that sat on the side of us.
“I don’t know,” I replied, chewing. “I didn’t go nearly as hard as you.”
She counted my bags out loud and shook her head. “Survey says, you a baldhead lie. I have six bags; you have five.”
“Exactly. One bag more than me.” I smirked and chewed, watching people walk past with their bags full of impulse buys just like us.
“What’s up with KJ?” she asked.
“He had his first cleaning assignment today. Enzo said he did good. Listened and didn’t give anybody a hard time.”
She nodded approvingly. “That’s right. Work his ass. I still can’t believe he was up at them people school selling the devil’s lettuce.”
I laughed so hard, I choked on my pretzel. “The devil’s lettuce, Nae?” I repeated.
“Yeah. That’s what it is.”
“You sound like an old lady when you say it though.”
She shrugged, finishing her first pretzel and checking the time on her phone. “We need to start heading to the car. It’s getting late, and I wanna be on time to the dinner.”
“Okay.” I wrapped up what was left of my pretzel and picked up my bags.
We started walking toward the parking garage, both of our stomachs settled now that we’d put something in them.
“Any update on when Poppa D should be coming home?”
“They said it’s looking like next month.”
“Okay. They ‘bout to free the GOAT finally. It’s been time.”
“I know, right? But girl, quiet as it’s kept, I don’t think he tryna come home with me. I think he’s making plans to move in with his boo.”
“Aunty Fawn?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Ooouuu.” She snickered. “Yo’ daddy just too cool fa me.”
“For me too.”
We made it to the car, and she popped the trunk. Placing our bags neatly inside, I stepped back and shook my head.
“Can you believe I was just in there shopping for a man? Like girl, I got a man after a whole year of swearing them off.”
She laughed. “No. Can you believe I was just in there shopping for Aura? My man, Aura.” Hitting the unlock button on her car, she walked over to the driver’s side and got in, while I made my way to the passenger side.
“Not only did I buy the pajamas for Aura, but I bought him a two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar bottle of cologne. Just swiped my card like it was some shit I did on the daily. The di…” She stopped herself and looked straight ahead, starting up the car.
Leaning over, I tapped her shoulder. “Ummm, the what? I didn’t catch that last part, boo.”
“Nothing,” she said quickly, keeping her eyes on the steering wheel.
“Oh, hell naw. You definitely was about to share something, and the class is listening, babes.”
She laughed sneakily. “Well, the class needs to move onto another subject.”
“Nae, we don’t do that. You started the sentence. Go head and finish.” I sat up in my seat, refusing to snap my seatbelt until she told me something.
“I was about to say… my last dinner shift at the diner put some things into perspective.”
“You know what? Since you being all hush bout yo’ business, yet somehow always wanna know mine, I’ma let you make it. But you got ‘til this weekend to dish, heffa, or I’m never giving you my tea again.”
“Now, that’s a lie. You know you love to fill my cup. But I’m gon’ tell you about what went down wit’ me and my man soon. You just better be ready to listen and not judge.” She blew me a kiss and pulled out of the parking spot.
We’d decided to get dressed together at my place in order to save time.
I was glad she suggested it because now I had a reason for Enzo to pick me up.
I just wanted to cuddle up under him, while he rubbed my back and kissed my face.
The man was amazing and kept finding ways to confirm that I’d made the right choice by giving him a chance.
Him helping me out with KJ’s punishment put him in a new light as well.
I told my father about it, and he was all for the way I was disciplining KJ.
He also mentioned that Enzo was taking the right approach in the way he had my back.
He didn’t overstep, and KJ seemed to be okay with it.
To me, it showed that he wasn’t trying to force his way into KJ’s life. Instead, he was going with the flow.
By the time we made it to my house, it was seven o’clock. The dinner started at 8:30, giving us little to no time to prep and get ready. I looked over at Danae once we grabbed our bags and walked onto the sidewalk.
“I know. We need to hurry up,” she said. “I just gotta jump in the shower, and it won’t take me no time to get dressed.”
“Same.”
I unlocked my door, and the smell of Pine Sol hit me immediately.
That wasn’t normal unless I was doing the cleaning.
Pushing the door open, we stepped inside to find KJ in the kitchen mopping.
My brows lifted because KJ didn’t mop. The most he’d do was Swiffer some shit and leave the dirty pad stuck to the bottom. He glanced up once he heard us.
“Hey,” he said flatly.
“Wassup?” I replied with a hint of skepticism.
Danae stepped from behind me, taking in the scene. “Not Bob Marley actin’ like he don’t wanna speak.”
KJ’s lips twitched, and I heard a chuckle despite him trying to remain stone faced.
“Hey, God Ma,” he spoke.
“Oh, okay. Cause I was about to get on yo’ head. You know you speak to ya favorite when I come through.” She walked over to him, and he gave her a hug.
“How was your day?” I asked, setting my bags down and embracing him the same way.
“It was cool. Busy.”
“Good,” Danae cut in. “The busier you are, the less you wanna get high. You should change the furniture around next. Get some Feng Shui going on up in here.”
“Girl, please.” I couldn’t help but to laugh because she always did the most.
“Alright. Lemme go take my shower. You need to get a move on too, Butterfly.” Picking up her bags, she headed to the back of the house.
“I’m going out tonight. I’ll be back in the morning. You have an idea of what you wanna eat for dinner?”
“Not right now.”
“Okay. When you get hungry, just order something off Door Dash. Text me if you need me.”
“Alright.”
“Make sure you empty that mop bucket and clean it out when you’re done.”
I left him standing in the kitchen and went back to my room to transform. I was excited about tonight. And if I was honest, I was more excited about ending it with Enzo. But I loved me a good girls’ night. If I knew nothing else, I knew the Sullivans could put on a shindig.
We showed up to Amil’s condo late with apologies on the tips of our tongues, ready to drop them as soon as we saw her.
“Just ghetto,” Danae uttered, checking herself out in the elevator mirror.
“Girl, shut up. We ain’t late on purpose,” I said, fixing my bodysuit so that it didn’t have that annoying space at the coochie part.
I’d chosen to wear a red, long-sleeved bodysuit that had the thumb cut out at the sleeves and a pair of black Azalea Wang thigh high boots.
With the outfit being simple, I made sure to make it pop with my jewelry and a cropped fur coat.
Danae had on a pair of black jeans that held her thighs hostage and made her already big booty look plumper than usual.
She did a leather bustier with a fur and red thigh high boots.
Our hair was freshly done, and makeup was intact, giving bitches the blues for sure.
We could hear the music as soon as the doors opened on Amil’s floor. Rihanna’s Say It played loudly, and we danced our way to the door. We were Rihanna stans. With the music being loud, Danae decided to call her and let her know we were outside. She came to the door a few minutes later.
“Heyyyy, boo.” She greeted Danae with a hug and did the same with me.
I took in Amil’s attire and donned her the main character instantly. She was dressed in a silk red pajama set with her hair pinned up, making it clear that she was just the host and would not be partaking in any manual labor. I absolutely lived for her.
“Come in. Everybody just got here a few minutes ago. I’ll take your coats.”
That made me feel so much better about being late, but I still apologized. “Sorry we’re late.”
“Girl, don’t even worry about it. I just walked out here, and this my house.” She laughed.
When we stepped inside, it felt like a curated Galentine’s for the IT girls, from the red lighting that cast over the entire front of her house to the setup in her entryway. A tall gold stand sat in the front with a sign that said, “GET IN, CUTIE, IT’S GALENTINE’S DAY.”