Chapter 15
“N ah, hoe don’t come in here skinning and grinning. You’re late,” Paige said as Blake slid into the booth at Dreamwings. The girls had decided on wings from their favorite spot for lunch, and they loved to support this family-owned business, not to mention the food was delicious.
“I’m sorry, the delivery took a little longer.” She giggled and rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, I bet the delivery of pussy did take a little longer,” Paige shot back.
“Girl, get up out of my business. Y’all already order?
” she asked, settling in. Blake was only going to apologize once about her tardiness because she wasn’t sorry.
Sometimes things just happened the way they did.
She was, however, grateful he had a shower in his office because lunch would’ve been cancelled.
“No, we wanted to wait on you,” Taylor mentioned with a smile. She wasn’t mad at her friend, especially now that she was getting good pipe herself. She knew and understood the glow. In fact, after she left, she had plans of her own.
“Cool, lets order before we get into the fun. I’m starving.”
“I bet,” Paige muttered, smiling. She was now the hater of the group. Blake laughed and blew her straw paper at her.
“What’s got you by the cat?” Taylor asked, causing Blake to choke on her sweet tea.
“For one, I feel like y’all been keeping secrets, and I don’t like that.” Paige looked between them. “And don’t act like I’m tripping. “
Taylor and Blake looked at each other like who gon’ tell her? However, Blake knew it wasn’t her place to tell anyone about Brooks or her split from Tyree. Blake leaned back, leaving room for Taylor to spill the tea. She was just here for support and to kick it with her girls.
“You right,” Taylor finally said, taking a deep breath. “I got some things to share, but can we order first? This ain’t exactly light conversation, and Blake’s late ass got me hungry.”
The girls placed their orders and made small talk while waiting for the food to come.
“In the meantime, I need a new man,” Paige said, scrolling through her newsfeed.
She was frustrated with herself about her own life and dating situation.
Paige was getting tired of waiting around for JT to get home.
It had been three years of waiting for him, a lot of appeals, a lot of promises, and even more visits.
She was tired, and the closer she got to thirty, the more she wanted to get settled into something real.
Paige already had the career. She was working her way up to being the bank manager and beyond.
She did taxes on the side too. It was just time.
“Ok, so what’s stopping you?” Taylor asked. She had been telling her to wake up when it came to that. Taylor could be na?ve, reserved, and green, but she knew she was right about this situation. Her gut wasn’t wrong. She had been praying for her friend to wake up.
“I don’t know. Maybe familiarity.”
“I can feel that, but it can happen again. Obviously, it’ll take time, but it’ll happen. I personally don’t care about JT. I care about you. I want you to have all the things you want. But you gotta want that too,” Blake said.
The girls snapped as Blake had just given a word.
“Preach,” Paige and Taylor said in unison. Blake was only speaking facts. Paige was beautiful. She kept her hair done and could pull any style off. She had beautiful high cheekbones, a beautiful soul, and a body to match. She could pull whoever she wanted, and Blake wanted her to remember that.
“It’s been two weeks since I said enough, and I think this is the longest it’s been.”
“They say it only takes twenty-one days to break a habit. Sometimes you gotta get rid of that comfort to get what God got for you,” Taylor said, doing the preaching.
“And Paige, you are a baddie. You got good credit, drive, and a beautiful soul. You are the prize.”
Paige grabbed Blake’s hand and squeezed it from across the table. The food had arrived, and the girls took a few minutes to get settled in, prep their food, pray, and savor one bite when Taylor decided it was time.
“Tyree and I split up six months ago,” she mumbled with a mouth full of fries.
“What?” Paige’s chicken wing fell to her plate. “Six months? And I’m just now finding out?”
“I wasn’t ready to talk about it,” Taylor admitted. “Y’all know how my parents are about divorce. I was trying to handle it quietly because they didn’t know either.”
“Girl, fuck some quiet. We your girls.” Paige reached for Taylor’s hand. “You shouldn’t have had to go through that alone.”
“That’s what I told her, and she wasn’t alone,” Blake said softly, immediately regretting it when Paige’s eyes narrowed.
“What else y’all not telling me?”
“Blake, I told you it’s not like that between me and Brooks,” Taylor said, possibly trying to convince herself. Blake tossed her hands up in surrender. She was going to ask her brother what was up. She’d be able to see clearly through the bullshit with him. He wouldn’t be able to lie to her.
“Brooks? Our Brooks?” Paige fussed, looking between them. “How do you know?”
“Our church girl slipped up and told her own tea tryna spill mine to Brooks. That’s how I know.”
“Y’all so damn dramatic, but yes, me and Brooks have spent a little time together over about four months. It’s not serious.”
Taylor had to keep saying it because that was her best way of keeping it that way.
“Well, what is it? Because I keep hearing what it ain’t, but ain’t heard yet what it is,” Blake said, causing the table to erupt in laughter.
Blake didn’t find anything funny. She was tired of it.
They were best friends and like family. Whatever Taylor was doing with her brother was just that.
Blake wouldn’t come between it or judge it.
“Tyree was on his way to pick me up and got a DUI. I got stranded and needed a ride and a tow. I called Brooks. Instead of just sending a tow truck, he picked me up and made sure I got home safely. No charge.”
“I know that’s right, big brother.”
“It was around that time I decided I’d had enough.
I wanted to pay Brooks back, so I tried and he turned me down.
He’s been checking on me since.” Blake knew where this was headed.
She laughed at herself because this was definitely that.
Taylor could play games all she wanted. Blake knew her brother was coming to apply pressure.
Brooks didn’t move like that for just anyone.
“Ok, Brooks,” Paige said. “Well, I’m glad I know now. You good though? Can I do anything for you?”
“Yeah, slowly but surely. It hasn’t been easy going through a divorce, but it is what it is. I’m just working, journaling, working out. I’m figuring out what and who I am now. It’s a process.”
Blake grabbed her friend’s hand and squeezed.
She was glad they’d got to spend some time together today, and they needed to do it more often.
Outside of just the gym. Taylor worked at the hospital but in administration, so sometimes their shifts didn’t line up.
With her in a whirlwind romance, time just had been slipping.
“We gotta do this more often. We’ve been slacking,” Paige said, reading Blake’s mind.
“Agreed. Ok, calendars out. Let’s see when we can link before we forget.” The girls chatted a bit and checked their schedules. Once they settled on something, they finished eating and enjoying each other’s company.
Blake’s thoughts floated to Emon and the question she hadn’t answered.
A part of her wanted to move in with him.
That was the next natural phase of this, but what if it changed things and not for good?
She didn’t want to be a live in girlfriend for too long.
She desired marriage. She was tripping because he’d already made it clear that he’d found his wife.
“Blake, what’s got you in a trance?”
“Emon asked me to move in with him, but I don’t know.”
“Girl, please,” they both said. Blake rolled her eyes at them and stirred her drink, trying not to smile.
“I just don’t want to rush anything.”
“Sis, respectfully, y’all past that, and that’s ok. Sometimes when you know, you just know. You love him?” Paige asked.
“I do.”
“Well, what else is there to know? You going to meet his mom tomorrow, right?” Taylor asked.
“Yeah, I’m a little nervous. What if he’s a mama’s boy?”
“Emon a mama’s boy? Friend, don’t piss me off. He’s the furthest thing from a mama’s boy.”
“Right, because you just saying shit now. How about you wait until after the cookout? See how he interacts with his family and go from there. Don’t make any decisions until you have a fully formed picture,” Paige offered.
Blake nodded, knowing it was solid advice.
With her mind settled, she decided she’d give him an answer by Monday.
No need to keep him waiting too long when her heart had already made the choice, even if her mind was still trying to protect her from this fairytale turning into a nightmare.
But maybe that was the problem… she was still waiting for something to go wrong when everything about this had been right.