"Royce, can I just get a few more minutes?" This little girl was relentless. She would not leave me alone and insisted that I got up. I was still tired though, and I could probably sleep the whole day away if she'd let me.

"Mommy," she said bouncing on my stomach.

"Yes Royce."

"Get up, mommy. It's time for you to wake up." Her small hands grabbed my face. She squeezed my cheeks, laughing. When I didn't give her the reaction she was looking for, she bent down and placed a sloppy kiss on my lips.

"Okay that's enough," I tickled her. She let out a loud squeal and fell to the side of me.

"Get me some water and ask auntie Robyn to bring me something for my headache and maybe I'll get up." Royce nodded, climbing off of the bed and running off. I slowly sat up on the edge of the bed. My head felt like it was about to pound out of my skull.

After a few minutes, I looked up at Robyn as she came through the door with a cup of water and pills.

"Ibuprofen or Advil?"

"Whichever one is stronger."

She handed me the glass and the ibuprofen.

The bottle said to take one, two at the most, but I pulled out three. I was about to pop all of them in my mouth when Robyn stopped me.

"Just two," she said.

"You're already taking them on an empty stomach. You're only going to make yourself more sick." She was right. I put one back into the bottle and took the other two. I drank the whole glass of water.

"At least thirty more minutes and I'll get up for real. I need to give the pills a chance to work."

"As long as you get up before I leave for work."

"What time are you leaving?" I asked.

"In exactly an hour."

"Okay, okay. Just wake me up." I laid back down and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

.....

"So you're not mad at me?" I asked.

"No. I got to play with my cousins yesterday."

"At your nana's house?"

"Yes."

"That's good. Did you have fun?"

"Yes mommy."

Royce sat on the bathroom counter watching me as I brushed my teeth.

"What do you want to do today?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"I'm all yours. We can go get some breakfast, maybe IHOP." I gargled with some mouthwash after I was done brushing. She still had yet to say what she wanted to do. This weekend was also her little birthday celebration. I needed to call and make a reservation at this indoor jungle gym place. I forgot what it was called, but it looked fun as hell and the reviews were great.

"You're not gonna say anything, just sit there and watch me? Do you even want to eat IHOP?"

"Yes."

"Ok cool," I said placing her back on the floor. She followed me into the room.

"What should I wear?" I asked her.

"Something blue," she giggled.

"Blue? I don't think I have anything blue." I pulled out an outfit which included black jeans and a green shirt.

"What about green?" She frowned, but nodded her head nonetheless. I took off my towel and started rubbing lotion all over my body. Next was deodorant and my roll-on body oil.

"I want some," Royce said walking up to me. She held out her wrist and I circled a small amount on her skin. She rubbed it in and lifted her arm up to smell the scent. She smiled. I continued getting dressed. When I was finished, I thought I looked cute.

I got Royce dressed as well in matching black jeans, but I put her in a cute little blue shirt since she wanted to wear blue. I also styled her hair the same way as mine. Once we were done getting ready, we went downstairs. I eyed the letters sitting near the front door. I wanted to go through them so bad, but now wasn't the right time. Instead, I took them back to the guest room.

I locked up the house and left with Royce. When we got to IHOP, we were seated right away since it was only the two of us. To be honest, I don't really care for IHOP, but their french toast is good.

I ordered myself orange juice and Royce a kids apple juice. Once she finally figured out what she wanted to eat, we also ordered our food and ate good. By the time we were finished, I was beyond full, almost stuffed. I actually hated the feeling of being stuffed, but I was hungry and I probably drank half of my body weight yesterday, and I needed something to refuel my body.

I put Royce's food in a to-go container and paid the bill. I left a generous tip.

"Hello," I said answering my phone. It wasn't charged when I left the house, so I've been charging it in the car as much as I can. It was only on 40%.

"Are you still annoyed with me?" I could hear Briana pouting through the phone.

"No. Why would you say that?"

"I've been calling you," she said.

"Oh, I just started charging my phone. I wasn't ignoring your calls, my phone has been dead all this time."

"Oh good. Whew, I thought I was about to have to beg and plead for your forgiveness because it doesn't make sense for you to be back in town and we ain't talking, that's fucked up."

"You did nothing wrong Briana. I was acting out of character yesterday, but you did everything that a good friend would do."

"Really?"

"Yes bestie."

"So, what happened?"

"I got the letters."

"How did that go?" She asked.

"About just as bad as you could imagine, maybe worse. Or maybe not. I didn't stab her in the chest or anything like that."

"Well, what did she say? What did she do? What was her reaction?"

I was quiet as I thought back to what happened yesterday. I will not repeat the things that woman said to me to anyone. It's embarrassing and I'd honestly rather forget about what happened. Shit, it's bad enough Meech witnessed a portion of what went down. I usually tell Briana everything, but this is something that I would like to take to my grave. I got the letters. That's the only thing that matters. I got the answers that I wanted as well, but it wasn't anything that I didn't already know. That lady is mentally ill, and she would never admit to anything I said because she knows that I stated nothing but facts.

"To be honest Briana, I don't want to talk about it at all. I got my letters, and I plan on going through each and every one of them." Or at least the ones that aren't ruined.

"Oh ok. I understand. But you're okay right?"

"I feel a lot better than I did yesterday."

"Ok good."

"But anyway, let's not be depressing. What are you doing?"

"Nun much. Why?"

"I have a surprise for you," I said.

"A surprise, for what?"

"To say I'm sorry for all the drama yesterday. I'm on my way to your place actually. Are you even at home?"

"Yes," she said skeptically.

"Ok. I'll be there soon. Oh, and don't be upset if the surprise is hesitant to see you. Okay, I've said too much. Bye." I hung up. I looked in the mirror at Royce. She was on her tablet. I looked back to the road before calling her name.

"Royce?"

"Do you remember mommy's friend, Briana?" She shook her head no. Well damn.

"I think you do." It's been a minute but not long enough for her to forget. She might remember once she sees Briana. I pulled up not long after. I texted Briana that I was outside. When I went around to Royce's side, she had a frown on her face. I damn near laughed out loud.

"Girl, be nice. I know you remember Briana. Don't act funny, you gone hurt her feelings." I took a shaky breath to keep from laughing. Ohhhh, this should be interesting.

Royce unbuckled herself and climbed out the car. Once we made it in the building and to her floor, Briana opened the door before I even had the chance to knock.

"I knew it," Briana said kneeling down to Royce's level. Royce looked up at me.

"Imani, you don't remember me?"

"You my goddaughter. You used to call me Bri. You don't remember? I guess you were like three, but that wasn't that long ago."

"You used to call me Bri-Bri, you don't remember? You gone make me cry," Briana started fake crying. I could see a smile start to form on Imani's face before she started giggling.

"I was joking. I remember," she said smiling from ear to ear. Briana opened her arms and Royce ran into them.

"You little prankster." She started tickling Royce and her squeals filled the hall. I guided them inside and closed the door. I just let them do all the talking and playing. I sat on the couch mostly, just scrolling through my phone when the doorbell rang.

"Briana, someone's at the door!"

"Open it, it's Penny!" I got up and answered the door.

"Hey P."

"Don't give me that dry ass hey." I rolled my eyes and walked away. Penny made sure to smack my ass before I could get too far.

"Bitch, don't—"

"That's more like it," she said closing the door. I sat back on the couch and looked up as Penny walked in with a box.

"What's in the box?" I asked.

"Guess."

"Ummm, I don't know. Cupcakes."

"No, I wish. But, this is way better, and it's all for you."

"Okayyy??" I still had no idea what was in the box.

"They're toys," she blurted out.

"Toys?"

"Yes Asha, toys."

"What kind of toys?"

"Sex toys babe."

"I hope they're not used," I said laughing at my own antics.

"HA! You tried it."

"Briana, I brought the toys!" Penny yelled. Both Briana and Royce came running down the hall.

"Toys!" Royce came flying at me. I just barely braced before we made contact. Ouch.

"Stop running," I said kissing her on the cheek.

"Oh no, they're grown up toys, not toys for little kids. I'm sorry pretty girl," Penny said. I shook my head, pulling Royce into my lap. Penny began to open the box and I had to stop her real quick.

"Not in front of her. She hears and sees everything even if she doesn't know what it is or what it means." We all looked at each other, then down at Royce. Briana came up with a good idea to turn on a movie for Royce. We spent five minutes looking for something she wanted to watch. She ended up picking Frozen even though she's seen it like ten times already. Briana also made Royce some popcorn and gave her some juice. We snuck off once she got settled into the movie.

"Why are you gifting me with toys? What's the occasion?" I asked sitting down on Briana's bed.

"Well, I thought it would be beneficial for you to experiment. You know, let off some steam."

"I already know what I like, and it has nothing to do with inanimate objects."

"We already know you like that schlong, but these are for when you don't have access to dick, like right now."

"You two are insane," I shook me head.

"Don't bring me into this. This was Penny's idea," Briana said.

"Only someone that hasn't used a six toy before would complain about it not being the real thing."

"I don't know," I said hesitantly.

"Once you experiment and find ones that drive you crazy, I swear they will snatch your soul completely from your body."

I didn't say anything.

"Look, I spent all day at the sex shop looking for shit. And I got some beginner ones too." She finally opened the box and my mouth fell open.

"Penny—"

"I can show you how they work."

"Uhhh, no ma'am."

.....