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"You wanted to do dis shit." I laughed. "Now keep joggin' yo ass up this road, girl."

Audriana begged me to bring her to this path cause she wanted to go for a run. She been workin' out almost everyday and she wanted to do somethin' different so hea' we is, runnin' up this muh'fucka.

"Babe." She whined, putting her elbows on her knees and squatting. "We can turn around now, I'm tired."

I chuckled. "Na, bring ya ass. We almost to the top anyway."

"But then we have to come all the way back down."

"You the one that woke me up early this mornin' to do this shit." I clapped my hands. "So, chop chop. Move it."

I heard her groanin' befo' hearin' her feet hit the ground as she started runnin' again. Doin' the same, I turned around wit' my phone in my hand.

"Say cheese, mama."

"Ew, babe." She yelled. "I probably look ugly and sweaty. Delete it."

She ran up next to me tryna snatch my phone out my hand. "Move 'round nie. That picture ain't fa' you, it's fa' me."

"Ugh." She started runnin' ahead of me. "You're annoying, you know that?"

I smacked ha' butt. "You love my annoyin' ass."

"Hey, Audriana. When you finish cleaning up those litter boxes up front, you can head home."

Furrowing my eyebrows, I stopped scrubbing. "Huh? Am I in trouble?"

"No." Delilah chuckled. "We're just really slow today so boss just called and said go ahead and close down early. That festival is going on downtown so he figures that's where everyone is at."

I nodded slowly. "Okay, makes sense. You sure you don't want me to help you stay and close up?"

"No no, go ahead. You got here way before me so I don't mind staying an hour after you to close."

"Well, thank you." I went back to cleaning. "Are you going to the festival?"

She pursed her lips. "No, probably not."

"Why not?"

"I'm claustrophobic. Being around a lot of people like that makes me nervous. Are you going?"

"I was planning on going later, but I might go sooner since we're closing early. I'd rather go when the sun is still out anyways."

Delilah agreed. "That's true. Less drunk people out right now." We both chuckled sarcastically before looking at each other. "Yea, right."

Heading to the back, I clicked on Angel's contact name to call him.

"Wassup, mama? You good?"

A smile crept on my face. "Yea, I just need you to head this way. We're closing early because it's hella slow."

"Oh aight. I'a be thea' in a minute."

"Okay. Love you."

"Luh you."

Sliding my phone into my back pocket, I made my way back out on the floor to finish cleaning before he got here.

If it was one thing Angel did, it was speed like he played a serious role in fast and furious.

"Hi, baby." I greeted Angel as soon as I climbed into the car.

He leaned over, kissing me a few times. "Hey, mama. You hungry?"

"You fed me before I went to work... three hours ago." I giggled.

He chuckled. "Yo' ass always hungry."

"That's true..." I smirked. "But no, I'm not hungry. I can eat once we go to the festival."

"Yea, later."

"Or we can go now since I'm off."

"You wanna go this early?"

I shrugged. "Yea, why not? It's always better when the sun is out."

"If that's what you want, baybeh. We can go now. You still gon' invite Aviana?"

I nodded. "Well, she said she's already going with her boyfriend. But, I'm going to text her and let her know we're going earlier than planned."

"You really coo' wit' this chick, huh?"

"Yea, she's so genuine and fun to be around. In plus, her and Kenz get a long so that's good. Kenz doesn't get along with a lot of people."

Angel chuckled. "Trust me, I know."

Aviana was someone that I met at work.

She brought her puppy in- Choochi is the cutest little teacup Yorkie ever, by the way- and mentioned that she was new here. Me being partially new, I was able to click with her.

We ended up talking the entire time Choochi had her first visit. By the end of it, we had exchanged numbers and her, Kenz, and I had been hanging out ever since.

"Are Kenz and Mere still at the house?"

Angel nodded. "Yea, they should be. They was thea' when I left."

"Hopefully they won't mind going this early."

"I'on thank they will."

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"Baybeh."

I laughed, responding to Angel for the 100000th time since we arrived to the festival. "Yes, babe?"

"I wanna take you to the nearest bathroom and fuck you out yo' dress." He whispered softly in my ear.

"Babe, stop."

Smirking at me, he didn't say anything, just simply placed his hand over my ass as we continued to walk to meet up with Aviana and her boyfriend.

"Bitch, look at this- I know the fuck-" Kenz started.

Looking in the same direction she was, I spotted exactly what she was talking about before we both busted out laughing.

"Get me the fuck... ASAP."

I finally controlled my laughter. "You're going to hell for talking about God's kids the way you do."

"Well God just be making anything these days."

"McKenzie!" I shrieked, my laughter starting back up again.

Amere looked her upside her head. "You just think you the best lookin' thing out hea', huh?"

"Yes I do, bitch, and you do too."

He tried to keep a straight face, but a smirk played on his lips. "You muh'fuckin' right."

"Y'all so fuckin' lame." Angel chuckled.

Before McKenzie or Amere could say something smart back, which they definitely would have, Avi ran up on us from the side.

We quickly greeted each other with hugs and smiles before she introduced us to her boyfriend.

"Dre meet Audriana, her boyfriend Angel, McKenzie, and her boyfriend Amere." She stood to the side, allowing us to see her boyfriend. "Audri, Angel, Kenz, Amere, meet my boyfriend Andre."

Although we were standing in the middle of a crowd full of people and loud ass music, at this moment, looking Andre in the eyes, I couldn't hear nor feel anything.

And with the quick glances from Kenz and Mere and Angel's hand wrapping around my waist, I knew they were thinking the same exact thing that I was.

Reluctantly, though, we all said our hello's to Andre and continued on with our evening.

"So we gon' talk about it or na?" Angel asked as soon as we all made it to the car.

It was going on 12 at night and we were just now leaving and heading home.

"Yea. The night was lit as hell." I shrugged, turning the music up on the radio.

Angel smacked his teeth, turning the music back down. "Somebody gotta address the elephant in the room."

Kenz agreed. "And you can't start holding shit in again, sis. It wasn't healthy before, and it still isn't."

"We all felt the same shit seein' that nigga." Mere chimed in. "I could feel it in the air."

I sighed. "Okay. We all felt the same thing, we all thought the same thing so why does it need to be talked about? Come on guys, we just had a good ass night. Let's not ruin it."

"Talkin' bout ya problems ain't ruinin' shit." Angel rebutted.

I could tell he was starting to get irritated with me not wanting to talk about things like this.

The elephant in the room was that Andre looked a lot like Adrian.

Who's Adrian?

Adrian is the guy who got arrested with Cedrick and Dayna for the bullshit that happened to me.

"I'm fine. At the moment, it brought back some uneasy feelings, but I'm okay now. I promise."

Angel reached over and grabbed my hand. Looking at their faces, I could tell they didn't believe me.

"You guys." I chuckled. "I promise I'm fine. The vibes tonight were great, everybody got along; I'm okay. I swear."

Even though nobody said anything, I felt the support in the room. I know they probably didn't believe me fully, but I really am fine.

I'm okay.

❦

It was currently three in the morning and for some reason, I couldn't sleep at all. My body was tired, but my mind wouldn't stop wandering long enough for me to relax and fall asleep.

Honestly, for the past couple of days, my mind has been somewhat consumed with the whole Andre thing. I really wanted to look into him just to ease my curiosity about who he was, but every time I went to do it, my mind told me not to. I guess I was scared of what I would find.

The fact that my gut is telling me that I shouldn't do it makes me want to do it even more.

But I won't.

I just can't get over the fact that I feel like there's more to him than what meets the eye. But you know what they say? "God will show you everything you need to know".

I really wanted to call Angel so I could fall asleep, but I'd been really up his ass lately so I decided against that too. I know he didn't have a problem with it, but I didn't want to start depending on him for everything nor do I want to turn into a clingy girl.

So instead, I played rain sounds on my phone and through my little speaker that sat on my nightstand by my bed.

"Where you goin'?" Angel asked me as he tried his hardest to keep his eyes open. "I'm so ti'ed."

I shook my head. "Nobody told you to wake up. I'm going to the gym, I told you that yesterday."

"Oh, I forgot." He yawned for the 100th time. "You want me to get up and come with you?"

"No, I can go by myself. If you're up when I finish though, we can go for breakfast."

He nodded. "Aight. So I'ca go back to sleep?"

"Yes, baby. I'll call you when I finish to see if you're up or not."

"I luh you. Drive safe."

"I love you too."

As I finished getting dressed for the gym, I requested an Uber. Ma was already at work, hence why I was taking an Uber instead of driving her car, and McKenzie was still sleeping.

Keeping quiet, I made me a bagel with cream cheese and grabbed a water just in time for my Uber to get here.

"Good morning." I greeted. "Doris?"

The older man nodded. "Yes ma'am. I'm here for Audriana."

"That's me."

Climbing into the back of his all black Audi, I buckled my seat belt. "Do you mind if I eat my breakfast in here?"

"No, go right ahead."

"Thank you."

The rest of the ride to the gym was pretty quick and silent. It wasn't a far ride and only came up to $11 so I decided to tip him and extra $4 to round up. I don't know why I do that, I just do. Don't ask.

I smiled at the few people I passed as I walked into the gym a way to say good morning without having to actually talk.

Tossing my paper that my bagel was wrapped in, I started my usual workout routine by starting with the treadmill.

Working out was something- almost the only thing- that really cleared my mind.

Let's get it.

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