, I stepped on and pulled my phone out. I shot him a text then shoved it back into my purse. When the elevator doors closed back, I observed myself once more in the mirrored doors. I wore an orange long-sleeved tee, grey biker shorts, and grey and orange Air Max 97's. I'd co-washed in the shower so my hair was slightly damp hanging down my back. It was a risky move to make with the temperature beginning to drop as October came to an end.

Once on the ground floor, I hastily walked out of the lobby to the parking lot. My phone began to vibrate again, and this time I reached for it. "Gio, I'm on my way. I'm sorry I overslept."

"No, it's okay. There was an accident on the highway, so I just got here. Be careful on your way here."

"I will. Can you order for me? I want their French toast with a side of home fries. Any drink will work just make sure to get a cup of water too. No ice in either."

"Alright. See you when you get here."

I climbed inside of my car, sitting my phone in the cupholder and my purse in the passenger seat. I brought the engine to life and immediately backed out of the parking space.

It took about thirty minutes for me to arrive due to the area's traffic. As I approached the Café's door, I could see Giovanni sitting on the left end, in the back. I opened the door causing the bell to sound. Gio glanced over his shoulder and shot me a smile. I walked over to him to see that he was in the middle of a phone call. He puckered his lips for a kiss. I gave him a kiss before taking a seat across from him.

"Korin just got here so I'll talk to you later, Ma... Love you too." he set his phone down and smiled at me again. "I like when your hair's damp. You look like a wet poodle."

I rolled my eyes, "I thought you were going to say something cute but no. You call me a wet dog. How romantic."

"You do, but a cute one."

"Yeah, whatever. Did you go by the barbershop?" I reached over and ran my hand over his waves.

"Nah I gave myself an edge. Why you ain't tell me I was out here looking rough? I woke up and couldn't believe what I was seeing."

"First of all, you knew it'd been forever since you went to the barbershop. Second, I find you attractive with and without a cut, so it didn't bother me none."

"If I go months without a haircut, you'd still claim me?"

"I thought you were cute nearly ten years ago with your afro and now wouldn't be any different. I mean your head is a little bigger now but I'm sure you could make it work."

A waiter approached the table with two plates in hand, "French toast?"

"That's me."

"And an omelet for you, sir." he sat the plate down in front of Gio. "Can I get you two anything else?"

"No, we're good for right now. Thank you."

I looked down at my French toast and nearly drooled on myself. I grabbed the pitcher of maple syrup and carefully drizzled it on top. As I did so, It felt like someone was watching me. I glanced up to see Giovanni snickering with his phone aimed at me.

"What?" I smirked.

"If only you could see the joy on your face as you poured that syrup. Fat ass." he placed his phone back down.

"You love this fat ass ahahaha." I imitated Nicki Minaj.

He simply shook his head before cutting into his omelet. "We need to pick our costumes up after our date."

"We do." I nodded. "I'm so excited to see how it fits. We're going to look fucking badass."

"Blade and Spectrum. I'll be calling you Monica tonight."

"Okay, Eric."

We let silence fall upon us as we focused on eating. The clinking of silverware and the murmurs of people speaking amongst one another was the Cafe's music. It was all we heard until I ate one of my home fires, which were cut and seasoned potato blocks.

"You have to taste one of these." I forked one of the potatoes and held it in his direction.

"You don't like them?"

"No, they're good. Really good actually. Try it." he opened his mouth, allowing me to push the fork in his mouth. He chewed then tilted his head with raised eyebrows. "Right? I wasn't expecting that either."

"Them potatoes packed with flavor. You gotta cough some of them up shawty."

"Excuse me?" I pulled my plate away from him. "That is not how you ask. And why can't you just order your own? I like them too."

"You really gonna be stingy like that?"

"They're good."

He frowned, "I just want a few. Don't be like that Kori."

"Okay." I pushed my plate closer to him. He began to take potatoes from my plate. "Okay, that's enough."

"Three? You know what, I see how you wanna be." he glanced over his shoulder for our waiter.

"Babe I'm sorry but they're so good and I ordered them."

"Nah, I don't want to hear it." he finally caught the waiter's attention. "Can I get an order of home fries please?"

"Yes of course. Anything else?"

"No that's all." Giovanni turned back around and focused back on his omelet.

"Baby I'm sorry." he ignored me. "Gio why are you mad about my food?"

"Here get this back." he placed the three potatoes I allowed him to get back onto my plate.

"Gio."

He continued to ignore me, finished off his omelet and waited patiently for the waiter to bring him his batch of potatoes. When he chose to pick up his phone for entertainment, I knew for sure that he was upset. I sighed and it remained quiet between us. Even when the waiter placed his plate of potatoes in front of him. He simply squirted ketchup onto half of them and simultaneously ate them and scrolled on his phone.

Out of frustration, I reached across the table, snatching his phone out of his hand. He looked up at me like I'd disrespected him.

"Korin give me my phone." he placed his fork down.

"Why are you so upset?" I put his phone on the side of my leg.

"I'm not."

"You're lying. They're just potatoes, babe."

"Aight. Can I get my phone back now?"

I stared at him for a few seconds then handed his phone back. He set it to the side and continued to eat. I folded my arms and fell back into the seat. Once he was finished eating, he requested the check. I took that as my cue. I stood up from my seat, grabbed my purse and headed toward the exit. I refused to sit around and deal with his unnecessary attitude over a couple of potatoes. There were other things I could have been doing with my time instead of fighting with him over food.

Today was supposed to be a good day. We were supposed to be going on a date after eating. Last night I mentioned that we hadn't been on a date since we started dating, so he created a plan for us. Now, it wasn't going to happen because I didn't have the energy to deal with his attitude. I had every plan to make a stop by Leon's to pick up my Halloween costume then go home and relax. I needed a day or two to myself and today would be the perfect day.

As I made my way to Leon's, I expected Giovanni to at least give me a call. A text even, but I received neither. I presumed he was in a mood and I was fine with that. If he wanted us to go another day without speaking then so be it.

"Leonnnn." I called out after knocking on the warehouse's door. "Is my suit ready?"

"She is indeed." he responded while coming from his office.

He gestured for me to follow him over to a tall rack. He reached up, grabbing a black garment bag with my name on it. I clasped my hands together as he unzipped the bag. He pulled the suit out and I nearly screamed out in joy. But instead, I bounced from foot to foot and squealed like a child. He gave it to me with a laugh.

"Go try it on in case we need to do a little tailoring."

"Where's the bathroom?"

"Right over there." he pointed. "Are you taking Giovanni's as well since he's not with you?"

"No. He'll be coming to get it himself."

He gave me a nod. I traveled over to the bathroom and locked the door behind myself. I stripped down from my clothes then slipped on the suit that was identical to what I wanted. To be sure it fit in all of the right places, I tested out various poses. With my waist being small, body suits hardly fit my lower back. They'd be loose and ruin the entire fit. That wasn't the case with this suit and I was grateful for that. It made me love it even more.

"Monica is back." I grinned at myself in the mirror, quoting the character.

"Does it need any adjustments?" Leon asked from the other side of the door.

"No. She's perfect."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely." I smiled at myself once more. "I'm going to give the girls hell tonight."

"Can I see?"

"Nope. You're going have to wait until tonight. I'll be sure to tag you in the photos." I spoke while removing the suit.

Once I was back at home, I kicked off my shoes and laid across my couch. Criminal Minds was going to be my pastime until it was time to get ready for the party. A knock at the door forced me back onto my feet, and I had a feeling it wasn't of importance. I was rather shocked when I saw Asani standing on the other side.

I slowly opened the door, "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, I just wanted to give you a gift of appreciation. I'm not on anything weird but you've helped me in ways you couldn't even imagine. I'm in a very good place and I just want to thank you for it, so Christmas is here a little early." he held up a bag.

"Asani you don't have to give me anything."

"Well I'm here with it already and I'm not taking it back so take it. It's nothing serious. Just a thank you."

"Okay." I took it from his hand. "Thank you I guess."

"My blessings to you, Korin." he smiled then walked away.

"What you doing here?" I could hear Giovanni's voice. I stopped myself from closing my door and peeked my head out.

"Wassup Gio?"

"Nah, don't wassup me. You coming from Korin's?"

"Gio." I called. He held his finger up at me.

"Ohhh, y'all a thing? I just dropped something off." Asani replied.

I could tell from Gio's demeanor that he wasn't pleased to see Asani. There were wheels spinning in his head and I didn't like that.

"Giovanni. Come here."

"Don't come back by here." he told Asani before walking up to my door. He pushed me inside with his body, which made me stumble, and slammed the door shut.

"This is what you do now? Call up exes cause you're mad at me?"

I frowned. "I didn't call him over here."

"So he just randomly came over here after months? This what he dropped off?" he snatched the bag from my hand.

"Don't snatch from me." I pushed his arm and snatched the bag back.

He shot me a glare then snatched the bag again. He reached inside and pulled out a large velvet case. When he popped it open, there was a 16 inch diamond necklace with matching earrings. I covered my mouth at the beautiful set. It was the same set that he was working on around the time of my birthday.

"Just dropping something off my ass." he ripped the necklace from the box, ultimately popping the chain.

"Gio! Why would you do that!?"

"The fuck he giving you jewelry for?"

"It was a thank you gift. I can't believe you just did that. What the hell is wrong with you today?"

"Ain't nothing wrong with me—"

"Get out of my house right now." I pointed to the door.

"Get out?" he frowned.

"Yes, get out. You obviously need time to yourself to figure whatever it is going through your head. I'm not about to deal with it. This is crazy."

"I'm crazy because your ex popping up and giving seventy thousand dollars worth of jewelry? No, it would be crazy for me to assume y'all still got something going on."

"And that's not what you're assuming? Coming in here slamming my door and breaking things that don't belong to you."

"You know what, I am gonna go—"

"See. I can't deal with this." I threw my hands up and walked toward my room.

"What you mean you can't deal with this? You want to leave me now?" he came behind me.

"Aren't you supposed to be leaving? Why are you following me? The door is in the other direction."

"Nah, I asked a question first. You want to end this now?"

"If that's what it takes to get you out of my house then I will. First you caught a whole attitude at the cafe over potatoes. And now you're in here acting belligerent about Asani. You have entirely way too much going on with you today. Go meditate."

"Since you wanna put me out, don't call me later when you want some attention." he turned out of the room.

"Don't worry I won't."

A few seconds later, the front door slammed closed again. This time it was so hard one of my picture frames fell and shattered. I screamed out in frustration.

traveled from my feet up to my chest where it rattled. I maneuvered through the crowd of people, keeping my eyes out for one person in particular. The dark shades that were apart of my costume allowed me to be discreet with it. A few women gave me looks of lust mixed with wonder. They wanted to know who was behind the shades and suit. I shot one woman a smile, causing her to bite down on her lip.

I looked to my left and spotted Brittney who was dressed as Venus from Sailor Moon. Beside her was Noelle as Audrey from In Atlantis. I didn't see Korin near them, so I made my way over to them to speak.

"Can we help you?" Brit asked with a stale face.

I raised my shades, "I don't look that different now."

"Oh shit. But sorry we're not speaking to you right now. Maybe in a couple of days." Brit turned away.

I looked at Noelle and she did the same thing. "Well you ladies enjoy the party. I'm about to go and get some drank."

I walked away from them in search for the kitchen. It took me a short minute to find it, and when I did I found Korin. She was talking to the couple that invited her. I played the background, making my way over to the various bottles aligning the countertop. It was close by them, but Korin's back was to me.

I didn't have intentions of drinking heavily tonight. I just wanted something that I would feel after a shot or two. As I scanned over my options, I decided to listen in on their conversation.

"Did you come with anybody?" the woman asked. "I thought I saw you come in alone."

"No, I came with my girlfriends."

"Korin when am I gonna see you on someone's arm? You're always to yourself. Don't get me wrong I love it, but I can just see you with some handsome ball player."

"Who said I'm not on anyone's arm? I'm a whole auntie out here girl. Don't let me fool you."

"Oop." the woman matched Korin's tone. "I know that's right. We're gonna go and get the contest started and I'm find my way back to you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll make sure to see you again."

The couple walked away and Korin spun around, bumping into me. She went to apologize but instantly recognized who I was. So, instead of excusing herself, she rolled her eyes and walked by me.

"Oh yeah?" I called after her. She threw her hand up. "Hendawg it is."

After I had my cup filled, I went out to the center of the floor. I scoped out my surroundings then picked my perfect spot. I bobbed my head to the beat of the song until the same woman that spotted me upon my entrance approached me for a dance. Choppa Style was the current record playing, and with the wagon strapped to her back, I knew she was lethal. A smirk spread across my face as I grabbed her hand, accepting. She spun around and began to shake her ass on me.

I held her waist with one hand and used the other to bring my solo cup to my lips. I could feel someone staring at me from across the room. I knew it was Korin because I made sure to be positioned to where she had no choice but to see me. When I peered over my shades, my assumption was confirmed. We made quick eye contact before she whispered into Noelle's ear. All three of them looked at me again then walked away.

"Walk with it, walk with it." the woman wobbled her ass from side to side while holding her ankles.

A frown took over my face. The sight of her ass moving like jell-o was beautiful and made a couple unholy thoughts cross my mind. I finished my cup of Hennessy and threw it off to the side. The DJ scratched the record a few times before 'girl it's your birthday let's turn up' echoed throughout the house. The beat of Nympho dropped and the atmosphere completely changed.

The woman slowly dropped down before circling her ass against me. I began to grind into her while singing the words of the song. After a little, she stood up and turned toward me, wrapping her arms around my neck. We continued to grind against each other and my hands caressed her ass. I looked up again only to see Korin bent over in front of some nigga. He was leaned back for a good view of what she was giving him.

I told the woman I would be back then eased off toward the kitchen. I was going to need some more to drink. She thought she was going to be able to beat me at my own game, but that was a negative. As I poured Hennessy into another cup, someone invaded my personal space.

"You two need to stop." it was Noelle. "This isn't funny and you know someone is gonna get hurt."

"It won't be me. She told me to mediate and that's what I'm doing." I let the burning substance flow down my throat.

"Gio. Come on. Y'all just need to go home and talk about this. I love Korin but we both know she's not built like this."

"She started it so she need to clean it up." I walked away.