You're second to none

I groaned at the sunlight invading my vision and rolled over to block it out.

Suddenly, there was movement from the other side of the bed and I heard a groan erupt from its occupant.

"Mornin."

I opened my right eye and stilled my movements only to notice Eva facing me with a cheery smile on her face, wearing the same outfit she wore last night. Her hair was everywhere, her mascara was smudged and she sported a huge purple mark on her chest.

I was glad it was her and not someone else.

I opened both of my eyes and stretched, still a bit disoriented from my restful sleep. It was then that I realized that I was no longer in my clothes from last night, instead I wore only a Tupac T-shirt and underwear.

What the hell happened?

"Um morning?" I asked rather than said. "Wait what are you doing here?"

"Girl I don't even know. All I remember is you walkin out the kitchen, I tried to ask you what was wrong. But you blew me off and stole a bottle of Don Julio from the bar, took it into your room, and we finished the whole bottle."

Shit what was wrong with me.

She sat there searching her mind for more information before a mischievous grin spread across her face.

"Ohh then East came in here asking for you and you basically cussed his ass out in your room. I mean, I was shocked at some of the words you were saying. Who knew someone could say the eff word eight times in one sentence." She looked at me in amazement. "Then Wayno came in to check up on you and I think I left with him for a while. Well that would explain the hickey and the soreness between my..."

"Alright that's enough." I spoke before she could finish.

I groaned again and threw my head back onto the bed. The tequila won this time and I had the headache to prove it.

"Why do I feel like I'm fired. That nigga has anger issues I don't feel like dealing with him today. I don't even know what day it is", I managed to speak despite my head throbbing.

"Pretty sure it's Friday. The party was Thursday and I think...I think I'm going to throw up." she sputtered before running to my bathroom.

Great that meant East had that big photo shoot at GQ today.

I headed into the bathroom after her, almost tripping over the heels I wore last night. I took great note of the two tequila bottles on the sink before pulling Eva's hair back as she released everything that she ate yesterday.

I dry heaved and looked away disgusted from the site. This was my first "hangover" and I was thanking God that I was only met with a headache.

"Bitch remind me to never ever drink with your alcoholic ass again", Eva murmured while wiping her mouth.

"Noted but you need to stay here for today. There's no way you're going into work like this.", I said while rubbing her back.

After cleaning her up and straightening my room, I headed in the shower to get ready for the day.

My mind drifted back to last night's events with Dave, us in the kitchen talking, then kissing and finally him blowing me off, I honestly didn't even remember anything after that. I can't believe I allowed myself to do that. It was obvious that we were both under the influence and I was just going to forget it ever happened.

Right we never crossed that line. Dave doesn't want me like that anyway.

I stepped out and dried off. I went into my room to check on Eva, only to see her passed out on my couch. She'll be alright.

I looked at my phone for the time and realized that I was going to be late for Dave's shoot. He more than likely left already and I was praying that James, my driver was downstairs waiting on me.

Deciding to actually put a bit of effort into my wardrobe today, I wore a white, low cut blouse with puffed sleeves, my favorite gray ripped jeans and and turquoise Manolo Blahnik pumps for a pop of color. I looked cute but professional, it was a big step up from my hoodie and 1's look that I usually preferred to wear.

The few designer items I had in my closet were products that I worked tirelessly and saved up for. They were treats I bought myself whenever I could afford to, which wasn't often.

Speaking of treats my direct deposit should be hitting may account soon and I definitely need to schedule a self care day, well after I put a deposit on my tuition. I should have it paid off fully within the next four months. Dave paid me well so that left a lot of room for me to pay bills and take care of myself.

I haven't been doing a good job of that within the last year. I'm not sure what I've been going through, maybe a slight depression but I've been so focused on school and advancing in my career that I forgot to take care of me. I guess I didn't think that spending money on myself was worth it. And I can't believe that I'm just realizing that I was wrong all along.

Gazing into my vanity mirror, I slicked my hair back and braided it without any problems and completed a minimal makeup look before leaving my room.

Stepping into the living area I noticed Dave on the couch looking up at me.

Hmm I thought he left already.

"You ready?" he asked with a nonchalant look on his face.

This nigga always wore a mug, at times I couldn't tell if he was angry, annoyed or maybe even happy. He just looked....I can't even explain it, he looked like him.

But before I could respond a high pitched "Yup" came from the hallway on the other side of the penthouse.

I slowly turned my head to follow the sound of heels hitting the marbled floors, only to see the girl who was in Dave's lap last night emerge from the hallway.

"I'm ready", she beamed again while looking at me.

I scrunched my nose, taking in her appearance. She looked different in the daytime. She's pretty but she was literally built like an ant. Her surgeon could've done a better job.

"Are you jealous Allaya?", my inner voice mocked me.

"Wasn't talkin to you but you can head out that door ova there, I got shit to do.", East said to her while standing up.

This entire encounter just became awkward and I was just standing in the middle of it. Do I take out my phone and pretend to text or maybe I should go in the kitchen for a while?

"What you mean. I thought we were going to get breakfast and then you were gonna chill with me for the day?", she whined.

"Nah I never said that. Pussy ain't ever been so good where I take a girl out for breakfast. Now turn around and get yo ass out my house"

I let out a quick laugh but covered it with a cough. This shit was entertaining, this man was rude to everybody.

"Nigga fuck you, fuck this girl standing here laughing and don't fuckin call me no more!" She shouted as she hustled her way out the door.

I looked up at the ceiling trying to pretend like I didn't notice anything that was going on.

"Let's go"

/•/

I was now seated with Dave in his all black Challenger Hellcat, speeding out of the parking garage. The sun immediately hit my face and I sank down further in my seat as the light burned my eyes and reignited my headache from before.

I hastily dug through my purse, looking for my sunglasses then slipped them on. Afterwards, I sat up and pulled down the visor. Okay this is better.

"You hungover huh? See nobody told yo lil ass to drink all that damn tequila. I was trying to get that bottle out yo hand last night but you had a death grip on that shit.", he said while laughing.

"Mhm that's good to know but please stop talking. And for your information I'm not hungover, I just have a slight heandache and you're making it worse.", I grumbled before leaning my head on the car door.

He looked at me before flashing his gorgeous smile and laughed.

Perfect teeth, perfect smile and the perfect face. Shit wasn't fair man.

"Whatever you say Laya", and with that he turned up the music and started to obnoxiously rap along to it.

I hate this nigga, I really do.

I felt my leg vibrate, as I picked up my phone to answer the call from an unknown number. I reached over and turned the music all the way down while ignoring the death glare Dave sent my way.

"Hello"

"Allaya....Laya can you hear me?"

"Uh I can but who's this?" I asked cautiously, taking note of the man's slight British accent.

"It's Amir, how are you little sis?"

I removed my phone from my ear and looked at the caller ID in shock. It had been more than a year since I'd heard from my older brother and more than five years since I last saw him. He lived in London with my dad, and for some reason he never called me - unless it was to try to get me to move there with them. It's weird how close we were growing up but now we might as well be strangers.

"I-I'm good Mir. I haven't heard from you in a while, what's up? You need something?"

There was no point in beating around the bush. I'm not stupid, there's no reason he would call me out of the blue just to check up on me. He had all year to do that.

He laughed in the speaker and said, "Same old Laya, always straight to the point. I only called to check up on you, how's life after college? Did you get the money that dad and I sent for grad school?"

Sighing, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and looked at Dave who seemed to be focused on weaving through NYC traffic.

"Life's good and the money that you and dad sent is in the account where you left it."

"Laya why won't you stop being so stubborn and let us help you. How the hell are you going to pay for grad school? You don't work and I don't even know how you're paying your rent. Dad even offered to move you up here so that you can work for the firm and he can pay for your schooling. But you insist on doing things the hard way!"

I laughed dryly. At the end of the day, this is what it all came down to. My father trying to give me reparations for him being a shitty parent and using my brother to help him do it. I haven't talked to that man in almost eight years.

"I keep telling you that I don't want nothing from that man Mir", I spoke through gritted teeth.

"He didn't do anything then and I don't need anything now. I can take care of myself and I've actually been doing it for some time now. There are people that actually care about me down here and I am not...I am not about to sell my soul to the devil whom happens to be your father just for money and a posh life in London, because we both no that that man left us with nothing!", I shouted into the phone.

"Laya he's your father too."

"No Amir he's yours! Look is there anything else you wanted, I'm busy."

"I didn't mean to upset you Laya. I know you're still angry at dad but he just wants what's best for you and now that you're alone, we thought that you may need someone to look after you". he sighed into the phone before speaking again.

"Her anniversary is coming up next week and I know that you never grieved properly. I just want to make sure that you're alright love."

Those first few words came crashing into me all at once. The one day a year that I try so hard to forget, always seemed to arrive when I least expected it.

My voice was only above a whisper, "Amir I have to go, my boss is calling me and I have a meeting to attend."

He seemed taken aback by my statement but chose not to question me.

"Alright little sis. We will talk again soon."

And with that I hung up. I increased the volume on Dave's music and turned to face the window.

My head hurt, my eyes stung and my heart was heavy.

I heard her entire conversation with who I assume was her brother.

I reached across the console and unplugged my phone from the speaker. I knew that she would've preferred silence over anything. I was just messing with her before but now I could tell that she wasn't in the mood.

Last night I saw her become another person. She wasn't shy and reserved like she normally was, nah she talked to everybody at that party. I noticed her when she first left her room. Ma looked good as fuck too. She showed hella skin, I don't know why she wore them ugly ass hoodies in the office. I wanted to see more of her. Then when I saw her sitting on the couch with Eva I immediately got up to talk to her about earlier.

I lied to her in the kitchen about why I kissed her. I was high and the henny had me lit as fuck too. But I kissed her because I wanted to. I just needed to know how she'd taste.

But she don't know none of that because my dumbass told her I wasn't feeling her. Then Angel ass spent the night and now Laya knows for sure that we fucked.

I pulled up onto the curb infront of the GQ building and got out of the car. I had planned to go around to her side to open her door but she was already out and staring blankly at the building.

"Aye before we go in there I'm gonna get a smoothie or somethin' from next door." I said to her.

She only nodded and followed me into Jamba Juice. We got in line and I looked at the menu board before deciding what I wanted.

"Laya...Laya...Allaya..."

I was calling her name for a straight minute but she only seemed to be staring at the tiles, lost in her head. I had no other choice but to grab her hand and squeeze.

She finally looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry, were you calling me?"

I noticed that she always spoke so proper, except for when she was angry, then her accent comes out and she curses...the whole thing is fucking adorable.

"Yeah I wanted to know if you were straight? I heard some of what you said to your fam and you seem shaken up about it. If you need to take the day I'm coo with that"

"I'm so sorry and no I'm good, I promise. My brother just gets on my nerves sometimes that's all", she said while plastering a smile on her face.

She needed to stop apologizing for shit she had no control over. I knew she wasn't good but decided to drop it. It was clear that throwing herself into work was her coping mechanism.

I stepped up to the cashier and placed my order. Then I tried to moved to the side to allow Laya to place hers. It was then that I realized that I was still holding her hand.

"Oh no I'm good. Thank you though", she rushed out.

"Get her the same thing as me except add a green shot in hers" I told the cashier while ignoring Laya's eye rolling.

That should help with her hangover.

She dug in her purse and tried to hand the lady her card before I pushed a fifty dollar bill in front of her and told her to keep the change.

"You keep doing that and your eyes gon be stuck back there"

"And when that happens I'll be sure that you're the first to know" she replied.

This girl and her smart mouth. She keep playin with me and I'll show her exactly what I got for that.

Soon our order was ready and we were leaving the store to go to the shoot.

I fuckin hated magazine shoots. These people were always unorganized and they took all day to take five fucking pictures that I could've done myself. On top of that, there's always some groupie bothering me the whole time. I'm really only here because Wayno said it would be great publicity for my new project. I'd rather be at the office getting shit done.

We walked out of the elevators into the room only to be greeted by a mess. There were people running around with clothes in their hands and the scene wasn't even set up. A short blonde woman appeared in front of us and spoke directly to me.

"Oh Mr. East you're here! Well the shoot director isn't here yet or the editor and we're a bit behind. But-"

I cut her off immediately.

"See this the shit I'm talking about. Y'all begged me to do this and nobody here to get shit done! I'm about to take my ass home and y'all can call my assistant when y'all ready to do this shit right." I snapped at her.

She looked like she was about to cry. But I don't care. Anybody who knows me, knows that my work ethic is A1. I don't tolerate lateness, or bullshit ass excuses. This shit was unacceptable and she was going to know that. Before I could speak again. Laya slid her small body between me and the woman.

Her ass was rubbing right against my fly and it was becoming difficult for me to be heated when she was in this position. What the hell was she doing.

"Alrighty then. That's enough of that", she said while pushing my chest back and looking at me seriously.

"I'm Allaya, his assistant. Now we all know that this is unacceptable on all levels. Your email stressed that we were supposed to be here at 9:00 and now it's 10:30 and you aren't ready. I'm sure you can understand Mr. Brewester's frustration because you all are wasting his time. So can you please tell me what the problem is so that we can get it sorted now?"

The blonde lady relaxed her shoulders a bit and went on to tell Laya about how the shoot director is sick and the replacement was running late.

By the time she was finished, Laya already had me in a dressing room being fitted for my outfits and prepped for the shoot.

Now, she was somewhere out there, acting as the director and getting everyone organized.

I don't know how she did it but she managed to get everything under control. The girl was amazing.

I was in a chair about to get my hair braided by this nigga who was pulling at my shit.

"Yo you got one more fucking time to do that before I lay your ass out my nigga."

"Are we good in here?", Laya peeked through the door. She was now wearing a headset and had an iPad in her hand. This girl be trying to do everything.

"Nah we ain't good. I'm about to knock this nigga the fuck out if he don't stop his shit."

Laya pushed the door open and told the barber to leave before she started to braid my hair herself.

"You know you didn't have to do all this right, we could've just left and rescheduled. It's them losing money not me", I told her as she parted my hair.

"I know but I felt sorry for Erin, she's the woman you yelled at when we arrived. You don't always have to be so rude you know. She's only the creative assistant and it would've been her ass if this shoot didn't happen. Plus Wayno said that this was good for your EP."

I looked up from my phone to Laya in the mirror. She was so concentrated on braiding my hair perfectly, that I had time to stare at her.