Just like my favorite song, babygirl you a vibe

I was having that dream again.

The same dream I had two nights ago when I fell asleep in the car.

The dream where my mom visited me. Even though, I was sort of lucid I could still hear her,

"My granddaughter has a beautiful laugh. She's amazing Laya...everything I would have imagined and more...just like you." My mother pressed a kiss to my temple. "See? You're not all alone anymore."

I continued to hear Lilo's laughs even as the vivid pictures from my dreams disappeared into darkness.

I was no longer in Grand Turk having brunch with my family. No, I was on a yacht in the middle of the Caribbean Sea dreaming about my dead mother.

The delightful baby laughs I heard came from my side.

My eyes opened to see the same tattooed back that belonged to the man from my dreams. Except instead of sitting on sand, he sat on the edge of the king size bed in our state cabin.

Dave was on FaceTime with Lilo and Kairi, speaking in a hushed tone in order to prevent them from waking me up.

A small smile crossed my lips when I heard Kairi's voice.

"Where's Laya Daddy?" She asked.

I closed my eyes and leveled my breathing so that I could pretend to still be asleep.

"She's sleeping baby. See?" I felt him shift and through the small slits of my eyes, I watched as he pointed the camera in my face.

"Look Lilo she's smiling!" Kairi yelled.

"Hi mama!" Lilo screamed. It took everything in me not to burst into laughter.

"Shh y'all gotta be quiet." Dave shushed them. "When she wakes up, she's gonna call y'all aight?"

"Aight." The two girls said in unison. I opened my eyes just to roll them.

First they both looked like him, now they were talking like him too.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't find it adorable.

"When are you coming home?" Kairi spoke up again, this time with a pout in her voice.

"Y'all coming here remember? Pop and Nana gonna bring y'all to us and we're gonna spend Thanksgiving together."

"Yayy! I miss you daddy and I miss Laya too."

"I miss you too baby."

"I miss Lala and dada too." Lilo perked up to copy her sister. Her speech was so advanced for her age, the only problem we had with it was preventing her from saying curse words and mocking everything her sister said.

"Kairi and Lilo let's get ready for bed." A voice with a deep Guyanese accent came from the background. I instantly knew that it was Miss. Grace - the girls' nanny.

She was the only person we trusted with them when both Dave and I were out of town and his parents were too busy.

"Listen to Miss. G baby. We'll talk to you tomorrow. I love youu."

"Bye daddy! I love you too."

"I wub you too!!" the smaller voice sang.

Then there was a thump — meaning that Lilo dropped the phone without hanging up and ran as fast as her little legs would take her

Another chuckle left Dave and Miss. Grace's voice came through the speakers.

"Have a goodnight Mr. Brewster. I'll make sure your parents collect them tomorrow."

"You have a goodnight too, Miss. G and thank you. Both Laya and I appreciate it."

After Dave hung up, I felt him leave the bed and heard him moving around the room.

I finally opened my eyes fully and stretched my body across the plush mattress, allowing a full moan too escape my lips.

Damn, I was tired.

My eyes searched the room for Dave and found him sitting in a chair on the balcony with a blunt and lighter in hand.

The sky behind him held a deep indigo shade with whispy white clouds floating around it. On the horizon, the last remnants of the sun began to fade away to make room for the large full moon.

I shifted the heavy white comforter off me and walked to join him.

As soon as my movement caught his eye, he extended his hand out to me, silently asking me to take it.

And when I did, he drew me closer to him until I was sitting on his lap with my legs thrown over the arm of the chair.

With my head nestled between his shoulder and head, I asked "Where are we?"

Dave's hands made their way to the small of my back and stayed there providing much needed warmth from the breezy salty air.

I looked along the coastline at all of the lights and listened to the faint sound of music, trying to guess which city we docked at for the night.

"We're near Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic."

When I told Dave that I wanted to leave Atlanta, I thought we going home to New York. Never would I have expected to be on this gorgeous yacht with him.

And never would I have expected to have the conversation I had with him two nights ago.

Since then, I feel like I'm walking on air. It's amazing but at the same time, scary. I keep feeling like I might fall at anytime.

I think that's why I had that dream. I needed to know that it was okay to accept all the good things happening around me and to just allow myself to be happy.

My mom was working mysteriously from beyond the grave, and I was grateful for it.

"You wanna leave the boat tonight?" He asked while dragging his hand slowly along my spine.

I though for a moment then said, "Yeah I do. I already missed everything that happened in Jamaica." There was a bit of sarcasm in my tone as I rolled my eyes.

Dave obviously caught on to it because a small chuckle left his lips. "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" He tipped my head back and planted an apologetic kiss on my lips.

"You met one of my favorite dancehall artists and hung out with him...without me!! You'll be apologizing for the rest of your life if we're being real."

"Aye it ain't my fault that you was asleep and don't forget I had him FaceTime you, baby."

"But it ain't the sameeeee as seeing Popcaan in person." I whined like I did when he came back onboard after visiting him. "You literally could have told me where you were going and I would've gotten my ass up."

"You were tired from working so my-"

"Ah!" I stopped him from talking by holding my hand in front of his face. "Talk to the hand."

"Aye what he say in that song, tight pussy gyal calm don ya'self." He said in an ugly Jamaican accent while laughing.

"I hate youuu." I laughed with him. "What kinda accent was that??" I moved my finger along my eyelids to remove the tears that were forming.

"Come on...get yo' fine ass up and get dressed before I start speaking to you in full on patois." He lifted me off him.

/•/

"Laya...would you stop waking so damn fast." Dave complained from behind me.

"We're late and everything is about to close, so hurry up." I continued to walk ahead of him.

"And whose fault is that ma? You took an hour just to look for something to wear."

I rolled my eyes. "That's because I packed clothes for Atlanta weather not DR weather. And wait...are you complaining about what I got on??"

I looked at him over my shoulder, as expected his eyes were glued to my ass in this silk slip dress.

"No ma'am, definitely not complaining."

I smirked and made my ass jiggle even more just for his amusement.

"Damn...what kind of panties you got on? Invisible ones?"

Then, when I heard the sound of his phone's camera, I turned around to face him.

"You are such a perv!" I laughed.

He stopped and looked at me innocently.

I knew he was concocting some bullshit excuse.

"What?" If I didn't know him any better, I'd say that he was genuinely confused. "I'm only doing what you wanted." He shrugged and examined the photos he took.

"And what exactly is that?"

"You said and I quote, that you wanted our kids to know you was the baddest bitch to ever walk the planet. I'm just documenting the bad bitch material." He held up the phone.

There was a grin playing at his lips and I was about five seconds from laughing to the point of peeing on my self.

What the hell is wrong with this nigga?

Luckily I held it together. "Ohh ok. In that case, make sure you get my good side." I posed for him to take more pictures.

When he was done, we both broke down into a laughing fit.

"Man, you a whole fool Laya!" He bent over holding his stomach.

"Me??? You started this shit." I said between uneven laughs.

This man was truly my bestfriend. Yes I had girlfriends like Nene and Bri, who were actually more like sisters but Dave...

...he was one of the only people to understand my humor and he was the only person to ever get me to laugh like this.

As we approached the end of the marina's boardwalk there was a vintage chocolate brown Bronco waiting for us.

"Bueñas Noches! My name is Cesar and I'll be your driver for the evening." A short man wearing a black uniform greeted us and opened my door.

I smiled at him and moved into the car when I heard Dave reply, "Llévanos al bar Taino's en el este del Punta Cana. ¿Tú lo sabes?"

My neck snapped towards him on the opposite end of the car and once it started moving, I softly punched his arm.

"When were you gonna tell me that your ass spoke Spanish?!"

He let out a deep laugh and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "I thought you already knew. I don't speak it quite as fluently as I did growing up. But I know some words from hearing ma and Auntie Evie talk."

"I've never heard say anything more than gracias and that was that one time we went to that tacqueria in Times Square."

"You mad you ain't the only one who knows another language - Miss. I Speak Italian." He teased.

I sucked my teeth playfully. "At least it's better than your patois."

We drove through the bumpy roads of Punta Cana for about half an hour. What started out as a strip of bright lights from touristy attractions and large hotels soon turned into rows of Spanish colonial style buildings that hugged the coast.

The air was warm but the breeze was cool and everything smelled of night jasmine and sea salt.

In a way, it reminded me of Turks but you could literally feel the history in every building in the DR.

"When was the last time you visited here?" I asked Dave.

"Ma's family lives deeper in the city, I haven't seen them in about ten...maybe twelve years. But I stayed in Punta Cana about a year ago on vacation."

"My Uncle owns a bar not far from here, that's where we're going now."

A look of pure anxiousness crossed my face.

"You ain't got nothing' to worry 'bout. They cool peoples. Plus ma prolly sent them hundreds of pictures of you and Lilo already."

"What?" I laughed. That sounded like something Maya would do.

"I'm deadass." Dave chuckled.

After a few more minutes of driving, we ended up at this little hole-in-the-wall next to a fruit stand and surrounded by palm trees.

The old turquoise building was plastered in graffiti and murals, it was almost impossible to see the paint underneath it. The windows were protected by metal bars and there was a wide entrance with metal gate securing it.

On the outside were mismatched plastic chairs and tables.

There seemed to be a lot of locals out tonight, some danced to the loud music that played, others sat around and talked over beer and a cigar.

The atmosphere felt comforting and inviting, almost as if I was home. It wasn't somewhere I'd normally go for a good time but the vibe seemed right.

As we exited the car, a group of men on the opposite side of the street whistled at us and Dave mugged the fuck out of them in return. One man in particular though, gave him a chin lift before continuing his conversation.

A plump lady with large hair curlers in her hair and a cigarette hanging out the side of her mouth approached us and beamed when she saw Dave.

"Look at my babyyy! Honey your mama told me you'd be coming here but I didn't think I would see you!" She flung her arms over his shoulders in a hug.

"Hi Auntie." He grinned.

"And who is this? She's fucking gorgeous East!" She spoke to Dave then turned to me. "Hi honey! I'm Camila but you call me Tia Mila." She talked a mile a minute and I could barely keep up.

"Hi Tia Mila, it's nice to meet you. I'm Dave's girl

—".

"Oh baby, I know who you are! Dave's mama sent me all the pictures of you and your gorgeous little girl and Kairi."

I looked at Dave's with a grin on my face because I couldn't believe he was right.

"Come come come sit sit. Let me get you some drinks and food." She ushered us to an empty table. "Dave, your Uncle Carlos is in the kitchen and I'm gonna get you some Anejo." She left in a hurry. But not before she yelled in the direction of the same men that whistled at us before. "Santíago! Your primo is here!"

Soon I was stuffed with empanadas, tostones, and tipsy from shots of Anejo. But I was having the time on my life while dancing merengue with Dave's cousin, Santíago.

"Ayeee get it mami." He encouraged as I laughed. "You're a natural girl." He spun me around and held me in his arms.

I saw Dave watching us from our table. He smoked a cigar while playing dominos with his uncles and cousins.

Santí seemed like a cool guy. Despite his rather intimidating exterior of face and neck tats, he was pretty sweet. He was about Dave's age and build, if you look close enough they almost looked alike too. He told me that he and Dave were pretty close when they were younger but grew apart as they got older.

As the song changed to something with a much slower melody he rocked me along the stoned dance floor.

"My cousin teach you how to dance like that?"

"Nah, I'm just a fast learner." I replied with a smirk.

"I can see that." He twirled me around and bought me close again. I was too busy monitoring my footwork to notice him staring at me.

"How you get him to come back here?" He asked curiously.

"Huh?" I looked up.

"Dave don't really like it here. Too much history. I heard he out the game and trying to keep his nose clean now, so I thought it was you who convinced him to come..."

"I didn't." I responded harshly. His tone seemed a bit condescending and accusatory. "And what do you mean by too much history?" I asked.

"Look mami, I'm sorry if I said something to offend you." His voice was genuine. "I think I probably said too much already."

"No you haven't. Now explain."

He rolled his eyes. "I see why he likes you, you bossy as hell."

I narrowed my eyes at him which caused him to chuckle.

"When we were younger, his ma sent him over here to live with us. It was after his pops went to prison and Dave was getting into too much trouble in the states. I don' know why they send him here, where there's even more trouble."

"There is?" I asked.

He let go of one of my hands and pulled down the neck of his white t-shirt to reveal a huge ass tattoo. It was a skull with the English words 'Dead Man' written across his chest.

"Ohhh that's cute." I honestly didn't know what to say, so I said the first dumb thing that came to mind.

At least Santí thought I was funny.

"I didn't get inked for fun pretty girl." My eyes widened. "Long story short, when I was a teenager I use to ride with this gang. Dave found out. He almost killed me for it and tried to get me to leave. I wouldn't. He left. We grew apart." He broke it down for me.

"That man tried to save my life. Too bad I didn't listen, you know? Cause he's out there doing what he loves with who he loves and I'm here...doing the shit I do. He told me he was never coming back here after I joined. You must've been the one to change his mind."

My brows furrowed as I tried to decipher Santí's words. I knew from his mom that Dave spent a lot of time in the DR when he was younger, but he never spoke about his family here.

Santí broke my train of thought with another question,

"So you got any cute tattoos, pretty girl?" He smirked.

I should have never answered him.

Because if I didn't, then the buzz of the tattoo gun and a grown ass man's screams would not have me wanting to run for the hills.

Why the hell did I agree to this again?

"Baby you don't have to do this shit" Dave came up behind me and held my waist.

It was currently after one in the morning and me, Dave, and some of his cousins were squashed in Santíago's tattoo shop, three doors down from the bar.

Santíago was here to check in on his other artists and prepare for his late night appointments and I was here because of some stupid bet that he made with me.

"I do Dave! That man called me a pussy. Nobody calls me a pussy." He laughed into my neck.

I continued flipping through some of his tattoo books trying to decide what I would get.

At least he wasn't a shitty artist, judging from some of his sketches on the wall and in this book, he was actually really talented.

"Alright Allaya, my piercing appointment just cancelled. You know what you want yet mami?" A devious grin spread across Santí's face as he rubbed his hands together.

"Santí please go to hell." His laughter vibrated throughout the room, exposing a grin of my own.

"I want something like this...it's small...and cute. But I want it to be more detailed and in red." I pointed at the sketch of the two butterflies that seemed to be flying.

"Lemme see." Dave pulled the sketch out of it's protective sleeve and grabbed a pencil from the desk.

I watched as he added more details to the two butterflies. "Like this?" He asked.

"Wow...yeah that's perfect." I admired the drawing.

Santí appeared again, this time wearing gloves. "I'm all set up for you, all I need is the design and of course you..." he said with a smile.

"Watch it Santí." Dave warned. It was the first time he actually spoke to him since we arrived.