😂

❦

"This better not be no conversation about you tellin' me that you and Audriana have a baby on the way, Angel." My mama said as soon as we sat down at the kitchen table.

I had been naggin' ha' 'bout wantin' to talk to ha' 'bout somethin' all mornin' and of course that's the first thing that pop in ha' head. Lil' do she know, Dri ain't even lettin' a nigga dig into ha' like that.

Not yet.

I really just wanted to talk to ha' 'bout Dri. Shit really been botherin' me lately and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. One way or anotha'.

"Na, ma. It ain't nothin' like that." I shook my head. "It's a lot mo' serious than that in my opinion."

She sipped her coffee. "What is it? What's going on? You okay?"

"Yea, I'm good mama. Shi- somethin' really just been botherin' me lately and I wanna know if if I should step in or just leave it alone."

She nodded her head so I continued. "Aight. So you know 'bout that whole hotel situation shit that happened, right? Well, that day when we was at the beach to celebrate Dri pops, Amere overheard a conva'sation between Mrs. I and Trini. Basically, they was sayin' somethin' about Dri's brotha's doin' that to ha'."

"Her brothers? I didn't know Audri had brothers."

"Yea, neitha' did we'. Crazy thing is though, I'on think she know eitha'."

"So when they said her brothers did that to her... they mean what happened at the hotel?"

I nodded slowly. "That's what we was thankin'. Part of me wanna talk to ha' 'bout it, but then part of me don't 'cause I hope it ain't no messed up junk like that goin' on."

"I don't know, Deondre." My mama sighed, callin' me by my middle name. "That's a hard one, but I think you should stay out of this one. If she doesn't know and they won't tell her, it's probably for a reason that's nobody's business but theirs."

She was prolly right, but that wasn't the advice I wanted to hea'. "Aight, ma. I'a stay outta it."

"Good. Now your dad is going down to set up for work in a minute. Aren't you going with him?"

"Na. Not today."

She stood up from ha' chair. "Okay, well I'ma go down there and give him his breakfast. Just know you're doing the right thing by not poking your head in, okay?"

"Aight."

Befo' I could get wrapped up in my thoughts as my mama walked away, my phone vibrates against the table. It was Dri.

"Wassup, mama?"

I could hea' ha' laughin' on the other end which made me smile. "Hi, baby. I'm watching AFV because I'm so bored. Come over?"

"I can't right now, baybeh. I'm bout to do some work wit' pops. Whea' Kenz and ma at?"

She huffed. "They're both at work. Everybody has to work the one day that I have off."

"Sorry, love." I chuckled. "But pops callin' me so I'ma text you when I can. I luh you."

"I love you."

Hangin' up, I shook my head as I laid my phone back on the table. It's some shit I got to handle today.

Hanging up the phone with Angel, I threw my body backwards onto my bed, flinching once my head came in contact with my headboard.

"Fuck."

The one day I had off of work, everybody else had to work. McKenzie worked until 7 tonight, Celine is working a double, my mom works until 6, and there's no telling how long Angel and his dad are going to be working.

Aviana just got back from a family trip and she was reuniting with her boyfriend Andre so I didn't want to interfere with their alone time.

Honestly, I just needed something to do to keep my mind off of shit. Ever since seeing that Melani chick the other night, my mind kept finding it's way back to the night of Dayna's hotel party.

I've been having "nightmares" about it again, but for some reason, I see Melani's face so vividly in them now. I don't know if it's just because I've had a recent encounter with her, or if it's because of some other reason.

But I'm really feeling like there's another reason to it. Like, part of me really wants to see this girl out again just to ask her why? Maybe she would tell me something that Dayna them wouldn't.

It was like every time I closed my eyes, I saw her, Dayna, and Nicole. Dayna and Nicole's face were of pure evil, but Melani's face wasn't.

It was almost... sympathetic.

As an attempt to clear my mind, I started scrolling through Instagram. Liking a couple of pictures here and there, I then went to the explore page to see if I could find any new nail designs or make-up looks.

"Ohh, these are cute." I said to myself, saving the picture of the nails to my camera roll.

I swear my heart fell out of my ass as I continued scrolling and came across a picture. Clicking on their profile, my stomach started doing all kinds of flips and shit as I really focused on whose page I just so happened to stumble across.

A few minutes went by as I sat there, contemplating my next move. This has to be some kind of sign or something, right? Like, I was literally just talking about her and then I just so happen to- this can't be real.

But it is.

Locking my phone, I closed my eyes. "Dad, God, help me out here. This is a sign, right? This answers the question I was just asking myself, right? So should I, like, just go for it? Should I just hit her up on Instagram? I don't kn- okay. I'm gonna do it."

Unlocking my phone, I hesitated for at least another 10 minutes. But, I have this feeling deep down inside that I need to go for it, and I believe I wouldn't be indulged by this feeling if I shouldn't do it.

Right?

Going for it while I had the balls, I clicked on the "message" button at the top of her profile. Sitting in her DM's for a second, I just let my fingers take over before I could process what I was really doing.

@audri.rumixo : hi

My eye did some kind of twitchy thing when I noticed that she seen my message in less than five minutes.

— @melisbomb.com : Oh hi ..

@audri.rumixo : i come in peace. don't worry.

— @melisbomb.com : Based on the other night I don't know if I should believe that or not

Get straight to it, Dri.

@audri.rumixo : listen, i'm not in your dm to talk about the other night or to apologize about it either. i'm sure you know exactly what i want to talk about.

— @melisbomb.com : I'm aware . Can we do it in person ? Just me and you .

My head cocked to the side as a response. I really wasn't expecting her to want to meet up, but I didn't mind. I had mace and taser on stand-by at all times.

@audri.rumixo : sure. when and where?

— @melisbomb.com : Now , at Starbucks on 42nd ?

@audri.rumixo : okay, be there in like 30.

— @melisbomb.com : Same

Letting out a breath of air, I contemplated on whether or not I should let somebody know where I was going and who I was going to be meeting there. But, ultimately, I decided against it.

I'm a big girl. I'll be fine.

Stepping into a quick two-piece tan set from Fashion Nova, I completed the look with a black fanny pack and black fur slides before heading downstairs and out of the house.

"What if this is a set up?" I questioned to myself quietly. "But she wouldn't be bold enough to try to kill me at Starbucks... right? I'll kill her first."

Thoughts like that consumed my mind the entire 20 minute walk, and before I knew it, I was there. I looked around the parking lot to see if she was already there as if I knew what kind of car to look out for.

I checked my phone to see if I had a message from her letting me know she was here, but I didn't.

I must be here first.

Walking into the Starbucks, I was a little shocked to see that Melani was already here. She had on an orange outfit similar to mine.

Cute.

She had her back to the door, so I tapped her on the shoulder as I took a seat, not wanting to startle the bit- I mean her. Not wanting to startle her.

"Oh. Hey, girl." Melani greeted me.

I sat my phone on the table. "Hi."

"You didn't want any food or nothing to drink?"

"No. I'm good. Just here for one reason." I half-smiled so it didn't come off as rude as it sounded.

She sighed. "Okay. Understandable. Well, I want to start off by saying I am so so so sor-"

"I'm not here for an apology. I jus-"

"I know, but I wouldn't feel okay about this meet-up if I didn't genuinely apologize to you." I inwardly rolled my eyes, but nodded as a sign for her to continue. "I felt like complete shit not helping you because if I was in that predicament, I would hope and pray that somebody helped me."

She stopped talking, so I spoke. "I appreciate the apology, but it doesn't mean much at this point. I want to know was that planned? I mean, like, was it talked about and organized? Was it a set up?"

"Basically. I'm honestly not sure if the whole idea of a hotel sleepover was just a set up or if that was how she actually wanted to celebrate her birthday, but when I got there earlier that day to help Dayna set up, she was talking to Nicole about their "plan". That was my first time meeting Nicole and I guess she didn't like you either because of something about you taking her boyfriend or some-"

I busted out laughing. "He was never her boyfriend. He was always mine, but okay. Continue."

"Oh, I don't know. That's what she kept saying about you though. Anyways, I asked them about whatever the hell they were talking about, and that's when she told me. She said that Adrian was going to "pop up" with Cedrick, Cedrick was going to pull you aside to talk and that's when Adrian was going to put the drugs in your drink. Dayna and Nicole kept saying how they were going to fight you and shit while you were drugged, but neither one of them did. Once you fell asleep, Adrian started messing with you a little bit, but I told him he needed to chill out. He said he didn't have any intentions of doing anything to you, that Cedrick wanted to but Cedrick and Nicole ended up ducking off to the room instead. Honest to God though, I had no intentions of ever playing a part in what was going on."

As my mind was processing everything she was telling me, I felt a lot better knowing that nobody did anything to me, but it hurt to know that all these people were out to get me as if it was funny, or some kind of joke.

It wasn't. This is my fucking life.

"I don't even know who the fuck Adrian is. Why would he even play a part in that shit? He doesn't even know me. Now his ass has a record because he wanted to play monkey see, monkey do."

I felt my self starting to get worked up, so I took a couple of deep breaths. "Why didn't you help me though? You say you had no intentions of doing shit to me, so why not help me?"

"I know I should have stopped it or called the police or something, but- I don't know. I don't know why I didn't. I guess I was upset." She spoke with tears in her eyes, but I really didn't care.

If anyone should be crying right now, it should be me. "Upset for what?"

"Because I was only there for one reason and one reason only."

"And that reason is?"

She closed her eyes, looking down at the table. I really wanted to reach across and bat her, but for some reason, I didn't.

"I just wanted to meet my sister."

"Your sister? Sorry, but what the fuck does that have to do with anything we're talking about right now?"

Tears began to fall down her cheeks. "My sister was supposed to show up with you, but she didn't. I was only there to meet her."

"Supposed to show up with me? Only person that was coming with me was my sister McKenzie, but you don't know her."

Her eyes told me she knew exactly who Kenz was.

"Hold up." I scrunched my eyebrows together. "Are you trying to say that McKenzie is your sister?"

She didn't say anything, just stared at me.

"Is McKenzie your sister?!"

She slightly nodded. "Yep."

What the fuck?