What The Heart Wants (BWWM)

Seventeen: "You're a bad ass bitch and deserve better"

×× Skylar ××

"Wait a minute. He what?" Romeo couldn't believe her ears.

She and Skylar had met up on Saturday afternoon at the mall to catch up on the week's events as they ate since they hadn't seen a lot of each other then.

It was shocking to Romeo how missing a couple of days of being around your friend came along with such news.

"Who the heck is he checking out?" She asked Skylar.

Skylar had just told Romeo about her evening with Justin at her house and about that weird Britney chick.

"I need to have a one on one with Za to hear what he knows cause this aint right." Romeo said.

"No, don't, Romeo." Skylar was calm.

Romeo hated it when Skylar was calm when it was time to fume.

"Why the heck not?"

"Because you were right." Skylar said, "About him not being into black girls."

Romeo said nothing for a while. She bit her lip and wished she hadn't told Skylar that piece of information. Her and her big mouth.

"We still need to find this girl he's tryna reel in and shake her up a little." Romeo said.

Skylar smiled sadly.

"No. We let him be. I'll... find someone when the time is right. I'm not even phased. I'd rather focus on my studies." She tried to console herself.

Romeo could tell that Skylar was crushed. She'd seen her be sad over guys one too many times and felt that she deserved better.

"How did your shoot with Alfredo go?" Skylar changed the topic.

"Oh my gosh it was so different!" Romeo's face lit up and she hoped Skylar's mood would change. "I was a mermaid!"

"What?" Skylar smiled. But it wasn't a genuine smile, although she was genuinely happy for her friend. She was amused and surprised, rather.

Romeo went on to tell Skylar about the shoot and her weird outfit. She said they went to some rich man's mansion that had some cool pool in his backyard that had a waterfall and lots of rocks surrounding it. Romeo had to-- in her words-- 'work her braids' since they were a coverup for her 'small boobies' that were taped so her nipples 'behaved'. She also mentioned a green mermaid tail and lots of makeup.

"I can't wait to see the pictures. Za's helping with the editing and I'm hoping he wont keep any pics for himself cause that would be creepy." Romeo concluded.

"You're on nickname basis with him now?" Skylar finally found an opportunity to interrogate and tease Romeo and that put a real smile on her face.

"'Xavier' is a mouthful." Romeo defended herself.

"You like him. I can tell. You're lowkey into him being all... soft for you. You like the attention."

"He's annoying."

"What did y'all do together when Justin and I went to watch a movie that time Sean stood me up?" Skylar leaned forward on the table and grinned.

"We ate."

"And? What did you talk about?"

"Our education."

"Romeo, don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying. He wanted to know what I was studying so I told him and we spoke about our courses and stuff." She rolled her eyes.

"You like him though. Admit it. Just a tiny bit " Skylar smiled.

"I don't." Romeo blushed.

Skylar started laughing.

"He doesn't have the beard or the tattoos!" Romeo said.

"Romeo, don't fight the feeling. You'll push too hard. I know you act like you don't like him but... you'd look cute together. And he's funny, isn't he?"

"He suffers from verbal diarrhoea, that's all it is." Romeo chuckled.

Skylar laughed.

"At least give the guy a chance." She said.

"Nah. I like being chased after. It makes me feel good." Romeo batted her lashes.

"One day you gon' push too hard..."

"There's a skill to this sort of thing, babe. While he's in hot pursuit, I get to get whatever I want from him. I could ask him to ask Justin about you and he would because he just wants to impress me. Hell, I could tell him to rob a bank for me and he would. He's smitten and I know how to play my cards right."

"So you're just gonna use him for your own pleasure and entertainment? Romeo, that's cruel."

"I might give in some time. Emphasis on 'might'. But that doesn't mean I'm done looking for my bearded bae. If he walked past and I was on a date with Za, I'd be out."

Skylar laughed again and shook her head at her friend.

"You need Jesus." She told Romeo.

Romeo smiled and fiddled with her bullet pendant on her necklace.

Skylar had been meaning to ask about it since she first saw Romeo in the lecture hall. Romeo always wore it and Skylar wondered why.

"Did you make that necklace yourself?" She asked.

Romeo looked at the pendant and smiled.

"Yeah. Don't ask where I got to bullet. I had to pull some strings." She cleared her throat and checked the coast.

Skylar's jaw dropped.

"I'm joking. I got the bullet from my dad. He's a cop." Romeo smiled. "I had this idea once... I wanted to find a way to constantly remind myself that I'm powerful and strong and... you know, all that fierce stuff. So I made this."

"That's pretty cool. Do you make a lot of your own jewellery?"

"Yup. I make stuff for my family too, except my dad. He's picky. But I once made him a wooden bracelet with my date of birth carved in Roman numerics so he wears it everyday to work and reminds himself that he's not allowed to get killed because I'd be mad at him if he did." Romeo smiled softly. "Roman numerics. See what I did there?"

Skylar smiled.

"You're really creative." She said.

"It's quite easy when you know what you want and what message you want to send out. Quite frankly, I think you should keep this necklace so you can always remember that you're a bad ass bitch and deserve better so these boys stop messing with you." Romeo took her necklace off and held it out to Skylar.

"Romeo..."

"I will strangle you with it if you don't take it." she threatened with a smile on her face.

Skylar hesitated to take it. She slowly put it on and then thanked Romeo.

"We gon' find you a hottie that'll have Justin feeling like he should've asked you out. There's this art exhibition at school next week. Wanna come with me? My future husband might have a less hairier, un-pierced, minimally tatted twin brother." Romeo grinned and Skylar couldn't say no.

Romeo giggled and started singing.

Soon enough, Skylar joined in and the hurt she once felt had vanished thanks to this crazy friend she'd made in varsity.