Nobody's Business (BOOK ONE)

Chapter 8

"Where are you headed?" Aubrey's aunt asks Saturday morning when Aubrey walks into the kitchen. She's sitting at the kitchen table making herself some coffee and watching as her niece enter the room. She eyes her outfit choices for the day. A turquoise tank top with high waisted shorts and a pair of doc martens. A much better choice than the skimpy clothing she wore when she arrived here from Florida last month.

Aubrey heads to the cabinets to grab a packet of granola bars. "Some girls from school are going to take me around the town."

"That's it?" Her aunt questions, eyeing her skeptically.

Aubrey rolls her eyes, "Yes ma'am. I promise not to get into any illegal trouble." She reassure her aunt. They both fall silent at the mention of illegal acts. Over the summer Aubrey was constantly landing herself in holding cells in Florida for things such as shop lifting, breach of peace, and vandalism. Her mother got so sick of having to bail her youngest daughter out that shel packed Aubrey's bags, picked her up from the police station and put her on a plane to Connecticut to live with her Aunt Janet.

Aubrey tears open the package of granola bars and quickly devours the first bar before starting on the next one. Her Aunt watches her quickly gobble down the crunch snack before moving to the fridge in search for something else to eat. Janet takes a sip of her coffee, "Have you talked to that boy yet?"

"Nope. Don't worry about it though, I got this under control." Aubrey says, wishing her aunt would get out her business.

"I hope so, because your mother wants an update on how things are going so far." Janet tells her.

Aubrey scoffs, grabbing a handful of grapes before slamming the fridge shut. "If she cared, she wouldn't have shipped me off to this stupid state."

"You shouldn't be upset with anyone but yourself. You got yourself in this stupid situation that could have easily been avoided if---"

"If I was a perfect angel like your Victoria right?" Aubrey snaps, saying the name of her older sister with spite. "I'm sorry for not being the poster child for perfection. That's the problem with this family. Everyone is so damn perfect that one screw up results in me being shipped away to an aunt I didn't even know existed until a month ago."

Before her aunt can say anything more, Aubrey snatches the keys off the hook and storms out the house, slamming the door hard behind her. She walks across the grass to her aunts 2008 Ford Taurus, unlocking the doors and getting in. She quickly starts the engine and backs out taking off the down the street following the directions that Sevyn texted her earlier in the day. Her grip on the steering wheel is tight as she drives, staring blankly ahead.

Aubrey hates dealing with her aunt Janet. She never even met the woman yet she's being forced to live with her. If she wants still classified as minor Aubrey would have happily searched for her own apartment in Florida where she can do what she wants when she wants. Since this isn't the case, she stuck in a house with an aunt only knows the bad things about Aubrey. Yeah she acted out during the summer by sneaking into clubs every night, dressing slutty at house parties, messing with random dudes and drinking, all because she was heart broken about her ex boyfriend Jeremiah dumping her for her sister Victoria.

Victoria is everything that Aubrey isn't. Consistently good grades, perfect body, perfect hair, perfect smile, tons of friends and a helluva lot of male admirers. She was an high honors student, cheerleader and head of the debate team. She was everything that a mother would want.

Aubrey on the other hand was more lazy towards school, had only a handful of friends and only three boyfriends in her life. She was genuinely happy with Jeremiah, but their whole relationship was a lie. He used her to get close to her sister and ended up kissing her. Aubrey caught them in the act when she came home from school the day after he broke it off with her. She was so enraged that she ended up throwing glass vases at both of their heads and leaving the house for a whole week to sleep at her friend Tyena's house. Aubrey got into the habit of drinking and soon things spiraled out of control. She never meant to screw up so badly that her mother would kick out the house.

Shaking her head, Aubrey comes to a red light and pulls out her phone to text Sevyn. "Pulling up to your house. Come out."

A few seconds later Sevyn replies with an ok and thumbs up emoji. Aubrey tosses her phone into the cup holder and turns on the radio to push away the angry thoughts about her aunt in her head. She bobs her head to Drake's monotone voice as the light turns green. Ten minutes and four songs later, Aubrey pulls up the Sevyn's house and honks the horn while taking in the two story cream colored house with the two cars parked in the drive way.

The door opens and instead of Sevyn coming out, Ty bounds down the three steps and cuts across the lawn to reach Aubrey's car. With a discreet roll of her eyes, Aubrey lowers the window and Ty pokes his head inside. "It's only been 24 hours since we saw each other. You just can't stay away can you?" He says with a cocky smile.

Aubrey laughs, "Boy stop hyping yourself up. I'm here for Sevyn, not you."

"You a lesbian now? Cuz you're pursing the wrong girl. Monica is the one that likes the kitty, not Sevyn." Ty jokes. Aubrey sighs and shakes her head. Ty is cute and all but he's too confident for his own good and Aubrey doesn't have time for games. As Ty continues to spit game at her, Sevyn emerges from the house with Monica by her side. They approach the car and Sevyn yanks him away from the window by his collar. "Stop harassing the poor girl. She don't want you."

"Go somewhere Sevyn, this conversation don't concern you." He snaps at her, tugging his self from her grasp.

Aubrey unlocks the doors and climbs over to the passenger side as Sevyn gets in the drivers seat and Monica gets in the back. Aubrey looks up at Ty with her almond shaped eyes, "I hate to mess up your flow but your sister is gonna take me sight seeing."

"Damn, when we gonna chill Aubrey? I'm the best sight to see, I'm the whole package." He says, grabbing his crotch suggestively. Aubrey's eyebrows shoot up at how straight forward he is and Sevyn burst out laughing at her alarmed expression.

Monica rolls down her window, "Nigga you stay thirsty, I swear. Desperation isnt cute."

Ty gives her the evil eye, "Don't you got some girl to lick down or something?"

"Of course I do, which is more than what you'll be getting today cuz you ain't shit." Monica retorts, giving him a smug smirk and a wave goodbye as Sevyn drives off. The girls crack up as they cruise down the street.

"Where to ladies?" Aubrey asks, relaxing in the seat beside Sevyn.

"Downtown, blueback square and then we'll take you to the best malls. By the time we're done we'll be worn out. Sevyn says, turning the steering wheel to the left towards the highway.

"Sounds good." Aubrey replies, turning up the stereo and they all start dancing in their seats to Chris Brown's melodic voice.


By the time five thirty rolled around, the girls are collapsed in chairs in the courtyard of a shopping center a few blocks away from the mall. Aubrey's feet are aching from walking around all day going from town to town, store to store, mall to mall and club to club. She envies Sevyn's strong athletic legs and Monica's shop-a-holic ways. They would probably still be walking if Aubrey hasn't suggested they take a break.

"I feel like I've just walked through three states." Aubrey says.

Sevyn laughs through the hot sun, "Seriously? We didn't even go through half of Connecticut. Just Hartford, Manchester, Waterbury and a few others."

"Well with the sun practically roasting me right now along with my aching legs, I'm pretty worn out." Aubrey says, poking her sore legs. Monica rolls her eyes and looks across the street.

"Let's get something to drink from Dunkin Donuts. At least they have shade." She suggest. The other girls agree and grab the few bags from the mall before walking along the crosswalk to get to Dunkin Donuts. The smell of chocolate and coffee hits their noses as soon as they walk in. A few people sit in window seats, watching the passer bys and others are staring up at the menu behind the counter. "Well well well, if it isn't Dough boy." Monica teases.

Sevyn laughs once she's grabbed an apple juice from the freezer. "Look at him in his cute little outfit she coos."

"Mmm, look at that cake." Monica admires, pretending to reach out and squeeze his ass. People in line give them disgusted looks as the girls burst out laughing. Monica shoots them evil glares, forcing them to look away. "Ayo baby boo, give me a slice of that cake.

"We don't have c---" Corey stops mid sentence when he sees the familiar faces. He smiles and shakes his head, "Why y'all always come here terrorizing me? Can't you see I'm trying to make bread?"

"Yeah we see that Dough Boy." Sevyn mocks, laughing as he rolls his amber eyes at them. She hands him her apple juice as Monica orders a sandwich from the menu and Aubrey gets a frozen lemonade. Corey rings them up before stepping out from behind the counter and heading over to a table for four. "What have yall been getting into today?" He ask.

"Giving Aubrey a tour of our beautiful town." Sevyn replies, playing with the wrapper of her straw. Corey glances over at Aubrey who's eyeing Monica's sandwich with distaste.

"How you liking CT so far?" He asks her, watching as she looks up at him.

"It's alright, completely different than Florida though. It's more quaint here." She tells him, finding her self mesmerized by his almost golden eyes. She's never seen anyone with that eye color before and they have definitely captured her attention as they talk. Sevyn looks between Cordell and Aubrey, a smile stretching across her face.

Corey hasn't had a girlfriend in a while. He's had a good amount of girlfriends but they never last very long. It's not like he's a smash and dash type of guy, he's just looking for the right girl. Sevyn raises her eyebrow, maybe she should set them up. She looks at Monica, tryin to have a mental conversation with her regarding Aubrey and Corey but she's too busy slurping her Coolata. How lady like.

Sevyn looks back at Corey and her face falls when she notices the fading red mark across his neck. "Corey..." She says, his amber eyes flick over to her and she furrows her brows. "What happened to your neck?"

"And your eye." Monica comments from where's shes sitting next to him, eyeing the corner of his eye where she can see slight swelling and a purple bruise.

Corey shifts in his seat, suddenly feeling like he's under a microscope. "Shaun and I went to the club the other day and he got into some beef with this random dude over this girl. I jumped in and the guy got a few good hits in. The disadvantage of bein lightskin, you see every cut and bruise." He jokes, shrugging his shoulder.

"Corey!" A girl with black and blonde block braids behind the counter snaps, her eyes furious. "Are done slacking yet? We got impatient customers over here."

"Chill mami I'm coming." He reassure her before looking back at his friends and rolling his eyes. "That girl stay riding my jock. Lemme go before she come over here with her ghetto ass."

"Byeee," the girls chorus, waving to him as he gets up and head back over to the counter. As soon as he's gone, Sevyn tosses Aubrey a sly smirk. "Oooh mami are you feeling papi?" She asks, trying her best to sound like Monica.

Monica giggles, "Don't ever do that again chica. Ain't no Latina in your blood sweetheart."

Aubrey smiles and glances at Corey, "I might be feeling him. His swagger is a ten and he's fine. Who knows what might happen." She says truthfully. Sevyn smirks, already planning out how she's gonna set them up. Her parents call it meddling, she likes to call it community service.

*** Sorry for errors :P
Comments please ^.^