Lost

Best Friends Forever

Kimi was getting dressed while Justin and Jason were watching the news in the front room. She checked herself out in the mirror and pulled her hair out of the ponytail, fluffing it out and deciding to wear it out. She left her face bare and grabbed her lip balm.

"I'm ready, Justin!" she called to the front as she went for her bag and shoes. Justin went and got his keys.

"Bye, Jason," Kimi called as Justin led her out.

"Bye."

Justin took Kimi to Ya-Ya's school, getting out and going to open her door. But before he let her out, he stopped and held her around the waist for a moment. "Remember what I told you. If you want to go home, I'll take you home. You want to stay with me, I won't let no one have you nowhere you don't wanna be."

She just nodded and he leaned down and kissed her before letting her go and she headed inside to let Lonyé do her hair. Ya-Ya was happy to see Kimi and greeted her with a wide smile.

Justin got back in his truck and headed to Blue Horizons, finding Daniella taking an order. When she got the order to the kitchen, he pulled her aside and she looked at him as if he'd lost his mind when he grabbed her arm. "I'm working. What do you need?" she asked.

"To talk to you and you about to calm down, talkin' to me crazy. I ain't Kimi."

She rolled her eyes and snatched her arm away from him. "Talk about what?" she sneered.

"See, yo ass need to calm down. I ain't here to check you, yell at you, spaz on you. None of that. I just want to talk to you," he told her with the coolest demeanor.

Daniella didn't know Justin. She only knew about Justin Paliotta what was whispered in the streets and sighed off her sister's lips. She was almost taken off guard by how cool he was and how he wasn't flipping although she had. Not once had she had this man raise his voice at her even if his tone got a bit harsher.

"Well you need to wait a minute," she told him, going to get an order for another of her tables and making haste in putting them onto her serving tray and carrying the food out. Justin watched her placing the food in front of the patrons, smiling and talking to them the whole while.

He had never given much thought to Daniella before, never watching her interacting with the customers while he was there. But she was certainly something to look at. And her customers seemed to like her. Everyone at the table was smiling at her, seemingly vying for her attentions. Daniella chuckled at some joke before she left the table and came to take her next order to the next table.

When Daniella finally got a break, she went back to see what Justin wanted, and he led her to a table in the back, even pulling out a seat for her. She was a bit surprised by that as she sat and he sat across from her.

The two sat silently for a few seconds as Daniella watched Justin patiently, still keeping her eye on her dining room to make sure her tables all were doing alright. Regardless of what Justin needed, she was going to make sure she got the best tips she could get.

"You do know the root of all this shit, right?" he checked.

Daniella sighed. She did know exactly what the root of the problem was. And while she understood where Kimi was coming from, she wondered whether Kimi understood her side as well. But it didn't seem that she did.

"It's because I picked up a third job."

"That's not the root of the problem, Daniella."

"Enlighten me." She rolled her eyes at him.

Justin looked at Daniella with an indifferent expression, wondering what her issue was. He hadn't done anything. He was simply trying to lay the foundation for her and her sister to fix what the hell was wrong and she giving him this attitude. Fortunately for her, he had many a smartass sister and could deal with his girlfriend's.