Bloom

05 | double date

"Whatever, girl." I playfully roll my eyes and grab the bag of gummy worms on my dresser.

"Well, I guess I'll give credit. You do look good, Nadi."

"Hoe, you better give credit." Nadirah turns her back to me and I loosen the strings behind her. She slides the garment down to her ankles and gets redressed in her sweatpants and t-shirt.

"Hey, I called you annoying, I never said that you were ugly though." Lira shrugs, eyeing her smugly. "I took this bartending class a couple of years ago. Maybe I can finally put what I've learned to use at Pink Whiskey."

"Hold up, you tryna work at a club? A strip club at that?" I pull a red gummy worm apart with my teeth and sit back down on my desk chair. "For what?"

"A little extra money never hurt nobody."

"As much shit as you done talked, I know you lying." Nadirah pulls her shirt over her stomach and furrows her eyebrows together.

"Well, from what you described this seems more up my alley. Getting dressed up to make pretty drinks and having well endowed men tell me how good I look? A dream come true."

"Mhm, well if yo' daddy got any connections up there then hook me up too. I don't start til the weekend but still put a good word in for me."

It's no secret that almost everything that comes Lira's way was because of her family's wealth.

"Will do. Consider us coworkers."

"I don't know if Nadi gone be able to leave Fuego without tellin' Mack where she going. How else will he find you?" I tease.

"Shut up!" The smirk on her face matches my own as she holds her hand out towards me. I give her the bag of gummy worms and she grabs a few before returning it. "How do you know his name?"

"He came into Heated Prime one night. And because I served him alcohol, I had to look at his ID." I shrug and she runs her tongue across her teeth to contain her smile.

"Is that how you met his lil' friend that was finna beat a nigga ass about you that night?"

I knew that was coming.

"Yeah," I sigh and Nadirah laughs. "But I don't really know him for real, I just run into him from time to time. He's nice."

"Mhmm." Nadirah grabs another gummy worm from the bag and gives me a knowing look. "So is Mack."

"Y'all could at least offer me one!" Lira jumps up from the bed with a stretch before getting a couple for herself.

Together we finish the entire bag and chat about nothing of importance for an extra hour.

"Aight G, I'm bouta dip. I appreciate you!"

"Yeah, me too."

I walk them to the front door and watch them get into their vehicles before shutting the door and heading back into my room. My phone is dry except for another stale "wyd" text message from Semaj. I continue to ignore it, not in the mood for pointless conversation and turn on my speaker.

"Alone, every night alone. Why am I alone when I know that you want me too? Am I wrong? Tell me that I'm wrong. Tell me I deserve all the pain that you put me through, oh"

I grab my dirty clothes hamper and sing along to SiR's "John Redcorn," walking into the laundry room and dumping everything inside the washing machine. The detergent smells heavenly and I add a little more than necessary — a bad habit I've had for years.

"You don't ever bring me good news, babe.
I just wanna be the one you choose, babe."

Once I've made it back into my room, I put all of my loose and cut up fabric neatly into their designated bins and wipe down my desk and dresser with lemon scented Lysol. Thirty minutes later, I feel productive and satisfied with how good everything smells and looks, deciding to lay down and scroll through social media.