Ａ ｄａｓｈ ｏｆ Ｓｕｇａｒ．☔︎

10. Amends.

For the next two weeks, I avoided Brian and Malik at all costs. I never stayed at his house, only at my apartment. I came out extra early to cook breakfast and lunch. How I managed to avoid them when I was cooking dinner was beyond me. I just couldn't bring myself to talk to them, and I didn't even know why. I was surprised that Brian hadn't told Yanna to fire me.

I was just about finished cooking dinner when I heard the front door being unlocked.

"Fuck!" I kept whisper yelling to myself like I'd been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

I almost wanted to run and hide, but they'd know that I was here. So I continued to cook, preparing myself for whatever happened.

Laith, Angelo, Derrick, Malik, and Brian all walked into the kitchen. They had been laughing, but when they saw me it got really quiet. I just continued to cook.

You'd think they forgot what I looked like, the way they were staring. I colored my hair ombré last week, the bottom half was blonde. I realized that my hair was still down, so I quickly pulled it into a bun. Since no one was saying anything I didn't either.

"Saria?" I knew from the voice that it was Brian.

I slowly turned to face them, "Yeah?"

"We need to talk," he said in a firm, almost upset voice. "Come to the den with me."

He started to walk down the hall towards the stairs, and I followed behind. He moved over to let me through and we both sat on the couch.

"Do you want this job or not? Because if you don't, you're more than free to quit" he was using a carefree tone.

"Respectfully Mr. Caesar," I said quickly, "If I wanted to quit I would have." And I really didn't believe it or not, I actually really like my job.

"Why have you been so distant for the past two weeks then?" he asked.

"I just..." I didn't know how to respond, Huffing, I just said what I felt. If I was going to keep working for him I had the right to be honest. "What you said to me..that night-"

He sighed. "I knew that's what this was about. I don't like you like that. Everything I said, I only said because I was drunk."

He almost sounded as if he was annoyed. Like I was hopeful or something.

"Good because it made me uncomfortable," I shot back in a serious tone. He looked at me a bit taken aback. They all seriously thought I was just some groupie. Disgusting.
"If I'm going to work for you, I don't want any parts in your lover's qualms. I'm not a damn groupie or a plaything. I'm your chef. And that shit you pulled, that's the last time you throw me under the bus or I will drag your name through the mud. Got it?"

"I- I'm sorry, you're right. You're totally right. I guess I'm just used to women you're age with your looks being a certain way," he admitted, realizing he'd approached me wrong to begin with. Probably thought that way because of his little girlfriend. "I didn't want you to act unprofessional because of who I am and I turned around and did it myself. That was wrong of me."

"Yeah, it was," I grumbled. "And I guess I'm sorry for throwing coffee on you even though you deserved it. I hope you and Erica work things out."

"Erica and I got back together last week, no harm done," he said flatly.

Ain't this a bitch! Threw me under the bus for NOTHING!

"Well shit, never mind then" I snorted. "We can just act like it never happened, I suppose."

"So can everything go back to normal? You be nice to me, I'll be nice to you?" he grinned.

"I'm always nice to you," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.