Smile

Got 'im

"Hey, Justin. How're you?", I smiled sweetly my words slow like molasses. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care.

"Good... I missed you", he was lying through his teeth with his girlfriend watching.

A laugh burst out of me and I couldn't control it. "Whatever! Please, Justin, save it for the media. You didn't even tell me you were seeing her again", I couldn't stop laughing. It was more like a nervous giggle but this was just all too hilarious.

"Sorry", he said obviously feeling as dumb as he looked.

"Sorry my ass", I was still laughing my ass off when Selena approached.

"Hi, is everything okay?", she looked at Justin then at me and looked positively shocked.

"It's fine", I said calming down enough to speak normally but I was still smiling like a maniac. "It's nice to meet you", I stuck my hand out to her.

Hesitantly, she took it. Her handshake was that of a two month old. "Nice to meet you", she paused like she was trying to decide if she should say what she was thinking or hold it back. "I'm sorry. I thought you were crying", she said looking the slightest bit guilty.

I scoffed loudly, "Honestly, for a while I wanted to. But I don't shed tears", I paused and peered up at Justin, "for boys". I heard the sound of a microphone being turned on then smiled up at the couple. "Excuse me, but my friend is about to perform. Can you move?".

The two shuffled away and Naomi, the girl who took the pictures, looked at me with shocked disbelief, then she broke out in a full out grin. "That was awesome!", she congratulated me.

"It felt awesome", I said feeling happy for the first time in weeks.

Ky was looking at me concerned, "Are you okay?".

"Fine, Ky. Take a picture with me".

That night we took so many pictures. I got a bunch with Colson and Wiz and Waka Flocka and the guys. We had a blast. Dad was upset that I didn't get back until four in the morning and about the fact that I now had three cars.

"How much did this all cost you?", he asked heatedly.

I thought over the numbers in my head, tilting my head from side to side. "About half a million dollars", I said calmly watching my father's anger skyrocket.

"Stephanie Jane Wilks!".

"Dad, do you know how much money I have saved. Those cars barely made a dent in my bank account".

He chewed his lip furiously, but I could see him start to calm down. "Stephanie, I just want to to be careful about spending so much money at one time".

"Dad. What am I gonna do with the millions I have saved? They can't just sit there!", this was getting ridiculous. "Look, I know you want me to be responsible with my finances, but seriously, Dad. What's the point of having money you can't spend? Being rich and just sitting on piles of money is useless".

He looked like he was having an internal battle over all of this. "Just be more responsible", he said finally.

"Yes, Dad", I complied.

It was two when I finally decided to go out. Chris was outside with Crawford and Karisma playing Frisbee. Crawford waved to me and I returned it.

"Steph, come play!", Karisma called.

Chris went rigid. Just then a bright blue Volkswagen Beetle pulled into Chris' driveway and out popped Blondie. She bounced over to Chris flinging her arms around him. My stomach sunk into my shoes. I really couldn't stand her. She caught sight of me and grimaced.

I just waved to Karisma and Crawford. "Sorry, I have to go to the store".

I walked around Melissa that was parked on the left to my new baby, Monica. Monica, the Lamborghini Veneno I'd gotten last night was parked on the right out of sight while Maxine, my Roush, was parked in behind Melissa. I pulled out smoothly and started driving down the road but was stopped by Crawford.

"Dude! Is this yours?", he asked in awe.

I put her in neutral, "Yeah. Got her last night".

"Can I ride?", he was practically drooling.

"Go tell your mom because I'm gonna be gone for a while".

Crawford reached for the door yelling over his shoulder, "Chris, tell mom I'm going with, Steph!".

"Ah, ah, ah!", I shouted before he could touch the handle. "Don't touch", I pressed the button for the passenger side door and the door rotated up and open.

I saw Blondie's mouth drop along with Chris' and Karisma's. It was satisfactory to see her jealous. As soon as Crawford was buckled in I dropped the door and sped away.

"Dude, this is sweet", Crawford surveyed my car like he was a kid at Disney World for the first time. "How much was it?".

"Little over 400", I said gliding to the right.

"Grand?", he asked as though it wasn't obvious.

I laughed, "No. 400 nickels".

"No way!", he said playing along.

"Way. Went in the dealership and was 'Aye, gimme dat' and the guy was like '400,000' and I was like 'I got 400 nickels. Let's do this'", we were both cracking up by the end of my false story.

"Steph, you should be a comedian", Crawford said flashing his dimples.

"I already am, Crawfish", I said in a low tone suddenly feeling insanely down. "So, what's up McCraw? Anything crazy happen lately?", I asked changing the subject hoping to hear some news about Chris.

Crawford shook his head, "No, not really. Everything has been sup-per boring. Chris has been moping around like a zombie and Karisma... well, she's Karisma. And Kirsten is never home, so yeah". He sounded like it was going pretty rough.

I reached over and ruffled his hair, "Awe, cheer up, buttercup. You're hanging out with this awesome chick today, so no worries".

"Not the hair!", Crawford whined running his hands through his hair trying to fix it.

"Oh, shut up. You look like a turtle had sex in your hair with a turkey", that was bad. It sounded good in my head though.

Crawford looked at me laughing, "What does that even look like?".

"There's a mirror right there", I said pulling into the mall parking lot.

Crawford made the "Oh" face and said "Oh, ho ho! Got me".

"Yes. Yes I did".