{DENIAL}

• nine •

"Ugh, Shelby it is way to early for this." Lizzo wined as her hair stylist greeted her at her door.

"Oh, shut the fuck up." She grabbed Melissa's wrist, dragging her out of her house and into the car that was waiting in the driveway.

It was oddly soothing to be outside. Lizzo had never really taken in her surroundings since she had bought her new house. Unfortunately, the process of her admiration for the things around her was cut short when she was shoved into the back of Shelby's vehicle.

"You were looking around like I was kidnapping you or something!"

Lizzo let out a soft giggle in reply.

As they were driving to a place unbeknownst to her, she looked out of the tinted windows. She noticed a young girl, in her teens or very early 20's, walking a German Shepherd. This girl looked pretty upset, like she had just gotten some bad news.

Melissa always wondered why she would get so invested in stranger's lives just by looking at them. Almost every time she saw someone, she'd feel their energy and if she could sense they weren't feeling their best, she'd feel the need to do something about it. She wanted to run to the girl and turn her bad day into a good one, but knowing she was too late, she simply sat there as the girl's figure slowly faded into nothingness.

Shelby glanced at the viewfinder, "Hey, you okay back there? You look a little out of it, sis."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm good. I was just daydreaming."

"Ooooh, about your future man or what?" She teased.

Lizzo, still looking out the window, smiled softly and replied, "Something like that."

Shelby shook her head and laughed as the car was pulled to a stop. "Okay, we're here."

The moment Melissa realized where her hairstylist had taken her, she scoffed. "You woke me up, practically dragged me out of the house, only to end up at your place? This is bullshit."

"Oh, shut the fuck up and come on."

"You know, if I got a dollar for every time you said that to me, I'd be—"

Shelby interrupted, "You're already rich, so you can't even use that saying. Now let's go!" She grabbed her best friend's wrist for the second time that day, leading her into her living room.

"Okay great, why am I here?"

"Remember when I told you I had a surprise?"

Shelby's grin grew as Lizzo became more and more alarmed, "Uh...yes?"

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice behind her, "Wassup, girl?!"

Lizzo spun around as fast as she could and ran into the arms of the person in front of her. "SOPHIA!"

After their embrace Melissa said, "I thought you couldn't visit us because of your new DJ job!"

"Oh, well you know...I figured it out. You know I had to come see you!"

"There's so much she's gotta catch you up on." Shelby chimed in, "Some crazy shit went down."

Sophia Eris furrowed her eyebrows, noticing Lizzo's sudden melancholy. "What the hell happened while I was gone?"

Shelby grabbed both of the women's hands and smiled, "Let's not talk about that right now. Tonight we're going out with the rest of our hoes and we're gonna have fun." She side-eyed Melissa, "Right?"

"Right."

_____

"I can't believe you're actually going to do a show with Chris Brown! That's mind-blowing!" Sophia yelled over the loud music.