{DENIAL}

• nine •

Lizzo grinned, "Yeah, it's fucking crazy! But, I'm still kinda nervous to meet him! Like what if he doesn't like me!?"

"Is that the sound of you worrying!?" Lexo joined the conversation, "Girl, we're here to party! Loosen up!"

Melissa never had any problems going to clubs. The large amount of people and deafening music didn't bother her until now. It annoyed her that her friends didn't realize that she just wasn't into it, but she still tried her best to have a good time.

"I'm gonna go ahead and order a drink, okay? You guys stay here." Lizzo said before walking off towards the bartender. "I will take literally anything strong, my anxiety's through the roof."

As soon as the drink was handed to her, she gulped it down. She immediately winced and came to terms with the fact that she underestimated the beverage's kick.

"My Lord, what is in that!?!"

The bartender laughed, "That's the zombie. It's got pretty much everything in it. Good, right?"

"Yeah." She nodded in reply and coughed, "It's fuckin' great."

The bartender simply smiled and shook his head, then proceeded to move on to another customer.

Lizzo played with the straw in her drink, twirling it around in the glass and watching the ice cubes follow the whirlpool she was creating.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

Melissa turned around to face a short and very thin woman. Her outfit was almost overwhelmingly pink, which didn't fit well with her undertone.

"Uh, yeah. Do you need help with something?" She stammered after trying her best to stop staring at this girl's terrible choice of clothing.

The woman gave a fake smile, "Matter of fact, yes. My boyfriend over there won't stop looking at you, so I came over here to set the record straight. He's mine, bitch."

"Sis, I ain't thinking about your man!" Lizzo laughed and turned back around, taking a sip of her drink. "You really should be worried about whether he's over there hitting on another girl though, cause he sound like a player."

Just as those words came out of her mouth, she felt a small hand grab her ponytail. She slid off her chair and followed her as the woman pulled.

"Bitch, I don't even know your name and you want to fight?"

"It's Brittany!"

Lizzo raised her eyebrows and said nonchalantly, "That—that makes sense." The only reason she was so calm was because she was convinced that this girl didn't know anything about throwing hands. "So, are you ever gonna punch me or are you just gonna attempt to drag me by my hair for the next ten minutes, cause I'm bored as fuck."

Brittany sighed, "You should be afraid of me."

"You're literally 2 ft tall and shaped like a chopstick, and I'm supposed to be scared?"

This was the saddest fight she had ever been involved in. Whenever she got into an altercation at a club or bar, (which wasn't often), there would at least be a crowd of people surrounding them. Some encouraging and some trying to break it up. But, this was so pathetic that no one even noticed it was happening.

"Girl, you even stopped moving. It straight-up looks like I asked you to fix my weave. What are you doing?"

"Shut up!" Brittany pulled her hair harder and wrapped the ponytail around her fist, "I'm not the person to mess with, I'll—"

"Brittany, let her go!" A familiar voice said.

She released her hair and Melissa looked up, meeting Jemel's eyes. She couldn't help but laugh at the entire situation. "Boy, do you know how to pick them."

"I'm right here!" Brittany wined.

"Okay...Beatrice." She rolled her eyes, then continued her conversation with Jemel. "Well, I'm glad you found someone that you like—"

She stopped mid-sentence when she saw his pure panic. She had been around him so long, she knew exactly what he wanted her to do.

"I know it didn't work out between us, but you know lil' Johnny misses you. He hasn't seen you in months and I've been trying to make excuses up for you because of the child support you haven't been paying."

Brittany rested a hand on Jemel's shoulder, "Ugh, you have a kid? I'm out."

The moment she was out of sight, he firmly embraced Lizzo. His way of saying thank you, of course.

"I promised my homeboy I would take his sister on a date because she wouldn't shut up about me. This is the first time we've actually seen each other like that, and she really thought we were in a relationship! The bitch is crazy!"

"I'm so sorry you had to spend more than five minutes with her." Melissa grabbed her drink off the table and offered some to him, "You might need this just to recover."

"Please." He took the drink from her, then sat beside her at the table. "So, did you come here by yourself?"

"If that's your way of asking about my love life, then I'm just gonna tell you right now. It's gone to shit."

He waved her off, "Oh, hush."

"Jemel, I'm serious." She heavily exhaled before grabbing her drink back to take the last sip, "I don't know if it's because I'm picky or what, but no one is good enough for me. Or maybe subconsciously I think I'm not good enough for them? Oh my God, what if I'm self-sabotaging? That's a thing, isn't it?"

"Lizzo."

She continued, "I mean, don't you think it's weird that all my relationships never last? Like what's up with that? I'm the common denominator here, so it has to be me. But like, what the fuck am I doing wrong? It's not that I'm freaking out, cause I'm in my early 20's, I have a lot of time to get married and start a family but—"

"Lizzo!" She turned towards him, "Breathe. Either that, or get another drink. I only like you when you're sober or totally drunk, cause when you're in between, you're a lot to process."

"Gee, thanks."

Jemel placed his hand on top of hers, "You will be just fine. Stop worrying so much and enjoy what you have. You are talented, kind, generous, beautiful...the list could go on! The right person will find you, but you can't rush it."

Melissa felt an arm wrap around her shoulder, "You've been here this whole time? We were wondering why you didn't come back."

"Sophia? Lizzo didn't tell me you were back in town!" Jemel stood up to greet her and as they were catching up, Lizzo slipped away.

She walked outside and sat on the curb. Looking into the pitch black sky, she wondered if her father was really watching her. Secretly wishing for a sign, she continued to stare above her. She began to notice a single, twinkling star that she swore hadn't been there previously.

Feeling a lot more hopeful than before, she smiled and said, "Now I just need you to lead me in the right direction."

A/N:
as you can tell this chapter was meant to be more comedic. i'm sorry it's taken a while for me to get back to writing this. i hope enjoyed reading this chapter <3

hope ur having a good day or night

- chae 💜