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M I A M I V I B E S
The Miami culture was beautiful, and so was the weather, especially when we were seated outdoors at the Social Club restaurant on South Beach. It was around eleven, meaning it was time for brunch and mimosas. It was my first time trying a mimosa, but I was excited to try it. I decided to try their bottomless mimosas of Gerard Bertrand rose champagne.
There was music playing outside, and I wasn't surprised that it took a while to be seated, but I didn't complain since the restaurant was so busy.
"Sorry for the holdup," The server named Keon apologized. "I have four rose champagne mimosas, two champagne Chandon imperial mimosas, a green iced tea, two mint melange teas, and Pineapple Express juice, is that correct?"
We nodded our heads, watching him set the drinks in front of us. Then, we started placing our orders. I ordered their chicken and waffles. As Keon finished taking our orders, he walked away not before letting us know that it wouldn't be too long.
"I want yall to know that I genuinely appreciate you all for coming out here," Tatyana uttered, holding her mimosa. "Y'all didn't have to, but yall did, and I'm enjoying it all with you. I know my birthday isn't official until midnight, but I'm just as happy to celebrate it with my friends."
Tatyana's whole aura today was extremely golden and vibrant as she dressed in a red ruched skirt set and her black ankle-strap sandals. Her hair was curly and wavy, as it was also waist-length, while her makeup was flawless. She looked so happy to be here with us as it rubbed off on us all a lot.
"What's next for the day?" Terrell asked, rubbing their hands together.
"Well, I have something planned for the girls," Tatyana answered. "But don't worry, yall are not left out. Especially since Raheem planned the same for yall; we will all go swimming in the pool afterward."
I wasn't sure what the plan exactly was, but the fact it was just us girls doing something together; and the guys doing something together as well made me think it could be our very own spa day treatment that we all desperately needed.
"But as it gets later in the night. We're going to the club," Malaysia asserted.
"I heard about their clubs, that it's a fun experience," Toya declared.
I had my outfit planned for us to go clubbing. Well, I bought several club outfits that I could choose from.
I sipped the mimosa, getting the taste of rose champagne, and it was hard to tell if I liked it or not. I wasn't going to drink it all, knowing my limit.
"We need to make a few groceries," Malaysia stated. "Buy us a few snacks and drinks to get us by,"
"Glad you said that. I needed something from the store," Leandra chimed in.
"And what's the move for tomorrow?" Malik asked.
"I don't want to give too much of it away, but expect something fun," Tatyana beamed. "Especially when my birthday is Sunday, and it's the last day of our trip, I want to make it very special."
I tried not to think about going back because I had so much work to do. So, I decided to push it all back and keep my mind focused on the trip.
"We should head to the mall here," I suggested. "I searched on google for the stores that they have and wanted us all to check it out,"
I hoped that it was not a bad idea, knowing that we already spent money on the trip and all the places we were going to caused me to want to take it back.
"Well, we don't have to."
"I'm down! I wanna buy some shades," Terrell replied.
"Yeah, me too," Malaysia agreed.
I smiled happily and was glad that people did want to go to the mall.
Finally, the food finished as the server Keon arrived at our table carrying a tray.
"Thank you so much," I told him, watching him sit our meals in front of us.
"Yeah, everything looks good," Tatyana remarked.
"Yeah," Everyone replied in a union.
"Well, I hope you all enjoy your meals," Keon pleasingly smiled. "If anyone needs a refill or anything of the sort, don't be afraid to ask me as I'll be happy to get a for you. Again, my name is Keon. Enjoy. Au revoir!"
Once he left, everyone seemed to like his customer service, and I agreed.
"He was so nice," Toya awed, looking in the direction he left in.
"Yeah, he was. He's going to get a pretty tip from me," Tatyana confirmed, picking up her utensils.
"Yeah, same. I know how hard it is to be servers," Leandra disclosed, checking her cellphone before sitting it faced down next to her.
"Oh yes, I used to be a waiter before," Malaysia confessed, taking a sip of her mimosa. "It's hard when dealing with customers who have the worse attitudes, and also I don't know if it changed, but the customer is always right stuff they use all the time, did it for me."
"I think they still use it," I said. "I try to make sure that I give a good tip to each server of the restaurant that I go to because they work so hard."
"You gotta' respect, em," Terrell asserted.
"Most def," Malik stated.
"Yeah, I was there before, too," Raheem chimed in.
Jason nodded while eating his food.
I stared down at the brunch meal presented in front of me, and it did look good. The chefs had the chicken on the waffles, and it also had different fruit placed all around on it. It got me a bit excited as I began to dance a bit, grabbing my utensils before taking a piece of the chicken and waffles.
Talk about good.
.
.
.
We were back at the villa, and I was finishing up my shower as I began to think of the waiter at the restaurant. After paying for our meal, we all decided to give him a tip for his customer service. Keon was so appreciative of the customer service tips and even cried while sharing that it made his whole week much better. Hearing that made me feel that we did a good thing, and I also shed a few tears with him.
I loved the feeling of doing something good for others, and it was going to be something that I continued once I made it in the industry.
I stepped out of the shower, putting on my clothes, and I cleaned up behind me before picking up my cellphone from the bathroom counter and paused the music to my Spotify playlist. I decided to use this time to make an appointment with Kobe for another photo shoot for the talent agency meetings.
I took a seat on the bed, clicking the Instagram app on my phone, and searched for his business page on Instagram. I checked the booking information and proceeded to book an appointment with him for a photo session.
Then, I left the room wondering what Tatyana had planned for us. I walked downstairs, hearing music playing. I looked around the living room, not seeing everyone.
"Most of them went to the store to get some stuff," Toya asserted.
Dang, how long was I in the shower? It was now one o'clock in the afternoon. We still had a long day ahead of us, so I wasn't sure what we had going on.
"Wow, nobody told me anything," I said, taking a seat on the sofa. "What do you think Tatyana has planned for us?"
"If it's just a girls thing, maybe we're getting mani-pedis," She answered.
"I think so. I haven't had a manicure or pedicure in so long,"
"I've been slacking on my self-care," Toya sighed.
"For real, I mean all the working that we do makes it ha—,"
"Guess who?" A voice uttered, covering my eyes with their hand.
I recognized the voice already and the scent. I tried to bite the person's hands, but he chuckled, removing his hands from my face.
"So, you didn't go to the store with them?" I asked, trying to figure out where Malik was.
"Nah, I was just outside with Malik..." Terrell stated. "We were playing a game of one one one on the court. You might need to check on em' because I beat him, badly,"
"I'll be back," I laughed, standing up from the sofa to meet with Malik. I walked out of the villa, going towards the basketball court as I watched him shooting the basketball into the goal. "I heard you lost very bad..."
"Don't let Terrell lie to you," He smirked, sitting the basketball down to walk over to me. "He won like one game against me."
"I bet," I replied, looking up at him. It's when I realized how tall he was, compared to my height. I might've been like five feet four, but this guy was almost a giant.
"I'm serious," He chuckled, kissing my lips. "I mean, I can show you better than I can tell you,"
"I would play, but I just got out of the shower," I told him, placing my arms around his neck.
"You just don't wanna get beat, but that's alright," He joked, leaning over as he wrapped his arms around my waist and snuggled his head in my neck. "You smell good. I think we should move our date today."
"I'm sure that we can do that, depending on what Tatyana has planned," I said.
"Yeah," He agreed, placing his hands inside the back pockets of my sweats. "You know how long we've been dating?"
"A few months?"
"Yeah, I'm just checking feel like it's been way longer than that," He replied. "I got another question to ask you, how you would like to get proposed to, with friends and family or private?"
"Um, Malik King Porter, what are you saying?" I laughed, giving him a playful push.
"I just want to know. I told you how serious I am about you and how I see us moving once we get into a relationship," Malik explained, entwining our fingers together. "And I'm not saying it'll happen as soon as we make it official. I just want to know how you feel about marriage?"
"Well, can we sit?" I gestured towards the bench and pulled his arm along with me. Once we sat, I grabbed hold of his hand and smiled. "I would like to get married one day. My parents have been married for over twenty-something serious, and from what I've seen in my old household, it was like two people who've grown together and are simply best friends. I've seen love and adoration throughout my childhood home,"
"And to answer your question, I'd love a very intimate setting," I stated. "It can be with family and friends, or a private setting is nice too; it depends on the moments."
I felt like I was finally pulling back layers and allowing Malik to get an understanding of me. My relationship with my family back home wasn't always bad. We had our share of lovely moments. It wouldn't be long that I would continue to talk about my relationship with my family.
"I feel you like you're starting to open up more to me, especially with your family," He said. "I appreciate it, and I'm not looking to pressure you into saying anything more about it,"
"And I appreciate you for not pressuring me," I smiled, leaning over to kiss him. "It's like the more we talk and how I'm showing that I am being vulnerable and trying to allow you to know me fully."
"I'm here for you, sunshine," He admitted. "I'm all ears,"
"That you are," I teased.
"Not you with the jokes, itty bitty or better yet Minnie Mouse," He chuckled.
"I'm not short! You're just tall for no reason," I frowned. "Mr. Bigfoot or you know what's better...Mr. beanstalk,"
He remained silent before standing up over me and began to tickle me all over my stomach.
"O...okay, I quit," I laughed, trying to remove his hands.
"What's the magic word?" He uttered, continuing to tickle me.
"Um...Malik?"
"No."
"Moonshine?"
"Nah..."
"Mr. Porter?" I whispered, continuing to laugh as he tickled me. "O..okay, okay, Honeybunny."
"There it is," He smirked, stopping the tickling. "I gotta' head in the shower, but I want a juicy kiss, right quick, please?"
"You love begging for hugs and kisses, sir," I giggled, getting on my knees as I grabbed his face to kiss him.
Yeah, I was falling hard for this guy.
"But you don't complain," He winked, holding his hand out as we got up from the bench and held hands until we got back inside the villa.
As we entered the villa, I didn't notice that everyone was back from the store.
"Hey, y'all!" Tatyana greeted, holding a bag in her hands. "Since my birthday is Sunday, tomorrow, I bought cupcakes and wanted to make Oreo balls. Got a few light snacks and party decorations,"
"Sounds good. I love Oreo balls! I'll help you with it."
"Yeah, we surely can. The surprise will be here in less than an hour," Tatyana continued. "I'm making mimosas in the kitchen until then,"
"Sounds fun! Let me know if you need help,"
She nodded her head, going in the direction of the kitchen.
"Well, I'm going to the shower..." Malik remarked, kissing my cheek. "I lobe you,"
My eyes widened, knowing that it wasn't the I love you coming from his lips, yet it was super close to it. Did he mean that? I tried not to overthink it as he didn't say anything after that and headed upstairs.
While I was trying not to overthink, my cellphone was ringing, and I furrowed my brows, wondering who it was, but I grabbed it from my pocket as I stared at the screen, seeing it was Kobe.
"Hello?"
"Hey Breanna, it's Kobe," He confirmed. "You booked a photoshoot session, correct?"
"Yes," I replied, heading upstairs towards the room. "Is it okay if I have an idea?"
Once I made it upstairs then headed to the room, I opened the door and shut it closed behind me. Taking a seat on the bed, I held the cellphone to my ear.
"It's not a problem. I just wanted to confirm the appointment with you. Do you have a particular day that you want it done?" He asked.
"Sometime next week, I have a few meetings to do," I explained. "Right now, I'm in Miami, so maybe Monday?"
"Okay, well, that's perfect because; I'm booked all weekend," He said. "I have you booked for Monday, and at what time?"
"Around five is okay?"
"Yes, five is good."
"Thank you, um..can I book you with your wife again?"
"You'll have to check in with her business page on Instagram," He assured. "I'm sure she'll be available. See you Monday."
As we exchanged goodbyes, I smiled, realizing how busy my schedule was going to be once I headed back to LA. I then made sure to book an appointment with theKatrinaTouch, and I locked my phone, opening the door as I stepped out and headed downstairs.
Once I walked into the living room, I noticed everyone occupied with something, so I decided to head into the kitchen to help Tatyana.
"You still need my help, girl?"
"You can! You are the mocktail maker queen," She teased, pointing at all of the ingredients on the counter. "I have everything here for you to make the mocktails. I made five so far, but we need more,"
"I got it," I told her, walking towards the sink and turned it on as I squeezed the hand soap into my hand and proceeded into washing hands. "Tatyana, I have a question for you..."
"Ask me anything, girly," She replied, grabbing a cocktail glass. "What's up?"
"Would you consider being a fashion designer as your dream job or your passion?"
"I love that question," Tatyana remarked, pouring the drinks into the cocktail glass. "Growing up, my parents knew that I liked clothes because I'd always find myself dressing up in my mom's clothes in her closet. I would often take sheets and try to make a shirt out of it; I remember the day whenever my momma washed freshly made sheets for the bed..."
I could tell that it was going into a story and how she reminisced on the moment.
"So, I grabbed the sheets from the basket..." She continued. "Then, I ended up grabbing scissors and a marker, trying to make a t-shirt. My mom didn't realize until she began folding clothes and saw me in my room making the shirt; she instantly laughed, and I ended up getting my very first sewing machine."
"So, it was a childhood dream of yours that got turned into reality?"
"Exactly," She grinned. "I always enjoyed making clothes, and once I got the offer to work as a fashion designer for a production company where people would be able to see the clothes that I've made in movies and tv shows, it makes me feel good. It was my dream job as I've gone to a fashion designer school and learned so much about fashion, style, and all the history,"
"I love that, and I'm glad that you're able to work at doing something that you love," I admitted, making the rest of the drinks.
"Thank you girl, I do love my job, and yet sometimes it gets stressful," She explained, sitting drinks on a platter. "Since I'm the lead fashion designer of our department, everyone looks to me, and I adore it because it's what I do and love. However, I know that with all the experience and qualifications that I have; I could not see myself doing anything else,"
The way she spoke about her job made me smile, and it reminded me of how I felt about acting. I've studied it in school, and I enjoyed being able to portray different people. I knew that it had been my goal to make it with my acting. I considered acting as a dream goal, and it was something; that I did see myself doing as a whole career.
"Well, I'm all done with making the mocktails."