august 8th, 2020
1:34 pm
FOR SOMEONE WHO lived in California, Ayoluwa didn't spend a lot of time at the beach.
Shareef had asked her to come to the beach with him, Bronny and Shaquir and since Lauryn was at her summer camp, she held no qualms about saying yes.
Ayoluwa laid on a yellow and white floral blanket with Shareef on the other side, her sunglasses on and all of her locs tied up so they remained out of her face.
Venice Beach was only half crowded today which left the group with a lot of space to choose from on the soft sand.
The sun was beaming down on them, the ocean was further down, the appetizing smell of greasy food was in the air and the sand was a pleasant buff color.
"This was a good idea." Shaquir murmured, lifting his hand to shield his eyes.
"The best idea." Shareef agreed.
"It really was." Ayoluwa sighed, "I needed this. So so so bad."
There was rustling from across the blanket, a masculine yelp and then more rustling.
When Ayoluwa turned her head and lifted her sunglasses, she was met with Bronny's smiling face.
"Oh my god. Where's Reef?" Ayoluwa groaned.
Shareef who was now on Bronny's towel on the other side of Shaquir, raised his long arm and Ayoluwa put her sunglasses back on.
Bronny poked her arm in an attempt to regain her attention, "Ayo... Ayo..."
"Yes, Bronny?"
"When are you gonna become Mrs. James?"
"Your mom is Mrs. James." Her response elicited laughter from Shareef.
Bronny rolled his eyes, "You play too much."
"I can see it now. 'Bronny goes after older woman'. And then I'm gonna be attacked on the internet." Ayoluwa said.
India.Arie's Can I Walk With You began to play from Shaquir's phone.
Aka one of her favorite songs by her favorite artist.
Ayoluwa closed her eyes in irritation, "I know what you're doing."
"What?" Shaquir said in an innocent tone.
"Turn it off. Now, Quir," Ayoluwa said in her most authoritative tone, "I don't sing anymore."
Shaquir groaned but followed her instruction.
"Stupid decision if you ask me." Shareef muttered.
"That's why I didn't ask," Ayoluwa snapped them sighed, "Sorry."
"It's okay."
Ayoluwa stood up and tugged her denim shorts on over her white bikini, "I want a smoothie. I'll be back."
"Can you give me anything with mangoes?" Bronny passed her a five dollar bill.
"Yeah," Ayoluwa slid her feet into her flip flops then flipped up her sunglasses so they would rest near her high ponytail.
The nearby Tropical Smoothie was insulated, making Ayoluwa shiver a bit as she stepped up to the counter.
A girl with her blonde hair in a single braid nodded at her, "What'll be?"
"Can I have a dragon fruit smoothie and a sunrise sunset?" Ayoluwa asked as she fished through her pockets for some money.
"That'll be 12.98." The girl responded.
"I got her." A masculine voice called from behind her.
For half a second, Ayoluwa wished that it was Joshua, finally realizing how stupid he was being.
When she turned around, a brown skin boy with shoulder length locs and a paper white smile was looking down at her.
Ayoluwa had to hold in a sigh of disappointment.
"Thanks," Ayoluwa smiled back at the boy then stepped aside so he could order then swipe his card through the scanner.
"So what's ya name?" He moved next to her, his own black locs swinging just a bit.
"Ayoluwa but mainly people call me Ayo. What about you?" Ayoluwa readjusted her sunglasses.
"I'm Ty." The boy held out his hand out and when Ayoluwa shook it, he began to lightly rub his thumb against the back of her tattooed hand.
"It's nice to meet you." Ayoluwa said in a genuine tone as she collected her and Bronny's smoothies.
"You from here?" Ty smiled at her once more as she put a straw into her own.
"Well yeah, but not Venice. I'm more downtown." Ayoluwa explained.
"I was wondering why I haven't seen you before." Ty flirted.
Ayoluwa chuckled just a bit and was about to respond when the door swung wide open to reveal a panting Shaquir.
"Ayo, Ayo! Look!" Shaquir slipped himself in between her and Ty in order to show her his phone, "You went viral."
"I went what?" Ayoluwa asked in disbelief.
It was open to The Shaderoom's Instagram page and there was a video of a girl playing a piano and sitting in a dim basement.
It took a couple of seconds for Ayoluwa to realize that the girl was indeed her.
It was the video of her singing Moon River ending right before she had said Joshua's name.
"You can really sing." Ty complimented her.
Ayoluwa felt dizzy all of a sudden and took a long sip of her smoothie to make her blood sugar rise again.
She snatched the phone from Shaquir's grip and examined it, holding the device close to her face.
There were almost two million views and half as many comments.
The amount of celebrities in the comments was alarming.
Almost as alarming as the amount of times she saw her Instagram username tagged below.
She began to mentally note the celebrities she saw who had commented.
Monica...
Giveon...
Saweetie...
Brent Faiyaz...
And Quavo.
Ayoluwa licked her bottom lip in annoyance at who had obviously sent the video in.
"You good?" Shaquir asked.
"Yeah. Thanks for the smoothies." Ayoluwa threw back to Ty as she pushed Shaquir out the door.
Only one thing was for certain...
Ayoluwa was going to kill Joshua.
NOTE FROM KY
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