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"What you doing here?" Aurora walked out of her restaurant that night to see Diamant standing by her Bentley truck.
"I wanted to see you."
"Awwwe," Aurora wrapped her arms around Dia, pushing her back into the side of the car. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too," Diamant couldn't help but to stare at Aurora's glossy lips. It's only been a day since they last seen each other, but it felt like an eternity to them.
"How bad you missed me?" Aurora leaned in, but wasn't at all successful in her attempted kiss.
"Stop," Dia held her hand on Aurora's chest.
"What I do?"
"You can't kiss me out here," she whispered, pulling away from Aurora's embrace when she realized people could still see them.
"Right...." Aurora pouted. Diamant was very strict on her rules about public displays of affection. Her entire last relationship was in the public eye from start to finish, and she didn't want to make that same mistake again.
"I actually came over here to show you something," Diamant opened up her car door and pulled out the magazine with her face right there on the front.
"No fucking way," Aurora took the magazine from her. "I can't believe I'm really looking at your face on the cover of Essence fucking magazine."
"Believe it."
"I'm so proud of you Dia," she wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. She wanted to kiss her so bad, but she knows how Diamant feels about that kind of thing. She'd seriously get upset, and that's not something Aurora felt like dealing with.
"Thank you," Diamant felt like she had a permanent smile etched on her face all day. "I wanna celebrate with you.... Can I come over later?"
"You know you don't gotta ask," Aurora replied all too quickly, completely forgetting that her sister was at her place.
Diamant was expecting Aurora to open the door, not a taller and younger carbon copy of her.
"Oh my God. You're—" Sage pointed at her, with her eyes wide open and her mouth opening and closing like she was trying to find words. "You're— you're..."
"Hi. I'm—" Diamant held her hand out to the girl, but that's when all her words decided to come back.
"You're fucking Iridessa!" She screamed. "What are you doing here? Oh my God, do you know my sister? You're like my favorite rapper ever, so why would she not tell me this? Oh my Goddd," the girl kept on squealing.
"Yeah.... Where is Aurora?" Dia peaked her head into the apartment.
"She went to check her mailbox, so she should be coming back any second. But come in, come in," she took Diamant by the arm and dragged her inside.
She sat her down on the couch and immediately started asking a her a bunch of questions.
"Seems you guys have met," Aurora walked in to see Sage still fangirling over Diamant.
"Why did you not tell me you know Iridessa?"
"I know a lot of famous people," Aurora shrugged. "And you know that."
"Yeah, but you know she's my favorite artist," Sage was talking about Diamant like she wasn't sitting right there next to her. "You even smell so good," Sage got real close to her, making Diamant instinctively move backwards.
"You need to calm down Sage. You gonna make me look bad," Aurora bent over to take her shoes off.
"It's fine," Diamant laughed, thinking it was kind of cute how excited Aurora's sister was to meet her.
"I was at your concert a few weeks ago," Sage kept going. "The one at the staples center. I was waiting to see you after the show, but I don't know, they said you left early. Then the next day the whole Internet was talking about how Jay Fla—"
"Okay Sage," Aurora took her by the shoulders, stopping her from going on because she knows what Diamant went through that night, and she knows Jamal is the last person she wants to talk or think about.
"Am I doing it again?" The nineteen year old whispered. "Being overbearing?"
"Just a little bit," Aurora answered truthfully. "Maybe tone it down a lil. You're gonna scare her."
"Sorry," Sage whispered. "But I've literally been listening to you since you first came out. Roro used to play your mixtape all the time when—"
"Aight," Aurora interrupted her again. "Clearly y'all have already met, but Dia, this is my little sister, Sage. Sage, this is my friend Diamant."
"I'm sorry again," Sage held here hand over her chest like she was trying to calm herself down. "I don't usually act like this."
Aurora mouthed from behind her, "yes she does," making Dia laugh.
"So how do you guys know each other?" Sage finally calmed down enough and was now talking like a normal human being and not squealing and yelling in Dia's ear.
"We met at a party," Aurora answered.
"So like, are y'all friends or....?" Sage was insinuating that they might be more than that.
"We're friends," Aurora sat down in between them on the couch.
"Just friends?"
"Yes. We're just friends. That's it," Aurora replied.
"Mmhm," Sage squinted her eyes and hummed like she knew better from her sister, but she left it alone.
"I gotta pee," Diamant got up and excused herself from the living room after a while of them just talking back and forth.
"So, you wanna finally tell me why you're here?" Aurora switched the conversation back on her sister when Dia finally left the room.
"Well I was back home with mom and dad for the summer while college is on break," Sage started awkwardly messing with her fingers.
"Mmhm?" Aurora hummed, waiting for her to go on.
"I uhmmm.... I'm here because..."
"Because?" Aurora encouraged her to get to the point.
"Because I'm gonna start showing soon," she whispered, looking down at her lap to avoid the look on her older sister's face.
Aurora didn't say anything in response because she wasn't even sure what she should say to something like that. Her 19 year old sister is sitting on her couch telling that that she got pregnant after only being away at college for one year.
"Roro--"
"Uhmm," Aurora started but stopped again. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say in that moment.
"Are you mad?" Sage mumbled.
"I just... how the fuck did this happen Sage?"
"I think we both know how it happened. I had sex—"
"Don't get smart with me lil girl. What I always tell you about using protection? Don't tell me you out here fucking around with nasty ass college niggas without using condoms?"
"Of course I use protection when I'm with him," Sage defended herself. "Except one time. But I didn't think—"
"Exactly. You don't ever fucking think!" Aurora was visibly getting angry. "It only takes one time. One time to catch an STD or STI. One time to get fucking pregnant. It only takes one fucking slip up Sage!"
Diamant could hear the entire conversation from the bathroom, but was trying her best to stay out of it because it's none of her business. But when Aurora started yelling at Sage, she couldn't do it anymore.
"Rora," Diamant walked back into the living room and forcefully took her by the arm, pulling her up off the couch.
"What—"
"Come here," she said through her teeth as she pulled Aurora into her bedroom and closed the door behind them. "What the hell is wrong with you!"
"What the hell is wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with her? We ain't paying for her to go to college so she can come back after two semesters with a got damn baby bump."
"I know what she's going through right now, and trust me, yelling at her is the least effective thing you can do in this moment."
"What do you mean you know?"
"I know because... because I've been there before," Diamant whispered.
"What?" Aurora's eyes got wider now. "What are you talking about?"
"I...." she bit down on the inside of her lip, a habit she's yet to break when she's nervous. "I was pregnant once," she backed up and sat down on the edge of Aurora's bed.
"You being serious right now?" Aurora sat down next to her.
"Why would I lie about some shit like that?" Diamant narrowed her eyes.
"I'm sorry.... Okay? So what happened?"
"I was 16, and I made the same mistake your sister did. I thought 'it's just one time without a condom. I won't get pregnant.' But I did... and when I told my boyfriend at the time, he wasn't too happy. He uhm," she twisted her lips to the side, not even sure if she wanted to finish telling what happened. She doesn't talk about this story, ever. Literally the only people that knows is her, Electra, and the guy who got her pregnant in the first place.
"He what?"
"He said he wasn't ready for a baby. He told me if I kept it that he wasn't gonna help me raise it. He said if I loved him that I wouldn't have that baby," her voice trembled. "I... I felt like I didn't have a choice. He took me that same weekend, paid for it and everything."
"That wasn't his decision to make."
"I didn't think that at the time. I was 16 fucking years old. I was scared... I wasn't ready to have no damn baby."
"Do you think you made the right decision?" Aurora asked her.
"Sometimes... but then sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I kept it. I wonder how my life would be different right now."
"I'm sorry you had to—"
"Don't be sorry," Diamant shook her head. "It's not sad. I was a kid myself, I wasn't in no position to be raising one. I just wish it was on my own terms. I wish I wasn't forced into it. I think that would have made it easier to deal with after the fact."
"So... what do I do then?" Aurora was back to talking about Sage now. "She's not ready to have a baby."
"Like you said, that's not your decision to make," Diamant shook her head. "She's the only one who can make that decision for herself, so don't you dare try and scare her into making a choice she might end up regretting later on."
"So what do I say?"
"Just go talk to her," Diamant pushed Aurora up off the bed. "Tell her she's not alone in this. Tell her she has options and that you'll be there to support her no matter what. Because trust me, she needs that right now."
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"That was the most awkward conversation I've ever had in my life," Aurora pulled her shirt over her head later that night, now getting ready for bed. "I swear my mom woulda had a heart attack if we'd done that in person and not over the phone."
"She'll come around," Diamant said from where she was already laying in Aurora's bed, wearing one of her graphic T-shirt's.
"I don't know about that," Aurora pulled on a tank top and a pair of really short shorts. "Foreign parents don't take to unplanned pregnancy very well. All she kept talking about was 'how is my baby supposed become a lawyer while raising one of her own?' the entire time we were on the phone with her."
"She just wants the best possible future for her kids. You can't blame her for that."
"Except I do. I love her to death, I really do, but she can be a lot at times. She hated the fact that I wanted to be a chef," Aurora sat down in the bed and plugged her phone in before turning towards Diamant. "She didn't support it at all. Not until I started making a certain amount of money and was talking about opening up my own restaurant."
"But look at you now," Diamant wrapped her arms around Aurora, rolling on top of her. "One of the top chefs in all of Los Angeles."
"Me? Baby look at you. Miss Essence magazine cover."
"Okay," Diamant blushed.
"Look at that smile," Aurora can't help but emulate it every time she sees Dia's infectious smile. "Your smile is so perfect."
"You always say that," she rolled her eyes.
"Cause it's true. Everything about you is so perfect," Aurora looked up to meet Diamant's eyes.
"You love that fucking word," Diamant couldn't help the even bigger blush that spread across her lips.
"Only when it comes to you," Aurora lifted up Diamant's shirt and placed a kiss on her chest, right between her bare breasts.
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