Giselle "G" Rowe
Wednesday, September 14| 1:49 a.m.
The Rowe Residence
-
The ride back home is peaceful. Alicia Keys' "Unthinkable" blasts through the speakers and it's almost like I'm in a trance as I watch the bright city lights fade in the distance.
I'm in a really good mood after counting up all of tonight's tips. Chance was right, it was worth staying after closing because now I have an additional $280 in addition to the $326 that I'd already collected. $150 of that came from one person; mystery man.
I wonder what he does to be able to spend that on a waitress. His fine ass. His gaze alone was doing something to me, but hearing him speak made everything so much more intense.
"You give me a feelin' that I never felt before and I deserve it, I think I deserve it. It's becoming somethin' that's impossible to ignore."
The volume lowers for a few seconds as a text message notification pops up on my phone screen and I already know who it is. Semaj ass stay begging. Maybe I'll actually respond since I'm already fantasizing.
My family's suburban brick home appears in front of me with the porch light welcoming me back and I park in my usual spot. The house smells like pot roast and cornbread. Anita Baker's voice sets the tone as my mother wipes down the kitchen counters. I close the front door a little bit too harshly, startling her and messing up her yawn.
"My bad. Hey, mama."
"I was just finna text you. It's a little late for you to be just walking in my house."
"We had some customers come in late. They held us up." I chuckle, laying my head on her shoulder briefly.
"Mhmm. Well, I still don't know if I want you working so late at night. There is nothing but trouble lurking for a young woman after certain hours, especially in the city. You may need to reconsider your schedule or your job all together."
"Ma, I am twenty-three years old. I can handle myself plus, I make good money there." I whine. Here she go. One thing about my mama, she gone blow my high.
"Girl, I don't care how old you are. You're still my child and I don't like anybody coming back to my house late like this. It makes me sick with worry."
"Okay, ma. I will come home a little earlier." I sigh and she kisses my forehead, seemingly satisfied for now.
"Your plate is in the microwave." She yawns again and rubs the bags underneath her eyes. I know that it isn't just this conversation that has tired her out.
"Thank you. I'll handle him for the night." I give her a knowing look before she focuses her attention back on the dirty kitchen.
I walk straight to my sister's old room and peek my head inside. The sight of my dad sitting in a chair in the corner, snoring loudly, while my nephew is sprawled out on the floor coloring in his book makes me laugh. His tablet is propped up next to him with the volume on full blast.
How can someone so adorable be the cause of my mother's exhaustion?
"Te-te!" Jamari screams as soon as he sees me. His face is greasy and his clothes have marker stains on them. He scrambles up and I scoop him in my arms.
"Hey, pooh. You smell like food." The sound of my voice makes my dad snap his eyes open. "I see papa fell asleep on you...again."
"Oh shoot. Where ya' mama at? I was suppose to put him in the tub while she cleaned the kitchen up."
"It's fine da. I'll do it." I promise and relief visibly washes over him. He's still in his work uniform so I know he hasn't had a moment to really rest yet.
"Thank you, baby girl." He kisses both of our heads and leaves, rubbing his lower back.
"Okay, pooh. We need to clean up now. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share." I put Jamari down, along with my purse and throw everything in his toy box.
"Clean up! Clean up!" The two-year-old sings along with me, grabbing a few things and roughly putting them away as well.
About an hour and a half later, we are both bathed and moisturized. Jamari is fast asleep in my bed, drooling a little. I take this opportunity to straighten up the living room, wiping down the coffee table, picking up more toys, and throwing away trash.
The house isn't normally this messy since my parents care a lot about cleanliness, but things have been hectic since big mama passed away. My mother and her siblings are frazzled and my father has been trying to keep up with his wife.
That means a lot of the household cleaning and taking care of Jamari has been put on me.
I love my sister, but I hate her taste in men.
My parents and I were already picking up her baby daddy's slack, but with everything going on and my sister's busy work schedule, I've been really feeling both of their absences. She works hard, for sure and I love my nephew, but I didn't realize that I'd be parent number two damn near.
I fix myself an ice cold cup of water as a reward for finishing up the living room and head back down the hall. Jamari is snoring now and the vanilla candle that I lit earlier has scented the air deliciously.
My phone buzzes from another text message notification. Semaj has emphasized his own message to highlight the fact that I didn't respond yet. I roll my eyes at the bland "wyd" that he sent earlier.
Finna go to sleep. Gn.
Semaj:
damn I wanted to see you tn.
Don't want to.
Semaj:
we don't have to do nothin'. We can just lay up.
I stare at the message for another three seconds before I press the power button to lock my phone, blow out my candle, and turn off the light.
Yeah, right. That's nigga's favorite line.
Just as I'm rubbing my feet together, my screen lights up again.
Ma 🤎:
can you bring me some water?
I take a deep breath before throwing the covers off of myself and heading into the kitchen again.
Man, I gotta get out of this house.
**********
Thursday, September 15 | 12:28 p.m.
Wind Quartz Luxury Apartments
-
"Girl, hurry up! I wanna try to get ahead of this city traffic and you're walking like somebody grandma." Nadirah yells from the driver's seat, sticking her head out of the window and I pick up the pace, rolling my eyes playfully at her.
The the cool air blasting through the vents greets me as soon as I open the door, making my freshly pressed hair stick to my lip gloss.
"Your nails look good, Nadi!" I compliment as we back out of my driveway and my best friend beams, taking one hand off the steering wheel to give me a closer look. They're long with silver tips that are decorated with jewels and a design similar to water droplets. Very futuristic and badass, just like her.
"Yours look good too, G." She returns the compliment and I stare down at my freshly done, classic french tips. Plain and girly. So me.
We pull up to the luxury apartment complex and I stare out the window taking in every detail, from the pool, to the gym, to the grill, to the pet spa, to the dog park and even to how well the the trees are manicured.
I wish that I lived like this.
"She's in building E. Turn left." I instruct Nadirah and we finally reach our destination after taking a the scenic route to see all of the amenities. We grab our gifts and make our way towards the elevator. Of course, Lira is on the highest floor.
"Congratulations on your new place!" Nadi yells as soon as the door is opened and a huge smile spreads across Lira's face. The two women wrap each other up in a tight hug and it isn't long before I'm doing the same thing.
"Okay, okay, get y'all titties out of my face." Lira giggles, releasing us from her grip.
"Aye man, it's not our fault that you're way down there." Nadirah teases, setting the gift basket down on Lira's marble kitchen counters.
She just shakes her head in response, used to our short jokes. After all, she's been hearing them for six years now. Lira is barley five feet tall, closer to four feet eleven inches while I stand at five feet five inches and Nadirah a little taller than me.
"We got you some stuff for yo' new place."
"Damn girl, you got money now." Lira holds up the bottle of liquor that Nadirah brought with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm doing a lil some some." Nadirah smirks back. "Tryna get like you!"
"Yeah, your place is beautiful, Lira." I chime in, staring around the room. The brand new kitchen appliances, the view of the city from the floor to ceiling windows, and the hardwood floors all made for a great ambiance. I walk down the hall to see the second bedroom and it's huge. "And it's a two bed, two bath! Girl you up for real ."
"Yeah, I could've got a three bedroom, but daddy said if I get that then I wouldn't be on the top floor." She rolls her eyes. "It's not like he couldn't have done both."
Nadirah and I give each other a look and I shake my head, closing the bedroom door to move onto the bathroom. "Well, it's still really nice!"
"Of course! I would never live here if it wasn't." Lira plops down on her plush sofa, giving her place another look over as if making sure that it's to her standards.
She comes from money. Her father was born into wealth and married her middle class mother and boom, they started a family. Lira is only used to the finer things in life. That's just how she was raised. She's a sweet girl, but I don't think she knows how to be grateful a lot of the time.
I guess when's you're use to having it all, nothing excites you.
I really do love that her family is able to do something like this for her though. I don't want children unless I can spoil them.
I walk back into the kitchen and look at the opened photo album laying on the island. I flip through it pretty quickly since I've seen most of them before at her parents' house, only stopping once I notice an unfamiliar one of Mr. and Mrs. Everton. The grain and their youthful faces tell me that it's an older one.
Mrs. Everton is sitting in Mr. Everton's lap, wearing a white cropped shirt and short shorts. Her wrists are iced out with diamonds and her smile is big. He has his arm wrapped around her waist and a calm expression on his face.
Lira's parents are polar opposites in appearance and personality. Her mother is the life of the party with brown skin, a round face, and kind eyes. Her father has blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and chiseled features. He hardly cracks jokes and is usually pretty quiet when I see him.
I think that Lira physically takes after her mother more with a dimpled smile, brown eyes, and a short stature. Her skin tone and her hair texture is a mixture of them both.
My eyes snap towards the door when an obnoxious knock rings through the apartment. Lira gets up from the sofa in a huff, swinging the door open without even looking through the peephole.
"Cree, don't be knocking on my door like you the damn police!"
"What the fuck is up? It's nice as hell in here!" Cree walks in grinning, holding up a gift bag in one hand and wraps her other arm around Lira. "Congrats, shawty."
"What? You actually came somewhere alone?" Nadirah teases her.
Cree is always on the move, partying and networking in different cities. She's known for keeping company — most of them being women that she's in love with one day and over the next.
"Hey man, what can I say? Ladies love Cree." She smirks before walking to the back of the apartment to look at the rest of it.
"I told her not to bring no randoms in my shit." Lira folds her arms under her chest, fighting back a smile.
"Come one now, you know I wasn't gone do that no way." Cree laughs. "Damn, two full bathrooms? Let me stay the night."
"I'll think about it." Lira rolls her eyes playfully before getting up to return to her spot on the couch. Cree sits next to her and we all fall into conversation about a new show on Netflix as we try to find something to watch.
"Man, I kinda missed y'all folks." Nadirah gushes as the end credits roll. She and I are sharing a blanket on one sofa while Cree and Lira are doing the same on the other one.
"I did too. It's been a minute since the gang was all together." Cree agrees, adjusting her position carefully so that she doesn't wake up Lira.
"I miss back in the day when we ain't have shit to do. Adulting is too stressful." I chime in.
Cree, Nadirah, and I would run around town without a care in the world when we were in high school. We use to have about $50 to our names combined and somehow, we would still have a great time.
We met Lira when we were all eighteen at a party. She used to plug us in with connections and pay our way into a lot of events so we still didn't have to work hard to have fun.
Now, I'm tryna make sure I'm stacking up enough to leave my parents' house comfortably and establish myself. I can't be as reckless as used to be and that shit sucks.
I wish I had a time machine.
"I know that's right." Nadirah props her head on her elbow.
"I'm tryna have it together by the time I hit twenty-five, man." I sigh. I stress about it this shit all the time. That's less than two years away.
"You will, G." Nadirah smiles.
"On God. You work at a nice ass place, it'll add up." Cree stands up and raises her arms over her head to stretch.
"Exactly! I believe that all of us are destined to be great. It was written for us."
"You right, Nadi. Y'all both are." I sigh, feeling their words picking up my spirit already. Anytime I have a heart to heart about my goals with the people that I love, my entire being feels rejuvenated.
Anything that I want will be mine.
"Lira, wake that ass up." Cree laughs before walking into the kitchen and grabbing a bag of chips. "You can't just invite folks over here and go to sleep, girl."
Lira's eyes fly open at the sound of her name.
"We done watched two movies and everything." I laugh, following Cree into the kitchen to get some water. "You only seen bout thirty minutes of the first one."
The sun is setting now, shining beautifully through the large windows and arraying the sky with pink and orange.
"What time is it?" She yawns, stretching her limbs underneath the thick blanket.
"Seven thirty-two." I answer, unscrewing the cap off of the cold bottle of water.
"Damn, big money" Cree looks at the bottle of liquor that Nadirah bought, chomping loudly. "I guess the rumors are true."
"What rumors?" Nadirah asks coyly, crossing her arms underneath her chest.
"That you be shakin' that ass for some cash."
"Who told you that?"
"Ebony."
Nadirah runs her tongue over her teeth and stands up to fold the blanket that we were under. "Bitches love runnin' they mouth."
"Wait, what?" I look back and forth at the both of them. "Who is Ebony?"
"My coworker and one of Cree lil'..."
"We just friends, man! She was at Heated Prime with me, G. The one with the bob, remember?"
"Ohh okay!" I knew the women that Cree were with that night were strippers, I just didn't know that my best friend was too.
"Since when do you strip?" Lira raises her eyebrow and starts folding up the other blanket.
"Ehh, maybe like two weeks and some change." Nadirah shrugs, grabbing her purse and walking into the kitchen with us.
"Damn Nadi and yeen tell me?"
"I was going to, G. I had to test the ropes out first."
"So how you like it?" I take another sip of water.
"So far, it's exciting and it's helping with tuition and shit so I feel good." Nadirah shrugs.
I nod my head, just happy that she's happy. Nadirah has always been outgoing and adventurous so I'm not too surprised. She's beautiful too so I know that helps keep her pockets full.
"I could never do no shit like that." Lira turns her lip up. "My shit is just too priceless."
"Bitch, then don't. I like dancing." Nadirah rolls her eyes.
"You working Saturday night, Nadi?" Cree smirks.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well y'all, I guess we going to Fuego. See y'all Saturday." Cree grabs the doorknob. "Preciate the snacks and shit, Lira and congrats again on this place."
"Yeah, yeah. See y'all later." Lira walks us to the door.
Nadirah and I take the elevator down with Cree before we go our separate ways. She sings along to the music that's blasting, all while trying to merge into the busy city traffic. I stare at Lira's beautiful apartment complex, replaying our conversation about our goals.
This'll be my reality someday, I promise. I don't know how yet, but It will happen.