Angel mumbled an 'excuse me' as she passed by a random couple to get to an empty table, shifting the bin she was holding to rest in her left hand so that she could grab the dishes with her right one and stack them neatly on top of one another.
Her noise cancelling headphones were over her head, and though she usually preferred not to play any audio when they were on, Jhene Aiko's Spotless Mind played at a low volume.
She'd been clearing tables and stocking since an hour ago in order to keep her mind busy, but it wasn't really helping. It felt like she'd breakdown into tears any moment now as her thoughts started to get the best of her. She didn't even know why she was upset.
The last thing she remembered before going into her own world was taking a girl's order at the counter, and as soon as she finished the common greeting she said to everyone, the girl and the friend she came with looked at each other and laughed.
Angel still didn't know what she'd said that caused them to laugh and then followed up with making weird faces at her for the time that they stayed, and she'd been replaying the scene in her head since it had happened, wondering what she'd said or done that was socially awkward.
That wasn't the first time something like that had happened, but it stressed her out every time. She wasn't stupid, she knew when people were making fun of her more than half the time-though sometimes it took her a minute to realize that they were. What she didn't know was the reason why.
She already didn't do well in social settings, and things like that made her hate that she even tried.
Feeling someone tapping her shoulder, she was snapped out of her thoughts after realizing that someone was trying to get her attention.
"Girl you really can't hear shit when you got them on, huh? I been calling you for like two minutes." One of her co-workers, who happened to also be her cousin, spoke to her with her hand resting on her hip.
"Sorry. What's wrong?"
"Yo' man waiting for you at the front. He said to tell you to come here." Madisyn told her, and Angel frowned in confusion. She checked her Apple watch to see that it was almost three in the afternoon, and Roman was supposed to be at work right now, so what was he doing here?
Angel walked past Madisyn after thanking her, heading for the front where Roman was. She saw him leaning against a wall with his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie, his eyes already on her.
"What's the matter mama? What you got these on for?" He pushed one side of her headphones off so that she could hear him better, and then he wrapped his arms around her.
"Because I'm sad. What are you doing here? You're supposed to be working today." She looked up at him with a crease in her eyebrows, frowning.
"What you sad for?" He ignored her question, his eyebrows furrowing as well.
"It's nothing serious. I just didn't want to be bothered so I put them on." She mumbled, her head tilting back from how he kissed her face.
"I'm bouta' take you with me, we can talk about it in the car. Go get your stuff."
"Roman I'm in the middle of my shift, I can't just leave them. And my sister is picking me up, not you. Why didn't you call me before you came?"
"I did." He reached behind her to grab her phone out of her back pocket, then showed her the notifications tab that had two missed calls notifications from Roman's contact, as well as a text message that said he was on his way.
"Oh. I didn't see it, I'm sorry." She mumbled, laying her head on his chest with a quiet huff. Everything was upsetting her.
"What you going to Shayla house for?" He asked, his hand resting on the small of her back.
"To talk to her about you." She said, her body releasing tension from the way he rubbed it, and he chuckled at her words.
"Call her. You going home with me. We ah' stop to get you some clothes. Go get your stuff." He repeated the same thing from moments ago, tapping her waist so that she could let him go.
Huffing again, Angel went back in the kitchen, just to see Madisyn and another one of their cousins, Ayesha, staring at her with big smiles on their faces.
"Please don't start." She waved them both off, listening to them laugh while following behind her to be nosy about her new boyfriend.
"Girl that is a man, okay! I wish mine came up here forcing me to go home." Ayesha gushed at her little cousin's love life.
"Nah foreal. Y'all so cute, cous. You gon' bring him to the dinner for granny birthday?" Madisyn watched her grab her Marc Jacobs tote bag out of her locker, putting it over her shoulder.
"Um, I don't know-I kind of forgot about that party mama 'nem throwing.. Maybe." She shrugged, deciding to make herself a cup of Strawberry Lemonade to drink.
"You should. And if he got any friends that look and act like him, tell him to bring them. I hate my nigga." Madisyn joked, and Angel chuckled, shaking her head at her.
"I did inventory and I cleaned the tables already. Ummm, Ayesha you're in charge. Bye guys." She waved, and both Madisyn and Terry's mouth dropped in shock of who'd she put in charge, making her laugh.
She walked out of the side door of the kitchen, going to the front where Roman was still waiting for her. He took her tote bag and then grabbed her free hand, leading the way out of the door.
He was on a call with someone so Angel put her headphones back on, listening to Promises by Jhené Aiko. Obviously she had a favorite artist and in her eyes, no one could ever top her. Jhené's talent was unmatched.
"Thank you." She climbed in his truck after he'd opened the door for her, and he kissed her face in response before going around to his side.
Angel gazed out of the window as he pulled out of the parking spot, and Roman's hand reached over to rest between her thick thighs as if it was second-nature for it to be there.
When he tapped the same spot, she looked over at him to see that he was talking. Her noise-canceling headphones really blocked everything out. Hell, they'd better. She paid almost five hundred dollars for them.
"Yes?"
"Who made you sad?" He asked her, now off of the phone.
"Some girls who came a little while ago. I'm probably overreacting though."
"Don't invalidate your own feelings like that. What they do?" His glances between her and the road were frequent, which made her smile. He was always so worried about her.
"They just laughed at me but I don't know what for. At first I thought it was just a coincidence and it had nothing to do with me, but they kept looking at me while they were there. Then Madisyn made them leave."
"I know they were making fun of me, I just don't know what I did wrong-or what I said. So I've been trying to remember, but I say the same thing to everybody who comes in and nobody ever finds it funny? So I don't know." She played with the fingers of his hand that still rested on her thigh, sighing.
"You should've slapped the shit out they ass. You'd think that with age, people become wiser, but some of these bitches still the same airheads they was in middle school."
"As a nurse and a dad, I don't think you should be talking like that Roman." She looked over at him with a smile, and he shrugged as if he didn't care, making her laugh.
"Next time call me. I got somethin' for anybody that fuck wit' you." He pulled into the drive thru for Chic-Fil-A, reaching down in his front pocket to grab his wallet.
"I probably won't. I've seen your guns and I don't think you should even have those. And I'm not talking about these ones." She pointed to his muscular biceps, and he laughed at her corny metaphor.
"You lame as hell." He flicked her bottom lip that curled into a smile at the way he stared at her.
"You ain't give me no kiss, no hug or nothing. Let me get some lovin'." He leaned his body over the middle console, meeting her lips that puckered out for a kiss.
"Roman you don't always have to do that." She broke the kiss with humor while placing her hand on top of his that was now wrapped around her neck.
Every time she gave him a kiss, and sometimes even when she hugged him he would grab ahold of her neck. She liked how it felt-she liked it a lot, actually-but it still caught her off guard at times.
She hated when he did it while they were asleep though-he'd wrap his entire arm around her neck and keep her in a chokehold for the whole night; the closest she'd ever been to death.
"Yeah I do. I be needing to feel my tongue in yo' throat." He stuck his out to suck her bottom lip into his mouth, causing her to grab his face with a smile.
"That is physically impossible and it would hurt us both if you actually tried." She chuckled, and he did as well, kissing her lips twice more before he pulled away.
"Hi, welcome to Chic-Fil-A. Are you guys ready to order or do you need a minute?" A young girl approached Roman's window with an iPad and a coin belt wrapped around her waist.
"Yeah, can I get two of the spicy chicken sandwich meals; one of them deluxe and both with large lemonades and large fries."
"And then let me get the chicken strip kids meal with macaroni for the side and a small Dr Pepper, and a small fry in the same bag. And, uh, one of those cobb salads with extra chicken and a large Sprite."
When he finished ordering, his total was damn near fifty dollars so he just gave her a $50 bill and let her keep the change. He hated eating at Chic-Fil-A since it was the most expensive fast food chain, but his girls loved it, so he had to.
"We're going to get Raelle and Kaiya from school?" Angel asked once the girl had walked away, and he nodded his head.
The day that she'd met them, she spent most of her time trying to get Kaiya to warm up to her. The little girl was just as mean as her father, but eventually befriended Angel and even forced her to attend a tea party in her room.
Raelle liked Angel from the beginning, just off the strength of knowing how in love her older brother was with her. And a day later, Raelle and Angel went to get their hair done together-of course with courtesy of Roman's wallet.
It didn't take any time at all for his girls to welcome Angel to be apart of their family. That frightened and excited Roman at the same time. He couldn't help being afraid of the slight possibility that Angel one day grow tired of him and leave, but another part of him was already envisioning a future with her in case she did decide to stick around.
"You want me to spend a night again?" She asked him, to which he nodded once more. She smiled, sitting back in her seat with her legs pulled underneath her.
"Pack a bigger bag this time. We not finna do this one night only thing. Nigga tryna wake up to you every day and you be ready to go back home soon as the night over with." He looked over at her, and she laughed, rolling her eyes.
"That's because I don't be trying to overstay my welcome. Whenever I'm over, I feel like I take up all of your free time-like when you don't have work and stuff. That's not fair to your girls." She told him at the same time that he pulled forward with the rest of the cars.
"Nah, they ass been tryna get me out they hair anyway. Kaiya just told me yesterday that she like when you come over 'cause then she can get on her iPad without me being in her face." He replied, actually sounding a bit salty at his daughter's words-though it was the truth.
"She is so cute," Angel paused with a small laugh before continuing, "Okay, I guess. But your house is really far from the cafe."
Angel didn't have a daily vehicle that she drove because driving was so annoying to her. She hated having to pay attention to street signs and traffic lights, not to mention the need to drive for others as well because obviously common sense wasn't so common on the road.
There was a white 2016 Toyota Corolla S model with blacked out rims parked in her garage, but she rarely ever used it. Most of the rides she got came from her mom, sister, or a ride service like Lyft and Uber. Her Nana didn't drive either.
"I'll take you. You can take one of my cars if you feel like jumping the gun." He said, and an immediate frown placed on her face.
"That's a joke." He added, laughing as her expression then softened with a nod of her head. What a weird phrase.
Kaiya's backpack swung wildly behind her as she ran full force through the sea of children who'd just gotten out of school, and towards her dad's familiar black Cadillac truck. She loved going home after a long day of learning.
"Angel!" She tugged on the front passenger side door handle, getting it open a few moments later.
Her arms wrapped around Angel's neck as soon as she was able to get into her lap, causing Angel to hug her back. She smelled like the scent of outside, but Angel also smelled like coffee beans and maple syrup, so it was fine.
"You didn't come to my house yesterday and daddy said it's 'cause you had to work. I had to have a tea party with GG. She's not as fun." Kaiya frowned, before becoming excited again at the Chic-Fil-A bags.
"Ouuu, food! Did I get some nuggets or chicken strips?" She grabbed the smaller bag that she knew was hers, not even giving Angel a chance to respond.
"So you don't see me?" Roman's forehead creased with a mug, literally standing right by Angel's door. Kaiya had completely dismissed him and went straight to Angel after realizing she was with him, and he was obviously jealous.
"Oh, hey daddy," She waved at him, then looked at Angel again, "You gon' stay the night, please? I won't add so much sugar in your tea this time."
"Yes. Come on, sit in your seat so you can eat your food. We got you chicken strips." Angel got out of the truck, and Roman opened up the back door for them while shaking his head.
Angel put her in the car seat, buckling the straps while she continued to talk her ear off. She didn't stop talking until she had her iPad and her food in front of her, now watching Dawn of The Croods on Netflix.
"Dayum! That's a big ole' ass right there. Aye, heyyyy Ms.Parker!" A loud voice called across the parking lot, and knowing exactly what kind of ass his girlfriend had, Roman turned his head with a mug on his face.
He saw Raelle hitting some boy's shoulder while a few others looked in the same direction at Angel, a group of kids he recognized as Raelle's friends. He couldn't even react how he should've because they were just kids.
"Shut y'all ugly ass up. I know y'all see her with my brother. And RJ you ugly bitch, you have a girlfriend." Raelle could be heard fussing at her friends, and Angel finally turned around at the commotion.
"Nah. You get in the car." Roman blocked her view, and she laughed, being picked up by him to be placed back in the front seat.
He closed her door when she was in, and turned around at the exact same time that Raelle was attempting to jump on his back. She hit the ground with an inaudible thud, earning unrestrained laughter from Roman.
"Shut up Ermias it's not that funny." She slapped his chest, then smacked her lips as he kept laughing.
Walking around the truck, she climbed into the back behind the driver's seat, pulling her phone from her back pocket so that she didn't sit on it.
"Hey Angel. You always look so pretty with your fresh face." Raelle complimented as she was passed her bag of food, seeing that Angel only had her short lash extensions on. She wasn't even wearing any lip gloss and still looked so pretty.
"Thank you girl. How was school?" She held out some packets of Polynesian sauce, knowing she was the same way about not having any sauce for her food.
"It was good but we had an assembly for the seniors and it hit me that I'm really 'bout to graduate. I cried. Adult life is sooo not for me." Raelle huffed, putting one of her fries in her mouth just as her brother got back in the truck.
"You ain't even doing adult shit yet. Don't rush it or it's gon' happen quicker." Roman told her, and she just huffed again, being dramatic as usual.
After stopping by Angel's house so that she could pack herself a bag, they arrived at Roman's house a little over an hour later. Kaiya had homework to do and Raelle had to help her, so they stayed downstairs while Roman and Angel went to his bedroom.
She put her clothes away in the dresser drawer that he'd previously freed up for her, and then she took out one of his sweatshirts and a pair of his boxers to put on for when she got out of the shower.
All of his clothes fit oversized on her, but that was the entire point.
By the time she got out, Roman was damn near asleep in his bed, yet hadn't completely dozed off because he was waiting for Angel to join him. He had the best sleep whenever he could feel her body warmth.
"Hi baby. You still up?" She crawled up on the bed to lay next to him, chuckling once his arms opened up for her.
"I need to go get a rice crispy treat and then I'll lay down with you. You want a snack?" She softly kissed his lips, rubbing his scruffy beard with her short manicured nails.
"That pussy." He replied. Angel immediately smacked her lips and mushed his head back, making him laugh.
She shook her head at him as she got out of his bed again, pulling the boxers she wore down further on her thighs. When she went downstairs, she saw Faye knitting on the couch while Kaiya appeared to be taking a nap on the side of her.
"Hey baby. Everything ok?"
"Yeah I just needed a snack before I took a nap. Are you making a blanket?" She curiously asked, walking to stand next to her.
"Not this time; it's a cardigan for Raelle chile. She keeps wearing mine and I want it back now." She chuckled, and Angel did as well, opening up her rice crispy treat.
"You're really good at that. Have you ever thought about opening up a business, like on Etsy or maybe even Facebook marketplace?"
"Hm, no, I've never thought about it. Doesn't sound too bad though. I sell some of the extra stuff when I go to church though." Faye shrugged.
"There's some girls on TikTok who make thousands just from selling knitted bikinis. You know how to make all of it though, you can make a lot of money if you put yourself out there."
"You would help?" Faye asked, and she nodded her head. She didn't have the biggest platform, but she could surely use her sisters. What would she do, tell her no? Please.
"Well then, maybe we can get something started soon enough. Thank you Angel. You gon' up to bed now baby. Dinner should be ready in a few hours or so."
"Okay. Come up and get me if you need help or anything." Angel leaned over to give her a hug, which she returned.
As she headed towards the stairs, a small smile spread across her face. She was so proud of herself and how she acted around Roman's family. They made it super easy and had welcomed her with open arms since day one.
Period