January 21st 2023
Dallas, Texas
1:13 pm
Amina eyed herself in the mirror as she grabbed each end of the white robe and securely tied them together, her eyes drifted to her face that she began to closely examine. For the most part, her scars from the accident were healed thanks to spf and azeliac acid. Currently, she only had one half of a scar that seemed like it wasn't budging. It didn't bother Amina though, while having the scars she learned that they didn't take away from her beauty—and now that she thought about it, once she realized that, it felt like they started to fade. She looked at her remaining scar as a memory of that night. While the situation was traumatic for her, it was oddly the night that seemed to spark everything for her and Rashad.
"You ready?" Chalyn asked as she came around the corner, tightening her robe. The girls had just arrived to their spa day at a well known Spa. They were given luxury robes and slippers to change into for their day stay at the establishment. "I'm ready." Amina replied as she grabbed her phone off of the counter top and followed her friend. Their first activity of the day was pedicures. Amina wasn't very picky about who did her feet, but she knew way before she arrived that they weren't touching her hands—she didn't play about her manicures.
"Sooo." Chalyn spoke in a sing song tone, causing Amina to look over at her. A smile immediately covered her face already knowing what Chalyn was about to bring up. The girls hadn't seen each other since that night, so it was on brand. "I'm not really surprised—I'm proud if anything." Chalyn announced.
Amina furrowed her eyebrows together, "Proud?" She questioned, Chalyn nodded her head yes. "Yes bitch, it was very obvious that y'all liked each other—I knew as soon as y'all started having those dry ass arguments." She explained, causing Amina to laugh as she moved a piece of hair behind her ear.
"You know the song Pink Matter by Frank Ocean?" Amina questioned, Chalyn nodded her head yes. Amina began to smile as she laid the back of her head on the pedicure chair. "That's how it feels...every time." Amina voiced.
"We should go to Blue's tonight." Chalyn suggested, "We should." Amina replied, it'd been a while since they'd went to the club together.
"When do you move into your new unit?" Amina questioned as she watched the pedicure tech go to work on her feet, she was a bit ticklish, so she was pursing her lips together attempting not to chuckle while receiving the massage. "Tomorrow! I hired some movers right after I got the key." Chalyn enthusiastically replied, which made Amina happy. Once Chalyn informed her building manager what was happening, they immediately suggested that she moved to a new unit.
"That's good." Amina nodded her head as she listened. If she was in her friend's shoes, she would move completely, but hey. Amina knew first hand it was easier to say what you'd do when you weren't actually in the opposite shoes. "She keep lifting up my leg, she gon' see some pussy." Chalyn mumbled, causing Amina to erupt into laughter.
Chalyn chuckled, "I'm serious—it's bald though, we good." She added. Amina never thought she'd be this close to a friend again, but she definitely appreciated Chalyn. Two peas in a pod were exactly what they were. "Mimi—imma buy you a salon when I get my settlement. " Chalyn announced. Amina knit her eyebrows together as she chuckled, she figured Cha was feeling those complimentary drinks that were being served to them. They could barely finish a drink before the staff was bringing them a brand new glass.
"You getting tipsy?"Amina chuckled as she reached for her drink and took a sip, Chalyn chuckled as well. "A little—but I'm serious MiMi, you deserve it." Chalyn endearingly replied, Amina playfully stuck her bottom lip out before smiling.
"Speaking of the settlement, how's that going?" Amina questioned. She loved that suing for revenge porn was a thing, trusting somebody enough to send them such a thing and then them negatively using it against you once you were at odds with them was disgusting to Amina. "Good, well—the first court date is next week, imma need me a good ole serious bob—you know bitch with a bob ain't nothing to play with." Chalyn explained.
Amina cackled, "A bob and a pants suit—they gon' know you mean business." She spoke, Chalyn nodded her head in agreement.
"And a brief case, I don't know if it can get any more serious than that." Chalyn spoke, causing them both to laugh. "Now that we going to Blue's tonight, I might have to skip the sauna, I just did my hair." Amina spoke as she subtly stroked her bundles. She was now sporting a fringe bang along with 26 inches of sleek virgin hair, of course she snuck a few blonde highlights in.
"You two seem like so much fun." Chalyn's pedicure tech chimed in. She was an older lady, Amina assumed she was in her late 40s. A cute little Hispanic woman with a warm inviting smile. Chalyn and Amina looked at each other with smiles on their faces, "Can you believe she ain't wanna be my friend at first?" Chalyn spoke, Amina chuckled.
"Girl—that's not what happened." Amina playfully waved her friend off. "Maybe next time Cha." Chalyn parodied Amina, causing her to laugh.
"Did I tell you I hired somebody to pump my gas?" Chalyn spoke as she reached for her drink, Amina lightly chuckled. Chalyn was the epitome of high maintenance, anything that she could hire somebody for—she was doing just that. "Really?" Amina questioned, Chalyn nodded her head yes.
"Absolutely." Chalyn replied, "I refuse to do shit like that, all that strong black woman shit is for the birds, especially when you're dark skin. People try anything to make you seem masculine, I'm a princess and my only concern is running my cute little cupcake shop." She went on. Amina nodded her head in agreement, being dark skin herself meant she felt Chalyn's sentiments personally. Colorism was sadly a part of their everyday lives.
"And what about security?" Amina questioned. Her friend's safety was on her mind more and more these days. Although the experience was scary, she grew anxious thinking about what Dell would've done to Chalyn if he got to the other side of the door and Amina wasn't there. "I had somebody hired—but I'm honestly gonna get me a gun, a cute lil pink something that can fit in all of my purses." Chalyn replied.
"So when we out this summer and I reach into my bag, bitches gon' scatter like roaches." Chalyn added, causing Amina to laugh. It was very obvious that her friend was feeling the mojitos at this point. "This my first summer being single, we outside MiMi—that's if you don't get pregnant." She added.
"Pregnant? In the summer? You drunk foreal." Amina chuckled. She always imagined it to be miserable being pregnant in the summer time, especially with how hot it gets in Texas. "Im just making sure we poppin bottles and not making them." Chalyn joked, causing them both to laugh.
January 22nd 2023
Dallas, Texas
12:26 am
Amina walked into to Blue's and immediately looked around. As always, it was super busy. So busy that there weren't any open seats at the bar, which meant the duo had to step out of their norm and sit at one of the circular tables. Amina sat facing the stage with one of her legs crossed over the other. She slowly bobbed her head to the music that was playing, When You Touch Me by Brandy, a personal favorite of Amina's.
Footsteps sounding against the stage caused her to snap out of her daze and look up, she caught eyes with Cass. A scowl dressed her face as she eyed Amina, her mouth was twisted up as if she smelt something that wasn't so pleasant. This reminded her of how Pandora was grilling Yvette in baby boy. Amina smiled as she sent her a cute, yet shady wave. Cass rolled her eyes as she grabbed the microphone and tapped it twice, to gain the attention of everyone. "I'll be right back." Amina notified Chalyn before getting up and heading towards the bar. For the most part, Amina tuned Cass out, but from what she could hear she was reciting a poem.
Amina stopped at the bar and slightly leaned over as she waited for an available bartender, both were busy and she didn't want to interrupt. "Amina?" A feminine voice called out to her. Amina looked in the direction that the call came from and instantly grew hot. In front of her stood her old best friend, Niecey. She still looked the same, the only noticeable change was her weight gain. Which wasn't a surprise, the girls were knocking on 30's door and didn't have the same metabolisms they had when in high school. Besides that, she looked exactly how she did the last time Amina saw her.
Niecey had high yellow skin and sandy brown hair, even when she wore extensions in she still opted for her natural hair color. The ongoing joke when they were in school is that Niecey looked like the pornstar pinky—and she did, damn near a carbon copy, especially with the couple extra pounds that they both had these days. Her fashion sense appeared to be the same, as she was dressed in a tight fit dress that probably would've fucked the club up in 2014.
Seeing Niecey sent an undeniable rage through Amina's body, especially since she had a big smile on her face as if nothing happened. "Did you steal your mama's money and blame it on me?" Amina questioned. She was never one to hold her tongue, whatever was on her chest was immediately coming off. She honestly never counted on seeing her ex best friend again, she hadn't seen her since she was abruptly kicked out of her house. After a while, Amina figured Niecey moved to Houston, just like she always said she would.
"I did—and it's been on my mind since that day, I felt so bad ab—" Is all Niecey could get out before Amina send multiple blows to Niecey's face, in the matter of a few seconds the girls were in a full on brawl. Catching the attention of everyone in the club and causing a major scene. In the midst of fighting, Amina felt a pair of strong hands pick her up and carry her away. She shortly realized it was Rashad once they stepped into his office.
"The fuck is wrong with you!" Rashad shouted, Amina never minded him and stepped over to the mirror. If her hair wasn't flawed, she wouldn't have been able to tell that she was a couple seconds out of a fight. "Yo, come here, look at your fuckin hands." Rashad fussed as he rummaged through his desk, a couple moments later she pulled out a first aid kit. Amina looked down at her hands and sighed. A couple of her nails were broken and she had had a few cuts and scratches.
Amina sat on the wooden desk and watched as Rashad opened the alcohol wipe by ripping it down the middle, he grabbed the small wet towel and began to wipe around Amina's missing nails where their was blood. Amina winced in pain while slightly pulling her hand away, Rashad immediately pulled it back.
Anger was radiating off of him, it made Amina feel like a little girl in the principal's office after doing something wrong. "This my place of business and you in here fighting like you lost your fuckin mind!" Rashad semi yelled. Amina grabbed her hand from him and jumped off the table.
"Well, then let me go cause you ain't finna sit here and reprimand me, when you literally sell drugs from here and it don't big no big ass problem." Amina argued back as she headed for the door. Her hand reached for the knob but she quickly turned around, feeling like she had more to get off of her chest.
"You ain't even ask me if I was okay, you just started barking at me and being fuckin mean." Amina spoke as her voice started to shake and tears edged her water line. Rashad let out a sigh as grabbed Amina by her forearm to pull her closer to him. "Leave me alone." Amina cried.
Rashad kissed her forehead before wrapping her in a warm embrace, "You right, I'm sorry mama." He spoke as he continued to hold her. The abrupt sound of banging caught their attention, they looked at each other before looking at the door.
"Who the fuck is it?" Rashad yelled out. "Chalyn, where is Amina!" Chalyn yelled out as she continued to bang on the door.
"She good, she in here with me." Rashad replied. "Let me hear your voice MiMi." Chalyn spoke, causing Amina to lightly chuckle.
"I'm good Cha." Amina yelled out to her friend before sniffling, she slipped out of Rashad's grip and walked over to the door before swinging it open. "I'm good." She assured once she laid eyes on Chalyn.
"Alright, here's your purse." Chalyn spoke as she handed Amina the small Botega bag. "You riding with him?" She questioned.
"Yeah...imma ride with him, text me when you get home." Amina replied, Chalyn nodded her head. The girls shared a brief hug before Chalyn walked away and Amina stepped back into Rashad's office.
Now that Amina's adrenaline was wearing off, she could feel a burning sensation on her face as if she had a few cuts. She stepped into the mirror and kissed her teeth, "Something always happening to my fuckin face." She fussed as she walked over to Rashad and sat on the wooden desk.
"Don't sweat it." Rashad spoke, he carefully sat a peroxide wipe on the minuscule cut. "You still mad beautiful." He added as he grabbed a small tube of aquaphor and applied it to the now disinfected cut.
"Now, what happened?" He questioned, opening the floor for Amina to speak. His eyes were full of concern and attentiveness. "I was standing at the bar and somebody called my name...it was my old best friend and the bitch started acting like shit was cool, I asked her did she steal her mama money and blame it on me and and she admitted that she did...I just blanked out and started beating her ass." Amina explained. Rashad sighed as he ran his hand over his face.
"I guess it was just a bunch of suppressed emotions from the day her mama kicked me out—I remember feeling so helpless, it was two against one...I couldn't speak up for myself then but I definitely showed that hoe something today." Amina went on.
"You ain't ever supposed to let nobody have that much power over you Mi. Yeah it was fucked up how they did you, but it contributed to your story." Rashad spoke as he cleaned up her hand. "You woulda never got connected with your uncle if that ain't happened." He added. Amina could agree with that, getting back in contact with Travis changed the trajectory of her life, something she'd always appreciate. Her eyes fluttered, struggling to stay open as she grew tired from every event that took place within the past hour.
"I'm ready to lay down." Amina announced as she slightly sulked, Rashad pecked her lips before throwing away the trash he made from the first aid kit. "Let me finish up around here and we can go, aight?" He spoke, Amina nodded her head as a response.
January 22nd 2023
Dallas, Texas
11:30 am
Rashad's eyes fluttered open as the light from the bathroom woke him up, along with the sunshine. His eyes focused on the bathroom where Amina was fully dressed and leaning over the counter as she continued to get herself ready.
Amina dragged her trusty beauty supply store lip liner, in the shade chestnut, around the line of her full lips. Once her lips were perfectly lined, she grabbed her clear Fenty gloss and twisted the applicator brush off before rubbing it onto her lips. Amina pursed her lips together to evenly distribute and tie in her desired look.
A constant rhythm of vibration caught Rashad's attention, he looked over to see that it was Amina's phone with an incoming call from an unsaved number. He internally went back and forth about answering or not. Soon, the call ended and Rashad figured it was a scam call or something. Rashad's tongue ran across his top row of teeth as he pondered a little bit longer, after a random feeling of fuck it came over him he grabbed his phone and went to cash app. He input the number and watched it load for a few seconds before the cash tag popped up. Melo.
Amina's phone began to ring again, this time Rashad immediately grabbed it and pressed the lime green button before pushing the phone up to his ear. "Yo." He greeted.
Melo lightly chuckled, "Ain't this Amina phone?" He questioned.
"Yeah—she busy." Rashad blankly replied, Melo continued to chuckle before he hung up. Amina walked out the bathroom, spraying MFK's Gentle Fluidity on her body from Rashad's collection. "Somebody called me?" Amina questioned.
"That nigga Melo." Rashad announced as he handed Amina her phone and turned out of the bed, he pushed his feet into his house shoes before heading into the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. He wasn't sure of the relationship that Amina had with him, and he honestly wasn't worried about it. Amina followed Rashad into the bathroom and leaned against the countertop. "You riding with me today mama?" Rashad questioned, Amina nodded her head yes.
"That's exactly why you need to hurry up so we can go." Amina spoke as she grabbed a small white face towel and ran it under the hot faucet for a couple seconds before ringing it out and wiping Rashad's face. "You my son." She whispered, causing them both to laugh.
"Chillout." Rashad mumbled, standing still while Amina wiped his face down, making sure to get every nook and cranny. "Where you trynna go mama?" He questioned while looking down at her. She was dressed nicely in a black Skims outfit, the trench coat she had on the other day, and a pair of Lanvin's on her feet. Rashad had a negative notion about bangs up until now, Amina looked good as fuck with hers. Growing up, he remembered his mom would wear her bangs super thick, like Nicki Minaj and Keyshia Kaior. But Amina's weren't like that, they were way thinner.
"I wanna go to Ulta, see what they got and then I been meaning to stock up on shit for my suite, so I gotta stop at the beauty supply store too." Amina explained. Rashad lightly chuckled as he looked at her. "I'm surprised you ain't got everything outta Sephora and Ulta already." Rashad spoke, causing Amina to chuckle. She attempted to walk away, but Rashad grabbed her arm to pull her back in so he could place a kiss on her lips.
"Imma take you to Ulta and all that, but it's somewhere else I wanna take you—that's cool with you?" Rashad replied, Amina smiled as she enthusiastically nodded her head yes. Giving Rashad some relief yet nervousness that his plan was in motion. Although he had no problem opening up to Amina, it was still anxiety wrenching for him to do so. Nobody knew him as much as Amina did, not even his own family.
January 22nd 2023
Dallas, Texas
1:45 pm
Amina dug her spoon into her Açaí bowl and slightly mixed around her toppings before taking a big spoonful. So far, the duo finished the errands that Amina listed. They stopped at the beauty supply store and Ulta, the only stop left was the place Rashad had planned for them to visit.
Change Clothes by Pharrell and Jayz blasted through the car, Amina used her free hand to reach over and slightly turn it down. "You know they on Twitter saying JayZ is scaring the hoes music." Amina announced.
"Must be a coastal thing—cause that's exactly how I felt when I moved down here and niggas was listening to Boosie." Rashad spoke, causing Amina to laugh. "Not too much, maybe it is a coastal thing, cause the South definitely love some Boosie." She replied
"You like Jay though." Rashad replied as he slightly looked over at her. "I do...my mama was a music connoisseur though, she listened to everything. And I guess that rubbed off on me." Amina spoke, a smile always appeared on her face when speaking about her mother. She looked over at Rashad, he held a sexy focused look on his face as he pushed them to their destination.
"If I went to jail last night for fighting, would you have bailed me out?" Amina randomly questioned. Rashad briefly knit his eyebrows together before softly chuckling, once he noticed the seriousness on Amina's face his chuckling ceased. "Of course I woulda bailed you out Mi." He replied.
Soon, they arrived at their destination. Rashad pulled into a parking spot before shutting his car off. Amina glanced around and realized they were at the symphony center. The passenger side door opened, causing Amina to look up. She grabbed her purse and slid out of her seat. "We're seeing the orchestra?" Amina questioned, Rashad nodded his head yes.
"You been before?" Rashad questioned, "No—I eat at Monarch a lot though, so I always see it." Amina replied as they walked side by side into the building. Rashad already had their tickets, their scheduled show wasn't starting for another hour, which bought them time to stop at the bar area. Amina wasn't feeling alcohol, so she got Rashad's little signature drink.
"This how you do it, not with that nasty ass Diet Coke shit." Rashad spoke as he squeezed the lime slice into his freshly poured coke. Amina chuckled as she playfully waved him off, "How'd you come up with this anyway?" She questioned.
"When I first moved here I was on them lil taco spots bad—one day I just used my extra lime from the tacos and put it in my drink." Rashad explained. Amina couldn't believe that his skin was still so perfect after drinking coke, she figured his water intake trumped his Coke intake. "Let me flick you up." Rashad instructed as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket.
"Should I put my cup down?" Amina questioned, Rashad shook his head no as he continuously pressed the white circle on his iPhone camera. "Let me see." Amina spoke as she walked toward him, Rashad scrolled through showcasing the photos he took. The hour between shows went by pretty fast, due to them having each other's company. Before they knew it, they were granted entrance into the theater and made their way to their seats.
"Why we all the way up here?" Amina questioned as she slipped her phone into her small crossbody bag. "Sound travels—it's gonna sound better up here, they built it like this for that exact reason." Rashad explained, causing Amina to nod her head.
"So, it's the opposite of like regular concerts?" She questioned, attempting to gain clarity. "Yeah, they use amplifiers and microphones and shit like that." Rashad answered. At this point, Amina couldn't say that she was surprised that Rashad was so well versed on the subject, to love him was to know he had many layers. This was another nonsexual turn on for Amina.
The lights dimmed and the curtains opened once the orchestra started playing, Rashad grabbed Amina's hand, interlocking it with his, all while keeping his eyes on the stage. The setting reminded her a lot of those movie dates you'd go on when you were in high school, only now things were way more mature. A smile crept upon Amina's face as she gently rubbed her thumb against the lower end of Rashad's thumb.