𝐃𝐔𝐊𝐄

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐒𝐢𝐱 || 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐳

"𝐈 𝐨𝐰𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞"

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𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐𝐭𝐡
𝟑:𝟒𝟎𝐩𝐦
𝐎𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨,𝐅𝐋

Closing the car door behind her, Brooklyn clicked her keypad twice, making sure her car doors were locked before walking away and heading towards the Art studio. Her hair was blow dried out naturally, she had a hair appointment to go to later and didn't want to add anything to it after washing it, so she let her hair be free for the first time in a while.

Using her finger to pull the strand of her out her mouth as she pushed open the double doors to the building. And since she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, she ran into someone.

"Oh I'm sorry" she quickly apologized to the person in front of her before bending down and grabbing the phone off the ground and passing it to them.

"It's fine" Toni responded finally looking up and realizing who it was. "Brooklyn, hey "The young girl smiled

"Hey" Brooklyn frowned not expecting her to be here "What are you doing here" She asked passing the phone back to her.

"I'm here, checking out the school, I've earned enough credits to graduate early."

"Oh wow that's amazing, congrats" She smiled.

"Thanks" Toni looked down, as if something was bothering her "Um, do you have some time, i wanna talk to you about something."

"Sure, follow me" Brooklyn adjusted the large tote bag on her shoulder and continued heading towards the studio that should be empty at the moment.

Using the key that she borrowed from Ms. Blue, she unlocked the door, walking straight for her station while Toni lingered behind to look around the room in awe.  Captivating painting were engraved in the walls and different sculptors and clay models were displayed around the room.

Dropping her bag on the floor, Brooklyn pulled over her chair and sat down right in front of her wooden desk and began prepping her art materials. "So, what did you need to talk about" she filled her glass jar with fresh water before dumping her used brushes into it.

"I've never got to apologize" Toni began walking up slowly.

"For?" She chuckled feeling like she was spuing nonsense. 

"For how my family treated you" Brooklyn stopped what she was doing and looked over at the young girl who was now closer than before. "You didn't deserve what they put you through, especially after he did you wrong."

"Toni, you don't need to apologize to me, I've gotten over everything that happened."

"I know but they will never will, and that bothers me" Brooklyn sighed, hating that Toni was one of the youngest yet she was the most mature out of the bunch.

"Toni, I've been got over the fact that I would never get an apology from him, because to him, he didn't do anything wrong, so I don't need it from you." She let her know straight up "Thank you though, I appreciate it."

She turned back around in her seat, continuing the task she started while Toni nods her head while looking around the room, until her eyes landed on a painting of hers. It was unfinished but nevertheless it was beautiful.

"You love him, don't you" She mumbled keeping her eyes on the picture.

Brooklyn looked up trying to figure out what she was talking about until she noticed she was looking at her painting, quickly she jumped up and reached for the it cover that had fell onto the ground. "You're not supposed to see this."

"My bad" Toni chuckled watching as Brooklyn fixed the white fabric.

"I wanted him to see it first." She sat back down feeling a little after realizing what she just said and who she was saying it too.

Toni smiled "I think he's good for you." She said making Brooklyn look away. "He not going to do you like my brother did and I believe that."

"I believe that too."

Because until him all she knew was bad love, love that was uncertain, draining, and difficult, but loving him was comforting and easy.

-

Opening the door to the hair salon triggered the bell on top of the door, which caught the attention of the employees who instantly recognized Brooklyn. She was regular customer who came in almost weekly. "Hello Ms. Hollywood" a brown skin girl with thick dark lips from smoking with a pink buzz cut and a eyebrow piercing walked placed the rest of her combs into the blueish liquid before greeting Brooklyn at the front desk.

"Hey Trinity" She waved at the stylist as she stepped up to the pearl with counter. 

"Girl your early, I'm still sanitizing my stuff." She laughed, going to the computer and checking off her appointment.

"Would rather want me to be late?" She questioned making Trinity side eye her before walking away from the computer and heading back over to her station.

"You already know that i don't play that late shit" Brooklyn sat down in the chair while Trinity stood next to her, trying to get her tools together.

"Only when it's your clients."

"First off it was one time, and plus I end up making it up to you so don't even try to play me like that" She laughed walking behind Brooklyn and pulling the large bonnet off her head.

"Bro, what did I tell you about coming to me pre blow dried." She said with attuited looking at her client through the mirror. "I told you stop; damn you don't listen" She mumbled under her breath making Brooklyn laugh.

"Girl, you will be okay" She watched as her stylist grabbed a wide tooth comb and began detangling her hair. "And I was trying to make this process move faster, I have somewhere to be."

"Ohh, where you gotta be?" She looked up at Brooklyn, putting halt to whatever she was doing.

"All up in my business" Trinity, smacked her lips and began starting her hair.

"Fuck you then."...

Raising her phone higher into the air, trying to get better lighting for her pictures, so was so in love with her hair. She had a long blonde body wave wig that stopped at her mid back, she was nervous to put such a light color in her head but end up loving the outcome.

"I wanna fuck her when she blonde ohhh ohh" Trinity sang off key while recording herself. Brooklyn burst into to laughter causing her to stop recording. "You fucked up my shit"

"You did that yourself" She laughed as she began going through her purse, in search of her wallet. "How much i owe you"

"Girl, a man already came up here and paid before you came, shit he gave me too much, you want his change?" She said making Brooklyn frown

"Who?"

"As if i know" She shrugged "He was tall, dark skin with waves" Immediately it clicked in her head.

A soft smile spread across her face as she grabbed her phone out of her back pocket and rang up that man.

"Yo" He answered the facetime, not even looking down at the screen.

"You didn't have to do that." She smiled making him look down at his phone and instantly a smile formed on his lips.

"Damn baby, this new hairstyle got you looking like you need yo ass ate" He pulled the phone closer to his mouth, making what he said sound louder than normal.

Brooklyn's jaw drops while Trinity pocked her lips out as she overheard their conversion. "Oh my fucking god" she laughed feeling embarrassed, she covered her face while he just laughed.

"I'm on my way to you" He said walking out of whatever building he was in and back outside where the sky was starting to darken.

"Okay hurry up" Getting in his car he nods his head before hanging up the phone, bring her back to reality.

"How much did you pay for him" Trinity joked "And where did you find one of those at?"

Brooklyn shook her head hopping down from the salon chair "I just got lucky"...

Waving Trinity off, Brooklyn hopped in the car to be met with Gio "Damn ma, you look good"

He looked down at her outfit. she had on a white backless halter top with light denim shorts and multi color Gucci slides.

"Thank you handsome" she smiled as he leaned over, grabbing her by her throat and pulling her into a deep kiss.

"I've missed you so much" He smiled against her lips.

"I missed you too" She giggled, feeling that euphoric feeling run through her body.

It felt like they haven't seen each other in years even though it's only been a few days. Both to caught up in their schedule to meet up but made sure to call each other every night because it was almost impossible for them to fall asleep without each other.

Pulling away Duke took his eyes off her as he reaches in the back seat for something. With curiosity filling her mind, Brooklyn turned her body to face him, she hated the anticipation.

Seeing the large bouquet of pink roses made her gasp and poke out her lip out in awe. Before he could even give them to her, she covered her face, embarrassed because she was about to cry. She just felt so loved in this moment.

Duke began laughing "Aw my cry baby girl" He teased her before opening his car door and walked over to her side and opening it.

Pulling her out of the car with his free hand, he pulled her into a hug with his hand rubbing her her head as the two rocked back and forth.

"Our night haven't even started and your already crying" He chuckled Pulling her out the hug and giving her another kiss before giving her the bouquet that was almost the same size as her.

While Brooklyn was trying to gather herself, Duke began snapping pictures of her making her cover her face. "Stoppp" She dragged, quickly jumping back in the car.

Shaking his head, he closed the door and slowly made his way around to the driver's side before getting in himself. He looked over at her as a big smile was frozen on her features.

"Where are we going?" she asked finally taking her eyes off the flowers, but he didn't respond making Brooklyn roll her eyes. "You always wanna make shit a surprise" she mumbled.

Glancing over at her, he watched a her pout slowly formed without her even realizing it, it was a small habit she would never notice but he did.

Placing his eyes back on the road, Giovanni continued driving until the city view turned into a sandy and ocean view. The reddish orange sky turned into a dark purple color as night fell over the couple.

Finally parking the car, he hopped out and walked around to her side and help her out by holding his hand out, letting her take it and step out. "I'm about to cover your eyes, okay."

He said taking her a back a bit. "Why" she asked a little suspicious.

"Just say okay" He frowned making her sigh and close her eyes, giving him the chance to place the black cloth around her eyes.

He tightens his grip on her hand letting her know that he had her. Slowly he began leading her in the direction that he wanted her to go.

"Two step right her baby" He warned her.

Listening to him she stepped down the two step and stepped once more. feeling sand filling her slides "I don't like this" she smiled.

"A little sand won't kill you" He chuckled before stopping and letting go of her hand.

"Gio, stop playing, grab me" She waved her hands around trying to feel out for him.

"Girl chill" He said as he begun untying her cloth "I gotchu"

Letting the cloth fall off her face, Brooklyn blinked a few times before looking straight ahead seeing what he had prepared for her.

"I owe you a date" he said, wrapping his hands around her waist and placing his chin on her shoulder and kissing her neck.

Infront of her was a beautiful picnic set up, with lights and more roses and even champagne. "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry" She mumbled to herself as she used her hands to fan her watery eyes while Duke stood behind her laughing.

He felt proud of himself for doing this for her, he knew she wouldn't like anything big and public, since they both like staying to themselves, so he wanted their first official date to be to themselves.

"You know I love you so much, right" He whispered into her ear, making her turn around in his arms.

"You know I love you more, right" She chuckled before they pulled each other into a kiss with her arms wrapped around his neck and his wrapped around her waist, pulling each other closer until there was no space left between them.

𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫

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