"Have you heard back from the showcase dudes?" Sage asked from the living room couch.
Kenrō was only a few steps away, in the kitchen. This was where he was sketching out his plan for the quickly-approaching Fourth of July.
Now that he and Sage had some disposable income, Ken was putting his money where his mouth was.
With a mouth as big as Texas, Ken was burning through his funds faster than he anticipated. Between ensuring that Sage's show would be as grand as they both imagined and finally getting ahead on a few bills, Ken's talk evidently wasn't cheap.
Neither was red meat, and as Ken insisted upon a celebration for the Fourth of July, the rest of his money was put toward throwing food on the grill and hosting a function with loved ones.
But first, he had to make a grocery list of items.
"Nah, but I was talkin' to another artist that submitted for the showcase, and they hadn't heard back either," Ken responded.
"Oh okay," Sage mumbled, pondering if that would be a cause for concern.
Before he could dwell too long, Ken spoke up, "Aye, you said yo' girl work at Graham's, right?"
"Yeah."
"You think she could pick up some andouille?"
"Nigga," Sage chuckled, "what'chu need dat for? Stick to the fuckin' ribs and chicken."
"Maybe I also wanted to have a seafood boil. Excuuuse me for thinkin' big," Ken scoffed.
Sage laughed and settled back into his current task of writing a song. His thoughts boomeranged to Darcy-Ann for the next few minutes.
He pulled out his phone, scrolling and typing as he called for Ken again. "Aye, Ken!"
"What?"
"You gon' be here tonight?"
"What'chu mean? I live here."
"I want some alone time wit' my girl. Think I'ma plan somethin' nice for her."
"Damn, you couldn't have told me this last night? If I spend the night at Mel's two nights in a row, she gon' think I'm tryna tell her somethin'."
"Like you in love with her?"
"Sage, don't put that spirit on me just 'cuz you out the dog house," Ken denied without delay.
"Whatever," Sage snickered, finding a restaurant and reservation spot within minutes.
"I'm prolly gon' head out soon. Did you really need some andouille?"
"Bruh, yes!" Ken affirmed before tearing his list out of its notebook and handing it over to Sage.
All the while, Darcy was getting ahead on writing— finally.
Aria invited her out to the coffee shop she frequented— to people-watch, to have a change in scenery for her writing, to hang out— but Darcy took a rain check.
She'd been taking nothing but rain checks since her and Sage got back together.
Aria tried not to think too much about it, especially since she had her own love life to (attempt to) tend to; hence, all her visits to the coffee shop as of late.
She'd really started to miss hanging out with Dee, but she figured that she and Sage had some catching up to do. Besides, between work and unofficial coffee dates, her free time was often filled with running a micro-business.
There wasn't time for much else, but it was in the moments of stillness that she missed her friends— not just Darcy, but the whole crew, together. Things hadn't been right since that night at Exodus, and it surely hadn't been right since Dani passed.
Tonight was going to be a step in the right direction, however. Aria was sure of it.
There was nothing like a game night over Mexican food to reset the tone.
That is until Darcy received a call from Sage.
"Darcy-Ann."
"Yes, Sage."
"You wanna go out wit' me tonight?"
"Where we goin'?"
"Dinner."
"We doin' barbecue?"
"Nah, I'm takin' you somewhere nice."
"Oh, is that right?"
"Yeah, I'ma ask you to be my girlfriend the right way, like I said I would."
"You ain't want that to be a surprise?"
"Don't worry. You'll be surprised."
"What time I need to be ready?"
"8:00."
"Okay," she was already grinning.
"Okay. I gotta go, but I'll see you later. Call me if you need anything."
"Okay."
"A'ight. Love you. Bye."
There it was again. That L word. It was still taking some getting used to— saying such a heavy word so casually. So naturally.
But it did come naturally. That's how love should always be, she thought.
But now that he had a surprise for her, she couldn't help but wonder exactly how much weight was behind his naturally stated love.
She knew he was crazy, but he wasn't crazy enough to do anything drastic like propose... Right?
She couldn't be sure, and that scared her. Any lack of certainty or control was guaranteed to send a zap of dark adrenaline ripping through her.
She plopped down on her bed, hoping the impact of the mattress would knock her out of her own fear.
The springs squeaked under her weight, the sound more and more apparent ever since Sage pointed it out.
Her eyes trailed her room as she sighed, and she spotted "NiNi's Stuff" again.
It called to her as it always did, but she flew up to find an outfit for tonight instead.
She pulled out a little black dress that was classy enough to dine in but short enough to entice. She showered and shaved, did her hair and zipped through shoe choices.
The accessories were the finishing touch, but no necklace felt like it fit the occasion. That is until she spotted the guitar pick he'd given her.
She grabbed her phone and pulled up her text thread with Aria.
Wya?
coffee shop.
you good?
Yeah. Gettin ready for date night.
I thought we were gonna go to
Eric's game night.
Shit!!!
I'll tell him I gotta rain check
Can I borrow some of your
necklace stuff?
don't break nothin
Thank youuuu 🫶🏾
And sure enough, Darcy crafted herself a necklace with Sage's gift at the heart of it.
By the time 8:00 rolled around, she was ready to go and ready for (almost) anything Sage had prepared for her.
While Darcy and Sage embarked on a special evening, Aria was tossing back shots and bantering with Eric and Jay.
"Eric, that is not funny," Aria giggled.
"What do you mean?" he muttered through a mouthful of tortilla chips.
"An old lady falling in the Graham's parking lot is not funny," Aria shook her head.
"Jay?" Eric was asking for back-up.
"She coulda' broke a hip, bruh," Jay snickered.
"Fuck y'all, a'ight? If Dee was here, she'd be rolling over in tears right now!" Eric chuckled.
They all laughed, knowing it to be true.
The mention of Darcy and her absence offered the perfect opportunity for Jay to ask the very thing he'd been wondering all night.
"How is she, by the way? She still trippin'?"
"She wasn't trippin'. She was just... still dealing with everything."
"We're all dealing. She ain't the only one that lost Dani. We all lost her. Like, goddamn," he mumbled while dipping a chip into the salsa.
Aria shifted in her seat awkwardly. "Um, she's doin' better these days though."
"Yeah, she is," Eric affirmed. "She's like the only one that actually does work at Graham's. You'd think she actually gives a fuck about that job."
They all chuckled.
"For real? Aye, well that's good," Jay nodded while scarfing down another tortilla chip.
"Like, she's good, Jay. She even got a man now. She just needed a lil' reset—"
"A man? She's an emotional terrorist. That nigga won't last six months," Jay scoffed.
"Okay, Jay—"
"What? It's true!" He interrupted Aria with a cheesy grin.
" 'Emotional terrorist' is crazy," Eric scoffed while sliding the guacamole closer.
"She is!" Jay crunched on another chip. "She prolly wakes up and makes you cry. Ain't that right, Ari?"
He wasn't wrong, Aria recalled the argument they'd gotten into while she was making an omelette.
But she still scrunched her face up at him, "Shut up, Jay."
"Yeah, shut up, Jay," Eric stifled a laugh while snatching the bowl of chips from him. "Ol' chip-munchin' ass nigga. You're a tortilla chip terrorist."
Jay snickered, stealing one last chip and resting his forearms against the table between them all. "Yeah, lemme chill before Aria pulls a knife on me again."
"I was just protecting her, Jay. God, you gon' hold that over me forever?"
"Yeah," he smiled, "but I know I was trippin'. We all were fuckin' trippin', and if I was any other dude, I wouldn't have kept it at just flashin' it, I would've stuck his ass."
"Pause."
"Shut the fuck up, Eric," Jay kissed his teeth while Eric chuckled.
Jay returned his attention to Aria before continuing.
"Anyway, I don't blame you, Ari. I appreciate you for not stabbing me. I know you were just protecting her, and I'm not mad about it. Really, but Darcy's always been like that...
"She just finally had a reason to let it out. That don't mean I love her any less... That just means she can't love me any more...
"And if I did anything to make her feel like I was the reason Dani did what she did, then that just is what it is. But Dani hurt all of us when she did that. Darcy's hurt isn't any more valid than the rest of ours."
Eric nodded in agreement, stuffing his face and drinking his beer.
Jay continued.
"Like, me and 'Ni were gonna get married one day. She was the love of my fuckin' life. Y'all don't think I feel guilty for doin' her wrong while she was here? I don't need her crazy ass lil' sister reminding me of it every time I see her."
"We get it, Ja—"
"Do you, Aria?"
She held his stare for a long time, his eyes deep with sorrow and regret.
"I get it, Jay."
"Tell her I am sorry for what happened at Exodus."
"I'm not her secretary."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot."
"Asshole," she murmured while Eric cackled.
"I'm just kidding! You still her placeholder though, right?"
"Fuck you, Jay."
"Aww, don't be like that, Ari. We're all her placeholders. That's always how it's been."
"No, for real. She get ghost every time she get a nigga. If I ain't work wit' her, I wouldn't even know if that girl was alive," Eric added with a smile.
"Treat us like fuckin' side chicks, whenever she get a main," Jay piled on with a snicker.
"Side chicks?" Eric wheezed, nearly choking on his food. "We her side-clique."
"Y'all are literally terrible," Aria tried not to fall victim to their contagiously wild guffaws. "New topic. We still doin' our Fourth of July tradition?"
"Oh, fa'sho!" was the tandem response as they fought off their irrepressible laughs.
While Aria enjoyed a night with the worst people she loved, Darcy was becoming enchanted by the dream of a man she loved.
Caped in an all black suit with twists pulled into a ponytail, he cleaned up quite nicely, and Darcy couldn't be more enamored with him.
"You know why I brought you here?" He asked.
"To ask me to be your girlfriend the right way like you said you would," she repeated his words nearly verbatim.
"Yeah, but also for another reason too."
"To finally have a date where we have utensils."
He chuckled. "Yeah, but it's somethin' else."
"You proposin' to me."
His soft laughter at the suggestion shaved a bulk of anxiousness off of her.
She gave a quiet sigh of relief, grabbing her champagne and chugging it down to the stem of the glass.
"Damn, bunny," he scoffed as she set the glass back down. "I actually like to think of myself as husband material."
"I'm sorry. That wasn't— I was just nervous. I probably would've said yes if— I mean," she somehow found a way to stop herself, screeching to a halt as her eyes widened with terror.
He looked at her, still wearing a smile although he now had a raised eyebrow. "You alright?"
"Mm-hm. Can I get another glass?" The less words, the better, she thought.
"Nah, I think you're good," he chortled while stretching his hand across the table.
She met him halfway, taking a slow, deep breath as her hand was taken into his gentle possession.
"You remember when you said we needed to be more intentional about what we were doin'?" He asked.
"Mm-hm," she nodded, keeping to the new six-word maximum she placed on herself.
"Well, I have every intention to do right by you, Darcy-Ann."
She smiled slightly, "Me too."
"I know this romantic shit ain't been no cakewalk, and it ain't been that for me either... but I think we could do it."
"Do what?"
He grinned, his eyes lingering on their joined hands.
"Big things, Darcy-Ann," his eyes slowly lifted to hers. "You down to do 'em wit' me?"
She nearly laughed. This was a no-brainer. "What do you think?"
He gave the breath of a laugh, "Let's do it then."
He reached into his pocket and placed a ring box on the table.
"This ain't a proposal but... it's somethin' like that," he shrugged with a nod just as the dessert arrived.
In cursive icing were the words: Will You Be My Girlfriend?
"Oh, Sage," she whispered, not receiving anything nearly comparable to this since she was in grade school.
"You are so..." she was trying not to grin as she folded her arms.
"Corny? Cheesy?" He laughed lightly at her reaction, pushing the ring box closer to her. "Open the box."
She beamed while taking it off the table. "How'd you know I would want somethin' like this?"
" 'Cuz you're romantic. I had to match your energy."
Sage never let a detail slip past him. She smiled at the fact.
"How much did you pay for this?"
"Nothin' too crazy. I promise," he assured her.
"You promise?" her eyebrows lifted as she opened the box.
"That's the meaning of all this, right?" he smiled.
"Okay," she replied apprehensively before gazing down at what was in the box.
A silver band of hearts, with teeny diamonds encrusted in each one.
It was simple but effective. Pretty and modern, but not overstated. Nothing that looked too serious, but enough to feel significant.
Enough to make her tear up.
"You like it?"
For fear of a cracking voice, she answered with an assertive nod.
"Lemme put it on," he said.
She handed him the box, her hands shaking as she took a deep breath to quail her rising waterworks.
"Thank you, Sage. This is so sweet," she offered a closed-lipped smile as he removed the ring from the box and took her hand.
"Of course," he slipped the ring onto her finger. "How that feel? It's too tight? Too loose?"
"It's perfect," she smiled slightly.
"Perfect."
"Guess that means you're my man... officially."
He nodded with a satisfied half-smile. "And you my woman."
"Goddamn right," she couldn't keep her smile down as she flexed her hand, watching the ring glimmer at different angles and distances.
"Sage, this is so cute, like..." she liked how the tiny diamonds twinkled like stars and the silver reminded her of their first time meeting.
"Now I gotta get'chu a ring. What's your size?" She asked.
"I already got mine," he held his hand up. It was amongst the other accessories he wore, all of which golden with exception to that one, a matching band of hearts.
He was proactive too. Green flag.
Maybe he was built to meet Dallas Clarke, she mused.
She joined his hand with hers, a big goofy grin stamped on her face.
Sage was buzzed, the high of making Darcy happy setting in as she gazed into his eyes with so much warmth.
"I'm committed to you, Darcy-Ann. I'm in this wit'chu. For as long as you'll have me."
She loved the sound of that.
Her free hand raised as she glanced around for their waiter.
"Can we take this cake to-go?"