DIVINE
"Hey, y'all!" Hyacinthe greeted as she pulled open the large front door of her newly acquired home.
Even still dressed in pajamas with various ingredients all over her, Hyacinthe looked like a breath of fresh air. I'm sure even Olivia felt the same way as we wore mirrored smiles with pans in our hands as we walked in.
"Damn, this house is nice." Olivia remarked in awe as she looked around.
It truly was a masterpiece. They'd bought it as a fixer-upper, but Hyacinthe's dad was a contractor so pretty much all the renovations were done quickly after.
But it was when we walked deeper into the home that I found my favorite part: the emerald kitchen. Emerald tiled backsplash with gold detailing throughout along with a hidden pantry.
"You can set those down right there. Justice is outside on the grill already with Eli." Hyacinthe stated as she moved around the kitchen, clearly in desperate need of help.
Fortunately, that was the perfect way to distract myself from the man in the back that was beginning to plague my thoughts. Even hearing that he was so close had sent my heart racing against my chest and ignited nerves I didn't know I had.
"Where do you need us?" I asked, rolling my sleeves up to above my elbows.
"Us? I burn water, so I'll just watch y'all." Olivia waved us off, instead choosing to open one of the bottles of wine she brought and hunting for wine glasses.
We all chuckled amongst ourselves as we were reminded of the disastrous nature of Olivia's cooking. There was a time when she almost blew up the microwave because she forgot to take the foil off her food.
I wouldn't want her within throwing distance of this beautiful kitchen. A fact that I'd temporarily forgotten because I had caught a glimpse of Eli's large, muscled frame as he worked on the grill with Justice.
If the man wasn't fine enough before, he damn sure was in full view of the afternoon sun with a glisten of sweat along his deeply melanated skin.
"Now that's a fine view." Olivia commented with a pointed smile.
"I didn't notice." I responded, turning away to start putting the mac and cheese in the pan to go in the oven.
"Mmhm." My friend hummed before chugging the contents of her glass and starting to pour another.
Hyacinthe and I exchanged worried glances with equal confusion marring our features.
Olivia had been acting strange for a while now. At first, we figured it was the usual fallout of another temporary break from Chris but that still didn't justify how silent she was being about it.
"So, is Chris coming today?" Hyacinthe tentatively asked while trying to appear nonchalant as she moved around the kitchen.
At the mention of his name, Olivia stopped mid-drink and set her drink down to pour it all the way back up.
"Oh, sure. Him and his new babymama would make this the perfect cookout from hell." She said as she poured, chugging it again to fill the shocked silence.
"You heard babymama, too, right?" Hyacinthe whispered.
"I definitely heard babymama." I whispered back.
Still, we were all silent as we tried to figure out what to say next.
"I started talking to Eli." I blurt, oddly spurned on from the sudden honest vibe in the room.
"Pour me a glass, Olivia, you bitches with secrets are giving me a headache." Hyacinthe complained before turning to grab another two glasses for wine.
Once we all had a glass, the food preparation was forgotten as we settled in to catch up on each other's lives.
"Olivia, explain the babymama situation before Divine starts plotting a murder I'll likely be an accomplice to."
"We'd get away with it, too." I added.
What? Being a lawyer had its perks, and I didn't study all those laws for nothing.
With a sigh, Olivia delved into the details of Chris's longtime side piece that had reached out to her via DM to drop the pregnancy bomb. The girl had even sent an ultrasound picture and other proof of being with Chris when Olivia had asked for receipts.
Admiration and sadness filled me at the thought of Olivia dealing with all of this on her own and how well she was handling the news. She'd made it through answering all our questions without crying, except for the last one:
"Are you okay?"
As the the question registered, you could see the devastation finally take its root in Olivia's soul as she began to shake her head while her eyes filled with tears.
"No." She admitted.
Somehow, we had already started forming a tight circle, but it became real as our arms reached out for one another to pull Olivia in.
There was a beauty in having a safe space. A place when you could voice all the worries in your mind and find solace in finally being able to breathe again.
No one was okay all the time, and it was perfectly fine that Olivia wasn't. Here, she was loved, and we gave as much comfort as we received.
"I'm so mad at him." She whispered. "But I'm more mad at myself for still wanting that with him. I keep thinking that it was supposed to be us."
It was almost an out of body experience when you finally notice that your life wasn't what you always thought you'd be. Expectations of marriage and success and family might come earlier or later than you'd imagine.
But you have to keep going. Because stopping makes even less sense than dreaming another dream.
"I'm calling Domino." I stated.
Hyacinthe shook her head slightly with panicked eyes, but Olivia's shined with sad acceptance.
"I don't think we need to call Domino—"
"It's fine, Hyacinthe. Go head, Divine, I know you've been waiting to speak your mind."
Domino wasn't called often in our friend group, but we'd made it up all the same. It was what we said when we could get everything out that we wanted to say and let the cards fall where they may. All bets were off but that didn't mean the truth had to hurt.
"You've been settling for Chris for a long time." I started. "And I get it. He was your first love, and it's hard to leave all those years behind. But Olivia, you shine without Chris, and I think you know it. There's some healing that has to be done if you can't live with being wonderful on your own."
All you could hear was the crackle of the grill from the slightly open window as Olivia pondered my words. Hyacinthe was shooting me looks above the rim of her wine glass every so often as we waited for her response.
There was no telling which way this would go, but I hoped she wouldn't be offended.
"Okay." Olivia finally said.
"Okay?" Hyacinthe echoed in question.
"Okay. You're right. I've been ready to move forward for a while now, anyway. So, I'll make you a deal, Divine."
"What is it?" I asked, the weariness in my tone evident to anyone listening.
"I'll work on myself, if you start taking Eli seriously." Before I could object, Olivia held up her hand. "Girl, that man is fine, and he's wanted you since college. And we all know that you barely save any love for yourself, so open yourself up. See what happens."
"No regrets." Hyacinthe added.
It was one of her resolutions for senior year, and she made us hold her accountable with the threat of forcing her to streak across campus. It was one of the reasons Hyacinthe tried
"No regrets." Olivia said as she raised a challenging brow at me.
"No regrets."
"Damn, how y'all already open up the wine?" A male voice called from behind us.
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