𝘼𝙉𝙄𝙅𝘼 𝙇. 𝘾𝙊𝙇𝙀
𝘋𝘌𝘛𝘙𝘖𝘐𝘛, 𝘔𝘐𝘊𝘏𝘐𝘎𝘈𝘕
𝗡𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝟮𝟲𝗧𝗛
"𝐘𝐀𝐋𝐋 got these in a size 10?" Anija heard making her quickly look up from her phone. Tucking it in her back pocket, she looked at the pair of Fresh Air Force 1s before looking up at the male in front of her.
"Let me check real quick," She said before turning around. She headed to the inventory where all the shoes were and looked around for her co-workers who were supposed to be helping her.
Footlocker was short on workers so it was just Anija and her 3 other co-workers, Cece, Jace, and Malika. But Cece and Jace were almost never doing their work so it was really just Anija and Malika.
"Cece! I'm looking for a pair of Air Forces in a size te—" Anija stopped in her tracks when she turned the corner and saw Cece and Jace sloppily kissing, looking like things were about to escalate if Anija didn't pop up.
They quickly pulled away, Jase looking embarrassed as Anija just stared at them blankly, genuinely disgusted that she had to see that.
"Can y'all get y'all shit together? We already short on workers but it seems like me and Malika the only ones in this bitch working," Anija said with a mug on her face.
Usually she didn't say anything, but this was her last straw and she was really annoyed with them. The fact that they were sneaking around because Jase had a girlfriend made things even worse for Anija. She couldn't look at Cece the same after that.
"My bad my bad.. you said you need a what?" Jase said, rubbing his neck awkwardly.
"White Air Forces, size 10," She told him and he nodded, quickly walking off to go find the shoe.
Anija glanced at Cece once more before walking off. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocking it so she could finish sending her text to Jahmeer.
Meer 🫀
3:06 PM
What time yo break?
in likeee 30 mins
Can I come see you?
I'm at yo mall w my brothers
ofccc
i'll text you when i'm out
Aight
What you wanna eat?
anything
yk I'll eat literally anything
Fatass
at least yk
"Anija! I found em," Jace came walking back up to her with a shoe box in his hands.
"Thank you.." Anija said, tucking her phone back in her pocket and grabbing the shoe box. She walked back out to the front and saw the male standing there waiting for her, looking at his phone.
"Here you go, a size 10," She placed the box on the counter, grabbing his attention. "You wanna try em on?"
"Nah," He shook his head, licking his lips while sizing her up and down. Anija tried to hide the look of disinterest in her face but she couldn't help it, he couldn't tell anyways.
"Okay, are you ready to checkout?" She asked and he nodded, digging in his pocket for something.
"You single lil mama?" He asked as she rang up his shoes and pulled the price up on the screen for him to pay.
Anija silently gagged at the nickname. It was like ever since her and Jahmeer got together, everyone was trying to get with her. It was like she looked more single than before.
She found it crazy how people hit on her at work when she came to work looking like who did it and why.
"No.." She shook her head, watching him insert his card in the machine.
"Oh you got a boyfriend?" He chuckled.
"Yeah," She nodded, rubbing her face with the hand that had her promise ring on it purposely. She loved showing it off.
"That lil ass promise ring," Dude shook his head and she couldn't help but to laugh.
Hearing a noise on her computer, she looked at it before looking back at him. "Your card declined," She told him immediately making him frown.
"What you mean?"
"Your card declined," She repeated. "You wanna try again?"
"Yeah yeah try that shit again," He nodded.
She stared at him waiting for him to try again but he just stood there looking around anxiously, rubbing his hands on his pants. "You gotta take your card out and put it back in," She told him.
"Oh yeah oh yeah!" He took the card out and put it back in. He knew it declined again when Anija looked up at him with a sorrowful look.
"Man fuck this shit," He shook his head, walking away. Anija scrunched her face up in confusion, watching him walk out of the store. "I told my mama to put money on my damn card!" She heard him yell to himself as he walked elsewhere.
"His shit declined?" Malika said from across the store making Anija look at her and nod. "Ghetto.."
Anija shook her head, walking to the inventory to give the shoe back to Jace so he could put it back where it was previously. When she walked back out to the front, she noticed a group of girls walking into the store.
She rolled her eyes when she noticed it was Taylor and a few of her friends. "Ion get paid enough for this shit.." She mumbled to herself. She was praying Taylor didn't try to come and start something with her at the place she worked.
"Anija! Can you ask Jace and Cece to come out here and help us since it's more people coming in," Malika called out making Anija nod.
Malika instantly caught Taylor's attention when she heard the name Anija. She looked to where she was looking and spotted Anija walking to the back. Taylor chuckled tapping her friends, letting them know who she had just saw. Though none of them went to their school, they knew of Anija because Taylor talked their ears off about her multiple times before.
"Girl go say sum to her if you brave," One of Taylor's friend said.
Taylor scoffed. "And say what?"
"Say what the fuck you be saying to us," Another spoke. "Allat shit you be talking but you can't say nun to her face."
"Literally. Just stop speaking on her if you ain't gon do nun Taylor, it's getting old."
Taylor mugged her friends before looking back up to the counter where Anija was walking back up to. They made eye contact and Anija held it for a few seconds before looking down at her phone. "Pussy ass bitch," Taylor chuckled.
Without another word or signal to her friends, Taylor began to walk up to Anija. Anija looked up when she felt her presence in front of her and rolled her eyes. "Can I help you?" She said.
"Well hey to you to, terrible customer service by the way. I didn't know you worked here boo," Taylor smiled, of course it was a fake one.
Anija stared at her blankly. The fact that she was standing in front of her right now was slowly but surely pissing her off. "Yeah.. wassup?" She tilted her head. "You need sum?"
"N—"
"Then what you come up to me for?" Anija mugged her.
"Girl calm down," Taylor mugged her back. "You tryna get smart with me as if you're not the weird ass back-dooring ass bitch. I swear bitches be so thirty and can't wait until you done with a nigga! You couldn't find another on—"
"A what?" Anija eyes widened after hearing her say the N-Word. "I know I ain't just hear yo pale ass say the N word."
"Gir— everybody says the N—"
"But I know I ain't just hear you say the N word.." Anija trailed off. "Like bitch you're not black. You may hang around black people but you ain't us. You mad over a nigga you claimed I backdoored you with but we were never fucking friends Taylor!"
At this point, all of Taylor's friends and Anija's co-workers were looking at the two because the brief conversation had now got loud and seemed like an argument that was about to escalate.
"Bitch you so lucky I'm at work right now, it's taking everything in me to not sock you in your shit," Anija chuckled, she was really proud of her self control because they were literally inches away from each other and she had a perfect opportunity.
"Well do it," Taylor shrugged, though she stood still and her demeanor gave off she was not willing to fight.
"Alright alright.. what's going on? She needa leave Anija?" Malika finally walked up and stepped in front of Taylor.
"Bro no.. I needa leave before I tweak out," Anija shook her head. She really didn't want to walk away and let Taylor slide but she didn't want to get arrested in this mall.
"Just go. Go on your break early, we got this," Cece said, placing her hand on Anija's back. She guided her to the locker room so she could calm down and get her bag.
𒊹︎ 𒊹︎ 𒊹︎
Anija sat across from Jahmeer paying him no mind as she typed away on her phone, texting Kema about what had just happened. Anija was heated and she hated that because she barely got mad. But what really pissed her off is the fact that Taylor had the nerve to even come up to her, then used the N-Word as if she isn't Asian.
Jahmeer just stared at her while sipping his sprite that he got from Subway. He was really admiring her like he always did but he could tell she was mad, he just didn't know why. She didn't say much, neither did she touch her food.
Anija glanced up from her phone and met eyes with Jahmeer, not even noticing he was staring at her the whole time. She quickly set her phone down, now feeling bad for neglecting him. "I'm sorry.." She said.
"You good," He nodded.
"You was just watching me the whole time? You wasn't gon say nun?" She asked and he shrugged, laying back in his seat.
"I ain't wanna interrupt cause it might've been important," He said, he wanted to ask who she was texting but he didn't want to drag it.
"I was texting Kema," She told him, as if she read his mind.
"Mm. What happened? You seem mad," He questioned.
Anija sighed and shook her head. "Tell me," He said. "Wassup? Is it me? I did sum?"
"No no.. it's not you," She quickly said. He had a tendency of always thinking he did something wrong when he truly didn't. "It's this bitch bro.. she keeps popping up like a fucking bug."
Jahmeer bursted out laughing hearing her curse like that, she looked so annoyed and disgusted in the face and it made it even funnier. "Who?" He asked.
"I don't even wanna say her name... it's like she's literally a roach that won't die," She shook her head as he was just cracking up at her. "It's Taylor."
He immediately stopped laughing and his face turned into a mug, now matching hers. "What happened? What she do?"
"She came to my job. I don't think she knew I worked there but she came up to me. For what reason? I have no idea. I'm tryna understand why she in my face and shit if she don't want nothing and she get all smart talking bout how ima weird ass backdooring ass bitch and shit," She explained, almost immediately making Jahmeer get upset.
"Like do you even know what backdoor means? Bitches learned that word and just won't shut the fuck up like it's annoying," She stressed. "And that's not even it! You know what she said?"
"What she said?" He replied.
"The N word! She said nigga! It came out so smoothly too I just know that isn't the first time. I'm just annoyed.. I'm annoyed that I'm even annoyed because I never let people bother me but I'm bothered," She expressed, feeling her leg start to bounce.
"Calm down," He grabbed her hands and kissed them making her look soften. "Don't. Don't let it bother you. They just mad. Just keep doing what you doing cause you obviously doing it right."
"But I ain't even doing nothing! She just keeps bringing you up but I feel like her issue is deeper than that," She said. "I wanna fight."
"Mmcht.. Anija," He straight faced her. "You don't needa fight her."
"I don't careeee. It's gon happen eventually. She keep playin' with me, I just gotta show her," She shrugged.
"You too pretty to be doing allat," He shook his head.
"Ion care. Who said pretty girls can't fight?" She tilted her head.
"Me. My pretty girl can't fight," He said making her crack a smile. "She not worth it. She not even gon wanna fight you.. she seem like an all bark no bite typa girl."
Anija bursted out laughing. "She do seem like an all bark typa bitch," She agreed and he shrugged, already knowing he was right.
"Now stop allat cussing and let's talk about something other than her," He said seriously.
"You sound like my mom," She laughed at him.
"We been texting too much often," He chuckled.
"What yall be talking bout?" She asked.
"You," He shrugged and she scrunched her face up. "I'm just playin.. you not the only thing we be talking bout. We don't even text that much, she just be checking on me and I be checking on her."
"Mm.. I'm glad she likes you. She opened up to you quicker than I expected," She said.
Anija never introduced a boy to her mom so she didn't really know what to expect introducing Jahmeer. She knew her mom had no reason to dislike him but she actually liked him and talked to him. She could definitely say that their date altogether made them grow closer.
"I'm just that nigga," Jahmeer popped his collar and Anika gave him a look that made him laugh. He picked his phone up from on his lap and went to his camera, flipping it and putting it in front of his face. "Say cheese."
"Stop, I look crazy," She covered her face. He grabbed her hand but she quickly covered it with her other hand.
"Stop that, you always look good," He said, grabbing both of her hands and kissing her a lips making her smirk. He backed up and put his camera back up. "Now smile."
"Cheeseee," She held up the peace sign and smiled as big as she could making him laugh...
𒊹︎ 𒊹︎ 𒊹︎
"So what did he say? How did he even bring it up?" Anija asked her mom, her head laid on her lap as they were in her bed.
Anija was bored and decided to come bother her mom once again. She was currently asking Adrianna about how her and Jahmeer planned to go out and get Anija her promise ring behind her back.
"He just texted me and asked. He was like I'm planning on asking Anija to be my girlfriend if that's okay with you and he told me his idea of when and how he wanted to ask you. He said he wanted it to be simple but thoughtful because he didn't want to overwhelm you," Adrianna explained as Anija held a goofy smile on her face.
"And what after that?" Anija asked.
"Girl we planned to go and we went!" Her mom said in a duh tone.
"What made you say yes to him being my boyfriend?" She asked.
"Well why would I say no? I can't restrict you from living life and this is part of life. My mom told me I couldn't get a boyfriend until I was 18 but you know what I did? Still went and got me a boyfriend. I'd rather you not do it behind my back like I did it behind my moms," Adrianna explained.
"18 is crazy.. I didn't know granny was that strict," Anija said.
"Yeah.. she said she wanted me to focus on school and being a nurse. I'm still a nurse now, a nigga wasn't stopping nothing."
"Period," Anija swiped her hand under her chin.
"Plus, I like y'all together. He makes you happy and you smile and your face lights up when you hear his name. He's a smart and sweet guy and you're a pretty and smart girl. Perfect match," Adrianna said honestly with a shrug.
Anija just smiled, it hit different hearing it from her mom. "So we a good couple? We look good together?" She asked.
"Yes Anija, yall a cute couple. Yall better last," Her mom pointed.
"Why wouldn't we?"
"Because even though I like him, you never know how these lil boys truly be. But even you could mess up! High-schoolers nowadays just too lost in the sauce," Her mom shook her head and Anija bursted out laughing.
"Lost in the sauce? Who taught you that one mom?" Anija questioned.
Adrianna shrugged. "I heard it on TikTok."
"Mm. Well I hope we last too," Anija said, she truly did hope they lasted but they were at a point where she couldn't see them breaking up anytime soon. They were just too close.
"Now that mom of his.. Ima have to meet both of his parents. I still don't like how she spoke to you," Adrianna started making Anija sigh loudly. Ever since she told her mom what Jahmeer's mom said to her, she had been wanting to meet his parents in person.
"Here you go mom.."
"No Anija cause that wasn't okay and you know it wasn't. She was basically comparing you to the last lil nasty hoe and you're nothing like that. She's shady and I feel like she's gonna be a problem," Adrianna said.
"She's not mom.. she'll warm up to me. She's just cautious of her son," Anija tried defending but her mom only scoffed.
"Yeah she better warm up to you. And if she says something like that again you need to tell Jahmeer so he can check his mom. Cause if he won't, I certainly will," She said.
"Yeah mom. I know you will.." Anija mumbled before grabbing her phone from on her stomach, seeing that Jahmeer was calling her.
Anija answered and she saw Jahmeer sitting on his bed putting his headphones on. "Get on the game," He said.
"Ouu bet," Anija instantly hopped off her mom's bed. "Byeeee mommm," She quickly ran out, almost bussing her ass in the process making her mom laugh...
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thoughts?
would've updated sooner but i was tryna write for my other books.. ended up not finishing tho lol
250 votes!