Kandi
"Y'all are no help!" I groaned as I went to take this outfit off and grab another one.
"They all look good on you so don't blame us, KK.." Monica said through our group FaceTime .
"I actually really liked strapless bodysuit, you just need some different pants.." Toya followed up.
"Yeah, I like that too with some wide leg pants and a pair of heels!" Monica added which gave me an idea.
"Alright give me one Second Ladies!" I said before leaving my phone in the bathroom to grab the items I wanted.
I put the bodysuit back on, grabbing my new pants from Akira, and a pair of brown heels before going back to show them.
"Yeah I love that! Wait—turn to side." Monica said causing me to flip her off.
"Girlll don't be like that! We're trying to see the body!" Toya chimed. "Bye! I'm getting off the phone with y'all ho's!" I rushed out before hanging up.
I quickly plugged in my flatirons and waited for them to heat up. Just as I was about to start touching up my hair I heard my doorbell ring. I groaned as I looked down at the time to see it was the time Tamika said she would be here.
"Shit!" I yelled and raced down the hallway.
I knew she would have words for me since I wasn't ready by the time she requested. She hated being late to anything and it usually made her irritable, but I'll just have to make it up to her later.
I carefully ran down the steps and swung the door open. I opened the door to find her standing with a large bouquet of red roses.
"Aww for me?" I smiled and she nodded before stepping inside. She handed me the roses and closed the door behind her.
"Thank you!" I leaned up to peck her lips before looking at them closer to see they were covered in glitter.
"You're welcome, baby. Are you ready?" She asked. I bit my bottom lip before handing her the bouquet.
"No, I just need to fix my hair, but I promise I won't be long.." I said as I ran towards my steps.
"Just hurry up. Where do you want your roses?" She asked and I pointed towards the kitchen.
I ran up the steps and quickly started to press out my hair. It wasn't my best work because I was rushing but it still looked presentable.
I looked my outfit over again in my floor length mirror and grabbed my clutch before I made my way downstairs. I found Tamika waiting for me in the living room seated very comfortably on my couch.
"I'm ready, ma'am.." I smiled.
"Spin for me.." She said as she looked up from her phone. I placed my hands on my hip as I turned around slowly for her.
By the time I turned back in her direction she was standing right in front of me. She clasped both of our hands together, holding them up in the air between us before pressing her lips mine softly.
"So beautiful. Not even mad about you being late anymore."
"I wasn't late."
"Well you weren't on time.." She unclasped one of our hands just to hold one as she led me towards my front door. "I wasn't late either.." I shrugged.
"Okay, baby. Whatever you say." She sarcastically smiled causing me to turn and glare at her as we walked out the house.
As we made it outside I felt her pull me behind her and I turned back around to see there was a random white man who was walking up my driveway.
"Are you Kandi Burruss?" He asked.
"Who are you?" Tamika asked as I just stared at him. Instead of answering Tamika he just repeated his previous question and I gave him a curious look before slowly nodding my head.
Papers were shoved in my hand and he was running down the street before I even registered what happened. I briefly heard him say 'you've been handed legal documents', but the memory was hazy to me.
"Did that just happen?" I asked.
"I feel like I should run after him and beat his ass?!" Tamika said as we both tried to process what happen.
"Let's go back inside so you can look this over and call your lawyer.." She suggested already moving to go back in the house.
I quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards her car. "What are you doing?" She asked as she looked at me as if I had five heads.
"We have a date. I can deal with this later.." I said nonchalantly.
I had no idea who was suing me or why but I knew I wasn't letting them ruin my day. A simple text to my lawyer and all of this would be cleared up by the time we got back from our date. I had nothing to worry about.
"Are you sure? You just got served with papers... are you not worried?"
"Was I worried when you threatened to sue?" I questions I began to stuff the papers into my purse.
"No, but that's entirely different."
"Whatever it is, I'm not scared. I just want to continue our day we planned.." I smiled, raising an eyebrow at her until her expression changed.
I quickly pecked her lips before she ushered me to the passengers seat. I got inside and quickly pulled out my phone to text my lawyer.
She texted me back immediately asking for a picture of the documents. After I sent them she texted me back that she'd handle it and call me later.
"See I told you! She's already on it and we can enjoy our day.." I said before grabbing her hand that was on my thigh and intertwining it with mine.
"I'm glad, baby." She said before bringing our hand up to her mouth and pressing a soft kiss onto mine.
Deep down I knew I was trying to convince myself I wasn't nervous. I refused to read any of the documents because I didn't want to know. For the life of me I couldn't understand why life always hits me when I'm just starting to get back up.
It felt like an exhausting cycle I couldn't get out of. I promised myself I would continue my day and as easy as it sounded I was already struggling.
I get my leg start bounce nervously and my unoccupied hand gripped the underside of my seat. Just when I felt myself about to spiral I felt Tamika squeeze my hand. I let out the breath I was holding in before squeezing her hand back.
We finally pulled up to the museum and I did my best to leave those thoughts in the car. It helped that excitement took over the minute we walked through the door.
I loved art. It was expressive, creative, and it told a story. I always thought of it like writing in a different form. The paintings always told a story that was way deeper than what was actually painted.
"How long do we have?" I asked as she handed me my ticket. "Two hours."
"What side do you want to go to first?" She asked and I grabbed her hand to lead her towards the right.
The room on the right had sculptures. A lot of the sculptures were interesting to say the least. They were mainly large structures inspired by white men, so very boring in my opinion.
The only reason I suggested we come here was for their new Afro futuristic exhibit. It was supposed to be futuristic black art by black artist and the pictures made me want to come see it for myself.
"Why do they always add male genitals instead of going the Barbie route?" Tamika asked as we stopped at this one sculpture.
"Is that really your first thought?" I asked as I glanced at the sign that explained the sculpture.
"It's not yours?"
I laughed before grabbing her hand and pulling her closer to the sign. "Look.." I pointed to the explanation and she read before shrugging her shoulders.
"That still doesn't answer my question. I mean this man doesn't even have a head but he has balls. Art is stupid.."
"Food is art. Is that stupid?" I asked with a smirk and she rolled her eyes. "I would never put balls on a plate.."
"You're annoying." I laughed before starting to walk over to the other exhibits.
We saw the exhibit we planned this date around and I spent the next few hours trying to convince Tamika that art was actually worth her time.
By the end of our date I think I succeeded because she was asking about other museums that we could visit.
"What do want to eat?" Tamika asked as we both settled into the car. "I want your cooking but I don't want you to have to cook.."
"So, you want to go to my restaurant?" She laughed. "I meann—you suggested it not me."
"If that's what you want then that's what you'll get." She shrugged and changed her route towards the restaurant.
______
10:00 pm
"You're so sweet to me.." I smiled as Tamika fed me strawberries.
I snuggled into her further, pulling my blanket tighter as the cool breeze of the nights air began to pick up. Tamika's hand brushed up my arm under the blanket before she held another strawberry up to my mouth.
"Always." She whispered before tilting my chin up to meet her lips.
We kissed in an upside down fashion due to the way I was lying. She moaned into my mouth causing me to drop the book I was holding under the blanket and cup her cheek.
"Mm—finish the chapter...I wanna know how it plays out." She mumbled before pulling back from the kiss.
"For someone who doesn't like romance novels you surely are intrigued by this one."
"I don't like romance novels. I just like your voice, so keep going please." She explained.
"What about my voice?" I asked as I sat up and turned to her. She held her arms out to stabilize my swing, that was on my balcony, so we didn't flip over.
"It's sexy and soothing...now finish reading." She retrieved the book and handed it to me.
"What's sexy about it?" I questioned her further.
I watched as she opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it before she could get anything out. I'd never seen Tamika visibly flustered or nervous and it wasn't something that I didn't want to let go of easily.
"If you're not going to read the book. We should just go to bed, it's late." She said as a poor attempt at changing the subject.
I placed my hands on her shoulders as she tried to get up so she would be forced to stay seated on the swing.
"What's sexy about my voice?" I rephrased my question hoping to get an answer this time.
"I-It just is." She shrugged before attempting to stand once again. This time I swung my leg over hers and straddled her lap.
"Am I making you nervous?" I laughed.
"I should've never told you that. I just wanted to finish the book." She nervously laughed again as she gripped the edge of the swing.
"I'm sorry, baby. I'm just not use to you being flustered, it's fun."
"You just like to torture me." She said and I shrugged knowing it was true.
"I'll finish this chapter but then I wanna go to sleep.." I said and she nodded as I moved off of her lap.
We got comfortable in our previous position before I picked up the book I was reading and began to read.
I liked the books writing style and the author had a very poetic way of describing things. It was so descriptive at times it almost like I was living in the book.
I kept reading as Tamika massaged my scalp and occasionally ran her hand over my arm to keep me warm. As my voice was soothing her, her hands were soothing me.
It made it a lot harder to stay focused but nonetheless I kept reading as if it wasn't effecting me. I was halfway through the chapter when the main character started to self sabotage.
"Oh, she's pissing me off! I don't want to hear anymore.." Tamika announced.
"If she didn't act difficult then the book would be over too quickly."
"Yeah, but at this rate she's just being stupid." She expressed before yawning.
I nodded my head in agreement before closing the book I turned to her to peck her lips before starting to clean up.
"Let's go to bed.." I suggested as I reached for her hand. She stood to her feet before helping me fold up the blanket. Once it was folded she took it inside and I followed in behind her.
After locking my balcony door, I closed the curtain and climbed into bed. Tamika climbed in behind me as we cuddled together. It didn't take long for Tamika to fall asleep leaving me wide awake and bored.
I rolled over slowly so I wouldn't disturb her and grabbed my phone off of my nightstand. I sat straight up as I noticed numerous calls and text from Shamea.
I carefully untangled myself from the covers and Tamika as I went into the hallway to call her back. I didn't bother looking over the text knowing exactly why she was texting me.
"Hello? Sorry I missed your call.." I said as she picked up on the third ring.
"Hey, so did you by chance look at any of the documents? Like do you know who's suing you?"
"No, I didn't look at anything. I was out so I just sent the pictures straight to you. Why? Who's threatening to sue me now?"
"Are you sitting? I don't want you to freak out or anything." She said causing me to furrow my brows before walking the short distance to my office and sitting at my desk.
"Alright I'm sitting now. What's going on? You're making me nervous."
"It's Keith."
"What's Keith?" I sat up completely at the mention of that name and waited until I hopefully heard her say I heard her wrong.
"He's suing you for defamation. He's alleging that he's one of the guys in the book that you talk about.."
"What? But that's not even true?! I would never describe anything we did because one it was never good and two half of it wasn't even consensual!" I rambled as I began to grow frustrated.
I couldn't believe my ears it made absolutely no sense. Why would he sue me? How was he even able to do that?
"I have a restraining order against him that doesn't expire for another year. How can he sue me?"
"Well it's very possible seeing as one is a criminal issue and the other is civil. He's well within his right to sue. But I don't want you to worry about that because that's my job.." She said
"How can I not worry Mea? Why does he always have to make my life miserable?"
"We're not going there right now. From the documents sent he's scrambling for evidence and I'm sure we can clear this up quickly. He hasn't gone to the media and I got records sealed so for now like I said let me worry about it. Okay?"
"Alright... I'll try to relax and I'm going to come by your office tomorrow morning."
"That's fine with me. Try to get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow.." She said. We said our goodbyes and I hung up before placing my phone down into the desk in front of me.
Just when I thought life was starting to feel less stressful.
A/N: I'm going to update again later 🫶🏾🫶🏾