Candace's POV
I woke up with slob all over my pillow. I patted all over my bed for my phone until I finally found it.
Gary 9:54:13
I could hear him snoring on the other line. I smiled to myself. I hung up the phone and shot Garrison a text.
To Gary: morning sleepy head 9:27 AM
I put my phone on the charger and went downstairs.
My daddy was sitting at the table in the kitchen. "Morning sunshine." He said, not even looking up from his daily newspaper.
"Morning daddy." I said before kissing his cheek and making myself a bowl of Fruit Loops.
I sat at the table with him and played with my spoon. I couldn't stop smiling.
Daddy peered over his glasses at me. "What's got you grinning so hard?"
I shook my head. "Nothing."
He folded his newspaper gently and sat it on the table. "Oh come on, you can tell your Old Man.. Is it what I think it is?"
I raised an eyebrow. "It depends on what you're thinking."
"It must be some air headed boy."
I blushed. "You're on the right track."
"Oh lord."
"What?"
"Is it Ronny?"
I rolled my eyes. "No. We don't talk anymore."
"I'm sorry pumpkin. What happened?"
I sighed. "I know you know the way I felt about him."
He shrugged. "Yeah, I do. I knew it before you did when y'all were little. Well, your mother knew."
I bit on the inside of my lip. "I miss her. She'd be able to help me make sense of everything going on."
"I miss her too, babygirl. I'm here if you need someone to talk to. You probably want a woman's perspective, but I give pretty good advice if I do say so myself."
I smiled. "I know, thanks daddy. I just couldn't keep putting my feelings aside for Ronny, you know? He says he's happy with his girlfriend, so it's time for me to move on."
"To Mr. Kool-Aid smile?"
I laughed. "Maybe."
"Well, I'll take that smile over tears anyday." He told me sincerely.
"No work today?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Nope, they finally gave me a day off. It's well needed. I can't wait-"
"Wait to retire, I know daddy." I finished my cereal, put the bowl in the sink and returned upstairs.
I heard my phone ringing so I ran to get it. It was Garrison.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Good morning."
I laid in the bed. "Good morning."
"I had a great time last night, well for the most part. So I was just wondering if we could hang out today, in a more appropriate setting."
"Yeah sure, that'd be great. Where?"
"How about the Baskin Robbin on 45? Say about.. 1?"
"Sounds good. See you there?"
"Yeah, see you soon beautiful."
"Bye Garrison."
"Bye Candace." Then we hung up.
I laid my phone to the side and stared up at the ceiling.
I have a date?
Ronny's POV
The sound of my phone ringing woke me up. I answered with checking the ID.
"Hello?" I groaned.
"Ronny..." Destiny's voice trailed.
I yawned. "What?"
"You aren't still mad at me, are you?"
"Hell yeah, I'm still mad. First you lie to me, then you twerking on random niggas. You mad disrespectful, man. I ain't have no females twerking on me cause I know I gotta girl and I would expect the same from you."
"I fucked up." She whined.
"Yeah, it wouldn't be the first time."
She hopped in defensive mode. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't think this gon work Destiny.
You ain't the same girl I met at Cane's. And I'm tired of giving you my all."
"Baby, please don't! I swear, I'm gonna do better. I just need you to bear with me."
"I've been bearing with you Des, and ain't shit changed."
"Things are gonna change Ronny because I want this. I want you and I don't want you to give up on us. Just give me one more chance, please?"
I ran my hand across my face. "Ight Des, I'll give you another chance."
"Thank you baby, I love you."
"Yeah, I love you too." I told her.
"I'm gonna talk to you later, okay?"
"Ight, bye." I hung up and buried myself under the covers.
After a minute, I picked my phone back up and tried dialing Candace. Of course, no answer.
I waited for the beep and left her a message. "Hey Candy, I just wanted to apologize about last night. I was outta line, but I just wanna talk to you. Call me back, ight? Bye."
I hung up and felt like a damn fool. I knew she wasn't gonna call back, yet I keep calling.
I picked my phone up once again and called Jon Jon. That way I could get some one on one advice without Quan's interruptions.
"What it do?" He answered.
"Aye Jon, wassup?"
"Sup man. I hope you calling to tell me what the fuck happened last night."
"Something like that."
"You fighting random niggas at parties now?"
"He came at me first. Had to return that shit back to the sender."
"Details, my nigga. Details."
"Ight, so I was chilling at the bar at first. Then I heard Lena loud ass, so I went to see wassup with her. You know she was there with Candy, so I asked where she was and she was grinding all over this dude." I could feel the anger rising up in me once again. "I wasn't with it, so I confronted her and asked if we could talk. She refused, ol dude started talking funny, then I said some stupid shit that made her even madder at me. Then the nigga gon punch me in my jaw so we start going at it."
"Wait a minute.. you said Candace was dancing with some dude?"
"Yeah, real nasty." It was quiet on the other end. "Jon?"
"Uh yeah, I was just thinking that don't sound like her."
"That's what I'm saying! But you won't believe this shit. She punched Quan in the eye."
"I seen that shit last night. Long overdue. Dude needed an ice pack real bad." Jon laughed.
"Yeah.. but I was hoping you'd be able to tell me how to get back in her good graces."
"I don't know bout this one man. She clearly has her mind well made up."
"This ain't fair man, she treating me like shit and I ain't even do nothing!"
"Just give her some time. She'll come around eventually." Jon Jon advised. "She just needs a little space to get herself together."
"It's been weeks, how much fucking time does she need?"
"Ron, if I didn't know any better I'd think you got feelings for Candy."
I sighed. "I don't, I just can't lose my friend again. That's my rock, next to you."
"You starting to sound like Quan." Jon Jon joked.
"You know what I mean, no gay shit."
"Yeah, I hear you. But aye, I'm bout to get up and go make this money." He said.
"Ight. But hey, how's your moms doing?"
"She's alright I guess, Ima go take my sisters to go see her before I go to the trap."
"Let everybody know I said wassup."
"Will do. One."
"One." I said after he hung up.
Why everybody think I'm feeling Candy? Why can't a man just want his friend back?
Candace's POV
"Lena, I gotta finish getting ready."
"You can't multitask?" She yelled through the phone.
"If it's got anything to do with you, no."
"Whatever. You talk to Ronny?"
"Ronny who? He called, but I sent him straight to voicemail."
"You know you're wrong for that." Lena said.
"I can't do this right now. I need to find something to wear."
"You know what, fine. But you better call me as soon as it's over."
"Deal. Byeee." I sang before hanging up.
I looked through my closet three times and still couldn't figure out what to wear. I wanted Garrison to notice me. Notice me in a way that said she's sophisticated, but not boujie. And that she's got great ASSets, but she ain't a hoe.
I sat on my bed in defeat. I looked back at my closet and it was staring right at me. It was a bright yellow sundress that hugged me in all the right places without showing the bulge of my belly.
I put it on and took a look at myself in the mirror. Man, I was getting finer everyday.
I checked the time and ran downstairs. "Daddy!"
"What is it?" He called from the living room.
"Can I borrow the car?"
"Sure princess. I wasn't planning on going anywhere today. Where you going all dressed up?"
I grabbed the keys. "To go see Mr. Kool-Aid Man." I waved goodbye and headed out the door.
When I got to Baskin Robbin, Garrison was already there waiting. When he saw me, he put his phone down and stood.
"Wow, you look amazing." He said after hugging me.
"Thank you." I blushed.
"Want some ice cream?" He asked.
I nodded and we got in the short line.
"I'll have a strawberry waffle cone with sprinkles." I told the ice cream girl.
"I'll have a mint chocolate waffle bowl." He told her after I got my ice cream.
I pulled my wallet out of my purse.
"Oh nah, I got it." Garrison said, pulling out a crisp $10 and giving it to the guy at the register. "You can get it next time."
"Next time?"
"Yeah, if all goes well I wanna see you again."
"Sounds like a plan."
We went outside and sat at a little table.
"Man you gotta taste this." Garrison gave me a spoonful of his mint chocolate ice cream.
"Mmm." I sang as I swallowed.
"Right. Wassup with that hand?" He asked me, grabbing my right hand. It's swelled up last night and it was still giving me a little pain.
"I punched this guy last night."
"And I missed it? You all good?"
"Yeah, Ronny wouldn't let him touch me."
"Ah, Ronny. That's the guy who was bothering you last night, right?"
I sighed. "Yeah. I'm sorry again."
"I told you, it's all good. What's the deal with you two? That's your ex or something?"
"Ex bestfriend. Never been more than that."
"That's hard to tell. I coulda swore that was your ol' nigga."
I shrugged. "It's complicated. But I don't wanna talk about him. I wanna know more about you."
"What all you wanna know, shawty?"
I shrugged. "Whatever you wanna tell me."
"Well, you know my name is Garrison or Gary. I'm 19, an entrepreneur, and I like to go on dates with beautiful intelligent women such as yourself."
"And how many other beautiful intelligent women such as myself have you been with?"
"You're actually the first. My ex wasn't that bright and she wasn't nearly as pretty as you."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I bet."
"What? You think I'm just spitting game?"
"That's exactly what I think."
Garrison shook his head. "Well you're wrong. I'ma always keep it real with you." He picked up my chin and licked his lips.
Oh god, I melted in my seat on the inside. On the outside, I just smiled.
"You know, next time you get in a fight, don't clench your fist too hard. That's why you're hand is hurting now."
"So you're a fight expert?"
"Nah, I used to box when I was little but I forgot some of the fundamentals. I could teach you a few things?"
"With the forgotten fundamentals? I don't think so."
"Come on, I know some self defense techniques." He smiled.
I thought about it. It could be important to know, especially with D-Money out to kill us.
"I might take you up on your offer."
"Great, just let me know when and we can go to the gym."
For the rest of the time, we talked a lot about nothing but we kept each other laughing. I checked the time. We'd been here for 2 hours.
"This was great Gary, but I gotta go to work at 5."
"So I'm Gary now?" Garrison smiled.
"Yeah, we're friends now."
"You gotta nickname your friends call you, Candace?"
"Candy."
"Well I wanna see you again Candy." He told me while pulling my chair out for me.
"I wanna see you again too. Call me, okay?"
"You know I will."
Garrison pulled me into a hug, different from when we first arrived. I lived in the scent of his cologne. His hands rested at my hips. It was only 3 seconds, but it felt like forever when he let go.
"Bye." I said softly, still under a trance. I walked to the car and almost tripped over my own feet. That snapped me back to reality.
I got in and called Lena.
"Spill." She answered.
I grinned. "Girlllllll.."
***************
Garrison is sweet. How y'all liking him so far?
Candy seems to like him.
Ronny still don't know what it is he wants, but he's still tryna get Candy back.
Did I miss anything?