O M N I S C I E N T
"Nigga you straight?" Ashton asked Anthony as they walked towards the elevator in the hotel they were staying in.
They had just arrived in California a few hours ago and never really had the chance to make conversation. They were so focused on getting the fuck off the plane and getting to their hotel room. The whole drive to the hotel from the airport, Anthony kept his Beats headphones on, not trying to really partake in any conversation with anyone.
Things that went on back home was weighing heavy on his mind. He wanted to call Jhenea up so bad and tell her that he was sorry for shit that happened, but there was actually no use in doing that. Her phone was shipped off today in the morning so it'll most likely be recieved by her this afternoon.
After spending the last hours of him being in New Orleans for a few days arguing, he really started to miss her once he got on the plane. And the fact that he had to hear Payton cry about the five day separation from her father as well was fucking him up to. It seemed like two of the most important ladies in his life wasn't feeling this trip, but in order to keep them satisfied and him on the map, he just had to go take care of business.
Turning his head towards Ashton, he nodded. "I'm good woe, tryna get shit handled so I could bounce out this bitch." Anthony hadn't really been anywhere unless it was Houston, Atlanta or Detriot. He wasn't no LA type nigga and quite frankly, he thought that everyone who resided down in Cali was a nut and never really knew how to survive the trenches like he did.
Of course, that's his opinion.
"Nigga, we in LA, not like Louisiana LA, we in motherfuckin' Los Angeles. We gotta make the most of it G. I might fuck around and move up here."Unlike Anthony, Ashton was loving it. He was an adventurous type nigga and loved broadening his horizons.
Anthony looked around the lobby seeing a whole bunch of people walking around in flip flops or slides, tank tops and shorts. "Niggas down here couldn't even catch the drift appearance." He thought as he shook his head. "Nah bruh, this aint home. And for you to think about movin' here makin' you look just as crazy as these LA motherfucka's right now." He laughed lightly as the both of them stepped into the elevator.
Ashton laughed nudging him a bit. "Man fuck you. I bet by the second day you gone love this LA scenery."
Anthony shook his head thinking otherwise. "We here for business not to be some fuckin' tourist. So if we aint leavin' our fuckin' hotel rooms to meet with Anyul then I aint leavin' that bitch."He stated as the elevator doors slid open as they reached the sixth floor.
Ashton scrunched up his face finding what he just said unbelievable. "So you not gone hit up no clubs? No bitches?"
Anthony gave him a cold glare. "You know my situation back home G, aint none of that flyin'."
"Bruh she seventeen!"Ashton exclaimed as they walked through the halls to find their room. "It's either she givin' you some or you turned gay on a nigga."
"Bitch fuck you."Anthony scoffed while swiping the key card. "Anything me and my lady got goin' on don't concern you in any shape, matter or form. While you out hea' fuck all the LA hoes you want, just know I aint partakin' in shit, ya' heard me?"
"You wild."Ashton chuckled.
Stepping into the room, Anthony immediately went into the back where another bed was. He wasn't really feeling Ash right now so he made it his objective to stay far away from him. "We got a meetin' in about four fours, so get yo' shit together before worryin' about partyin' and fuckin' LA hoes."Anthony stated slyly before shutting his door.
He was on business, nothing more, nothing less.
Jhenea packed the last of the paintings she had drying into shipping boxes before marking them to know which box got shipped where. She had been painting all night and with the use of Morgan's laptop and IPad she was able to upload a few pictures onto the website and got a few offers quickly.
She definitely realized she worked much harder when trying to keep Anthony out of her mind. She knew that he left late last night after a day of arguing with her.
She missed him and she wished that he hadn't left but he was hard headed and very strong willed.
"You done?"Aven asked opening a bottle of water that April had handed to him out of courtesy before she made her way out. "I kinda left the car runnin'."
Zoning in back into reality, she turned her head towards Aven. "Yeah, can you grab those nine, I'll grab the other set."Jhenea seperated the two sets of nine packages. Since majority of the packages he was carying were 18 x 24 inches long, he was forced to make two trips.
Aven had offered to aid Jhenea with running any errands she needed to run. After a late night venting conversation about Anthony, Aven had been very sympathetic towards his bestfriend. Not to say he had never been nice to her, he was just much nicer due to hearing all the crying she did last night.
As expected, the argument they had wasn't just about the trip to California. It began to be much deeper when trust got brought into it. With this knew knowledge Anthony gained of Jhenea not trusting him, it caused the two not to speak to one another.
Anthony was a pure sucker when it came to Jhenea so it wouldn't be shocking for him to apologize first, but in this situation, Jhenea was hoping she would beat him to the punch.
She somewhat was hoping that her apologizing first would solidify his relationship with her in his mind causing her not having to worry about another female grasping his attention while he was out there.
Although Anthony knew he wasn't on anything like that, Jhenea didn't.
And plus, she was still insecure even if it seemed like she changed drastically. She still struggled with small problems that she tried to mask, but would go undisguised once she began to over think.
Aven and Jhenea had successfully packed the eighteen boxes into the back seat and trunk before they made their way to the post office. "You did all this today?"Aven asked Jhenea.
Looking away from the scenery that swished past her through the window, she answred. "No, some were already drying, some where potrait request from this week and some were freehand from last night." She clarified.
Aven nodded his head. "You still going to that art pop up gallery?"Jhenea had been excited that New Orleans was actually offering her something interesting to do. She had been counting down the days for this pop up gallery, but as of right now, she wasn't to stoked about it. Anthony was sort of paying for her stand rental, but since they were on bad terms and he wasn't even in New Orleans to sign things off, those expectations were absolutely dead.
She knew she wouldn't have enough money to do all this by herself and since she wasn't eighteen she wouldn't even be able to sign the contract on her own. She was basically depending on Anthony for this event, but unfourtunately he didn't come through. "Uh,"Jhenea stretched combing her fingers through her wild hair that she let down for today at it's natural state. "I was sort of depending on him to have everything done for me, but you know,"She shrugged. "didn't quite turn out how it was supposed to."
Aven let out a low sigh. "C'mon Jhen, I've always told you to have a backup plan for shit like this. So you not attending?"
She shook her head no. "Can we—um not talk about him."She tucked a few strands of her tresses behind her left ear looking down at her lap.
Anyone who didn't notice her personality change at the moment had to be oblivious. Her seperation anxiety was slowly eating at her and she wanted nothing more than to be near him. It was okay for her to not be with him when it was voluntarily, but as of now she had no say in anything and he was still pissed. For all she knew, he was probably in California having the best time of his damn life with some new LA girl.
The thought of him being able to easily forget her as if they were nothing made her sad.
Although she wasn't quite sure if it was going down as she thought in LA, she still was affected by it.
Aven made sure to keep anything having to do with Anthony out of conversation with her. Pulling into a nearby parking next to the post office, Aven kindly helped her getting majority of the packages inside.
After weighing all the boxes, Jhenea payed the slight fee of $89 before she went ahead and checked her P.O Box. Using her key, she unlocked it finding a key with a number tag inside meaning that she had a package that was to big to fit into her small P.O Box. She grew a little excited since she was expecting her bundles to come in. She had been waiting for a whole five days and she quickly got tired of her natural hair. Walking over to the bigger package drop off area, she found the one that was marked with the same number as the key tag. Opening it up, she pulled out a box. Checking where it was from, she noticed Verizon in big bold black letters with the logo next to it. Rolling her eyes, she ripped the packaging tape off the box.
The flabs of the box popped open resulting in her having to filter through the styrofoam packaging barriers before she grabbed another sealed box.
Pulling the top off of smaller box, there laid a rose gold IPhone7 in tip top condition. On the top of the screen was a yellow sticky note plastered onto it which read." Since we got trust issues all of a sudden, call me whenever." Jhenea smirked trying her best not to let a smile disband across her face.
"• Hotel Name: Four Seasons
•Hotel number:(310)-273-2222
•Room #: 621C
•Ashton Cell: (504)-861-7315"
Chuckling at the slyness of the sticky note, Jhenea peeled it off placing it inside her wallet for future reasons. Shutting the package drop off box, she left the key inside the key hole and began to walk to where Aven was waiting for her. "You finished?"He looked up from his phone.
"Yup."She informed him while throwing the packaging away only after she ridded the box off the charger, headphones and phone case that came with.
Aven caught notice of the new phone that was in Jhenea's hand. "I swea' yall so damn aggravatin'."He found it funny that both Anthony and Jhenea fought so damn hard, but only forgave each other easier.
"I didn't know anything about this."She nudged Aven with a light laugh.
"So you forgive him?"Aven smirked with his brow raised as his arm draped around her shoulders.
Jhenea scrunched up her face. "For the phone, yes. For going on that damn trip, no."She rolled her eyes with a tons worth of attitude executing from it.
Aven laughed at his bestfriend. "He most likely think he off the fuckin' hook."He unlocked the car doors.
"He most definitely not off the hook."Of course Jhenea was still gonna give him hell about the trip, she wouldn't be herself without doing so, but this time, she was going to let up on the pressure a bit and be a tad bit nicer.
Aven waved her off dismissively. "No funny shit though, I'm glad you and the big bro workin' through shit. He changed for the better and honestly without you I don't think we would've reconciled."Aven never really got the chance to thank Jhenea for doing what she did naturally. No one really said it nor did Jhenea take credit for it, but Jhen did cause Anthony to change. He learned how to be more patient and understand different perspectives of a person. This change didn't just go for Jhenea, but for everyone.
Anthony even found it within himself to have a sit down with his mother and let the air out of the bag. They now had a stronger relationship and she was now able to call him without it having to be one of her 'melodramatic' emergencies.
Anthony was really prospering and it was almost surreal.
Jhenea let out a straining sigh. "It's a hassle and I'm sure he feels the same way. But don't give me all the credit, you and him deserve a little bit of it. You both had to be grown men and put you all's differences aside. I had nothing to do with that."Jhen pointed out.
"I've know that heartless nigga all my life. Trust me, you had everything to do with it."
"If you say so."Jhenea waved him off although she knew he was wrong.
A few minutes later, Aven dropped her off at her house since he had to head into the shop to tend to his client. Instead of Jhenea going upstairs to her place, she walked downstairs to Morgan's.
Jhenea was beginning to hate her place upstairs, everything was baby proofed for Kashari who was on the verge of giving birth at any moment now.
Knocking on the door three times, she stepped back a little since she knew Morgan was a 'let me check the peephole' type of person. A couple of moments later, the door flew open and Morgan appeared. "Before you step in hear do not mention Samson's name at fucking all."She growled before turning around and leaving Jhenea to walk in.
Jhenea's eyes bulked a little bit while she locked the door. Morgan sat on the couch with what seems to look like Sam's phone looking through it with a glare sprawled over her face. "Okay, I know you said not to mention him, but what is going on?"Jhenea asked since she was confused as to why Morgan was all of a sudden acting like this.
"Samson Drew Zackson is the definition of white trash. I want Carson to beat his ass black and blue, he really tried it."She locked the phone setting it down on the table.
"First off what did he do?"
"This boy already had fucking bitches lined up in Kansas at that hillbilly ass college. I'm telling you full blown relationship type shit. I swear to God Jhen, before he walked out of here I beat his fucking ass."Morgan attempted to calm herself down by shutting her eyes and breathing in and out slowly, but the thought of Sam only made her angrier.
Jhenea was shocked to hear this because Morgan and Sam seemed like the idea couple. They loved each other, never argued and were always smiling. Yet, here he was having a whole other relationship off in Kansas with some Southern Bell other than Morgan. "Thats crazy. Come here baby, I know it's heart breaking."Jhenea pulled Morgan into her who immediately broke down in tears.
Morgan's breathing huffed and puffed as her shoulders hunched up and down all the while she cried her eyes out. Jhenea could feel Morgan's tears through her white t-shirt. She never really witnessed Morgan like this, like said before, she was always happy and Jhenea was most likely the sad one. For the roles to be reversed a bit caused Jhen to be a bit shooken up because she never really gotten the chance to comfort someone. She didn't even know if she was doing it right honestly.
"It's okay Morg. He missed out."Jhenea tried to console and nurture her.
Morgan rised her head from Jhenea's shoulder wiping the tears that glided down her plump cheekbones "You suck at this." She sniffed causing the both of them to share a quick laugh."Can we just go shopping ? I stole his fucking wallet." She held up the leather wallet before opening it revealing an ample amount of cash.
"Morgan."Jhenea whined. "I thought your sticky fingers went out the window?"
Morgan rumpled up her face. "That white bitch broke my fucking heart, you really think I wasn't going to get even? You must not know me."She scoffed playfully.
Jhenea shook her head before letting Morgan excuse herself to go get ready for their shopping trip.
While waiting for Morgan to get herself together, Jhenea took the time to finally open up her new phone. She wasn't to excited since she wasn't that hype over technology, but she did need it to keep money coming in from her art. Turning the phone on, Jhenea immediately began laughing once she realized who was on the home screen.
' When did he get the time to do this?' She thought as she looked over the screen again.
Unlocking the phone, Jhenea immediately went to the dialer and typed in his number. Letting it ring, she placed the phone to her ear.
"Hello."Anthony answered.
"I'm sorry Anthony."Jhenea sighed. She was glad that she was able to get it out before he did.
Anthony chuckled a bit by how fast she spit it out. "It's cool mama', we both sorry. I should've never came out here. I miss you." He admitted.
It was sad that they had to be away from one another to realize that they were both wrong and needed to apologize, but thats how their relationship worked. "I miss you too and honestly I blew things out of proportion and I may not trust you a hundred percent baby, but I trust you enough to be out there and do what you have to do."
Anthony smiled on the other side of the phone. "I appreciate that, but I don't believe it. Trust is just somethin' we gone work out together when I get back." He assured her. "Just worry about stayin' fine and keepin' that pussy tight, you heard me?"
Jhenea gagged at the hearing if the word 'pussy' she just hated it with a passion. She understood that he was trying to be type cute, but she just felt like he could've used another word. "Language Anthony, language. "She reminded him.
She heard the smooth vibrations of his chukles transpire from the speaker of the phone. "You know yo' innocence is the first thing that attracted me to you, but the way you can turn up on a nigga just had me ready to fuck, but of course you had other plans."His honesty was a bit to much, but he couldn't help, but get it out. Jhenea was really different, she was innocent, but still made sure he never crossed the line. She was just different even when she was snobby, bitchy and judgemental. Those things caused Anthony to want to be with her so he could show her a different perspective of things. Plus, she wasn't no money hungry ass bitch, she was real down to Earth when she wasn't pissed off and thinking her presence was a privilege and lets not forget how talented she is with art.
All around Anthony didn't really think of her as perfect, but she was something close and he couldn't really explain it.
He hated that she infactuated him so much and it was the same feeling on Jhenea's part.
"Okay Anthony, you tell me this like all the time. Remember you said, 'I don't think I can even handle some pressure like that no way.'" She repeated what Anthony had said on one occasion when they were having a conversation about her virginity.
On the other side of the phone, Anthony laid back in the hotel bed swiping his tongue across his bottom lip before biting it in a tempted manner. "You gone throw it my way when I make my way back?"He asked hopefully.
"Oh God, are you asking?"She placed her hand on her chest.
"Begging."He clarified.
Jhenea tapped her finger against her chin. "I'll think about it."
"Fair enough."He shrugged. "But, just to let you know I'm gone fuck the attitude outta' yo snotty ass. I'a have you moaning all them fucking big words you read outta that dictionary."By now, he wasn't even trying to be romantic or arouse her, he wanted to get under her skin by being funny.
"See, your way out of pocket with that one. " She laughed.
Laughing a bit as well, he then responded. "I'm bein' real though, but all that come after the pain and a little blood. Other than that, we breakin' headboards baybeh'."He joked laughing obnoxiously.
"Why don't you act all funny and goofy when your down here? You're a complete mess."She eased out her laughter.
Anthony sighed a little bit before rerouting back to his serious self. "It's just different. The N.O got so many bad memories from the past, but here, even when I don't really like it, it's still a breath of fresh air. I don't really have worries, I feel how I felt when I was highschool young, without a child and with my olda' brother carryin' the shit I carry now." He explained with a pacifying sigh.
"Do you miss him?"Jhenea blurted out before she could even realize how dumb of a question she asked. Of course he missed him.
Anthony now sat up in bed running his hands through his now over grown cruls. "I don't wanna talk about it. I actually gotta meetin' to get to so I'll clock in later. I-I love you."He stampered a bit towards the ending.
Jhenea bit her lip attempting to contain her smile. "I love you to."She replied.
The phone call soon died out while the both of them were overly satisfied of the turn out of their conversation. Jhenea felt bubbly and excited in the inside while Anthony was just glad that he wasn't shut down like the last time he said it. His pride never tested it's self so he really went out on a limb when he reiterated that he loved her.
A few hours later, Jhenea found herself walking the area of the mall with Morgan beside her. "It's type dead in this bitch, what's up with Mondays?"Morgan complained. She was hoping for a little bit of excitement since she was trying to keep her mind of Samson, which was pretty hard for her to do since she was so use to having everything revolve around him.
Jhenea shrugged. "You chose the mall so deal with it."
"Your right. Sam do owe me some make up since he made me cry my foundation off so lets go splurge his money in Sephora."She smiled coyly with tight lips.
Jhenea wasn't really feeling the thought of watching Morgan go nuts in Sephora so she declined. "How about you do that and I go check out H&M?"She suggested trying to sound as convincing as possible.
Morgan waved her off with a waggish eyeroll. "Go ahead bitch. Meet me in about 20 minutes."
Jhenea nodded her head. "20 minutes it is." They took on their different paths doing some shopping of their own.
Jhenea frolicked through the store staying mostly on the male section since she found their things more appealing to her. Scanning through the rack, Jhenea found a thick denim distressed jacket that she had alway wanted. Taking it off the rack she checked the size making sure to pick a small.
Sufficed with the jacket, Jhenea carried it in hand as she then began to venture off into the female section of the store. She picked up a few jeans that were a bit risque with a cut on the right back pocket and underneath her butt, but they were cute so she was willing.
While filing another rack to find her size in a shoulder cut top, she slightly bumped into someone.
Rising her head to quickly apologized she stood shocked to see who it was. "I'm sorry Beylan, I didn't see you there."
"No you're fine babe. How are you? I haven't seen you since Anthony was in the hospital."She smiled her warming smile that Jhenea couldn't help but envy since she still had her metal braces in.
Jhenea hid her smile not wanting to much attention onto it. "I've been fine, leaving for college in a few weeks, life couldn't be better." She responded filling Belyan in a bit. "How have you been?"
"Living, but I cant complain. This trip to California is definitely going to be the highlight of my summer."She showcased her million dollar smile, again.
"Wow."Jhenea stated playing fake shocked. "California? Whats the occasion?"Jhenea was hoping that she wasn't goin to mention Anthony in any manner, but of course—
"Actually, Anthony invited me out there for vacation, we've been arguing a lot lately so he just thought—you know?"Now, Jhenea was livid. He just literally just got off the phone with her after telling her he loved her, how he wanted to work out the trust issues and have sex when he came back, but now he has Beylan flying out to Cali for God knows what.
Beylan could sense she spilled the beans on something she wasn't supposed to and the look on Jhenea's face was evident that she was upset. She watched as Jhenea blinked her eyes rapidly before nodding her head slowly. "I'm sorry, can you run that by me again?"Jhenea took in a deep breath.
"Anthony is out in California, and he invited me out there. You didn't know?"Beylan furrowed her brows.
Jhenea let out a curt chuckle finding Anthony utterly pathetic. "Oh I knew about his trip, I just didn't know you were accompanying him."Jhenea stated bluntly not really caring if she ruffled a few of Beylan's feathers.
"Oh, well I'm sorry then."Beylan apologized genuinely. She wasn't a spiteful person so this wasn't anything to get at Jhenea, she truly didn't know Anthony hadn't told her.
Jhenea chewed on the inner side of her right cheek. "It's okay."Jhenea assured her although she wanted to slap heat into her ass along with Anthony's. "Look I have to get going, it was nice seeing you again. Hope you enjoy your trip."Jhenea didn't even await for Beylan to say her goodbyes before she turned around and began making her way towards the cash register.
And he wonders why I can't trust his ass after he pulls stunts like this.
__________________________________
Anthony's in so much fucking trouble and he doesn't even know it.
What yall think his motives are with the trip to LA with Beylan alongside him?
Jhen definitely not giving the virginity up now. You gotta earn it Anthony!
BTW, fuck July 4th unless we now call it Malia Obama Day ✨
Bye now ❤.