Saturday July 25, 2020 - Tampa, Florida
12:30 PM
Aesha POV
"Ugh, cleaning up's gonna take forever!" I groan to no one in particular as I'm surrounded by Joe, Raul, Jameson, Galina, and Joelle, Jonathan and Junior over at Joe's mom's house again.
"C'mon girl, we're all here for you. Between all of us, your store will be up and running again in no time." Galina says rubbing my back.
"Yeah, Eshie, we can do this, all of us together." Joelle says standing beside me.
"You really don't have to do this, though. I'll whine and moan about this but I should take care of this."
"No, Eshie, you shouldn't, not alone. We love you and we wanna help, end of story."
I laugh and shake my head as Joelle stands there with her arms crossed and I pull her into a hug.
"Oh, my lovely little NibNib, I love you so much. I love you too, G. Thank you for being here for me, no matter how hard I try to push you away." I say and pull Galina into the hug.
"That's what family does. We've only known you since December but you've already done so much for us; you helped Joelle through her anxiety, helped me with the twins, listened to me rant and gave me advice whenever I asked for it. Aesh, you just fit in with us, you're such a bright and loving soul and we didn't truly know how much you meant to us until we almost lost you. We love you Aesh, you're like family because you are family now, and we're gonna do everything we can to help you because that's what family is supposed to do."
Whoa, where did these tears come from?
I hang my head and continue to hug my two favorite girls, tears slowly falling from my face. After a few moments, I lift my head and give them a bright smile, the best one I could through my tears of joy.
"Y'all are too much for me." I laugh out.
"But you're perfect for us, Eshie." Joelle says hugging me again and I seriously don't know how much more of these emotions I can take.
"Alright, girls, break it up, stop making my girlfriend cry; we don't need this place flooding with her tears, too." Joe says walking over to pull me into his side and I throw my head back and laugh and wipe my face with his shirt.
"You're dumb. I do appreciate all that though. Thank you both for always lifting me up; I don't know how I'll ever repay you."
"Make sure we're your bridesmaids." Galina says.
"Yeah, I'm too old to be the flower girl now; I'm bridesmaid status now." Joelle adds in flipping her hair and Joe flicks her nose and rolls his eyes.
"Get back to work." I say with a chuckle and Joe leans down to kiss my cheek briefly.
After a few more minutes, Joe's phone rings and he checks the caller ID.
"Babe, I gotta take this. Gimme ten minutes?"
"No problem, go handle your shit."
"I'll be back ASAP. Okay? Oute alofa ia oe."
"Ou te alofa foi ia te oe, pepe."
We share a quick kiss before he jogs outside to take his phone call.
"Ra, I'll be back in a few, I gotta make a call, too."
"Aight, BooSha, I gotchu."
I pat his shoulder and shuffle into my workroom, locking the door behind me, sitting at my desk, and dialing a number on the burner phone that I have stored in one of the drawers now.
"Yo."
"Aye, it's me. You got anything on him yet?"
"Sure do, girl."
"Aight, whatchu got?"
"He's in New Mexico, for one thing."
"Hm...New Mexico, I think I know what he may be doin' there. Tell me whatchu know first."
"Okay, hope you're takin' notes. Aight, so check it..."
Here's a little life lesson for you guys: there will be many times in life where who you know is just as important as what you know, sometimes it's even more important, so be nice to people because you never know when they'll come in handy.
*~*~*~*
6:15 PM
Something amazing happened earlier after Joe and I finished our phone calls and went back to cleaning: about an hour later, some Reigns fans stopped by the store and said they wanted to help clean up the store and then continue to help us remodel it. You want to know the true serendipity of the whole thing? After some talking and getting to know them, I found out that one of the fans' dad makes signs for commercial use, so I now have a new hookup for when I'm ready to officially change the business' name and I couldn't be more elated about it.
So, they came in and helped us continue mopping and wiping the graffiti off of the floors and windows, helped me collect more of the remnants of my works that I may have missed. Oh! and one of them is a contractor, so there's the hookup for the renovations right there; I'm literally cutting every tie I have to Rufus, considering all the work that was done was done by someone he knows, and it is truly exciting.
So, after a hard day's work, Raul, Jameson, Galina, Cecil, Joelle, and the twins are all sitting at a large table in a Red Lobster waiting for our entrées and I'm watching a Facebook Live interview that Joe is doing right now now far from the restaurant.
"So, you've been outta action for a while and I'm sure the fans would love to know when you're coming back." The interviewer asks him.
"Soon, that's all I'm gonna say is soon, and when I'm back I will be champ again, believe that."
"You sound like a man on a mission. How does it feel to have been replaced so quickly as champion?"
"Eh, I kinda left on the fly, y'know; I threw 'em down on the table and told 'em to give 'em to whoever they saw fit 'cause I wasn't gonna be around to defend and represent them the way they should be, the way they deserve to be, y'know?"
"What took you away so suddenly?"
He looks away from the man and takes a deep breath, clearly still bothered by that past situation.
"Someone very special to me needed me, my aulelei needed me and I had to be there, no questions or doubts about it; she needed me and I was there, just like I plan to be for the rest of her life." He responds visibly relaxing and I smile at his words.
"You know what, let's talk about this aulelei girl, I've been dying to ask you about her. You brought her to The Rock's movie premier and finally showed her to the world; how long have you two been together?"
"Officially? Just since that night but I've known her for about six months now, met her in March and it was...we were just meant to be. Like, when you know you've met that one person that was made for you, you just know. I've been married, dated since then, was in a pretty bad situation before her that she helped me out of, so I knew it before she was ready to admit that she felt it too. But here we are now, our relationship is solid, our connection is as tight as ever, and I can't wait to make her mine forever, make it official, y'know?"
"So, we can expect a wedding in the near future?"
"I think so, she won't agree but she'll come around, like always."
He turns his attention to the camera and gives it a wink and kiss and I just shake my head and chuckle.
"I love you baby, ima see you in a little bit; order me somethin', you know what I like. She's at dinner but I know she's watching, my little cheerleader."
I laugh, type something, and send it when I see them looking at all the comments.
I'll get you something, but only if you give me some dessert later 😜😘
I know Joe sees it because he smiles and bites at the camera.
"Aesha, are you here right now?" I hear Cecil say and I look up to see the adults eyeing me.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm here, yeah."
"No, you're watching something. What is it? You've been smiling like an idiot this whole time." He asks trying to lean over to see my phone.
"Nosy! It's just Joe's FBL interview."
"FBL?"
"Facebook Live. Gosh, you old men are so lost." I chuckle and he throws a cocktail shrimp at me as the waitress and a waiter bring our meals.
"Can I get another menu? I need to order something for someone; he'll be here soon." I ask the waiter and he pulls one from the nearby waiter's station for me and I thank him.
I prop my phone up on the pop socket and begin to peruse the menu again for something for Joe as I also begin to eat my pasta and resume watching the interview, my friends all talking around me.
"She's obsessed."
"Clearly, look at her! She tries to act all hard and shit but he's got her whipped."
"Definitely. I've known Joe since he first came to me with Paulette and lemme tell you, the interaction with her versus how he is with Aesha is like night and day; they both whipped."
"Well, I've known Joe since college, married him and had kids; he's definitely different with Aesh, would lasso the moon for her if he hasn't tried to already."
"How many kids you think they'll have?"
"Definitely four, at least."
"I got my money on six."
"Psh, y'all trippin', Aesha ain't poppin' out six kids; four tops."
"They gonna be J names?"
"I'm thinkin' A names."
"I think it'll be a mixture, name one an A name then the other a J name, so on and so forth."
"She'll make a good mom, she basically is now to my little angel brats."
"Mom, that's rude."
"But I still love all of you."
"You think she hears us? Her obsessed ass."
These bitches.
"None of you are invited to the wedding." I nonchalantly say never taking my eyes from the menu or my phone and this throws them all into a tizzy, because they'll screwy in the head.
But I love them all.
*~*~*~*
"So, I was thinking that we give the store some color; you just had it white and it did good at keeping the focus on the paintings and prints but it needs some character 'cause the owner and her employees have character, they're not boring white or beige - they're people versions of rainbows, bright and colorful, y'know. So, since we're tryna sell wine, I'm thinkin' we incorporate some red, a nice darker deep shade somewhere, maybe get in some gold detailing, or we can go with shades of cyan, yellow, and green because I know you love those colors together."
"You've thought a lot about this, huh?"
Joe was currently going through his bedtime routine after I finished and hasn't shut up about the future renovations; Rufus never showed this much enthusiasm about anything I was doing, even the store.
"Well, yeah I've thought about it, haven't you?"
"Of course, but you're really excited about it."
"Hell yeah I am, this is my future, our future, and it deserves to be invested in."
I smile and close the distance between us, Joe turning to face me and letting me wrap my arms around his waist.
"You don't think that any of this happened too quickly?" I softly ask and he holds me back, running the back of his hand down my face.
"A very wise man I know once told me that love doesn't know time or place, it just happens. Yes, it all happened fast but I wouldn't change it for anything. I can say that we've made it through Hell and back together and that I've loved you through all of it. It's not about the time, it's about the experience and we've gone through so much and came so far in this short time but we stuck together through it all; that's love and that's what we got and nothing or anyone will ever take that away from us. I love you, Aesha, with my heart and soul, I love you."
I smile, tears welled up in my eyes, and I tiptoe up to kiss him, my man, the love of my life.
"I don't deserve you." I say quietly and he shakes his head.
"No, this is exactly what you deserve: a king to your queen. This is your empire too now, and I can't wait to start growing it with you."
I reconnect our mouths and jump up into his arms, wrapping my legs around him and we make love on the bathroom counter, the bedroom floor, then finally the bed...then I wake up in the morning to get that Plan B in me.
Am I ready for kids? Nope.
A marriage? Nope.
However...if either one of those things were to happen...I'm not complaining.