Normani Phillips POV
I laughed at Ryan who was getting bullied by Aisha. She went over to him and kissed his cheek, letting him know that it was a joke. He frowned and moved his face to the side so that he wouldn't be kissed.
"Why you acting like a baby?" LJ laughed and held his stomach.
"Shut up." Ryan mugged him.
"I can't believe your letting your wife do this shit to you." Nathan shook his head.
"Whatever. Fuck y'all." Ryan walked out of his living room.
"Maman, daddy said the F word!" Kyle covered his mouth and sniggered.
"Don't you mind daddy." Aisha pulled him into a hug.
"Where's Papa?" Harmony questioned.
"He said he's pooping." Ethan slapped his palm on to his forehead.
"What?" I furrowed my brows.
"Papa Lu!" Hayden pointed at papa who walked in.
"Who said I'm pooping?" Papa looked at Ethan.
"Not me!" Ethan giggled showing his teeth.
"Yes it was, Ethan." Papa lifted him up and tickled him then put him down afterwards.
"Okay, let's all head into the dinning room to have dinner." Aisha instructed.
"What are we having?" LJ walked off to the dinning room.
"You'll find out." Aisha kissed his cheek.
We all walked into the dinning room and sat down at the table full of food. Once we were all seated, we said grace and began to eat the food that was made.
"This is beautiful, Aisha." Papa commented.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"What else do you want, Ethan?" I looked down at my nephew.
"Greens." He pointed.
"Greens are coming up.." I placed some on his plate then cut his chicken up.
"It's nice to have you all on the table. Anybody know why Trinity couldn't make it?" Papa looked at us all.
"Er.." Us females looked at each other, knowing exactly what she was up to.
"She's probably sick?" Harmony lied.
"Hm..." Ryan said.
"I'll call her up." I stood up from the table.
I walked out of the room and went to the back garden where nobody could hear our conversation. I pulled out my phone from my back pocket and went on contacts clicking my sisters name. I waited for a while until she picked up and could hear a guy groaning in the background.
"Ew...!" Came out of my mouth straight away.
"Normani?" Trinity said through the phone.
"Are you having—?".
"What do you want?" She cleared her throat.
"Look, if Papa calls, just lie and say you're sick. You at home?".
"Yeah, hurry up and say what you gotta say." She complained.
"I'm pretty sure he's going to visit." I mentioned.
"Alright, thanks for letting me..know." She said in between moans.
"You nasty as hell." I smacked my teeth before hanging up.
I walked back into the room where my family were and sat back down. We were all talking about small things.
"So, I heard that you went on a date." Papa mentioned looking at me.
"Me? Oh, yeah. I did." I put my knife and fork down.
"Have y'all seen this guy?" He looked at the boys.
"No, not yet." Eddie shook his head.
"He seems cool." Nathan shrugged.
"What does this guy do?".
"He's a tattoo artist. He owns his own parlour and everything." I explained.
"Tattoo artist? And do you like this guy?" Ryan questioned.
"Last time I checked I was talking to daddy." I rolled my eyes.
"Oooh!" The kids laughed.
"Do you think he'll give me a Spider-Man tattoo!?" LJ looked at me.
"No, you're too young for them, LJ." I laughed.
"Do you?" Papa asked.
"I guess so. He's really nice." I played with my food.
"This is the guy." Nathan pulled his phone out and handed it to my father.
"Hold up..let me get my glasses on..".
"Hm...looks alright to me...got a lot of ink on his arm like this one." He looked at Ryan.
"My ink's better than his." Ryan smacked his teeth.
"Ryan." Aisha pulled his ear for smacking his teeth.
"Okay, enough about me. How about Harmony? Eddie?" I nervously laughed.
Angelo Sanders POV
"I've been doing some messed up shit behind Bria's back." I ran my hands down my face.
"You lucky you can do whatever you want." I looked at Normani and mugged her.
"I maybe single but I think I've got my eye on somebody else." She winked but she failed.
"What have you been doing?" She asked.
"I've had sex with like 3 other girls.".
"Niggas ain't shit." She looked down at her computer.
"I said I was gonna change my ways but I don't think I can." I shook my head.
"You really need to." She said and my eyes landed on her tank top.
I played it cool and picked up one of her pillows and placed it on my lap, making sure she didn't see. I looked at her face then down back my phone that was in my free hand to text Bria.
"You say that you love me.." She started singing.
"Ah, not that song." I smacked my teeth.
"Bria's always playing that shit over and over again. The song's dope, though." I shrugged.
"Chris has done her dirty too many times and I think she deserves better." She pursed her lips but I wasn't interested.
After a while, Bria turned up at the house. She had this weird attitude written all over her face. She sat beside me and I wrapped my arms around her.
"Where did you go?" I kissed her cheek.
"I went to go and see a friend." She smiled.
"Cool." I nodded my head.
"I miss them being together." Normani frowned.
"Is Nathan coming over?" I asked.
"No. He went to drop my nephew off at basketball." She shook her head.
"Cool." I nodded my head.
"Bae, when we leaving?" Bria kissed my chin.
"You wanna go now?" I looked down at her.
"Yeah." She nodded her head.
"I'm gonna head home with Bri." I got up and informed Normani.
"Cool, I'll see you tomorrow at the game." She stood up and we walked to the front door.
"See you." They hugged.
"See you later, Phillips." We did our handshake.
"Sanders." She smiled.
"Y'all have a handshake?" Bria raised her brow.
"Yeah.".
"Why can't we have a handshake?" She frowned a little.
"Let's head in the car." I said trying to bump the conversation.
-
"I don't want that." Normani frowned.
"Well, I'm getting it for you, and that's final." I grinned purposely showing my teeth.
"I want a vanilla ice cream, not strawberry." She raised her brows.
"Come on, let's go." I said once I'd gotten her the ice cream.
"Valentine's Day is coming up soon!" She licked her ice cream.
"Hm." I nodded my head looking down at my phone.
"What are you doing with Bria?" She looked down at the floor.
"I don't know yet. Probably go out then chill at home but you know, make the house nice and everything." I shrugged.
"Cool." She slowly nodded her head.
"What about you? You doing anything with..what's his name?".
"Curtis." She gave me the side eye.
"Yeah, Curtis.".
"No, we're just dating." She shook her head.
"I heard they're doing this party thing down at the club for Valentine's Day." I looked at her.
"Is it on Valentine's Day?".
"Yeah. I wanna go but I know if I tell Bria, she's gonna get all upset and shit." I shook my head.
"Sometimes I just wanna be in the house when she isn't there. I'm not even trynna' be rude or anything." I smacked my teeth.
"You're really rude towards your girlfriend.".
"How are you talking shit behind her back? You wouldn't really say these things if you really loved her. You wouldn't do nasty ass things behind her back if you really love her." Normani stopped walking and I stayed silent.
"Do you really love her, Lo?" She walked beside me.
"I don't know." I shrugged.
"I'm not really feeling that type of love that I felt when we were first together.".
"And why's that?".
"I don't know.".
"Well, there must be a reason for why you don't feel like you love her anymore." She said in a 'duh' tone.
"I don't know, a'ight?".
Maybe it's because I have feelings for somebody else? I don't really know why I feel this way. She looked at me and then straight ahead as we walked back to my car.
"Oooh! This is really cute." We stopped walking.
"Where you going?" I looked at Normani walking into the store.
A few minutes later, she walked out with a bag. I shook my head and she rolled her eyes linking our arms together, walking in the streets. Why we're out here late at night? I don't know. She brought me out of my warm house just to get waffles.
"It's so dark." She mentioned.
"Duh.." I looked up at the sky.
We got inside the car and I put the key into the ignition. She looked out of the window once I pulled off and started laughing at something. I looked over and furrowed my brows nervously.
"What's funny?" I questioned.
"Nothing." She shook her head.
"I'm really being honest, it's nothing. I don't know why I'm laughing." She shrugged after she had calmed down.
"Drive me back home, please?" She asked.
"Where else would I have taken you?" I furrowed my brows.
After exiting the parking lot, I drove her back home. It wasn't a long drive at all. Once I had reached in front of her house, I gave her a nudge because she was asleep. She woke up and rubbed her eyes. She folded her arms and stared straight.
"Yo, get out.." I looked at her.
"I don't wanna get out." She mumbled.
"You need to go to sleep, Normani.".
"I'm not tired." She rubbed her nose.
"Come on." I got out of the car and went to her side.
I opened the door and helped her out. I closed the door with my free hand then we began to walk towards her front door. Afterwards, I got the keys from her purse and unlocked the door, walking straight to her room. She instantly threw herself on the bed and closed her eyes. I tucked her into bed and turned off the lights.
"Thank you..." She muttered sleepily.
"It's cool." I gave her a head nod.
Bria Moore POV
I exited Angelo's car that I had borrowed and made my way towards the entrance of Starbucks. I was currently on my way to start on fixing a shop that I had bought for my new clothing line. After ordering my drink, I walked to the exit where somebody had opened the door.
"After you." The guy gave me a smile.
"Thank you." I smiled.
I walked out first then he went in afterwards. I turned around to get a good look at him and so did he. We smiled again then continued. I reached the car and stood beside it for a while waiting for a couple minutes. I pulled my phone out to dial one of my friends.
"Where you at?" I asked Winnie.
"I'm on my way, you know how my grandma is." She smacked her teeth through the phone.
"Alright, I'll see you there.".
With that, we hung up and I placed my phone back into my purse. As I opened my car door, I noticed the guy that opened the door for me. He gave me a wink and I gave him a smile too. I glanced at the shoes on his feet and the clothes that he wore. It really suited him and he knew how to dress. He was cute. Once I had entered inside the car, I put the key into the ignition and drove to where I needed to go.
"Hey best friend." I gave Winnie a hug.
"Hey." She smiled.
"So, let's get started." I told her whilst unlocking the doors.
The interior was done. All the shelves were up and the lighting was also fixed. It looked absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait for the reveal day. I went behind the counter and admired the store. Winnie was already placing clothes on racks and stuff.
"I need to go and visit Snoop." I bit down on my lip waiting for her reaction.
"Snoop? Why?" She said not looking at me.
"He texted me last night, wanting to meet." I went to the mirror that had small lights coming down the side of them and ran my fingers through my weave.
"How did he get ahold of your number? We haven't seen this guy in forever." She smirked.
"Instagram." I pointed at my phone that was charging on the side of the counter.
"Damn." She shook her head.
"I think he found me because I never followed him.".
"Is he following you?".
"Yeah, but I haven't followed him back." I walked towards her.
Snoop and I were really close friends at the age of 14. We classified each other as best friends but we both just didn't say it. He was down the block from where I used to live. As we both turned 16, we got older and maturer but the friendship was a little weird. I guess we both had feelings for each other but never admitted it. He'd wrap his arm around my waist or he'd pull me down to sit on his lap. We just naturally acted like that. He ended up moving away from us and I haven't heard from his since. He says that he wants to come back and visit so we could talk.
"When are you gonna go and visit him?" She looked at me.
"Saturday. I've already booked my flight." I moved the boxes away.
"Isn't that Valentine's Day?" She raised her brow.
"No it isn't." I shook my head.
"Baby girl, Valentine's Day is on Saturday." She pulled her phone out.
"I booked my flight for Friday." I sighed.
"Are you still gonna go?".
"Yeah, I'll tell Angelo that I'm going to see a cousin that's sick or something." I nodded my head.
"I'll call him now.".
Normani Phillips POV
I looked at Angelo and smiled. He looked really confused to why I was smiling so he returned an awkward one. He stood up and sat beside me. He raised up my hand and we did our handshake.
"We're so random." I laughed.
"I know, right?" He chuckled then our laughter died down.
"What are you doing for Valentine's Day?" He asked me.
"Nothing. I'm just gonna chill at home. Curtis chooses that day to spend time with Calvin and I respect that. I find it cute." I smiled.
"You got something for Bria, yet?".
"We ain't doing nothing anymore. She booked a flight to visit her cousin or something. I think she's sick.".
"Aw.." I pouted.
"Well, at least I'm not the only one spending it alone." I folded my lips trying not to laugh as I teased him.
"How about you come over on Saturday and we can have a movie marathon?" Angelo causally ran his tongue over his bottom lip.
"I really don't plan on coming out of my house because of the snow." I placed my feet on his lap.
"Why not?" He playfully punched my feet.
"We could do a lot of things." He suggested.
"Like?".
"We could go ice skating? Just as friends." He added.
"Okay. Where are you gonna take me to eat?" I stood up and cut my TV off.
"I'll cook something." I felt eyes roaming around me.
"Can you cook?" I turned my head around.
"Yeah, I mean I'll figure something out. Cooking shouldn't be hard." He shrugged like it was nothing.
"You can't cook for shit, Angelo." I laughed whilst making my way back to my seat.
"You haven't seen me throw shit down in the kitchen." He licked his lower lip and looked at a picture of me when I was younger.
"Ew, look at this ugly child." He got up and went over to it.
"I was not ugly." I folded my arms.
"Is this your mom?" His expression changed.
"Yeah." I sighed nodding my head.
"She was a very beautiful lady." His facial expression changed as he admired my mother.
"Now I see where you get your looks from." He looked straight at the picture.
"What are you trying to say? That I'm beautiful?" I raised my brow and smiled a little.
"Not at all." He shook his head.
"You're still ugly as hell.".
"Fuck you." I giggled and pushed him.
"I remember this day, though." I looked at the picture.
"We were in Disneyland Paris. I remember purchasing another ice cream because my bitchy ass sister, Harmony, dropped it on the floor. She was so bitchy when she was younger and she still is." I rolled my eyes.
"This never used to be here, right?" He rested his arms around my shoulder.
"Hm..I went to my dads house and found it in my moms old box." I gently touched it with my fingertips and smiled to myself.
"What are you giving me to eat?" He asked pulling me into the kitchen.
"I ain't giving you shit." I rolled my eyes.
"You're giving me food." He furrowed his brows.
"I really don't wanna make anything." I folded my arms.
"So you're not gonna eat?".
"I do but I can't be asked to make anything." I frowned.
"I'll go and buy you food." He mushed my face together but I smacked his hand away.
"Rude ass little girl." He walked off.
"I ain't a little girl." I laughed as I followed behind him.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"Anything you're having." I said innocently.
"A'ight. You sound like a little girl anyway." He opened the front door and I pouted.
"Go and get me my food." I showed him away then closed the door.
I went back to the living room and sat down on the couch. I went on my Instagram and went on to my explore page. As I was scrolling, I picture of Tion appeared. I tapped on the picture and laughed to myself.
"He's got himself a fiancé?" I raised my brows.
I looked at the caption and raised my brows. 'Mr&Mrs', it said. I slid my thumb to the right and went to explore on other pictures until Angelo returned with my food. 40 minutes passed and Angelo still wasn't back. I was getting really hungry and when I get hungry, I get moody or tired. I tapped my feet on my floor then got up and went to the front door to see if he was pulling up. I noticed his car pulling up then he soon came out with a girl who was grinning.
"Angelo?" I folded my arms.
"Oh, yeah, your food." He said signalling that he was coming in a minute.
I couldn't seem to hear what they were talking about but there was a lot of smiling, head nodding and laughing. They then gave each other a hug and she turned around walking away whilst he walked towards me.
"Why you so mad?" He furrowed his brows.
"Gimme my damn food." I snatched the paper bag from his hand and stormed inside.
"Who was you with?" I heard the door close.
"Do you need to know?" He raised his brows.
"Yeah. I gotta know if she more important than my hunger." I rolled my eyes.
"Just a girl that I had met." He shrugged.
"Is this mine?" I pointed inside.
"Yeah." He nodded his head.
"Why you meeting girls anyway? Unfaithful." I mumbled.
"Unfaithful? I'm just being friendly." He took a fry from his box.
"I don't have many lady friends." He shrugged.
"You don't have many lady friends? I'm sure you have plenty." I tilted my head to the side.
"Gimme your phone." I put my hand out.
He handed me his phone without hesitation and I went to his contacts after he unlocked it. I laughed to myself and looked at all the name. This guy is really funny. He doesn't have lady friends? Beside his female family members, Mario and Nathan, most of his contacts are female, including Traci, Bria and I.
"C'mon." I showed him the phone.
"I gotta delete all these contacts. They were here before Bria came back." He looked down at his phone.
I shook my head and laughed.