KDOT
"This is Tiana, I'm busy at the moment. So leave a message at the beep"
"Yo, where the fuck are you at? The appointment was supposed to be at 1, its 1:15. Real perfect time for your phone to die" K-Dot spat as Tiana's phone went to voicemail once more.
He was supposed to be meeting Tiana at the doctor office for their first appointment, however she hadn't been in reach all morning. K-Dot was trying to be patient, but his patience was wearing thin. At that point, he knew Tiana was just pulling a fast one over his eyes and he was through with the games. Without a hesitation, he blocked her number as he did before and decided this time he would keep it that way.
"You okay?" Armani asked, walking into the office and seeing his frustrated expression.
"Naw" K-Dot shook his head, "Tiana is really fucking playing with me. This shit is getting to me"
He ran his hands over his face stressfully, letting the whole ordeal bring him down. Armani frowned, as K-Dot was never upset. You know how the person thats always happy is suddenly quiet and it makes you sad all of a sudden? That's how it was with K-Dot.
"Aw, my poor baby" Armani said babying him.
"Naw Armani, I'm serious" he said, frustrated, "this shit is getting to me. I don't know if I should be preparing for a baby, or a restraining order. Shawty call my phone back to back, but as soon as I'm ready to be involved she ghost me"
Armani took a seat in his lap and began to stroke the hairs on his chin.
"Baby I'm serious too, don't let her stress you out. You know thats her game right, to get you all flustered, to see if you care"
"I do care" K-Dot responded, "But only about my child. Is this how it's gonna be after he or she actually gets here?"
"How about you cross that bridge when you get there. But if I know women like Tiana, she's trying to see you sweat. Don't"
K-Dot nodded, letting Armani's words seep in. He hoped she was right, because at the moment he was losing his mind.
"Anyway" K-Dot said shaking off his stress, "How did your appointment go? You never even sent me my picture"
"I didn't think you were serious" Armani giggled, "but here" she said pulling out her phone and showing him Ley's hair.
"See, I told you. You killed it" he said making Armani laughed.
"Thank you baby" Armani planted a wet kiss on his lips, and like always K-Dot wanted to get it on right there. However he resisted the feeling, deciding to wait until the two got back from their date to show her how much he appreciated her.
"You ready for tonight?" He asked after their lips parted.
"Yes, I actually can't wait" Armani beamed.
"Good, we're going to have a good time"
And K-Dot meant that. He wanted to show Armani that despite the current circumstances, he wanted her and only her. He was prepared to break the news to his bro's, Muh, anybody in order to get a fair chance when it came to love. After being with Tiana, he knew what he didn't want in a relationship. When it came to Armani, he knew what did want.
Armani placed her head on his shoulder as he cradled her in his lap. The two continued to talk and do work in the office until it was time to clock out, leaving K-Dot to drop her off to Muh's to get ready. After that, he headed home to prepare for the show which was only a few hours away.
ARMANI
"Bitch, where have you been? Every time I talk to you, you're busy" Sequoia spat through the phone.
"Stop being so dramatic Quoia, I saw you two weeks ago. I've been busy" Armani said as she carefully put the mascara on her eyelashes in the bathroom mirror.
She checked the time, and began to rush because K-Dot would be pulling up any minute.
"Mhh busy doing your boss?" Sequoia snarled, "I thought that was your bro?"
"Well bitch he my daddy now" Armani stuck her tongue out.
"Oop, I know that's right. You always get the mysterious ones, I'm jealous"
"I know" Armani tittered. Seeing her phone light up with K-Dot's number, quickly threw the mascara in her makeup bag, "I gotta go hoe, I'll text you"
She quickly disconnected the call by answering K-Dot's.
"I'm coming" she said as soon as she answered.
"Its cool, I gotta take a piss. Open the door" he told her.
Armani rolled her eyes, next leaving the bathroom and making her way downstairs. She stopped in her tracks when she witnessed Ron and Nico sitting on the couch, looking as if they just arrived as they took off their jackets and sat down their beer.
"What are ya'll doing here?" She raised her eyebrow.
"Worry less about us and more about why ya ass hanging out your pants" Ron said peeping her low rider jeans that showed her bedazzled thong.
"Boy I'm grown" Armani retorted.
"You sure about that?" Nico asked, challenging her.
The two brothers grilled her, and Armani sucked her teeth and pulled her pants over her waist.
"Fine, is that better?" She said finally making her way to open the door.
"Much better, when you come back we can talk about that shirt" Ron shouted behind her.
"Damn girl, what took so long?" K-Dot said strolling into the house. Armani tried to warn him with her eyes, but his eyes were too busy on her sexy outfit. He followed her into the living room, only to be just as surprised as she was.
"Yo bro, we was just about to call you" Ron nodded towards K-Dot, "What you doing here?"
"Yeah I thought you said you was meeting up with Tiana to talk about the baby" Nico squinted his eyes, and causing Armani to look at K-Dot like he was crazy. He cursed himself for not coming up with a better excuse.
"Did I?" K-Dot said acting confused, "Naw brodie, I said I was going to see 'Da baby'. It's a show at the TLA tonight, me and Mani going"
"You...and Mani?" Ron said looking between the both of them.
"Yeah, it's a work thing" Armani smiled nervously, "You know, since we work together"
K-Dot scrunched his brows, "Yeah...a work thing. I be back, I gotta take a leak"
Just like that he vanished upstairs, leaving Ron and Nico to suspiciously size up their sister. Neither spoke out loud, but communicated through their eyes. Feeling the heat, Armani quickly grabbed her purse and headed out towards K-Dot's car. She waited patiently for him to arrive, checking her time as more than just a few minutes went past.
"My fault, they had a lot of questions" K-Dot said finally entering the car.
"Like what?" Armani rolled her eyes.
"What time it ended, who else was going" K-Dot shook his head, "I felt bad lying to my niggas, I'm honestly ready to tell them"
"Well not me" Armani said as K-Dot began to pull out of his parking spot, "30 more days until I finally prove to my day I can be responsible. And fucking my play brother, is not responsible K-Dot"
K-Dot rolled his eyes, and Armani pouted her lip.
"Please, after that I promise I will tell everybody. Shit, I'll scream it from the rooftop"
"Whose roof?" K-Dot said, giving her a 'you better' look.
"My dad's roof" Armani giggled, "Does that make you feel better?"
"Much better" he said leaning over and giving her a peck.
Armani playfully rolled her eyes, next sitting back and enjoying the ride to the show. Despite her brothers almost ruining her time, she was exited to enjoy her night. She had been so busy working at the shop and trying to figure out her next move that she actually didn't even have time to go out, and this would be her first time on the scene in a short while. As expected, the line to get in the show was long as it stretched down south st, however it didn't take long for the two to enter as the line went quickly. K-Dot had to hold Armani close, as niggas couldn't keep their eyes from gawking whenever the two squeezed by in the crowd. Her sexy outfit wasn't making things any better, but K-Dot knew better than to let Armani see him sweat. He had to be confident, although he really wanted to throw a jealous fit and fight everybody. Instead he took a page from her book and remained calm, cool and collected.
"Let's get a drink during the intermission" Armani turned to him after one of the headliners exited the stage.
"That's cool" K-Dot shrugged.
He led her to the bar, the two hand in hand as they moved throughout the crowd. As always Armani surveyed her surroundings, not seeing anything other than females around her age or a little older dressed to kill at the small concert. She noted how cute one of the women's shoes were, next turning her head towards the bar where she witnessed a sight that almost caused her to faint. There was nothing she could do, as Sage and her immediately made eye contact through the thin layer of people between them. Armani's heart began to pound at her chest, and she couldn't help but automatically grow weak in these knees by how sexy he looked.
Damn she mused to herself.
"What you want to drink babe?" K-Dot asked taking her out of her daze.
"Huh? Uh it doesn't matter" she shrugged nervously, "Whatever you get"
"Alright" he nodded before approaching the bar and leaving her unattended.
In order to look occupied Armani pulled out her phone and began to text Sequoia her current situation. She prayed that Sage didn't approach her, and he didn't, only enjoying the view of her from afar. K-Dot made his way back over to her, and she could finally take a small breath.
"Thanks, I needed this" she said downing the drink just that fast.
"Damn" K-Dot laughed, shaking his head.
Armani shrugged, still tense due to the feel of eyes piercing through her. Still, she fought to remain normal as K-Dot continued to sip on his drink and enjoy the show that was starting up again. Seeing as though Sage hadn't made a move yet, Armani began to calm down as it seemed like he got the hint. She was glad, because she didn't need any drama. Deciding to just enjoy the rest of her time, she wrapped her arm around K-Dot's waist as he draped his over her shoulder, the two watching as another headliner made his way on stage.
"If they bring another muthafucka out here that I ain't tryna hear" K-Dot kissed his teeth at the next performer.
"Oh babe hush, you knew it was gonna be a line up" Armani giggled, flagging him.
"Yeah a small line up, they act like this nigga at the wells fargo center"
Armani laughed, and just when she went to respond she witnessed a hand reach over her. A familiar hand at that, the person held the yellow drink in his hand, inconspicuously offering her the drink. She looked over to see Sage with the smuggest look on his face, and for a moment she didn't even know what to do.
"Its a Whiskey sour" he smirked, "your favorite"
Armani didn't respond, just allowed her eyebrows to furrow as she looked at Sage like he lost his mind.
"Thanks Brodie, how'd you know?" K-Dot smirked, taking the drink from Sage's hands and putting the straw to his lips. Armani definitely wanted to run and hide then. Sage just chuckled, knowing K-Dot had won this round. He nodded and walked away, however not breaking his trance as he stripped Armani with his eyes.
"Sorry...about that" Armani said in a low, embarrassed tone.
"It's not your fault baby" K-Dot winked as he continued to sip on the free drink, "You want some?"
He teased her.
"Boy" Armani laughed, "No"
"More for me than" he shrugged, chuckling.
Armani couldn't help but smile to herself, and at that moment K-Dot's confident demeanor turned her on something serious. With Sage, a nigga could squint his eye her way and he would curse her out for being too friendly or even for dressing the very way that even got him interested in her in the first place. But with K-Dot, he never got mad at her or even accused her of being interested in anyone but him. Which she wasn't, because all she wanted....was him.
RON
"Hmmm...how about cheetos? Can I eat those?" Marley asked skimming through the chip aisle as she pushed the cart.
"No" Ron answered quickly.
"Okay, ruffles?"
"No"
"Pretzels?"
"Yeah" Ron finally nodded, causing Marley's eyes to light up, "but unsalted"
She frowned her face up immediately and Ron began to laugh.
"You're the one who still wanna do this diet, ya ass begged me to meal prep for you" he said giving her a knowing look.
"I know" she whined, "but this is hard"
"You ain't even start yet"
"That's the hard part" she snickered, turning into the next aisle.
"All you gotta do is say the word and you can quit and we can get you some snacks, chip girl" Ron laughed, calling her by the nick name he had given her due to her love of chips. Marley could eat a whole family size a day and still not be satisfied for her craving of just about any type of chips she could find.
"No, and don't tempt me. I really want to get this diet thing right, especially for spring break. I tried the working out thing, and we see how that turned out" she glanced over at him.
After meeting Ron, her former personal trainer, the two had only been working each other out instead of Marley getting her work out on. She forgot all about her goal to lose weight, especially because Ron told her how much he loved her frame always. But after a month, she was starting to gain happy weight - and she was beginning to look a little too happy. That's how she felt, whereas all Ron could see was that her ass was getting fatter and that was all he needed to see to tell her everything was fine.
"I'm supporting you babe, all the way" Ron assured her, "Ima grab some eggs from the next aisle over, you grab the oatmeal. But, original oats, not the green and apples" he raised his eyebrow and she rolled her eyes.
"Fine" she waved him off, "how about I just eat dirt while I'm at it" she mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Nothing" she shouted after him.
Ron shook his head, next turning into the dairy aisle to grab the eggs. He scanned the open fridge, searching for the very specific large brown grass fed eggs and coming up short. He found the next best thing, and then decided to grab some non fat milk and turkey bacon while be was at it. He was naming things in his head while he shopped in order to not forget them, and was totally oblivious to the person who had caught eye of him.
"Nelly?" He heard the familiar voice speak.
Nobody in his life called him that, except one.
He turned his head, and sure enough there was Kiya. The woman who had stole his heart and ran away, was now standing right in front of him.
"What I tell you about calling me that girl?" He smirked, giving her a once over.
As always, she looked beautiful even in her errand clothes. Her hair was in a messy top not, perfectly imperfect as her curly bangs framed her face. She wore a simple outfit of a white t-shirt and sweats, however she still had that glow about her as if she had swallowed a star some point in her life. Ron continued to look her over, and then spotted the last carton of large grass fed eggs in her cart.
"Oh so you're the reason that I couldn't get my eggs" he gestured towards her cart.
"Sorry" she smiled, "Haven't stopped eating them since...we use to date"
"Good to hear, they're good for you" he shrugged.
For a moment the two just stared at each other, and Ron couldn't exactly find the words to say.
"Mom can I get the double stuffed oreos?" The brown skin little boy said running up, causing the two to hop out of their daze.
"No Jaylyn, you don't need that" Kiya shook her head, "Go put them back"
"Ohhh man!" He said stomping away.
Ron laughed nervously, "Kids right?...he got big"
That was another reason why him and Kiya never worked out. Ron was horrible with kids, specifically because he didn't have any and damn sure didn't see himself having any. Being a single mother was hard for Kiya and he could see that, and she quickly put all of the father responsibilities on him once the two began to get serious. However Ron couldn't play step pop, and that was just another thing he failed in their muli problem relationship.
"Yeah, he's seven now" Kiya nodded.
Before Ron could respond, Marley came strolling around the aisle in search for him.
"Damn box head, how long it take to get eggs. Or do I gotta do that too?" She playfully snapped.
Seeing Ron and the mysterious girl in a staring contest, she quickly screwed her face up.
"My bad babe, I was tryna ~"
"Tryna get slapped?" She cut him off, glaring at him with suspicion.
Seeing that she caused some trouble, Kiya quickly began to move along, "See you later, Ron. Good seeing you"
"Alright, stay up" he said, actually happy to see her go. Once she was out of sight he quickly turned his attention towards Marley.
"What I tell you about that?" He snapped, putting the food in the cart.
"I don't give a shit what you told me, besides my problem is with you. Not her. If I came around this corner five seconds later you probably would've been fucking her on the damn bacon" Marley spat.
"Stop being dramatic" Ron laughed, "Come on"
He attempted to push the cart forward, however Marley kept her feet grounded in the aisle. Seeing that she was going to be difficult, Ron clenched his jaw with frustration. He gave her one last warning with his eyes, and Marley reluctantly began to push the cart forward. Ron attempted to have a normal shopping trip for the rest of their duration in the market, but Marley made that impossible as she barely responded to anything he had to say. Just that quick, her mood was ruined and she was ready to go home. She knew Ron didn't like when she acted insecure, but she honestly couldn't help it. And while he usually didn't give women a second look, he had been staring down the girl in the aisle like he was star struck. That made her lip turn up, and she just wanted to hurry up and leave the joint.
"Before we go in this house, I need you to fix your attitude" Ron told her as he pulled up on his block.
With her arms folded over her breast, Marley just glared out the window.
"Alright, fine. Stay in the fucking car then" Ron shrugged pulling his key out the ignition.
"Really? So I have to stay in the car because I don't want to talk to you?" Marley finally responded.
"No, you have to stay in the car because you're acting like a brat. I told you about that insecure shit, it's not cute. I'on even know what you worried about, we're literally together every fucking second" .
"So? I go home sometimes, is that when you invite her over. 'Good seeing you ron', dumb ass bitch" Marley mumbled to herself.
Ron just stared at her for a long second, and Marley snapped her neck, "What?"
"You're just...reallyyy crazy" Ron laughed to himself.
Marley rolled her eyes and flagged him, "Whatever"
While Ron wanted to play hard and tell Marley to toughen up, it actually made him smile to see her get all worked up over him. He ran his fingers through his beard as the two sat in the car in silence, and he watched her as he could tell her mind was going a hundred miles per minute.
"Come here" he told her, finally breaking the silence.
She looked over to him, and he gestured her over with his finger. Although she really didn't want to, she leaned over the arm rest and allowed him to engulf her lips. Their lips parted shortly after, however Ron held her gaze as he cradled her chin.
"Listen to me" he said in a low, serious tone, "I need you to take a second, hell take sixty seconds, to sit and calm down. I'm not going anywhere, you're not going anywhere, alright? I apologize, you're right. I shouldn't of been lingering, but you're the only one I want. She's nobody, do you understand?"
His voice was strict, and whether Marley wanted to believe it or not she really had no choice. It was like Ron had mind control over her. He was always so confident, strong, and so sure about everything. It was as if nothing could break him. Finally becoming submissive, Marley nodded and allowed him to kiss her once more. After all that, she now felt stupid.
"Sorry" she whispered, "I just.."
"Don't worry about it" Ron shrugged, grabbing a few bags from the back seat, "Come on so we can start this meal prep, fat girl"
"I told you ~"
"You have a fast metabolism, I've heard" he said hopping out.
Marley playfully flipped him off, next climbing out of her seat and helping him with the bags. Ron was glad that just that quick she was able tp revert back to her normal self, however he couldn't help but get Kiya out of his head. The one that got away.