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𝙰𝚁𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙸 𝙽𝙴'𝚉𝙸𝙰𝙷 𝙶𝙸𝙱𝚂𝙾𝙽
𝙱𝚁𝙾𝙾𝙺𝙻𝚈𝙽, 𝙽𝚈
The smell of vanilla filled the dim room as the familiar beat of "Mo money Mo Problems" by the Notorious Biggie Smalls played in the background. No distractions and no sounds, just peace aside from the music that filled the silence, the small tap that came from Armani's paintbrush going into the water every once in a while, and the quiet mumble of lyrics that spewed from Armani's mouth. Paintings covered her walls along with posters and poems of the greats such as Aaliyah and Maya Angelou. She lightly but quickly stroked along her canvas enjoying the music that filled her ears, and the blunt she held between her lips.. Nothing brought her peace except for painting and sometimes a blunt. When she painted, she felt free.
The song now changes to one her favorite songs of the year titled "I Like That" by Janelle Monae. Everything in that moment was exactly right, and the way she wanted. She finished painting the last section of her masterpiece.
"Not too wet, but not too dry, perfect." She says to herself taking in every detail.She had worked on what she called Elysian for the past 4 months.
Her phone which she had laying on her bed had begun to ring, causing her what once music filled room to stop. She grabbed it and looked at the named, it was her best friend Azariah.
"Hey girl where are you?" Spoke Azariah the minute she answered the phone.
"At home, where else would I be?" Said Armani in her heavy Baltimore accent.
She had moved from Baltimore 2 years ago when she had received a scholarship to Brooklyn College for Nursing with an associate degree in fine studio arts. She had her life planned out exactly the way she wanted from when she was 12 and witnessed her mother being killed by an officer for nothing. The event scarred her but she still had her father and they were extremely close, sometimes though, she did miss her mother and visited her grave often.
"Girl, I don't know, but I'm at the barbershop wit' Akeem, and he got me here with all these niggas, come save me." She said.
Armani smacked her teeth and bit her lip, something she did when she was thinking about something. "You know I hate comin to the barbershop, mothafuckas always staring and shit."
"Pleasee Mani, i'm bored." She begged.
Again, Armani smacked her teeth and rolled her eyes at her dramatic friend.
"Here I come." She finally says and hangs up the phone putting her phone back on the bed. She walks towards her closet and stares at all her clothes.
She hadn't been outside her room all day due to her painting. She didn't even know whether it was day or night.
"Hey Siri."she called and waited for Siri's response.
"I'm listening..."
"What is the time?"
"The time is currently 4:56 p.m."
"Hey Siri what's the weather right now?"
"The weather is currently 70 degrees with a high of 76 and low of 63." Siri says.
She bites her lip in contemplation of what to wear.
Fuck it, who's there to impress? she thought to herself.
She puts on a orange crop top and some joggers, then pulls on her orange and black ones. She was indeed a shoe head which she inherited from her father, he had always put her in the freshest of things. She wasn't exactly high class but she wasn't middle class neither. Her father was a well known ex drug lord turned Lawyer and activist. He picked up protesting shortly after her mother passed and received no justice. She herself stayed out of the activist world because of the dangers her father always spoke of. Instead, she showed her views through her art which she had grown popular in the social media world for.
She put her blunt out deciding to finish it later and grabbed her keys, locked the doors to her condo before heading down to her matte white Tesla, in which her father gifted her for her birthday. Starting the car up, she firstly went to her playlist, and soon after Redbone by Childish Gambino filled her speakers as she sped off. Armani grew up getting whatever her heart desired as long as she worked hard in everything she does. She hustled and spent her time working to get her bag, because after all money made the world go round. Without money, where would she be? The streets and the streets was no where she wanted to be.
She parked her car right out the front of "King Cuts" making sure whomever parked on both her sides, had no problems and didn't scratch her beautiful car. Grabbing her belongings and placing them in her bag, she opened her car door and exited.
The ring of the bell on the door caused everyone in the little shop to turn their heads in her direction. She could feel herself getting slightly annoyed, she didn't like being looked at for more than 3 seconds, because it made her very self conscious
"Hey Mani." Said Azari getting up and hugging her. "Thank god you're here, I was sick of hearing Monty and Ant talk about their adventures in being a world class hoe."
Armani laughed at her friend and took a seat beside her. "Girl I don't even know who that is."
It was true, Armani wasn't a fan of being around other people. In fact, she disliked a majority of people because in her eyes, people were evil and always had a plot to hurt someone. So instead, she vibed with herself and her only friend and person she cared for besides her father.
"Thats Monty." She said pointing to a dreadhead getting a shape up.
"And thats Ant." She said pointing to a darkskin getting his beard lined up.
"Yo Zari, who dat is?" said Monty. "She bad as fuck!"
Armani scrunched up her face, she hated when guys yelled stuff like that, it wasn't flattering to her in no ways. She liked when men approached her with some type of courtesy.
"This my best friend Armani and no she doesn't want your black trifling ass, you needa focus on your baby moms before she stop payin your car bills." Said Azari causing Armani to stifle a laugh.
The one called Monty smacked his teeth and returned to his phone. "Always talking shit."
Azariah was truly something else.
She pulled out her phone from her mini bookbag she held and checked her art page. She had one strictly for art just because and one to just broadcast her in her skin. She felt someone grilling the side of her face and she tapped her leg, something she did when she was irritated.
"Why homeboy staring so fuckin hard." She whispered to Azariah.
"Cause you cute, bitch duh." Said Azariah. "But on the real, he probably like what he see, let him stare."
The door swung open and in came a tall lightskinned girl with 29 inches of red hair looking angry.
"Awl shit, she fin beat yo ass!" Said Ant.
"Ant shut the fuck up." She said and then proceeded to snatch Monty up out the barber chair. "I'm not about to keep doing this bullshit with you Mont, you ain't visit your daughter in 3 months and every time she asks about you! You keep lying to her telling her you gon come and she sits by the door waiting! You always fuckin lying and i'm sick of yo shit! At this point fuck yo whole life witcho broke ass and best believe, ian payin yo house bill or your car bill! Consider yo self a homeless and bum ass nigga!"
This was exactly why she hated coming outdoors, something ghetto had to happen.
She watched the scene unfold as Monty tried to grab her arm to calm her down. She then watched as the girl slid her heels off and began to beat the shit out of him.
"See uhn uhn, this some ghetto shit." said Armani to herself but Azariah heard and laughed.
After about 10 minutes of fighting, Ant finally pulled her away and she grabbed her heels storming out.
"This why youon date bitches, they fuckin crazy." One man spoke up after minutes of silence.
"Dawg shut cho ass up, you look like the Goodwill version of lil baby, youon date nobody cause youon got nobody that want cho ass." Spat Monty as he walked out.
"Yeah dawg, you fucking hideous and you got the confidence to open yo buck mouth." Said Akeem.
Well then.
Armani scoffed at the mans comment thinking to herself that it was the men who did dumb ass trifling shit that brought women out of character. She also agreed that he was ugly as hell and shouldn't have opened his mouth in the first place. Armani knew she shoulda just chilled in her room and cozied up with snacks while she binge watched A Different World. She was truly a different kind of girl.