"what the hell am I gonna wear?" simone said to herself as she was going through her drawers and closet to find an outfit.
she was going with brian to dom's cookout and since she would be around some of his friends for the first time, she needed to dress nicely, so she needed to wear the perfect outfit to impress.
"wear the von dutch tank top" mia told her on the phone as she called her up to get her fashion advice.
"I wore that like last week it's dirty" simone said. "I don't know if I wanna wear a dress, a skirt, some jeans, shorts.... I don't know".
"well you're going to a cookout so wear something cute but comfortable" mia said.
"imma just wear a skirt. it's a summer in july, it's hot as fuck" I said.
looking through her closet, simone took out a jean skirt and a black baby phat tank crop top, finally finding something to wear.
"I wish I could show you the look right now cause I look good" I said. "should I wear a belt?".
"no simone let your waist FLY!" mia exclaimed.
"you right" she chuckled as she looked at herself in the mirror. "so I think i'm ready, I just need to do my hair".
"you go do that, have fun today simone and when it's over call me and give me all the details" mia told her.
"of course! bye mia" simone said back.
"bye".
once mia and simone stopped talking, simone put the phone back on the handset and went to the bathroom to do her hair. she was so happy that darryl wasn't home at the moment. they've both been in and out the house after each other so it's like they've barely interacted since the incident at the park.
it's usually like simone leaves out for work and darryl is fast asleep. then while simone's at work, darryl goes out. then when simone comes back, he's gone and doesn't come back until she's asleep. then of course when she's out with friends or brian, he's home. it's always been that way but it grew even more when the incident happened. it felt like they weren't even living together when they were. and to both of them, it was fine like that.
looking at herself in the mirror, simone was very pleased with herself and her look. brian should be here any minute to get her so they can go to the cookout at dom's.
and about ten minutes later, he arrived.
"hey b" simone said as she got in brian's car.
"hey babe" brian said back after he gave simone a kiss. "you ready".
"yup" she said.
brian pulled off from the house and they drove all the way to the other side of LA to go to dom's place.
"I have to wonder, is it a hassle for you to drive all around LA, like from watts to where you and your friends live?" simone asked him.
"it can be, especially when traffic hits but at least it's worth it" brian said as he looked at her.
"you gonna do that stare and drive thing again?" simone chuckled.
"with the outfit you have on right now, I just might" he smirked as he looked at her up and down.
"focus on the road brian, not on me" she giggled.
"stop being so fine and maybe I will focus on the road" he said back to her.
brian continued his flirting until they got to dom's. once they got there, they got out the car and proceeded to walk to the backyard where music was playing distinctly.
once they got back there, people were sitting up in chairs drinking their bottles of coronas and playing cards. one of dom's uncles was manning the grill and a few others were sitting around the tables eating, talking, and of course, drinking. at those tables were dom with letty on his lap, roman, tej, ken, and suki was here too.
"hey guys" brian said to everyone as they approached the table.
"o'conner! wassup?!" dom said as he dapped him up.
"wassup barstow b" roman said.
"god that nickname sucks" tej laughed.
"y'all don't even spell bullitt right shut up" roman scoffed.
"bullitt is a dope ass name hater" suki said. "you just mad cause you can't relate".
"I wouldn't want a corny ass nickname anyways" roman shot back at her.
"wait hold up y'all.... nobody said hello to simone" tej said as he looked at herself and brian.
"so this is the girl that's been making o conner all happy lately" dom said as he got up.
"yes this is" brian said. "simone this is dominic torretto, dom, this is simone".
"nice to meet you" simone said to him.
"you too" dom said back to her.
"and that's his girl letty, and you know tej, roman, and ken. and over there is suki" brian continued to introduce her to everyone.
"oh my god you're the girl that came in second in the race that one night" simone said, quickly recognizing her.
"you were there? that's dope!" suki said.
"yeah that's the night I met brian too" simone told her. "I saw the race that night and you two were the good ones".
"of course" she smiled.
"I like her b, she's cute".
"she is" letty added. "you want something to drink simone? a beer, soda, water?".
"i'll take a soda" she told her.
"you want something to eat? my uncle is on the grill with burgers and stuff, some are probably done now too" dom asked her.
"yeah i'll get something, thank you!" simone said back.
"I really like them brian, they're sweet" she whispered to him.
simone walked away from the table and brian helped himself to a beer and dragged a chair over to the table.
"how did y'all meet at the race?" suki asked him.
"when the cops were pulling up her friend ran off and she didn't have a ride so I offered her one and took her home" brian told her.
"and he's been pussy whipped since" roman mumbled.
"you would be the same if you actually had a girl roman" brian shot at him.
"I actually do, and she's bad as hell. baddest of them all, badder than halle berry, jada pinkett, naomi... all of them" roman started to "brag".
"ain't nobody badder than halle, so who do you possibly have?" tej asked him.
"i'll bring her around like how o'conner brought simone today" he said.
"he's lying his ass off right now" brian laughed. "just give it up".
"brian did you want anything?" simone asked him.
"nah i'm good babe, i'll get it later you don't have too" he told her.
"aww aren't y'all so cute" ken said to them.
simone leaned her head on brian's shoulder and enjoyed their time at the cookout. eating, drinking, and talking with everyone, simone really enjoyed her time with them and she could tell why brian was so close to them. they were funny, nice, and overall cool people. she was happy that she was gonna be able to hang with them all the time now.
not so fast though.
"then the little asian nigga at the store was tryna act like I didn't pay for my bottle, so you know what I did? I pistol whipped his ass" raheem told his friends as himself, two other guys, and darryl were riding around the town.
"how did you not get caught nigga?" one of them asked him.
"man fuck getting caught I had on a whole get up, mask, all black attire, ain't nobody touching me" raheem boasted.
"raheem think he hot shit cause he attacked an asian in a liquor store like he o dog" darryl laughed, referring to the opening scene of menace ii society.
"I been hot shit since i'm the only one in this car that actually did time" he shot back at him. "the rest of you bitches ain't like me".
"then go back" darryl jokingly said.
"yo you sounding like your sister right now, she always running her damn mouth about me" raheem said.
"i'm just fucking with you man" darryl chuckled.
"yo do you even speak to her still? you don't even bitch about her anymore" raheem asked him.
"no... I don't even know where she's at right now" darryl told him.
little did anyone know that darryl and his friends were riding around the area of LA that dom lived in. so as they were driving down the street, they were passing by all of these houses and one house in particular caught the eye of darryl real quick.
"hold up.... I think I just saw simone" darryl said to his friends.
"simone? what is she doing out here?" raheem wondered.
"she at someone's house, and I don't know who it is" darryl said.
"but i'm about to find out now".
darryl turned the car around and went to park around whatever house darryl thought she was at, if he indeed did see her.
but he did alright.
meanwhile back at dom's house, simone was in the middle of a game of uno with dom's friends, trying to beat them all.
"she got two cards left man watch out" dom said to his friend.
"don't give him tips to beat her dom" brian said to defend simone.
"it's alright babe I got this" simone said to brian.
dom's friend put down a yellow card and the last two cards that simone had were a blue card and a wild card.
thank god for the wild card.
"UNO!" simone exclaimed.
"aw shit!" dom's friend shouted out.
"the color is blue" simone said.
"put it down, I already know you itching to do it" he said as he put down a green card.
"uno out!" simone chuckled as she won the game.
"damn how my girl get you all" brian said as he wrapped his arm around simone's shoulder and kissed her cheek. "good job babe".
"thanks b" she smiled.
"damn she already family and she just got here" dom said.
"family?" simone said in confusion.
"he has a habit of calling all of his friends family, regardless you're just family" brian explained to her.
"it's better than just "friends", everyone here is my family, even roman's ugly ass" dom chuckled.
"wow, fuck off" roman spat at him.
"he didn't lie though" tej added in with laughs.
"nigga we can fight" roman said. "kendra you wanna see your man get his ass beat?".
"i'll just beat it myself it's nothing" she said to him.
"aye, violence is never the answer" brian said to them.
"especially in my damn backyard" dom added in.
but as brian said that, it seemed like violence was about to occur, because four men just opened the fence door and came charging into the backyard.
"SIMONE! WHAT THE HELL YOU DOING HERE?!" darryl yelled out at her.
simone's whole mood and expression just changed and brian suddenly felt guarded and protective of simone. he also realized that what he feared is happening right now. tej, roman, and ken were looking at each other because they knew this was bound to happen, and dom and his friends were pissed off that their great nemesis asher and his boys just came to their house for what reason? they didn't even know it yet.
all hell was about to break loose, and brian's nightmare had came true.
and nothing could stop it now.