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C e l e b r a t i o n
We arrived at the stacked stone and stucco house with a trimmed lawn. Instantly I was in awe at the beautiful sight of my friend's home. I held my gifts for Malaysia's home-gathering party as we made our way to her front door. After admiring the welcome back carpet in front of her door, I pressed the doorbell as it dinged for a few minutes until the doors opened and the woman of the hour stepped out, giving us both a hug and smile before she stepped back.
"I'm glad that you guys made it!" Malaysia beamed, bouncing on her toes as she gave us a dimpled smile. She extended the door more and allowed us to enter her home. "You can sit your gifts down on the table, and we can wait till' everyone gets here to give you all a tour around the house,"
I nodded, watching her leave the living room to head into the kitchen, as we sat our gifts on the round table in the living room as I noticed that Malik and Raheem were already here, sitting on the sectional sofa. As we moved further into the living room, stepping on the Brazilian cherry hardwood, I admired the soft-edged modern yet traditional interior design with wood colors and contemporary furniture. African pieces and figurines were part of the decorations as I found everything influential.
"Woah, what's up y'all?" Raheem's mouth curved up, standing up to greet us. After giving Terrell a brotherly hug, he hugged and kissed my cheek. "We ain't even hear y'all coming through,"
"We just got here, so it's all good," Terrell gave Malik some dap and which ended in a brotherly hug as he then took a seat next to Raheem. "What y'all watching?"
"Love and Basketball," Raheem confirmed. I stared at the Flatscreen TV as sure enough; one of the black movie classics was playing on as I felt a tap on my arm; I turned my attention on to Malik.
"Breanna," Malik uttered, wrapping his arms around me as I had to stand on my heels to hug him; while he decided to be extra and kiss both my forehead and my cheeks then pulled away with a smirk. "You look and smell, divine,"
Divine? That was a new compliment from him that I wasn't expecting, for sure.
"Thank you," I smiled, checking out his outfit. He wore a denim blue jean jacket, black t-shirt, black jeans, and blue high top chucks. He accessorized with a blue beanie, a silver chain, and buss down watch. It was a simple look, but he made it work. "And whatever you use, make sure to tell me when you finish it because I love it,"
"I got you," Malik chuckled, taking his seat as he tapped the empty spot next to him. I sat down, crossing my legs while he instantly placed his arms around me. "I'll pick you up around six-ish or close to seven for our date, you okay with that?"
"Sounds good," I told him, putting my hands in my lap as I batted my eyelashes and bored my eyes innocently into his, giving him a coy smile. Then, once our eyes connected again-- I looked away and focused my attention on something else, being the door. "Has anyone seen Tatyana?"
"I think she's in the kitchen," Raheem answered, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket, checking it before sliding it back. "If not, she probably went to the store,"
"Oh, thanks,"
If it wasn't obvious before, it seemed obvious now that he had something going on with Tatyana. I found it so cute that he was so interested in her whereabouts and how he checked his cellphone for her messages. I liked them both, and if they were dating, I was here for them, one hundred percent.
While I was scrolling down my newsfeed on Twitter, the shrill and jangling sound of the doorbell caught my attention as it meant that a new visitor had arrived. So, I stood up from my spot on the sofa to answer the door until the sound of Malaysia's heels entering the living room stopped me from going any further as she went to answer the door, and I walked back to the sofa, taking my seat.
Hearing a familiar voice at the door, I turned my head, realizing it was Leandra and her boyfriend Issac standing at the door with gift bags. Once Malaysia told them the same thing that she told Terry and me, they met us in the living room.
"Hey, everyone!" Leandra's soft voice appeared in the living room. She hugged all the guys and strutted over to me as she spread her arms wide, causing me to smile as I stood up, hugging her. As we hugged, she whispered in my ear. "Keep it cute...we are not at work,"
I inwardly rolled my eyes, sitting down as she had the nerve to sit next to me. Isaac dapped everyone up and gave me a handshake since Leandra was staring him down the entire time, then he sat down next to her on the long sectional sofa. While we watched the movie to await the woman of the hour and the hostess, I found myself in the fakest conversation with Leandra.
"You see that corner with the black painting on the wall?" Leandra tapped my shoulder, pointing at the large black painting of a black couple, laying down next to a fireplace with champagne glasses in their hands. "I always adored Malaysia's taste in our black culture, and whenever I get my place, I'm going to need for her to help me decorate,"
I honestly think that Leandra's demeanor from outside of work and even at the company shows that she wants to be my friend, but she doesn't know how to make it happen without trying to challenge me because of the way I arrived at the workplace. However, I agreed with her outlook on Malaysia's taste because it was very impeccable.
"Yeah," I concurred, checking out the beautiful paintings of black love arranged on the grey walls along with the black figures inside curios in the corner of the room. Everything seemed to match and flow with the soft-edged modern interior theme. "I can't imagine how the rest of the house looks,"
We continued to discuss the decorations of the living room until the woman of the hour-- and the hostess entered. As the hostess Tatyana carried a tray with glasses of champagne, then she walked up to each of us to hand out the champagne glasses.
"Well, I'll like to thank you all for coming to my home gathering," Malaysia announced, standing in the center of the blank TV screen that Raheem cut off once they got inside the room, holding a champagne glass of her own. "I'll give you the tour around my house, and I guess... we'll get the party started afterward,"
We all collectively rose from our seats and followed her to the first spot of the tour, her kitchen. The smell of food was the first thing I noticed once we entered the kitchen, but I couldn't ignore the beauty in the large kitchen. It was a modern-traditional style kitchen with wood cabinets, glass doors, and custom stone oversized island countertops. The beautiful hanging chandeliers brought light to the kitchen as I loved the solid wood dining table.
"This is nice," Is the response I've heard from all of the guys.
"It is Malaysia," Leandra asserted, sipping on her champagne.
"The kitchen looks nice," I applauded her on her taste for modern and traditional contemporary style. "I bet you had a hand in decorating?"
"Oh yes," Malaysia giggled, shaking her head as she pointed at me. She moved to the countertop, putting her hands on it as she explained. "You know me so well... I made sure that the interior designer listened to my vision for the countertops and how I imagined everything to be, and it turned out to be better than I expected,"
"They did a phenomenal job,"
We continued the tour as we left the kitchen, going to the spacious hallway. On the walls were pictures of Malaysia's family members, friends, the crew, and herself spaced out in rows, and the other side held African wall masks. In the center of the hallway was a Senath 2 door accent cabinet holding up beautiful African figurine sets.
Next, we moved onto the two bedrooms and conjoined bathroom downstairs, as the two bedrooms had the colors, beige, and grey, more neutral colors with king-sized beds and matching decorations. The bathrooms were even lovely as I couldn't help but think that Malaysia's real estate agent did their damn job at finding her a home.
We left the rooms going upstairs to see her master bedroom that had violet and grey interior and decorations. Her padded bed looked extremely comfy as we walked into the master bathroom that had a frameless sliding shower door and jacuzzi tub. Everything about this place was eye-popping as she showed us the deck and backyard.
Once the tour ended, half of my champagne was gone as we were back in the living room. Music played during the mixing as Tatyana being the hostess, made sure to set up a bar for all of us and added in small foods like chicken wings, pizza, chicken sandwiches, chips and dip, and popcorn. Along with fruits and a few sweet treats such as cupcakes, cookies, cake pops, and mini donuts.
"Dance with me," I enthusiastically asked Terrell, hearing Cha Cha Slide Part Two by Mr. C. It felt like it's been years since I've listened to the song as it reminded me of my childhood days. I batted my eyelashes, hoping that it worked on him, but he declined. "Please?"
"No, ma'am," Terrell frowned.
I laughed, clapping my hands as I got into the center of the floor without care, and started to clap my hands to the beat of the song. Leandra surprisingly got up, taking her heels off as she got beside me and clapped her hands. We moved to the left, took it back, and hopped one time before stumping with our right and then our left, next ending it with doing the cha-cha slide and turning it out.
Tatyana and Malaysia soon joined in at to the left part as we were hitting the dance line song that never seemed like leave our childhood's. As we continued and got to the hands-on your knees part, out of a forced habit, I had my tongue out as I danced. I looked at Leandra, and sure enough, she was getting it. Leandra had a lot of rhythm that I didn't expect.
The four-minute and thirty seconds dance finally ended as I walked to the bar to get me something to drink while the girls kept on dancing to the next song. Once I grabbed a water-bottle, I couldn't wait to drink as it got pulled out of my hands, and I looked up, seeing Malik holding it over my head.
"Can you please give me the water, Malik?" I whined, knowing that the water would quench all of the thirsts that I had right now. I tried to reach do for it, but he continued lifting it as I crossed my arms. "Forget it,"
"Here," He stopped, handing me the drink. As I took a seat on the floor and he did the same thing while staring at me.
I was right about the water quenching my thirst because I felt better after drinking the cold water. I topped my drink as Malik seemed to be in a trance by the way he was looking at me for so long.
"Uh..." I muttered, getting his attention as he grabbed my hand. "Is there a reason why you keep staring at me like that?"
"Sorry," He quickly apologized, rubbing my knuckles as he gave me eye contact. "I like your personality. I wasn't lying when I said that you are the coolest girl that I ever met,"
"Hmm," I mumbled, looking down at my nails as I tried to pretend that his words weren't getting to me, but it was. I could feel my face growing hot as I knew that I was blushing made me think that I liked him more than I thought. "That's good to know, thank you."
"Do I have the infamous Breanna Davidson blushing?" He joked.
"No," I giggled, liking him call me the infamous Breanna Davidson because one day, I will be.
"I can't tell, you can't look at me," He teased.
I lifted my head as the glow in his light brown eyes made me smile. Although I enjoyed us talking right now, we were both at a home-gathering to celebrate our friend's accomplishment, and shouldn't be flirting with one another. So, I rose from the floor with the help of Malik, and we moved back to where everyone else was.
"Alright, I'm through!" Tatyana sighed, telling Terrell to turn the music down. "As the hostess, we're going to play some games, let's play Never Have I Ever; I got the game cards this time,"
Never Have I Ever, or could be called I've Never, was a drinking game that could get people to mention what they haven't done, and if those people did do the one thing, then they would have to drink. In my opinion, I swear it was a game that could get you caught up.
"Are y'all in?" Malaysia asked all of us. "If so, let's make a circle on the floor,"
Everyone made the circle on the floor, as Tatyana had the game card questions with a bottle of sparkling wine and handing us a shot glass.
"I'll go first since I'm the hostess," Tatyana stated, picking up the first card to start the game. "Uh, this one is pretty easy. Never Have I Ever...shoplifted,"
No one took the drink as I found that to be a good thing. Since nobody took a shot, Tatyana picked up another card.
"Never Have I Ever... got caught cheating on a test," She asserted, glancing around the room as she put the card down to pour herself a shot. "Now, I thought that everyone in this room has cheated on a test before,"
"Yeah, we have but got caught?" Terrell raised a brow, shaking his head. "Naw,"
Tatyana frowned, taking a drink as she told her story. "Well, in my middle school days. I remember not studying for a test and forgot that the next day that we had a test. So, I remember reading the test questions and not understanding any of it; so I tried to peak on the person's test on the side of me, but I guess I wasn't so careful because next thing I know, my name was being called, the embarrassing moment in my life as a teenager,"
"Damn, you got in trouble?" Malik questioned, sitting with his knees in front of him.
"I got a call home about cheating, and let's just say that I learned my lesson," Tatyana laughed, giving the cards to Malaysia.
"Okay, never have I ever..." Malaysia started, reading the card as she repeated it. "Never have I ever... said an I love you without feeling it..."
I watched as Terrell, Raheem, and Leandra take the shot.
"Explain to the audience," I suggested the three people admitting to us, causing everyone to laugh.
"Well...I'll go," Leandra combed her hair with her fingers. "I was in a relationship with this guy, and my feelings for him weren't as serious as he was in our relationship, and whenever we were having a moment, he told me that we could only go further if I said those three words and I did,"
Wow.
"Did he believe it?" Malaysia queried.
"I mean yeah because we were together for a year," Leandra explained. "Whenever we'd have sexual intercourse, he would keep saying it and I wouldn't, so I guess he realized that I didn't,"
"Dang, you were nonchalant," Terrell commented, chuckling afterward as he let out a deep breath. "I was a no-good dude in high school, and I would often tell every girl that I was with that I loved them even though there was no love there, but now I see how important and special those words mean, so if I tell you that, I truly mean it and I'm not gon' take you for granted."
A grin appeared on my face as I felt good, knowing that his love for me was real. I've only known him for a short time now, but we were growing closer as best friends.
"As for me," Raheem clarified. "It's sorta' like a mixture of Leandra and Terrell's story. I learned my lesson that you shouldn't play with anyone's feelings or emotions. I look at it like If you don't want it happening to you, so why do it to someone else?"
I felt the same. I love you was very deep and special to me. I was happy knowing that Malik hasn't played with anyone's feelings because we were talking and, If he did--I'd be reluctant to pursue a relationship with him. The game continued once Malaysia passed the cards to Leandra as she picked up a card, and her eyes widened.
"Never have I ever..." She swallowed harshly. "Had a one night stand?"
Half of the crew being Leandra, Issac, Terrell, Raheem, Malik, and Malaysia were the ones to have experienced a one night stand as they took a shot.
"Breanna's a goody-goody," Leandra giggled.
"I mean... I would only love to do those things with my significant other," I stated. "I'm the type that cherishes those moments, and I don't think I could forget anything like that... if I was to experience it..."
"There's nothing wrong with that," Tatyana uttered. "I agree with that. I think it's a beautiful thing to have that special moment-- with your significant other. But if I did have one, I bet it won't be the last,"
This game always brought the truth out of a lot of people.
.
.
.
"Thank y'all so much for helping me celebrate my home-gathering party," Malaysia embraced Terrell and I. Once Terrell left to the get to the car, Malaysia grabbed my hand as she wore a lopsided grin. "So, Tatyana told me that you were going on a date with Malik? I want to help you get ready."
"That'll be so nice," I told her. "And your home was so lovely. You are blessed, girl!"
"Yeah, once I finish cleaning the house, I'll be there!" She exclaimed, hugging me again, "And thank you so much."
"Okay," I waved at her, going to Terrell's car. I checked the time as it was around four something, so I had enough time to take a shower, find an outfit, do my hair and makeup for the date. I stepped inside the car, snapping in my seatbelt. "I'm so tired from dancing, but I enjoyed myself,"
"I know, and you were tryna' get me to dance," Terrell chuckled, pulling out of the yard and getting out the neighborhood onto the road. "You know that I can't keep up with the life of the party,"
"You surely did whenever we were doing the zydeco,"
"That's different," He yawned, covering his mouth. "I saw you and Malik, y'all about to be boo'd up,"
I instantly thought about Ella Mai's song, Boo'd Up, as I couldn't help but laugh.
"For the date, I'm surprised that I'm not nervous,"
"Why do you want to be?" He narrowed his eyes, putting on his signal that he was going to switch lanes. "I told you that Malik is a good dude. I think it's okay that you're not nervous because it means that you might already have the feeling of being safe, or you're very comfortable around him."
"I didn't think about it in that way,"
"Yeah, I think that's why you're good." Terrell conferred, turning in the direction of his home. "And if you could trust me, know that I won't ever stir you into being with someone who isn't a genuine person."
Once we finally arrived at the house, I stepped out of the car and waited for him to open the door with his keys, then I rushed upstairs to take my shower, but I stepped down to tell Terrell something.
"Terry, if you hear a knock, it's going to be Tatyana and Malaysia," I concluded. "They're going to help me get ready for my date,"
"Aight," Terrell remarked.
I rushed upstairs to the room, going to the bathroom to turn on the shower. I waited a few minutes, getting in the shower. Grabbing my small towel and dove soap, I made sure to wash thoroughly and well enough for fifteen minutes until I grew wrinkles in my fingers and stepped out of the shower. I wrapped a towel around my body, drying myself off as I applied glitter lotion to my body before rubbing on deodorant and throwing on my matching lace set undergarments with a long tee along with tights.
I used the extra time to paint my toenails ruby red and stared at my natural nails that were growing long and full. Letting my toenails air dry, I polished my fingernails with the clear polish as I blew on my nails. Next, I focused on my hair. It was still curly but wet from my shower as I wondered what I should do to it.
Instead of wearing it with my wet curls, I grabbed a brush, gel, and edge control as I decided to wear my curly hair in a smooth, sleek low bun. Once I brushed it all together and laid my edges. I wrapped a hair wrap around my edges and hair to smooth everything out.
I still had to find a dress and to do my makeup left as I handled everything already. Getting up from the bed, I checked the closet for the few clothes that I had inside. I spotted a black fitted dress, a burgundy dress, and a champagne-colored dress that I have yet to wear since I wasn't a dress person, but I was a girly-girl if they made sense.
I couldn't decide which would be the best for the date as I took a seat on the bed and grabbed my cellphone to check the social media sites.
"Breanna! Tatyana and Malaysia are here!" Terrell yelled from the living room.
Jumping off of the bed, I opened the door and got downstairs to call them into the guest room that I was staying.
"Wow, you and Terrell seem so close," Malaysia noted, staring at the necklace that I had on the dresser. "Never seen him do anything like this for nobody else,"
"I agree, best friends do those sorts of things," Tatyana smiled, checking out the three dresses in my closet before she glared at me then back at the dresses. "I do want to say the burgundy, but this champagne dress is going to look so sickening on you, especially with your body shape,"
"You think so? I was kinda' leaning towards the black dress," I pointed at the black ball gown dress.
"Take her word for it," Malaysia transferred, as she stared at the makeup kit that I had opened on the bed. "I could do your makeup for you,"
"You sure?"
"If you choose the champagne dress," She trailed off. "I could do a Smokey glam look to match,
"Well then, make me look like a baddie, girl,"