Toni Braxton
I sat in front of her and she chuckled. "You know what Toni Michelle, I'm starting to think that you're stalking me."
"What? Nooo." I smiled at her before pointing behind me. "Ryan just texts me whenever I should pop up so I do. I wouldn't pass up on the chance to see you again. You look beautiful by the way."
She smiled softly. "Thank you. So do you."
"Why thank you. I threw this look together." I laid my head on my hands and smirked. "So..."
Nafessa looked at me and quickly looked down. "So what Toni?"
The roles had changed since back in high school. It seemed like I was now the more confident one and Nafessa was timid.
"How'd you do it?"
"How'd I do what?"
"Manage to stay so young and add on to your sex appeal so easily?"
She picked up her wine glass and shot some back before replying. "Toni... do you need something?"
"I came to talk to you. It's hard catching up with you these days."
"Did you talk to your mom about the letter?"
Well damn. Straight to the point.
I shook my head. "I don't want to talk about that right now."
"How come?"
"Because that is a conversation for just us two."
"It is just us two."
Pointing behind her, she turned and saw Kelly and Ryan sitting at the table behind her listening intently. They both looked away when we looked at them.
Nafessa smacked her lips. "What happened to the bar?"
Kelly looked up acting puzzled. "Huh? Oh you're talking to us?"
I chuckled. "Hi Kelly. Hi Ryan."
"Hey Girl." Ryan spoke with a smile.
"Hey Toni. Long time, no see." Kelly smiled as well. "You look good."
"I told you!" Ryan exclaimed.
Smiling, I replied. "You both look amazing as well."
"Bye you two. Let us talk." Nafessa cut in.
Ryan rolled her eyes. "Fine. Fine. We'll be at the bar."
"For real, for real this time." They both got up and retreated to the bar.
Fessa turned and looked at me. "I'm sorry about them."
"No. It's okay. I think it's amazing to have friends like that."
"Did you keep up communication with anyone after you moved?"
"Not really other than Riah and Nippy." I mumbled.
"Whose that?"
"Mariah and Whitney. You met Mariah a while back, I think. At the party? I forgot whose party it was but we went to some party and you met her. Lightskin. Brownish Blondish hair. Remember?"
Nafessa paused before nodding. "Ohh. Gils party! Yeah. I remember her. Vaguely but I remember meeting her."
"Mhm. So it's her and we have another friend named Whitney but we call her Nippy. I talked to them. I moved out here and met my best friend Jada. How is Gil by the way?"
"Oh I'm not sure. He choreographs for Janet now I heard. Him and Shawnette."
I chuckled. "Shawn hated you."
"Yeah! For no reason. We were cool even without Janet and then I fall out with Janet and start hanging with you and all of a sudden she hates the ground I walk on."
Shaking my head, I replied. "She had good reason."
"No she did not."
"Yes she did. The woman was in love with you, and instead of catching her hints, you chose me. So she hated you and especially hated me. Only talked to me when she needed something."
Nafessa's jaw dropped. "In love with me?"
"Oh come on... you honestly didn't know?"
"No. I seriously didn't." She laughed.
"That girl wanted you. I could tell because she would look at you how I would look at you after we kissed for the first time. I knew the look and hated that she only seemed to have it when staring at you from across the cafeteria. I was convinced that once I left that's who you'd date next."
"There wasn't really anybody after you." She seemed to have spoke what was on her mind because her hand clasped over her mouth in shock. "I didn't say that."
I sat up some. "Oh no. Yes you did. You never moved on?"
"Guess I didn't find it as easy as you did to move on and settle down."
"Moving on was not easy. Giving up on the hope of one day being back together was not easy. It's just days went on that turned into weeks which went into months and next thing I knew it had been 12 years without you. Life was still continuing even though I was still stuck in my mind. Still wrapped in your arms whenever I needed comfort or under your covers whenever I needed to be warm. None of it was easy. You lived in my mind rent free, even when I was married to Keri."
Fessa opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally getting her words together. "My mother told me the story of the day you left. About everything that happened before I pulled up and we made each other that promise. Your mother will hate the fact that you're doing exactly what made her move you thousands of miles away to begin with."
"I'm grown. What my mother does or does not like is merely an opinion not worth breathing life into. I haven't been under her roof in over 10 years."
"Why won't you just tell me if you talked to your mother?"
"Because I did and she told me she lied for my fathers sake. She told me she valued something that didn't even last over her daughters happiness. She admitted that she didn't know how to love and protect her gay child so instead she forced a marriage and child down my throat..."
"She forced you to get married?"
"I don't want to talk about it." I mumbled softly as a waiter approached with a tray full of food.
"Here you go ma'am." He began sitting food on the table and I saw Ryan and Kelly rushing back to us.
They sat down as Ryan apologized. "Sorry girls, but we gotta eat."
"Oh no you're fine." I chuckled.
The waiter looked at me. "Can I get you something to drink?"
"Oh no, I was just lea—."
"Yes. You can. What do you want to drink Toni?" Ryan cut me off.
Nafessa sent them a look, and I looked at her. "It's cool if I stay?"
Before Fessa had a chance to reply, Kelly answered. "Yep. Perfectly fine. Order you a drink."
"It's cool Toni." Nafessa finally got the chance to answer me.
Nodding, I ordered a water with a lemon and declined on food knowing I had just cooked at my own house before I dropped everything and came to this restaurant.
"So Toni, what's been going on?"
I glanced up at Ryan when she began talking to me and shrugged. "Nothing much, honestly. My second album is about to drop soon. My daughter keeps me running, even when it isn't about my album, from dance classes to school. Other than that, nothing new."
"Daughter?" Kelly asked. "You have a kid?"
"Yeah." I pulled out my phone and unlocked it as I showed them the picture on my home-screen of Ken.
Ryan awwed. "Oh my gosh she's adorable. What color is her hair?"
"It's a red. She got Keri's color. My eyes and apparently she gets the hair from Keri's mother who has always been a red head her entire life and now I have a mini red head bossing me around." The waiter sat my water in front of me and I thanked him. "Thank you."
They showed Fessa the picture and she smiled. "She's beautiful. Where is she?"
"I made Alfredo at home, and that's her favorite so she's at my house with Mariah right now. They're probably wrecking my house playing every single game Ken can think of."
"Wow. She's really beautiful." Kel complimented next as they handed me my phone.
"Thank you." I put my phone away again as I asked. "Where's Zendaya? I haven't seen her around."
Fessa shook her head at my question and Kelly sipped her wine. Ryan answered me. "We aren't cool anymore."
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know."
"No it's fine, you didn't know."
When the waiter passed by, Nafessa stopped him. "Hey, can I get a to go box and the check please?"
Kelly and Ryan made faces before Ry asked. "You're leaving?"
"Yes. Yes I am."
"Why?" Kel asked her next.
"Because Toni and I need to talk, preferably alone. You two sitting here aren't making that easy. So yes, we're going to leave. I'll pay the ticket since I'm leaving first and we will rain check until a few days from now. Cool?" The man returned quite quickly with the check and a box.
They glanced at each other with looks I couldn't read too much into before looking at Nafessa who'd handed the man her card. "Cool! You two have fun."