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N i g h t s L i k e T h i s
"Yes, thank you so much. See you soon!" I said, ending the phone call with Mr. Chandler. Once I got off, I made sure to call him to discuss having a meeting this week with him just to confirm that I called his clients and I was ready to hire him as my new entertainment lawyer.
I also completed everything on my list of things to do. I called up a landlord to show me some apartments and even a few homes this week. I also booked my flight for Friday afternoon to Sunday, and I was so happy to be able to get this three-day weekend time off.
On Thursday, I was officially starting my private sessions with Ms. Deanne Livingston. Tomorrow I would surprise Malik with a super entertaining activity that was both fun and enjoyable for the both of us; I honestly couldn't wait to see his face once he saw what I had planned for us.
At the moment, I was getting ready to meet Malaysia at a boutique that sold clothes and bathing suits. I was tired from working all day, but I still needed to shop for clothes for the trip, and I needed to get some swimsuits because I was sure we were doing some water activities in Miami.
I took a quick fifteen-minute shower and put on a black two-piece jumpsuit consisting of a princess-seamed crop top with a V-neckline and lace-up back, with matching high-waisted wide pants. I paired it with my tan sandals and tan crossbody purse.
I exited out of the room and walked in the living room where Terrell was watching tv and eating food that I whipped up a couple of an hour ago, which was breakfast. Eggs, rice, and ham with my favorite condiment—ketchup.
"Well, TerryBear, I'm going to be at the boutique with Malaysia," I assured him.
"Alright, be safe. I love you," Terell replied, eating his food. "I'll leave the door open for you, lil' bit,"
"Thanks, love you too!" I waved, walking out of the house as I got to my rental car and unlocked the doors, stepping inside the car. As I buckled up, my cellphone begins to ring, causing my brows to furrow as I looked at the screen and noticed it was no one other than Malik, my, Honeybunny.
"Hey, sunshine," He greeted, sounding very cute.
"Hey, honeybunny," I giggled, knowing he didn't care for the nickname. "How are you?"
I pulled away from the house, placing my phone on the speaker as I continued to drive down the neighborhood streets.
"I'm good. I was talking with my cousins," He said. "We were talking about you, and they told me that you need to come around them more,"
Wow, I didn't think that Malik's cousins genuinely liked my presence. I thought they were only friendly and respectful because of Malik, but to know that they took a liking to me; made me feel good about myself. I remembered after eating, we played a few games, like charades which was the first time that I've ever played the game. We also played board games like Uno, Monopoly; turned into a couple of arguments.
His family was super genuine, goofy, and very kind to me as it made me feel comfortable and relaxed enough to be me. But I think it had to do with it reminding me of befriending people in college, and our ages were close. It almost sadly reminded me of my relationship with my cousins and how close we were. It saddened me that I didn't talk to them anymore, but I couldn't dwell on it.
"I'd love that," I agreed. "I like your family too,"
"I appreciate it. What are you up to?" He asked.
"I'm actually on my way to the store to meet with Malaysia," I confirmed. "We're going to be shopping for some stuff for the trip. Also, I already scheduled what I have planned for us to do,"
"Oh, aight," He stated. "Can I have a hint on what you have planned?"
"No, sorry, you'll know when I come to your house and pick you up," I instructed. "But be sure to wear glow in the dark clothes,"
"Damn, yes, ma'am!" He chuckled. "When you get back from shopping with me, you want to talk later?"
"Yeah, we can," I agreed, nodding my head as he could probably see me. I was smiling so much as my cellphone beeped as I looked down at it, noticing a call coming from Malaysia. "Honeybunny, I'm getting a call from Malaysia. I'll talk to you later,"
"You and this nickname, but aight, I'll be waiting for your call," He replied.
"Bye, Malik," I laughed, not wanting to hang up first.
"No byes, but okay, I'll talk to you later, sunshine," He said.
After ending the talk with him, I answered Malaysia's call.
"Hey Breanna, you still coming to the boutique, right?" She asked.
"Hey, and yes, I'm on my way," I confirmed. "I'm sorry that I'm late,"
"It's okay. I'm sitting in the parking lot," She remarked. "I'll wait for you,"
"Okay, I'm around the corner,"
I hung up the phone, throwing my phone in the passenger seat. I didn't lie about being around the corner because I pulled up into the parking lot of the boutique building that was pretty big and had a few cars in the parking lot. I drove around until I found a close parking spot to park and reached over the seat to grab my purse, cellphone, and car keys before stepping out of the car.
I watched Malaysia stepping out of her car, and she strutted towards me in some cute ankle strap heels.
"Hey, girly!" She beamed, extending her arms out for a hug.
"Hey, sorry I'm late," I smiled, hugging her back.
"It's okay, you're here now," She said, heading towards the door. "I heard about this cute boutique from my cousin and thought we should come here. It's also black-owned, and I love supporting our people, so why not?"
"I feel the same way," I said, opening the door to the boutique that was named Fashion and the City Boutique. "I love supporting our people,"
Once we entered the boutique, I peered my eyes on everything. The boutique's style was so beautiful as it was both trendy and fashionable. It was also very open and spacious, so they picked a great spot to have this boutique. The walls had a light purple and white with a touch of black. The chandeliers and lightings were beautiful, as I found myself in awe at everything.
Soft music played throughout the boutique, and it just had a great, cozy vibe.
"Hello! Welcome to Fashion and the City Boutique," The associate cheerfully greeted.
"Thank you," Malaysia and I replied in a union.
"It's so pretty in here," I admitted, taking another glance at the stuff in the boutique. I watched the people browse around the boutique before turning my attention to the clothes.
"It is, you know that I love me a good design, and this is everything," Malaysia asserted, walking towards the back rack.
I followed, seeing how organized the clothes were on the different racks and shelves were. My eyes scanned each item until I spotted some jeans and I was in love.
"These are so cute," I semi-yelled, grabbing the high-waisted flare pants as I looked inside for size, a size five. "I'm starting to love this flare jeans style,"
"That's what I'm saying. My mom said that it was a style called bell bottoms," Malaysia asserted. "She said that was the style back in the day and that everything is just coming back."
"That's true,"
I kept my hands on the pair of jeans and spotted a high-waisted skirt that looked similar to the dress-skirt; I saw at the mall. I held it up to my waist and walked over to the mirror as I imagined myself wearing them.
"Get it. It would look so good on you," Malaysia stated.
"You think so? I've never been into wearing skirts like that," I replied, thinking to myself if I should get it or not. "I did wear a skirt to Terrell's party, but that was probably the only time,"
"I mean, I would," Malaysia said, holding a two-piece set after checking the size. "Picture me in this. I love me a cute nude set,"
"Would look soooo good with your figure, if you don't get it for you, I'm buying it for you," I declared. "And I'm so serious,"
"It is cute," She posed, holding it up to her as she stared in the mirror. "I'm getting it,"
"Yay!" I exclaimed, laughing as she turned around and poked her butt out while glaring at herself in the mirror as I joined in with her. "Girl, I love you,"
She laughed along with me as we continued to shop around, and I had a few tops on my hand. Each one was different and showed how versatile my style was.
"Didn't we come here for bathing suits?" Malaysia reminded.
"Oh yeah," I laughed, remembering the reason we did come here. "I don't have any,"
We headed towards the swimsuit racks, and every single one was pretty. I liked the one-piece bathing suits and the two pieces, so I grabbed a plain black one-piece swimsuit, a green one that tied in the front, and also two; two-piece bathing suits that are a polka dot high waisted bathing suit and a two-piece with no straps white high waisted bathing suit.
Malaysia picked some cute bathing suits also, yellow, red, and a black one that was a two-piece high waisted, and she had a blue and pink one-piece swimsuit that she would look so good in during our trip in Miami.
"Let's try these on," Malaysia suggested, pointing to our jeans.
"Yes!"
We gathered our clothes as we headed to where the dressing rooms were. The dressings room was even cute as there was a light purple curtain covering the room as there was a long, full-bodied mirror that stretched across the entire dressing room, and the lights were sparkle.
Once we entered our rooms, I pulled the curtain as I stripped out of my clothes, then into the jeans and shirt. I turned around, staring at how it looked in the back, and I must admit these pants hugged my curves just right.
"Bre, you still getting dressed?" Malaysia asked.
"I'm ready," I said, pulling the curtain as I watched Malaysia pose in the mirror. "You look so good with that bawdy, Lay!"
She stared at me from the mirror and looked at my outfit, giving a head nod for approval.
"Me? Look at your hips, ma'am!" She squealed.
I laughed as we walked to the mirror and posed before we headed back into the room and showed each other the clothes we were going to get. We had different colors for outfits that we picked, and we even somehow picked the same pants set.
It was a fun experience shopping with Malaysia was the highlight of the day for me.
"Thank you for coming shopping with me," Malaysia said.
"Not a problem. I was glad that you asked me to go,"
We headed towards the counter, and I let Malaysia go first with buying her stuff.
"You shopped okay with us?" The associate named Chantelle asked, grabbing a bag as she scanned the clothes and placed them into a pretty clothing bag. She also slid a business card inside before totaling all the clothes. "That'll be 65.34, cash or card?"
"Card," Malaysia answered, turning to look at me as she then swiped her card in the device. "Wow, they have some reasonable prices. I thought it would've been around 100,"
"For real, we have to come back," I said, putting my clothes on the counter. "How long have y'all been running this business?"
"We're still kind of a new, so I'd say at least seven months," Chantelle confirmed. "We try to make sure that our prices are reasonable but also fits all of the material that we use."
"Super smart, you get more business that way,"
"Yes," Chantelle smiled, totaling my clothes, and it came out around 65 as well but around 70 with tax, so I swiped my card, and she placed all the clothes into the bag. "Thank you for shopping with us at Fashion and the City Boutique. Please come again. I placed our business card in there, so please ask your friend to ask a friend to shop with us,"
"Thanks, will do!"
.
.
.
Entering the house, I held the shopping bags from the boutique in my hand as I closed the door behind me. I checked the time on my phone as it was now ten something as the store closed at nine, and it took a while getting back here.
I was surprised that Terrell was still up and in the kitchen's cabinet, grabbing a snack.
"Hey, TerryBear," I waved. "I got my stuff for the trip. Did you book your flight yet?"
"Yeah, I did. I needed this three-day trip," Terell replied.
"Same, been working nonstop since I've got there," I sighed, holding my bags. "Do you think Amber's going on the trip with us?"
"She said that she has to see if she's not busy with her schedule," He explained, rubbing his face.
I hoped that they worked it out; because at the club and dinner, they looked like they would be cute together, and I know that Terrell wanted her to go even if he didn't think they would get anywhere—I was rooting for them heavily.
"I hope she does," I said, feeling my cellphone vibrate in my purse. I looked inside my crossbody purse and stared at my phone screen, seeing Malik's new name, Honeybunny, flashing on the phone screen. A huge smile appeared on my face as I looked at Terrell. "Well, good night, TerryBear. See you in the morning,"
"Night," He smirked.
I answered the phone and headed upstairs, going to the guest room. I took my shoes off, moving to the mirror to grab my makeup wipes to wipe off my makeup, and then I dived into the bed, holding my phone to my ear.
"Hey sunshine, you back from shopping yet?" He asked.
"Just made it back a few minutes ago," I affirmed. "I'm here now, though,"
"Good, you sure you want to talk with me?" He wondered. "It is late, and we don't have to talk if you don't want to,"
"No, I want to talk to you," I reassured him. "I also like hearing your voice. You sound so fine on the phone,"
"Here you go..." He chuckled. "I'm smiling hard as hell right now."
"Hmm," I mumbled. "I'm glad you called because I want to ask you something."
"Anything," He asserted.
"Anything?" I repeated, giggling afterward. "It's not anything bad, and be one hundred percent serious with me when I ask you this...okay?"
"Okay," He said.
"Well, first impressions are important," I started my question. "But, what did you think of me when you first met me?"
"They are, and honestly, I was immediately hesitant to talk to you," He answered. "I heard from Malaysia that there was a new assistant and I didn't have any feelings or anything with our previous assistants, because they didn't last at the company. So, I wouldn't pay any attention. So, I headed into the center area from leaving the bathroom, and you weren't paying attention—and once we bumped into each other, leading to you being on the floor, I was so shocked. Your brown eyes and lips, well your whole face left me stuck,"
I smiled, thinking of the time when we bumped into each other.
"I thought that is this the one that Malaysia was talking about while I helped you up, and I instantly grew an attraction to you right there," He admitted. "Hearing your voice is what also had me like, man; who is this? Then you told me your name, and I was trying to get as much information as I can to talk to you, but Malaysia told me that it was your third day or something and that yall didn't speak,"
"Yeah, I had a lot to do that day,"
"So, I was like she's the new assistant, and I kept taking peeks to look at you during the meeting that we had," He continued. "Then once you locked eyes with me, I was like, man, you have to talk to her now. Your smile is what I thought about that whole day, and I was happy that Malaysia asked you to come to dinner with us because I wanted to get to know more about you,"
"Well, I liked that answer, and you had a good first impression of me," I smiled, feeling my cheeks reddening. "Whenever we bumped into each other, I thought you were such a good-looking guy and how good you smelled. I love when a guy smells good and has good hygiene, so I was interested right then, and then at the meeting, whenever you smiled at me, I didn't want to act on it; by trying to keep it professional, but you somehow snuck yourself in,"
"I like that," He chuckled. "I knew that when I accidentally kissed you, it was time to make my move."
"Yeah, you did,"
"Yeah, I still want to know all that I can know about you," He said. "Like, what's your type of movies to watch? I know we watched comedy movie classics, but what else do you like?"
"Um, I like comedies a lot," I shared. "Romance, action, adventure, mystery, animation and ooooh...I love musicals from Dreamgirls to The Temptations and the New Edition Stories. How about you?"
"I like hearing the excitement about something when you talk about something that you're interested in," He asserted. "Uh—my fault, you want to know the type of movies that I like?"
"Yes, Malik," I giggled.
"Well, I like watching comedies a whole lot." He chuckled. "My favorite genre along with action and adventure, I do happen to like romance. Musicals are interesting because I remember taking a nap on The Jackson's: American Dream movie. I swear whenever I woke up, that movie was still on,"
"That is a long movie, but I'd probably be able to watch it from start to finish,"
"Oh, I wanna' see about that," He stated.
"Hmm, that's a bet," I replied, thinking of my next question. "So, are you into sports, and what's your favorite?"
"Now, you speaking my language," He joked. "But, I am, and I like basketball and football. I don't know if I have a favorite, but I might like basketball a little more than football, especially since I've played it for years, but you like sports?"
"Basketball, it's crazy how when I know that a game is good and how it becomes so intense—," I remarked. "I swear I think that I'm the one playing the game, and I'm all into it,"
"Ah, so you're the one screaming at the screen?" He asked.
"Yes," I laughed. "Um, next question...do you have any favorite actors and actresses?"
"Will Smith," He said. "He's always been my favorite actor, and my favorite movie of his is Pursuit of Happyness. I'm not going to lie to you, but I'll cry like a baby watching that movie, and for my favorite actress, I like Taraji P. Henson, she always kills her roles. How about you?"
This question had to be one of my favorites, especially as an aspiring actress—I knew that I couldn't compare to any of them, but I looked up to them.
"Um, for my favorite actor, hmm... I might have a bunch of favorites," I expressed. "First, I love Denzel Washington. I always loved his style of acting also, Jamie Foxx—the fact he could dig deep into a role, just a talented man, and my last one has to be Will Smith as well. Wait, I also want to throw Terrance Howard in there,"
"Damn, I didn't even think of about Jamie Foxx and Terrance Howard," He said. "You picked some good ones, now what is your list for favorite actresses?"
"This one that I have in my top might go unnoticed, but Bianca Lawson," I affirmed. "She always does so well with her roles. I loved her in Saved the Last Dance also her roles in tv shows. I also love Ms. Angela Basset because she gives it every single time. I loved her in What's Love Got To Do With It, Waiting to Exhale, Akeelah and the Bee, and lastly, Meet the Browns,"
"I got to agree with you on that, so talented," He emitted. "Since we're already on the movie subject, you have a favorite movie quote that you could think of automatically?"
"Oooh, great question." I crooned. "I feel like the entire Mean Girls movie has so many good quotes. Like On Wednesdays we wear pink, Get in loser, we're going shopping is my favorite! And the best one ever to me is, She doesn't even go here! Such an iconic movie! What are your favorite movie quotes?"
"That is a good movie, funny as hell," Malik agreed. "My first movie quote, Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get from Forrest Gump, also from New Jack City; You're incapable of running this city. Sit your five-dollar ass down before I make change. I got to add the last quote from The Temptations, Ain't nobody coming to see you, Otis,"
I burst into a fit of laughter.
"You're so goofy!" I laughed. "And you're making me want to watch it. Um, next question, do you have a favorite song at the moment? And, since yall asked me this before, what are your top five rappers? Singers?"
I enjoyed having the relationship questions talk with him a lot. We've been finding out so much about one another, things that we had in common, and I was learning about the stuff that he truly liked.
"Wow, that's a hard one," He declared. "Dang. Well, it's a couple of years ago, but Roddy Ricch's song Ballin'. I always liked that song, and the live orchestra is a masterpiece, but I don't think I have a favorite unless I can't think of it in my head. What are my top five rappers? Drake, Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z, Kanye, and André 3000, in no particular order but yeah..."
"That's a good list."
"It is, as for my top five of singers?" He repeated, becoming quiet as he seemed to be in deep thought. "Uh...Usher, Chris Brown, dang, that's two, uh, Mary J. Blige, can I choose groups?"
"Yes!"
"Well then, Jodeci, and New Edition," He finished. "I don't remember us asking you about your top five singers; what are they?"
"Hmm," I began to think about all the singers' voices that I loved. "Mariah Carey off top...maybe Beyoncé, because people don't listen to her voice they look at her as an overall entertainer and not her vocals because she can sang! I like Chris Brown as well but as a top-five? I don't know probably my tenth spot, but, Usher, Brandy, and the last one has to be Mary J. Blige,"
"That's the best list I've heard yet," Malik stated. "So solid."
"When you have a good ear for music..." I joked.
"I was trying hard to come up with names, couldn't think of it at the top of my head," He clarified.
"I know, it's okay," I teased.
"You like playing with me," He chuckled, smacking his teeth before he sighed. "I want to see you,"
"You'll see me tomorrow, I took off my makeup, and I know that I look a hot mess right now,"
"When we get married, you're going to be scared for me to see your natural beauty?" Malik questioned.
Energy.
"Hmm, only for a few minutes because it's like one something in the morning now,"
"Yes, let me see my sunshine's face!" He exclaimed.
I playfully rolled my eyes as I hung up the phone, and he then called me on FaceTime. I tried to fix up my hair and make sure I was looking decent before answering.
"You flawless, shawty," He uttered, winking at me through the FaceTime screen. "You don't need to hide ya face from the camera; you look good, ma,"
I smiled, watching as he laid down in his bed.
"Thank you. You're so sweet,"
"I'm for real, too," He smirked.
"I'm so sure, Malik,"
"I'll show you that I'm serious when I see you tomorrow for our date," He responded. "I don't know what it is about you, sunshine. I just want you to be happy with me, and I'll try to keep that promise."
Hearing that made me feel good about us. I couldn't wait until we made it official because I wasn't thinking of anybody else.