by Nikki Carter
“If I could just hear her say it once, I would stop.”
“Well, she’s been going to church for a long time, Kevin, so you can stop. She just stopped recently when we got in school. Give it a rest!”
“Why did she not tell me that?”
I shake my head out of frustration. Kevin is the dumbest smart guy I know. “She doesn’t want you to judge her based on religious affiliation, Kevin. She just wants you to like her for who she is. So try doing that, and see what happens.”
“I hope she knows who she is,” Kevin says as he motions to the Gamma Girl crew coming in through the door. “It seems like she doesn’t know.”
“I can’t disagree with you on that, Kev. For real, for real.”
I look over at the GPG crew as they walk up in the spot like they are the VIPs and haven’t been invited to participate in the festivities. Some of them are sparkling, some shimmering, and some shining, but they’re all in turquoise and white, except of course the apprentices, who are wearing royal blue and white. The most striking of the bunch is Sharday in her all white tube dress, turquoise shoes, and accessories. It’s no wonder she and Peony don’t get along. She makes the rest of the Gamma Girls look like her backup singers. Sharday is the one who stands out in a crowd. She didn’t need to be a Gamma Girl to get attention.
Piper runs over to them and gives Sharday an enormous hug. She starts toward Peony and Millicent and they both give her a look that says, “Don’t even try it.” Meagan gives her the same look, which irritates the heck out of me. I almost want to go and tell my dad to bounce her stuck-up self right back out of the VIP. How dare they? They wouldn’t even be in here if it wasn’t for Piper.
I leave Kevin and the rest of the bunch chilling on the sectional and walk up to the Gamma Girl crew. I’m not going to let them play my girl out.
“Hey, Gammas!” I say.
Sharday says, “Hey, pop star! Thanks for getting us into the VIP.”
“It was all Piper,” I say. “She would not rest until I got all of y’all in here. So y’all owe her one.”
Both Millicent and Peony scoff and roll their eyes. Ungrateful heffas! If I didn’t think Piper would receive some kind of retribution, then I would embarrass the heck out of them, especially Peony with those run-over shoes. Those shoes are not even VIP worthy. And Millicent knows she’s about ten seconds from being on my list after how she tried to play Gia over Rashad.
“Thank you, Piper!” Sharday says. At least she’s grateful. “I love rolling VIP style. I wonder if my husband is here.”
“I don’t see any Chi Kappas up in here,” Peony says. “Just a few ballers and a bunch of wannabe ballers.”
Sharday says, “Whatever! Who is that, Sunday? Do you know that guy in the black T-shirt?”
I turn to see who she’s talking about, and I have to narrow my eyes to see if it’s who I think it is! It’s Truth. But a different, hotter Truth. He’s cut off his locks and is now rocking a fade. Before his look was hip-hop grunge, but now, he’s more hip-hop smooth. He’s wearing a formfitting T-shirt, jeans that fit and don’t sag, and a nice pair of black boots. Nothing about him looks crusty and dirty the way he used to look. Shoot, if I wasn’t already in the middle of my own little love triangle, I might try to holla.
“That’s Truth, the rapper. Have you heard of him?’ I ask.
Sharday’s lips form a little o. “I’ve heard of him. He’s the one that got punched out in the club. Wasn’t that over you?”
I give them all a slick grin. “Yeah, that was over me. But that’s all over and done with now. He’s free and clear.”
“I have a rule. I never date someone who was kicking it with my friend or even interested in my friend. There’s too many boys on the planet for that!”
Piper smiles and gives Meagan side eye. Then she says, “That is an incredible rule, Sharday. I love that rule.”
“I just bet you do,” Peony says. “But I say it’s all fair in boys and romance. If you couldn’t keep him then he wasn’t yours.”
Then, Peony turns around and high-fives Meagan. I will say that Meagan doesn’t really seem to want to co-sign on that one. She might be trying to mend things with Piper and that sure didn’t help anything.
Piper’s smile fades, but she doesn’t break down like I thought she might. “That’s probably true,” she says. “I wouldn’t want someone who would play me, but he’ll probably play the next chick too, so, it’s whatever.”
“ ‘It’s whatever,’ apprentice?” Peony says. “That doesn’t sound like an appropriate response to your big sister. What do you think, Millicent? Does that sound like something an apprentice should say?”
“That is absolutely not something that should ever come out of the mouth of an apprentice. I think she should apologize immediately,” Millicent says.
Sharday shakes her head. “Come on, guys! We’re here to have fun, so let’s just chill. We don’t have to be on that tonight.”
“On what?” Peony says. “We are Gammas all day every day.”
“We are,” Sharday says. “But let’s be friends tonight, okay? Let’s all be equals for the evening.”
Surprisingly Peony smiles at Sharday. “You’re right. Let’s have a blast!” Then, she gives Piper a hug. “Come on, little sister. You ready to meet some ballers?”
“Little sister? B-but, I haven’t crossed yet,” Piper says.
Millicent places her hand on Piper’s back. “Girl, it’s only a matter of time. We’re just giving you a hard time. Let’s mingle!”
All the Gamma Girls and almost Gammas leave me and head for a sectional on the other side of the room. My work here is done—I think.
On my way back over to an evil-looking Kevin, Truth steps into my path. “Hey, Sunday,” he says. “You weren’t gonna speak to me?”
“Have we met?” I say with a smirk. “I don’t believe I know you.”
Truth runs his hand over his head. “So what do you think?”
“Of what?”
“My new look. The hair. I feel kind of naked.”
“It suits you, I think. You look . . . well . . . you look good, Truth.”
A slow grin tickles the sides of his mouth. “Good enough to chill with for the evening?”
I burst into laughter. “You know better than that, Truth. We are so not in that place. And did you forget that you used to be with my cousin?”
“Oh yeah . . . that.”
“Yes, exactly.”
Dilly walks into the VIP area with his brother Bryce, and immediately he runs over to us. He hugs me so tight you’d think we hadn’t seen each other in years. I see right now, I’m gonna have to manage this little boy’s crush on me. He’s out of control with it.
“Hey, Sunday! Thank you so much for coming to our party. I didn’t think you would, or any of y’all actually. I thought Evan was gonna put a ban on it or something.”
“Evan doesn’t run me, boy! Did you forget who I am? Do I need to remind you of these things?”
“No, you are a boss!”
“That’s right, sweetie. I run me and nobody else gets to tell me what to do.”
Truth says, “You real big and bad, huh? Always have been. But I can’t take nothing away from you. You are definitely a bad chick.”
“The baddest,” I say. “Recognize.”
Truth looks me up and down like he used to when he was trying to make me his woman. He may have changed his look, but the game dang sure hasn’t changed. I shake my head and chuckle.
“You gonna come over and talk to Big D?” Dilly asks.
I look over at Big D and Shelly. They are surrounded by a huge crowd of people. Big D is looking like the king that he is with his all white suit on. The fact that he’s big just adds to his prestige. Also the fact that he’s pulling one of the most drooled-after former video vixens in the game. Shelly complements Big D completely in an all gold body suit that would look obscene on anybody but her, because she wears it with so much class.
“I think I’ll wait until the crowd dies down. I don’t want to get anybody’s makeup or drink on me. I’m too fly for all that.”
“Let me walk you back to your friends,” Truth says. “Can’t have all that flyness walking alone.”
“I am perfectly fine, Truth. I’m not getting with you, so you can stop.”
“Plus she’s my prom date, so step!” Dilly says.
“You going out with high school seniors now?” Truth asks. “What part of the game is that?”
“I promised him I’d go, if he didn’t find a date.”
“I haven’t found a date,” Dilly says.
“Have you looked for one? You’re too cute for too many girls to turn down.”
Dilly blushes a little and looks at the ground. “Well, I did ask one girl,” he says. “She told me I had to get my money up before I could take her out anywhere.”
“Get your money up? What? Doesn’t she know you’re a rapper, with a record about to come out?”
“She doesn’t believe me! She thinks I’m just running game,” Dilly says.
Truth shakes his head. “You can’t use being a rapper as game, man. You gotta have it before you get the record deal. If you can’t pull them before, then how will you know if they really like you or if they’re just groupies?”
Dilly shrugs. “At this point, I honestly don’t care if they’re groupies. I don’t have a problem with groupies. They need love too.”
“That was a hot mess!” I say. “Don’t be like this dude here taking advantage of girls.”
“Yeah, like you did Bethany,” Dilly says to Truth.
There is a tense, long moment before both Dilly and Truth start laughing. “You dumped her too!” Truth says. “Bethany is just a freak, for real.”
“I’m really about to roll now. Y’all talking about my friend.”
“Y’all friends now?” Truth asks. “Girls are hilarious. Just a few months ago, y’all couldn’t stand each other.”
“No worse than dudes. Congratulations, y’all on your projects. I’m ’bout to go and have a seat.”
“You tired of talking to us already? You want to get back with your college friends?” Truth asks.
He says this like he’s irritated, but his reasoning couldn’t be farther from the truth. In actuality, my feet are killing me in these cute shoes, and I don’t want to ruin the rest of my evening with throbbing toes. Plus, I’m not trying to be anywhere near Truth when Sam steps up into this club.
Uh-oh. Too late.
Sam crosses into the VIP section just a half second before I get out of my conversation with Truth. Sam looks at the three of us and gives Truth a head nod. Truth nods back, pats me on my shoulder, and scrambles real quick. I want to bust out laughing again. Truth must not want to have a repeat performance of when Sam two-pieced him up in the club.
It looks like I’m not the only one who came here to impress tonight. Sam has on a fitted button-down shirt. It looks like Dolce and Gabbana. Nice, crisp, and clean. His jeans look like they’re designer too, and his dress boots finish off the look. He looks like a billboard.
“Hey, Sam!” I say as I hug him around his neck. Ooh! He’s wearing new cologne. I like it!
“Hey. I didn’t get here quickly enough, huh? You already started creeping.”
There’s a bit of teasing in his voice, so I don’t think he’s serious. “You are tripping, Sam. You know I wouldn’t creep with him!”
Sam throws his head back and cracks up laughing. “Not with him? So with who?”
Dilly says, “It feels like I’m in the middle of a lover’s quarrel. I should probably move on and mind my own business.”
“You probably should,” Sam says with a grin. “I’ve got her free and clear this evening. It looks like she left her other man at the house.”
“I don’t have another man, Sam.”
He winks at me. “Okay, you don’t. Let’s go chill. I can tell you’re getting sick of standing there in those heels.”
I look down at my feet and then back up at Sam. “How can you tell?”
“Because you keep shifting your weight from one leg to the other. I know you, Sunday. I can read every one of your signals.”
I bite my lip and give him my sexy-eyed stare. “Oh, really? What does this signal mean?”
Sam cocks his head to one side, and then to the other. He strokes his chin slowly as if he’s analyzing my facial expression. “That signal, I think is that you really want some fried chicken, but you think it’ll make your stomach poke out of your dress, so you’re going to take little sips of water instead.”
Dilly bursts into laughter. “I can’t stand you, man, because you scheming on my prom date, but that was hilarious.”
“I do what I can,” Sam says proudly.
He puts his arm around me and says, “Come on, hammer toe. Let’s go and sit down.”
“Hammer toe? Your mama! I’ve got some of the prettiest feet you’ve ever seen.”
“You do? Let me see them then. Later . . . back at your house.”
I shake my head. “Nice try, Sam. I don’t even think so.”
“You’re such a tease, Sunday. You’re the one who started talking about naked feet.”
“No, I did not! I didn’t say anything about anything being naked.”
“That’s funny,” Sam says. “I heard naked.”
Sam guides me over to the sectional and not a second too soon. My feet are screaming at me for forcing them into these hard, shiny things that we call high heels. I’m convinced these were invented by a man, just like all of the other torturous things that women wear like bras and girdles.
Kevin scoots over and then just decides to get up. Maybe he feels like three is a crowd. “What’s going on?” he says to Sam. “How you been, bro?”
Sam gives him a fist bump from his seated position next to me. “Been good. I want to come through and visit y’all, but boss lady is still resisting.”
“Well, that’s how she is, you know. She’s pretty stubborn.”
“That she is.”
I look at both of them and fold my arms across my chest. “How y’all gonna talk about me like I’m not sitting right here?”
“Because we’re bros,” Kevin says.
Sam nods. “And that’s what bros do.”
“Y’all are straight-up tripping. Kevin, why don’t you go see about your girl, Piper?”
“I see her. She came over here earlier talking about her sorors gave her a chocolate martini. She even asked me if I wanted one. Has she met me?”
Kevin sounds hilarious, but I fight the urge to laugh out loud at his angst. “Apparently not.”
“And does she know that getting drunk isn’t really hot?”
I shrug. “Kevin, once y’all get together you can show her that.”
He throws his hand in the air. “She isn’t thinking about me. I’m about to talk to one of these girls tonight. I think someone in here is about to be my first lady. I’ll see you in a bit, Sunday.”
Kevin walks off with an almost confident swagger. I think he’s been taking walking lessons from DeShawn, because Kevin’s walk reminds me of him.
“His first lady?” Sam asks. “Is dude running for president or something?”
I shake my head and laugh. “No. He’s talking about the first lady of his church! He wants to be a pastor one day. Remember I told you that?”
Sam nods slowly. “Yes, of course. He’s the one who came up with all your celibacy rules. I really like that in him.”
I nudge Sam in the ribs, and laugh. “You’re just happy to know that I’m not in there giving it up to DeShawn.”
“You dang straight.”
Sam puts his arm around my shoulders and I snuggle in close. Something about being in his arms makes me feel safe. The only thing that doesn’t feel safe in Sam’s hands is my heart. But then I think about his song, and my heart beats strong. I wonder if he can feel it flutter.
“Bryce has really done a l
ot with this club,” Sam says. “It looks hot.”
“How you gonna comment on what the club looks like? You weren’t even supposed to notice any of that once you saw me.”
Sam grins down at me. “All eyes on you, huh?”
I shake my head. “Not all eyes . . . just yours.”
“Yeah, right.” Sam twists his lips to one side. “Truth was over there about to get a date. Dude thinks he can cut his locks off and then get my girl? I don’t think so.”
I open my mouth to say, “Not your girl yet,” but then our friendly banter is interrupted by a commotion at the VIP entrance. We both look over and two couples have arrived at the same time. Mystique and Zac is the first couple. The second couple is . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . Evan and Dreya. And I’ll give one guess on which couple my bouncer father tried to ban from the VIP area.
“What you mean we’re not on your list?” Dreya yells out loud enough for everyone in the VIP to hear. Unfortunately, she decided to start her tirade between songs. “I’m on everybody’s list in Atlanta! And you betta move out the way, Jonah, before I tell my aunt to go after you for back child support since you got a job and everything now!”
Mystique and Zac step in past Dreya and Evan and leave them standing at the entrance. They walk directly toward us. Mystique has a huge smile on her face. She’s probably happy that Dreya is making a complete fool out of herself. Zac holds on to Mystique’s arm as if she’s fragile, and she’s eating it up.
They stop in front of me and Sam, and Sam jumps to his feet. He’s a true gentleman. He stands for every lady, not just his own.
Mystique sits down on the sectional next to me, and totally surprises me by kissing my cheek. “Hello, sweetie.”
“Hey, Mystique. You feeling all right? You looked like you were moving kind of slowly.”
“I’m okay,” she says. “I do have a slight headache that your cousin just made exponentially worse with her gigantic mouth. She needs to be quiet! Evan will get them in. Making a scene about it is just embarrassing. She’s going to be all over BlackCelebrityGossip.com tomorrow.”
