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“For exercise….that freshman 15 thing isn’t the myth I thought it was. I’m getting chunky.”

“No baby, you’re getting thick in the right places and it’s probably just genetics,” I laughed. “Your stomach is still perfectly flat.”

“I be trying to tell her,” Aneesah said. “I hope my hips and booty grow when I hit college.”

“The dance world is different and you know the Diamonds reuse uniforms, so I can’t get too thick or I won’t be able to fit anything,” she sighed. “But I’ll talk to y’all later.”

“Okay, don’t be walking back to your dorm after practice. It’ll be too dark,” I said.

“I wasn’t going to and if I tried my captain or my crab sisters wouldn’t let me. I always get a ride back with one of them,” she replied. “But I gotta go, y’all.” We said goodbyes and she ended the call.

“Whew, college dance team culture can be toxic. Cause not my fine sister thinking she’s fat,” Aneesah shook her head.

“I know…body dysmorphia is real. A few years from now she’ll be looking back at pictures of her in her dance uniforms and praising her body.”

The door to Aneesah’s room swung open abruptly and I thought it was one of the little ones. They’d been in and out of the room since I arrived two hours ago. To my pleasant surprise, I was wrong.

“What y’all in here talking about?” Armias asked with multiple shopping bags in his hand.

“Bubby, you need to knock before you come in my room.”

“You right, but you should also have the door locked whenever you don’t want anyone to just walk in.” He stepped in and gave his sister a quick kiss on the forehead before focusing on me. He pulled me up and into his arms, and wasted no time pressing his lips against mine. When he slipped his tongue into my mouth and started hugging on my booty I had to pull away.

“Boy, we’re in your lil sister's room.”

“And? We grown.”

“But I’m not. My virgin eyes don’t need to see all that,” she said jokingly.

“Yea, your lil ass better be a virgin,” he growled.

“Bubby, why are you here?”

“I came to get my woman.” He pecked my lips again and his hand remained planted on my ass.

“She drove herself here,” she laughed.

“I’m following her to the house so we can go in together for the night,” he said. I stood there with my arms around his neck and smiling. He’d been spending the night with me every night since we got back together and I’d never been happier. He was in the process of moving out of his apartment and into a new, gorgeous house on the Westbank. No lie, it was like he entered my brain and purchased everything I wanted in a dream house. It was two stories, it had a double staircase in the foyer, the ceilings were high, all the rooms were huge, there were multiple walk-in closets, and a huge pool and jacuzzi was in the big ass backyard. My daughter was going to have it made at her daddy’s house and I loved that for her, but I wanted to love it for myself, too. I could easily get used to living in that house especially with Armias and my baby. However, he hadn’t asked me to move in and he referred to the place as “his house” when he asked me if I wanted to see it. I wasn’t mad because we just got back together and that was a major step. I wasn’t sure if we were ready for that yet, so I didn’t feel any way if he was unsure or simply didn’t want that yet. The only time he mentioned us living together was when we fucked again for the first time, but I chalked that up to good ole sex talk. I’d been enjoying him sleeping over at my house though. It reminded me of when we first started dating and how I was always at his apartment. I’d grown to love living by myself and creating a space with only me in mind. But Armias’ daily presence was something I loved even more and I was going to be sad when it ended. I was excited and proud of him for being a homeowner though and I let him know that multiple times. I think that’s why he involved me in the furnishing and decorating process. I did the consultation with his interior designer, Juri Kingston, and I’d been in contact with her. “I’m giving you free reign to turn my house into a home for my daughter” were his exact words, so it was evident that he’d made this major move for Alouri. If he wanted her to return to his house after we got out of the hospital then I wouldn’t be opposed to that. I’d even stay for a few weeks because his house was better, bigger, and in a quieter neighborhood. But I was going to let him extend that invitation if he wanted to.

“You can give her space, Bubby. She ain’t going no where,” Aneesah laughed.

“I know, cause I ain’t letting her go,” he chuckled before sitting the shopping bags on her bed.

“What’s that?” She asked.

“Your birthday shoes.”

“Huh? I have birthday shoes already.”

“Yea, and I’ma need those back.”

“What? Why?”

“Because ain’t nobody bouta be holding shit over my head. Naz has been texting me from fake numbers saying I owe her money for your birthday shoes. I've been getting screenshots of her throwing subs about that shit on Instagram, too. I was gon’ give you my black card to get whatever shoes you wanted in the first place. Her duck ass offered to get them, so I figured why not save some money and pay less. But I don’t know why she tryna play me like I’m a broke nigga and needed her for anything. Amil’s and Kamaria’s personal shopper was able to pull all the shoes Naz stole, so she ain’t messing up shit over here.”

None of this was news to me because I saw the posts from my burner. Not only was she writing paragraphs about him and how he did her dirty, but she was alleging that he’d be nothing if her hustle didn’t influence him. She was going on and on about how half of the designer shit his family rocked was because of her. I think what really pissed him off was when she said “Your lil sister about to come trim on her birthday because of me. She came up on a whole $10,000 high heel order because of me. A bum ass nigga better run me my funds or shit gon get real.” She didn’t put any names on her posts, but she’d only been posting one man. She’d taken all their pictures down, so it was obvious who she was dragging for. Surprisingly, she didn’t write anything about me…but she reposted a whole lot of memes and quotes that were aimed at me. It was a bunch of bullshit about how a baby didn’t keep a man, you lose them how you get them, and my personal favorite was “You can’t build a house on another woman’s tears.” Based on those posts I’d think Armias was her husband and that I was a home wrecker. That girl was over there losing it, but I wasn’t shocked. I’d literally predicted this type of reaction, which is why I’d been letting it all roll off my back.

Armias told me everything about his last interaction with Naz down to how she was dressed like me. I thought he was exaggerating until I scrolled through her IG. She wasn’t rocking any Hello Kitty apparel on her page, but since September her whole swag had changed. She went from wearing trendy designer pieces from head to toe and lace fronts to rocking Y2K inspired looks that consisted of vintage designer pieces. I had a penchant for vintage 2000’s designer items, so I caught it right away. I also noticed that she’d ditched her colorful wigs and started wearing curly, natural looking flip over quick weaves. That had been my go to hair style for the past year. Then all of a sudden she was wearing a lot of pink when I didn’t see that color in any of her outfits before. Most people would find this amusing or flattering, but I was creeped out.