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“I try,” he says, the tips of his ears turning beet red. Looping my arm through the offered elbow, we make our way inside. “I came all this way and I don’t know if I will have the courage to say anything to her.” He is so cute and Praise couldn’t find a better man.
“Praise is real cool and down to earth, but if you want a safe topic to broach her with, talk about cooking, and I promise she will open up and talk your ear off,”
“Thanks, Skai,” he says my name, and it kinda takes me by surprise, there are times that the staff calls me coach so much that I wonder if they even remember my first name at all.
“No problem.” We walk in the ballroom, and I direct Elias to the table with my mom and the rest of the ladies. Luckily for Elias, Saint begins talking to him, and he ends up hanging with them, and before long it’s time for us to do our surprise performance. We have a ball, and Lennox is so entertained and happy all the hours rehearsing were worth it. And then, like the interlopers they are, the guys surprise us with performances of their own. And even though they are quite entertaining, there is one thing in here that has kept my attention all night, and that is Jabarri over there with Natalie. I want to make a scene, but I refuse to give him that much. I asked him not to bring her, and what did he do? He brings her. Deep down, I expected him to rectify the situation, and I guess he did, just not how I expected him to. I stand in the corner, going back and forth, watching what is going on in the ballroom and watching them. I crack a small smile when I see Elias and Praise sitting at a secluded table talking. Well at least tonight worked out for one of us, I think before my eyes swing back to him.
“What’s wrong, little sis?” Brooklyn asks when she stands next to me.
“Nothing,” I snap, but she follows my eyes to where I am looking, and end up looking at Jabarri and Natalie.
“You can’t do that, Skai, He watched you be with someone for years. You can’t get an attitude now that he is dating,” she tells me.
“Hmp,” I say, finally tearing my eyes off of Jabarri and Natalie.
“That is a completely different situation.”
“How Skai? That man has had it bad for you for years, and you did not give him the time of day, so now that he has moved on and you’re single, you still expect him to be there. That’s not fair.”
“You have it all figured out, huh?” I say, showing way more anger than I intend to.
“Skai,” she tries.
“No, I was in a relationship, in what I thought was a happy relationship. I wasn’t supposed to give him the time of day.”
“Okay, and now?” she asks.
“Like I said, you have it all figured out, right? You have no idea what you are talking about, no idea at all. I have all the reasons to have a problem with what I am seeing over there.”
“How Skai?”
“You know things aren’t always what they seem. I would think someone like you would understand that because you and Aryan are damn sure more than just fucking friends,” I tell her before walking away from her before I say even more than I intend to. I don’t bother saying bye to Elias since he is knee-deep in a conversation with Praise, or anyone else. I head to the valet station, collect my car, and head home. I’m done with today.
Jabarri
I look around the ballroom and no longer see her, but I see the guy she came with sitting and talking to Praise. When she walked in here with him, I can’t describe the anger and jealousy I felt. I noticed early on that her date had gone off with Praise, but that did not take away the jealousy I felt seeing her able to walk in here freely on the arm of another man. Is that how she feels about me and Natalie? I think. Was I really that clueless about how my friendship made her feel? I mean, no one but her knows it’s just a friendship, and is Natalie taking advantage of our friendship? Shit, I have some things to think about. I want to go to her tonight. I have missed her so much, missed being in the house with her, sleeping in her bed, and her putting her cold-ass feet on me to warm them up. I just miss her. Natalie’s voice finally breaks through my thoughts, and I realize she has been talking to me the entire time and I had completely blocked her out. And was her voice always this irritating? Yeah, I need to make some changes but I can’t do it here at this party tonight. I focus back on Natalie and will the night to hurry and be over.
“Jabarri, you have been zoned out since Skai left,”
“Have I?”
“Yes, why don’t you just go to her?”
“Because I can’t go to her right now. There are a few things I need to do first,” I tell her, not elaborating any further.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Naw, not right now,” I tell her. “Uh oh, it looks like they are about to turn this into a real party,” I tell her as I watch the staff rearrange to tables so there is a large dance floor as the live band takes the stage. “You said you wanted to dance tonight,” I remind her.
“I do. When you told me which band was going to be here, I knew I had to come. I love them. This is the perfect night. I am here with you and one of my favorite local bands. I can’t think of anything better,” she says as she pulls her phone out. The band begins to play as she taps the screen, her face immediately splitting into a smile. “Um, Jabarri, I gotta go,”
“Wait, what?” I ask in disbelief.
“Scottlyn sent a car for me, she wants me to come to her house right now. Sorry,” she tells me as she kisses me on the cheek and practically runs out of the room so she can go see her girlfriend. I stand there dumbfounded, she really just ditched me.
“And that’s what you are sacrificing Skai for? She just abandoned you? At your family’s event? Yeah, I can see why you’d be more loyal to her,” Jaasiel says, walking away, his words making me grind my teeth together. Tomorrow I will talk to Natalie and then I am going to go after Skai, again.
The party was great. I stayed and partied with my family until we finally called it a night. This morning, I woke up with a plan to go see Natalie and talk to her about how things need to change, but instead, I get a text from her telling me to stay away from her house because she’s told her parents that I have taken her away on an impromptu trip. In reality, she is on an impromptu trip with Scottlyn for the week. Well, ain’t that a bitch. I wouldn’t dare go to Skai half-assed so I guess I have to wait a week.
