And sometimes, the longer you waited to speak, the more damage you did.
LIKE IT’S OCTOBER 25, 2010…
Sabine paused in the doorway, her breath hitching. She took one step inside and the room swallowed her whole.Say ahhwas blasting over the hall.
It wasn’t a college party. Not exactly but damned if it didn’t feel like one. The lights were low, bodies swaying, cups in hands. Somebody had dragged a couch against the wall, red Solo cups were stacked near a too-big punch bowl, and off in the corner, a DJ bobbed his head behind a makeshift setup.
And everybody—mostly the women because they stoodout—were dressed like it was that year again. Skinny jeans, Jeffrey Campbells, even the bright pink lipstick. Sabine’s mouth fell open. She didn’t even have time to ask or wonder.
“Come on, you,” Reeka grinned, pulling Sabine towards the back. She was wearing a band skirt with leggings, side ponytail and lashes long as a bird’s feathers. “Time for your costume change.”
“My…what?”
“You heard me. Let’s go. You ain't bouta be out here looking all regular while the rest of us dressed like we still at Thirsty Thursday 2010.”
Sabine was too shocked to respond. Reeka dragged her down the hallway of the event space. She shoved open the bathroom door and practically threw her inside.
“What is happening right now?” Sabine asked, breath catching again.
“Put this on,” Reeka tossed a black and gold shopping bag.
Sabine stared at it unmovingly. Reeka folded her arms and leaned against the door like a bouncer at a club.
“Baby, I don’t know what y’all got goin’ on. I don’t wanna know but my cousin said be here, so I’m here. And what younotabout to do is disrespect the detail he went through to recreate this moment.”
“Mo…moment,” Sabine’s eyes glossed, blinking fast as it finally clicked. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Why…why is he doing this?”
“Because,” Reeka stepped in closer, grabbing a tissue from the counter and gently wiping her eyes, “we all fuck up sometimes but he want one more chance, Bine…just one.” She tossed the tissue into the trash, flicking her wrist. “So get dressed and come see what this nigga talkin’ ’bout,” she added with a sassy grin handing her another bag, making Sabine laugh through her tears. “Okay?”
Nodding, Sabine responded, “okay.”
She reached into the bag with trembling fingers and pulled out a strapless powder pink bodycon dress. Same cut. Same color. Same everything as the one she’d worn the night they met. Beneath it? The fucking black and white Converse with extra-long laces to twirl up her legs like she used to wear them in college.
Sabine nearly fell to her knees.
“You got five minutes,” Reeka said softly now, seeing her get emotional the more that became revealed. “This man trynaearnyou back. Let him.”
Sabine’s hand clutched the edge of the sink. Her reflection stared back at her—raw, uncertain, overwhelmed but something inside her steadied.
“Okay,” she whispered. “I’ll change.”
Reeka smirked. “That’s my girl and hurry up! I’m ready to sweat my edges out! Narri said y’all was partyin’ back in school!”
Then she shut the door, leaving Sabine alone with the mirror, the dress, and the weight of everything this night could become.
Sabine took her time. The dress slid on like muscle memory. Tight in the right places, soft in the rest. It hugged her body like she remembered. She stepped into the Converse next, sitting on the closed toilet to wind the long laces up her calves like she used to—crisscrossed and knotted. She hadn’t forgotten as she’d done this a thousand times in the past. She used to be a party girl.
Her makeup was already light, so she just added a little more gloss, fixed a smudge near her eye, and fluffed her curls with damp fingertips. It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t even really 2010 but somehow itfeltlike it. Like her body knew this version of herself. The version who still believed in love like it was solid ground and not something that could disappear under your feet.
She kept crying.
And laughing.
Quiet, breathy sounds she tried to stifle with tissue and shaky exhales. Adair had done a lot of shit—but this? This was…something else. She hadn’t expected to feel anything tonight, let aloneeverything. Her heart was doing that thing where it hurt and healed at the same time.
By the time she opened the bathroom door, her eyes were still damp, but she looked like a memory in motion. She stepped into the hallway slowly, half-expecting to wake up from it but there they were Narri and Reeka, dancing together in the middle of the hallway like it was their pregame apartment again.
Although Reeka wasn’t apart of the memory, she was happy she was there to recreate it with them.