Weeks flew by before I even realized it, and Atlanta started to feel more and more like the right decision.
Work was smooth, and I was locked in. My patients loved me, I had my own flow, and the girls. They made that shit even better. Lunch break turned into laughs, inside jokes, lil’ conversations that made the day go by fast.
Outside of work… I had a life again. No, taking care of a man, cooking dinner, counting money, and cutting bricks. Now I was making plans for activities in the city; I had a nice place that I got on my own. Everything felt a lil’ too good to be true.
It was early on a Friday morning, and I was washing dishes and hanging up clothes when Kenya sent a message to the group chat.
“Everybody get up! We outside today!!”
I looked at the screen and laughed.
“I’m with it. What’s the plan?” I asked.
Renee and Deja chimed in, asking the same thing while waiting for Kenya to respond.
“Let’s meet at Islah so we can ride out together. So get y’all asses together!”
I hearted the message with a smile on my face. I never had a day out with some friends, and I was down for it; it was more than needed.
About an hour passed, and the girls started to show up one by one, Deja first with everything to make mimosas. I turned on some music while she made some drinks. Rene came in next, hugged me and Deja, and started to roll up.
“Where the fuck is Kenya?” Deja asked.
I looked at my phone, checking the time. “Yeah, Ms. Thang put this together, and nowhere to be found.”
We all laughed and passed the blunt around while trying to think about what she had planned for us.
As we bounced ideas off each other, she walked into my place.
“Hey, my ladies, oou, I’m so glad that y’all have started drinking.”
We laughed and walked over to my island, refilled our glasses, and made Kenya one.
“Iight girl, what do you have planned for us?” Renee asked.
Kenya took a sip from a glass and looked off to the side.
“A lil’ bit of this, a lil’ bit of that. I have a truck waiting for us out front, let’s go.”
She started to walk toward the door while Deja and Renee looked at each other.
“Truck?!” we all said at the same time.
She laughed.
“Yesss, we’re doing big things today, on our Latto shit.”
We laughed, and with glasses in our hands, we followed her out the door, took the elevator down to the lobby, and saw a black Suburban truck waiting with the driver standing by the back door, waiting for us.
The driver opened the door for us like we were somebody important, and Kenya ate that shit up, sliding in first.
“Period,” she said, fixing her shades as we climbed in behind her.
I laughed, sliding across the seat, pulling my dress down a lil’ as the door shut. The truck smelled clean, leather seats cool against my skin, music playing low through the speaker low.
“Okayyy, Kenya,” Deja said, looking around, you’re doing your big one today.”
“I told y’all,” she said, crossing her legs. “We outside today, and it’s gonna be real classy.”