"You eat today?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Liar."
She cut her eyes at me but didn't argue, which meant I was right.
Yah-Yah wasn't taking care of herself, and it was starting to show. "Look," I said, walking over to the couch and sitting down next to her. "I got something to tell you."
"If this is another speech about how I need to get over Rylo and move on, I swear to God, Mya,"
"It's not," I cut her off. "Well, not exactly. Just hear me out, okay?"
She sighed but turned her attention to me. "What?"
"Rah invited me to a party tonight. Sosa's grand opening for his new club, Club Bleu. It's supposed to be lit as fuck tonight, he gon have an open bar, live music, all the big names in the citygon’ be there." I paused, watching her face. "And I want you to come with me."
"Nah, I'm good," she said immediately, turning back to the TV.
"Y'all have fun though."
"Yah-Yah—"
"I said I'm good, Ya’mya. I'm not in the mood for a party."
"You ain't been in the mood for nothing in three weeks," I shot back. "You just been sitting in this house, rotting away. That ain't healthy, sis."
"I'm fine."
"No, you not." I grabbed the remote and turned the TV off, ignoring her protest. "You not fine. And that's okay, nobody is expecting you to be fine. What that nigga and Morgan did to you was fucked up. But sitting here dwelling on it ain't helping. You need to get out, breathe some fresh air, remember what it feel like to have fun."
"I don't wanna see nobody," Yasani said quietly. "I don't wanna answer no questions about why me and Rylo broke up, I don't wanna deal with people all in my business,”
"Then don't," I said simply. "We go to the party, we have a good time, and if anybody ask about Rylo, we tell them to mind their fucking business. Simple shit."
She was quiet for a long moment, and I could see the internal battle playing out on her face. Part of her wanted to stay home, stay safe, stay hidden. But another part of her wanted to get out too.
"Come on, sis," I said "Just for a few hours. If you hate it, we can leave early. But at least give it a shot. For me?"
She looked at me, really looked at me, and I saw her walls start to crack just a little.
"Fine," she finally said. "But if I'm going, we going all out. If I'ma show my face in public for the first time in weeks, I'ma look good doing it."
A smile broke across my face. "That's my bitch. Now come on, we got six hours to get you looking like the baddest bitch in Chicago."
"I already am the baddest bitch in Chicago,” she said, and even though her voice was tired, I heard a hint of her old confidence coming back. And that’s all I wanted to hear.
* * *
The bass was so loud I could feel it in my chest, vibrating through my whole body. Club Bleu was everything the flyer had promised and more. black leather booths, gold accents everywhere, purple LED lights washing over the crowd, and bottles popping left and right.
Sosa had really done his thing.
I was sitting on Rah's lap in the VIP section, his arm wrapped around my waist, his other hand holding a drink. He'd been sipping all night, and I could tell he was getting drunk by the way he kept laughing at shit that wasn't even that funny. The section was packed with his homies, Sosa, of course, holding court like the king he was, plus about ten other dudes I knew from around the way.
And then there was Trigg.
I noticed him the second we walked in. He was hard not to notice. This nigga was 6'3", wearing all black with an iced out chain on. But it wasn't just how he looked. It was the way he carried himself. Confident. Cocky. Like he knew he was the finest nigga in the room and everybody else knew it too.