I'm browsing FYE in Boston near the TD Garden and I'm on the phone, paying more attention to my conversation than my surroundings. "No way!" I reply, softly laughing.
"Yeah, but I swear I saw him!"
"Girl, you're crazy."
"No, seriously."
I begin walking down the aisle to find an album I have yet to get my hands on and bump into someone as my friend gabs away. My phone drops out of my hand and the case pops off, allowing the backing and battery to detach from the rest of it. I'm annoyed at best. "You should w-" I begin to snap, looking up at the person's visage and stopping when I recognize them.
He bends down and grabs the four pieces of my phone, reassembling it quickly. He turns it on and holds it out for me to take, my mind blank on how to react. "I'm sorry, I should've been watching where I was going."
I blink and shake my head, nervously chuckling. "Um," I try to talk and can't seem to get any words to escape my mouth.
"Are you going to take your phone?" he asks me. I stare for a few seconds, the only thing snapping me out of it is when it plays my daughter's ringtone and he almost drops it. He picked up by accident and hit the speaker button.
"Momma?"
I shake my head and blink. "Aaliyah."
"When are you coming home?"
"Monday, you know that."
"But, momma," she whines.
"No, you've known about this for a few months and it's the first time I've been away more than a day from you three."
"Don't be surprised if you come home and the boys have gotten injured somehow then."
"Why?"
"They are annoyin' me!"
"Stop it. I'll be home Monday by the time you guys get home."
"Mooooommmmmmaaaaa," she whines again.
"Monday. Love you. Bye."
I take my phone and hang it up, holding it in front of me. "Sorry about bumping into you."
"It's okay, really." I'm just gonna brush it off. My friend I had been talking to calls back and I pick up.
"Bitch! You hung me!"
"No, I bumped into someone and my phone came apart."
"Yeah, right. Who?"
"A leo from Maryland."
"Where you at?"
"FYE."
"Be there in five!" she informs me, disconnecting the call and I look at my cell funny.
He laughs at the face I just made and I raise my eyebrow when I look at him. "What?" I ask.
"Your face."
"Party's here, bitches!" my friend yells, scaring the shit outta the poor guy and I laugh when he gets ready to run. He looks at me confused and I properly greet her, smiles growing on our faces.
"You just scared the shit outta him," I tell her.
"Meh, happens. Hi, I'm Deven and her name is Elise." She offers him her hand and I try not to laugh as he awkwardly takes her hand in his.
The three of us walk out of the record store and down the road. "What about you, ladies? Single? Taken?"
"Happily divorced with three kids, all around their teen years," I supply, obviously lacking a filter. I mentally punch myself in the face, hard, five times.
"Single," Deven replies at the same moment, mine drowning hers out. She fires me a look telling me to shut the fuck up and she realizes I have absolutely NO filter between my brain and mouth. "Elise," she hisses.
"Sorry."
He just watches this exchange go on as she and I subconsciously walk toward the subway to get to our hotel, laughing as we reach the platform. "What's so funny?" she demands, a warning glance in her amber eyes.
"How you two are-you're loud and out there and she lacks a filter, but is reserved. It's kind of like me and Justin."
"Well, I know she's had a crush on you for like a quarter of century, so it makes sense."
Now it's my turn to fire off the death glare. "Ixnay on the fucking upistay, itchbay," I growl, looking behind him.
"Just like us," he laughs. The way we are reminds him of his best friend since the early nineties, she and I having only been friends for nearly a decade. She stuck by me through thick and thin which includes my disastrous divorce that I had to fight to keep everything I do have. She's been helping me raise my kids since the youngest was three and a half and he will be thirteen in a couple months. Their father was a dick and dragged my name through the mud, but I had more proof that I'm a better mom than he could ever be a father for them. He had been so rude to the judge, he had approved my divorce during the first court date and made sure I had gotten everything I requested plus alimony for the first five years and the alimony and child support are taken straight out of his paycheck prior to him seeing it.
Before you even consider that I did it just to have money, I do work for a place called Tyco and it's a 40-47 hour a week job that has decent pay.
Deven flops belly first onto her bed in our room, propping her head up with her hands and flips her long dirty blonde hair over her shoulders. She watches JC sit on my bed, my eyes wide and we have a conversation with our eyes and facial expressions. She mouths for me to do it. I've been divorced for six years, afraid to attempt a relationship with anyone. I turn my back to him and he grabs me from behind, yanking me onto the bed with him. He quickly falls back, my body landing on his and I tilt my head back to see Deven who happens to be smiling like she's entirely innocent when it couldn't be farther from the truth. "Bitch."
"You love me, Lisey," she playfully retorts, batting her eyelashes at me.
JC laughs, holding me a little tighter. "What now?"
"I swear, you and Deven are just female versions of me and Justin."
"Fuck you," she and I chorus, my attention refocused on JC. He kisses the back of my shoulder.
"You, gladly, but Deven isn't my type."
I glance at her, giggling a moment later and he looks at her expression. Her mouth is wide open and he buries his face in my hair, his body shaking with silent laughter. "I see how it is! Do you always go for the moms with teenagers?" she retorts, a shocked look coming across my face.
"Deven Leah!" I scold her.
"No, I go for women with reserved attitudes who spend more time taking in things around them than I do the overly extroverted women," he corrects her, teasing her in a 'just so you know' tone.
He swings a leg over my hip, turning me onto my back and straddling me in one fluid motion to look into my eyes. "Women like you, Elise." He kisses my cheek and I blush, heavily.
"She does blush!"
"Fuck off, Deven," I growl.
"In almost a decade, this is the first time I've ever seen you blush, Beatrice!" she defends.
"Huh?" JC questions, befuddled.
"It's how we've called each other and said 'bitch' since my kids were little cuz they went through a phase where they repeated EVERYTHING an adult said," I explain.
He nods, understanding what we mean. "My niece is in that phase now."
"You have a niece?" I inquire.
"Yes, Tyler has a daughter with his fiancé. He's getting married next year. You do know who Tyler is, right?"
"He's your little brother, I believe."
He nods, smiling down at me. "Are you two gonna get it on or what?" Deven always has to ruin moments like this. I sigh.
"You had one job, Deven."
"When do I ever do my job?"
