Amari

I watched Justin move swiftly around the kitchen as he prepared dinner. I was finally gonna have him around all the time, but I didn't know if I was excited about that.

Ever since I met him, the National Guard was his thing. It was the only thing he was sure about.

If he was only giving it up because he felt like he had to, I didn't want him to.

I would be fine.

The baby would be fine.

If he wanted to continue his career with the National Guard, he could. I would support him. I wouldn't mind.

But how would I explain that to him?

My ringing phone pulled me from my thoughts and I grabbed it and glanced at the caller ID.

Lisa

"Yes?" I sighed answering the phone.

"Ms.Rose, Mr.Ares is requesting your attendance at his business banquet Tonight." Lisa rushed to say. "He sent the invitation two weeks ago, but it went to the spam folder and I just saw it as I was clearing everything out like you requested."

"Are you serious?" I groaned rubbing a hand across my face. "Justin and I are about to sit down and have dinner. Why is this so last minute?"

"But we have to go. The place will be crawling with potential clients, Ms.Rose." Lisa said softly.

"Don't you think I know that?" I scoffed. "Fine. Send me the address."

I hung up on her and looked over at Justin who was already watching me as he made a salad.

"Want to go to a business banquet Tonight?" I smiled at him.

"A business banquet?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Eh." I shrugged. "It's basically a school dance, only with fancy rich adults who want to trick each other into overpaying for underachieving work and or stocks."

"Sounds like a blast, but I think I'll have to take a pass on that." Justin laughed. "You go ahead. I'll keep the food hot until you get back."

"Okay." I said standing up and sliding my house shoes back on. "I won't be there for any long than a hour."

Justin walked over to me and leaned down to peck my lips.

"I'm setting a timer and holding you to it." He laughed.

"Go ahead. I'll beat it." I laughed running upstairs.

I hopped in the shower before going to the closet to look for something to wear.

When I found it, I got dressed and did my hair in a high ponytail.

I grabbed my heels and walked downstairs to see Justin checking on whatever he had in the oven.

"Okay. I'm heading out." I said grabbing my bag and cell phone off of the counter.

"Give me a kiss." Justin said running around the kitchen island and hugging me tightly as he kissed all over my face.

"You're gonna mess up my hair." I giggled shaking my head.

"So?" He kissed me again before letting me go. "Who else is going to if I don't?"

"No one has to." I laughed grabbing a piece of chicken out of the basket Justin had made. "Bye baby!"

"That counts as your piece too!" He called after me as I left.

Tyler

"Of course." I faked a laugh as I listened to Mr.Ares talk about his children. "Sounds like you have a troublemaker on your hands."

"I sure do." He laughed a hearty laugh. "Can't get him to sit down for the life of me."

He showed me more pictures of his family as I pulled at my shirt and mumbled compliments to him.

"Lovely." I mumbled.

"Mr.Ares..." His assistant said coming over to us. "Mr.Daniels needs you."

"Tell him I'll be right there." Mr.Ares said putting his phone back in his pocket. "It was nice speaking with you again."

We shook hands.

"You too." I smiled at him. "Hopefully I'll receive a call saying you thought about my offer by Monday."

"I can assure you, you will." He nodded his head and walked away.

"Oh, let me introduce you to a really good friend of mine!" A female voice said from behind me. "Tyler!"

I turned around and saw my old friend, Megan, pulling Amari, my oldest friend, along with her.

"Tyler this is..." I cut her off.

"We already know each other." I smiled at Amari who bit her lip and avoided eye contact. "Long time no see, Megan. How has things been lately?"

"Things have been fine." Megan smiled grabbing my hand. "I'm thinking about signing a contract with Amari to have her redesign my entire building."

"Well, I can assure you that she is the best in the business." I said. "She's doing my hotel."

"Really?" Megan gasped. "Well, if my good friend here thinks you're great, there is no contemplating needed. Ms.Rose, let's have a contract drawn up right away!"

"Of course." Amari smiled at her.

"Now, if you'll both excuse me, I see a sexy bachelor over on the far side of the room and I need him on my arm." Megan walked away leaving me to fake gag.

"Amari, you look great." I complimented her.

"Thank you." She nodded. "I like your shirt."

She was trying to be civil.

"I need a drink." She sighed starting to walk away, but I quickly grabbed her arm.

"Or you could skip the drink and let me introduce you to more people." I said quickly.

"I already know majority of the people here." Amari said gently pulling out of my grasp. "Besides, if you expect me to walk around here with you, I'll need more than a drink. I'll need the entire bar."

"I mean, that's fair." I shrugged. "So, let's go get you a drink so I can introduce you to the few people you may not know."

Before she could deny me, I placed a hand on her lower back and we walked over to the bar.

Amari

Tyler stuck to his word and got me a glass of red wine before taking me around the room to introduce me to everyone I didn't know.

"You two are so cute." Tyler's friend, Jenny, gushed sipping her drink.

"We're not together." Tyler and I said at the same time before looking at each other.

"I'm married, remember." Tyler said.

"Yeah, I was there." Jenny laughed. "I just thought that maybe you moved on. I don't know. You two look good together, though. You should consider it."

"Thanks for the input, but I don't think we need it." Tyler laughed.

"Well, Amari, I'll be calling your office sometime soon." Jenny said. "Maybe we can discuss you possibly coming in and making some changes to my restaurant."

"Of course." I nodded and shook her hand.

Tyler and I walked away.

"I guess people really do care about your opinion." I mumbled.

"Apparently." He shrugged. "I really don't know why because they all seem to dislike my shirt. And I thought it looked nice when I walked out the house tonight."

"Yeah. Maybe you should've bought a jacket. That's kind of embarrassing." I laughed.

"Well, this is what happens when you take fashion advice from Hunter and Angel." Tyler shook his head and I nudged his side laughing.

—————————

Next time you guys hear from me, I'll be a whole new person.

I'm turning 18 tomorrow so that means I can finally get that 60 something year old boyfriend I've been waiting my whole life for.

No, but seriously, new age, new attitude, new stories, new me.

And that's on what?

That's on Period.

Bye!