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Jeremiah's gentle hand on mine was reassuring. It let me know I wasn't walking into this extravagant ballroom all by myself, with all these people my family and I used to know. I trusted that Jeremiah's friends invited him to enough of these that he'd be comfortable enough to carry the weight of my awkwardness.

A whisper came to my ear. "Are you alright?"

Slightly startled, I turned to Jeremiah with a stiff smile. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

I focused my gaze back to the ballroom, intricately carved columns protruding from the walls, a yellowish dim falling over the room from the massive chandeliers hanging overhead.

"You look like a deer caught in the headlights," he noted. I chuckled lamely. "We don't have to go in if you don't want to. I'm sure I won't be missed."

"No," I denied firmly. I took a shaky breath and straightened my posture, a determined look on my face. I had done this a million times before, so there's no reason for me to be acting like this is my first day of kindergarten. "Your friends are expecting you, so, in we go." I took another breath before taking a few hesitant steps forward, them slowly turning into confident strides.

As soon as I passed the threshold and stepped foot onto the white and gold marble flooring, a server stepped up to me, a tray held elegantly in his hand. He was dressed in a black bow tie, vest, and dress pants, the only white thing about his attire the button-down shirt he was wearing.

Jeremiah came up behind me and took two flutes of champagne from the server's tray, giving a nod as thanks. He handed a flute to me and I took it. I thanked him before taking a small sip, relishing in the flavor on my tongue. Nothing beats the taste of expensive champagne.

Jeremiah and I kept to ourselves for the first half an hour or so that we were at the event. I pointed out to him every person I knew that passed by us, the two wallflowers. Jeremiah seemed surprised to find that I knew a good majority of the people in the room with us. I think he sometimes forgets that my parents had Sunshine Suites longer than I was alive.

Jeremiah and I were pulled from the wall when one of his friends strode over, his whole demeanor radiating confidence. I watched the interaction between Jeremiah and his friend, them doing the classic guy handshake. They clapped each other on the back twice before Jeremiah directed his friend's attention towards me. I smiled politely.

"This," Jeremiah began as he gestured towards his brown-skinned friend, "Is my best friend, King. King, this is-"

"The ever-so-lovely Kiara Suns," King cut in. He grabbed the hand that was not occupied with a glass of champagne and placed a kiss to the back of it with his plump lips. "A pleasure," he said, his lips tickling against the back of my hand.

"I'm surprised that you know me, King." I raised an impressed eyebrow. King and I had never once run into each other at one of these things. At least, not that I can remember. "I've been off the scene for quite a while." I smiled gently as I raised my glass to my lips, taking a small sip.

"When a pretty face like yours disappears from the scene, people tend to take notice," he responded. "I'm surprised that J here invited you to this. He never-"

"Do you know King, Kiara?" Jeremiah cut in. "I mean, he seems to know who you are."

"Of course I know who he is. You can't have a name like King Courtney and not expect me to know who you are."

"Ah, so she has heard of me," King cheekily said as he leaned towards Jeremiah.

"Oh yeah, I heard of you. I'm sure my sister has some words that she'd like to say to you. But, let me just stay mute." I took another sip of my champagne, my eyebrows rising to the top of my head.

Now, I said I'd never run into King Courtney, but he tried to get with my sister on many different occasions. From the stories I'd been told, he'd tried relentlessly to take her out on a date, all the way up until she moved to New York.

"Heaven Suns," he announced with the cluck of his tongue. A nostalgic sigh escaped him as he asked, "How is your sister?"

"I wish I could tell you," I answered with a nonchalant smile. "It's been a minute since I've talked to my sister."

"Unfortunate," King said. "Well, if she ever comes to town-"

"She's married now," I cut in.

"Ahh, King," Jeremiah spoke. "Still tryna pursue even across state lines." He shook his head as he placed a hand on King's shoulder. He gave a firm squeeze. "You ever going to realize a rejection when it's dished out?"

"King Courtney doesn't get rejected," he spoke. He fiddled with his tie, a white smile gracing his face.

King nodded to me as if to say goodbye before turning to Jeremiah and saying, "I think I saw your-"

"Goodbye, King." Jeremiah shot him a stern look before they non-verbally communicated something. I opted for drinking in more of my surroundings rather than asking what that was about.

Once King was gone, Jeremiah asked, "So your sister has had the misfortune of meeting King?"

I laughed. "She has. She described him as more annoying and self-centered than he seems."

"Nah, he used to be awful," Jeremiah assured me. "I swear with every rejection your sister gave him, he mellowed out."

"He don't look the type to take rejection to heart."

"He's not," he agreed. A smooth chuckle escaped his lips. "But forreal, your sister really did something to his poor, arrogant, playboy heart."

Jeremiah and I had a pretty good time for the rest of the night. There were a few instances when some pretty powerful company heads and CEOs spoke to Jeremiah. Still, other than that, it was just the two of us for the night.

We climbed into the car, me scooting over to the far end of the limo as Jeremiah ducked in after me. He waved to the cameras for show for a second, the driver closing the door slowly, Jeremiah's arm receding back to his body.

"You made this thing much more fun," Jeremiah said as the limo pulled off, me being knocked back into my seat a bit. "Barely anybody wanted to talk business with me."

"Talk business with you?" I asked, eyebrows momentarily pinching together. "I thought you're here because your friends invited you?" I scooted back in my seat, more towards the door and further from him. If this was just some ploy to get me back out, or if he was lying to me about not having a job-

"I was," he said, slicing through my thoughts.

I released a breath.

"But I've known my friends for years, and I've been to so many of these things that people come to me and ask me about campaigns and all that." His hand moved and scratched his forehead as he spit out an explanation.

"Why do they care about your opinion?" I asked, a slight harshness to my tone. I wasn't sure how convincing his explanation was to me. Because of that, my mind immediately told me to be wary of him - to jump into fight mode.

"I met most of their kids in college," he explained. "We majored in business together."

The tension that was pent up in my shoulders was released. "So, you're not some secret CEO of a mining company or something?" I asked with a side-eye. He managed to convince me a bit more, but I wasn't absolutely sold yet.

"No."

I squinted my eyes at him, his hands rising in defense.

"Listen. You told me from the jump you don't play with anybody who's got anything to do with business. If I really was the CEO of something, I wouldn't have asked you on this second date."

"How do I know you're not lying?" I asked, eyes still slit. "Businessmen are great smooth talkers. They are snakes, after all."

"See that right there." Jeremiah dropped his hands into his lap. "You may be gorgeous, but man, I couldn't deal with a pretty girl who bashes my profession every chance she gets."

"I'm flattered by your compliments but don't think that I forgot what we were talking about," I said with a smile. Jeremiah flashed me a smile back, and I couldn't help but smile even wider. "But I guess you're right." I dropped my invisible shield.

"Of course I'm right. Us businessmen always are." He winked at me.

"You're just a little bit infuriating. Anyone ever tell you that before?" Even though I was throwing a mild insult his way, I still managed the smallest of smiles on my face.

The car pulled up to my complex. Jeremiah opened the door and stood by the car, his hand held out for me to take. I smiled to myself as I laid my hand gently in his, his fingers curling around my hand and supporting me as I stepped out of the car.

I closed the door behind me. As I took a step forward, the wind blew, the leaves and bushes around us rustling about. I shivered.

"You should have brought a coat," Jeremiah chided. I shot him a look, him laughing at me and dropping his head. "I'm kidding." He began shrugging off his jacket. He stopped walking once it was off, me halting a few steps ahead of him. "Here." He held the coat behind me as I stuck an arm into one of the sleeves, my other following.

"Why you gotta be like that sometimes?" I questioned. I pursed my lips as I looked to the concrete under our feet, my heels against the pavement filling the momentary silence that passed between us.

"Our conversation in the car inspired me." I gave him a questioning look, my lips pulling into a frown. "I'm practicing being a snake so I can put my business degree to work."

"Ooh, I hate you," I responded. I smacked my lips together as I shook my head.

"If you really hated me, you woulda told me to head back to the car by now." I gave no response, my silence insinuating that he was right. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

We reached my condo in silence. I turned towards the door to put the key in the knob but pivoted back towards Jeremiah. I opened my mouth to speak, a huff of air passing my lips, before shutting them shut. I thought about what I wanted to say before I spoke.

"You know, you joke about it, but I feel my hatred is justified." I paused for a moment and ran my tongue over my teeth before continuing. "My family was set. I was raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. Before that point, a couple years ago, I ain't ever have to worry about money. If I was getting low, I'd just run to my parents, and they'd throw a bit my way so I never ran out.

"Now, don't get it twisted. I still got a couple mil under my name so I'm set, but my two youngest brothers are gonna have to worry about college funds and getting a car and buying a home before they're paying for my brother's last semester of college. And they still got two more kids going into college in the next five years.

"That man ruined the stability that we knew - that we thought - that we were always gonna have. You can joke about it all you want, but he screwed around and fucked everything up, and almost four years later it's coming back to bite us in the ass."

I don't mind the jokes - they're lighthearted and in good fun - but sometimes it just gets me thinking that yeah, I really hate everyone who'll do anything carelessly as long as there are no repercussions that come to them.

"Damn, okay, I'll stop."

"I'm not saying you need to stop. I'm just saying keep it to a minimum, or I'm gonna get pissed."

"Noted," Jeremiah said with a nod. "I don't need people to see me get slapped across my face by my date."

"Nah, I wouldn't slap you across your face," I assured him with a laugh. "I'd give you a subtle kick to the shins.

Our conversation carried on for a few more minutes before I really did have to go inside and spill every juicy detail to my best friend. She was probably asleep on the couch or entrapped in some TV show, so a little while longer outside probably wouldn't bother her much at all.

"I'm gonna let you go get out of those heels now. But, next date, I'm going to take you somewhere nice and lowkey."

"Good. As much as I love fine dining and expensive wine, I'd like to be able to wear jeans."

"It's a plan then. I'll text you or call you or whatever with the details."

"Alright," I softly replied. We both stood silent for a few moments, neither of us knowing what to say next. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Kiara." Jeremiah took a step towards me and grabbed my chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting my head up so I was looking up at him.

Jeremiah's eyes were warm under the porch light, like two smooth pools of molasses. I knew he was going to kiss me, and I was excited about it. I wanted nothing more than for him to stop staring into my eyes. I wanted to just grab his face and pull his lips to mine.

But, I needed to control myself.

After what felt like a lifetime, his lips finally closed the distance. He didn't take his sweet time like in the movies. He just puckered up and smacked his lips straight to mine.

A sense of numbness filled my body when his lips touched mine. Not in a wrong way, but in that way where your foot falls asleep, and you want nothing more than to shake it awake. But, instead of shaking, I wanted to keep kissing.

When Jeremiah pulled away, a shy smile spread across my lips. I avoided his gaze as my attention focused on my sore feet. I felt like a fourteen-year-old who just experienced her first kiss with her crush, and it was kind of refreshing. Actually having feelings for the person you're kissing really changed the game.

Jeremiah said goodnight one last time before actually heading back to his car. I fumbled with my keys as I tried to find the one that would slide into the doorknob leading to my condo. When I finally found it, I twisted the key in the lock and quietly pushed open the door, just in case Adrienne was asleep.

I ventured further into my home, surprised to find Adrienne nowhere in sight. She wasn't raiding my fridge - not like she left any food, anyways - snoring on the couch or sitting like a child in front of the TV.

I dropped my keys on the counter, surprised that she would leave before gathering every detail of the night. I kicked off my heels in the hallway leading up to my room as I dug through my clutch, looking for my phone so I could call my absentee best friend.

I pushed open the bedroom door and turned on the light. Two bodies darted up from the mattress. In front of me, my eyes drunk in the scene, disgusted to see Adrienne and Ricardo making out on my bed.

"There is a perfectly good couch in the living room for this!" I exclaimed. I took my purse and flung it at the two of them. "Why did you have to come into my room?"

"Your bed is comfier than a couch?" Ricardo suggested.

"Ricardo, you get out of my house or so help me I will take that lamp that's right next to my bed and-"

"Ricardo, mi amor, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Adrienne grabbed his attention and nodded at him before placing a soft peck on his lips. "Now leave before KiKi whoops your ass."

After Ricardo left, I joined Adrienne on the bed and shoved her over. She cried out as she fell over. "That's what your ass gets for making out on my damn bed. Of all the places to-" I cut myself off and just shook my head.

"Okay, but Ricardo was right, girl. What kind of mattress you got? I need to get me one of these." I looked at her and rolled my eyes, a scoff exiting me.

"I'm going to try to forget that my bed has been dirtied because I had a good ass night."

"Right! Your date! Tell me all about it."

And so I did. I told Adrienne every detail that seemed significant to me. I also mentioned how he was acting kind of shady when King came over, but she dismissed it and told me it was probably because he just wanted alone time with me. I also mentioned how we're going on a third date and how he kissed me.

"Girl, this is so exciting! Do you know how long I've waited for you to find a man so I can book it back to Barcelona?" she jokingly asked.

"Haha. Very funny, Ri." I shook my head.

"But for real. You actually found someone who you fuck with instead of someone to fuck around with. You finally acting all grown."

"I've been grown!" I defended. While I was making some stupid decisions in my dating life, I put my career before anything - I still am - and am living on my own and taking care of myself while still finding time for my family and friends. "It's not my fault you decided to start acting all grown grown at twenty."

"I wasn't acting grown at twenty. I just found the person I knew would be my ride or die, so I didn't feel the need to go out and party and have fun. I had all the fun I need with mi amor."

"Yeah yeah, love of your life and all of that," I said as I flailed my hands around. "But, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave because I got work at nine, and it is almost two in the morning."

Adrienne gathered all the stuff she left around the house and took her leave, leaving me to flop back onto my bed and at least catch a wink of sleep before work in the morning.

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