"What?"

"Jevon, no, you did not!"

The sound of palm smacking shaved head met my ears as "This is why we don't invite you to movies, bruh."

That and so much more was heard as my family sat in our home movie theater, the screen paused, the two main characters from "Queen & Slim" sitting in the front seat of a car as they roll through a garage door.

"Jevon, baby, did you go and spoil the whole movie?" Mama rubbed the spot on his head that Trayvion had hit previously.

I looked to my mom as she awaited his answer, an amused smile on my face. I had my legs kicked up as I watched my family get on Jevon's ass for spoiling what was probably the most highly anticipated movie for the Suns family.

"Of course, he spoiled the whole movie!" was heard from Michael as he stole our younger brother's response. "What else could "it don't even matter that he lets them go" mean? They die!"

"That's not what I said!" Jevon defended back as he got in Michael's face.

When I spotted my eldest brother's hand raised in anticipation to slap, I cut in and grabbed his wrist from the seat behind him. "Aht!" I planted my feet firmly on the ground to keep a firm grip. "We don't hit children, now do we?"

Jevon whined, "I'm 15," resulting in an immediate hush from me.

"I'm trying to help you." I shushed him once more as I released Michael's wrist.

Michael's opposite hand rung around where my fingers curled around him. "I was only gonna give him a light tap."

"We both know that ain't true, Mike." My dad spoke for the first time. Like me, he had decided to kick back and watch the amusement unfold. "You the one who wanted to watch this movie so damn bad!" He waved a finger in my brother's direction, a finger he dismissed with the wave of his hand.

I grumbled to myself about the inconvenience of having to put my feet down before I kicked back and nestled them back on top of the chairs directly next to my brother's head. "Are we gonna finish the movie? Or did Jevon kill the vibe?" My feet were bouncing in the air, my calves pulsing back and forth against the chairs for momentum.

"Jevon killed the vibe," Darius answered with a shrug. "Oh well. But since we're not watching the movie, can I use the PS4 now?" He looked at each of our faces as his hands rubbed together, a hopeful grin on his face.

"Oooh, I wanna play!" We all looked to the front. Donte was turned around in his seat, his hand raised as he bounced up and down in his chair.

"Movie time's over, I guess." Michael leaned in his seat, his head bumping against my feet. "Nasty ass feet." He glanced at my feet in disgust before pushing them down.

"Me and Adrienne just got pedicures on Friday, which was yesterday. Don't play with me." I flicked his ear before standing up.

"Wasted all that money for nothing," he teased. "That's a nice anklet, though. Went on a virtual shopping spree with Venna again?" He scoffed at my behavior, behavior that he guessed incorrectly.

"That was last month. Jeremiah gave this to me." I waved my foot as the anklet moved around, the dim lighting doing the piece no justice. "It's much prettier in the light."

"You got new jewelry?" Mama nosed over as she peeked over the row of theater chairs, her eyes pivoted downwards.

"Jeremiah gave it to her." The airiness to Michael's voice mimicked how I sounded when telling him. I bucked at him and he bucked right back.

My mom placed a gentle hand on Michael's shoulder as her eyes tore up to me at the sound of Jeremiah's name. "Oh. Your boyfriend gave it to you," she stated with a sudden tone of disinterest.

I ran a hand over my curls, my fingers clasping together at the nape of my neck. "Jeremiah, Ma. He has a name."

All but Donte and Darius exited the movie theater, Trayvion retreating to his room to call his girlfriend. At the same time, Jevon and Pops settled at the dining room table for math homework. Michael, Mama, and I continued on to the kitchen. Michael and I grabbed stools at the island while our mother ventured to the wine cooler.

"How did Mr. Unemployed afford that, anyway?" Michael fixed his appraising stare at the jewelry clasped around my ankle, the light offering a better look. "Those are real diamonds on that chain?"

"Yes, they're real diamonds."

"Maybe he bought it on Wish for one hundred dollars," Mama joked. She pulled out an assuringly expensive bottle of wine and set it on the table.

"Aha ha ha," I dryly laughed. "Not that I have to defend Jeremiah to you, but he got a job, Ma. A well paying one."

"So he embezzled the funds, then? Would be typical behavior for a businessman." She reached up into a cabinet to grab three wine glasses.

"Ma-"

"What's the job?" Michael cut in, keeping me from saying what I wanted.

Both of them looked at me expectantly. I pressed my lips into a thin line as they stared at me, the realization dawning on me that I'm not one hundred percent sure what it is Jeremiah did at his new job. All I knew is that he has been there for nearly a week now, and he has grown ten times busier than he was when picking up temporary jobs. The week that he's had the job, I haven't seen him once, and the daily calls dwindled down to whenever he was available.

He wasn't available very often.

I grew up with businesspeople as parents, so in the back of my mind, I always knew that once Jeremiah found his footing in this world that he was going to be much more unavailable to me. Even knowing that it didn't make his absence from my everyday life easier.

"I'm not sure." I smiled at their puzzled faces.

"How do you not know?" Michael blinked.

"He left it at a new, well-paying job, and I didn't ask any questions because I was getting a present," I responded as I shrugged with ease.

"What company does he work at?" he followed up. His mouth gaped at me when I failed to meet him with an answer. "You don't even know where he works, Kiara?"

"It sounds like he's lying. At least to me." Mama slid full wine glasses in front of my brother and me, hers nestled in her hand and hovering an inch from her lips. "Very businessman like," she singsonged before taking a sip of her wine.

"Ma, I'm done hearing from you about anything Jeremiah." I took my glass and took a big gulp. "Anything that you've had to say about him so far has been negative, and I'm not finna sit here and let him be disrespected like this." I pushed back from the counter, the chair legs scraping against the hardwood floor.

"I told you how I felt from day one, Ki. Don't act surprised that I'm not welcoming him with open arms."

I shook my head with a scoff as I turned on my heel, the path to the front door in my mind as I made my exit from the kitchen. I heard Michael faintly defend me as he questioned our mother with disappointment lacing his tone.

Sunday came, as did Jeremiah and I's double date with Sienna and Kingston. Sienna was in front of my bathroom mirror as she worked on applying her second eyebrow. I was finished getting ready, save for me changing into my clothes. That's why I had Adrienne on FaceTime with my laptop as I held up different items of clothing. "What about this?"

"Too bright." She swirled her hand as she dismissed the lime green sweater held in front of my torso.

"Bright is good!" Sienna called from the bathroom. "We're going ice skating under black lights."

"This would be so much easier if I was there!" Adrienne pouted through the phone screen. "My break is about to be done, though. I have to get back to work." Her pout deepened.

"Aw," I verbalized with a matching pout. "Will we see you after the date, though? It's the first one for Sienna and King," I tempted with a hopeful look.

"Classes kicked into full swing last week. I gotta keep my nose in the books! Ricardo's even picking me up to make sure I stay on track."

"Booo," Sienna chimed once again. She appeared from the bathroom, both eyebrows fully applied and her outfit complete. "I'll never get the same love from you as Ki does." She feigned sobbing as she wiped imaginary tears from her cheeks. "Ima pull up on you tomorrow, though. Look out for me." She pointed the spooly in her hand at the screen, Adrienne asking for her to promise as she winked and ended the call.

"She hung up before she could pick my outfit." I looked hopelessly to my closet, the space filled with clothes, none of them seeming right enough for tonight.

"Kiara, you know how to dress yourself." She ventured back to the bathroom to pack up her makeup, I presumed. "You won 'Best dressed' in high school, and Adrienne had nothing to do with that. Trust yourself, sis."

One of the most beautiful things about my friendship with Sienna is that she has known me for practically my entire life. Our parents came up together, leading us into a genuine friendship that I wouldn't trade for the world.

Sienna was more than my best friend—Adrienne held that title always—she was my sister. Family vacations were taken together since we were in diapers, she was a bridesmaid in my sister's wedding, we sent in our applications to our dream school seconds apart, and so many other moments that only a family member would be a part of.

Because she's known me so long, she knew who I was before I met the wonderful whirlwind that was Adrienne. Sienna didn't like Adrienne at first because she saw all the ways that she was morphing me, ways that were both good and bad in her eyes. One of the bad things? She felt I lost my own sense of style, that Adrienne had somehow taken over my form of self-expression. Little did she know that she evolved my style immensely, but that's a moment for just Adrienne and me.

I picked up my phone and sent a short text to Jeremiah once I had my final outfit picked out and adorning my body. I tugged on a comfortable pair of sneakers as Sienna scooped her car keys up from my bed, twirling them around her finger as she waited for me to gather all my stuff into a bag. "Do you want me to send you the directions to Jere's place, or do you got it?"

"Yeah, go on and send that address to my phone." She pursed her lips as her nail tapped against the black of her phone screen. "That's near me, but I don't know how to get there. I still GPS to here, you know?"

"I expect nothing less," I snorted as I shook my head, a warm smile playing on my lips. "Now, c'mon. Jeremiah thinks I can never be on time."

"You can't. You're chronically five minutes late to anything ever." Sienna began making her way to the door, me following closely behind her.

With me trailing at such close proximity, I made it a point to purposefully step on the back of her heels, her white socks appearing every so often as the heel of her foot slipped over the end of the shoe.

"You are to me what Michael is to you," she deadpanned as we reached the front door.

We met up with the boys, a kiss being planted to Sienna's cheek from King while Jeremiah placed a kiss on my lips. I smiled against his lips, the electricity he sends through my body warming me up every single time.

Soon after, we all piled into Jeremiah's car, an argument ensuing between King and me over who gets the front seat. He claims best friend trumps girlfriend, but I disagreed wholeheartedly. Not only that, but he was supposed to be spending time with Sienna! The woman he asked out on a date!

The less than five-minute ride to the ice rink was filled with an awkward silence of sorts. Sienna wasn't sure where to start with striking up a conversation, which was the whole reason Jeremiah and I were here in the first place. King was a flirtatious chatterbox—had been ever since I'd known him—so it struck me as odd that he wasn't flinging pick-up lines and compliments Sienna's way every five seconds.

Once out of the confined space of Jeremiah's gorgeous vehicle, I sidled up to my man and lowered my voice as I asked, "Is it just me, or is King quiet? He hasn't said not one word to Sienna besides hello!"

"He's nervous," Jeremiah revealed as he shrugged with ease.

"Pffft." An expression spelling that I didn't believe him crossed my face.

"Didn't he always try and push up on your sister when she wasn't married? Didn't he always try to push up on you when you were single?"

"Well yeah-"

"King is a very confident person in love when it doesn't count. He knew he never had a chance with you and your sister. King knows the girls he has situations with don't want anything else. It's easy when there's nothing to fuck up."

I looked back at the couple a few steps behind us. Conversation was being had, yes, but it wasn't flowing. Sienna was more focused on her feet than the handsome man in front of her. King looked flustered as he rubbed a hand against the back of his neck.

"I don't know how it's been going since they started talking to each other, but I do know that this man thinks something could come of this because I haven't seen him like this since his last girlfriend." Jeremiah stopped and tugged the door to the ice skating rink in front of us open, gesturing with his arm for me to enter first.

"Seen him like what?" I stomped the snow off the bottom of my shoes and rubbed, hopeful my sneakers wouldn't sneak against the floor. I awaited his answer as King and Sienna passed through the door as well, them now leading us.

The door closed behind us, Jeremiah bending down to whisper the answer in my ear. "Nervous."

We all rented our skates and immediately took to the ice. Small talk about ice skating skills was initiated when we first stepped foot onto the ice. Sienna glided gracefully ahead of us, King falling literally as soon as one skate hit the ice. I noticed Sienna giggle behind her hands before she floated toward him and offered a hand. He accepted it, faint red warming the tips of his ears. A few shy laughs were exchanged before what appeared like a flowing conversation ensued.

"Looks like we did our jobs by doing nothing," I noted, small strides sending me forward.

"Seems like we're here for no reason, then."

"Oh, no." I shook my head as I pivoted in my skates and began to skate steadily backward. "Sienna is going to choke; it's inevitable. I will be here to save the conversation when that happens."

A hum sounded from the back of Jeremiah's throat as he skated around me, him skating backward along with me. I pivoted back around, wobbling the tiniest bit as I faced forward again, and Jeremiah's hands were right there on my wrists to keep me steady. "I got you."

"I know."

His eyes flittered up to mine, the warm brown of his irises melting mine. His thumb stroked over my wrist as the right corner of his mouth quirked, so unnoticeable that it could be mistaken for a twitch. A comforting squeeze met my wrists before Jeremiah faced forward, his hand sliding down into mine as we continued along the rink.

"I'm freezing," Sienna stated as the four of us stepped out of the ice rink. We scanned our surroundings before finding an open bench to take our skates off at.

"Let me warm you up," King flirted. It seems that the nerves worked their way out of his system, allowing for his usual demeanor to return. Light smiles were thrown Sienna's way as he leaned towards her as if he was enraptured by her.

"Hot chocolate would do the trick much better," she shut down. All of our eyes peered to where Sienna's now-raised finger was pointing, a shimmering hot chocolate sign catching our attention. "Want some?"

"Yes, ma'am." King pulled his second skate off and produced his shoes from the bench under us.

"Okay. But I'm buying it because the hot chocolate is my idea, and you paid for my skate rental."

"You're all the hot chocolate I need, and I would devolve you for free." A wink followed.

She rolled her eyes, a faint smile betraying her. "It's devour."

"Huh?"

Jeremiah and I shared a look as we watched the confusion envelop King's face. This was going to be the second time in a half-hour that we witnessed King fumble in front of Sienna, that cocky demeanor dissolving in front of us in seconds.

"Unless you're the government trying to transfer power to me..." she trailed off as she leaned in closer towards King, but not after noticing Jeremiah and I nosing in on what they were talking about.

Realizing we were caught, we perked up and began unlacing our skates at lightning speed. Jeremiah's hands fumbled over my laces after he finished with his own to busy himself.

"...It's devour," she finished. She slapped her hands down on her thighs as she stood up. "You want hot chocolate, Ki?"

I tugged on the first of my shoes as I nodded. I asked Jeremiah if he wanted one too, him insisting that he was all right and warm and hot chocolate wasn't needed.

"You and that boyfriend of yours are nosey," Sienna joked as we stepped away from our spots on the bench and to the hot chocolate man.

"As wingmen, we are allowed to be nosey," I stated, my nose stuck up in the air. "How we gonna be good wingmen if we don't even know what's going on? Y'all coulda been at each other's throats if we weren't nosey."

We stepped up to the counter as she asked, "Were you two eavesdropping the whole time?"

"I'm gonna keep it a stack with you, Si. Yes, we were." She groaned and looked at me. Her eyes widened as her tongue ran over her teeth. "Y'all were like sixth-graders at the school dance; it was sad. We had to make sure you could handle yourselves and not slip into some weird silence. That was the whole point of the double date."

Sienna rambled off her order of two hot chocolates and pulled out her Amex card. The attendant looked at her card with a confused look, one that mirrored mine.

"You did not use your black card for two hot chocolates worth four dollars." My face was straight as I looked at her.

"It's the only card on me right now," she defended with a whine. "You remember Viola? We went to The Bravern today, so I needed this." The attendant handed her card back to her, and she waved it as if that made her point before tucking it away.

"People call me bougie, but you out here doing shit like that." I pulled out my four dollars in cash after ordering the same thing as my friend. "I bet you haven't seen one-dollar bills in years."

"I thought Jeremiah didn't want one?" She asked with furrowed brows. "And I have! I haven't used one in years, though." She gave me a look like I knew where she was coming from.

I rolled my eyes, yet I still felt a twinge of longing because I didn't. At least, not anymore.

"He thinks he doesn't want one." I grabbed my two cups from the attendant with a 'thank you.' "But we're going to take two steps towards them, and..." I trailed off as we turned around and, sure enough, there was my boyfriend with his debit card in hand as he headed our direction.

"How'd you know?" He took his drink from my outstretched hand before a kiss greeted me.

"The goosebumps on your hands when you were helping me untie my skates," I easily shrugged.

"Helping? I basically untied them both myself!" He took a tentative sip of his hot chocolate, a visible warmth spreading over his face.

"You did that because we got caught eavesdropping," I responded pointedly. "I was doing fine on my own." I sipped my own drink, a content smile on my face as it burned down my throat. "Now, c'mon! Time to head back to yours so we can drink and then kick King and Sienna out after we've had too much." My smile morphed into a smirk as my eyebrows wiggled.

"And we'll go where?" The