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#guys so wrapped up in their right wing bubble they just dont wanna hear it
shewritestheblues · 4 years
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The Elevator Bae x Chapter 6
Chapter SIX
Erik x Black OC (Phoenix)
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Camren stood in the center of everyone as they crowded around her singing Happy Birthday to her. She was all smiles with her Birthday Girl tiara on, holding up her glass of champagne. She swayed her hips back and forth until they finished.
“Thank you guys! This dinner was amazing. I love every single one of yall, but.. Ya’ girl is ready to turn up,” She points to Mica and Phoenix. “I know there’s more.”
“There’s always more.” Mica says.
Camren says good-bye to her family. Phoenix and Ava thanked everyone for coming out while Mica headed to the parking lot to get Ava’s truck.
Camren, Phoenix, Tiana and Ave piled themselves in Ava’s truck and Mica drove them to the club. As they approached the door, one of the security guards noticed Phoenix.
“Big Blue! What’s up lil mama?”
“Hey Jimmy.” she hugs him.
“They with you?” he motions to the women behind her.
“Of course. It’s Cam’s bday.”
Jimmy nods his head in Camren’s direction, “Happy Birthday. Blue got you the best section in this bitch.”
Camren can’t control herself, bouncing on her feet. “She was always my favorite.”
All of the women look at Camren. “Anything for you, Cam.” Phoenix says, grabbing Camren’s hand is leading them inside. Mica was the last in the small line of women and Jimmy stopped her.
“What’s your name lil mama?”
Mica looked him up and down, checking out his tatted, chiseled arms. He stands 6’4 with the prettiest teeth she had seen on a man. “Mica.” she finally responded.
“Come see me before y’all leave, alright?”
“Yeah, I got you.”
He winks at her and she turns to continue into the club where she found her friends watching her from inside the door.
“I see you, Mica. He fine as hell.” Tiana says.
The ladies follow Phoenix as she leads them to through the club. They traveled across the dance floor, around a huge bar and up a flight of stairs and glowed as they stepped on each step. They continued walking until they reached a huge section, with four bottles of Hennessy already waiting on ice. Coby was already there with a few other friends. He greeted each woman with a huge until her got to Ava. He wrapped his arms around her, grabbing her ass and kissing her. Phoenix proceeded to line up shot glasses and fill them with Hennessy. Each of her friends grabbed their glass, raising it in the air.
“Happy Birthday Camren. We love your crazy ass to the moon and back.” Phoenix says.
Everyone shouts, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAM!”
Tossing their shot glasses back, the women have begun their turn up. A few more shots and they were all twerking on each other and talking their shit, rapping along to every song that came on.
“We need a group picture.” Camren yells into Mica’s ear. Mica passes the message on, gathering all the women up near the balcony. Coby patiently waiting, and laughing, as they tried to map out their drunk poses.
“Can y’all c’mon?”
“WE’RE READY!”
Coby takes their pictures, getting every angle just in case somebody doesn’t like their face in the last pic. Because someone WILL decide on one that they don’t like.
“Send those to me.” Each of them yelled at Coby.
They continued to drink and dance. Drinking always gave Phoenix a bit more courage (and weed calms her nerves enough for her to be bold). She was also an I love you drunk and the feeling were starting to come out. She sat on Ava’s lap, hugging her. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Philly.” Ava smiles.
Mica, Camren and Tiana stood in front of them, “You don’t love us?” Camren yelled.
“Of course I love you. I love all of you so much.”
“We love you too.”
Camren pulls all of them into a group hug. “Thank You for my birthday.”
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As the night progressed, Phoenix found herself just sitting on the couch, babysitting her fourth drink, watching everyone around her. Mica joins her on the couch.
“You good?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’m just chilling.”
“Did you text your man, yet?”
“My what!” Phoenix acts surprised.
“YOUR MAN!”
Phoenix playfully rolls her eyes, “No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t-- I don’t wanna be all clingy. He just gave me his number a couple hours ago.”
Camren squeezes herself between them. “What are yall over here talking about?”
Mica looks at Phoenix, expecting her to spill it. She looks away, avoiding eye contact.
“Ugh. I’m trying to tell her to text her man.” Mica finally speaks up.
Camren pinches Phoenix, making her look back to them. “You have a man? Philly! Is he cute?”
“He’s not my man.”
“You want him to be. I seen how y’all was looking at each other.” Mica intervenes.
“We’re building a friendship.” Phoenix says trying to convince herself more than her friends.
“Those are the best kinds. But you never told me if he’s cute or not.”
“Yea--”
Mica interrupts, shaking her head. “The nigga is fine, Cam. He thick too. He just screams big dick energy.”
Camren looks impressed. “Girl, text him.”
Phoenix sighs, processing her friends words. The two of them leave her be on the couch once again. She downs the rest of her drink because fuck it. Erik is about to get this text. She picks up her phone from the table in front of her, typing her message.
Phoenix: Wassup Stevens. Guess who?
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Erik had just laid down in his bed. Tired was an understatement. He had worked out hard, earlier that day. After his exchange with Phoenix in the garage, he stopped by his friend, TJ’s place. Catching up and playing 2k. He had cancelled plans with TJ to go to the studio with Phoenix. After a few hours of that and eating a pound of wings, he was home, showered and ready to sleep. That is, until his phone vibrated on his nightstand. He reached for it not really expecting it to be anything. A random number texted him with the message, Wassup Stevens. Guess who?
He knew better. Of course it was Phoenix, but Erik being Erik, he had to have fun with this. His sleep could wait. His thumbs moved around the small keyboard, creating a response.
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Phoenix watched as the text bubbles popped up. She bit her lip to stop her smile from forming and waiting to see what he is going to say.
Erik😛: hmm, 🤔this Tiffany?
Phoenix: Boy, you got me fucked up.
Erik😛: lmao. Relax, Im just messing with you. I know this you baby girl.
Phoenix: You’re an asshole.🙄
Erik😛: You dont mind it though.
Phoenix: anyways. Wyd?
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Erik had completely sat up in his bed now. He wasted no time on saving her number as ‘Babygirl’.
Erik: Been laying here, waiting on you to hit me up. You still out?
Babygirl: Yeah and my bad.🙈 Didn't mean to keep you waiting.
Erik: I don't mind waiting on you.
Babygirl: Don’t make me blush Stevens.
Erik pictured just how she looks blushing and that made him blush. His cheeks were becoming sore from how big he was smiling. Little did he know, she was looking like a complete dork, smiling at her phone in the middle of the club as well.
———
Phoenix sat in the corner of the club couch texting Erik until her friends were ready to go. They had all decided they would stay at Coby’s house for the night. His place was their usual ‘after the club’ crashing spot. He had plenty of space for all of them. Tonight would be no different. The women piled into Ava’s Jeep. Camren laid out on the laps of those who sat in the back seat and Ava sat up front with her man. One of Coby’s friends took charge of his car and followed him home.
Phoenix couldn’t wait to make it to Coby’s house to continue texting Erik. She kept her phone in her clutch. She didn’t want to risk one of friends seeing her texting him and trying to be all up in her business even more than they already were.
“Let’s get some wings.” Camren shouted from the backseat.
“Where in the hell are we gonna get some wings from at 2:30 in the morning Cam?”
“I don’t know. I’m hungry.”
“I’m hungry too.” Mica and Tiana said at the same time.
“You hungry too, Philly?” Coby asked, looking at her through the rear view mirror.
“When am I not hungry?”
“Y’all gotta be shitting me,” Coby drags his hands over his face. He looks over to see Ava passed out against the window. “Listen. There nowhere that’s open right now that has wings. I can take y’all to McDonalds.”
“YES! I want some nuggets.” Camren sat up, almost hitting her head on the top of the truck.
“Anything else?” Coby asked.
The women started shouting out orders.
“Large fry.” “Nuggets!” “McChicken with cheese.” “Nuggets.”
Coby headed to McDonalds to get their food and take them to his house. He knew they would regret this decision in the morning but he’d rather that than to hear a bunch of drunk women cuss him out over some damn Nuggets if he told them No.
It took forever for McDonald’s to fill his large order. The women whined in protest to how long they were waiting. They finally got the food and dug in without a second thought.
“And y’all better not spill shit in her truck. I’m not trynna hear Ava’s mouth about nothing tomorrow.”
With that being said, Coby got them in the house safely and full. Each woman crashed in different areas of the house. By the time they made it to their destination, Phoenix had forgotten about her text conversation with Erik and passed out in one of Coby’s guest rooms.
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Waking up was rough. Phoenix could feel her heart beating in her head. She rolled around the bed, feeling through the sheets for her phone. The sun was shining bright through the window, she her task was tough when her head was buried under the covers. Not having any luck, she finally got up, still in her dress, to look for her clutch. Somehow, it made its way to the floor at the foot of the bed. She took out her phone to see that it's just past noon and she had two unread text from Erik. She grinned big, swiping her screen to open the messages. She scrolled a bit to read her last response to see what exactly he was responding to because in all honesty, she only remembered a few bits of last night after her third shot.
Phoenix: So are you gonna tell me your reasons for picking the tongue out emoji?
Erik😛: You’re not ready to find that out yet.
Erik😛: lol, you must be KO. Hope you had fun baby girl. Text me when you get up.
Phoenix couldn’t contain her excitement that they were actually texting each other now. No more waiting to just see him on the elevators. Her excitement took a turn when her head started spinning. She felt a knot in her throat. She tried to swallow it back down but there was no stopping it. She had to find a toilet, NOW! She ran into the guest bathroom, throwing up last nights drunk food. She leaned over the toilet, chastising herself. Finally sure that she got it all out, she got up to slowly walk her body out into the hallway. Since Coby’s house is their go to after the club, Coby started keeping a change of clothes for them. She made her way to the hall closet where he kept, t-shirts, leggings, etc along with towels. She picked out a fresh set of clothes and towels and went back into the guest bathroom and showered.
Phoenix got dressed and put her hair up into a top knot bun and went downstairs to find everyone else. She found Coby and Ava in the kitchen. Mica was still asleep in the living room, on the couch. The birthday girl and Tiana were somewhere, probably still asleep.
“Morning.” Coby said. His voice sounded like he was speaking in a megaphone.
“Morning.” she whined.
“C’mon over here,” He motioned to the car seat next to Ava, who was leaning over her arm. “I’ll make you some coffee too.”
Phoenix joined them, laying her head down over her hands. Coby started making her some coffee. He placed the creamer and sugar in front of her.
“My face hurt.” Ava finally spoke.
Coby slid a fresh cup of coffee to Phoenix. She added her creamer and more than enough sugar and sipped it slow.
“It’s almost one. I doubt we make it to brunch.” Phoenix says between sips.
They sat there in silence for awhile before they heard someone dragging their feet into the kitchen. “Morning.” They heard from a yawning voice. It was Camren.
“Morning, birthday girl.” Coby said.
“Stop yelling.” Camren said, leaning over the counter.
“I’m not yelling.”
“I want coffee.”
“Me too.” Mica says, joining them in the kitchen with Tiana right behind her. Coby went ahead and made all three of them some coffee. “Y’all need to eat.” He said filling their mugs.
“I want Roscoe’s.” Camren says.
“Tell me what y’all want and I’ll get it. I know yall asses aint trying to leave no time soon.”
Ava typed up their orders on her phone and sent it in a text to Coby. He left to get their food. While they waited, Camren, Mica and Tiana took showers. Ava and Phoenix waited for them to finish in the backyard, on the patio. They sat out there, both wearing a pair of Coby’s sunglasses in an attempt to block out the sun.
Phoenix remembered that she hadn’t yet texted Erik back. Her thumbs hovered over the phone until she could figure out what to say.
Phoenix: Hey, sorry. I was slumped last night. Good afternoon though.
The text bubbles popped up immediately.
Erik😛: It’s all good baby girl. You have fun?
Phoenix: Yeah. Feels like Im dying now though.
Erik😛: You eat something yet?
Phoenix: Coby’s getting us food. He should be here soon. Wyd?
Erik😛: Tell that nigga hurry up and feed my girl.
Erik😛: Im running some errands.
His girl? Phoenix didn’t mind being called his girl.
Phoenix: Im ya’ girl now?
Before Erik could text back, the rest of her friends joined her and Ava outside and they all started talking about the night before. Reminiscing on the fun times they had. Camren thanked them again for making sure her birthday was special.
“We have one more gift for you, Cam Bam.” Mica says.
“Yall have done enough. Stop it.”
“Girl bye. It’s your birthday.” Ava says walking back into the house.
“What y'all get me?” Camren looks at Phoenix and Mica. Neither of them respond. “Stop playing. What is it?”
Ava joins them again with an envelope in hand, giving it to Camren. “Open it.”
She opens it and pulls out a packet that pictures a villa and things to do on an island.
“What is this?” she yells out in excitement.
Tiana snatches the papers from her hands, “Girl, a vacation.”
“Are yall serious?”
“Mhmm,” Phoenix nods her head. “Five nights and six days in Turks and Caicos. Next month. All five of us.”
Camren started to cry. They hugged her and made fun of her for always crying. Coby comes back in with the food. He brings it outside to them.
“Damn, Cam. You always crying, bro.” he says, sitting the food on the table.
“Shut up. They got me a vacation.”
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Phoenix walks through her door, exhausted. She threw her body on her couch. What a day. Camren loved her birthday and her gift. Phoenix enjoyed her friends but let's be honest… people, including her friends, were tiring. Her social battery died hours ago. The relief to be home, alone in her own space. She laid there with her eyes closed, taking in the silence of her living room. Her phone goes off, taking Phoenix from her mind. She gets up to find it. She dropped all of her belongings on the floor when she came in and searched through her bag for it. Finally finding it, she has a text from Erik.
Erik😛: You made it in?
Suddenly, Phoenix had energy. She sat on the floor, bringing her knees to her chest. Smiling down at her phone, she responds.
Phoenix: yeah. Just got in.
Erik😛: wow, smh. Thanks for letting me know.
Phoenix: lol im sorry.
Biting her lip, she wants to do something. Her thumbs hover her keyboard. Erik hadn’t texted back yet so she still had time. Fuck it! What’s the worst that could happen?
Phoenix: Are you home?
The three minutes it took for him to respond felt like three years. Her palms were sweaty as she watched the bubbles pop up on the screen.
Erik😛: yeah. Whats up?
Phoenix: wanna come hang out with me?
Phoenix drops her phone on the floor. Her nerves taking over. “What the fuck am I doing? Am I doing this right now?” Her phone dings. She couldn’t open the message. What if he doesn’t want to? She picks up her phone, taking in a shaky breath as she swipes his message open.
Erik😛: 👀 yeah.
Erik😛: I got something for you too.
Phoenix: for me? What is it?
Erik😛: I’ll be down there in a minute. You’ll see.
Phoenix jumps up and picking up her bag and clothes from the night before, tossing them in her room and closing her bedroom door. She rushes back into the living room, turning on the tv. She checks her snack cabinet. She has plenty. “Okay...okay,” she says to herself. “We’re all good. This is gonna be cool. Just two friends--” her words are cut off by a knock at the door. She wipes her sweaty palms on her leggings and makes her way to the door. She opens the door and the site before her, snatched her breath. Erik stood there with his bare, muscled arms on full display as he sported a crisp, white fitted tank, paired with heather grey joggers that hung low. His dreads hung wildly over his face. She took in his seemingly flawless appearance piece by piece. Phoenix hadn’t realized that she was standing there, just staring at him until her waved his hand in her face, breaking her trance.
“Phoenix!” his voice boomed through her ears, flowing down into her chest. She squeezes eyes shut to regroup. She opens her eyes, pushing a small smile.
“Sorry.” she steps back to welcome him in.
He chuckles to himself. “You good, baby girl. You like what you see. I understand.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Stevens.”
He follows her to the couch. He digs into his pocket, pulling out a blunt. “This is for you.”
“Aw, thanks Stevens. We can smoke this right now, actually.”
He gives her a lighter and she lights the blunt taking a hit. Then another. She passes it to him. He takes a drag.
“So Stevens, I figured you could watch Steven Universe with me and eat Oreos.”
“Steven Universe? What the fuck is that?” he passes her the blunt.
“Only my favorite cartoon ever. It’s really good. You’re gonna like it.”
She gives him back the blunt and starts the show from episode one. She grabs a few snacks from the kitchen. “Look what I got.” She holds up two Martinelli Apple Juice. Erik holds his heart with a smile.
“You remembered.”
She joins him again on the couch, sitting so close, their thighs were touching. As the first episode begins, Phoenix sings along with the theme song. Erik watches her with a smile at how excited she was to be singing along. Erik reached down, grabbing her ankles and sliding her legs over his lap. She watched him, not taking her eyes from his hands as his fingertips trailed up her leg until he reached her thigh. He gripped her thigh and massaged it. The entire time his eyes never left the tv screen. Phoenix’s breath hitched as he continued rubbing the spot where his hand rested on her. She looked up at him. He was sitting there like he was just unaware of what he was doing. Something happened on the show that made him laugh and she watched as his body bounced with laughter. To distract herself, she stuffed an Oreo in her mouth and did her best to pay attention to the tv.
“Damn girl, you hogging the cookies.”
Phoenix had been cradling the pack of cookies, eating one right after the other. “Sorry. You want one?”
“Yeah. Feed me one.”
“Feed you one?”
“Yeah, c’mon girl.” He opened his mouth.
She slowly swallowed the remaining pieces she was holding in her mouth. She held the Oreo between her fingers, “You want me to break it for you?”
He cuts his eye at her. “Phoenix, I’m a grown ass man. Put the cookie in my mouth.”
She looked at him with a smirk. She would gladly put the cookie in his mouth. She giggled as she fed him the cookie. He caught on to why she was tickled and laughed himself. “You’re childish baby girl.”
“You said it.”
They continued watching the show and eventually ate the entire pack of Oreos. They were seven episodes deep when Phoenix found herself leaning on Erik’s shoulder. Her fingers were absentmindedly tracing his scars. When she noticed what she was doing, she looked at him, wondering if he knew what she was doing. Was he secretly enjoying it? He could feel her staring at the side of his face. He peeks over at her.
“What?” he asked.
She rubs her thumbs over her scars in thought. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
Looking at his arm, “What’s the meaning behind these?”
He watches as her thumbs move softly over his scars. He clenches his jaw and unclenches. Their eyes meet.
“Can I trust you?” he asked.
“I’m pretty sure if you couldn’t trust me, you wouldn’t be sitting here with me right now.”
“True. If I tell you, you have to promise me that you won’t look at me any differently.”
“I promise.”
He sits there for a moment, gathering the right words. Phoenix was patient with him. She knew there was a deeper story to him. She was willing to sit there as long as she needed for him to feel comfortable. She continued to rub her thumb over her scars in the hopes that it would settle his thoughts.
“Remember when I told you my parents died when I was young and I had to take care of myself?” he started. Phoenix nodded, remembering their conversation in the studio. “That shit changed me. It was nothing that I could do. I was ready to give it to any and everybody. But I was smart about it. I went to the Navy. I trained. I worked hard. I was the best nigga they had. When it was time to get my boots on the ground, I made sure I always hit my target and anything that tried to get in my way. Each kill became a mark.”
Phoenix’s eyes trailed down in arm. There were so many scars. That meant so many bodies.
“I was top ranked. I was given the name Killmonger because I had so many kills.” he continued. “The scars were my way of making sure everybody knew how powerful I was. I wasn’t somebody to be fucked with. I’m not that helpless little boy on missions.”
Phoenix’s thumb motions stopped but she still held his arm in her hand. He looked over at her, searching her face for any sign of disgust or hate. Nothing. Her eyes met his.
“So you still do those missions?” she asked.
“Yeah. They’re a little different now.”
Phoenix seemed interested in what he meant. So he continued telling her how he is chosen for the top missions because of his skill. She asked about his parents and for the first time ever, Erik explained the truth about them. His mother dying in prison. His father being a prince of Wakanda and being killed by his own brother. The more he talked about Wakanda, Phoenix became confused.
“Wait… I thought Wakanada was like a third world country.” she said.
“That’s what they tell the world, but it’s far from a third world country.”
Phoenix sat there quietly, looking off at nothing. She pulled herself away from him in thought. He took that as her hating him.
“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you Phoenix.”
Her head snapped toward him. “It never crossed my mind that you would. I don’t think you’re a big, bad, scary person, E. Like you said, you did what you had to do.”
“Then why did you move over there?”
“Just thinking. I couldn’t imagine having to go through any of that. Here I am thinking my life was so shitty back in Detroit. Sure, it was bad but things could’ve been worse. You’re strong as fuck and honestly, I wish I had balls like you.”
A cheesy smile crept up on Erik’s face. “Nobody got balls like me.”
Phoenix looks at him with a straight face. “Wow. Here I am thinking we’re having a moment and you wanna talk about your balls.”
“You brought up my balls baby girl. I’ll gladly share them with you.”
“You know what I meant.” She said, hitting him in the chest.
“C’mere you little angry bird.” Erik pulls Phoenix back over to him. This time, he pulled her onto his lap. Sitting on him, she could feel his dick under his thin shorts. This man was blessed. He moved his body up, adjusting himself. He had to know exactly what he was doing. Staying up there would be dangerous. She needed to move herself. So she slid her body down to where she is now pinned between him and the arm of the chair. He legs are sitting on top of his. He gripped her thighs again. “You made me miss what happened so we have to start this episode over.” He picked up the remote, restarting the episode. Phoenix didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. The two of them continue watching Steven Universe like nothing ever happened. He wrapped his hand around her and she rested her head on his shoulder.
Phoenix had drifted off to sleep. Erik softly shook her awake.
“Philly. Wake up baby girl.”
Phoenix slowly wakes up, stretching. “How long was I sleep?”
“Not long. But it’s getting late. I’m gonna get out of her and let you rest.”
Phoenix lays back on his shoulder. “You’re really comfortable.”
Erik scoops Phoenix up in his arms. He picks her up, as he stands and setting her down carefully on her feet. They share a smile. She follows him to the door to let him out. When they approach the door, Erik turns around and snakes his hand around Phoenix’s waist, pulling her into a hug. She automatically wrapped both of her arms around his neck. She took in his presence, one last time. He pulled back, grabbing her chin. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on her cheek. Her body melted into his as laid her head against his chest. “Don’t forget to text me about your show tomorrow.” he spoke lowly in her ear. All Phoenix would do was nod her head. He opened the door, stepping out.
“Goodnight baby girl.”
“Night, E.”
Closing the door and locking it. Phoenix leaned back on the door. She wanted so bad to turn her head and catch his lips with hers. She fought against it. Her brain now ringing with the ‘what if’s’ if she did. She couldn’t do this to herself. She was going to bed.
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dreamgirl4certain · 5 years
Text
The Elevator Bae
ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE
Chapter SIX
Erik x Black OC (Phoenix)
A/N: This one is kinda long. I had a good, black time writing this chapter. Things are definitely picking up more with this one. :)
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Camren stood in the center of everyone as they crowded around her singing Happy Birthday to her. She was all smiles with her Birthday Girl tiara on, holding up her glass of champagne. She swayed her hips back and forth until they finished.
“Thank you guys! This dinner was amazing. I love every single one of yall, but.. Ya’ girl is ready to turn up,” She points to Mica and Phoenix. “I know there’s more.”
“There’s always more.” Mica says.
Camren says good-bye to her family. Phoenix and Ava thanked everyone for coming out while Mica headed to the parking lot to get Ava’s truck.
Camren, Phoenix, Tiana and Ava piled themselves in Ava’s truck and Mica drove them to the club. As they approached the door, one of the security guards noticed Phoenix.
“Big Blue! What’s up lil mama?”
“Hey Jimmy.” she hugs him.
“They with you?” he motions to the women behind her.
“Of course. It’s Cam’s Bday.”
Jimmy nods his head in Camren’s direction, “Happy Birthday. Blue got you the best section in this bitch.”
Camren can’t control herself, bouncing on her feet. “She was always my favorite.”
All of the women look at Camren. “Anything for you, Cam.” Phoenix says, grabbing Camren’s hand is leading them inside. Mica was the last in the small line of women and Jimmy stopped her.
“What’s your name lil mama?”
Mica looked him up and down, checking out his tatted, chiseled arms. He stands 6’4 with the prettiest teeth she had seen on a man. “Mica.” she finally responded.
“Come see me before y’all leave, alright?”
“Yeah, I got you.”
He winks at her and she turns to continue into the club where she found her friends watching her from inside the door.
“I see you, Mica. He fine as hell.” Tiana says.
The ladies follow Phoenix as she leads them to through the club. They traveled across the dance floor, around a huge bar and up a flight of stairs and glowed as they stepped on each step. They continued walking until they reached a huge section, with four bottles of Hennessy already waiting on ice. Coby was already there with a few other friends. He greeted each woman with a hug until her got to Ava. He wrapped his arms around her, grabbing her ass and kissing her. Phoenix proceeded to line up shot glasses and fill them with Hennessy. Each of her friends grabbed their glass, raising it in the air.
“Happy Birthday Camren. We love your crazy ass to the moon and back.” Phoenix says.
Everyone shouts, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAM!”
Tossing their shot glasses back, the women have begun their turn up. A few more shots and they were all twerking on each other and talking their shit, rapping along to every song that came on.
“We need a group picture.” Camren yells into Mica’s ear. Mica passes the message on, gathering all the women up near the balcony. Coby patiently waiting, and laughing, as they tried to map out their drunk poses.
“Can y’all c’mon?”
“WE’RE READY!”
Coby takes their pictures, getting every angle just in case somebody doesn’t like their face in the last pic. Because someone WILL decide on one that they don’t like.
“Send those to me.” Each of them yelled at Coby.
They continued to drink and dance. Drinking always gave Phoenix a bit more courage (and weed calms her nerves enough for her to be bold). She was also an I love you drunk and the feeling were starting to come out. She sat on Ava’s lap, hugging her. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Philly.” Ava smiles.
Mica, Camren and Tiana stood in front of them, “You don’t love us?” Camren yelled.
“Of course I love you. I love all of you so much.”
“We love you too.”
Camren pulls all of them into a group hug. “Thank You for my birthday.”
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As the night progressed, Phoenix found herself just sitting on the couch, babysitting her fourth drink, watching everyone around her. Mica joins her on the couch.
“You good?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’m just chilling.”
“Did you text your man, yet?”
“My what!” Phoenix acts surprised.
“YOUR MAN!”
Phoenix playfully rolls her eyes, “No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t-- I don’t wanna be all clingy. He just gave me his number a couple hours ago.”
Camren squeezes herself between them. “What are yall over here talking about?”
Mica looks at Phoenix, expecting her to spill it. She looks away, avoiding eye contact.
“Ugh. I’m trying to tell her to text her man.” Mica finally speaks up.
Camren pinches Phoenix, making her look back to them. “You have a man? Philly! Is he cute?”
“He’s not my man.”
“You want him to be. I seen how y’all was looking at each other.” Mica intervenes.
“We’re building a friendship.” Phoenix says trying to convince herself more than her friends.
“Those are the best kinds. But IS HE CUTE?!”
“Yea--”
“The nigga is fine, Cam,” Mica interrupts, shaking her head. “He thick too. He just screams big dick energy.”
Camren looks impressed. “Girl, text him.”
Phoenix sighs, processing her friends words. The two of them leave her be on the couch once again. She downs the rest of her drink because fuck it. Erik is about to get this text. She picks up her phone from the table in front of her, typing her message.
Phoenix: Wassup Stevens. Guess who?
------------
Erik had just laid down in his bed. Tired was an understatement. He had worked out hard, earlier that day. After his exchange with Phoenix in the garage, he stopped by his friend, TJ’s place. Catching up and playing 2k. He had cancelled plans with TJ to go to the studio with Phoenix. After a few hours of that and eating a pound of wings, he was home, showered and ready to sleep. That is, until his phone vibrated on his nightstand. He reached for it not really expecting it to be anything. A random number texted him with the message, Wassup Stevens. Guess who?
He knew better. Of course it was Phoenix, but Erik being Erik, he had to have fun with this. His sleep could wait. His thumbs moved around the small keyboard, creating a response.
----------
Phoenix watched as the text bubbles popped up. She bit her lip to stop her smile from forming and waiting to see what he is going to say.
Erik😛: hmm, 🤔this Tiffany?
Phoenix: Boy, you got me fucked up.
Erik😛: lmao. Relax, Im just messing with you. I know this you baby girl.
Phoenix: You’re an asshole.🙄
Erik😛: You dont mind it though.
Phoenix: anyways. Wyd?
-------
Erik had completely sat up in his bed now. He wasted no time on saving her number as ‘Babygirl’.
Erik: Been laying here, waiting on you to hit me up. You still out?
Babygirl: Yeah and my bad.🙈 Didn't mean to keep you waiting.
Erik: I don't mind waiting on you.
Babygirl: Don’t make me blush Stevens.
Erik pictured just how she looks blushing and that made him blush. His cheeks were becoming sore from how big he was smiling. Little did he know, she was looking like a complete dork, smiling at her phone in the middle of the club as well.
———
Phoenix sat in the corner of the club couch texting Erik until her friends were ready to go. They had all decided they would stay at Coby’s house for the night. His place was their usual ‘after the club’ crashing spot. He had plenty of space for all of them. Tonight would be no different. The women piled into Ava’s Jeep. Camren laid out on the laps of those who sat in the back seat and Ava sat up front with her man. One of Coby’s friends took charge of his car and followed him home.
Phoenix couldn’t wait to make it to Coby’s house to continue texting Erik. She kept her phone in her clutch. She didn’t want to risk one of friends seeing her texting him and trying to be all up in her business even more than they already were.
“Let’s get some wings.” Camren shouted from the backseat.
“Where in the hell are we gonna get some wings from at 2:30 in the morning Cam?”
“I don’t know. I’m hungry.”
“I’m hungry too.” Mica and Tiana said at the same time.
“Let me guess. You hungry too, Philly?” Coby asked, looking at her through the rear view mirror.
“When am I not hungry?”
“Y’all gotta be shitting me,” Coby drags his hands over his face. He looks over to see Ava passed out against the window. “Listen. There’s nowhere that’s open right now that has wings. I can take y’all to McDonalds.”
“YES! I want some nuggets.” Camren sat up, almost hitting her head on the top of the truck.
“Anything else?” Coby asked.
The women started shouting out orders.
“Large fry.” “Nuggets!” “McChicken with cheese.” “Nuggets.”
Coby headed to McDonalds to get their food and take them to his house. He knew they would regret this decision in the morning but he’d rather that than to hear a bunch of drunk women cuss him out over some damn Nuggets if he told them No.
It took forever for McDonald’s to fill his large order. The women whined in protest to how long they were waiting. They finally got the food and dug in without a second thought.
“And y’all better not spill shit in her truck. I’m not trynna hear Ava’s mouth about nothing tomorrow.”
Coby got them in the house safely and full. Each woman crashed in different areas of the house. By the time they made it to their destination, Phoenix had forgotten about her text conversation with Erik and passed out in one of Coby’s guest rooms.
————-
Waking up was rough. Phoenix could feel her heart beating in her head. She rolled around the bed, feeling through the sheets for her phone. The sun was shining bright through the window, so her task was tough with her head buried under the covers. Not having any luck, she finally got up, still in her dress, to look for her clutch. Somehow, it made its way to the floor at the foot of the bed. She took out her phone to see that it's just past noon and she had two unread text from Erik. She grinned big, swiping her screen to open the messages. She scrolled a bit to read her last response to see what exactly he was responding to because in all honesty, she only remembered a few bits of last night after her third shot.
Phoenix: So are you gonna tell me your reasons for picking the tongue out emoji?
Erik😛: You’re not ready to find that out yet.
Erik😛: lol, you must be KO. Hope you had fun baby girl. Text me when you get up.
Phoenix couldn’t contain her excitement that they were actually texting each other now. No more waiting to just see him on the elevators. Her excitement took a turn when her head started spinning. She felt a knot in her throat. She tried to swallow it back down but there was no stopping it. She had to find a toilet, NOW! She ran into the guest bathroom, throwing up last nights drunk food. She leaned over the toilet, chastising herself. Finally sure that she got it all out, she got up to slowly walk her body out into the hallway. Since Coby’s house is their go to after the club, Coby started keeping a change of clothes for them. She made her way to the hall closet where he kept, t-shirts, leggings, etc along with towels. She picked out a fresh set of clothes and towels and went back into the guest bathroom and showered.
Phoenix got dressed and put her hair up into a top knot bun and went downstairs to find everyone else. She found Coby and Ava in the kitchen. Mica was still asleep in the living room, on the couch. The birthday girl and Tiana were somewhere, probably still asleep.
“Morning.” Coby said. His voice sounded like he was speaking in a megaphone.
“Morning.” she whined.
“C’mon over here,” He motioned to the car seat next to Ava, who was leaning over her arm. “I’ll make you some coffee too.”
Phoenix joined them, laying her head down over her hands. Coby started making her some coffee. He placed the creamer and sugar in front of her.
“My face hurt.” Ava finally spoke.
Coby slid a fresh cup of coffee to Phoenix. She added her creamer and more than enough sugar and sipped it slow.
“It’s almost one. I doubt we make it to brunch.” Phoenix says between sips.
They sat there in silence for awhile before they heard someone dragging their feet into the kitchen. “Morning.” They heard from a yawning voice. It was Camren.
“Morning, birthday girl.” Coby said.
“Stop yelling.” Camren said, leaning over the counter.
“I’m not yelling.”
“I want coffee.”
“Me too.” Mica says, joining them in the kitchen with Tiana right behind her. Coby went ahead and made all three of them some coffee. “Y’all need to eat.” He said filling their mugs.
“I want Roscoe’s.” Camren says.
“Tell me what y’all want and I’ll get it. I know yall asses aint trying to leave no time soon.”
Ava typed up their orders on her phone and sent it in a text to Coby. He left to get their food. While they waited, Camren, Mica and Tiana took showers. Ava and Phoenix waited for them to finish in the backyard, on the patio. They sat out there, both wearing a pair of Coby’s sunglasses in an attempt to block out the sun.
Phoenix remembered that she hadn’t yet texted Erik back. Her thumbs hovered over the phone until she could figure out what to say.
Phoenix: Hey, sorry. I was slumped last night. Good afternoon though.
The text bubbles popped up immediately.
Erik😛: It’s all good baby girl. You have fun?
Phoenix: Yeah. Feels like Im dying now though.
Erik😛: You eat something yet?
Phoenix: Coby’s getting us food. He should be here soon. Wyd?
Erik😛: Tell that nigga hurry up and feed my girl.
Erik😛: Im running some errands.
His girl? Phoenix didn’t mind being called his girl.
Phoenix: Im ya’ girl now?
Before Erik could text back, the rest of her friends joined her and Ava outside and they all started talking about the night before. Reminiscing on the fun times they had. Camren thanked them again for making sure her birthday was special.
“We have one more gift for you, Cam Bam.” Mica says.
“Yall have done enough. Stop it.”
“Girl bye. It’s your birthday.” Ava says walking back into the house.
“What y'all get me?” Camren looks at Phoenix and Mica. Neither of them respond. “Stop playing. What is it?”
Ava joins them again with an envelope in hand, giving it to Camren. “Open it.”
She opens it and pulls out a packet that pictures a villa and things to do on an island.
“What is this?” she yells out in excitement.
Tiana snatches the papers from her hands, “Girl, a vacation.”
“Are yall serious?”
“Mhmm,” Phoenix nods her head. “Five nights and six days in Turks and Caicos. Next month. All five of us.”
Camren started to cry. They hugged her and made fun of her for always crying. Coby comes back in with the food. He brings it outside to them.
“Damn, Cam. You always crying, bro.” he says, sitting the food on the table.
“Shut up. They got me a vacation.”
------------
Phoenix walks through her door, exhausted. She threw her body on her couch. What a day. Camren loved her birthday and her gift. Phoenix enjoyed her friends but let's be honest… people, including her friends, were tiring. Her social battery died hours ago. The relief to be home, alone in her own space. She laid there with her eyes closed, taking in the silence of her living room. Her phone goes off, taking Phoenix from her mind. She gets up to find it. She dropped all of her belongings on the floor when she came in and searched through her bag for it. Finally finding it, she has a text from Erik.
Erik😛: You made it in?
Suddenly, Phoenix had energy. She sat on the floor, bringing her knees to her chest. Smiling down at her phone, she responds.
Phoenix: yeah. Just got in.
Erik😛: wow, smh. Thanks for letting me know.
Phoenix: lol im sorry.
Biting her lip, she wants to do something. Her thumbs hover her keyboard. Erik hadn’t texted back yet so she still had time. Fuck it! What’s the worst that could happen?
Phoenix: Are you home?
The three minutes it took for him to respond felt like three years. Her palms were sweaty as she watched the bubbles pop up on the screen.
Erik😛: yeah. Whats up?
Phoenix: wanna come hang out with me?
Phoenix drops her phone on the floor. Her nerves taking over. “What the fuck am I doing? Am I doing this right now?” She asks herself. Her phone dings. She couldn’t open the message. What if he doesn’t want to? She picks up her phone, taking in a shaky breath as she swipes his message open.
Erik😛: 👀 yeah.
Erik😛: I got something for you too.
Phoenix: for me? What is it?
Erik😛: I’ll be down there in a minute. You’ll see.
Phoenix jumps up and picking up her bag and clothes from the night before, tossing them in her room and closing her bedroom door. She rushes back into the living room, turning on the tv. She checks her snack cabinet. She has plenty. “Okay...okay,” she says to herself. “We’re all good. This is gonna be cool. Just two friends--” her words are cut off by a knock at the door. She wipes her sweaty palms on her leggings and makes her way to the door. She opens the door and the site before her, snatched her breath. Erik stood there with his bare, muscled arms on full display as he sported a crisp, white fitted tank, paired with heather grey joggers that hung low. His dreads hung wildly over his face. She took in his seemingly flawless appearance piece by piece. Phoenix hadn’t realized that she was standing there, just staring at him until he waved his hand in her face, breaking her trance.
“Phoenix!” his voice boomed through her ears, flowing down into her chest. She squeezes eyes shut to regroup. She opens her eyes, pushing a small smile.
“Sorry.” she steps back to welcome him in.
He chuckles to himself. “You good, baby girl. You like what you see. I understand.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Stevens.”
He follows her to the couch. He digs into his pocket, pulling out a blunt. “This is for you.”
“Aw, thanks Stevens. We can smoke this right now, actually.”
He gives her a lighter and she lights the blunt taking a hit. Then another. She passes it to him. He takes a drag.
“So Stevens, I figured you could watch Steven Universe with me and eat Oreos.”
“Steven Universe? What the fuck is that?” he passes her the blunt.
“Only my favorite cartoon ever. It’s really good. You’re gonna like it.”
She gives him back the blunt and starts the show from episode one. She grabs a few snacks from the kitchen. “Look what I got.” She holds up two Martinelli Apple Juice. Erik holds his heart with a smile.
“You remembered.”
Erik had mentioned in the studio how much her loved Martinelli’s. She joins him again on the couch, sitting so close, their thighs were touching. As the first episode begins, Phoenix sings along with the theme song. Erik watches her with a smile. Erik reached down, grabbing her ankles and sliding her legs over his lap. She watched him, not taking her eyes from his hands as his fingertips trailed up her leg until he reached her thigh. He gripped her thigh and massaged it. The entire time his eyes never left the tv screen. Phoenix’s breath hitched as he continued rubbing the spot where his hand rested on her. She looked up at him. He was sitting there like he was just unaware of what he was doing. Something happened on the show that made him laugh and she watched as his body bounced with laughter. To distract herself, she stuffed an Oreo in her mouth and did her best to pay attention to the tv.
“Damn girl, you hogging the cookies.”
Phoenix had been cradling the pack of cookies, eating one right after the other. “Sorry. You want one?”
“Yeah. Feed me one.”
“Feed you one?”
“Yeah, c’mon girl.” He opened his mouth.
She slowly swallowed the remaining pieces she was holding in her mouth. She held the Oreo between her fingers, “You want me to break it for you?”
He cuts his eye at her. “Phoenix, I’m a grown ass man. Put the cookie in my mouth.”
She looked at him with a smirk. She would gladly put the cookie in his mouth. She giggled as she fed him the cookie. He caught on to why she was tickled and laughed himself. “You’re childish baby girl.”
“You said it.”
They continued watching the show and eventually ate the entire pack of Oreos. They were seven episodes deep when Phoenix found herself leaning on Erik’s shoulder. Her fingers were absentmindedly tracing his scars. When she noticed what she was doing, she looked at him, wondering if he knew what she was doing. Was he secretly enjoying it? He could feel her staring at the side of his face. He peeks over at her.
“What?” he asked.
She rubs her thumbs over her scars in thought. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
Looking at his arm, “What’s the meaning behind these?”
He watches as her thumbs move softly over his scars. He clenches his jaw and unclenches. Their eyes meet.
“Can I trust you?” he asked.
“I’m pretty sure if you couldn’t trust me, you wouldn’t be sitting here with me right now.”
“True. If I tell you, you have to promise me that you won’t look at me any differently.”
“I promise.”
He sits there for a moment, gathering the right words. Phoenix was patient with him. She knew there was a deeper story to him. She was willing to sit there as long as she needed for him to feel comfortable. She continued to rub her thumb over her scars in the hopes that it would settle his thoughts.
“Remember when I told you my parents died when I was young and I had to take care of myself?” he started. Phoenix nodded, remembering their conversation in the studio. “That shit changed me. It was nothing that I could do. I was ready to give it to any and everybody. But I was smart about it. I went to the Navy. I trained. I worked hard. I was the best nigga they had. When it was time to get my boots on the ground, I made sure I always hit my target and anything that tried to get in my way. Each kill became a mark.”
Phoenix’s eyes trailed down in arm. There were so many scars. That meant so many bodies.
“I was top ranked. I was given the name Killmonger because I had so many kills.” he continued. “The scars were my way of making sure everybody knew how powerful I was. I wasn’t somebody to be fucked with. I’m not that helpless little boy anymore.”
Phoenix’s thumb motions stopped but she still held his arm in her hand. He looked over at her, searching her face for any sign of disgust or hate. Her eyes met his.
“So you still do those missions?” she asked.
“Yeah. They’re a little different now.”
Phoenix seemed interested in what he meant. So he continued telling her how he is chosen for the top missions because of his skill. She asked about his parents and for the first time ever, Erik explained the truth about them. His mother dying in prison. His father being a prince of Wakanda and being killed by his own brother. The more he talked about Wakanda, Phoenix became confused.
“Wait… I thought Wakanada was like a third world country.” she said.
“That’s what they tell the world, but it’s far from a third world country.”
Phoenix sat there quietly, looking off at nothing. She pulled herself away from him in thought. He took that as her hating him.
“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you Phoenix.”
Her head snapped toward him. “It never crossed my mind that you would. I don’t think you’re a big, bad, scary person, E. Like you said, you did what you had to do.”
“Then why did you move over there?”
“Just thinking. I couldn’t imagine having to go through any of that. Here I am thinking my life was so shitty back in Detroit. Sure, it was bad but things could’ve been worse. You’re strong as fuck and honestly, I wish I had balls like you.”
A cheesy smile crept up on Erik’s face. “Nobody got balls like me.”
Phoenix looks at him with a straight face. “Wow. Here I am thinking we’re having a moment and you wanna talk about your balls.”
“You brought up my balls baby girl. I’ll gladly share them with you.”
“You know what I meant.” She said, hitting him in the chest.
“C’mere you little angry bird.” Erik pulls Phoenix back over to him. This time, he pulled her onto his lap. While sitting on him, she could feel his dick through his sweatpants. Was he free balling? It felt like all he was sporting were the shorts. This man was blessed. He moved his body up, adjusting himself. He had to know exactly what he was doing. Staying up there would be dangerous. She needed to move herself. So she slid her body down to where she is now pinned between him and the arm of the couch. Her legs are sitting on top of his. He gripped her thighs again. “You made me miss what happened so we have to start this episode over.” He picked up the remote, restarting the episode. Phoenix didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. The two of them continue watching Steven Universe like nothing ever happened. He wrapped his hand around her and she rested her head on his shoulder.
Phoenix had drifted off to sleep. Erik softly shook her awake.
“Philly. Wake up baby girl.”
Phoenix slowly wakes up, stretching. “How long was I sleep?”
“Not long. But it’s getting late. I’m gonna get out of here and let you rest.”
Phoenix lays back on his shoulder. “You’re really comfortable.”
Erik scoops Phoenix up in his arms. He picks her up as he stands and setting her down carefully on her feet. They share a smile. She follows him to the door to let him out. When they approach the door, Erik turns around and snakes his hand around Phoenix’s waist, pulling her into a hug. She automatically wrapped both of her arms around his neck. She took in his presence one last time. He pulled back and grabbed her chin. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on her cheek. Her body melted into his as she laid her head against his chest. “Don’t forget to text me about your show tomorrow.” he spoke lowly in her ear. All Phoenix would do was nod her head. He opened the door, stepping out.
“Goodnight baby girl.”
“Night, E.”
Closing the door and locking it. Phoenix leaned back on the door. She wanted so bad to turn her head and catch his lips with hers. Her brain now ringing with the ‘what if’s’ if she did. She couldn’t do this to herself. She was going to bed.
Tags: @lushloaded @abeautifulmindexposed @purple-apricots @missshae @lostennyc @tip222u @janelledarling @chaneajoyyy @thadelightfulone **If anyone would like to be tagged, please let me know :)
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