As soon as they were no longer paying attention to me, I leaned near Giani’s shoulder and whispered, “Why does everybody keep looking at me like that?”
“Calm down, girl. Your ass is just paranoid. People are just happy to see you. That’s all,” she replied, shaking her head at me, and I decided to take her word for it.
The waitress quickly placed menus in front of us.
“Your bottles should be out shortly,” she explained loudly over the music. “Did y’all wanna start with drinks first?”
“Lemon drops,” Giani answered immediately before looking toward me expectantly. “And bring her one too.”
“I’m good,” I replied.
Giani frowned. “Why?”
“I don’t really need to be spending money in here,” I admitted. “The little bit I got has to go toward more important shit.”
“Ew,” Giani groaned dramatically. “Girl, I’m gonna have to get you on with my job because me and broke bitches don’t get along.”
She and the girls around us laughed, but my expression hardened immediately. I didn’t see a damn thing funny, and right then, I remembered something else about myself.
I never played with bitches.
“Y’all laughing a little too hard. Let’s see how funny shit gets when I start slapping bitches in this section,” I said flatly, looking from Giani to the rest of the table.
The laughter died down quickly, and Giani threw her head back laughing harder while grabbing my arm.
“Girl, calm down. I was just playing with you.”
“Nah,” I replied, pulling my arm away. “My memory might be bad, but I do know people say how they really feel, then throw laughter on top of it so they can play it off as a joke.”
A real friend wouldn’t play with me to entertain a room full of bitches. They wouldn’t throw slick comments, then laugh afterward to make disrespect look harmless.
I’d learned that people would embarrass you in public, then expect you to swallow it so everybody else could stay comfortable. But I wasn’t that girl. I checked energy before people ever got comfortable playing with me.
And that was also something new I’d learned about myself, and I could respect it.
Giani stared at me for a second, then burst out laughing again. “There she goes,” she cackled, pointing at me. “That’s exactly how your ass used to act.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I had a reason.”
“Or maybe your ass was just mean as hell,” one of the girls muttered under her breath.
My eyes slid toward her instantly. “Maybe you should keep it cute if you wanna leave this club with your teeth still in your mouth,” I replied calmly.
The entire table went quiet again.
Then Giani nearly folded over laughing.
“Okay, okay,” she said, wiping beneath her eye dramatically. “I’m done. Damn. Everybody stop playing with Koko before she starts beating you hoes up in VIP.”
Despite myself, I laughed too.
And weirdly enough, it felt natural.
Like this side of me had been sitting dormant somewhere beneath all the confusion, just waiting for somebody to wake it up.
“But seriously. I’m sorry if I offended you. You’re my bestie, and I’ll forever have your back, how you used to have mine.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Cool. Just remember to watch your mouth.”
