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“Speaking of smoking…” Tina whipped a joint from her purse.

“Biiiiiitch!” Carla screeched. “Where’d you get that from?”

“Don’t worry about all that. Are you smoking with me or not?”

Carla pursed her lips.

“What?”

“I have to work tomorrow!”

“Okay, your high will be well gone by then. And you don’t usually smoke until the seasonal breaks, so smoking this one little joint won’t hurt you.”

“You’re such a peer pressurer.”

The ladies laughed.

“What? That’s not even a word.”

“It is if I say it is.”

“Your students would be ashamed if they knew their linguistics teacher just saidpressurer.”

“I warn my kids about people like you.”

Aghast, Tina’s eyes widened, and Carla waved her off. “Peer pressurers.”

They fell out laughing, and “BMO” by Ari Lennox bounced through the speakers.

“Oh! This is my song!” Carla grabbed Tina’s and Chelsea’s hands. “Come on, let’s dance!”

The foursome made their way through the crowd of gyrating bodies to the dance floor. Circling each other, they grooved to the beat, shaking their asses and rotating their hips.

Men admiring their beauty and their moves also began to circle them. Seeing the ladies together gave the guys inspiration to ease in and dance too. The ladies didn’t mind it. Once the men did move in, they all danced, but Carla made sure to keep her space as not to be grinding on another guy. Ari Lennox had the entire club jamming to her cool tempos and R&B musical notes.

With hands up, the crowd easily grooved, leaning back and forth, fingers snapping, and some sang along with the song.

Colorful stage lights flickered across the club, lighting the party up at times and going dim at others.

Carla was having the time of her life. Her career was great, her bank account was in the triple digits, thanks to all the saving she’d been doing, and most importantly, she was in love with a man that took her breath away.

It was the ultimate dream come true—especially thinking about where she was a year ago, or even two years ago, trying to find another gig because of the tragic loss of her last one—being single and underpaid. Her power had been turned off during that fiasco, and because she was too proud to tell anyone, Carla slept in the dark, in her cold, queen-sized bed under as many covers that she could find.

Time had a way of revealing how your life could change in an instant. Carla was exceptionally excited that hers had changed for the better, and as the song began to fade, Carla did a little extra jig and pinched herself.

“I think I need another drink!”

Tina danced away from the guy trying to get freaky with her on the dance floor, and they went back to their table. The server returned with their shots.

“Ladies!” Tina shouted back at the crowd, catching Chelsea and Lisa’s eyes. She waved them over, and they promised the guys they were dancing with they would be back in a flash.

“Okay.” Tina handed them their shots one by one and lifted hers in the air. “This is to our girl, Carla, who found and fell for a boss!”

The women squealed and clinked glasses, then tossed the shots back.

“Whoooo!” Chelsea shouted as Lisa pressed two fingers in her neck and winced.

“Whew!” Carla half-slammed the shot glass down and took her fingers through her sandy brown hair. After her styling change, she decided to keep the look and began to get used to it, especially since Jacob loved her thick curls. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t continue to straighten her hair. But without a perm, her tresses would be a bouncing poof by the end of the night.