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Now that I was in college, I didn’t want her having to overexert herself trying to pay for stuff for me, she’d done enough. I went to school on a full ride, so tuition wasn’t a concern of mine. I was old enough to be able to buy my necessities so that’s how I ended up at Stax.

“What time she get off?”

“Three.”

“Shit.” I groused. “Chucky not gone let me leave early since I picked this shift up. If she can camp out until I get off, I’ll go grab her.”

“I’mma text her and let her know.”

“Okay.”

“How was last night?”

“It was cool. A different vibe than the day shift.”

“Better money?”

“Much better.” I laughed.

“Good. As long as you keep them grades up you won’t hear my mouth.”

“Thank you, mommy.” I sang.

“Ummhmm. Don’t forget your sister.”

“I won’t.”

After telling me she loved me and how proud she was of me, my mama left out the bathroom, leaving me to finish getting dressed. When I finished with my shower I slipped on some tights and a t-shirt and stuffed my uniform in my duffle bag.

Tonight, was going to be another busy night and if shit went how last night did then I was expecting to go home with a few thousand. By the time I was leaving my mama had already dipped out. So once I’d locked up the house, I hopped in my car headed to the club to get my first shift over.

“Nariah, what you doing here?” Shunta asked as soon as I stepped into the back.

“Remember I was telling you I picked up a shift for Chantelle.”

“Oh, girl I had forgot all about that shit.”

“I bet you did.” I laughed.

Tossing my duffle bag down I sat on the bench, kicked off my shoes, and pulled tonight’s uniform out of the bag.

“I gotta tell you about my night.” Shunta beamed.

“You ended up hooking up with ole boy?”

“Something like that.” She muttered.

“What that mean?”

“Well...I tried to get at him, but he wasn’t interested. I ended up linking with his manager.”

“Oh.”

“The nigga caked up too. He took me to the Westin and blew my back out.”

“Sounds like fun.” I teased.

“Girl it was.” She huffed. “Anyway, so I rode with him to drop Juice off at his house and he uh...he was asking about you.”

“Not interested, Shunta.”

“I know.” She twiddled with her fingers. “But I kind of told him I would give you his number and bring you with me to the studio.”

I knew it was ‘bout to be some bullshit when she opened her mouth. “Now why you lie to that boy like that?”

“Oh, come on Nariah. All the man wanna do is get to know you.”

“I hear ya, but I promise I’m not interested.”

“He cool and not like the rest of them.”

Standing up I shed my tights and shimmied into the cheeky black shorts. “And you know that how?”

“We talked duh.” She stated, making me roll my eyes at her.

“Juice wants some ass, and I don’t have none to give him.”

“Girl.” She looked me up and down. “You got more than enough ass.”

The two of us fell out laughing ‘cause she was right. I had a nice sized natural ass. The kind that you could see from the front. Thanks to my mama the body was giving. All those years of playing basketball kept me in shape.

“On the real Nariah, he on you bad.”

“What nigga ain’t?” I tossed out. I wasn’t trying to sound cocky or nothing, but it was the truth. Juice wasn’t the only nigga that I’d ran into that was checking for me. Just like I wasn’t interested in them I wasn’t interested in him.

My lack of interest had nothing to do with me being scorned from a previous relationship or nothing like that.

I genuinely wasn’t interested in anything but my money and my education.

Unlike a lot of the girls, I worked with I had goals.

I was in school taking classes so that I could get into Mercer’s accelerated pharmacy program.

The entire program would take seven years to complete but when I finished, I would graduate with a Bachelor of Science in health science, as well as my PharmD.

The course load was heavy as hell, but this was something that I wanted more than anything and I had no plans on slowing down until I was walking across that stage.

“All I’m saying is Juice is on the come up. You could benefit from being connected to a nigga like him.”

“I’ll pass. I got my sights on something greater than being known as a rapper’s girlfriend.”

“Okay well if not for him then me. Come to the studio and kick it with me. One night off your normal routine won’t hurt you, Nariah.”

“You never know. It just might.”

“It won’t.” She chided. “If you do me this one solid, I promise I won’t ask for anything else.”

“Ugh.” I groaned. “What day you trying to go?”

“It don’t matter. Tito said we can pull up whenever.”

Halfway giving in to her begging I told her. “I’ll look at my schedule and let you know when.”

“You being for real or just saying that so I will leave you alone.”

“I’m being for real. I need to see what assignments I got coming up this week before I tell you what day.”

“Well, we’re both off on Wednesday so...”

“How you know when I’m off?”

“Bitch, cause I’m nosey.” She laughed and plopped down beside me. Bumping me with her shoulder she batted her eyes. “I can tell him we gone swing through then.”

“Girl okay. I’ll go but I’m definitely driving my own shit. You not ‘bout to get me there and dip off on me for some dick.”

Placing her hand over her heart she feigned hurt. “I wouldn’t dare.”

“I don’t know. You just might.”

Before Shunta could offer a rebuttal, the door swung open and in stepped Chucky funky ass. “Nariah, ain’t you on the clock.”

“Ummhmm.”

“Then get on the floor.” He barked before slamming the door.

I looked at Shunta. “Who the fuck pissed him off?”

“Honestly, it’s no telling with him. But you better get out there before he comes back.”

“I’m going.” Getting up from the bench I pulled my shorts out of my ass and checked myself out in the mirror. After making sure my edges were slicked back I put on my apron and left the back room.

Locating Chucky’s assistant standing in front of the bar I trekked over to her so she could let me know what sections I had.

Once I had what I needed I sauntered off to introduce myself to my first table.

As soon as I got them squared away, I was going to slip off so I could check on my sister.

I had to make sure I was out on time because I didn’t want her sitting at the mall longer than she had too.