Naomi...

"Can you tell me already?" Celeste said impatiently, sitting cross-legged on her bed. "My legs are beginning to cramp."

I went to her house and told her I had some good news.

"I'm getting to it," I said.

"Well, can you skip the backstory and whole rundown of the day? I just want to know the good news!" she said

"Ok, fine," I said. I did have a tendency to ramble without getting to the point. "While walking around, I got a call from Iris Flores."

"That name sounds familiar. Are we supposed to know who she is?"

"She's a big journalist in DC. She works for Coppers."

"The Coppers?" my friend raised a brow.

"Yep."

"What does a big-shot journalist from Coppers want with you?"

"Well, she works for this new publishing company and..."

"A publishing company? Like the kind that publishes books?"

"Yes," I answered excitedly.

"Oh my god, are they..."

"They're offering me a deal!" I said

"No way?"

"Yes, way!"

Celeste jumped off her bed and onto me.

"You're gonna be a famous writer!" she squealed.

"Well, we don't know that yet."

"Yes, we do! Naomi, you're amazing. There's no way some company offered you a deal if you couldn't," she said. "Did you accept the offer?"

"Well, I have to go to New York for a meeting next week to discuss the details, and I'll decide then."

"Great!" she said. "And I'm definitely going to New York with you," she grinned.

"Of course you are."

She let out another squeal of excitement and headed to her laptop.

I wanted to be as excited as she was. I mean, I was, but there was a lot I needed to think about. Going to New York and accepting that deal won't be that simple.

"What are you thinking about?" Celeste pulled me from my thoughts.

"Huh?"

She pointed to my hands as I played with my fingers. She always says it was how she knew something was wrong with me.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"My dad," I answered.

She instantly shook her head, "No, no, no! We are not letting him get in the way of this."

"He's not going to be happy about this, Celeste!"

"And? His happiness is not your concern right now. Yours is," she said.

I started pacing the room, another sign that I was instantly bothered.

"What is he gonna think when he finds out about this?"

Celeste walked up to me and grabbed my arm, stopping my pacing. She turned me towards her.

"Look, you've spent all your life doing things the way your dad wants. It's time to do something you want," she said. "Suck it up and do something for you for once."

I could always count on her to set me straight. She was right. I had spent a lot of time doing things the way my dad wanted it, the way he assumed was best. But I'm 24, old enough to decide what is best for me.

"Ok, I'll do it."

Celeste clapped excitedly and headed back to her laptop.

Kyle...

"What up?!" I said into my phone as my friends' faces popped on the screen.

Myles' face lit up at my greeting, and Pax looked distracted as he walked through his apartment.

"So, will I see you again tonight?" he asked, looking offscreen, showing that smile that he swore could catch any woman.

"Of course," a sultry female voice said.

Of course, this man had a woman in his place. Myles's eyes rolled in annoyance.

"See you later then," he said.

The woman chuckled, and I watched his eye rake over what I assumed was her body. A second later, we heard a door close.

"Good morning, fellas," he said with a grin, his full attention now on us.

"You couldn't wait until she left to answer your phone?" Myles asked

"How else am I supposed to rub in your face that I'm getting pus-"

"Yo!" I stopped him in his tracks. "The volume is up, and I don't have my headphones."

"My bad. Don't want your new upiitty family thinking you hang out delinquents," he said with a chuckle.

"Speaking of your uppity family, you don't call us anymore now that you're with them?" Myles said, feigning hurt.

"Right! He doesn't call, he doesn't text, doesn't even send a little meme to let us know that he's thinking about us" Paxon added with an exaggerated frown.

"I texted you guys two days ago," I defended myself.

"All you sent was 'just checking in to see how you guys are doing.' And when we answered, you said 'Good,' and that was it!" Myles said

"Texting us like we're one of his little booty calls he's trying to string along and keep on the roster," Paxon added.

"Right!" Myles agreed. "We're not one of your little hos, Kyle!"

I couldn't help but laugh at their antics. It was good to see them agreeing, even if it was at my expense.

"Guys, I've just been busy getting to know everybody," I said

"Too busy for us?" Myles said, clutching his invisible pearls.

"He's putting the deadbeats above us?!"

"They must be growing on you then," Myles rolled his eyes.

"Well..." I said, and their ears perked up. "...not really."

"Man, I told you they would be horrible," Myles said, the tone was serious now.

I got up and moved to the far end of the bedroom, as far away from the door as possible.

"They're not all horrible. Anthony and Bridgette are still cool. They seem genuinely happy that I'm here," I started. "Anthony's dad seems impartial. I can't quite tell what he thinks about me being here. His mother has definitely shown that she doesn't want me here. But she's good at hiding it when we're out in public, and she's introducing her basketball star grandson to her rich friends."

"Of course," Myles commented.

"And his son, Aaron, that boy hates me. He doesn't even try to hide it when we're in public."

"Damn," Paxon said.

"I thought he would at least be excited about having an older brother," Myles said.

"Me too," I said." But he does not want me around, and I don't even know why."

Aaron's attitude toward me had been playing in the back of my head a lot. I didn't expect us to be best friends right away, but I at least thought he would be excited to see me, especially after finding out he played basketball, too. I felt like there was more to it all than I was seeing.

"At least everything with your dad is good," Paxon said.

"Surprisingly," Myles commented.

"It is surprising," I agreed. "I expected Anthony to be this horrible person, but he's not."

"He left you and your mom, Kyle," Myles said, not wanting to believe my words.

"He did a horrible thing. But that doesn't mean he's a horrible person," I said. "You know he came looking for me when I was 12."

I watched as my friends' eyes went wide.

"He did? When?" Paxon asked.

"Are we sure he's telling the truth?" Myles asked.

"He said he visited around the time my mom released that Hawthorne article and wanted me to come live with him until it all blew over. But my mom told him no and to never contact us again."

"Why would your mother do that?" Paxon asked.

"She probably had a good reason," Myles answered.

I had been thinking a lot about what Anthony had said since the day he came to my apartment. All I felt was anger, and I wondered why she would tell him he couldn't see me. I thought it was all out of anger and hatred for him. But maybe she had a good reason. Maybe it was for protection?

The only way I could know was to ask her, and I was not ready for the backlash that was bound to happen.

"Enough talk about your dad and his weird family," Paxon brought me back. "Got any interesting stories for us?" His brows rose as he smiled smugly. I knew where this was going.

"Can we ever have a conversation without you bringing up girls?" Myles asked.

"No," he admitted.

"Actually, I do have a story for you guys," I said.

"See!" Pax's eyes lit up. "It's a good thing I asked."

"Remember when I told you about Gold Dress," I started.

"Yes, but according to Pax, she doesn't exist," Myles said.

"Except she does."

"What?!" they both said.

"Anthony invited me to this Gala, and I bumped into Noelle, the girl I had hooked up with that night."

"Wait, does she know Gold Dress?" Paxon asked.

"They're sisters," I whispered.

"Aw shit," Myles said.

"Can't believe you're messing with sisters!" Paxon said, "I'm kind of proud of you."

"I'm not messing with sisters, Ok! And I didn't know they knew each other. She introduced me to her friends at the Gala and then introduced her sister, Naomi. Imagine my surprise when I realized Naomi was Gold Dress."

"So what happened?" Myles asked.

"We just talked," I said, thinking of that night. "She's this really amazing smart woman and..."

"Hold up," Paxon cut me off. "All you did was talk?" I nodded, and he threw his head back in frustration. "Man, you said you had an interesting story."

"Is this not an interesting story?"

"No, it's not."

"Kyle, what are you going to do?" Myles asked, "You know you'll have to pick one of them, right?"

I knew I had to pick a sister. The choice was an easy one. But I was worried about the aftermath. How do I tell a girl, "Hey, what we did was fun and all, but I didn't want you that night; I wanted your sister."" How do I tell the other girl? "It was always you...but I slept with your sister when I couldn't have you". I need to settle this. That party at the beach was enough proof that I needed to.

As I continued my conversation with my friends, I opened my texting app and started to compose a message to Noelle. It was time to let her down easily without the whole part about wanting her sister over her. 

I know, I know, it's been a while. Listen, I am a real life doctor now with a real life doctor schedule. It's really difficult to find the time and energy to sit and write something. For those of you who are still reading, thank you for the continued support. It's greatly appreciated. I can't promise you guys anything when it comes to posting new chapters, but I will try my best to get it out to you soon. Don't hesitate to shoot me a comment to remind me. Thanks again for reading!