June 19, 2018, 9:00 A.M

I woke up, yawned, stretched, and all that good stuff. Marriam was not next to me

"Wonder where she went?" I said to myself.

After I took my morning shower and brushed my teeth, I followed the marble floor road down to the kitchen, and even held my composure down the wobbly stairs.

"Huh," I said to myself, "That's a first". Then a song started playing:

"It's Friday, It's Friday, gotta get down on Friday!"

"That must be the doorbell," I said to myself. I walked up to the door and asked, "Who is it?"

"Let us in, we hungry!". I knew that goofy voice anywhere.

"Alright Bell, you got it". Him, Jonny, Marina , and Gretchen, with their baby, walked in. Bell immediately eyed our bowl of Jolly Ranchers.

"Ooh, Candy!"

He reached down, grabbed all of them, and almost gulped them down, but Jonny was quick on the draw.

"Don't eat that!" he flung his arms down.

"Why not?" Bell asked, arms outstretched.

"You forgot to take the wrappers off!," Jonny explains.

"Oh!" Bell said.

"Yeah, so where's the grub?" Gretchen asked.

"I didn't fix any yet," I told her.

"Fix it then!" She then made a "working" motion with her hands. "Chop chop" I looked at her sideways.

"First off, I'm only fixing for me," I explained, "I'm not fixing for anybody else, especially for some rude suburbia girl. Nothing wrong with the suburbs though"

"Hey buddy," Jonny said, "That's my wife you're talking about".

"You guys don't even love each other like that," I said, "You kicked her off a bus, my dude".

"It was just angry passion," Gretchen said, "We still love each other".

"Oh yeah?". I crossed my arms. "Tell each other I love you"

"Huh?" Jonny said.

"Just say you love each other"

"O-o-o-okay," Jonny said, "I, um, I love you Gretchen". He didn't even look at her.

"Awww," Gretchen said, "I love you too my teddy bear". She pinched his cheeks, making him flinch.

"Good enough," I said, "Anyways, why are you guys here for breakfast?"

"Oh, just a friendly visit," Gretchen said, "It's not like some racist jerks and the cops burned down our house because someone played a certain song in front of them".

"That was...oddly specific". I commented. Then "Friday" started playing again.

"I'll get it," Marina said, running to the door. Once she opened, a purple wagon with golden flowers on the sides and a soft, purple, carpet seat appeared. The words, "Black Queen" were painted in silver on the front. Guess who was in it? None other than Kimberly! Johnny slowly rolled her again, humming Beyoncé's "Flawless" to himself. He had a giant bag strapped to his shoulders

"All hail the queen!" Kimberly commanded.

"Hail her!" Johnny chimed in.

Now that's what I call love," I said. Johnny closed the door and and I asked, "Are y'all here for breakfast?".

"Nope, we brought our own," Johnny said. He unzipped his bag and pulled out some blue and orange tide pod waffles. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"The hell is that?" I asked, with my eyes widening.

"They're tide pod waffles, duh," Kimberly snapped.

"Can't that kill you?" I asked.

"They replaced the bleach with sugar," Johnny said, "A whole lot of sugar, but still".

"I'm not gonna lie," Jonny said, "That looks kinda good".

"Ah, Jonny," I sighed in contempt, "Don't join the pod-wagon".

"I ate a tide pod," Bell said, "They had to bring me to the doctors. It was too good, I couldn't handle it".

"Yeah, yeah," Marina said, "You know damn well that's not what they said"

"That's what it meant to me...MARINA!" Bell said, "Damn, can't a man get a break?"

"Not one like you," she snapped.

I walked in the kitchen to grab some french toast and Colonel Sanders Vodka, then Johnny asked, "Hey man, where's the hot sauce? They give the waffles a little...spice!"

"Ah crap!" I said, "I left it in the bedroom".

I dashed out of the kitchen, crept up the stairs, and started to run towards the bedroom. But when I passed the elevator, I heard something that caught my ear:

"You sure you want me to?" I heard an unfamiliar male voice?

"Hell yeah," Marriam said.

"I'm not sure, I mean, your boyfriend might find out"

"Trust me, he won't"

I got so furious that I didn't wanna hear the rest of the conversation. I burst in the door and...

"Hey Joshie," Marriam said, I looked at her and I felt so dumb. She was talking with a worker about installing something.

"It was supposed to be a secret, but whatever! I'm installing a lemon head dispenser! Just for you".

"Ah, that's nice," I said, "I thought you were....". I quickly cut myself off, not wanting to ruining the moment. But Marriam is not dumb.

"I was what?". Her smile faded and her eyebrows lowered.

"Um, nothing, forget it," I insisted. She wasn't having that.

"You thought I was cheating on you?!" Marriam yelled.

The worker chimed in, "Well, to be fair, the conversation could be misinterpreted..."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" She quickly cut him off, and looked at me.

"I can't believe you Joshie".

"Look, I'm s..."

"No, don't tell me sorry!" There was a red fire in her eyes, and she pointed at me. "I chased you around for two years, dated you for three, and you think I'm gonna throw that away for some ugly construction worker?"

"That wasn't necessary," he said.

"You can uninstall the lemonhead dispenser," Marriam said, "I thought you could trust me. After everything we've been through, you're still doubting me?"

I said, "No, I'm not..."

"Apparently you are. Don't you ever talk to me". She stormed out the elevator, leaving me there. I felt like a damn fool. How the hell could I accuse her of cheating like that? It's not that I don't trust her, but I get paranoid, and my mind automatically goes to the worse case scenario no matter who it is. Either way, it was dumb of me to even think she would cheat on me,

"You, you know your fly is unzipped?" The worker pointed right it.

"Man, shut the hell up!" I snapped, trying to cover it.

Elsewhere, Thomas, Grady, and London were in front of the local Starbucks, just staring at the sign like it was a precious painting.

"Should we go in?" Grady asked.

"Nah," Thomas said, "We gotta get Monica. Starbucks just ain't the same without her".

"Yeah," London chimed in, "I love when she sings about the coffee, man".

"And she sings so good," Thomas said, "They give us everything for free".

"She's like a walking coupon," Grady added, "We have to call her".

"Alright, let me call her up," London said. She unlocked her phone and a pirate video immediately opened.

"Arrr, who took me boat paddle?"

Thomas and Grady's eyes widened and their mouths dropped. London closed out the video and looked at them.

"What's the problem, guys?"

"I just never saw you as a pirate person," Thomas said

"Ugh," she rolled her eyes, "I told you about it before".

"I was busy!"

"You were eating chicken sandwiches!"

"They were delicious, I had to focus on them!"

London just said, "Whatever dude". Then she dialed Monica, and said, "Hello?"

"Hey, what's up?"

"We're at Starbucks, you know, your favorite place! You wanna tag alone, get some coffee. make the managers think we're crazy?"

"Ah, I'm just sitting in the studio just tryna get you, baby," she began singing, "But this song's so damn dope, girl it's hard not for me to blaze it"

"Damn, I understand. What do you want us to get you then?"

"Oh, just the usual peppermint mocha. And if that Jeff dude is there, tell him to stop putting his number on the side of the cup. I don't wanna date that dude! Well I gotta go. Bye!"

"Bye"

London hung up the phone, and reached in her wallet.

"Crap, I only have a five. You guys have any money?"

Thomas and Grady stood dumbfounded. Then the former tried to explain.

"See, uh, we thought Monica would be coming, so we didn't bring any money"

London turned to them and looked in disbelief.

"I guess we'll have to get her from the studio then".

The local studio was just down the street, so they trotted along the sidewalk until they got there. Thomas opened the door, and his jaw dropped to the floor.

"What...the hell?"

Monica and Kenyelle were working in the studio, but not on a song. He was holding her tight by the wist as they shared a rough kiss.

"Hands off my girl!"

Thomas ran up and threw a sharp punch at Kenyelle, dropping him on the floor. But he wasn't a fool. He got back and socked Thomas in the lip, sending him straight to the floor. As if that wasn't enough, he threw some loud jabs to his face while kicking his side. Monica walked over and pushed him off.

"Stop! This is crazy!" she yelled, "Can y'all just chill?"

Kenyelle backed off alright, but not before spitting on Thomas and saying, "Stupid actor".

Monica rushed over and got him off the ground.

"Oh my God! You okay Tommy?"

"Yes....I'm, I'm fine," he barely struggled to get the words out.

"Let's get you out of here," Monica said, "And get you some air".

While they were getting all of that straightened out, Mariah and her crew walked to the dance studio to get everything prepared for the night. But once they walked in, they were in for a surprise. The studio was a mess, with empty Minute Maid bottles, skittles glued to the ground, and the words, "Damn y'all" spray painted all across the walls. Mariah's eyes popped up

"What the hell? Who the hell did this?"

"Well, well, well," a voice called from the off.

"We should've known," Azyrea commented.

It was none other than Leque....I mean, LaQuinta, with a spray can in her head.

Emmani walked up. "Leque...."

"LaQuinta!" She jumped up, "My name is LaQuinta! Get it right, chickens!"

"Who the hell you calling a chicken?" Azyrea said, ready to throw hands.

"I'm callin' you a chicken, chicken," LaQuinta said, "We can bump about it"

"Let's fight stupid sucker," Azyrea ran up to her and struck her right in the face. LaQuinta stumbled a back a bit.

"You done messed up now," LaQuinta got back up but Mariah knocked her back down. She stepped on her and looked down at her wincing face.

"Get the hell off me!" LaQuinta complainted.

"Just tell why the hell you trashed our dance studio?" Mariah asked.

"Can you get your foot off me, damn," she demanded.

Mariah rolled her eyes. "Whatever, fine".

Mariah stepped off of her, then LaQuinta got up and dusted herself off.

"Look," she explained, "I'mma just be honest with y'all. I just got a dance studio, and it ain't popping at all. I tried promoting it, nobody came"

"How did you promote it?" Jada asked.

"I just slapped people in the face, don't them they can't dance, and told em' I could teach em'"

"No wonder," Emmani said.

"But I just need some help getting it started up," LaQuinta said, "Y'all gone help me or what?"

"You messed up my whole dance studio." Mariah said, "Get outta here".

"I don't know," Jada said, "We could help her out a little".

"This girl tried to fight me," Azyrea said, "Bump her ugly-behind dance studio".

"I see how y'all are," LaQuinta lowered her eyes as she slowly walked out. "Ol 'crabby, shabby, scalawags!"

While the group looked at her in confusion, Jada was in the back laughing.

"What you laughin' for, hoe?" Azyrea asked.

"She said scalawag!" Jada continued giggling and laughing.