Page 3 of Solace in Seven
She laughed. “I’m serious! Please snap out of it, sis. Depression is not a good look on you.”
“I’m good. I told you that weeks ago.”
“You’re forgetting I actually know you, right? Like, we share the same blood. And I know you got your eating pants on right now don’t you? Burn them shits, Cass, or I’ll do it for you!” she warned.
“Whatever!”
“Don’t ‘whatever’ me! I have not been bustin’ my ass in the gym getting ready for a trip that you helped me plan for you to be fuckin’ up all my pictures! Family or not, I will crop you out if your ass looks ugly!”
“Oh my God, you’re so dramatic!”
“And? It’s my birthday, and I need you there, Cass! Plus, you’re my cousin and my best friend. I don’t want you to feel like you have to go through things alone.”
“I just don’t want to be thinking about his ass the entire trip. Nor do I want to be the third fuckin’ wheel with you, Brielle, Shauna, and y’all niggas.”
“You won’t! I promise we will all still hang out just us girls without the guys, but you still have to come to St. Martin!”
I rolled my eyes. “Swear on Big Mama’s grave.”
“Now you know you wrong for that.”
“Do it.”
“Fine, I swear. So, it’s settled. You’re going!”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m going,” I confirmed. “Come hell or high water, I’ll be there with my vibrator in tow.”
It wasn’t like I had much of a choice. Depressed or not, the securitydeposit had already been taken out of my account, I’d already gotten the time off from my demanding tech job, and they’d so graciously paid for half the trip anyway. Most importantly, Lauryn’s surprise proposal was going down at her birthday dinner on our last night, and she’d never let me live it down if I missed it. The only thing that had changed was not having Omar by my side to share the three-bedroom villa I’d rented. I just had to wrap my head around a different vacation than I initially thought I’d have.Fuck,I thought to myself.It was happening, and I was going.
Lauryn chimed in, jarring my thoughts. “Why pack a vibrator if you can have the real thing? Just curious.”
I sucked my teeth. “Have we not just been on the phone for the past two hours talkin’ about my sorry ass ex? Have you not been listening? I’m off men forever!”
Even though I couldn’t see her, I could tell she was rolling her eyes. “Whatever, all I’m sayin’ is there may be some fresh meat on the island. Shit, you know what they say, the best way to get over one man is to get under another!”
I lifted my shoulder in a half-shrug. “No thanks. I don’t have the energy to fight for a nigga to love me anymore. I’m safer being lonely, it’s fine.”
“Then hang up the gloves, girl. And just have fun for once. You out here livin’ like you in your fifties and you’re not even thirty yet. You have the dream job, you have the means, and you a lil’ baddie or whatever. So, what’s the problem? You’re worth the chase so let a mothafucka chase you foronce.”
“If I’m even approached by a nigga on that island, I’m gonna tell him my relationship status is Netflix, Oreos, and these very comfortable sweatpants,” I said, referring to the pants she’d already threatened to burn once.
She sighed with a slight chuckle. “I swear you’re a lost cause.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make my flight to St. Martin.”
“Now you swear on Big Mama’s grave,” she repeated back to me.
I huffed. “I swear.”
two
. . .
Day One
Cassidy
I whipped my car into the first available parking spot I could find inside the terminal garage. Normally, I would’ve parked in economy parking for long trips, but I was already rushing to get to airport in the first place. I hopped out of the car and popped the trunk while snatching off my scarf and rubbing the indented line off my forehead. You know, the one that screamsI just took my bonnet off, but my edges are now laid!
