SALUBRIOUS

SB10

Nasiem Fareed

4:58 pm - September 30th 2023

"Have a good day." Nas voiced as he handed the door dash driver the bouquet of flowers, she shot him a friendly smile and a slight head nod before walking out of the building. Now that he was alone again, he sat on the wooden stool before grabbing his phone and going to the Instagram app. Lately, Nas was noticing a lot of people that he was acquainted with in the past was following him and sending him messages attempting to catch up. Unluckily for them, Nas wasn't really too fond of that. He wasn't taking it personally, but he also wasn't pressed to rekindle any friendships. He only followed them back because he wasn't too Hollywood to follow people back.

Dakota walked in the room by way of the back, making her presence known with the sound of the ice moving around in the cup she held in her hand. Nas slid his phone back into his pocket and attempted to make hisself appear busy. "You good—ain't no need to fake occupied." Dakota voiced, causing them both to let out a light laugh. Nas appreciated how laxed Dakota was as a boss. She never micromanaged them, nor did she have super stringent rules. Nas watched as Dakota finished off the beverage in her Dutch Bros cup, before discarding of the plastic cup. Dakota then pulled a book out of her purse, she flipped through a few pages before stopping where her acrylic bookmark was.

"Didn't you read that book last week?" Nas questioned, causing Dakota to look up at him. "Yeah...why?" Dakota questioned back.

Nas shrugged his shoulders, "You must have problems with controlling the uncontrollable...you know, wanting to always know what comes next." He inferred.

Dakota slightly made up her face as she pondered on it, "I wouldn't say that, in my case it's not about knowing what comes next. But more so taking what I know from reading it prior to see if my stance changed—and it's always nice to go back and see if I missed any details the first time." Dakota explained.

Nas nodded his head, "I can see that point." He replied. "Yeah, cause control issue allegations is crazy." Dakota spoke, causing them both to laugh." You right, my bad." Nas replied. The doordash sound on the iPad went off, immediately catching his attention. He got up from the stool and threw himself into the task at hand.

"What's the book about?" Nas questioned, interrupting the second of silence that bridged the conversation. Dakota removed her bookmark and closed the book before handing it to him. "You should read it—if you ain't too busy." Dakota suggested. Nas retrieved the book from her hand and eyed the cover, This is how you heal by Brianna West.

Nas nodded his head as he flipped to the back to eye the summary, "I'll do that—preciate the recommendation, Kota." He replied, in that moment he made plans to start reading it tonight. He hadn't been doing as much reading as he'd like to, so this interaction felt like fortuity.

The sound of the door's alarm was so frequent, that Nas didn't look up anymore when he heard the sound. Instead, he continued to put together the flower order. "You working hard, or hardly working, nigga?" Wham's voice spoke, causing Nas to look up. The boys shared a laugh as they slapped 5's across the counter.

"Hell you doing in here?" Nas questioned while putting the now finished bouquet in it's designated spot on the shelf. "Trynna surprise Sevyn with something." Wham replied as he subtly looked around the shop.

"Dakota." He called out once he laid his eyes on her, Dakota smiled as she gave him a brief wave. "Did Nas invite you to the game night?" Wham questioned, immediately bringing it to Nas' mind. He remembered Wham telling him to extend the invite, he just forgot due to having a lot on his mind.

"He actually didn't." Dakota replied looking over at Nas with a playful grimace on her face, causing Nas to chuckle. "Shit slipped my mind—you doing anything Friday night, Kota?" Nas spoke. Dakota stuck her hand on her hip and looked up as if she was in deep thought.