𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐒

22 | mother knows best.

𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧, 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤
𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘺'𝘴 𝘈𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 | 2:22 pm

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"If I knew life was this ghetto, I would've asked God to keep me up there with him." Stony sighed and looked at the messages back and forth between her and her mother. After about two days since the message she sent her in Ace's living room, she finally responded back in the early hours of the morning, and Stony decided to write back to her.

It felt like something straight out of a Lifetime movie, except this was her actual life. Nothing could've prepared her for anything that happened next.

Ace did his best to console her for as long as he could while she anticipated a response, hoping to calm her nerves. He's been calling, stopping by her apartment, and even making sure she didn't need extra help around the store with her stress levels being so high.

Today was the day she was going to tell Junie everything that transpired in the past 72 hours. They were two different people, so she was eager to see how she would react to everything going on.

She didn't feel like herself at the moment. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion, or that it simply was a dream that she didn't wake up from yet. She was hoping that part of her was sleeping on Ace's lap, and that he would wake her up soon enough.

She let out a tense breath, getting up to pour the coffee she made out into the sink and washed her mug out. Freshly brewed but gone to waste. She couldn't eat or drink with the way that she felt recently. Pulling her phone out of the pocket of her bathrobe, she clicked onto Sheri's messages from the shop to let her know that she was doing fine on her requested time off.

It wasn't like she wanted to request time off, but Sheri told her it was best to find a mental break at the moment and then to come back to work when she was stable. If it was up to her, she'd be at the Lounge right now. But of course, she couldn't work and run a shop while carrying a burden like this on her shoulders.

She ended up texting Ace while she was on her phone and asking him politely if it was okay if he could check her P.O. box. Every day she was sent some sort of promotion or deals, or things from other brand owners themselves.

Stony ended up putting her phone on Do Not Disturb, only allowing access from certain people to make calls or text messages. Most of them were coming from her YouTube channel, which she ended up finally making her first upload of her vlogging and promoting it a little bit.

"Junie!" Stony yelled out, swiveling a little in her seat and looking at her door from down the hall. It was about ten seconds after, and she saw the door swing open, bringing her out her comfort zone.

"Girl I was in there knocked out, this better be some good news!" She said leaning over the kitchen counter and laughing a bit.

Stony furrowed her eyebrows a little bit. "Sleep at two in the afternoon? What time did you get in last night with Ace's cousins?"

She shrugged. "Probably like three. In my defense, we lost track of time at Nique's crib." She held her hands up, not wanting to hear a lecture from her sister --- but instead just received a low 'ok' from her lips.

"Okay? That's it? You'd usually be chewing me out. You and grandpa Ace." Junie plastered a confused expression on her face as she sat down next to her, sensing that something wasn't alright.

"I need to talk to you about something important." Her breath became a little shaky as Junie gave her full attention.

"Spill."