SALUBRIOUS

SB28

Dakota Smith

1:05 am - December 26th 2023

As bad as Dakota wanted to sleep, she couldn't. She was way too fuming to successfully close her eyes and fall asleep. Even after her conversation with Paris, there was still no text or call from Nas. Dakota thought about calling his phone and reading him his rights, but she decided against it, figuring that men only got a kick out of seeing you act out of character. If they didn't care while in the act, they definitely didn't care to see you make a fool out of yourself.

A knock on her front door made her heart flutter, she knew it wasn't anybody but Nasiem. Briefly, she went back and forth with herself deciding if she wanted to open the door or not. The sound of Nas knocking again brought her to her decision. Dakota pushed her feet into her slippers and traveled all the way to the front door.  "What?" She shouted as she looked through the peep hole. Just as she believed, Nas stood there with a gift in his hand.

"Merry Christmas, baby—I wanna give you your gift." Nas replied, causing her stomach to turn in disgust. "It's not Christmas anymore." Dakota blankly voiced, folding her arms across her chest, holding her robe in place.

"Why we talking through the door?" Nas questioned. Dakota walked over to her island and grabbed the last three gifts left before heading back to the door. "Be lucky I'm talking to your ass at all." Dakota answered as she opened the door, Nas attempted to step in but she stopped him.

"These Demi's." Dakota announced, handing Nas the large gift bag. "And this yours." She added, tossing the gift down the hallway before closing her door, being sure to lock it. Dakota trailed to her bedroom. Nas knocked on the door and called her name, but Dakota didn't bulge. She felt her eyes getting misty as Nas continued to call out her name. Dakota sat on her bed wondering if she was equipped for this life. She'd never want Nas to put her before Demi, she just wanted him to divide his time. The thought of a life where she came second to a child that wasn't biologically hers felt like hell. Dakota felt like she wasn't even coming in second, but third, right behind his baby mother.

Before Dakota knew it, she had tears falling down her face. From the corner of her blurry eye, she noticed that her phone was lighting up with a call. Dakota grabbed it to see Nas' contact name on the top of her phone, while a picture of them was displayed on the screen. Dakota answered the call and put it on speaker, rather than putting the phone up to her ear. "What Nasiem?" Dakota questioned.

"So you don't want your gift? And why you threw that shit down the hallway like I'm a dog or something?" Nas spoke. Dakota could hear the frustration in his voice, but she didn't care. "I don't want the gift." Dakota answered before ending the call. It didn't take long at all for Nas to call her back.

"Dakota." Nas spoke as the call connected. "Do you think that shit you did yesterday was right, Nasiem? You ain't talk to me all day but you gon' come parade yo happy ass to my house at 1 am like shit cool? It ain't!" Dakota fussed, still attempting to not lot her emotions get the best of her, which was hard. Dakota felt so deeply hurt, it was hard to hide.

"I wasn't on my phone the whole time I was with my daughter—that's why I left from over there and came straight over here." Nas explained, but Dakota wasn't trynna hear it. "You ain't think to pick up the phone and communicate that? It's Christmas and you didn't think once to tell your girlfriend Merry Christmas?" Dakota replied.

"Cmon, Kota. It was my first Christmas with my daughter, I wasn't trynna be on my phone and take away from the moment." Nas explained. Dakota ran her tongue over her top row of teeth as she shrugged her shoulders and irately chuckled. "It was my first Christmas with you too, but alright. I'm glad you had fun with the baby. You didn't have shit to say to me yesterday, and I really don't have shit to say to you today." Dakota calmly spoke. As bad as she wanted to hang up in Nas' face, she couldn't. She still wanted to hear what he had to say. Well, that was until she cut him off.