SALUBRIOUS

SB48

Dakota Smith

9:35 am - May 24th 2024

Since bike riding had a common fondness between the couple, they decided to do it again, but first Dakota was adamant about lathering Nas in spray on sunscreen. "Damn, Kota." Nas spoke in between the coughs he let out, signaling to Dakota that she used more than enough. Dakota slipped the small bottle of black girl sunscreen into her Lulu Lemmon belt bag. "You ready?" He quizzed, Dakota shook her head yes.

"Stay in front of me—I ain't got eyes in the back of my head." Nas spoke, causing Dakota to let out a small chuckle. His demand sounded just like something her father would say when she was a little girl. The couple began to ride their bikes along the designated bike trail. It was funny how some things were muscle memory. Before a couple days ago, Dakota hadn't been on a bike in years, but she still had all of the skill she acquired as a child.

"I used to be able to do a wheelie." Dakota announced, briefly looking over at Nas, who was lightly chuckling. "You was on some DMX rough ryder shit." He replied, causing Dakota to laugh.

"Hell yeah, I had to get on my mechanic shit too when my bike would lock up on me." Dakota spoke, lightly chuckling at the memory. "I remember them days...a nigga had stole my bike one time—I was 9 years old." Nas replied.

"Did you ever get it back?" Dakota questioned, Nas shook his head yes. "Hell yeah—I knew in order to keep the peace in my house, I had to get my shit back...that was the first fight I'd ever been in." He explained, causing Dakota to sulk a little bit. It pained her that a lot of his childhood stories had a very dark undertone to them, hinting toward the physical and mentally abuse from his father. During the exchange of stories, Nas' corresponding story was always a big reminder of how different their childhoods were.

"I put hands and feet on that nigga bout my chrome red bike." Nas announced, causing Dakota to laugh. In true Nasiem fashion, he made light of these stories by adding jokes. Though they were going pretty fast, they could still easily hear each other due to how quiet everything around them on the trail was. To make things even better, they were the only ones biking. "You think I could still do a wheelie?" Dakota challenged.

"Probably—you going too fast right now though, baby."
Nas replied, causing her to smile. She was sure that Nas' protective love stemmed from him being a father, and she loved it. In the midst of riding her bike, Dakota started to feel as if she was missing or forgetting something. The feeling racked her brain, causing her to slow down her speed on the bike a little bit. "You good?" Nas questioned, removing her from her trance. That's when it dawned on her that she forgot to pack her birth control pills, which meant she hadn't taken her pill in about 3 days, and she partook unprotected sex last night.

"I forgot to bring my birth control—I need to go get a plan b!" Dakota frantically announced as she came to complete stop. Being that Nas was a bit ahead of her, he stopped as well before turning around to meet her. "A plan b?" Nas echoed while stopping directly in front of her, "You don't even know if my shit gon' make it." He added.

"But it's a big chance that they will— I haven't taken my pill in like three days—and you didn't pull out during none of the rounds last night." Dakota replied while getting off of her bike and letting it drop to the floor. "Cause you told me not to pull out...matter fact, you locked yo' legs around me." Nas combated, causing Dakota to kiss her teeth.

"Nasism." Dakota sternly spoke, sitting her hands on her hips. "I'm saying, though...you don't wanna wait and see if you actually get pregnant, instead of dry taking the pill, while you don't even know if my shit made it and letting it fuck with yo' body." He attempted to reason.

"No—I rather take the morning after pill now, than get an abortion later. And I only have 72 hours to take it, so let's go." Dakota replied. Nas looked up at Dakota with his face scrunched as he held his goatee, "Abortion?" He echoed as if he was offended.