gone. - DISCONTINUED.

{23}

Two days later, everything was fine. It was now December 22nd, and we were packing up what little we had and boarding the two jet planes that were sent for us. The hotel stay was nice, but with everything that happened still fresh on everyone's minds, we were all pretty much out of it. The guys concerned themselves with making sure everything was all set and ready in California and the girls tried keeping themselves preoccupied with anything that would keep them busy. Yazmin, who finally came out of her room and went in public, bought me books and let me borrow some of hers to keep me entertained. She was actually very smart, and it was sad when people looked down on all of the comfort girls. She's one of the only girls who graduated high school. It also made me feel some kind of regret that I could've finished and not have been here at all.

We were checking out of the hotel and standing in the lobby waiting when one of our trucks pulled up in front. Ferg got out of the driver's seat, and went around to open the other side door. I looked away for a moment and heard the lobby doors open to reveal the one person I've been worrying about since that night. "Lani!" I yelled out, dropping one of my bags and walking as quickly as I could over to her, enveloping her in a tight hug. She flashed a wide smile, hugging me back as Ferg came back over, separating us. "Aight aight, give the Blueberry some air." He chuckled as she flashed him a glare. She gave me another smile, hugging me again as everybody else came over. "Ya'll ready to go?" Twelvy asked, coming back in the doorway after loading the trucks. It was a murmur of yes's and head nods, and we finally left out around 10 in the morning, making it to the makeshift airport and loading everything up. The boys got there separate plane and we got our own, making sure I was the first one on the plane and the first one off. The flight was surprisingly not all that bad, it was nice to look at while I was awake for the first 15 minutes before I eventually knocked out. I did notice while I was awake that the whole ride, Lani hadn't said a word. But I was sleep deprived, which was a norm for me, and once we hit California grounds it was 10am all over again.

It took a while to get used to the weather, the atmosphere, everything in general. Of course we had another condo we did transactions from and a separate complex where we lived, which was different since we used to sell and live in one apartment back in New York. I wasn't offered a tour once we first got there, but I wasn't up for one either, so I found on my own where Rakim's room happened to be and fell asleep in there. It wasn't hard to find, who else would have the biggest room with the most expensive things in the room. Also, out of all of the boys, he was the neatest. When I finally woke up, it was around 5pm east coast time, but here in LA the sun was peaking and blaring in my face. I squinted, keeping my face in the pillow as I felt a headache come on, which I often got whenever I slept for a while and woke up. I heard the door open, and I didn't bother looking up to see who it was. "What time is it..." I mumbled and I heard someone place something down on the end table. They lifted me up and I saw that it was Laylani, and she simply held up two fingers, handing me a bottle of prenatals. I rose an eyebrow, taking the pill and swallowing slowly before getting up, walking with her into what was known as the new main room. It was similar to our old one, big television, game system, surround sound stereos and chairs, it was pretty much the same. Yazmin came over with plates of food and handed them to me and Lani, before sliding Lani a used notepad.

"So is nobody going to let me in on this notepad thing?" I started, it coming out in a more irritable tone than I intended for it to be. I looked around and saw everybody with puzzled looks on their faces, while Lani started on eating her food. "She can't speak." Yazmin said at last, her voice clear for once. "Well, not yet. Doctor orders, yes?" She mainly questioned towards Lani and she nodded her nodded, holding up 3 fingers. "Yes. 3 more days. Christmas Day." I looked at her and frowned. She shook her head, smiling. "She didn't want you to know because you're full of worry." Yaz placed a glass of juice beside my plate and the frown stayed on my face, but I continued eating anyway. "Okay...I'm not worried. I was just confused, that's all." I responded, halfway finished with my place. Yazmin smiled again before putting the dishes away, stopping to hear her phone buzzing. She picked it up and read it, tapping Lani lightly on the shoulder and showing her what was on the screen. She held up a finger and stood up, moving things out of the way in the room before walking downstairs. Yaz soon followed suit, before telling me to stay here.

"It's too early for this shit..." I mumbled, finishing my plate and my juice and getting out of the chair I was in to look around for myself, skipping out on cleaning up. I started with the left, peeking in rooms to see them already made up with decorations and picture frames and clothing, and I concluded these rooms were for the girls. He did tell me that all of them have been here before, so I guess they really weren't losing much. I wanted to see most of what was inside, but I respected privacy and kept on down the hall. The first three or four rooms were all bedrooms, before I reached two double doors. I pushed them open, seeing what was either a dining hall or a party room. Either way, it was big and had a lot of space. I gazed at it, seeing of course armory and weapons hanging on the walls, but they were more so for decoration rather than for use. I stepped back, going down the hallway in the opposite direction towards where I first came in from. There were more bedrooms, these I could tell were mainly for the boys. I returned to the room I slept in, looking around more than I did before. There was a dresser with boxes of necklaces and rings set out, some of them open, and there was at least a dozen of them. The mirror was clean, the sheets were obviously expensive, and unlike the room in New York, there was a TV across from the bed and a master bathroom.

I noticed something that looked like a closet and I walked towards it, opening the door and seeing a case of stairs. I peeked up it, debating on if I should go in or invade his privacy, but my curiosity overcame me this time. I crept up the staircase, seeing more of the room come into view and I sighed in awe. It was half a library, half a sound studio, with paintings on the walls and posters. I reached the top of the staircase and stood there for a while, taking everything about it in. The books were stacked neatly on top of the small shelf, and I noticed one was facing the opposite way, with the spine to the wall. I ran my fingers over it lightly, taking it off the shelf and seeing the first Harry Potter book. It was old looking, and I couldn't help but laugh at it. I wouldn't expect him of all people to be into Harry Potter books. I opened the front cover, and saw a messy note inside of it in Sharpie. I ran my fingers over the lines, reading it.

'To my little bro. Be something, nigga. -Ricky'

I stared at it, flipping a few pages and seeing pen marks pointing to all his favorite parts. I smiled a little, putting it back in the same spot and position I found it in before going over to the soundbooth. I saw a light blinking over the audio tab and I pressed play, slipping on the pair of headphones and hearing lyrics that flowed perfectly with a bet. I listened to it for a while, longer than I intended to, and got chills. I finally pushed stop and rewinded it back to its original place, setting the headphones down and leaving the light blinking. I decided to finished exploring another time and headed back downstairs, closing the door and leaving everything how it was before going back into the main room, entertaining myself with one of the books Yazmin gave me. I was so into the novel that I didn't hear the door open, and I looked up to hear groaning and huffing from the hallway, I set the book down, confused as Nast and Rakim came in the room, carrying a tree. I waited until they set it down right, doubled over for a sec before pulling off their hoodies. "Um." I blinked. "What is this?" I pointed at the tree, seeing pine needles all over the floor. "You wanted a Christmas, right?" Rakim huffed, going back down the hall to get boxes from everyone else. I glanced to Nast with wide eyes and he shrugged, going to grab a beer from the kitchen. I saw everyone walk back in with boxes full of ornaments and decorations as he leaned up, placing the star on the tree. The girls started on hanging everything up and putting things on the tree while he sat down, still catching his breath. I kept my eyes on them, widened as I gripped my book.

"Now," He started, leaning back and watching them. "Don't ever say you don't get shit from me."