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Briana

11:30 pm...

Stepping out of the bathtub, I pulled the chain of the stopper and let the water drain. I grabbed my bath towel and dried off as the clap of thunder shook the entire house. Once I finished drying off, I let everything else follow suite. I stood at the sink and brushed my teeth as the rain and hail beat against the window pane.

Once I finished, I put my toothbrush and toothpaste back into the medicine cabinet. "Hurry up in there Briana, I have to get in there", my mama said from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Okay mama, I'm coming out now", I said as I bent down and grabbed my clothes from the floor. I opened the door and my mama was no longer there. I walked towards my mama's bedroom and leaned against the doorframe as she sat on her bed and quickly took her rollers from her hair.

"You sure you want to go to work while it's like that outside? Why don't you just call off?", I queried as I balanced the clothes in one hand and gripped on to the towel wrapped around my body with the other.

She grabbed a sock from beside her and bent down to put it on. "I wish I could but I'm doing a double", she said before putting on her other sock. "I need the money", she said as she began to put on her tennis shoes.

I sighed."The news said that this storm was going to go into the morning, you gotta drive careful", I said to her who was done putting her shoes on.

"I've driven in worse conditions", she said as she stood to her feet and smoothed out her floral scrubs before gazing at me. "Does this look wrinkled to you?", she queried.

I shook my head. "You ask me that all the time", I said followed by a chuckle. "It's thin material so it seems like it's wrinkled when it's not, you're fine", I said assuring her that her scrubs weren't wrinkled.

She nodded before walking past me and heading across the hall to the bathroom and with that, a loud thunder clap sounded throughout the house. Lightning followed and lit up the dim areas of the home before the power went out for a split second. As soon as it came back on, I made my way to the bathroom and stood in the doorway. "Are you sure you want to go?", I queried as she opened the medicine cabinet.

"I'm sure", she said as she grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste out. "Seems to me that you're the one that's scared of the storm. Do you want me to see if it's alright for you to go to your grandma's house for the night?", she queried as she squeezed the toothpaste on to the brush before running it under the water.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not scared to be alone. Just want you to be alright, you know?", I said to her.

"I'll be alright Briana", she said before brushing her teeth.

"I hope so", I said as I leaned against the doorframe.

After a few minutes, she spit the foam into the sink followed by rinsing her mouth. Letting the water run, she put her toothbrush and toothpaste back into the medicine cabinet as the sink water washed away the residue. She threw a wash rag into the sink as she finger teased her tight curls.

"Have you talked to Tahari?", she queried which threw me off.

"No and I don't plan to. When she called herself putting her hands on me, that was a wrap.", I said in an exasperated tone.

She sighed. "That just doesn't sound like Tahari, it just doesn't", she said as she grabbed her wash rag and rung it out. "I hate that it had to get out of hand, y'all been friends way too long for it to just end like that.", she continued before washing her face.