"Amari, I think you should slow down on these drinks. You're drunk."Damita stood up and grabbed for Amari's drink.
"Mommy. I'm good, I'm not drunk."Amari laughed loudly, still sipping. She had started to talk and laugh loud. Her words were slow and slurred.
"Where y'all going, the party ain't over yet."Amari stood up and tried to dance, almost falling over. "Oooh shit"She clutched the table and laugh. She pulled at the hem of her short skirt and sat back down.
Damita stood up and grabbed at her daughters arm, pulling her up from her chair. "Amari, come on. I'm taking you home."
"Ma-a-a-a."Amari clucked loudly. "I don't want to go home."
"Baby. Just let her be. You were the same way on your 21st birthday." Amaru stood up pulling grabbing Damita's waist. Damita sighed and let Amari's arm go then she sat back down.
"Amari, where are you going after this?"Damita rolled her eyes at her husbands attempt to intervene.
"Jermaine will take me home."Amari looked at him and smiled. Erin made a face, she didn't like the sound of that.
"No, I'll take you home."Erin flared her nostrils and looked Jermaine up and down. It hurt Damita's heart that she knew what was going here, but she wasn't going to do anything to stop it. This was a lesson that she felt like her daughter needed to learn alone.
Amari rolled her eyes and started sipping from her drink once again. "No. I'm going with Jermaine."She argued.
Erin had took pursed her lips and took a deep breath. She couldn't say what she wanted to say. Not in this fancy restaurant, not in front of Amari's parents. "You know what, go with him. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Happy Birthday."
Erin grabbed her belongings and walked out of the restaurant, leaving everyone else at the table confused. Amari rolled her eyes and threw up her hand as if she was waving bye to Erin.
Everybody else at the table was confused. Before today half of them had no idea who Jermaine was and Amari had just made it perfectly clear that he was more important than they thought.
Amaru awkwardly looked around Amari's party room and grabbed Damita's hand. "Baby, I think it's about time for us to go. Amaru, Aaliyah come on."
Damita didn't move, she stood there and looked at her daughter before leaning down to whisper something to her. Amari made a straight face and nodded her head. "I'll do it tomorrow momma. I swear."She tried to whisper, but everyone had heard.
Damita and Amari shared a hug and a kiss on the cheek before she let her husband pull her out. The valet brought their car around and they all got in the car.
Damita was silent thinking about Amari. She didn't want her to be with Jermaine tonight. She was paranoid, because of what happened to her in the past. She didn't know anything about Jermaine, how was she supposed to trust him with her slightly drunk daughter. He could've easily been another Marcus. All she could do was hope and pray that she was safe because at the end of the day, Amari was an adult that was going to do what she wanted to do.
Amaru looked at Damita and grabbed her hand to calm her. He could feel her worried energy. He knew that something was bothering her.
Once stopped at a red light, he pulled her hand up to his lips and placed a soft kiss there. "What you thinking about?"
Damita sighed and looked up at her husband with a worrisome look in her eyes. "Amari."
"Baby, Amari is going to be fine. Relax."He rubbed her thigh. He always did that whenever he wanted her to calm down. "What did you whisper to her?"
