☾° Compelled. ⌜ d. swing. ⌟

☾° › six.

「ᴏᴄᴛᴏʙᴇʀ 31st, 1991.」

Zᴇɴᴀ Pʜᴏᴇɴɪx.

"I can't believe you're finally twenty-two. It felt like it took forever." Faith said as she looked up at me from the comfort of my bed.

"Like it took twenty-two years? And plus, you said that last year. You say that every year. Nobody told your old ass to be born in January." I replied with a slight roll of my eyes and I let a soft scoff follow.

Faith had been in town for only a few days, and though I missed my best friend dearly I was starting to remember why they always say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. There was a reason we could never be around each other for too long. That's my girl, but she can be a pain in the ass when she wants to be.

"Whatever, Z." She waves me off as she picked up a magazine and she looked through it, singing along to the New Edition song that was playing on the radio. I looked at her in the mirror and I kissed my teeth.

"Are you just not gonna get ready?" I asked her, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked down at her outfit, which only consisted of a short red dress.

"I am ready. This is my costume. I'm gonna pop those devil ears on and call it a day." I couldn't help but to laugh at my best friend, due to how completely serious she was. "Now, let me see your costume. Since you wanna go all out this year." She asked, motioning for me to go in the closet.

"I told you DeVante surprised me with this costume. I came in my room after work yesterday and it was just hanging in my closet. He hasn't even mentioned it yet, actually." My sentence trailed off as I realized how unusual it was for De to buy me something and not be dramatic with giving it to me. Even when speaking of my birthday, he was making elaborate plans. He had given me a small gift every day of October.

I walked over to my closet and I pulled out the garment bag that had magically appeared the day before, I placed it on my bed and unzipped it to reveal my costume.

"Hold on bitch, what costume? This is a bunch of scrap metal. And you were talking about me!" She said as she picked up the rhinestone encrusted bra that served as the top half of my costume. "That boy just wanna see you half naked all night, he made this in his garage. But I'm not mad at y'all." She said with a sly smirk, raising and dropping her eyebrows quickly, I rolled my eyes and I shook my head.

"I think it's suppose to be a vampire queen or something. I don't really know. But I do know this headpiece is so damn phat."

"What's up with you and vampires all of a sudden?" She asked with a screwed expression. I looked up at her and I shook my head, deciding that trying to tell her that i was dating a vampire for the fourth time would be successful like the first few attempts.

In all actuality, the only time I would be reminded that I was dating a supernatural being is when my boyfriend would drink blood from a straw instead of ice water like normal niggas. Other than that, he was a regular man. Quiet, a little weird, dorky and reckless at the mouth. And I was quickly falling for everything he was. Every day was something new with him, and he never got complacent over the month that we had been officially together. He was a savant. But I expected nothing less for someone who had lived so long. Despite his difference, De was my baby.

"ZE-NUH!" Faith yelled as she waved her hand in front of my face, bringing the fact that I had zoned out to my attention. "Huh?" I answered with a tilt of my head before I shook it and snapped out of my thoughts.