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Faelyn sat at the table, her eyes roaming the kitchen as she waited for Grace to finish making her a fruit bowl.
The only thing Grace could make that she didn't fuck up.
She thought Hassan was exaggerating when he spoke of how much money Grace's family had.
It was now clear that he may have been under exaggerating, and she'd only seen the living room and kitchen.
"I'm thinking... grey?" Neriah suggested as she looked at home inspiration on Pinterest, "For the bathroom?"
Their application was accepted within the week that they submitted it, and now they were just waiting to sign the papers and pay the deposit.
"Love that. Grey and what?"
"White."
"Don't be a basic bitch." Grace scolded, making Faelyn laugh, "Do like, blue or something."
Her nose scrunched, "Why would I do blue and grey? That sounds tacky as hell."
"A dark matte grey and a light blue sounds tacky? Just let me decorate the whole house."
"Interior designer built ass. Show me a picture or something because I can't visualize."
It was a surprise that Grace and Neriah got along so well since they were completely different . Neriah brought out another side of Grace though, a side that she liked.
Grace thought of her as a female version of Josiah since they acted nearly exactly alike. She had fun when they were together, even if they just sat on their phones and ignored each other the whole time.
Faelyn ate her fruit in silence, watching them interact and wondering why Neriah never talked to her as if they were friends.
While Grace searched for a picture of what she meant, Neriah drummed her fingers on the table, trying to decide if she trusted Grace enough to tell her a secret that she'd been itching to tell someone for months.
There was only one way to find out.
"Guess who I'm somewhat dating?"
Still looking for the color scheme, Grace didn't even look up, "Who?"
"You can't tell anybody."
"Neriah, who am I gonna tell? You're my only friend."
"Not even Jo."
That request got her full attention since it seemed like something odd to ask, "Okay."
Neriah seemed to whisper the name, "Malik."
Faelyn roughly swallowed the grape, keeping her eyes on the table so they wouldn't know she was paying that much attention.
"Brielle's Malik?" Grace asked in shock.
"They're not together." Neriah explained, "Noah is just really attached to him and he doesn't want to move out."
Grace didn't believe that for a second, but Neriah sounded so sure that she figured she must know what she's talking about.
"Is that why you wanted to move over there? So you guys can be closer."
Neriah's smile answered the question for her.
"How did that even happen?"
"Okay so you also can't tell Josiah this part."
Placing her forehead on the table, she covered her ears, "Don't tell me."
"Just listen." Neriah laughed, "This part isn't so bad."
When Grace removed her hands, Neriah began talking, "I dance sometimes for extra money. One night Malik came in and saw me, and was like, "Let me give you a ride home"-"
"He gave your ass a ride alright." Grace interrupted.
"Anyway, we didn't have sex that night, but then he just started taking me home every night that I danced because he was concerned or whatever. One thing led to another, and we had sex."
Grace honestly had no idea what to say. She wouldn't tell Josiah because she told Neriah she wouldn't, but it still was a bad situation all around.
"You don't think Josiah'll be mad when he finds out?"
Neriah shrugged, "I'm grown. The only reason I haven't said anything is because Malik said we should wait."
"And I was over here about to play matchmaker with Mason." Grace said with a head shake, "I've been bamboozled."
"That was just to throw Jo off. I swear sometimes I think he fucking knows."
Their conversation paused as Faelyn asked where the bathroom was. After telling her, Grace looked back at Neriah who had a thoughtful look on her face, "What?"
"You think she'll say something?" Neriah whispered, "I forgot she was here."
Grace laughed, "How did you forget she's here and she's sitting in your face?"
"Because she was being quiet. She's never that damn quiet."
Listening to make sure Faelyn wasn't on her way back yet, Grace brought up a subject that'd been bothering her for a while, "I don't like the way y'all treat her."
"Who?"
"You and Josiah. He's gotten better about it, but I feel like you guys are so rude to her for no reason."
"How?" Neriah questioned, "We got a three bedroom apartment so she can live with us, and she's not paying a dime."
Grace couldn't put it into words what they did since they were never actually rude towards her, it was just as if they silently excluded her.
She took even more notice after watching the interns do it to her at work.
"You can just feel it, you know? It's in the air that you don't like her."
Neriah rolled her eyes, "I guess."
When Faelyn came back down, she looked towards her, "Did you come up with baby names?"
This was the first time Neriah had asked her about anything concerning the baby, so it caught her off guard, taking her a second to respond, "Um not really. Jr for a boy, and I don't know for a girl."
"I like Grace." Grace volunteered, "Grace Harris sounds nice."
"If my niece is named after anybody, it'll be me."
An involuntary smile appeared on Faelyn's face as she eagerly partook in the conversation.
