Chapter 1
I was lying on my couch like it was my job, scrolling through my phone with the same bored expression I wore every night after work. The house was quiet and my life had become a routine so predictable it could’ve been a spreadsheet.
I heard my door click open, but I didn’t move. I already knew who it was.
“Lori!” Gigi shouted, her voice loud enough to wake the dead.
“You in here, girl?”
That was Gigi. Always barging in like she owned my freaking house.
I looked up and saw her standing in my doorway with her hoop earrings swinging like they were trying to escape her ears. Her hair was styled in a sleek bob, and her body suit outfit tight.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Gigi, what are you doing?”
She strutted in like she was walking a runway.
“I’m here to do what you should’ve been doing for years. Find you a man.”
I rolled my eyes. “Girl, I’m fine. I’m good. I don’t need a man.”
Gigi scoffed. “Girl, please. You do the same routine every day. You talk like you're comfortable, but you lonely.”
I sighed. “I’m not lonely.”
Gigi dropped her purse on my couch and walked closer, grabbing my phone from my hand.
“Give me that,” she demanded. “I’m finna find you a nice man. A real one. Not one of them broke boys.”
I jumped up. “Gigi! Give me my phone back!”
She laughed, looking at me like I was a child. “No, baby. You need to stop playin’. You been single for too long.”
I crossed my arms. “There’s nothing wrong with being single.”
Gigi shook her head like she was disappointed in me.
“Lori, you too grown for this. You got your own house, you got a job in an office like you fancy. You don’t even have a dog. You ain’t got nothing to come home to. You do the same thing every day.”
I tried to laugh it off, but her words hit a little too close to home.
“So what? I’m happy.”
Gigi’s eyes narrowed. “You happy? Girl, you ain’t happy. You just comfortable. And you comfortable because you scared.”
I sat back down, refusing to give her the satisfaction of looking worried.
“Scared of what?”
Gigi leaned in and whispered like she was spilling a secret.
“Scared of love.”
I threw a pillow at her, just to distract her from her own mouth.
“Don’t bring that up.”
Gigi dodged the pillow like it was nothing and laughed.
“Oh no, we going down memory lane, Lori. You remember Julian, right?”
The name alone made my skin crawl.
Gigi’s tone got serious for a second, and I hated how she could do that.
“He traumatized you, girl. But that don’t mean you can’t find love again.”
I stood up and backed away, my heart beating too fast. “I don’t wanna go there.”
Gigi waved her hand like she was brushing off a fly.
“Girl, you got to stop running from everything.”
“Stop acting like you scared of your own life,” she said.
I sat back down, feeling the weight of her stare. “I’m not scared.”
Gigi leaned over me, her hair swinging side to side.
I shook my head. “You always have something to say.”
Gigi lifted my phone and opened my gallery. She started scrolling through my photos like she was shopping for something.
“Girl, you don’t even got good pictures,” she said, shaking her head. “Look at this. You look like you just woke up.”
I watched her, feeling my face heat up. “So what?”
"Smile for me, girl.”
I laughed. “Smile for you? Why?”
Gigi didn’t answer, she turned to face me like she was taking a professional picture.
“Smile.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help it.
I smiled.
She snapped a picture. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
I took the phone back from her, but she wasn’t done.
She leaned in close and whispered, “You gonna put that on your page.”
I stared at her. “No, I’m not.”
Gigi shrugged like it didn’t matter. “Yes, you are. You need to get back out there.”
I opened the Dating app she was talking about.
Gigi hovered over me like a mother hen, waiting for me to do what she wanted.
Then she ended up taking the phone back and typed my profile status and clicked the post button.
She read aloud, loud enough for me to hear.
“Single 26-year-old looking for a hot white dude.”
I froze. My cheeks burned with embarrassment.
“Gigi!” I hissed.
She laughed so hard she almost fell.
I tried to grabbed my phone back and tried to delete it, but she was faster again.
“No! Don’t you dare!” she shouted, holding my phone out of my reach. “Let it sit. Let the world see what you really want.”
I stared at her. “What I want?”
Gigi smirked. “You been with black brothers. You never been with a white chocolate.”
She kept going, her voice full.
“Try it out, Lori. See what it’s like. You might like it.”
I shook my head. “White guys are crazy.”
Gigi rolled her eyes. “Girl, everybody got they own opinion.
You don’t get to be scared of what you don’t know.”
I let out a small laugh, but it didn’t reach my eyes.
Gigi stood up, straightened her blouse and skirt, and grabbed her purse like she was ready to leave.
She handed my phone back.
“I gotta go before my husband comes looking for me.”
I blinked. “Your husband?”
Gigi winked at me. “Yeah, that’s right. Don’t act like you don’t know.
Just remember, don’t swipe too fast.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
She waved and walked to the door.
“I’m serious though. You need to live a little.”
She opened the door and stepped out, her heels clicking on my floor. She turned back one last time.
“I’m coming back tomorrow. And you better have a man.”
I shut the door behind her and leaned against it.
I went back to my couch, my phone in my hand, staring at the picture Gigi had taken.
I didn’t want to think about what Gigi said. I didn’t want to think about Julian. I didn’t want to think about anything. I just wanted to sleep.
So I went upstairs, changed into my pajamas, and laid down on my bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.
