Kayla POV

The day had finally arrived!

She was moving out of her mother's house. The house she grew up in since she was a baby. The house her father once lived in as well. Things were going to be different now that she would be on her own.

Would she miss her mother? As much as her mother depressed her sometimes, she would miss her. She was her only child, and she was sure her mother would miss her as well.

"I guess I will see you in a couple of months when you come crying and begging to move back in."

Her mother did not lift one finger to help her load her things into Amari's little Honda Civic. Her mother wouldn't let her bring any of the furniture, her bed, or her dressers, so she ordered new things that would be delivered. She did not have a driver's license yet or own a car, so Amari volunteered to help.

She only had all her clothes and a few knick-knacks. It was a good thing her new place was small and she would not need much. Amari complained the whole time moving things into her car, but at least she was there. She even dressed down in cutoff sweatpants and a long t-shirt, pulled her pair back in a bun, and wore no make-up. That was a no-no for Ms. Maybelline.

"Girllll, ignore your mother." Amari put an arm around her shoulders even though she was seven inches shorter than her. "If for some reason it doesn't work out at your new place, hell, crash at my place. You don't need this kind of negativity."

"She means well. She just..."

"Don't make excuses for her!"

Once everything was loaded and secure in the car, she went to say goodbye to her mother and gave her the house key. She would not cry. She could handle this. It's not like when she went away for college hours away and they both cried. She was only twenty minutes away if she did get homesick. If her mother was ready to be nice to her, she could come to visit.

Before they went to her new place, and while she had Amari and her car, they stopped at Target and she bought an air mattress, bedding, towels, and a few items for the kitchen.

"Girl, you will need more than this, but I guess this will do. You know you are walking distance from my place as well."

Amari was downtown also, although on the other end of downtown. On a nice sunny warm day, it was a nice walk through downtown to get there. She looked forward to that.

Her building was a high-rise building with ten floors and she was on the fifth floor. They had already brought over several boxes on the other two trips, on this last trip, the trunk and the back seat were packed with things now.

"Girllllll, we should have hired someone for all of this. I am tirrreed!"

"I wish Sharynn would have come, we could have used the extra hands."

No need to complain now. She grabbed a box from the trunk, as Amari stood there, looking at her nails.

"If I break a nail girl, ooh..."

Her attention was off her friend and on the guy walking through the parking lot. He had earbuds in and looked as if he was talking on the phone. He didn't notice them there as he headed for her building.

"Amari, grab a box and come on," she told her friend.

"Damn, bossy! Sounding like Sharynn right now."

Amari grabbed a box and they made it inside the building just as the guy she eyed stood by the elevator and it opened. He was gorgeous! As she watched him, she nearly tripped over her feet and the box she held tumbled to the ground. It was a good thing it was not breakables.

The guy immediately turned to see what was going on and embarrassment crept over her face.

"Let me help you with that," a nice, deep voice said and he went to scoop up her box.

"Wow! What a perfect gentleman!" Amari shouted out way too loud.

Amari was already in flirt mode and she wanted to scream, "I saw him first!" What good would that do? Someone as handsome as him would never go for someone like her. To her, he was a nice guy to look at, but totally not her type. Light brown color with gold tones in his skin, he looked like sunshine. Thick eyebrows, hazel brown eyes, thick lips, and a nicely trimmed mustache. His hair in long locs down his back. They were so sexy. She also noticed tattoos all over both arms, and it looked like he worked out.

So out of her league.

"No problem ladies," was his reply.

"So you live in the building?" Amari asked.

She internally groaned wishing to disappear from Amari and her flirting.

"Yeah, y'all moving in?"

"Not me, her," Amari said with a nod at her.

He finally turned to look at her and grinned. "That's what's up. Aye, what floor? I'll help you with your stuff if you need me to."

"No, that's- "

"That would be perfect!" Amari offered as they all stepped into the elevator.

Why did she have a friend like Amari that got all the guy's attention? The two of them looked perfect together. Amari was short and petite, while he was tall and slim. After catching and releasing a guy like Calvin, there was no stopping her with hot boys.

"My name's Isom, by the way." He looked at her but she didn't know what she was supposed to say to that. "You have a name?"

"Oh...sorry, Kayla."

"Short for Makayla?"

"No...just Kayla."

"I'm Amari the superstar!" Amari had to bring the attention to herself again. "Kayla is one of my besties. We go way back. And oh, I don't live far from y'all so I will be visiting a lot."

She rolled her eyes at her friend. Amari had to take the good ones, not that she had a chance.

They made it to the fifth floor and he let them exit first. Since she had no box in her arms, she was able to open her door and let them in. She should have been embarrassed there was little furniture in her place, only boxes, and bags, but at this point, she did not care. Who was she trying to impress? A guy that was about to date her best friend?

"Hey, if you really want to help, we have more things downstairs in my car," Amari said, smiling as she checked his backside. "Oh, lots and lots of things."

He placed his box on top of another box and then turned to her.

"Sure, I need to run to my apartment right quick, then I can meet you downstairs."

He looked at her when he said this, so she did not hesitate to reply. "Sure, thanks so much."

"And I'm apartment 905 if you ever need to stop by, for anything...or need help getting situated, or...you know, anything."

He smiled, stood there a moment watching her, then turned to leave. She closed the door behind him as Amari let out a squeal.

"Girlllll! That man is fine!"

"I noticed," she said, distracting herself by sliding boxes to the corner. It hurt to see a guy like that pass her over again.

"What are you going to do with all that man living here?"

"You mean, what are you going to do? Sleep with him and kick him out of your bed like Calvin?" She felt bad saying that to her friend but she was annoyed right now.

"Whaaaat? The shade! First of all, mind yo business, the Calvin thing was on me. Secondly, I don't want the man, the man wants you!"

"What are you talking about? You flirted with the man with no shame. He's so your type, pretty hazel eyes and all."

Amari laughed at her but she didn't find it funny.

"Listen girlfriend...to the words that are coming out of my mouth! He's not interested in me, he's interested in you."

"Yeah, sure."

"Da fuck? Do you not have eyes, Kayla? The man has been eyeing you since you so casually dropped that box to get his attention. Yeah, girl, the shit worked because he's all over you. He stared at you the whole ride in the elevator. He barely even looked at me."

She did not notice any of that.

"Now fix your face so we can go down here and you step up your flirt game and catch your man."

"Amari, he's hardly my type. I can't do guys that look like they walked a fashion runway or something. He's visually perfect."

"Hey, from my experience, it's the pretty boys that are the least perfect. Trust me, something gonna be wrong with him. Until then, just enjoy."

She wondered if Amari was right. That Isom could be interested in her? With her messy hair in a ponytail, oversized sweatpants, and wrinkled t-shirt? She was shocked Amari let her go out in public with her looking a mess. Then again, they both were in sweats and had been moving all day.

Maybe he saw something she did not see.

Either way, there was no way she could date the hot guy on the ninth floor.