Our waitress, McKinsey drops off our drinks.

"Love the high ponytail. Puts me in the mind of Ariana Grande." Penelope compliments McKinsey.

"Thank you, I get that a lot." McKinsey smiles. "Anything else I can get you?"

"No, this is great." Mia tells her.

I wait impatiently for McKinsey to leave. "Nora will pop in and out? I think the sister wife thing is starting to take form!" I snatch my oversized straw and take a long sip of my matcha milk tea filling my mouth with chewy tapioca pearls.

"Ha! Rico Suave." Penelope exclaims. "See, some men just can't be honest." Penelope puckers her lips before taking a long swig of her kiwi passionfruit boba tea.

"Uh huh!" I egg her on.

Mia interrupts and turns to Penelope. "Piña don't gas her!" She looks at me. "Girl! I told you." She holds out one hand, palm up. "Be patient and be fair." She holds out the other hand, palm up. "At the same time, don't get comfortable in this transition. And please don't overreact before you truly know what's going on."

Penelope raises her eyebrows in between sips.

"See Ari, you know all this stuff already. But for some reason, when it comes to Phoenix your brain turns to mush, girl." Mia frowns and slurps her strawberry watermelon boba tea.

Penelope pipes in. "She's right, Ari. Your conclusions!" Her hands touch her forehead, mimicking an exploding brain. "Always over the top!"

I stare Penelope up and down. "Wow!"

"Wha?" Her lip curls on one side.

"I guess ignorance really is bliss." I rub my temples.

"Pinche punta," Penelope says under her breath.

"Bitch, I heard that." I side eye Penelope.

"Aye, cut that out! Turning on each other isn't helping anybody."

Penelope rolls her eyes. "Look, I'm sorry. Just don't be calling me stupid, alright?"

"I wasn't calling you stupid, per se. I was talking about your 'oblivious act.'" I air quote. "I hate when you do that. Pretend you don't know what you just did. It's annoying." I suck my teeth. "But I'm sorry too. OK, Piña?"

Penelope sticks out her tongue.

I blow her a kiss.

Mia looks at me. "The main thing is, you got to keep your head on right, but at the same time, swivel when you need to. You get me?"

I squint. "Yeah."

"You got to swerve. Watch and swerve! Swivel and swerve!" Penelope pretends she's twisting and turning the steering wheel of a car.

"It's like this, Ari. Phoenix is in a tight spot, trying to please both sides. He's doing whatever to appease Nora, but his goal is you! And I get your perspective, he's in this grey area, where really only he knows what's going on. You and Nora don't talk. So, neither of you two know what's happening on the other side. It's an impossible situation, but if it's gonna work, you've got to trust him. Now I will be honest, it's a risk." Mia looks me straight in the eyes.

Penelope nods. "Yep. There's the risk he catches feelings that drag him back to Nora while he's trying to cut it off. Or everything can go as planned. But that's love. No guarantees."

Mia points to Penelope. "Right."

"I know. And that's what scares me the most. It eats at me. I'm at his mercy and the last time I was in this position, my feelings were the last thing anyone thought about. I can't afford to go through that again. I might lose it this time." I throw my hands up. "Like really, really lose it. Like off the cliff, oblivion, wake up the next day, tell me what I did, kind of lose it." I look back and forth between them.

Penelope and Mia exchange worried glances.

"You're in this now. And it's sticky. But you've got to chill, Ari. Keeping cool is the only way you can win in this situation. A hot head will lose every time."

"Chica, she's right. People get loco when it comes to love. I saw this one ID episode. Three-way love triangle. The wife found out and killed the baby mama!" She snaps her fingers. "Just like that! They found her body buried in the woods like a mile from their house."

My brow furrows.

Mia gives Penelope a funny look and turns to me. "Piña and her Investigation Discovery." Her eyes grow wide. "This is not that. We're not having that dark shit over here."

"Maybe she's right. That guy wasn't in love with the baby mama or nothing. Matter of fact, I don't think he even wanted the baby. Phoenix loves you and he wants his baby."

I point to Penelope. "Right!"

We all nod in agreement.

I look at all the black tapioca pearls sitting at the bottom of my matcha tee. "And this," I point at my drink, "is not my fav!"

Mia laughs eager to get back on task. "Told you to stay away from that tapioca boba. Should've listened. I hope you're listening now. Be patient, or you could run your knight in shining armor away, sis. Look at Piña," she says before purposely slurping her drink loudly.

"Oh, shut up, Mia!" Penelope pretends to feel sorry for herself. She turns to me. "You know me, Ari. I'm still trying to figure this love stuff out. I can tell you how to catch a man! But to keep him! Hmm. Apparently, that's Mia's specialty." She pauses, then whispers to me. "Supposedly."

"Heard that." Mia replies.

Both Mia and Penelope stare at each other like a tumbleweed has just blown across the café dining area and they're about to take ten steps back and see who draws first.

Penelope breaks the awkward silence, snapping her fingers as she tries to remember. "Ari, didn't you follow him to that dinner? What happened."

"Yeah, sissy. What happened with that?"

I dart back and forth between the two. "Hmm. Yeah, so . . ."

Penelope dips her head. "So?"

"No big deal. But—"

"Something crazy happened, I know it!" Mia interrupts. She looks at me suspiciously. "Spill it."

I stare at the impossibly chewy tapioca sitting heavily at the bottom on my matcha. "I bust my shit in front of everyone," I tell them in a rushed whisper.

Both Mia and Penelope start shaking their head and snickering.

"Girl!"

"Told you not to do that!" Mia closes her eyes. "Go ahead."

I let out a loud sigh. "I followed him. To the Chateau Luxury Hotel."

"This don't sound good."

I put up a hand. "I circle the block, then realize I have to pee. I mean racehorse, urgent, gotta go before I burst type pee. I valet my car and ask for their restroom. I go in. No problem. Rush to the ladies' room. As I'm turning the corner and walk down a hall, I notice a restaurant to my right. All glass walls so I can see inside as I'm walking down the hall. Nice right? Who do I spot as I'm leaving?"

Mia and Penelope exchange glances as if they're telepathically saying to each other "shameful!"

"I saw that look!"

"Continue." Penelope calmly prompts, ignoring my accusation.

"Anyway." I wave her off. "He's facing me and can literally see me if he just looks in my direction." I laugh uncomfortably. "I've got to get out there, right? So, I start speed walking for the exit. And I mean fast. This dumb ass, clumsy ass bell hop has a cart and he's directly in my path." I roll my eyes. "His cart is overflowing. I mean to the brim with suitcases and bags and stuff. I have no idea how he could possibly fill that cart with that many bags. So, he's walking towards me and spots me. I move to the left, he moves to the left. I move to the right, he moves to the right. Before I know it, he's crashed to the floor."

Penelope gasps and covers her mouth. Mia's mouth drops open.

"Everything spills out. Everyone in the lobby turns to look at us. I try to jump over the fool and my dumb ass foot gets caught on his shoulder. I come tumbling down, sprawled out with him and all that luggage." I pause as a flash of heat rushes across my face.

Mia stares at me with an unbelieving expression on her face. "He saw you, didn't he?"

I half smile. "Actually, that's the only good thing about this story." I look down at my hands resting on the café table. "He didn't see me at all. Never even suspected."

"I don't get it. He was in the wrong. Meeting that woman at a hotel." Penelope looks for confirmation.

"See that's the thing. Her parents were staying there, they just had dinner on site. It wasn't—"

"—what it looked like?" Mia shrugs, exasperated. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. You keep running into these situations head-first without a clue about what's going on. You gotta chill, Ari." Mia reminds me of mama. She's wearing that same motherly expression.

"I know." I let out a deep sigh and lean my head back. "I know."