"And tell me why I would want to do this?"

"Because you're my bestie and you would do anything for ya girl. I never ask you for anything, but I'm asking you to do this for me."

"No."

Nova walked away from her little sister asking her to come along and be a third wheel on her date with Malik's sister. As much as she liked Davina, she was not down with being a third wheel.

Davina was that chick in high school. Though a year under her and Malik, she was just as close with Davina. She admired Davina. She envied Davina. Davina always knew what to say. She always spoke her mind, no matter if her feelings were hurt. She was headstrong, she was strong-willed and she was unintimidated by anything.

She remembered Davina going out for Senior Class President at the end of her junior year. She had been Class President during her freshman, sophomore, and junior years, so it pretty much was a lock. Then some jock, football player white boy ran against her and won the popular vote. The boy had no brains for it, but he was a good-looking guy and admired by most of the school.

Davina was devastated. She remembered her crying right there after they announced the winners. She and Malik had to pull her away and comfort her. Running the class was her thing, one of the things she was known for and she was great at it.

"It's because I'm Black!" she sobbed, face a mess of tears, the little make-up she wore streaked over her pale yellow face. She had eyes like her brother, and the whites of them were all red now.

Nova dug into her purse pulling out Kleenex for her. She was too strong and smart to cry over this.

"Sis, fuck them!" was Malik's answer

She gave Malik a push. That was not what she needed to hear.

"Davina, this means you were meant for something greater."

"Like what? I wanted this all my life."

"No, you wanted to run the school. The senior class president is...well, just over the senior class. You deserve to be Student Body President." That meant she would preside over all the classes.

"But...the current Vice President is running for that, he's going to win for sure."

"Not if you take this seriously. Look, you went in thinking you had this in the bag because you easily won three previous years. You slacked up because you thought he did not have a chance. But this school loves you, Davi, you should run this whole school."

She rubbed away some of her tears. "Oh don't know. I like Luther who is running and we're friends."

"There are no friends in politics," she told her.

Davina ran a good campaign, not slandering her opponent who went there with her. Bringing up her loss as senior class president, bringing up her other activities that kept her busy, and focusing on everything bad she ever had done. Davina protested students' rights a lot, and sometimes they did not go so well.

But in the end, she won, in a close race. She liked to think she was the reason for that. Davina was doing something she could never do, taking charge of her life.

Also, Davina could sing like her brother and she was gorgeous. Guys and girls flocked to her but she did not date much. She didn't even know she was gay till now, or maybe she thought Noelle just wanted a friend date.

Her sister would be devastated. She had a crush on her since she was little and knew she liked girls. She understood how it felt to be crushed by a crush. She chuckled at that, but it was no laughing matter. She did not want her sister to feel that.

"Okay, I'll go with you."

Why had she agreed? She just needed to see that Davina was real with her sister, not playing with her emotions. It was not a friendly get-together, Noelle was already hyped up about shooting her shot with "the girl next door" even though technically Davina did not live next door to them. She visited her father some weekends, but not a lot. And Davina was a few years older than Noelle, surely she never thought of any romantic feelings for Noelle.

This was going to be hard.

She made sure she dressed as plain as she could, which was everyday attire for her. Jeans, a dark purple blouse, her twists pulled up in a bun, purple flats to match her shirt, no makeup, only a little Chapstick so her lips would not be dry. She did not even put on jewelry. Why? This wasn't a date for her, she was just going to meet an old friend.

Noelle was going all out. Dressed in her best clothes and a fresh haircut, she even wore some make-up. She thought that was against the stud rule? Her sister was cute, no matter how she dressed, and she was a good person, so she hoped Davina put her down nicely and they could all be friends again.

Could she be friends with Davina with Malik out of the picture?

She hoped he was long gone.

Noelle met up at her place because they were meeting at The Over/Under Bar & Grill which was downtown and not far from Nova on Washington Avenue. Noelle drove and found a good parking spot because spots in downtown St. Louis were a premium.

"Are you sure Davina knows this is a date and not just a meet-up?"

"What? You buggin' sis, yeah she knows this is a date."

"What did you tell her?"

"I asked her if she wanted to hang out with me sometime, let me take her out."

"And just like that, she said yes?"

"Yeah, ladies love me."

She hoped her sister was right. They made their way inside the restaurant and told the concierge they had a table reserved under Noelle-Yves, and they said their other two guests were there.

"Two guests?" Nova asked.

"Now sis, don't get so upset...Malik is here."

She was about to turn and walk out of the place when she heard her name being called.

"Nova! Nova, don't leave." Malik walked up to her. "I'm sorry I tricked you to come, but I needed to see you again."

She gave him a quick look over and damn the man was fine as hell. Why did he make her heart race every time she saw him? Why did her blood seem to boil as she overheated looking into those blue eyes? His presence made her momentarily forget about the heartbreak she had over Carter.

She snapped out of it quickly. "Why are you still here? Why are you still bugging me Leek, this isn't right. You and your sister are you using my sister's feelings like-"

"Whoa, whoa, keep me out of this! First off, hey girl!" Davina was at her brother's side and then hugged her. "Secondly, no one is using your sister Nova, but this bighead ass dude needs to fix things between the two of you. I know you care about my brother Nova, don't act like you don't. Now come and sit down so we can enjoy dinner."

Davina turned to Noelle and smiled. "You grew the hell up, Ms. Thang!"

"You still fine as fuck!" Noelle said.

"Oh come on now, don't give me a big head...I ain't my brother." Davina slipped her arm through Noelle's and they walked over to the table, Noelle holding out her chair being the sweet girl she knew her sister as.

She cut her eyes to Malik.

"I'm here for my sister, not you." Then she walked over to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Malik strolled over and sat across from her, his eyes never leaving her.

"You look good," he said to her.

She looked like a bum because she had no idea this would be a double date. Davina was of course flawless, her long curls down her back, her face perfectly made-up, and she looked like a beauty queen. That kind of beauty she wished she had.

She realized Davina made her insecure about her own dark skin and kinky hair. Just when she appreciated who she was, being around someone like her brought back her insecurities.

"November, are you still mad at me?" Malik asked.

"Don't call me that, you know I hate it."

"I love your name," Davina said. "November. It's different. And Noelle-Yves. Both different. Tell me about your name Noe."

"Means Christmas Eve, and no I was not born on Christmas Eve, nor was Nova born in November. Our mother just liked the names. I love mine."

"I hate mine," she added.

"I love it," Malik said, and she rolled her eyes at him. "Nova, I'm sorry. I am trying to apologize for everything, you have to give me a chance."

"Do I? You don't care about me Malik, if you cared about me you wouldn't have left and..." She stopped herself from talking. She had not told her sister all the details of their fallout and she had not planned on it. She hoped Davina didn't know either.

"Oh my gosh!" Davina yelled out. "Are you two going to argue the whole time while me and Noe are trying to get re-acquainted?

"Yes!" she stated.

"No!" Malik added. "Nova, can we just have a nice dinner and talk and get to know each other again? We haven't done that since we ran into each other. I missed you...and as a friend, I just miss you. Can we just do that, talk?"

He had a point. She never gave him a chance to talk and see how his life had been going since high school. She was so busy being angry with him, in between still having lustful thoughts of him. The man was gorgeous, she could never be a friend to him like they were as teens. Never.