Page 1 of Her Marine
1
Journee rummaged through Kaydence's closet as her friend sat at her vanity doing her make-up. She had gone through the closet so many times that she always knew when Kaydence had purchased something new, and as was her duty as a best friend, Journee always made sure she borrowed it. She saw nothing new since Kaydence had purchased a new pair of heels two weeks ago.
Picking up the shoes, she looked them over. She hadn't gotten a chance to get a good look at them the first time she saw them, but now that she had, she could envision the perfect outfit to wear.
“I have an event I'll be planning in a few weeks, and these would go well with the outfit I want to wear,” Journee spoke, turning to Kaydence.
Her friend looked over. “You do know that my closet isn't a department store, correct?”
“Yes, but why buy clothes all the time when my best friend is a fashionista that can serve outfits to the gods,” Journee retorted with a smirk, and Kaydence laughed, shaking her head.
“Stop acting like you can't do the same. But sure, you can borrow them for your event. I will have worn them by then anyway.”
“Thanks,” Journee responded with a smile, placing the shoes back where she had gotten them.
She hadn't intended to try to wear the shoes before Kaydence; that wasn't how they operated. Neither of them minded the other borrowing something of theirs as long as they had already worn it first. Afterward, it was fair game, and their one rule was to return something they'd borrowed within three days, which meant they had an abundance of clothes, shoes, and jewelry at their disposal.
Journee had tried the same thing when she was younger with her sisters. But Aariah never was one to return anything that she borrowed, always feigning ignorance as if she never had it when Journee asked for it back, and Aryah would lose the item. However, Journee was sure that Aariah was taking them.
Once Kaydence was dressed, they went down the hall and into the living room to wait for the other women to pick them up. They were going out to some bar tonight. Journee wasn't usually fond of bars, but it was Zuri's turn to choose where they went, and that had been what she'd chosen.
It was also her baby sister's turn to be the designated driver though she knew Aryah wouldn't mind too much. She wasn't the biggest drinker.
“Season two of our show will be on Netflix next week,” Kaydence told her.
“I'm so ready to see what's going to happen. You can make us snacks, and we can binge it.”
“You just want me to bake you something,” Kaydence responded as they heard a horn blow, and Journee didn't deny her claim.
Once they were in Nova's Durango, Aryah driving, they headed to pick up Talia, Kaydence’s older sister, and Alivia. Journee had to prepare herself for the latter-named woman mentally. She had never gotten along with her. Even when she was a freshman in high school and Alivia was a senior. There had always just been something about her that Journee felt craved attention far too much and went out of her way to get it.
But because she was Talia's friend, Journee tolerated her in a group setting, though she never went out of her way to strike up a conversation with her. The opposite was actually true. She tried her best not to talk to Alivia, but it never failed that the other woman would say something stupid, and Journee had never been one to hold her tongue. If she had to guess, she would say the other women felt the same way as she did about Alivia, aside from Talia and possibly Nova and Aryah.
Like Journee, they all pretty much hung out with Alivia in group settings because of her friendship with Talia. It wasn't unlike how most of their friendships started. Journee had first begun hanging out with Zuri and Nova because her sister Aryah and Zuri had become best friends when they took dance classes together for a few years when they were younger, and Zuri was Nova's cousin. With them, however, unlike with Alivia, she had formed actual friendships.
They pulled up to Talia's house, and the two women got in. Journee spoke to Talia, though she would not go out of her way to be rude, so she made it sound like a general greeting.
The ride to the bar only took about fifteen minutes, and once they'd all gotten out of the car, Journee brought up the rear of the group, rolling her eyes as Alivia began talking way too loudly as a group of men walked by. She hadn't known she'd scoffed until her little sister bumped her.
“Try not to get into it with her tonight,” Aariah requested, and Journee would have been offended that her sister thought she would do such a thing if it weren't for the fact that it always seemed to happen.
“As long as she doesn't irritate me, then we'll be fine,” Journee told her with a shrug, slinging her arm over the shorter woman's shoulders.
“Her breathing irritates you.” Was spoken from the other side of her, and she found Zuri shaking her head. Journee couldn't even defend herself because, well, she wasn't wrong.
They had only been seated for a few minutes when Journee looked up and saw Axel approaching them. Her eyes slid to Alivia only momentarily to find her looking intensely over a drink menu. Turning her head just in time, she watched Axel kiss Kaydence as if he'd never see her again.
She didn't pay attention to what was said because one of the men in the group Axel had come from caught her attention, and from the way those intense eyes looked her over, she seemed to have his as well. When her friend’s boyfriend walked off, Journee noticed some of the men in the group placing money in his hand.
“I know he didn't just use me in a bet,” Kaydence stated, and Journee found herself trying to hide an amused smile, mainly because she knew that even though her friend tried to sound as if she were mad, she wasn't.
When Axel returned, he invited them to join him and his friends, and before any of them could say a word, Alivia had spoken for all of them. As if he'd issued the invitation to her only. It took everything in Journee not to roll her eyes. She followed behind the group of women, taking a seat in one of the empty chairs in the new area, and she could feel those eyes on her.
Journee looked on as her sisters attempted to play darts. She used the word attempted because they'd only each gotten two darts on the board in the several games they'd played. As she watched them, Journee saw Aryah’s hand slightly shaking as she brought it up to throw her next dart.
“Ryah,” she called, gaining the youngest twin's attention. Her baby sister looked over at her. “When was the last time you checked your blood sugar?”
Her sister thought for a moment. “Maybe about four hours ago.”
