ain't nobody fuckin' with my clique Who: Daniel & Aaliyah. What: Old friends reconnect in the Golden State. Where:A.O.C. When: Early Jan., brunch time!
Aaliyah carefully studied the menu, categorizing all of her options though she knew her heart (and her thighs) were already set on the fried chicken with cornmeal waffle. What was the point of brunch if not comfort food?
A waiter came by to set a Mimosa in front of her, to which Aaliyah thanked him with a dazzling smile that was matched only by the pearls strung around her throat. She had on an off-white sweater over a pink shirt, black slacks and sandals completing the outfit; she looked like a person who had unconsciously grabbed an outfit and ran out the door, except that every hair was in place, the makeup around her eyes and mouth nearly professionally applied.
One hand, nails painted the same shade of off white as her sweater, reached out to grab the Mimosa and delicately sip as she scanned the doors for the person she was meeting; her eyes went wide as she spotted him, folding her menu down and setting it atop her plate before rising.
"Daniel! Daniel, get that cute butt over here and give me a hug! Already making me wait for food, I mean, really." Despite the words, she was grinning ear to ear, the laugh lines around her eyes instantly stating just how excited she was to see her old friend.
One look at her and Daniel was grateful he had spent some time on his appearance. In black trousers and a deep red button-up—cuffs rolled rakishly up to his forearms, of course—he looked effortlessly handsome, though his artfully mussed hair hinted at the time he had spent working on himself. He strode past the hostess without a second glance, moving toward his old friend with marked purpose. His boots clicked on the tiled floor as he made his way over to her, a broad smile brightening his face.
"Girl you know you didn't have to wait on me." He threw his arms out and pulled her into a brief but tight hug. "And I see you didn't." Chuckling, he motioned down toward her cocktail. "You order one of those for me or what? Can we get a pitcher here? Maybe we should just get a pitcher…"
He took his seat across from her. "Don't you look good. California agrees with you."
Aaliyah settled back into her seat, making herself comfortable before waving at the waiter.
"One for my friend, here, and if you could actually just bring a pitcher? Thanks," she said, looking back at Daniel before the waiter had even had a chance to depart. Her fingers wrapped loosely around the stem of her glass, leaning slightly into the table. "And I didn't presume to order for you, young man, I wasn't sure how much had changed..." Her eyes went down as far as the table's edge, then back up. He grinned and arched a brow, watching her assessment of him.
"Though now I see very little did. And thank you, yes, California and I are on good terms at present, when the weather isn't drying me out. So, spill! How long have you been out here?!" She lifted the glass, bringing it to her lips.
"Right after high school," he admitted. "I had to get outta there. Get a change of pace. You know how it is. I got into UC San Diego and never looked back. My family keeps at me about movin' back home, but…" He shrugged. "Plenty out here to keep me busy, and I never bump into folks from my past. Unless I want to, of course."
Aaliyah had arched one brow, but then broke out into a smile at the latter remark.
He flipped open the menu. After a moment's perusal he looked up with a little sneer. "Chicken and waffles? I'm almost tempted to see how bad a swanky place like this fucks that up." He closed the menu, his decision already made.
"I was glad to hear from you," he said. "Been a while. How're you doin'? How's Red coming along?"
"It's good, really good," she said, straightening in her seat as the waiter brought the requested pitcher and additional glass for Daniel, setting both down in front of him. She lifted up the menu, offering it out to the man.
"Two orders of chicken and waffles," she said, and the waiter gave a little bow as he accepted their menus and disappeared. "On me," she added once they were semi-alone again, her gaze flicking back to Daniel's face. "If you hate it, you can blame me."
"Perfect," Daniel laughed.
"But anyway, it's good. Working on a European rollout—France first, maybe Germany next. Not sure about the U.K., with how they been actin', but a customer's a customer?" She sipped her mimosa, leaving a small imprint of lipstick along the lip of her glass. "What'd you end up getting up to?"
"Social work, believe it or not. I do transition counseling. Job training and placement for folks getting out of the prison system. I've been workin' with some of the social justice groups out here too. Marches and protests and shit, sure, but resources and training and all too. Even got an unarmed self defense class goin'." He flashed her a grin some might have described as smug. "Not as sexy as dating apps, I guess, but y'know. I feel like I'm doin' some good out there."
"Oh, good for you," Aaliyah responded, her smile wide and bright as she leaned forward to put a hand on his wrist, squeezing. "You were always great with those charity cases, no matter how hard I tried to talk you down from them. I guess everyone just finds their tribe. I'm really happy for you, but let's get to the important part—who are you seeing these days, Daniel? Because I do not believe for a second that you're just hanging around, waiting for someone to pick you up." Her hand retracted, arms crossing on the table as she leaned eagerly forward.
His jaw had gone tight at her couched insults, and it did not ease with this new turn in conversation. He knew she had seen it; she had always known precisely what sore spots to prod, and how to read his face when her words found their mark. He hid his burgeoning frown behind the upraised rim of his champagne flute. A few bolstering sips had him feeling somewhat better. The quickening of his blood was good for him; he had missed their sparring, as much as he often seemed to end up on the losing end.
"Nobody in particular," he admitted. "Just got out of a thing, had a little rebound, sorta playin' the field right now. Why, you tryin' to make me your guinea pig?"
Aaliyah grinned, one hand reaching out to spiral fingers around the rim of the glass.
"I mean, if you're offering," she said. "What was the thing, if you don't mind me asking?" She tipped more Mimosa down her throat, one brow arched in Daniel's direction.
This frown was something Daniel could not contain. He shrugged, a gesture that fell markedly short of the nonchalance he wanted to project. "Same ol', same ol'," he said. "Met this guy I got really into. I thought it was goin' somewhere, but…" A joyless smile crossed his lips. "He didn't cheat, but he did lie, and I fuckin' hate bein' lied to.
"But it's whatever. You didn't invite me out to play therapist."
"Aw, boo." Aaliyah reached forward with her left, grabbing up Daniel's hand without invitation and squeezing it. "You know I love playing therapist, so spill. What'd he lie about? How long were you two together?"
He nursed his drink a moment, his fingers interlacing with hers in a careless, familiar motion. "Not even a year. Like… six months? Maybe? I dunno. He was skittish as hell so it took a long time to even put a name to it. And even after we did, he just held a lot back.
"He was into some kinda shady shit, and I mean… look at the work I do. I can handle it, help him out of it, whatever. But every time we talked about it he'd tell me that was everything, and then I'd find somethin' else out, you know?" Daniel shook his head. "Now, I can't trust him as far as I can throw him. He keeps tryin', but…"
Aaliyah clicked her tongue as she shook her head, squeezing Daniel's hand once more. "Because he knew how good he had it, mhm, and now he's mad at himself for upsetting the apple cart. Well, sounds like you're done with him, and we're gonna get you squared away with someone better."
She withdrew her hand and reached for her purse, underneath her seat, and withdrew her phone. Daniel watched from behind his upraised glass, pointedly ignoring the sinking feeling in his stomach. "So, let's see," she said, tapping the phone to bring up the Red application. As it opened, she hit new profile and started filling in the information. "6'4", thirties, looking for same age, man or woman, prefer POC," the same white smile widened as Aaliyah glanced up to Daniel's face, and then back down to her app. "Fit, snappy dresser, highly motivated..."
"Great in bed. Make sure you put that," he cut in, only half teasing. In spite of the nagging discomfort he felt he forged ahead, determined to make good on his promise to himself to, if not move on, then to at least make the effort to do so. "Good cook, well read… is it gauche to put 'no conservatives'? Because if not, that definitely needs to be in there."
"Oh, honey," Aaliyah said, canting her head at him with a smirk. "No, no, it is not, and I do want sparks to fly, but not the kind where you end up getting arrested for putting someone in the hospital." She glanced back down to the phone as Daniel laughed, her thumbs flying over the keyboard as she put in the last few requirements he'd listed. Then she held up the phone, grin wide while her eyes focused on the screen, and said "Smile!"
She barely gave him half a moment before the sound of a camera snap indicated she was done. He sputtered his disapproval of this, but she did not seem to notice or care. She hit finish, and then leaned forward to start scrolling through the first batch of potential partners that the algorithm spat up.
"Not bad, huh? And," she said, glancing at him while indicating a star rating for each. "This is just on your end, but rate the dates, conversations, whatever, and it helps fine tune the process. Gotta start somewhere, right? But believe me, it's already gotten so good." She left the phone on the table for him to peruse, leaning back and grabbing up her mimosa. Just as she did so, their food finally arrived, steaming piles of fried chicken heaped on top of large, fresh waffles. Waiters quickly set the plates down before them, and asked if they needed anything else.
"Another chance at takin' that picture," Daniel mumbled. He glanced up from his plate, starting to ask for syrup before spying it already provided, a neat little glass carafe in the center of their table. He helped himself to it. Then he shook his head, taking up knife and fork to set to work on his brunch. The waitstaff departed.
"Don't you worry about me, babe," he said, spearing a bite of waffle, heavily laden with chicken and dripping syrup. Between bites he scrolled through the matches it had provided him, arching a brow at those that caught his eye. Though he hated to admit it even to himself, there was more than one face among them that looked interesting. "I'm gonna give you thorough feedback. Quality stuff. You have any long-term successes on there yet? Any weddings you've been invited to?" His brow rose higher. "Are you on it?"
"Oh, of course," Aaliyah replied, tucking into her own plate. "I'm just not very searchable, and my interests are extremely fine tuned." A slice of chicken, combined with a slice of waffle, dipped delicately into a small puddle of syrup then went into her mouth. She chewed, her eyes lighting in approval, before swallowing. "You know how it is, I can't just have every Tom, Dick, and Harry who thinks he's got a shot filling up my inbox. Or Debbies and Janets for that matter; I'm a very busy woman, Daniel.
"But yes, I think we're about to hit twenty-five weddings this year, at least those reported. I've personally only been to about half that, what with my schedule, though there was this wonderful little destination wedding in the Bahamas..." She started, cutting more into the chicken before trailing off. Another bite hovered in the air for a moment. "But you don't want to hear about that. I want to hear about you. What else is going on with you?"
Daniel shrugged, finishing the sizable bite he had stuffed, chipmunk-like, into his mouth. The meal was far better than he would have guessed, and he licked his satisfied smile as he finished off that mouthful. "I do wanna hear about that or I wouldn't have asked," he chided. "You know I don't fake interest. But that's cool if you don't wanna talk about it. Just remember all work and no play makes Aaliyah a dull girl." He quirked an impish grin. "And I'm definitely gonna try to find you on this thing. I bet I know enough about you to find those fine-tuned interests." Aaliyah's head swung side to side, a grin on her face inviting him to attempt the challenge as she swallowed down more of her mimosa.
He swept past another few pictures on the app, then turned off the phone's screen and pushed it back toward his friend. "Besides, there's nothin' else goin' on with me, really. Might be movin' again, mostly 'cause my building has been a total clusterfuck since I moved in. Had a couple folks die in there, even. And just weird shit."
"Hold up, what?" Aaliyah put her glass down, her other hand sliding forward to accept her phone back. Her brows had climbed her forehead. "Was there a gas leak or something? Or are you... I mean, a lot of old people...?" The phone went back into her purse under her chair, but the confused, concerned look never left her face, while her gaze never left his.
"No, I mean like—" Daniel's mouth snapped shut as he realized, far too late, what he was drawing his friend into. He shook his head, letting his food fill his mouth for a time. Aaliyah merely sat, her nails rapping softly in succession along the body of her Mimosa, waiting him out. When he could no longer delay without calling more attention to his doing so, he sipped at his cocktail and found words he hoped might sound at least somewhat normal.
"One guy killed himself in a dude's apartment, ground floor. Slit his wrists, from what I heard. Two tenants have disappeared, and I'm pretty sure one of 'em is dead. And then we had this Halloween party and some fuckin'... I dunno, wild dog got loose, and attacked at least one tenant, and now his face is all fucked up…"
"What—" She started to reply, and then stopped herself, the fingers of the hand not on her glass rising partially off the table in a 'stop' motion. Aaliyah licked her lips, and then busied herself cutting off another piece of waffle and chicken.
"Sounds like you're making the right call, then, because... holy shit, how did that place not get sued??? Who's ever heard of wild dogs in the middle of Los Angeles..." She shook her head, clicking her tongue disdainfully before filling her mouth. She chewed, swallowed, and felt composed once more.
"Man, I dunno," Daniel agreed.
"So where are you moving to, then? Please don't say outside of L.A., not just when I've gotten back."
"God no. Actually more in town? Couple of the folks who live in my building bought a place there, and they're fixin' it up for those who want to move. I haven't toured it yet, but I hear it's nice. Lofts, kinda. There'll be more city noise and stuff, but I like that. And lots more to do." He arched a brow as he licked syrup off the tines of his fork.
"Y'know what? Why don't you take the tour with me? See if you like the place. It'd be nice to have a friend there. And you can cover for me if I run into my crazy rebound. You wouldn't mind that too much, would'ya."
Aaliyah covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she wanted to speak mid-chew; she focused on that, first, and then shook her head almost eagerly.
"Of course not. And, you know, I'm looking for a new place too, so..." She shrugged, attempting nonchalance but failing with too wide of a grin. "But tell me, what happened there? Did you do something, Daniel?" She fixed him with a judgemental gaze, never believing for a moment that he was the utterly innocent party.
"Fuck no," he shot back, and to his mind it was not at all a lie; Aaliyah could not completely suppress an unsurprised smile. "I got my fuckin' car trashed, though, I'll tell you that. She did a number on it. It was like Philly after a football game. Surprised she didn't set it on fire. She is certifiable. For somebody named Mercy she sure as shit doesn't have any."
He finished off one half of his entree with another vigorous bite, washed down with the remainder of his mimosa. He quickly topped it off and started in again. "Hopefully we won't see her or my ex, but I dunno how they're doin' these tours. It might be some big group thing, and I don't wanna get cornered by either of 'em."
"Maybe we can call ahead, get a private showing? Group tours are so...ugh." She rolled her shoulders with a small amount of disgust, grimacing slightly. While she wasn't necessarily against group anythings, sometimes intimate situations were far more preferable. "How long is your car in the shop?"
Color flared on Daniel's cheeks. "Uh, well…" He made no effort to hide his hesitation now; he stuffed another bite of food into his mouth, chewing slowly and thoroughly until he felt the full weight of her gaze lowered upon him. Blushing still, he drained his glass, then poured himself another. Only when that, too, was nearly gone, did he return his gaze to hers and attempt to answer.
"My car's good to go." Sensing the follow up question, knowing it would be worse the longer he drew this out, he forged ahead. "Chris—my ex—took care of it. I dunno if you'd call that a peace offering or a bribe but I'm not mad about it."
Aaliyah's brows nearly climbed off her forehead. Then she shook her head, switching her fork from one hand to the other.
"Boy, you got it bad," she said, shaking her head again. "That, or I guess that's literal repayment for bad deeds?" She lifted another piece of chicken and waffle to her mouth as she fixed Daniel with a judgemental glare—though she could hardly speak, having accepted more than her fair share of gifts for no reason other than she wanted them. But she held the upper hand in the moment, and she wanted to glean as much as she could about this potential candidate (or threat) to Daniel's love life.
"Little of both?" Daniel admitted. In another bite his entree was gone. He pushed his plate aside and drew his glass closer, slender fingers coming to rest at its base. "I dunno, Aaliyah. I couldn't afford to pay him back for it if I wanted to, but I kinda don't want to. It's nice, havin' him chase me a little, do all this shit to try to get me back." Uncomfortable with the too-deep turn the conversation had taken, Daniel flashed a grin and tried to needle her. "Is this what women feel like all the time?"
She laughed, shaking her head, her teeth pearly white in her mouth. "You've got a point. That's not a bad feeling at all." Aaliyah, too, polished off the rest of her meal, and pushed the plate away, instead pulling her mimosa toward herself in a similar motion to Daniel. "But you should at least try a few options. Payin' outta his wallet isn't the same as payin' in bed, and that is not happening on my watch.
"So, apartment hunting, and then boyfriend hunting, hm?" She cocked a brow, raising her glass toward him as she waited to see if he'd accept her offered toast. He lifted his glass without hesitation, clinking it against hers.
"Or girlfriend. Or whatever." He downed the rest of his cocktail in a single pull, drowning all the arguments he might have made in his defense. That her words only had him thinking of Chris in bed, and the many payments he could happily extract from Chris there, was something he kept to himself. Licking his smiling lips, he added—mostly sincerely—"I'm glad you're here, Aaliyah. Let's see what your genius app can do."