Hinged, Grown and Sexy

5. Welcome Home

DIVINE

"Hey, y'all!" Hyacinthe greeted as she pulled open the large front door of her newly acquired home. 

Even still dressed in pajamas with various ingredients all over her, Hyacinthe looked like a breath of fresh air. I'm sure even Olivia felt the same way as we wore mirrored smiles with pans in our hands as we walked in.

"Damn, this house is nice." Olivia remarked in awe as she looked around.

It truly was a masterpiece. They'd bought it as a fixer-upper, but Hyacinthe's dad was a contractor so pretty much all the renovations were done quickly after.

But it was when we walked deeper into the home that I found my favorite part: the emerald kitchen. Emerald tiled backsplash with gold detailing throughout along with a hidden pantry.

"You can set those down right there. Justice is outside on the grill already with Eli." Hyacinthe stated as she moved around the kitchen, clearly in desperate need of help.

Fortunately, that was the perfect way to distract myself from the man in the back that was beginning to plague my thoughts. Even hearing that he was so close had sent my heart racing against my chest and ignited nerves I didn't know I had.

"Where do you need us?" I asked, rolling my sleeves up to above my elbows.

"Us? I burn water, so I'll just watch y'all." Olivia waved us off, instead choosing to open one of the bottles of wine she brought and hunting for wine glasses.

We all chuckled amongst ourselves as we were reminded of the disastrous nature of Olivia's cooking. There was a time when she almost blew up the microwave because she forgot to take the foil off her food.

I wouldn't want her within throwing distance of this beautiful kitchen. A fact that I'd temporarily forgotten because I had caught a glimpse of Eli's large, muscled frame as he worked on the grill with Justice.

If the man wasn't fine enough before, he damn sure was in full view of the afternoon sun with a glisten of sweat along his deeply melanated skin.

"Now that's a fine view." Olivia commented with a pointed smile.

"I didn't notice." I responded, turning away to start putting the mac and cheese in the pan to go in the oven.

"Mmhm." My friend hummed before chugging the contents of her glass and starting to pour another.

Hyacinthe and I exchanged worried glances with equal confusion marring our features.

Olivia had been acting strange for a while now. At first, we figured it was the usual fallout of another temporary break from Chris but that still didn't justify how silent she was being about it.

"So, is Chris coming today?" Hyacinthe tentatively asked while trying to appear nonchalant as she moved around the kitchen.

At the mention of his name, Olivia stopped mid-drink and set her drink down to pour it all the way back up.

"Oh, sure. Him and his new babymama would make this the perfect cookout from hell." She said as she poured, chugging it again to fill the shocked silence.

"You heard babymama, too, right?" Hyacinthe whispered.

"I definitely heard babymama." I whispered back.

Still, we were all silent as we tried to figure out what to say next.

"I started talking to Eli." I blurt, oddly spurned on from the sudden honest vibe in the room.

"Pour me a glass, Olivia, you bitches with secrets are giving me a headache." Hyacinthe complained before turning to grab another two glasses for wine.

Once we all had a glass, the food preparation was forgotten as we settled in to catch up on each other's lives.