Source: #RelationshipGoals / iOne Digital
I decided to have a big rooftop dinner for my birthday and after, I invited more friends to come and have drinks and dance the night away under the stars. By the time the after-party guests started arriving, I’d had more than enough tequila and pineapples. But it was my birthday, I was in a full sequin two-piece outfit, and I was gonna be turnt!
Some of my friends brought along some of their friends, some I knew and some I’d seen on social media. There was one in particular who I flirted with from the first day we met when he attended a panel I hosted and he showed up, offering me all kinds of praise and admiration. This was the first time I was seeing him in person again, but since then, he and I had flirted in Instagram DMs. “Well hello Miss Young,” he said kissing me on the cheek. I didn’t know him by his real name, only his Instagram handle. We’ll call him Poppa Don.
“Hey Poppa! Long time no see!” I hugged him and let my nose breathe in his cologne. He smelled like somebody’s son if you could bottle it up and spray it in all the right places.
“And I’m glad to see you tonight. Happy birthday love,” Poppa kissed me on the cheek again with his pillowy soft lips. I was already tipsy, I leaned my weight into him.
“Alright!” His best friend, my homegirl Nina, laughed at us.
“Any friend of Nina’s is…” I stopped and looked at Poppa. “Boy, leave me alone!” I laughed. “Welcome to my party. The bar is inside and feel free to get me a drink.” I sipped the one I already had.
“Danielle, you have 3 drinks over there still waiting for you.” He laughed. “I’ll get you a shot.”
“Good idea!” I turned to Nina and saw that she had someone with her. I recognized him from her social media. I smiled at him. “Hi, welcome to my birthday!” I laughed.
“Hi Danielle. I’m Eli.” He put out his hand for me to shake it and I hugged him.
“I know. I’m glad to meet you stranger.” I was still hugging Eli.
Eli laughed. “You too. Thank you for letting Nina bring me. I wanted to meet you.”
I looked at Nina. “Oh did you now?”
More friends started arriving, bringing with them more drinks. Poppa came back with a shot. “Cheers to you, Queen.”
“Cheers to you King,” I found myself to be quite amusing. I took Poppa’s shot and kept going around to my guests. In my head, I was being a gracious host. In reality, I was drunkenly bouncing around the party slurring and dranking.
It was time to sing happy birthday and blow out the candles. They gathered me in the center and while they sang I proceeded to twerk and prove that my knees still worked. (I definitely paid for that choice the following day.)
I twerked right in front of Eli, bent over, touched my toes and made sure he got a crotch-full. I didn’t notice in the moment, but Poppa was visibly upset. I saw it later in some of the videos of the moment.
After the song and distributing of cake, or in my case, more drinks, I slinked over to Eli. “Hi.”
“Hi, you’re feeling good on your day, huh?” Eli laughed and slid his hand around my waist to hold me up next to him.
I was drunk, but not that drunk. I could hold myself up. But I let him think I needed him to. “I’m feeling great! Are you?”
“I am. Thank you for having me.” Eli smiled and a dimple appeared and immediately, I wanted to lick it. I refrained.
“I want to thank you for having me,” I smiled at Eli, and hoped he caught my drift.
He laughed. He caught it. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Yes, even. Make it formal.” I laughed.
“How about you take my number?” Eli plucked my phone from my sequined top. It was protruding enough so that he could see it. That’s the only way I knew I’d hold on to my phone all evening.
“How about yes, please?” I laughed at my own joke. Eli laughed too.
I saw Poppa on the other side of the roof. He was not laughing. He was looking at me as if to say, “I see you.” But here’s the thing. Poppa and I were not a thing. We flirted in the DM and it was more me flirting than him. He’d always tell me how he was still hung up on his last situation emotionally and hadn’t quite healed. I respected it.
I hugged Eli tighter. I wanted Poppa to see us. “We would be so cute together.” I held up my phone to take a selfie with Eli to save as his picture in my contacts.
“Yeah we would,” Eli squeezed my waistline.
I kept moving around the party and eventually made my way over to where Poppa was.
“Ooooh, look who’s over here with me now, the Queen!” Poppa sounded sarcastic.
“Damn right, I’m the Queen!” I held my drink up into the air. “Don’t you forget it.”
“Don’t you let me forget it, feel me?” Poppa said while he looked at me.
“Ooop! Energy!” my homegirl Billie laughed and pointed at Poppa.
“Right? Let me find out!” I said.
“You can,” Poppa said grabbing me on the back of my neck.
“Wait!” I exclaimed. “This is the energy I want for sure, but don’t be reeling me in for it to go nowhere Poppa. You know how you do!” I grabbed his other hand. “Use both hands though!”
He laughed, squeezed my neck a little bit and we posed for a couple of pics at his request. “That’s all I had to do to get you still for a bit?”
“Poppa, don’t even. You know you have what it takes to get me still.” We kept flirting like that until the party was over.
At that point, I had no idea how I was getting home, where my gifts were, or even where I was. My homegirl Alice volunteered to drive me home and make sure I got in safely. We closed down the whole bar and ended up taking the party out front. Basically, our own little let-out.
Eli hemmed me up against the wall. “So, I’m gonna see you again soon yeah?”
Poppa walked by us, “Oh word, you just flip-flopping on us tonight, huh? Living your best life.” He laughed his boisterous laugh and kept walking by us.
“He likes you?” Eli asked and cocked his head toward Poppa.
“He pretends to, especially when someone else does.” I laughed. “So what were you saying?”
“I could see that. He can’t stand me. We’ve known each other for a while, but he’s alright. He just doesn’t like me,” Eli admitted.
“Who couldn’t like you!” I grabbed his shoulder.
“Exactly!” Eli’s dimple showed up. “Let me walk you to your friend’s car. She’s right there.” Eli pointed at Alice who pulled up and started putting bags in the trunk.
“Thank you Alice! Thank you Eli,” I slipped into the passenger seat.
“You’re welcome. We’ll talk soon OK? Let me know you got in safe,” Eli closed the door and walked away to join Nina.
Alice got in and was about to pull off, but Poppa walked over to the open window. “Here’s a bottled water Danielle.” He handed me a cold bottle.
“Thank you Poppa. I needed this!” I sipped it and spilled some on my chest.
Poppa smiled, “I got you.” He dabbed my cleavage with a paper towel.
I laughed, “I bet you do.”
“I could if you figure out where you want to be and stop flip-flopping.” Poppa stood up and took a couple steps backward. “I’ll holla!”
Alice laughed, “Your drunk ass is a whole pimp!”
“Girl please, Poppa ain’t serious. I’mma check up on Eli though,” I laid my head back on the headrest. “Happy birthday to me!” I laughed.
