Money

***Regular storyline post. I decided to do a post with Rocky/Bilal's POV. Jordan and Amber will be featured more, but I'm not quite ready to get into their heads. Rocky's and Bilal's were tough enough. Hopefully I'll get theirs up sometime this weekend.***




"Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and you're O.K.
Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team
Money, get back
I'm all right, Jack, keep your hands off of my stack.
Money, it's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit
I'm in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet
Money, it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they're giving none away" Money by Pink Floyd 



Jordan, Corey, Sammy, Trevor, Bilal and I arrived back in Dallas Monday evening. As soon as we turned our phones on, we were bombarded with flash flood warning alerts. Houston and Austin got worse storms than us, but there were some areas that were flooding. Thankfully, it wasn't dangerous in our areas, so everyone was able to get home safely.

I tried to call Rocky at the airport to let her know I was on my way to pick up Justine, but she didn't answer. As I text her, I told Trevor to just drop me off at my apartment and I'd meet him at his place after I picked up Justine.

"I'll just drive you there." Trevor said as we made our way to his car.

I shook my head no and nodded at Bilal. "Rocky will flip out."

"I'll park down the street. She won't even know we're there." Trevor said, with a grin.

"No. I need my car anyway when you go to work tomorrow." I said.

"Don't remind me." He groaned.

After Trevor dropped me off to get my car, I headed to Rocky's place. I knocked before I let myself in. I was surprised when the house was empty, excluding Justine. I heard her collar jingling before she greeted me in the hallway. I bent down and petted her before I grabbed her things. I also saw an envelope with my name on it. I picked it up and slid it in my purse. I sent Rocky another text before I gathered Justine's things and locked up.

I then drove to Trevor's place. I let Justine and myself in. Justine immediately rushed to Trevor to get affection before going to Bilal next.

"Hey, are y'all hungry?"

"On it. Pizza's on it's way." Trevor said.

I made a face, but didn't say anything. I guess technically it was still a holiday weekend, but my mind frame was already back on finding a job and looking fit for my interview. I went into the kitchen and filled Justine water bowl and food bowl before grabbing myself a glass of ice cold water.

The pizza arrived while I was finishing the glass. I drank another glass as Trevor and Bilal joined me in the kitchen. I drank one more as Trevor grabbed plates.

"Thirsty Lily?" Bilal asked me.

"Something like that." I smiled. Truthfully, it was how I tricked my body until thinking I was full. It didn't take much food to get that "stuffed" feeling after 3 glasses of water.

I grabbed one slice of Bilal's chicken BBQ pizza. We sat and ate and chatted about how much everyone changed over the years. When I finished my slice of pizza, I uploaded pictures and videos of our trip on Instagram and  Facebook. I also added Brooke and Angela as friends, after I changed my status to "in a relationship" with Trevor.

"I thought we weren't serious enough for Facebook." Trevor smiled when he got the notification.

"We survived two trips, we're gonna make it." I smiled back.

"Nope, it was Brooke and all those questions. She's marking her territory." Bilal joined in.

"No I'm not. I'm not threatened by her." I said.

"You shouldn't be, besides I think she's getting back with her kid's dad." Trevor commented taking a huge bite of pizza. The water wasn't working. I wanted more.

"What? She has a kid?"I asked.

"Yeah, that's all she ever posts about. I almost hid her from my news feed last year when she keep posting about her pregnancy." Bilal answered for Trevor as he chewed on his pizza. He was on his third slice, with a beer, and still had a flat stomach. I hated him at that moment.

"We're not friends. How old is the baby?" I asked.

"I don't know." Bilal replied

I looked at Trevor.

"I'm not sure either. Less than a year."

"What? She left her newborn to go on vacation?" I asked, shocked.

"Apparently it was the dad's weekend." Bilal chucked, standing up to get more pizza.

"Do you know what's up with the dad?" I asked Trevor.

"Not really. They're off and on a lot." Trevor shrugged.

"How do you know that?" I asked, curiously.

"She posts all their problems on Facebook." Trevor said, standing too.

"Kinda weird she didn't bring it up." I said.

"She did; you weren't paying attention." Trevor commented.

Whatever.

"What kind of pizza do you want?" He asked, grabbing my empty plate.

"I'm good." I told him. "Thanks though."

He looked at me, skeptically. "You sure? There's plenty."

"No, I'm kinda tried. I think I'm going to head out." I declined.

"You're not going to stay here?" He asked.

"No, I was going to let y'all have boy time. Whatever that entails." I smiled.

"Please don't. He's gonna try to cuddle with me if your not here." Bilal said, rejoining us.

Trevor chuckled. "I'd rather cuddle with you Lilypad, but if you leave, I have no choice."

"Fine, I'll stay." I laughed. I still gave them their guy time as I opened up the letter that was address to me. As soon as I saw what was inside, I pulled out my phone and walked into the kitchen.

"Hello?" Ethan answered.

"Ethan, you are not paying my lawyer fees." I said, setting down the check I wrote out to him.

"I'm not. My company has an account with him." Ethan replied.

"I'll make out a check to your office."

"Don't do that. You want to get me in trouble?"

I honestly couldn't tell if he was kidding or serious.

"Ethan, I can't accept it. You helped me enough."

"Just hold on to it. It can go towards whatever you're buying for EJ's birthday." I could tell he was joking now.

"Thanks, I only have one more payment on his pony." I teased.

"Are you back to work tomorrow?"

"Yes, and no. Technically yes, because I was reinstated, but I put in my two weeks notice so I'm using the rest of my vacation time."

"After your vacation?"

"I don't know. I don't have a job lined up yet." I lamented.

"What's your plan?" Ethan asked.

"Find a job." I chuckled, caving as I ate another slice of pizza.

"I meant, money wise." Ethan clarified.

"I have money saved up for the time being. I'm moving in with Trevor at the end of my lease." I explained.

He was silent for a moment. "Congratulations?" He said, uncertainly.

I tittered. "Thanks Ethan."

"I'm genuinely happy for you if that's what you want to do."

"I do. I'm so happy to be moving in with him. At the same time, I can't help but be disappointed in myself. When I was 18, no- even like a year ago, if you would have asked me if I had a stable career or a stable relationship, I would have said career. It's just... weird. In a bad way."

"I guarantee you that if it was the other way around, you would want a relationship." Ethan responded.

"Maybe."

"It's easy to get caught up in what you don't have. If I learned anything, it's to appreciate what you have."

"I know, and I do appreciate Trevor. I would appreciate having a job to support myself too." I said.

"I didn't mean just appreciating Trevor. You have a degree and you went to graduate school. Appreciate and use it to get a job" Ethan said.

"All that doesn't matter if I can't get a callback." I pointed out.

"Why are you waiting around for one? Call them." Ethan instructed me.

"I put in applications. I thought I was supposed to wait." I protested.

"It won't hurt to follow up with them. That sets applicants apart in my eyes. There are three types of people in the world: The type that make things happen, watch things happen and asked what happened. Which are you?"

I smiled. "I'll get on it tomorrow then. Thanks for the advice Ethan."

"Anytime. Let me know if you need anything." He offered.

"I will. Goodnight."

I threw away my remaining crust of pizza and left the kitchen. I found Trevor and Bilal sitting on the couch, talking quietly.

"I'm going to bed guys. Goodnight." I told them.

"Night." Bilal said.

"Goodnight." Trevor said, watching me. I leaned over the couch to give him a kiss before I retired to bed with Justine.

The next morning, I woke up to an empty bed. Trevor must had came in and left that morning without waking me. I got up and took Justine on a long run. My body was sore, but it felt good after not really working out over the weekend.

When I returned back to Trevor's apartment, Bilal was up and in the kitchen.

"Hey, good morning." I said, cheerfully before heading in the bedroom. I washed up quickly and changed into clean clothes before joining Bilal on the couch.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked.

"Good."

"Don't tell Trevor that. In fact, complain about how uncomfortable it was."

"Why?" Bilal smiled.

"Because I wanna keep my furniture and get rid of his." I said.

I pulled out my phone and checked the weather and my email.  I read through them as I sat with Bilal as he flipped through TV channels. I made a point not to worry about a job while I was in Mexico. Ethan's call was like a slap of reality. I was discouraged when I didn't receive any emails or calls from Derek or Adil.

"Did Rocky tell you if her family was alright?" Bilal asked, as he stopped on the news.

"Uh, no. I haven't spoken to her yet. She wasn't there when I went over last night." I said, not looking up from my phone as I read an email for a job I applied to. It was one of those automatic response saying they were looking over my application.

"You think she's alright?" Bilal interrupted my thoughts.

"She commented on Angela's post this morning, so alright enough to be on Facebook." I said, putting down my phone. I ran my fingers through my hair. "I told her you were in town. It's probably the reason she's avoiding me."

"I gotcha." Bilal said, emotionless.

I bit my lip, nervously. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Not at all."

I sighed in relief. "Thank God."

He smirked. "I'm ok with everything. I just want to know she's ok."

"You know Rocky. If she's not ok, she has a plan to get there."

"True." After a moment of silence, Bilal spoke again.

"The storms passed through. It's supposed to get bad later on this week. If you don't mind giving me a ride to Enterprise, I'll get out of here." Bilal asked.

"The storms passed through here. They're still severe thunderstorm warnings in Austin until this evening, so I'll take you there later." I countered.

He cocked his head at me. "When did you get so bossy?"

"Life made me that way."

"Is that right?"

"Yep, there's three type of people in the world Bilal. The type that make things happen, watch things happen and asked what happened. I make things happen."

"Can you make breakfast happen?"

I laughed. "Go get changed and we can go."

"I meant you heating us  up some pizza. Or just cold, whichever you prefer. I'm not picky." Bilal said.

"You can help yourself. I'm officially off vacation and need to start getting my life in order." I said, dramatically.

"What does pizza have to do with that?" Bilal questioned me, as he made his way to the kitchen.

"Would you trust a fat physical therapist?" I called to him.

"You are nowhere close to fat." Bilal called back.

"Exactly. That means no more pizza. At least not until I get a job." I sighed deeply.

"Are you stressing about it?" He asked, returning with a couple slices of cold pizza.

"I'm trying not to, but I really want a job before I move in with Trevor." I explained.

"I know Trevor's not making a big deal out of it."

"Of course not. He doesn't make a big deal out of anything. I have rent to pay, then I'll have to pay for storage and movers and my credit card bills. That's not including just living you know? I don't regret quitting, but I probably should have thought it through."

"Have you talked to Trevor about it?"

"Not really. It's... a touchy subject because my dad made some comments about him not being able to take care of me. Which I don't need him to do. In fact, I don't want him to. My dad and brother did; it just felt like another way for them to control me."

"Touchy or not, you need to talk to him."

"Hopefully I won't have to once I get a job. I need to follow up with some of them today and I don't even know what to say."

"That you want to check the status of your application. You want to see if the position is still open." Bilal suggested. "Duh. C'mon Lily, you're supposed to be the smart one." Bilal tsked at me.

"I know! Y'all rubbed off on me." I exclaimed.

"Call 3 of the jobs you applied to and I'll stay and cook dinner."

"Healthy?" I asked.

"It can be."

"Deal." I said.

I pulled out my phone and made my first call to a long term care hospital in Dallas. Their posting was the most recent so I figured they would be the less likely to have filed the position.

"May I speak to human resources please?" I asked.

"Hold please." The monotone voice answered.

"Confident! Put some bass in your voice." Bilal coached me from the couch. I swatted at him and hushed him as the phone rang. Voicemail picked up, so I left a brief message, stating my name, phone number and that I wanted to check on the status of an application I submitted online.

"Ok, that's one." I said.

"Doesn't count. You didn't speak to anyone."

"Bilal!" I exclaimed.

"That's the rules."

The next place I called was the Children's Hospital Derek worked at. I asked to speak to human resources again and got transferred. This time, a man answered the phone.

"Good morning. I recently applied for a physical therapist position and I just wanted to check in on it?" I said, as confidentially as I could mustered. Bilal gave me the thumbs up sign and I relaxed.

"Of course, what is your name?"

"Lilian Harris."

"Ok... I see we have your applications on file. Looks like we are accepting applications for a couple more weeks, but you should be receiving notice from us soon after that."

"Ok, thank you for your time." I said, politely.

I called the clinic that Adil worked for next. After being transferred, I spoke to the assistant of the hiring manger. The manger was in a meeting, but she offered to take a message.

"I recently applied for a physical therapist position and I wanted to make sure you all didn't need anything else from me."

"We are not hiring for physical therapist right now." She told me.

"Oh, ok. I spoke to Adil Fahri and I was excited about the possibility of joining the team, I didn't realize y'all weren't hiring yet. Thank you for your time-"

"I'm sorry, what was your name?" She interrupted me.

"Lily, Lilian Harris." I answered.

"Let me get your contact information."

I provided her my phone number and email address before I got off the phone.

The next call, I used the same line about being excited to be a member of the team. I was told I would get a call back by the end of the week.

"There you go." Bilal said, pleased. "Now we can go to the store."

"Give me 10 minutes. I want to make a few more calls." I smiled. I did and actually got an interview for the following Thursday. It was for an assisted living facility which I wasn't too excited about, but it was better than nothing!

I was in a much better mood as Bilal and I went shopping. He wanted to go to Whole Foods, so we did.

"How does sushi sound?" He asked.

"Since when do you know how to make sushi?" I asked.

"Since I took a class."

 "When did you take a sushi class?"

"On a date."

"You're dating? Who?" I asked.

"No one exclusive. A couple of girls I met off Tinder."

"People actually date on Tinder? I thought it was a double tap and you have a girl on your dick."

Bilal laughed at me. "You swipe on Tinder, and you gotta take em out at least once. The better the date, the better the-."

"Ohmygod Bilal. Stop talking!" I said, covering my ears.

Since Trevor wasn't a fan of sushi and I couldn't eat sushi without comparing it to what I ate in Japan, we decided against it.

"I feel like you shouldn't know how to make sushi when you can't make curry." I told him as we walked up and down the aisle.

"How stereotypical of you considering I never tried any Latin or French food you cooked."

"I make tacos and French toast all the time." I informed him.

"I can make both of those. Even if I could make curry, Trevor wouldn't eat it."

"I'm not concern about Trevor. He didn't make any phone calls."

"I have an idea." He grabbed a Garam Masala spice mix. "Noorie used this all the time. We can season some chicken or shrimp with this, get some tortillas-."

"Indian tacos!" I agreed. "We can shred some cabbage and get some yogurt. This is gonna be so good! Fusion!" I said, holding up my hand for a hi-five. He left me hanging, laughing at me. "Punk!" I shoved him playfully. As we shopped, I asked about Noorie.

"She couldn't get over what I did. I don't blame her. That's why I'm dating strangers; no more messing up friendships." Bilal confessed.

"Aww, can I give you some relationship advice?" I asked.

"Let's hear it."

"Don't base future relationships on mistakes you made in the pass. You gotta leave the past in the past man."

"The same can be said about you." He said.

When I gave him a crazy look, he explained. "You really think Trevor's going to control you just because you're not working?" Bilal asked.

"Of course not. That's my hang up."

"Leave it in the past man." He said, mocking me.

I smiled. "As soon as you get off Tinder. Online dating is lame."

"It's not really online dating. It's through Facebook."

"Same thing!"

"There's a difference. Subtle, but different."

"Keep telling yourself that."


Trevor called and asked us to come have lunch with him. Afterwards, we went back to Trevor's apartment. I took a nap with Justine before waking up and helping Bilal cook. By helping, I meant watching him while I played on his Tinder. I looked through girl's profiles and swiped left and right for him.

"Oh my God, this is so ridiculous. I've never seen so many boobs in my life!"

"You know what the sad thing about it is? The ones with their boobs hanging out never answer back."

"Maybe your pick up lines are lame?"

"My pick-up lines are genius. Backhanded compliments."

"You're so stupid." I laughed. I got off his phone to chop up the topping for our tacos. I played my cooking playlist as we worked.

"Ok, I get positivity and love. What is this song doing on it?" Bilal asked me, talking about Pink Floyd's Money.

"Ok. Has Trevor made you watch Dark Side of The Rainbow?" I asked.

Bilal laughed. "Yes. Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon. It was bizarre. Do you think it matched up?"

"I don't know-"

"How could you not?"

"Let me finish the story. So he's all excited and makes me watch it and I'm thinking to myself, 'It's The Wizard of Oz. This kid is so weird. Why do I love him so much?'"

"Aww-" Bilal said, with a gaging face.

"That was the first time I realized it was more than a crush. I loved him; I spent the rest of the movie trying to convince myself I didn't. Then Money came on and he started dancing like the lollipop guild and I remembered thinking I want him to be the father of my kids. I had to admit to myself how much I loved him." I laughed.

"You know he loves you that much too?"

"I know." I nodded.

"I don't think you do: You're everything to him. He wants- no needs, you to feel the same."

Before I could respond, Trevor came home. I gave him hug and a long kiss.

"Oh-oh. What did you do?" He asked, holding me against him.

"Nothing. I just love and appreciate you so much." I smiled at him. "Wanna watch Darkside of The Rainbow tonight?"

"Yes." He smiled at me.

We set up our mini taco bar, which Trevor loved, and set up the movie and music.

This time, snuggled against Trevor, I saw the two separate works of art blend together perfectly.