"Annual sneak out night!" Juliet yelled to me after we went shopping.

Every year we sneak out and go to a club that our parents would die if they found out we went to. I tell my parents I'm staying with her, and she tells her parents she's staying with me. Then we go stay with one of our girlfriends whose parents don't care. It was a great system. And we only go once a year.

"I actually can't wait." I grinned, holding shopping bags in one hand, and Starbucks coffee in the other.

"Where to tonight?" Juliet asked, and we got into the back of the Uber Black. "I feel like being ratchet."

"I just wanna dance." I smiled, looking out the window as we headed back to my home.

"Soooo." She grinned, leaning in. "I got the mushrooms. We so have to take these before we leave." She laughed, sipping her frozen latte.

The last time we did shrooms, we were freshman in college together, and we stayed in the dorm all night. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was New Years Eve, and it was mostly a resolution. It was perfectly normal to be experimental in college. But we never did it again after that.

"I guess I'll get the weed. You know I can't do shrooms without having weed to calm me down." I sighed.

"Don't worry," Juliet smiled. "There won't be any trees in the club tonight." She teased, knowing that last time I was afraid of the trees.

"The trees are alive, Juliet, I'm telling you." I said in all seriousness, remembering how the trees formed literal faces and bodies when I got high last time.

"Whatever girl. I just want to get my party on!" She screamed, throwing up her sunglasses. "I'm so sick of all these rich jerks with sticks up their rear ends." She rolled her eyes, forcing me to shake my head with a smile.

"I've been itching to get out of here. I'll see you at Annabelle's place." I told her, getting out of the Uber.

"Hi honey," my Mom smiled, watching me sit all my bags down on the kitchen floor. "Did you have fun shopping with Juliet?" She asked.

"Yeah! We just mostly got stuff for our sleepover tonight." I told her, sitting down at the kitchen table to pull out my phone.

"Well have fun, your father and I are going to a couples conference for the Mayor." I smiled politely, then shook my head.

"Have fun." I told her, going upstairs to get ready.

I took some cash out of my purse, then hit up the neighbors son on my phone. He sometimes sold his medical marijuana to other desperate house kids in the area. I was so happy that my parents were going to be distracted, but I knew they wouldn't be worried about me.

I packed up my overnight bag, putting in a sexy outfit for the club. It was something like a purge for us. One night we get drunk and get high, and party like a 20 something year old is supposed to. Only I think I wanted more than 8 hours of carefree black girl ness.

~*~

"Okay..." Juliet trailed off, dividing the shrooms between the three of us, while I rolled up a paper joint for when it starts to kick in. "Let's take these now. It'll be an hour before we got done getting dressed."

The thing I loved most about going out with my girls, was doing my makeup and dressing how I want to. Let's just say my taste, was way different from my Mother's taste.

I opted for a colorful dress that was cut out around the stomach and up to the bottom of my breast. It was revealing, but one thing I knew for sure, is that I had a banging body, and I loved showing it off. My Mother knew it too, and that's why she was desperate to try to hide it.

We each took our shroom dose, and finished getting ready. By the time we were ready, I could already feel a tingling sensation in my body, and I knew the shrooms were kicking in. I fired up the joint as we made our way to the car, and I have to admit, I was feeling good. Now all I need is a shot, and it's to the moon from here.

We hotboxed the car on the way to the club, but Belle's driver didn't care. This was normal activity for her. That's why we partied with her when we snuck out. Her parents were rich, but she was a model. And that was the only achievement her mother cared about. She was free to roam and spend her money the way she wanted to. Long story short; our parents don't know she's our friend.

"So ladies," Belle started with a huge grin. "Anyone trying to get laid tonight?" She asked, as we passed the joint from one hand to the other. At that I laughed, shaking my head at my little secret. I still hadn't told my friends about me and Jay. I haven't even told them I wasn't a virgin anymore.

"I definitely am!" Juliet groaned. "Ever since I left Yale my parents don't even let me breath around men."

"You were getting mad play in college." No I laughed, remembering being her roommate. She was literally bringing up a new guy every week, and I have to hand it to her, seemed like it got better every time. I love promoting my friends hoe activities, especially because I wasn't getting any.

"I know!" She groaned. "Now I haven't had sex in months and it's starting to get on my nerves." She scrunched her face up in disgust, and I shook my head.

"What about you Charlotte?" She asked, her red hair glowing under the street lights. "I think it's about time you get you some." I smiled nervously, choosing not to respond.

"Leave me out of this," I muttered, puffing on the last bit of the joint we had.

"Okay girls!" Juliet grinned, happy as hell to be let out of her cage. "Let's go party!" I sighed heavily, stepping out of the car. As we stepped out the smoke came out with us, clearing out in the air.

This is the life I only ever dreamed about. Having fun and enjoying all my riches. Not hiding behind charity galas and fake images. We didn't have to wait in line, so we went right inside.

The shrooms made everything seem so close and colorful, and my friends and I found a section in the VIP section. "I love this song!" Belle yelled as soon as we ordered a round of drinks. "Im going to dance." And with that she was gone to find the first man willing to succumb to her looks.

"I'm waiting on my drink." Juliet shrugged, staring down at her cell phone. I bobbed my head to the music, feeling my body loosen up from the shrooms. I scanned the club, looking at everyone in their VIP sections, and I'm not sure if it was the drugs, the lighting, or the weed. Maybe a combination of all. But I could swear that I saw Jay sitting in his own section of the club.

I laughed to myself at how silly that must be, but I knew that couldn't be him because some dumb looking broad was on his lap. I shook my head in disbelief, laughing hysterically. That can't be the Jay that was just trying to get me to stay with him last night.

"What's so funny?" Juliet asked me, looking up from her phone.

"Juliet I have to tell you something," I stated, thinking the drugs were making me brave.

"What?" She asked.

"This past few weeks I've been seeing a man." I started, and she blinked at me in shock. "I lost my virginity to him..." I admitted, trailing off.

"And you didn't tell me?" She gasped. "How could you?"

"I just wanted to keep a secret. And it was the best kept secret." I smiled, closing my eyes and imagining all the places he took me. "There's just one problem."

"Your parents?" She asked, grabbing a drink that was now sitting on the table.

"That too." I shrugged. "But no. He wants me to come live with him." I told her, then leaned in and whispered. "At his place." At that, she chuckled, wondering what was wrong.

"Whoa!" She spat, throwing her hands up. "This is all so sudden. Why are you laying this on me like this?" She asked.

"Well..." I trailed off. "Because he's over there, Juliet!" I cried. "With another bitch on his lap!" I poured, folding my arms across my chest.

She stood up and peered in the section out from us, and then looked back at me. "That fine ass man?" She asked, clearly shocked. "Girl, you better go get that man!" She demanded, forcing me to my feet.

"You think I still should?" I asked her, raising a brow.

"If you don't, I will!" She exclaimed, dragging me over to talk to him.

I begrudgingly followed her, and we came face to face with Jay and his goons. So this is what it's like hanging out with you, I said to myself. "Excuse us!" Juliet started, demanding their attention.

Jay seemed more than shocked when he saw me, but still didn't make any attempts to move the Hispanic woman that sat on his lap. "Excuse me." He said, his eyes glinting with mischief.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked him, and I stood behind her like a defenseless child.

"I think I'm partying, and who the hell are you?" He asked her, never once changing his demeanor.

"Didn't you just take this girls virginity?" She asked him, pointing at me.

"What?" He asked, seemingly confused.

"Did you take her virginity, or not?!" She yelled over the music, and I was hoping the world would swallow me up.

"Yeah, so!" He yelled.

"So why you sitting here with a bitch on your lap, when you just asked her to move in with you?" She asked, and I admired her guts.

"Because." He responded courtly, and I could feel him getting uncomfortable under every ones gazes. "Why don't you two just get to stepping? I don't need this drama." He said, waving us off.

For some reason, this hurt me deep in my core. I don't know what I expected him to say, but this isn't the same Jay that I've been texting and sneaking out to see. The Jay that I know, is kind to me, and treats me like the only woman in the world. With that thought in mind, I stopped hiding behind Juliet, and let the anger I had for him take over.

I grabbed the bucket of ice that was chilling the champagne bottle, and threw the whole thing on him and her. She stood up sharply, and screamed, and Jay looked at me with an expression that I couldn't read. "Enjoy the rest of your night, Mr. Jay." I spat sarcastically, tossing the bucket to the side as a I walked away.

Juliet followed behind me with one more death glare at him, and I made my way into the club bathroom. "For some reason, that didn't kill my high." I pouted, checking my make up in the mirror.

"What a jerk. Can you believe him?" Juliet asked me, firing up the second joint that she had rolled in her purse.

"He's never acted like that before..." I trialed off.

"You think he's mad you turned him down?" She asked.

"Maybe." I sighed, trying to figure out what just happened.

"Even though that happened, I would definitely still take him up on his offer." I side eyed her, sighing. "What? I wish a man offered to take care of me and take me from my parents house. That's a one in a lifetime chance."

"But what if he's not just acting out? What if he's really like this?"

"Worth the risk honey, that man is fine!" She exclaimed, fixing her blond curls. "I'm proud of you, Charlotte. You made a good choice."

"Clearly not." I muttered, applying mascara.

"All relationships have minor bumps in the road." She said simply, fixing her hair up. "Now let's go fucking party." She grinned, grabbing my hand and dragging me to the dance floor.

Could you blame us? We come out once a year. I wasn't about to let Jay or anyone else ruin my night. I pushed him to the back of my mind, and then danced the night away with my best friend.