Pleasurable Expectations

t h i r t y - f o u r

Swept into the middle of March, I found myself surrounded by a tornado of March Madness, both literally and figuratively. This month, Malcolm was booked and busy with local radio hosts and influencers itching to build their brackets with one of basketball's rising stars while simultaneously picking his brain about his career's future.

A mixture of Adrienne officially being moved out of the country, me seriously sitting down and working out my finances, and Jeremiah's job picking up all brought their own levels of adjustments. I didn't see my best friend at least three times a week anymore, I didn't realize how much money my trust was gonna be when it hit my account, and I had no idea that Jeremiah was gonna be unavailable nearly 24/7.

Thankfully, Sienna was there to pull me out of the tornado that is my personal life and take me out for a spa weekend. That's why I was currently sitting in a sauna with a towel for clothes and some fruity-smelling mask on my face.

"Have you figured out what you're gonna do with your trust in a couple years?" Sienna's head rolled in my direction as she peeled two cucumber slices from her eyes.

I secured my slipping satin-lined shower cap as I responded, "Buy a private jet." Sienna and I chuckled for a moment before I replied, "But forreal, not yet. I think I'm gonna hire a financial advisor and throw a couple ideas at him to see if they're possible."

"Oh, you're actually gonna do something with it?" The clay above Sienna's eyebrows cracked as her expression morphed to surprise.

"Is that not what you just asked me?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Yeah, it is," she spoke as she shifted in her seat. "I figured you'd retire and jet-set around the world with someone." Sienna took a beat before saying, "Someone being me."

"Oh, we're traveling," I scoffed as I placed a hand on her arm. "But, I'm also gonna do something with the money. Maybe open a talent agency, something like that," I shrugged.

Sienna's jaw dropped a little as she inquired, "You're still gonna work?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" I placed a hand to my heart as I continued, "I'm a little offended."

"Ara, never once growing up did you show any desire to work, let alone open your own agency! You were planning which stamp to get on your passport next and what you wanted to wear to the Met Gala." Sienna looked at me with a knowing purse on her lips.

"Well, I'm still planning what I want to wear to the Met Gala," I revealed as my index fingers circled around each other. "And, while what you said is true, I kind of thought I was going to have to work for a living after, well, you know."

"Yeah, but now you don't have to." Sienna took a bite out of one of the cucumbers clutched limply between her fingers. "Are you trying to tell me that you like working?"

I responded, "Yeah. I know I never planned on doing it, and we went to college more for the experience, but actually putting in work to apply what I learned? And to be able to be a part of someone's advancement in life is great."

My eyes met Sienna's scrutinizing gaze, and I grabbed my bottom lip between my teeth. I didn't expect her to understand, seeing as we came from the same exact lifestyle and upbringing. I know exactly how she's thinking because it's what I'd be thinking if this were five years ago—why work when you have all the money that you could ever need? And how do you explain to a wealthy person who's never worked that working isn't always about the money?

"I don't get it, but I can see it makes you happy, so what do I care?" Sienna plopped her other cucumber in her mouth before she stood, it time for us to get these masks taken off.