"Hey, 'Keem," Imani greeted, walking up the stairs of his bachelor pad. She looked up from her phone when she reached the top of the stairs. Hakeem was on the floor, sitting up slowly. "Damn." She held back a laugh. "Ma, got you good, huh?"
Hakeem glared at her as he stood. "That's not funny," he said. "She's crazy."
"That's what you get for bein' disrespectful," Imani told him, cleaning his face. His eye was already starting to swell, and his lip was bleeding. "Maybe you'll think twice about who you call a bitch."
"Yeah, whatever," Hakeem muttered.
Imani smacked the side of Hakeem's head. "Don't get mad at me 'cause you disrespectful." She wiped his eye, giving him an ice pack to stop the swelling. "I'm tryna help you."
"Mommy, can I hold Hakeem, now?" Imani asked, looking at her pregnant mother sitting down at the dinner table, holding Hakeem in her arms. "I don't want him to squish the baby."
"Keem has to eat, baby," Cookie shook her head.
Lucious pulled the little girl close to him, hugging her.
"Go play with Andre," Lucious gestured to her older brother sitting on the couch with their aunts and uncles. Imani scrunched her little face up at him. Andre didn't know how to play with her, nor did he want to. The only person she played with was Jamal, and she hadn't seen him. Lucious laughed, seeing his daughter's stink face. "After Hakeem eats, you can hold him."
"Okay," Imani sighed. Lucious urged her over to one of Cookie's sisters, Carol. She sat down next to her aunt, putting her head on her shoulder.
A few minutes later, Jamal comes downstairs, wearing Cookie's heels and a scarf tied around his head. He strutted into the living room, hands on his hips.
Imani laughed, thinking it was funny. She would always walk around in her mother's clothing, pretending to be her. The entire house got quiet, looking at the young boy in the room. She didn't know why, but the moment her dad saw Jamal, he tensed.
Before she knew it, Lucious had snatched Jamal up. Cookie rushed after them, handing Hakeem to Imani. "Lucious!"
Imani placed her head on Hakeem's, keeping him quiet as she walked to the window to see what was going on outside. Lucious was throwing Jamal into the trash. He was throwing him away. "No!" Imani passed Hakeem to Carol and ran out the back door.
"Are you outta yo' damn mind?!" Cookie screamed as she pushed Lucious. "I wish you would."
"Daddy, stop it!" Imani screamed from the top of the stairs. "Don't throw him away!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. She didn't understand. Lucious would let Imani walk around in his shoes and chains, why was it a problem when Jamal did it with their mom's stuff? They were just clothes, why was Lucious so angry?
"Mani, go back inside!" Cookie told her. She looked back to Lucious, pure hatred in both of their eyes.
"He ain't right!" Lucious yelled, pointing to the trash. He wasn't about to be embarrassed by his own son in his own house. Walking around in heels like a girl? He wanted to act like a little bitch, he'd get treated like one.
Cookie pushed him away from the trash cans, pulling Jamal out. "It's okay, baby." She held him close, crying as Lucious walked out of the yard. He couldn't even look Imani in her crying face. From then on, Imani never looked at her father the same. Their relationship was always strained since that moment, since Imani was one of the only people that was fully in Jamal's corner. Hakeem would back him up sometimes, Andre always stuck by Lucious, and Fallon was too young to know the issue. But Imani always had Jamal's back when it came to his sexuality and their father. It didn't matter what it was. She was there.
