The 2 Minute Engagement

Chapter 1

Chris Robinson smiles. "Read from page fifteen. You can sing whatever song you like. We prefer a SJC or NE song but do as you please." He says.

I read from the requested page after doing a quick glance. I hardly need to look at the paper because it's a part from the time when we were all on Oprah. I know how it goes. Chris and Robi read the other parts as I give what I hope is a good performance.

"Sing." Robi orders and I smile.

I sing and dance to In My Feelings. It's a song that I love simply because SJC sampled New Edition and also did some of their choreography. It let me, JJ, and Kim feel like we were apart of the new New Edition whenever we got to perform it. Our brothers and cousins got to live out such great songs that we never get to perform because we're girls. With this song, we get to do the same.

"Thank you, Lucy. We'll be in contact." Chris smiles. I nod and leave the room.

Once I'm in front of Kim and JJ, we walk to my car. I drive over to the OP where the rest of the family were crowded into Uncle Eddie's and Auntie Aggie's little apartment. When I say rest of the family I mean the Bivins, the Tresvants, the Gills, and all of the Wallaces plus the Devoes and the Bells. The only ones missing were Uncle Bobby's wife and children.

"How did it go?" Auntie Aggie asks as we squeeze our way into the apartment.

"They were hard as hell on us." JJ finds a spot on the floor to plop down on.

"Oh you too? I thought they just didn't like us." Annie says with a sigh of relief.

"Right. They didn't like that we were auditioning for the roles because they're our cousins." Lynn rolls her eyes.

"That's exactly why we didn't audition." Ben waves his hand at him and the other boys.

"No," Mom corrects him. "Y'all didn't audition because y'all are tired of being compared to NE."

"Right. So if we were picked to play New Edition, we would be forever tying ourselves to NE. We could never be BGT or Will or RJ or Tre. We'd be Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph, and Johnny too, yeah until the day we die." Tre sings, agreeing with my mom.

"Well, technically you're going to be Johnny for the rest of your life anyway." Q says and we all laugh as Tre rolls his eyes.

"Yeah. I know." He says curtly. The mood changes quickly.

"Well, if the any of the producers have a say in casting," Auntie Jacque smiles at Lynn, Annie, and Andra. "These three lovely ladies will be portraying the amazing, fabulous, talented, beautiful women of SJC."

"All that, Jacque?" Our cousin Michelle asks.

"She could have kept going. She stopped herself." Uncle Mike rolls his eyes and we laugh again.

"If no one else can do this, it's you girls. You have our names. You mind as well play our lives for us." Mom wraps her arm around Andra's shoulders. Andra smiles widely at her favorite cousin's attention.

That makes me and Kim frown. "We're going to go meet up with some friends." Kim says. We, RJ, and our cousins start to get up.

"Bring Lynn, Andra, and Annie with you." Auntie Steph says and my frown gets bigger. My brother takes in our faces.

"Sure. Come on." RJ speaks up. We all leave the apartment for the projects.

We smile as we see a lot of our friends walking around. A lot of our summer friends didn't go to college after high school. They just couldn't escape the stereotype and statistics. So to help them, we've set up trade workshops so that they can get their certificate or associate's degree in different crafts and trades. We pay for everything: Computers, books, bus passes, and even clothes for interviews. It has helped a lot of our friends and others in the projects because now more black-owned business are popping up and more people are getting jobs.

"So y'all wanna talk about it or no?" RJ asks us.

"No." Kim, JJ, and I answer as we look at our younger cousins.

"It's not our fault that they like us." Annie says, standing in front of Lynn and Andra. They're like carbon copies of our moms and aunts. It's creepy as hell how much they copy them.

"We didn't say anything," JJ rolls her eyes. "You can find your way around. You've been here before."

JJ, Kim, and I walk away. That causes the rest of our family to break up into our usual groups and search for our friends. RJ, Wally, and Will go off together; the twins go by themselves; and Tre comes after us.

"They're our cousins. You can't take your jealousy out on them." Tre says when he catches up to us.

"Shut up," Kim rolls her eyes. "I'm just saying, they've always cared more for them than their own children and nieces. Whenever we see them, our own mothers change up on us. It's like we're their kids who are disappointments or didn't amount to anything."

"Right. It's like we aren't Grammy nominated or Grammy winners. Like we aren't world famous musicians and philanthropists. I don't understand their fascination with them." I snap.

"It could have something to do with the namesake thing," Tre says. "I have my own father's name. It's hard as hell to be your own person when you have another's name. They may not be our moms' but it's the closest they'll get to twins. To having exact copies of themselves."

"Shut the fuck up," we laugh at Tre who laughs at himself. JJ frowns. "Honestly, there's more to it."

"Of course there is. It could be that they don't have dads. Our moms might want to give them what feels like to have two parents. Or they want to have two prodigies each. They can sing and dance as good as y'all," Tre shrugs. He sees his girlfriend Alexus and smiles widely. "Later y'all. There goes my baby."

We watch him run off and pick her up in his arms. "Lexi!" He shouts with the biggest smile on his face.

"JG!" She screams in shock. They kiss each other like it was their last moment.

"She makes him so happy but he needs to get his shit together," I say and they nod. "Seeing them makes me want to call Mikey."

"You don't find it weird that your boyfriend and uncle share the same name?" JJ asks me.

"No. It's like not he's my dad." I pull out my iPhone 5S to text my boyfriend Michael B. Jordan.

"I don't see you with Mike for much longer." Kim says as we stop to sign some things for some kids.

"Why?" I ask when we finish. We sit on the curb together.

"I don't know," she shrugs. "You and Mike are good together but there's another guy out there for you."

"It's always the single ones who have the "most" advice." I roll my eyes at my little sister.

"I agree with her though, Luce," JJ says. "You could do better than Mike. He's a great, funny guy but there's a much better man for you. Someone who will fit into your life and ours like he's always been there."

"Thanks for the advice, guys, but you know I do love Mikey. It may not last, but I do love the dude." I say with a smile as he texts me.

"You love him but aren't in love with him. Two different things." JJ says and I sigh.

"So? I'll live for a while without being in love just yet. Everyone can't have been in a relationship with one person for ten years." I say and it's her turn to smile.

Kim smiles as she gets a text from her best friend, Bryshere. "Bry said they might need a group to be on the show for the second season."

"It's kinda late huh? It's June. The show is set to come back on in like September." I ask.

"I don't know. I'll ask. It wouldn't hurt to be on one of the best shows ever." Kim shrugs and taps away on her phone.

"Even if we do go on the show, you'll be written in as a fling for Hakeem simply because fans would die to see you and Bryshere kiss." JJ says and we laugh.

"Eww. That's gross. He's my best friend. He's like a brother to me." Kim shakes her head.

"We'll see," I say. "Let's go to the Rec Center. I know JJ wants to play some ball."

"Definitely true." JJ smiles. We jump up and walk over to the Rec Center to play pick up basketball.