Life Is (Mostly) Beautiful

7. Graphic Warning Ahead

"Shit, what kind of name is Brik?" Kente laughed as we strolled through Minnehaha Park. These kind of sights were so hard to find in LA, and I was glad I'd let Kente bring me out here.

"His parents met at Berkeley, so they're hippies," I shrugged. It'd now been two months since I'd left LA, and I realized that if I wanted to get over Brik, I couldn't just pretend he didn't exist. When Kente asked me if I'd been dating anyone before I came, I simply told him the truth.

"Yo that's mad weird. I bet he white--he white, ain't he? You seem like the type."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I gasped. "Besides you said you dated Shanti in high school, and she's only like a quater black or something."

"She still black," he said indignantly.

"Whatever," I said, playfully nudging him. "What's up with Shanti anyway? She's been acting wierd around me."

"Probably drama with her baby daddy," he shrugged. "Now come on, we ain't reach the falls yet!"

I let Kente pull me to the waterfalls, and we stood taking in the beauty for a minute. Nearby, we could see a wedding taking place in front of one of the falls, and I felt Kente pull me in a little tighter.

"That's so romantic," I murmured into Kente's side.

I'd wanted to marry Brik a couple years ago, but he said he didn't believe a piece of paper could define our love. To be honest, I think it had more to do with the fact that his parents didn't like me. They thought I'd been leeching off his money. But I was ok with it, though. I never wanted a big wedding or anything, I just wanted to know that he'd always be mine.

"Yeah, it is. Come on, lets find a place to sit," he said leading me to the side, where a few tree stumps sit.

"It's so wierd being back," I said wistfully. "I've missed this, all of this," I said gesturing around the greenry at the park.

"So you're not leaving the Twin Cities again, right?" he asked, fiddling with a twig off the ground.

I pulled my knees upto my chin and sighed, "I don't know. The only reason I came back was to reconnect with my mother, but..."

"Hey come on now, don't look so down. Look," he hesitated. "My ma talks to your ma a lot, and I think I have a way to get y'alls talking again."

"Really? You'd do that for me Kente?" I gasped. Not talking to my mom had been hitting me so hard lately, knowing that she was only a few blocks away and didn't want to see me. "Thank you." I reached over and hugged him.

I didn't hug him too tightly, because I didn't want to send out more mixed signals. The morning after we'd shared that kiss in the restraunt, we both agreed that it was in the heat of the moment. I still didn't see him as a boyfriend, but he was quickly becoming a good friend.

"Anything thing for you Alena," he said, hugging me back.

***

"You sure I look ok?" I asked smoothing down my dress.

"You look fine," Kente groaned for the umpteenth time.

"Ok, ok, you're right. Let's go so we're not late."

"We not gonna be late, my ma said 3 o'clock, and it's only 3:30," he shrugged, fixing up his tie in my bathroom mirror.

"Kente, then the party already started!" I shrieked, more panicked than ever.

"CPT Alena, ain't no party starting at 3. Shit, before I left, they was still bringing in chairs and that was 15 minutes ago."

"I guess you're right," I said, pacing the floor.