The Same Difference

Chapter 3

Cassandra only had birthday celebrations every 10 years, so she was really looking forward to her party today. All of her family and friends, the food, the fun. She couldn't wait!

Ding-dong.

Cassandra opened to door to her son, Kevin, and his family, holding the biggest cake she'd ever seen. "Well, hey y'all!" She pinched her grandsons cheeks, and placed kisses all over their faces. "Sit the cake there." She pointed at a table decorates with different shades and sizes of the number 50.

Tiffany's eyes darted around the living area, and back at the front door, as she sat the cake down. "Are we the only ones here?" She asked Cassandra.

"Yes, so far," Cassandra answered. "Kevin said you all would come early, so that you could help me out."

Tiffany smacked her lips. She really didn't mind, because she loved Mrs. Powell, but gotdamn! Kevin was so damn irritating, and he never let her know anything before hand. Just always throwing her under the bus.

"Is something wrong, Tiff?" Cassandra asked, obviously sensing Tiffany's irritation.

"Huh? Oh. Uhh, no," Tiffany stuttered. "Everything's fine." She smiled and stood eagerly, with her hands in her back pockets. "So, what is there left to do?" She offered, with raised eyebrows and a smile.

Her mother in law signaled for Tiffany to follow her into the kitchen, before she started to talk. "Tiff, you sure are looking gorgeous, you know? For a young mother of two, you have it going on!" Cassandra complimented her. "I was the same way after I had my boys," Cassandra beamed.

Kevin shook his head and laughed at his mother, as he grabbed a beer out of the fridge. The woman was a hot mess, and it was nothing that anyone could tell her. Tiffany helped Cassandra finish up last minute decor, and placed the aluminum food pans on the eating table. Kannon and KJ watched cartoons, while Kevin got lost in his phone.

Tiffany would sigh loudly, every now and again to get his attention, but he ignored her. She should be helping his mother anyway, not worrying about what the fuck, he was doing.

Cassandra looked at the clock, and turned the music on a short time later. "It's show time!" She announced. She sat on the sofa with her 2 sisters and her brother, and struck up a conversation. Her aunts and uncles, arrived right behind each other, along with a few friends, and last but not least, Devin. A whole hour and a half, after the party was set to start.

"Devin, you're late!" Cassandra scoffed at her son. "We've already been drinking and catching up, and now we are about to eat."

"Oh, well I'm just in time then!" Devin joked, and a few of the party guests laughed.

"Say 'hi' to everyone and take a seat," Cassandra snapped.

Devin never paid his mother any attention, he always cracked a joke or changed the subject. He knew he couldn't change her mind about him, so what was the point of getting mad? Sure he had made a few bad decisions here and there, but he wasn't as bad as she always tried to make him seem. As long as he knew his intentions were good, his mother could never upset him.

"So, how are my favorite twin boys doing?" Cassandra's sister, Betty asked, as she devoured the shrimp and meatballs that were prepared for the party.

"Well, Kevin is good," Cassandra emphasized, butting in. She cleared her throat and looked at Devin. "But that one right there, he just can't get right. Ever since their father passed away, trouble just seems to find him. Let him tell it."

"Ma, do we have to do this today?" Kevin asked her, defending his brother.

"Yeah, Cassandra. Lighten up on the boy, will you?" Her brother, Henry, said to her.

"D, where's Ariel?" Kevin asked, trying to thin out the growing tension.

"Oh, she-" Devin started.

"They broke up. He can't keep a woman either. My poor baby," their mother chimed in, once again. Cassandra sipped her wine and shook her head at Devin.

"Oh. Damn," Kevin swallowed, looking from his mother, then back to Devin.

"Cassandra!" Her oldest brother, Henry, called out again. "And put that cup, down! Your heartbeat is already irregular."

"No, it's fine," Devin insisted, looking down at his phone. "I was just leaving anyway." Why take this, when I have a booty call waiting? D thought to himself. He slapped fives with Kannon and KJ and headed out.

"Stay, son," Henry pleaded, but Devin was already out of the room.

"Let him go," Cassandra said, waving her hand behind him.

"And my heart is fine," she informed her older brother.

"Well, that's the same thing your husband used to say," Henry retorted.

"Good thing D just left," Kevin said, sympathetically. "You know he still gets emotional about my father's passing."

Cassandra rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. "So, how's the RN, and Mr. Corporate America?" She asked, directing her attention to Kevin and Tiffany.

"Well, I should be at wo-" Tiffany started to talk, but Kevin yanked her arm underneath the table, causing her to stop, mid sentence. "I mean, all is well," she said with a fake smile, jerking her arm out of Kevin's grasp.

"And corporate America is just corporate America, Ma. Nothing special," Kevin replied, smoothing out the leg of his pants.

"Aren't they lovely?" Cassandra asked her guests, as she cut her steak. She was so proud of her son, and she gloated every chance she got.