"Listen. Understand. Validate. That's luv."
-Will Smith
[part one]
July 20
10:50am
Cobe pulled Cole's face close by his chin, pecking him on the lips a few times. "You nasty for kissing me before I brush my teeth." Cole said, in a sexy morning voice.
"You nasty for not brushing your teeth after sucking my dick." Cole smiled at the comeback, and threw the blankets off of himself. "Shut up. Yo nasty ass wore me out. Couldn't do shit else but pass out."
"Hell yeah." Cobe mumbled to himself watching Cole's naked ass and back flex as he walked out of the room. His phone rang moments later showing Cecil's contact.
cobe- what up?
cecil- you at the loft? Cole ain't answering his phone.
cobe- yeah, i'm here. He prolly still sleep, lemme go check.
Cobe got up from the bed and walked over to the bathroom, knocking on the door. "Ayo, Cole, you up? Cecil on the phone!" he yelled quickly before Cole could even fix his mouth to say any out of pocket shit while Cecil could hear. He opened the door and put Cecil on speaker phone.
Cole- bro, what you want so damn early?
Cecil- im heading over in a minute. I got something I want you and Cobe help with.
Cole- what
And in typical Cecil fashion, instead of answering the question, he hung up.
"Yo, he annoying as fuck."
"Damn, niggas always hanging up on you." Cobe teased and laughed in Cole's face before closing the door behind him. "We prolly only got like five minutes before he get here, knowing him!" Cobe yelled before exiting the room, going to the guest bathroom on the lower level of the loft.
Not long after, Cecil unlcoked the door to his late father's loft and entered followed by Cheyenne, C3 and Sadé who wanted to spend more time with her new friend. Not even having to call them out, Cole came jogging down the stairs in nike shorts and a hoodie and Cobe walked out the guest bathroom shirtless.
"Uncle Cole!" C3 yelled, running towards his favorite uncle who picked him up and swung him around. "What's up little man, how you doing?"
"Ehh, i'm alright." the little boy said, shrugging his small shoulders. He rushed off into the nearest guest bedroom and set up his game system.
"How you feeling, Cobe?" Cecil immediately asked after leaving Chey and Sadé in the living room. He looked him deep in the depths of his soul looking for any detection of sadness or anger. "I'm aight. Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'? Yo life ain't nothing but a hood telenovela. It's a whole lot, actually. And after what happened at Dame house, you checked out mad quick."
"Exactly. I'm good." Cecil left it alone changing his focus from Cobe to Cole who was sitting at the table engrossed in the game he was playing on his phone. "Hello." He looked him up and down. "And what's up with you?"
"Nothing." Cole responded in monotone.
"You sure?"
"Yes, is this what you wanted us to do today? Have a therapy session?" Cole lowkey snapped.
Cecil rolled his eyes at the two men. "Actually, the person who needs a therapy session is Dame. Now I know y'all selfish asses ain't notice, but Dame been going thru it recently. And if you lames didn't notice he still hasn't slacked on being there for any of us even with all his own shit going on. I want us to do something for him. So, let's throw him a party." He smiled big, showing off all his big sparkly whites.
"Nigga." Cole said.
"Not a like birthday party... you know I think we owe him a little bit more than that, something with a little more couth." Cecil responded, walking to the fridge just to see what was in there.
"Like what." Cobe asked.
"He go a lot that needs to be celebrated that none of us have actually taken the time to do aside from saying a bullshit ass 'congrats nigga im proud of you'. Dame has graduated College, he been doing his thing on the art scene, got his gallery storefront opening up soon, a baby on the way." Cecil started listing off Dame's recent accomplishments.
"So, you... come back from God knows where and tell US... the niggas who been here with him the WHOLE damn time... that we don't show my nigga NO love?" Cole sucked his teeth, "Get the fuck outta here." Cole dismissed.
"That's not even what he tryna say."
"Actually, it is."Cecil said casually. "Have either of you even been to his new building yet? He been putting in hella work all by his self. So, that being said, I want US. all of us, including YOU" Cecil said nodding toward Cole, "You" he nodded toward Cobe, " and me..." He finished on a low note. "...to do better. We don't give Dame the credit he deserves. He prolly thinks all of us are aloof to the things he's out here doing."
"aLoOF" Cole snickered.
"You a child." Cobe smiled at him.
"Listen, we got five days to put this together. Yall helping me or not?"
"I'm in." Cole mumbled, over the whimsical music coming from the game he was playing.
"Cobe?" Cecil aked, watching him as he unintentionally watched Cole.
"Yeah, yeah, me too." Cobe answered.
"Dad!" C3 called from the other room causing Cole to look in the direction from which the voice came. His heart sank at the word, remembering the content of his last conversation with Jill. Once Cecil left the room, Cobe turned his attention on Cole. "So..." He started, gaining the eyes of the other. "I was wondering if I could get some insight on the other night?"
"What? Reece? Um... the baby's good... it was a false alarm but she did have to sta-"
"Not that."
"What then?" Cole asked, nervous that Cobe may somehow have found out what happened between he and Lonnie two nights ago.
"I mean... Jill. She came by then left and you were all sad in the eyes like something h-"
"Ohh.. well that ain't really none of yo business." Cole mumbled, his hand moved to the back of his head where he began twisting his curls around his finger.
"Come o-"
"Hop off!." Cole said with more bass than before, catching the attention of everyone else in the house, evident by the sudden quiet. "Damn." Cole mumbled looking at Cobe as if making a point. He got up from the table and walked to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Cobe was taken aback by the outburst, making him only more intrigued to know what had went down between the two last night.
Sade walked into the kitchen watching a shirtless Cobe as she opened the fridge and grabbed something to drink. "Nigga got issues." Sade stated, side eyeing Cobe.
"How you talking shit and you in his house?" Cobe snapped at her.
She cocked her head to the side, raising only one eyebrow about to clap back, but agreed that he was right. "Oooh. Yeah... that ain't a good look, huh?." She replied, taking a seat at the table to open her drink. "What he do? This a nice ass crib." she asked, complementing the space she was in.
"Used to be his pops place, he got it when he passed last year."
"Damn. That's tuff." She looked down. "So all yall related?" She started to count off her fingers, "You, ol' dude, Dame, and Light skin." She asked, referring to Cecil.
"Nah. None of us is blood." He looked over at Sade knowing she wanted him to explain by her expression, but he knew better than to tell Dame's business. If Dame wanted her to know anything, she wouldn't be coming to him. She took the hint and started looking around the kitchen.
"What yall got to eat in here? A bitch is starvin' like marvin."
Cobe opened his mouth to spew rude words along the lines of 'i don't live here' which would've be followed by a swift exit of the kitchen, but decided not to take out his irritation on the pregnant woman. If only he'd learned how to direct his feelings before, he and Cole's relationship might be a little less rocky, but now is as a good a time to start as any, he thought.
He went into the fridge and cabinets reading off everything they had and offering to heat her up something.
Cecil came back into the kitchen where Cobe and Sade were now having casual conversation.
"Oh you cooking?" He looked past Cobe's big arms to sneak a peak at what was on this stove. He nodded in approval, "YUP! That's my son's favorite. Mind making enough for him to get some?" he asked, making Cobe roll his eyes.
"I want some too!" Chey called from the living room.
Cecil put his hands up, shrugging his shoulders saying, "might as well make enough for everybody at this point." He smiled teasingly before backing out of the kitchen.
[tbc]
|02/15/2021|