Lennox POV
It's now the Fourth of July and Beckham and I have opted to spend the holiday, together yet separate. Basically he's going to hit up some parties, I'm going to Ms. April's family barbecue and come nightfall we shall make each other's acquaintance and attend his family's bash together. It's imperative we make an appearance as the newest minted Crown Jewels of the De Loughrey empire. I don't even celebrate the holiday it's just 'Black people barbecue day' but one thing about Xiomara, she's going to throw a damn party.
Gia is going to tag along with me to the barbecue, she think she's slick. She's coming to thirst after Ms. April's sons; Miles and Christian (as if she doesn't have a boyfriend, but I can't judge). I have no clue which one is older but they're both fine as hell. Ms. April did her thing with them. I can say that since I'm not really related to them. Plus Miles in married, as well as father to the twins, Micah, and the cutest little baby named Milani. There's going to be other people there as well, extended family, etc. I've met the majority of them over these past few years but I don't see them often enough to bother with remembering exactly who they are. I see her sons and the grandkids for all major family holidays and whenever they get tired of their kids.
But before all of the festivities ensue there's something that I need to handle...
I knocked on the door of Malakai's loft it swinging open almost immediately. Except it was not Malakai who answered. Well, this is awkward.
The young woman standing in front of me is certainly not his child's mother considering his daughter is blasian, and she's Black. She seems more-so confused by my presence rather than angry so they're definitely not sleeping together.
I cleared my throat, picking at the tips of my nails boredly. I guess it's up to me to speak first. "Is Malakai here?"
"He's here." She nodded her head, yet refused to open the door wide enough for me to enter. Now, I'm becoming irritated. Girl I'm just trying to get some head and leave now she's making it difficult.
"Okay, you know what I can come back later.." I rolled my eyes, turning away from the door.
"Lennox?" I could hear Kai's voice and briefly glanced over my shoulder. "Why didn't you let her in?!" Malakai addressed the mystery woman with an attitude, smacking his lips before he quite literally shoved her out of the way.
Ohhhh... It makes sense now. They're siblings. He tried to tell me about his siblings but I didn't care to listen because I don't care to meet them. Yet, here are. Unfortunately.
I couldn't help but smirk as I strutted into Malakai's apartment. "Sorry about that, she's an asshole. She's also leaving. I just need to finish getting Amihan ready." I assume Amihan is his daughter, that's a pretty name.
"No problem, I'll just try to stay out of the way." I headed to the living room, plopping down on the couch as Kai left the room to gather his daughter.
"When he said he had a girl coming over I expected an Instagram thot, but you don't look like an Instagram thot." Isn't she too old to be using that word?
"Okay," I took a deep breath trying to maintain my composure. "This is what we aren't going to do. I'm grown, Malakai's grown. Hell even you are grown so how about we all mind our own damn business? Like grownups do."
"You're kind of a bitch... I like that." I shrugged my shoulders in response. Honestly I could've cared less whether she liked me or not, I'm not here to ride her dick.
I pulled out my phone to kill time because I was not going to sit here and play "tell me about yourself" with his sister. Thankfully it didn't take long for Kai to return with an adorable babbling baby in his arms.
"Me reuniré con nuestra familia más tarde, bueno?" I perked up at that. I assumed Kai could speak Spanish since he's Afro-Cuban but I've never heard him speak Spanish.. It's very attractive.
He handed the baby and her diaper bag to his sister, "Lo que digas." She rolled her eyes tossing the diaper bag over her shoulder. "Bye Lennox" She singsong sending a wave my way on her way out the door.
Malakai turned to face me with an eyebrow raised trying to analyze the look on my face. "What?" He came over standing in front of me.
"Say it in Spanish."
"Say 'what' in Spanish?" He tilted his head to the side not quite understanding cause me to let out a small giggle.
"No stupid. Everything. Say it in Spanish." I stood up, grabbing a hold of the collar of his t-shirt pulling him closer to me before crashing my lips on to his.
"Uh uh. I know you are not walking up in here all late Ms. Thang." Ms. April stopped me looking me up and down, a scowl quite evident on her face.
Okay so in my defense things with Malakai took longer than expected... That was not my fault, it was entirely his. We both had places we needed to be and yet he insisted we keep going. Then I had to go all the way back to my place where Jayce and Gia were waiting, shower, change, and grab extra sodas because for reasons unbeknownst to me. There were not enough. On top of all that, the party is not at Ms. April's it's at her son's house in Auburn which is like 30 minutes away. So I'm not actually that late all things considering. I can't exactly tell her any of that though.
"Ms. April, it's not my fault. You're the one who wanted me to make stops. Now can I go set these down? They're getting heavy." I lifted my arms hire as to showcase the boxes of pop that were stacked in them.
"Go on inside girl, Christian will show you where to put those." She rolled her eyes waving me off. "Jayce sweetie, come on. I'm gonna show you where the kids are playing." Ms. April took Jace-Lynn's hand leading her off. Leaving me free to enjoy the adult section of the party aka the section with alcohol.
(Miles on the left, Christian on the right).
"Lil bit! You made it!" Christian exclaimed as I made my way deeper into the backyard, not missing the opportunity to ball his fist up rubbing the top of my hair. I would hit him but my arms are full. "Yo who is this?" He looked over towards Gia licking his lips.
Absolutely not. "Can you take these please?" I unloaded the boxes into his arms before he could answer. He's strong, he works out. "This is Gia, but she's off the market." I looked dead in his eyes so he could understand that she's off-limits.
"Lennox!" Gia whined swatting my arm, but I don't care if she's upset about what I did. If Gia wants to cheat on her man that's her business. Trying to cheat with Christian? That's definitely my business. She's not going to ruin this for me.
"Girl I promise you, you're missing nothing." I shook my head grabbing a hold of her arm pulling her to make-shift dance floor.
Christian tries to fuck anything with a pussy and a pulse. He tried to sleep with me when we first met, at Thanksgiving dinner! It was so ghetto, he knew I was there because my parents had passed and I had no where to go for the holidays yet that did not dissuade him. Ms. April beat his ass when I told her. Literally. With a slipper. The boy is fine but he's not 'risk-it-all' fine.
"Oh my god, girl we need to feed you. Still nothing but skin and bones." I sucked my teeth. This what I don't miss about family, not even a little bit. I didn't need to look up to know the voice I was hearing belonged to Ms. April's sister. I'm pretty sure she's drunk, she's always drunk.
"I promise you, I eat Ms. Pam." I smiled through my teeth, hoping someone would come get her before I hurt her feelings.
"And this one too!" She lifted Gia's arms up inspecting the size of them. "Imma make sure to make y'all up some to-go plates before you leave. We gotta get some meat on you." Gia looked to me for help but I'm looking for someone to save me girl. She knows I don't have the social capacity to tolerate this shit much longer.
"Auntie Pam, is it okay if I borrow Lennox for a second? I need her help with something." Miles came up behind me grabbing a hold of my shoulders. "Yeah? Great. You can come too." He nodded his head towards Gia proceeding to lead me away without waiting for a definitive answer.
"Thank you." I breathed out a sigh of relief once we were a far enough distance away.
"No problem. You want a drink or something?" I nodded my head and he cracked open two bottles before handing one to me. I glanced down at the drink in my hand in confusion.
"Nigga you drink wine coolers?" I laughed shaking my head.
"Hell yeah I drink wine coolers! Beer taste like piss, I don't fuck with that shit."
I don't drink beer either but he knows damn well he had other options. I'm especially fond of wine coolers either, they taste like pure sugar. I haven't drunk one since high school I think.
"Gia, do you want a drink?" I offered through my laughter that was finally beginning to subside.
She shook her head. "No, umm.. I'll actually be over there if you need me." She vaguely gestured across the yard to a young man in his twenties who I assume is a distant relative, but I've never seen nor met him before.
"Who is that?" I inquired turning my attention back to Miles as Gia walked away. He shrugged his shoulders seeming just as confused as I am.
"I think one of my cousins. I don't know. There's too many of them niggas to keep track of."
I sank down into a nearby lawnchair taking a swig from the bottle of liquid diabetes in my hand. Miles and I just talked and drank catching up with one another since it's been a few months since I've seen him. I love moments like these, it really feels like they're my brothers. You know? I know we're not really related but sometimes things feel so normal and it's nice.
"So you and this white boy. Why haven't we met him? You scared or something?" He cocked an eyebrow up at me.
"Ms. April has met him."
"But why haven't I met him? Moms is the one who told us about him to begin with. Like what the hell Lennox?"
I glanced over at his studying his facial expression trying to decipher whether or not he was being facetious. He's not. He seems genuinely bothered by the fact that he knew nothing of my relationship with Beckham.
"I've never brought anyone home before..." I answered honestly the words feeling strange falling from my lips. "Look, I'll plan a dinner or something next month. Okay?"
"Okay." He nodded his head in agreement just as his wife, Lina came up holding baby Milani.
"Lennox do you mind taking her for a second?" She passed the baby to me pulling Miles up from his seat, "I wanna dance with my husband."
"You good here?" Miles called over his shoulder though Lina was already pulling him towards the make-shift dance floor.
"I'm fine, go have fun." I smiled looking down at Milani who was clad in the cutest little Fourth of July outfit along with tiny noise-cancelling headphones. I would talk to her but it's not as if she can hear me anyways.
So I simply leaned back in my seat, cradling the half sleeping baby in my arms watching the party-goers bump and grind to 90s R&B. I'm starting to become weary of being here. I know if I leave earlier than the time I told Ms. April after arriving late, I'm not gonna hear the end of it. So I'll just sit here.
Squinting my eyes I noticed a head of curly hair that looked oddly familiar amongst the sea of bodies on the dance floor. I'm definitely tripping.
My eyes quickly scanned around for the closest person I knew and luckily one of Miles' cousins was digging in the cooler not too far from me. I tapped him on the arm, "Hey, who's that over there?" I used my head to gesture towards the person on the dance floor.
"That's Malakai."
"Okay but who?" I repeated the question trying to pry for more information.
"Our cousin Malakai." He smacked his lips together, retrieving his beverage before walking away.
I blinked a few times trying to process that statement. Now hold on a second, Malakai is a common ass name. Especially for black people. I went to middle school with like four Malakais. They all spelt it differently too.
But then I saw it, he was dancing with a pretty Asian girl, arms wrapped around her waist as their bodies swayed to the beat. His child's mother is Asian. Shit. That's Malakai.
Y'all my Spanish is honestly shit so if any of my followers are speakers let me know if I made any mistakes. Cause I'm not fluent and I'm not really trying to be🤷🏾♀️😭
Some of my family is Afro-Latino and I try to learn cause I'm not trying to be an embarrassment at the family reunions buttttt it's just not working out🤣
~Lee