A teeny weeny time jump
Beyoncé's POV
Car Dealership
July 3
"She hasn't even gotten her license yet." Onika remarked. "I think we should wait until she gets it."
I don't know where the 'we' was coming from. My daughter was receiving a car from me.
I invited her because I wanted to spend time with her. She protested for a good 2 hours before giving into me.
"I'm sure if we get her the car and give it to her by her birthday then it'll motivate her."
"Well, I know my daughter and having the car won't affect her motivation." She rebutted.
I chuckled, shaking my head. "Zamora is my daughter too and I think my approach works too."
We just got here and she was trying to start with me.
"Ok."
"Ok, then."
I held the door open and she walked in before I walked in after.
Jeremy walked out of his office, ready to greet us. He'd been my go-to person for cars since I first started driving.
"Wassup, Bey." He reached a hand out and we dapped each other up. "You really here, in the flesh?"
"I am. We just shook hands, didn't we?" I joked and he chuckled. "Let's get down to business."
"Let's go sit." He turned and led the way to his office.
Onika waited for me to start walking before she did. I placed a hand on her lower back, guiding her into the room with us.
We both sat down in front of his desk and he got ready to listen to me.
"My daughter needs a car for her 17th birthday."
"What kind of car are you looking for?"
"She wants white. She wants a smaller car. Tinted windows. A smooth sailing one." I simply noted.
"Which car?"
"Mercedes-Benz CLE."
"By when?" He asked after writing down what I'd told him.
"Her birthday is next week on the 12th." I said out loud, realising how short notice it was. I knew these things could take months.
"Knowing how you like your cars, you know it'll take a lot longer than that." He explained, looking my way.
"Like I said, no use." Onika murmured under her breath, only loud enough for me to hear.
"Aside from the type of car, what features do you need for this one?" He inquired. "The regular?"
"Yes, but I need it to be 10x better than what my cars have. This is my little princess." I spoke. "This car has to be perfect."
"Done."
"How long do you think it'll take?"
He looked down at all that was in his notes and calculated to himself. "5 months at most."
"So she can have the car ready by Christmas?"
"I can promise you that."
"Bill me."
He gave me a figure and I signed what needed to be signed. We all stood and I thanked him with a hug. Onika did too. Then we headed out of the dealership.
"Zamora gave me a list of things that we need to get for tomorrow." I said as we approached my car.
Once we were both seated I pulled out and started driving to the nearest Target.
"You got any plans after I leave you?" I asked her, keeping my eyes on the road.
"We don't have to do this."
"Do what?" I placed my hand gently on her leg. "What don't we have to do, my love?"
I could feel her eyes on me, but I just focused on driving. She clamped her legs together before taking my hand off of her.
"I hate you." Onika said silently.
That made me crack up laughing.
"You love me. And that's ok."
"Just take me home." Her right leg cross over her left and she turned to look away from me.
Nothing she said was ever taken serious by me, so I just stayed on my route to Target.
When we arrived, she knew to help me get everything on the list. I didn't understand why half of the stuff made the list, but whatever Miss Zamora Grace wanted, she got.
Onika and I split up in the store, so she was off getting the bottom half of things on the list.
I was running through my list with ease. So, I got bored and went in search of my wife. She wasn't that hard to find because all I had to do was look for some big men loitering around.
When I found her, she was walking around the flower display. Her fingertips and nails grazing each petal. She was in a trance-like state just looking at them.
"Did you get everything on your end of the list?" I asked her and she snapped her head in my direction.
"Can you step back for a second?" She lowly asked me, going back to what she was doing.
I walked over to her, getting her attention.
"What, Beyoncé?"
"Did you-"
"He has everything on that list." She pointed over at one of the men. "Please, be quiet now."
"Why are you being weird?" I asked, looking at her funny. "What happened?"
"Nothing." She randomly stood straight, throwing me a quick glance. "Let's go."
Weird.
—
Kelly's POV
Home
July 4
Today was the Fourth of July, and just as I'd remembered, it was a big deal in the Knowles family.
I didn't give two shits about America's birthday, but any opportunity to have a party was worth while.
"Noah?!" I called out, as I headed downstairs.
"Yeah, mama?!"
"Do you have your swimming trunks under your clothes?" I asked as I stuffed my essentials into my handbag.
When I didn't receive a response, I just stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him to come downstairs.
"We ready to go?" Tim walked by me, kissing my cheek.
"For some reason, our 7 year old son has taken longer than me to prepare for a pool party."
"He's a Weatherspoon, we have to look our best." He joked and I fought the urge to roll my eyes, as I smiled. "Where is Titan?"
It took me a second to remember. "Mama needed him to help take things to Nicki's house."
"You see how she never has to ask twice for nothing?" He observed. "She can breathe and one of her grandkids will be right there to ask if the air is ok."
Which was very true.
I'd been telling Titan to clean a pair of his shoes for weeks, but the second mama needed something, he was there.
"Mama, you know where my crocs is?" Noah finally left his room.
"Are." I corrected him. "You left them out back. Go get them quickly so we can leave."
"Okayy." He basically jumped from the top step to the bottom step.
I barely reacted because boys will be boys.
Tim and I walked out of the house. He went to go start his car up and I waited by the door so I could lock it when our son came out.
"Go get in the car." I instructed as he jogged past me.
After locking the door and hopping in the car, we were on our way.
"Do you feel the energy in the air?" I asked Tim. "It really feels like a celebration."
"I mean, your sister is back. She was exactly what's been missing in this family." Tim responded.
Beyoncé's energy was so indescribable. Almost every single event of the year came about because of her. It was always her that made everything a family affair.
"She's always been an intricate part in everyone's life." I said, looking out of the window.
Noah took us out of our thoughts by complaining about how he grabbed the wrong shoes.
We soon arrived at the Maraj-Knowles household and were ushered in by Cavalli. She took us out to the back yard where the main events of the evening were occurring.
I could tell that Destiny was in charge of the music because Bryson Tiller was blasting from the speakers.
"Hey, Kel!" Ashley spotted me and I quickly moved over to hug her.
"You look so good." I complimented, swaying from side to side. "Didn't recognise you for a second."
"Wow. You couldn't let the compliment sit for 2 seconds." We both laughed before pulling away. "You look like you're surviving."
"Oh, shut up."
I sat down beside her and she gave me an update on something I asked her about. It was a nice talk but I needed to find my best friend.
I wrapped my conversation up and went into the kitchen.
In there was Onika with a glass of wine and she was leaned against the counter, looking at something. I followed her eyeline and she was watching Beyoncé.
Beyoncé was in the foyer, taking off her jacket. Her, Trent and Titan were bringing in some things.
"Are you going to talk to her?" I chuckled as I questioned her.
She jumped, almost spilling her wine.
"Don't do that." She sipped from the glass before walking over to refill it.
"I was wondering where she was, but you make it so easy to find her."
She squinted her eyes as she filled her glass half way. "Is Tim still doing the fireworks?"
"Mhm." I hummed but felt a pair of arms wrapping around me.
It was Beyoncé. "I was about to come looking for you."
I smiled and turned to hug her.
"Ugh, she's in here." She said, seeing Onika glaring her down.
Onika scoffed and picked her wine glass up. "Kiss my ass." She responded to Beyoncé before storming out of the kitchen.
"When you let me." That had Beyoncé cracking up.
"You're always messing with her." I shook my head whilst laughing.
"It's fun to see how long she can pretend to hate me." She said as we pulled away from one another. "It's like foreplay."
I didn't need to know that.
"She's been acting weird since yesterday, though." Beyoncé started. "We were at Target and she was just staring at flowers."
"Bey, cut her a little slack." I tried to sympathise, remembering why. "There are a few times of the year that we celebrated you when you were gone. It's one of those times of year, and she's probably freaked out."
I believe Onika celebrated it three times a year. June 10th, the day Beyoncé didn't come home. September 4th, her birthday and day of the funeral. Then around this time of July.
I'm not sure what happened during July for her because she spent a lot of her time locked away. I just had this vivid memory of seeing her on one of the days and there was literally no emotion behind her eyes. I think that was around the time she just lost hope and gave up.
We left the kitchen and headed to the backyard with everyone else. Richard was manning the barbecue and keeping everyone fed.
Once we were seated, I searched for someone to bring us some food.
"Nilaya." I called out, since she was the only kid near me.
"Yes, Miss Kelendria Trene Rowland?" She stopped walking and looked at me.
"Little girl, I will-" I raised my hand like I was about to hit her and she jumped back as she bursted out laughing. "Can you go get us a plate of whatever you can get over there?"
"You know I don't work for free." She frowned with a shrug.
I looked over at Beyoncé. She sighed before pulling out a few dollar bills, passing them over to her daughter.
"Your order is right up." She grinned, stuffing the money into her pocket.
She was such a character.
Eventually, she came back over with our food and Beyoncé and I ate from the same plate.
The fireworks began going off as we were eating. I hadn't learned any of Beyoncé's triggers, so I kinda waited to see how she'd react to the noise.
Her eyes just watched in amazement. That was a good sign.
They kept going off for a good few minutes before the teens and young adults started gathering.
"They're not about to do what I think they're about to do." I sat up, grinning from ear to ear. "Now I feel old."
"Are they setting up for the Pool Game?" Beyoncé curiously asked.
"I think they are." I chuckled. "We are the OGs. I remember we made this tradition up over 20 years ago."
"Now our kids are our ages and doing it." She started smiling like me. "Wow."
"Wow, indeed."
"Hey, Bey!" Trent called his sister. "You wanna blow the whistle for us to play?"
"Why not?" She chuckled and caught it when Trent threw it over. "Count me in." Beyoncé said to me and I did before she loudly blew the whistle.
All the kids that were Nilaya's age and younger were stood near us and cheering the older kids on.
I gasped when I saw Zamora and Jordyn practically pick Titan up and throw him in the pool, before they jumped in together.
They really did that to my baby boy.
💜💜💜
Just a lil parallel to my second favourite chapter in Upgrade U🫶🏾
Thoughts?