SATURDAY, 1:30, URBAN AIR
"Did you lose Little Shay too?" Olivia laughed, joining Simone outside of the row of trampoline beds littered with children.
"Somewhere between the basketball kisok with the embedded trampoline in the ground and the ceiling climber. How about you? Where's the birthday girl?"
"She dragged her friend Desiree back up webbed jungle gym to get into the line for the zip line," Olivia detailed amused, "She's gone on it about five times already."
"Yeah, Shay loves it here too," Simone smiled, glancing through the crowd of children flipping around to spot her son and his father racing down two of the trampolines, tussling to beat the other.
"Spencer chose a good spot for the party." Olivia complimented her absentee boyfriend.
"Where is he anyway?" Simone wondered aloud.
"He's in the party room sorting through the gifts, for later when it's time to record her opening them." Olivia explained.
"Yeah, she got a lot of them, huh?" Simone remembered seeing the pile of wrapped presents and line of gift bags upstairs in the parry room.
"Yeah, you know some of her friends from Portland are here, then my parents, Spencer's family, you and Shay, and some of Spencer's friends from New York mailed her some gifts." Olivia listed off as she and Simone found Kia playing with her son D.J. by the rock climbing wall.
"You got it, baby, keep going!" Kia encouraged her adventurous six year old son to go higher.
"I'm doing it, Mommy!" He shouted as his little leg landed on another peg, hiking him up higher.
"You got it, little man! Keep going!" Darnell's voice chimed from a few feet away from behind his wife as he tried to reangle his camera to record their son.
"Wow, he's getting up there," Simone observed, standing beside Kia, clapping to encourage her friend's son.
"You guys having a good time?" Olivia asked.
"It's great, Liv," Kia assured the party hostess, "He's going to get all of this energy out and sleep like a mute when we get home," Kia predicted with hope, grateful to get all the energy out of her hyperactive son.
"Where's Vita at?" Olivia inquired of their fourth friend who was know insight.
"Penny needed a potty break. She should be back soon. Her husband, Tony, went upstairs to help Spencer because the staff started to bring cake, pizza, brownies, and ice cream," Kia disclosed to her friends, keeping her eyes on her son to ensure he didn't fall.
On cue, Spencer came walking through the crowds of families inside the building to reach them at the rock climbing area. Swiveling through litters of children and their parents, he finally made his way over to them. Shadowing his new boss, a nervous Charles joined at the ladies' side.
"Liv, can you and your girls start rounding up all the kids. The wings and pizza were delivered to the party room, and I want everybody to eat while the food is still hot," Spencer requested once he stood next to his girlfriend.
"Sure, baby. We will round up everybody and meet you guys upstairs," Olivia agreed, kissing Spencer on the cheek as D.J finally climbed back down the plastic rock wall.
"Uncle Spence, did you see me? I climbed up super high!" D.J. bragged to Spencer, who patted the top of his tapered fade.
"That's great, Dee. Let's burn off some of that energy with some food," Spencer chuckled, lifting Darnell's son into his arms.
"We will meet yall upstairs." Darnell informed his wife, kissing her on the cheek, prepping to leave with Spencer back to the party room.
"Uh, Mr. James, my girlfriend is here." Charles muttered nervously.
"Perfect timing," Spencer stated, "Can't wait to meet the woman who swept you off your feet."
"There she is," Charles pointed out to a woman walking through a crowd as he separated from the group to meet his date halfway to guide her through the crowds.
"Why does that look like...." Olivia mumbled with uncertainty, squinting her eyes to get a better look at the woman from afar.
"What wrong, Liv?" Simone asked, worried about the sudden frown placed on her best friend's face.
"Who is he bringing over?" Kia questioned, intrigued by the tension growing, desiring to be in the loop.
"Is that Tanya?" Darnell chimed in a hushed tone, next to Spencer, who passed D.J. to his father.
"Can't be." Spencer spat, handing his nephew over to Darnell. "What the hell is she doing here?"
In the crowd of families attending Urban Air, Charles conversed with his date, who had no idea why he dragged her to an indoor children's adventure playground.
"Why the hell did you fly me to L.A. for a children's party?" She sneered when Charles finally spotted her in the sea of strangers.
"My boss' daughter is having her birthday party here. I needed to make a good impression. Please, do it for me." Charles pled of the woman who kept her eyes on her phone screen.
More concerned that she had yet locate where Spencer was spending his time in L.A, Tanya kept her eyes scrolling through her phone, tracking through all the possible places in Crenshaw she might find him at later on, once she was done wasting her time on this scrub that flew her out to Los Angeles. "Whatever, I'm staying for an hour, then leaving. I'm supposed to be meeting up with important friends later today."
"That's cool." Charles agreed, taking what he could get, "Come on, everyone is waiting." He tried to put his hand in hers to pull her in the right direction only for her to scoff and drop his hand.
"I can walk myself. Thanks." Tanya groaned, gesturing for him to lead the way.
Withholding a groan, Charles wondered if he could pull this off. He began to walk back to the Spencer and his group of friends with Tanya dragging her feet behind him.
As they reached the group, Charles was surprised to find glares in his direction. Clearing his throat, he tried to ignore the narrowed eyes to make introductions, "Eveyone, this is T-"
"Tanya, what the hell are you doing here?" Olivia immediately inquired coldly, cutting Charles off.
"I could ask you the same thing," Tanya inquired in confusion of her. Had she just walked into a twilight zone, or was the universe delivering Spencer to her on a silver platter. Suddenly, a smirk played onto her face. "You're Charles' boss?"
"No, Mr. James is my boss. I'm his new publicist." Charles corrected his date. "Wait? Why I am the one answering the questions? How do you guys know each other?"
"I think the question is, how do you know her?" Spencer counted, glaring at Charles with suspicion. "Is she the one night stand?"
Charles' lips parts, unable to answer the blunt question, embarrassed.
"Wait, the one night stand...you slept with Tanya..." Spencer thought aloud, putting the puzzle together.
"Will someone explain to me why this heathen is at my daughter's birthday party? Are you stalking Spencer for real now?" Olivia interrogated aggressively as Simone and Kia held her back from making a scene in front of all these strangers attending Urban Air. "Spencer...what the hell is going on? Did you invite her here?"
"Huh? Ummm... yeah, baby. I did," Spencer suddenly answered, surprising Tanya.
"You did?" Charles retorted, scrunching up his face, baffled by the situation.
"Sorry, Charlie. Tanya is an old friend of mine, and when she called me up and told me she was pregnant, I wanted to help her break the ice." Spencer rolled a fake excuse off the tip of his tongue.
"Preg..pregnant." Charlie mimicked the word as if he hadn't heard Spencer correctly. "You're pregnant. By me? We only slept together once!"
Tanya's mouth parted as she tried but failed to explain herself, and she found herself throwing daggers at Spencer. He managed to turn the tables on her.
"Wait. So you invited Tanya here to...." Olivia waited for an answer from her boyfriend.
"Celebrate with us, of course." Spencer shrugged. "She finally found a really good guy to settle down with, and she had no one else to share the good news with. I wanted to help share the great news with Charlie here."
"I can't do this. This isn't happening." Charles panicked, unable to handle the news. Taking off away from their group, he desired to be anywhere but inside this building.
"Oh, no. Tee, you better go follow him." Spencer forced a fake encouraging smile, "You guys need to talk things out. That's more important than joining us for the party. Don't you think?"
Olivia gazed between the two of them, unsure what was unfolding between them. Tanya appeared flustered as if she had no idea Spencer was going to disclose the news of her pregnancy. While Spencer starred at her smugly, like he just won a checkmate in a game of chess.
"Did you need to say something, Tee? We are all ears to listen?" Spencer inquired as if mocking her.
Swallowing the words that she desired to say, Tanya shook her head, "Nothing at all, Spencer. Thanks for the help." Forcing a tight smile on her face, she pivoted around before storming off.
Spencer shrugged his shoulders, gazing at his friends like nothing unfolded. He asked, "Hmmm, anyone else hungry?"