Chapter Nine I
"You're quiet, Nessa. Something on your mind?"Mama asks me.
We were in the kitchen, mashing potatoes for tonight's dinner. Sel was seasoning the chicken breasts and Carter was out with the guys putting the corn on the grill.
Daniel asked me out today, which I was super excited for, but there was this huge problem.
The men in my life thought he was engaged.
How the hell was I suppose to tell them I was going out with a guy this upcoming Friday who was married?--Oh wait. He's not married, he just said that to get you off his back.
At least he was coming to Dinner to help me break the news.
I look at Mama and I knew she could see my worry. "What happened?"Mama asks immediately.
So, I spill and tell her everything about Danny, including that I invinted him and his sister over for dinner and that I may have let Daddy and Jon believe a lie. When I'm done, I sigh in relief.
"Better?"Mama asks.
"Absolutely."
"Good. Now, you will be fine. Your brother and Daddy might not be too happy, but they'll get over it. From what I heard, he sounds like a fine guy and I'm sure Daniel can get a blessing even if he did lie. Okay?"
I nod. "Okay. Thanks Mama."
"No problem. Are you done with those Mashed Potatoes?"
I hand her the bowl and grab another bowl to start on the Cake batter. Cherry Cheesecake sounded good for Dessert tonight.
"Sel, what did you have to talk to Rose about?"
"Talk to Rose? About what? Why? What'd she say?"Sel rambles.
I look at her amused. "I don't know. You're the one who said you had to talk to Rose and left me without a ride."I point out.
"Oh! Yeah, Rose had some extra notes I didn't write down in Economics and I just went to ask her to let me copy them."Sel tells me.
"Oh okay."
There was more to that story, I was sure of it. Sel was jittery and judging by the shared look of Mama and I, she saw right through Sel's answer, too. Mentally, I make a note to question Sel later. Now wasn't the time and the dinner was more important than Sel's lie.
"Nessa, do you want Cupcakes or Cake at your Dinner?"Mama asks me.
"Both."I answer.
"Both wasn't a option."
"It is now."
Mama playfully glares at me and I give her a smile. In silence, Sel finishes up and hands over the chicken to Carter for the grill and helps me with the Cheesecake.
"I'm bored, anyone else bored?"I ask.
"Yeah."
"Totally."
Mama and Sel agree with me quickly and we share a laugh together.
"This isn't us at all. Cooking in silence. Cooking, really! Why didn't we just order in again?"Sel questions.
"Because somebody blew up my phone asking for a homemade meal."Mama answers.
They fix me with a pointed look and I give them an innocent smile. Of course I asked for a homecooked meal, Daniel mentioned how much he missed a mother's cooking. Though it was really the Boys doing everything, and we were just helping out here and there.
But that's besides the point.
"Think about how happy it'll make Danny and his sister!"I exclaim.
"Yeah yeah. Give me that and you two go get cleaned up and ready for Dinner."Mama instructs.
"Mama, it's not even 5. Nessa told them to be here by 7."
"Which means you two can use these two hours to get ready. Everybody knows you're going to use it all."Mama explains.
We nod in agreement and take our exit, snatching up two Sodas and a bag of Lays with us.
"You have any idea what you wearing tonight?"Sel asks.
I lead her to my room and take a seat on my bed. Sel joins me in a matter of seconds, taking the Chips from my hands.
"A shirt and some jeans. There, outfit figured out."I tell her.
Sel frowns. "Come on, you can do better than that. Why not show off those killer legs of yours?"
"Because two days ago you were calling them fat?"
"Which you have forgiven me for, so we shall not speak of it. You're wearing a dress or a skirt. No objections."Sel states.
I roll my eyes and unwillingly follow her to my closet. Sel immediately went to the back, where dresses would be found. They were mostly dresses Sel left or brought over in the hopes of me seeing one I liked and wearing it.
I never went this far in, so the chances of that ever happening was slim to none. Mostly, none.
"How about this?"
Sel shows off a sequenced red dress that was short and looked unpleasantly tight. I shake my head, too horrified to form words. Sel sighs and puts it back.
"This?"Sel asks. She goes for something gold and I place it right back where she got from with a tight smile on my face.
"Maybe a Skirt?"
"Yeah, that may be your best bet."I sarcastically agree.
Sel grins at me and moves over to the drawers that held skirts. She digs around in there for a little bit as I eye my jeans.
I could totally pull off ripped denim jeans, a muscle tee of some color, and some colorful socks. What more could Sel possibly want?
"This. This is it."Sel cries.
In a pose made for the gods, Sel holds up a pink pleated skirt. I nod in appreciation. "Not bad. Not bad at all, my friend."
"Oh, I have the perfect top for that! Go get in the shower and I'll run back to my house to get the top. Go, go, go! We don't have that much time!"Sel orders, quite literally pushing me out the closet and to the bathroom.
"You're worse than my Mother."I tease.
"Good. Use the Georgia Peach Shower Gel you just brought. And get behind those ears!"Sel calls back.
"Okay, Mother!"
I chuckle to myself and undress, before stepping under the showerhead that spewed hot water over me. I always loved taking showers, they brought me a since of peace and assurance I needed in my sometimes crazy life.
I didn't understand how people soaked in Baths--you were practically soaking in your own filth. How disgusting was that? Bath Bombs or not, that was wrong on so many levels.
I was just lathering up my hair with shampoo when the bathroom door swung open. Through the shower clear doors I could just make out Sel's sillhouette in the doorway, fog blurrying a clear picture of either of us.
"Hurry up, I still have to get ready, too."Sel rushes.
"I haven't even been in here for that long!"I protest, washing the shampoo out of my hair.
"It's been 20 minutes! I'm surprised you haven't started resembling a Prune yet."Sel grumbles.
"Fine, I'm out. Happy?"
I turn the water off and exit the shower. Immediately, I wrap a towel around my body and go back into my room.
"Did you find the top?"I ask Sel as I rummage my drawers for a matching set of bras and boy shorts--don't judge. I didn't own anything but boy shorts.
"Mhm. And the perfect heels."Sel squeals from behind me.
I slip on my undergarments and turn to look at her. "Heels? I'm not wearing shoes!"
"Why not?"
"This isn't some t.v. dinner or something, Sel. When do we ever wear shoes in this house? Especially to dinner?"I point out.
"True. I stand corrected."
I go to the bed and pick up the top Sel was so excited about. It was more of a white corset-bandeau that was laced and had a pattern that showed an appropiate amount of skin. "You're getting pretty good at this, Sel."
"What can I say? It's what I do. Now, lotion up and get dress. By the time I get out of this shower, all that should be left is our hair and makeup."
I grab my phone and hit shuffle. Wirelessly, Where Are Ü Now? starts to play from my Beats stereo as I plop down on my bed with the lotion bottle in my hands.
Three songs play by the time Sel emerges from the bathroom and rummages through my drawers before disappearing in my closet.
I was dressed and ready for the hair and makeup to be done, but knowing Sel, there was a specific way my hair and makeup should look. I'd never hear the end of it if I did it myself without consulting her first.
My phone dings and I see it's a text from Danny. A smile roams free on my face as I unlock my phone.
Danny: Specific colors I should wear?
Nessa: White. With a touch of pink.
Danny: Thanks Babe.
The butterflies in my stomach explode at that one word. A word that meant so much more.
Nessa: No problem.
"Ooh, texting the Boyfriend, I see."Sel teases emerging from my closet.
"Not my boyfriend."
"Yet. How do I look?"
I look over and falter. "Is that my favorite pair of high-waist shorts and the floral top Mama just bought for me!?"I exclaim.
"Don't I look amazing in it?"Sel says, confidently.
"Shouldn't I be the one looking amazing in it?"
Sel shrugs and starts on her hair. "You can look amazing in it another day."
I glare at her and she gives me a innocent smile. "I love you!"Sel exclaims.
"Mhm. Enough to let me wear those Altareva Christian Louboutins of yours."
The curling wand in Sel's hand slips slightly. "My $1,095 Louboutins?"Sel says with a tight smile.
"Those are the ones!"
Sel looks about to ready to murder me. "You know what? Fine."
"Aaw, that's so nice of you! Thank you!"
--
"I don't need a dozen roses
You ain't gotta wine and dine me, no
I don't need a pretty poet
Oooh, gettin' all emotional
"You gotta beg for it, beg for it
I wanna see you lookin' up
Baby I'ma need you to beg for it
"Cause we are just animals
Baby it's primal
I want you on all fours
And before I let you walk, you gotta show me how you crawl
"If you want it all
It's non negotiable
So do as I say
If you wanna get the job, you better know who's the boss..."
"Girls! The guests have arrived!"Mama calls from downstairs.
"Dammit. I was hoping for a round two of Nicki and Ari."I mumble, turning the song completely off.
"If you're lucky, you can get a round one of Danny and Nessa."Sel teases.
I push her playfully and guide her down the stairs. Light chatter came from the foyer where Daniel and Rose waited alongside my family and Carter.
"Hi Rose. Danny."I greet them.
Rose flashes me a smile, before turning her attention to Selena.
Danny fixes me with a heart-melting smile and everything going on around us fades completely from my focus. "You look beautiful, Nessa."
"Thank you. See you took my advice on color schemes."
Danny wore a buttoned-up white shirt with a pink Polo logo on it. He paired the shirt with jeans that fit him rather nicely and these outrageous pink Timbalands. Not many could pull those off, but he was owning it.
"For someone who's engaged, you sure did take the time to match Nessa."Carter says, rather rudely.
Sel gasps and slaps Carter on his chest. "Apologize."Sel hisses.
"For what? Telling the truth?"Carter argues.
"He does have a point there."Jon agrees.
"Yeah, about that..."Danny starts.
"Funny story!,"I butt in. "Danny was never engaged and said that to get Jon and Daddy off of his case! Hilarious, right!?" I laugh nervously.
"Excuse me? You're not engaged?"Daddy asks Danny.
Daddy was giving him a glare that usually brought Jay and Jon to their knees, spilling more secrets than a girl that loved to gossip. Carter had yet to escape it, too. Danny didn't even seem bothered. "No Sir, I'm not."
Daddy twitches and before I could blink, he lunges forward. Jon and Carter barely manage to hold him back. Daddy was yelling and Danny was just taking it all in.
God, this man was resilient.
"Hey!"Mama shouts. Daddy stops restraining and pipes down. When his wife spoke, everyone stopped and listened. "I did not spend majority of my day cooking a meal for this nice young man and his sister to eat, only to have it ruined by you being simply overprotective. Okay, so he's not engaged. Daniel, do you mind telling Nessa's father your reasoning for coming?"
"Not at all, M'am. I'd like to take Nessa out on a date, this Friday. We knew it would create...slight problems if Nessa went on a date with a man that was supposedly engaged, so I was invinted here tonight to tell the truth and hopefully, get the family's blessing to court Nessa."Daniel tells them.
"And we're going to give him that chance."
"Ashlin--"
"--We're giving him the chance and that's final."Mama tells Daddy and without another word, starts off to the Dining Room.
Daddy has no choice but to follow her and Jon goes along with them.
"That was...something."Rose comments.
"Tell me about it. Come on, you can sit next to me."Selena tells her, grabbing Rose's hand and tugging Rose along with her.
Complete turn around between those two, I see.
Carter was glaring at Danny like he was scum beneath his feet. "I don't like you. And I don't trust you. Fuck with Nessa and you fuck with me. Got that?"Carter snaps.
"Crystal clear."
"Come on, Nessa."
Carter grabs my arm harshly and pulls me out the foyer, Danny hot on our tail.
"Sorry."I mouth to him and Danny shrugs it off, but I could see the distate towards Carter and his hold on me.
Tonight was going to be a long night.