Marcus
"Yo! What the move tonight, Mark?" Julius asked Marcus as they walked through the mall toward the shoe store. It was early afternoon and surprisingly the mall wasn't as packed as it usually was.
"I'm not sure, yet. " Marcus replied while checking out a woman with long hair and a thick ass walk past. "I need to talk with Mehki, he was telling me about a move. " Marcus pulled out his iPhone and texted his brother for details of the party they would be attending later that night.
"What kind of party could your brother possibly be attending that you or I would be interested in going to ?" Julius eye'd Marcus suspiciously.
"Yo, chill. It's a regular party at off campus housing. " Marcus said with hint of annoyance while looking through the racks of clothing in Downtown Locker Room. Marcus and Mehki were your average 21 year olds men. Identical twins born to Elizabeth and Malcolm Whitehead. Both men stood at 6'1 at 215lbs of pure muscle wrapped in dark chocolate skin. They both rocked neat loc's that stopped just below their shoulder blades, chiseled jaw lines, deep set dimples and piercing hazel eyes. The only thing that set the brothers apart was a small heart shaped mole that Marcus had in his ear and the fact that Mehki was gay.
"I'm just saying, your brother a cool dude but you know I'm not with that gay shit. "
"For real, for real you don't have to go. No one said anything about anyone being gay. It's a party, you either wanna go or you don't," Marcus replied as he looked up from the jeans he had been shorting through. Though quiet and laid back, Marcus rarely took shit from anyone. And if there was one thing that he didn't play about, it was Mekhi. Gay or not, they shared a womb and an incredible bond that no one or nothing could break. Not even his being gay.
The boys were raised in a religious home. Both Malcolm and Elizabeth were devoted church goers, a deacon, a choir member and a volunteer teacher for the church Sunday school. They worked very hard to instill religious values into their boys. They sent the boys to a private catholic school from pre-k until high school when the boys begged to go to public school. The Whiteheads felt that they could trust their sons to remain dedicated to their faith and allowed them to join their neighborhood peers at the local high school.
Marcus and Mehki fit in right away. They were very outgoing and had no problem making friends. Marcus was more of an athlete and went out for football and basketball, quickly becoming the star player at the school. The girls loved him and the boys thought he was cool. What better than the fact that there were two of him. Mehki was equally as popular. He was more into the performing arts; a triple threat who could sing, dance and act. In the beginning, he did entertain girls but most of the time they found that he was a good friend, a listening ear, offered good advice, but just not boyfriend material.
He went after all the lead male roles for the school plays. Which is how Mehki met Alexander. They were both going out for the lead role in Romeo and Juliet. Ultimately, Alexander landed the role with Mehki as his understudy. But the two boys quickly became friends. There weren't many African American males in the performing arts program and naturally they gravitates toward each other. They hung out together during school, after school and on the weekend.
"Hey Marcus, did you know Mehki is hanging out with a fag?" Scott, one of Marcus' teammates, asked while sitting down at the lunch table.
"What, nigga?" Mehki asked while leaning forward toward Scott to listen closely.
"That dude he's been hanging with. You know he's a fag, right?"
"Look yo, I don't know nothing about that. But that's my brother you're talking about. Tread lightly." Marcus said while leaving the table. He spotted Mehki across the lunch room at a table with his friends and walked towards the group.
"We need to talk. " Marcus leaned down and whispered to his brother. Mehki looked up at his brother with curiosity before excusing himself from the lunch table.
"What's up?" Mekhi said while walking through the courtyard which was located right off the lunchroom with his brother. It was a warm spring day and the high school campus was lively as the brothers sat down on a near buy bench watching their classmates walk past in animated conversations.
Marcus looked at his brother, though only a mere 10 minutes apart, he took his roll as older brother seriously.
"So, my friend came over and approached me about your friend. "
"Which friend?"
"They weren't clear. Only thing they could tell me was that he was a fag."
Mehki winced slightly. Unnoticeable to many but not to Marcus who slowly nodded his head.
"Alex. He's not a fag. I mean he may be but I don't know anything about it. " Mekhi looked off into a space before meeting his brothers gaze.
"Ok."
"That's it? Ok?"
Marcus looked around and sighed. "I'm not into that. But if your friend is, if you are, that's cool. Cool for you. I would accept you or anyone who you vouched for as long as they are respectful towards me. Like, long as no one try no funny stuff with me. It's cool. And whatever you decide, you know know that's cool with me. I loved you from the womb, bro. Plus, acceptance. You know they preach that in church but I don't need that to accept my flesh."
Mekhi blinked away the tears that brimmed at his eyes and hugged his brother.
"Cool. I'll catch you later?" Mekhi said while walking away, unable to look his brother in his face while trying to contain his emotions.
From that day forward Marcus had been the supportive brother. Now, five years later, he was still defending his brother.
"Yo, my bad. We cool?" Marcus shook off the memory and shook hands with Julius. The two men parted ways once Julius agreed to meet Marcus back at his house that night for the party.
---
Mekhi
Mekhi walked around his room looking for the perfect outfit. He knew later that night him and his friends would be linking up at one of the most talked about off campus parties. He heard people talking about it all week around campus and was excited to go. Music blasted from the stereo as Mekhi laid his outfit across the bed, deciding on black jeans, Nike boots and a black v-neck shirt with a destroyed jean jacket.
Mekhi wasn't what people would typically think of a gay man. He didn't have any feminine qualifies and he didn't date men who had them either. Mekhi also didn't take to kindly to drama and anyone that bought it his way which is why he had to cut off one of his recent suitors.
As soon as he finished laying his clothes out he picked up his iPhone noticing messed texted.
Fuckboy 3: yo, I admit I was wrong. I'm sorry
Fuckboy 3: I can't believe u'd just cut me off.
Fuckboy 3: Forreal Forreal I told u I didn't want nothing serious
Fuckboy 3: FUCK U THEN
Mekhi sighed and brushed his hands over his head. Fuckboy 3 was Byron who he had cut off after running into him on a date with his girlfriend. They had been dating for four months and even though he claimed he didn't want anything serious he was the one who wanted to make it official with Mekhi. So when Mekhi saw him hugged up outside the movies with a woman with short yellow blonde hair that didn't complement her complexion, a too small shirt that had titties oozing out the top and could quite cover her muffin top at the bottom and short shorts with her butt cheeks hanging out the bottom. All he could do was laugh.
"This is what you doing when you're studying " Mekhi said making air quotes when he approached Byron who looked like he saw a ghost. It was as if he queued the theatrics, as Mekhi walked away Byron did a full on production about how the woman on his arm was his cousin and she didn't mean anything to him. Then the blonde haired woman began going off in only the best way a hoodrat knew how.
"Oh my gawd! You one of dem down low faggots. You nasty bitch. You wasn't sayin I was no one last night when you had me suckin yo balls with my fingers in your ass. No wonder yo ass like that back door shit. You one of dem nasty down low faggots." Blondie pranced back and forth, waving her hands above her head and then hauled off throwing a fury of punches hitting Byron, who was now screaming like a little bitch, "you low down dirty butt boy. You probably gave me AIDS!"
At this point Mekhi has witnessed enough and walked away both hurt and embarrasses as a crowd of people walked up to watch the scene that Byron had caused.
I'm going to have to block this muthafucka Mekhi thought as he put the phone down. The only thing he wanted to do tonight was party and he didn't want to entertain any foolishness. Not realizing this was only the start of series of events that were due to happen that night.