"How was breakfast?" I ask the young woman snuggled into my abdomen.
"Really good, you've been feeding me way too much food though." She admits.
I laugh.
"Iunoo what you talkin bout." I say innocently, raising her chin so I can kiss her lips that taste like french toast.
"Mhmm." She smiles.
She gets up from beside me and looks into my eyes.
"You don't think we should check our phones, babe?" She questions appearing to be worried.
"I know for a fact we don't need to check our phones. Anyone who truly knows us and anyone who matters knows that we with each other. If we need some time we need some time." I say pulling her head to my lips. My finger gets tangled in her curly black hair.
"Ow." She complains, childlike.
"You tryna rip my hair out." She mumbles.
I laugh.
"Ya shit bout to lock up babe. You was tryna dread this?" I ask, playing in the tangled mess.
She smiles, her almond eyes looking into mine like it was all she needed.
"Come here, come sit between my legs." I say to her.
"Uh-uhh. So you can really make my hair fall out?" She questions with her attitude.
"It looks like it's bout to fall out anyway." I clap back.
She chuckles.
"Come on, I used to do Patrice hair all the time." I say serious now. "You ain't see all those cornrows?"
"The big ol doodoo braids you put in Patrice hair? Oh Lord have mercy." She mimics her Mother.
"I'm gon ignore ya little jokes. Go get the comb and hair oil." I smile, pushing her away from me. She runs upstairs and runs back down with a black big toothed comb and coconut oil.
"Okay, powerful Black woman. Sit down." I say to my beauty.
She does as told, her long legs folded before her. I carefully take out the rubber band she has holding the mess together and she winces.
Partitioning her hair into managable parts was easy, de-tangling was hard until I began using the oil to assist me with the kinks and knots. Her hair felt like silk between my fingers, after that. It just needed a little love and affection. I began corn-rowing from the front of her head, leaving out some of her baby hair but grasping the little intricate hairs between the tips of my fingers.
She winces again and groans.
"You tender headed, just like Patrice." I say knowing it would get a rise out of her.
"No, your hands mad ruff." Chanel complains.
"You wasn't saying that last night." I whisper cleverly. I can almost feel the wind of her eye rolls, she sucks her teeth.
Chanel reaches for the speaker on the table and pulls it towards her, messing up the braid I am currently working on.
"Come on, baby. Keep still." I mumble focused.
"Sorry." She whispers as she scrolls down to song two of the project.
"You don't want to wait a little? We've been having a good morning." I ask, a little worried that the good mood would end.
"No, I like this one." She shrugs.
"Hmm." I stop braiding and look to the side, attempting to remember what song #2 even is.
"Okay, play it." I say, combing out another partition of hair.
She hits play and the sound of rain starts the track, immediately I know what song it is and I know why she likes it so much. It's because aside from the clear bitterness of the lyrics, song number two better known as 'You fixed me' was giving clear praise to Chanel. Today would be an easier day than the others.
The beat starts off slow, a typical boom-bap kind of feel but with a softer edge. Chanel's eyes are closed and she leans into me as I braid down the top of her head.
Through it all I can admit you showed me greater love
Way before this was greater love we were great enough
To overcome anything the hood would throw at us
My Queen my everything, my whole being
She sings the words like she's already listened to it a dozen times.
"You conceited." I joke, killing the moment.
She chuckles and turns her head to look at me, pulling the braid out of my hand again.
I groan and kiss her head as she apologizes.
"I just want to look at you." She says in her baby voice.
"You cant look at me after I'm done with your hair?" I question, moving my lips to hers. She kisses me soft.
"But you're so beautiful." She compliments before turning back around. I laugh.
"Thank you. But if you pull this hair out my hand one more time, I'm leavin it half braided." I say.
"Might look better that way." She remarks smartly.
"Aight." I say handing her the comb and beginning to get up.
"No, no, no. Okay. Finish it." She giggles.
It takes me another 20 minutes but by the end of it all, it doesn't look half bad. Straight cornrows, like the guys used to wear in the old days. We just needed a durag to tie it all together.
"Go look at it." I say to her.
Chanel gets up slowly, a small smirk on her face like she is unsure of what to be expecting. I smile at her.
"You're welcome." I say, taking a bow.
She squints her eyes as she slowly backs up into the bathroom on the first floor.
"Mmhm." She replies, turning her back to me. She takes one last look at me and then turns her face to the bathroom mirror, with the door still open.
Chanel stairs at her hair for one second and then busts out laughing.
"Woooow." I say, turning my head to the side. "You disrespectful."
She falls onto the floor laughing and begins crawling back to me.
"Nah don't come over here." I say getting up and walking away from her.
"Baby, what is this?" She manages to let out.
"Why you so disrepectful? I'm not even laughin with you?" I suck my teeth.
She crawls faster to me and then grabs onto my legs so I can't leave.
"I love them! I'm just playing." She stretches out her words but I'm not having it.
"Nah, leave me alone." I say, struggling to push her off my legs so I can walk out the back door.
Channel laughs in fits, her legs and arms still wrapped around my calves. She attempts to pull me down, but forgets how much stronger than her I am.
"You know what?" I say, picking her entire body up in one swoop.
"If you don't like it, you won't care if it messes up right?" I chuckle at my own plan. I slide that back door open with Chanel thrown over my shower like a towel and head towards the pool.
"Noooo!" She screams after realizing my plan. She attempts to wiggle out but it's too late.
"Trevon! No, I'm deadass!" She screams and laughs at the same time.
"Nah, you wanna make fun of my efforts." I shrug and eat all the punches and slaps she's throwing at me.
"Trev, stop!" She screams.
I reach to the beginning of the pool and lean over. She slips out of my hand and plummets right into the water. I stare at her my eyes wide open.
"Damnnnnn, I ain't even mean to let go HAAAAA." My body is riddled with laughter as she stares at me from the water, eyes glazed over red. Chanel races to edge of the pool and jumps out with a vengance. She storms towards me but she's seen me in ball. If these niggas can't catch me, it's slow for her.
I dodge her every attack, all while laughing. I even find a way to push her back in.
_______________________________
The AC is on high and the thick blanket placed over us on the couch feels like a warm bear is hugging us both. We stare at the TV screen in shock as the Black guy is the first to die, just like we predicted.
"Yoo, they really killed my nigga." I sigh.
"He was the realest nigga in this whole shit." Chanel shakes her head on my chest. My arms wrap around her small body and I can already feel a little bit more weight on her. Even if it's only been three days. We haven't listened to song three yet. We planned on doing it before bed, just to prolong the good moods.
Chanel jumps as the white girl in the movie screams out suddenly.
I shake my head. "She dead." I comment.
Chanel groans. " I liked herrrrr." She complains.
"Yea, she got some balls but her and her balls dead." I laugh.
The camera takes a whole five minutes to show our dead white girl, our second favorite character in the shitty movie. As the suspense builds and the music gets louder, we wait for the killer to shoot the weakest character on screen. At the sound of the bullet escaping the gun, there is a hard knock at the side entrance of the house.
Chanel screams and covers her face hugging me tightly.
My eyebrows furrow in complete confusion.
"Were you expecting someone?" I ask, looking at shoes by the door. I move her off of me and begin walking to the glass doors to the side.
"No. I haven't communicated with anyone." I can hear Chanel sit up.
"It's ok. The movie got us a lil jumpy." I say calm. I take a peak through the closed blinds and immediately the flash of a camera blinds me.
"Shit." I say letting the blinds go.
"What?" Chanel asks worried.
"Fuckin paparazzi." I swear. The buzz of the people outside gets louder as they yell into the glass, hoping we will hear them.
Prodigy, how long were you and Chanel together?
How did she take the album?
Is Chanel in there with you?
Are all the songs true?
"How did they even get through security?" Chanel questions angrily. Cameras flash outside, the flashes reflecting off the blinds. Quickly she searches for her phone.
I hear her dial three numbers and moments later she speaks. I stay by the door in case one of them try anything stupid and attempt to bust in, but all I can do is hear them shouting loudly. I am able to make out some of their questions and statements.
Are you two still together?
Prodigy, how does it feel to have two songs make Billboard charts within four days of release?
I freeze and my entire body tenses up as my brain processes the last comment. In the distance I can hear Chanel faintly.
"Hello, My name is Chanel. I'm calling because there's been a breach in security and paparazzi are flooding my house. Okay-"
She looks at me and nods positively but I can feel the blank expression on my face. Two songs from this heartbreak project, has done so well in streaming, sales and radio play that it's made the Billboards top 100? How is that possible. How did that happen so fast. My heart pounds in my chest. This is better than any song I've ever released, a new record for myself and possibly a new record for anyone.
"Ok, thank you so much. We will be waiting." Chanel finishes and hangs up the phone.