"You cooked this, Ma?"Junior asked, stuffing food in his mouth. Damita slapped his hand and shooed him away. "Stop picking in this damn food and no I didn't. I had it delivered."
"Dang momma, it's my birthday. You can't be hitting on me."Junior chuckled and rubbed his hand.
"Boy, get out my face. Go get dressed because all of your little friends will be here soon."Damita continued to lay out the food for the little get together they were having.
Aaliyah and Amaru didn't want a big party for their 16th birthday. They only wanted something small with their some family and friends.
Damita had sat all the different foods she order and put them all around the island like a buffet.
Amaru walked into the kitchen and stood in front of Damita, holding his arms out. She walked to him and he wrapped his arms around her waist. He pecked her on the lips.
"Did you get it?"Damita looked up at him and started smiling.
"Yup. I got it."Amaru smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
"Ooh. He's going to be so happy."Damita squealed.
"I got another surprise too, but you can't know what it is. It's for everyone."Amaru smiled and licked his lips.
"Don't do that."Damita sighed and looked away from him.
"How come?"Amaru chuckled and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Because-e-e-e you look so sexy right now. You have to change. Then you have on that cologne that I like, I think you're trying to do this on purpose."Damita rubbed her hand down his chest and bit down on her lip. "Like-e-e Damn Daddy."She playfully rolled her eyes.
Amaru started laughing and shook his head. "No, I'm not. Don't get me started on you though. With this damn dress on."He grabbed her hand and turned her around. "Ass looking all kinds of good and you just finna be walking around me. I'll put you on top of this table of all these kids weren't on their way."He grabbed on her butt with both his hands and started kissing her lips.
Damita started blushing and pushed him away. "Stop it, because you know if we start this we won't stop."
"Alright, Alright. I'll keep my hands to myself."He laughed and put his hands on the counter. "Did Aaliyah invite her lil' boyfriend over here today?"Amaru asked with a mug on his face.
"Yes she did. You better be nice, Amaru. Don't scare him."Damita scolded him. "Amari is bringing Jermaine too."
"Oh yeah? That's the lil' nigga I really want to see."Amaru shook his violently.
"Daddy, please don't act an ass when he gets here. It's our babies birthday and I want everything to go smoothly. Promise me that you'll be nice and calm?"Damita looked up at him.
"I promise."Amaru playfully rolled his eyes and she kissed him on the cheek. "Ok good."
"Where are they supposed to be eating at? All them can't fit at our table."
"I had Amaru and his little friend put some tables together in the backyard. I can't remember that's boy's name for anything."Damita face palmed herself and started laughing.
"Baby, his name is Kaleb. That's easy." Amaru laughed and shook his head at his wife.
Kaleb was one of junior's close friends, he played basketball with him.
"Kaleb, ok. I think I have it now, he's been Amaru's friend for the longest and I could never get the child's name right."Damita laughed.
Aaliyah came walking into the kitchen with the biggest smile on her face. "Mommy, daddy this is Ahmad, my boyfriend."She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the kitchen next to her.
"It's nice to finally meet you guys. Aaliyah talks about you two all the time."Ahmad smiled and walked to Damita and hugged her. He started to hug Amaru too, but Amaru stuck his hand out instead. Damita cut her eyes at him, but he ignored it.
"Sit down."Amaru smiled and pointed at the chair that sat across from where he and Damita were standing.
Ahmad sat down and Aaliyah sat next to him.
"So, Ahmad. Tell us about you. What do you do? How are your grades? What do you plan to do with your life, how old are you?"Amaru rambled and Damita hit his side. "Daddy, Don't interrogate him. Give the boy time to think."Damita rolled her eyes.
"Oh no Mrs.Shakur, it's fine. I play basketball and I work at Dominoes on the weekends. My grades are good, I'm usually on the honor roll, but my grades dropped a little on my last report card. I'm 16 and when I graduate I plan to goto Pepperdine and major in engineering. I love math."Ahmad smiled and Amaru just shook his head.
"How did you meet my Liyah? I know she's shy so how did she talk to you?"Damita smiled and put her hand under her chin.
"Well, I always used to see her around our practices waiting for your son. Then this year, she was in my Spanish class and I promised myself that I'd talk to her. I at least wanted us to be friends, so I asked her if she had done the homework."Ahmad smiled and shrugged.
"I thought she was so cute and funny because she'd always be arguing with Amaru."
"You seem like a very nice young man. I just hope you stay that way. I don't wanna have to hurt you."Amaru smiled and Ahmad started to laugh. "Oh no sir. I can assure you that none of that will be going on. I have a great deal of respect for your daughter and she'll only be treated like a princess with me."
"Well that's great to hear Ahmad. Aaliyah, have you spoken to your sister today?"Damita asked, grabbing Amaru's hand under the table.
"Yes ma'am. I talked to her earlier and she told me that her and Jermaine would be here. I want us to wait until everyone is here to start eating."Aaliyah replied.
"Ok, who else are we expecting?"Damita asked.
"Amari, Paige, and Kristina. I don't know who else Amaru invited."Aaliyah replied.
"Oh. Paige is coming? Well that's good. I haven't seen her in awhile."Damita smiled and walked away to the refrigerator. She took out one of her wine bottles and started to pour a glass.
"Daddy, you want one?"Damita asked and Amaru nodded his head. She poured him a glass and handed it to him.
"She's not coming for your son. They're still not talking and I'm hoping that it's not awkward. Why did he have to go and make my friend his girlfriend? She almost didn't come because she didn't want to see him."Aaliyah rolled her eyes.
"They will talk once she gets here. I know it because that's how it used to be whenever Eric and Taniyah would be into it. Your brother has talked about this girl too much, they're going to talk."Amaru chuckled and sipped his wine.
"Mommy no, tell your son to leave my friends alone."Aaliyah whined. It was bad enough that most of the girls on the track team with her found him so attractive. They always talked about the things that they'd do to her brother and she found it so annoying and weird. Paige never liked him until she started spending more time at their house and every since they'd broke up she distanced herself from Aaliyah.
Finally, Amari had joined them in the kitchen along with Jermaine. Aaliyah and Ahmad left the kitchen to go outside with Junior and Kaleb.
"Hi Amari Jo."Damita smiled and hugged Amari tight. "How are you? How's my baby?"
"As far as I know we are both fine. I had my first occurrence of morning sickness today."Amari shrugged. "Hi daddy."Amari kissed his cheek. He almost didn't acknowledge her because he was too busy staring Jermaine down.
"Daddy, this is Jermaine."Amari presented him and Amaru looked him up and down.
"Sit."Damita instructed in a serious tone.
Jermaine did as she said and sat down, but stayed silent.
"Jermaine, I know that I don't know you very well, but now you are going to be a very big part of my daughter's life. So it's important that I know a couple of things about you. Is it okay that I ask you a few questions?"Damita crossed her arms in front of her. She was in full blown lawyer mode. There was no need for Amaru to say anything this time, Damita had it under control.
"No ma'am. I don't mind at all."Jermaine replied.
"Where do you work?"Damita asked.
"I'm a welder. I've been doing it since I was 18."Jermaine replied and Damita nodded her head.
"What do your parents do?"Damita asked.
"My mother is a teacher and my stepdad drives trucks. I don't have a good relationship with my father, he and my mother were still in high school when they had me. He stopped coming around."Jermaine added the last part because he felt like she'd ask that next.
"How old are you?"Damita asked.
"I'm 23."He replied.
"So, what are trying to do with my daughter. Do you want to be with her? Are you going to take care of this child?"Damita asked.
"I'm definitely going to take care of my child, because I know what it feels like for my father to not be around. I don't want my child to go through. As far as being with your daughter goes, the choice is hers. It all depends on if she wants to be with me or not. That's something that we haven't spoken about."Jermaine explained.
"So it hasn't been a concern of yours? You didn't bring it up? Did you just want to keep having sex with her."Damita badgered him.
"Oh no ma'am. I definitely don't want to do that. We've only had sex because Amari wanted to. I personally wanted us to wait, I definitely have brought it up a few times. Amari told me that she isn't ready yet, but when she is I'll be here."Jermaine smiled and Damita stayed silent.
Her and Amaru looked at each other. He gave her some kind of signal and she started laughing.
"Well, I guess we can say welcome to the family. Don't fuck up, because I can hold a grudge and my husband owns several guns."Damita smiled and looked at her husband.
"I ain't scared to use them either."Amaru added in and Jermaine laughed nervously. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Amari, come ride with me to get this cake. I need to talk to you."Damita looked at Amari and grabbed her keys.
Amaru grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him. "Let me go get the cake, babe. I gotta go pick up something else anyway."
"Alright, Daddy. Don't be long."She kissed his lips and handed him her keys.
"Jermaine, you come with me. Let them talk alone."Amaru instructed and Jermaine mouthed 'Help' to Amari. She started laughing. He walked out of the door behind Amaru, leaving them to speak alone.
"Have you thought this through?"Damita asked, pouring herself another glass of wine. "Are you still having sex with him?"
"Yes."Amari sighed and looked away from her mother.
"Let me ask you this. Why did you even have sex with him in the first place?"Damita asked.
"I was curious. I just wanted to know what it felt like. I didn't think any of this would happen. The baby, or the way he feels about me. I guess I really didn't think it through, but now I have a baby to think about."Amari sighed and rubbed her face. "It's a bit overwhelming."
"Amari, you put yourself in this situation. How many times did I tell you not to have sex until you felt like he was the person that you wanted to be with? Casual sex does nothing but confuse people and cause problems. Your body should mean more to you than that. Lastly, stop playing with that boys head. If you don't want to be with him, tell him. Just because you got his baby doesn't mean you have to be with him. If you want to be with him, then act like. That boy will not wait for you forever. If he finally leaves your ass alone finds somebody who doesn't want to play games, all ima tell your ass is I told you so."Damita spoke viciously and Amari started to cry.
"What you crying for?"Damita put her hands on hips.
"I don't know what to do. I do want to be with him, but I'm scared. What if I mess up? I hurt Erin and I don't want to do that with him. I don't love him, but I want to. I didn't love Erin, I was just comfortable, but I want to love him."Amari cried to her mother.
"Relax. All of that will come naturally. Talk to him, tell him what you're telling me. I don't know how many times we have to have this conversation, but if he's the on, you'll know. You'll feel it and he will too."Damita handed her a napkin. "Now wipe your face, you ain't been pregnant but 2 minutes and you already in here crying."
Amari took the napkin and started laugh.
"I made you appointment with my doctor too. So come over here tomorrow so that we can go. Also, you need to get some prenatal vitamins. You know what, I have a full bottle upstairs from when... never mind."Damita sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I'll give them to you."
"Are you okay momma?"Amari asked, sitting her hand on top of hers.
"I'm ok, just remind me to give you the vitamins before you leave."Damita sighed once again and bit down on her lip. She always did that when she was trying to hold back tears. Although she was happy for her daughter, she was still kind of sad about her own baby.
"When will you be moving in?"Damita changed the subject.
"Probably next week. Jermaine has unused vacation days that he needs to use so he'll be off. I'll ask him to help me move my things."Amari shrugged and giggled.
"Your daddy and your brother can help you too."Damita replied and Amari shook her head.
After Amaru arrived with the cake, the rest of Aaliyah and Amaru's friends came and started to eat. They all partied outside, then it was time to open the gifts.
"Everybody come in the house please."Damita smiled and opened the door. All of their friends came into the house and stood in the living room.
"Ok so here's the first one for you, junior."She smiled and handed him a Jordan box.
His eyes widened and he quickly snatched the box open. "Momma!!! You said I wasn't getting these."
"I couldn't tell you I was going to buy them."Damita laughed and watched her son wild out over his shoes. She handed Aaliyah her gift and she pulled hers open slowly.
"Thank you, Mommy."Aaliyah smiled and hugged her mother tightly. She hadn't even opened it all the way, but she already knew what it was. The pink Mac book she had been begging for.
"Alright. Y'all have more."Amaru smiled and they both got excited.
He handed Aaliyah two more boxes, a big one and a small one. She opened one and it was camera. Aaliyah had always been interested in taking pictures. She wanted to try photography.
The second one was a necklace that said "twin 1" along with a second one that said "twin 2" for her and Amaru. Their names were also engraved in the back. Their father loved to give out jewelry. They both smiled and put their necklaces on.
"Ok guys, we have to go outside now. There's one more thing."Damita smiled and Amaru started to smile too. She opened their door that led to the garage and pressed their button that lifted the garage door.
Junior's eyes widened and he ran out to the garage. "Oh my god!"He yelled.
"Ma! Dad! Y'all really did this?"He said loudly and laid across the hood of his fixed up car.
"Oh my god!"He kept rubbing the car and both his parents laughed at his excitement.
"Can I take it for a drive? Please momma."Junior begged and kneeled down, looking at the wheels.
"Wait a minute now. There are some rules for this car."Damita stopped him. "Wherever you go, your sister must go too. You will not drive to see any girls, if your grades drop, I will take your keys. During the week, you are only to drive to school and to practice. You must be home before 9:00 on school nights. If there's a problem with any of the rules I'll take the keys back."Damita stuck out her hand, just in case he didn't agree.
"Oh no! That's fine with me. Can I take it for a drive please, please,please."Amaru begged.
"When your friends leave. I promise."Damita kissed his cheek and started to walk into the house.
"Y'all come back on the house. I got one more surprise."Amaru smiled and Damita furrowed her eyebrows. Those were the only gifts they had talked about, she had no idea what he was about to do.
They all came back in the house to sit down and Amaru grabbed something out if his car. He walked in the house and waited for everyone to sit down.
"I guess you could say this isn't really a birthday gift because it's for the whole family."Amaru smiled and started to pass out envelopes. He gave one to Damita, one to Amari, one to Aaliyah and one to Junior.
"Everyone count to three. On three I want you guys to open the envelopes."He smiled and everybody counted to three.
They all opened them at the same and the children were so excited that they couldn't speak. Damita squealed with joy and ran over to kiss her husband.
"Paris? We're going to Paris? Oh my god daddy. Thank you."Aaliyah sighed in excitement while her siblings were still frozen.
Damita and Amaru were still hugging and she whispered in his ear. "Daddy, you've done it now. Wait until the kids leave. You gon' get it."She licked the bridge of his ear and he started smiling.
"Eww. Can y'all stop."Junior scrunched up his face.
"Shut up."They both turned around and looked at him. They then walked to the kitchen, smiling at the whispers from the children talking about how cool Amaru and Aaliyah's parents are.