B I R T H D A Y
"N O M A T T E R W H E R E I G O
O N T H E M A P
Y O U G O T M Y P R O T E C T I O N
M Y L O V E"
F E B R U A R Y 2015
L O C A T I O N : B A R B A D O S
Omniscient
"Take my picture!" Solana beamed and kept her hands in the air as Bakari chuckled and held up the vintage camera she insisted on him buying for the trip. A snap sound shuttered out while he looked at her and pulled it away from his face. "Did you get it?"
"Mhmm." He sighed happily as she walked back over towards him. "You look good, too. I should quit this shit and be a photographer if were being honest." He chuckled. Solana rolled her eyes playfully at him and straddled his waist. He quickly pulled back up the camera, snapping another quick picture of the woman in front of him. The yellow bikini top she had on stuck to her skin. "I'm keeping that one for my personal stash. You can have the other one."
"Pervert." She poked at his forehead and smiled, bringing her body down to lay her head against his bare chest as his arms wrapped around her. "It's no telling how many other pictures of me you snuck over the years."
A comfortable silence fell over them as his fingertips danced against her back, pulling the knot out of the top of her bathing suit; leaving it to fall open. Since her chest was pressed against his, she didn't mind. "You enjoying everything?"
"You asked me that three times already, babe. I told you I am." She hummed. "I've never been to Barbados, so this is perfect. You didn't get me anything else, did you?" Solana looked up at his and raised her eyebrow.
When he told her that he was taking her somewhere for her birthday, she knew it wasn't going to be anything simple— Bakari was never simple. She was starting to think that he removed that word from his vocabulary completely. So, when they got on the plane and Solana saw the location being Barbados, she instantly got excited.
She always mentioned going to Barbados one day, but she didn't think she'd spend her birthday actually listening to the waves crash and eating the food. Bakari was happy with simply watching her enjoy herself. She was like a kid in Disneyland who was given an all day pass to do whatever.
"I'm not telling you, nosey." Smacking her lips playfully, Solana pulled away from his chest, covering her own with her hands, so that nothing slipped out. "It's no point in you doing that— we're the only ones here and it's not like I haven't seen them before." He chuckled, pulling her closer to kiss her. What Solana was expecting to be a quick peck, wasn't. His hands stayed on her waist, while she wrapped her own around his neck, giggling against his lips.
"Can you give me a hint?"
Bakari shook his head and nuzzled into the crook of her neck, putting light kisses against her skin. "No, babygirl."
"I thought you have to be nice to people on their birthday— ow!" She hissed at the stinging slap that he left on her behind. In return, she brought her hand down to slap against his chest. "You're pushing it."
"I did bring one thing for you though. You gotta look in your bag— that's the only other things you're getting today. We're here for a week, Lana." Bakari chuckled and removed his hands from her waist, giving her time to reach over and grab her bag. His eyes ran over every curve of her body as she rummaged through her bag.
She finally pulled out a silver wrapped box and eyes it. She knew based on the length of it, that it was definitely not a ring inside of it, and she was content with that for now. "What's this?"
"I'm not telling you— open it." Bakari answered in a cool tone, sitting up in the chair and resting his hands on her thighs. "It's not a car key, before you start going off on me for getting you one. It's something better."
Solana quickly opened the box, and looked down at the box and her mouth fell open. Her hands went to the gold necklace that had a matching gold sun around the chain. A amethyst stone was placed in the middle of it. "I looked up the meaning of your name a while back— it means sunshine in Spanish. No matter how corny it sounds; but that's what you really brought me over the past few years. And finding your birthstone was the easy part." He chuckled and took the necklace from her hand to help put it around her neck. "Your birthdate is on the back of it, too."
"And there's a little crescent connected to the bottom of it—"
"We're opposites, but we attract. Couldn't see the moon without the help of the sun; same for us." He answered. Solana, being the emotional ball that she is, felt tears start to form in her eyes as he spoke. "I wouldn't be able to get to where I am without you. I wouldn't be who I am at all without you getting my ass in check on occasions. I know you hear me say it a lot, but I want you to understand that I love you. And you know that I'd do whatever to make sure you're happy, baby."
"I've been happy." She cooed and brought her hands to the sides of his face, but he grabbed them into one of his own.
"No you haven't. You haven't always been happy in this, and I don't want you to lie about it because I know this comes with some shit. That's why I brought you here to get you away from everything. Just me and you. I want you to experience being happy here, before we go back to our regular lives."
Sighing, Solana knew he was right.
"I love you, and appreciate everything. I don't wanna talk about the bad today. I'm just glad I get to spend today with you." She placed her head on his shoulder while her hand went across his other one; lightly grazing the six inch long scar that was there.
He always told her that he got the scar during his initiation, but never went into detail about how it took place. She wasn't sure if he thought she would be afraid, or if it was something that he just refused to talk about. He always kept his answers short when it came down to it. She figured it was a sensitive topic, and didn't want to rip the scab off any wounds.
"One day." He hummed and took her hand, kissing at the back of it. She knew that he was referring to exactly what she was thinking. One day, he'd tell her everything. "Just not right now."
"Was it that bad?"
"It was hell. Definitely wasn't the highlight of my life." He tossed her hand back and forth in his. Looking up at him, Solana pursed her lips before pecking his jaw, sealing the deal that one day, they would have the conversation. "I'm taking you to dinner— well, it's coming to us, but you get it."
"You definitely took your time planning this. Did Isis help you?" She chuckled.
"I know what you like." He playfully put his hand on his chest, pretending to be offended. "And you know if she did, I wouldn't have a clue about what was going on today. She likes to be in control of everything."
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"Thank you." Solana smiled at the server who filled her glass with red wine, refusing to look at Bakari, because of the nerves that were building inside of her.
Looking out the corner of her eye quickly, she noticed that his eyes were still on her as he leaned forward on the table. It wasn't a look of anger, but one of awe. The server smiled kindly at Solana before walking away, leaving the pair on the large balcony that overlooked the beach that they were once on.
She loved how the moon looked as if it was guiding a path on the water. "Stop looking at me like that." She rolled her eyes playfully and pushed his hand lightly, only for him to grab it in his own. Bakari wasn't dressed in his usual favorite shades of black and gold. This time, his attire was white with silver accessories. The caps that he once had in his mouth were removed for her special night as well.
"You still get nervous?" Bakari smiled in amusement, reaching for his glass to take a sip from it; licking his lips, shortly after.
"You always make me nervous, I don't think that's ever going to change, honestly." She placed her chin into the palm of her hand. "But, it's a good type of nervous. Like butterflies."
"Did you ever think you'd end up in a situation like this, for this long?" Bakari asked. Soon enough, their food was placed in front of them. The smell of the curried chicken from their plates, along with the small fish cakes bites in front of them made their stomachs rumble slightly after not eating for the majority of the day.
"Not really." Solana shrugged. "Truthfully, I thought this romance would've died out a few weeks after we met at the club that night. I could look in your eyes and tell you were a hoe." She joked as he gave her a smug look. She stiffened her laugh and cleared her throat. "But it's been fun, none the less- there you go looking at me like that again."
Bakari's dimples were on fully display as he listened to her.
"I honestly might just say 'fuck this dinner', get them to leave, and just take you back into the room. You're glowing, babylove." He took his lip between his thumb and pointer finger. "C'mere." He patted his lap.
"Nope." Solana shook her head and laughed. "Last time you told me to come here like that, I ended up sore. I don't trust you." Despite those being her words, she walked towards him slowly anyway. Bakari slouched in his chair and reached for her hand, looking her over in the earth-toned two piece she had on. Sitting in his lap, his hand wrapped around her waist before pulling her own plate over towards the both of them. "You're not gonna learn."
"Fine with me, honestly."
The pair sat in a comfortable silence as they ate, occasionally starting conversation about minor things, and cracking slight jokes on each other. They enjoyed the fact that they could do just that, and for once, not have to worry about anything crazy happening to them.
"Look over at the water." He put his glass down, and turned the two of them in his seat; giving her the perfect view.
Doing exactly what he said, Solana rested her head on his shoulder, and her eyes lit up when she heard the sound of fireworks going off in front of them. Fireworks in various shades of pink went off in the sky and he pulled his arm around her waist. It was an inside joke between the both of them, since she told him that she was once terrified of fireworks; but over time, he would take her to see them so that she would be comfortable around them. She was terrified of the noise, and he was glad that she was able to see past the sound.
"I feel like this isn't all you have planned." She turned to him, pressing her lips against his temple.
"I mean, dick is coming later-" He started and Solana hit his chest. "But, no. That' not all. You're going on a submarine tour tomorrow after breakfast, then I found a place near the tourist section that takes pictures of your aura— comes out in all these colors and shit, you'll like it. You got a whole birthday photo shoot, love."
"I love you." Solana smiled. "Even though you have freaky tendencies."
"You don't complain when I put my freaky tendencies to use, now do you? If it wasn't for me, that freaky side wouldn't have came out of you." He pointed out with a chuckle. Before she could even respond, her phone was going off with a FaceTime call from Isis.
"Don't say anything freaky." She pointed at Bakari, who smacked his full lips in return.
"You telling me not to say anything freaky, like Isis don't know that you get your as laid out every other night... like she doesn't get her shit laid out, matter of fact. You know her and Bryson aren't with that vanilla shit." He stopped when he felt Solana pinch at the skin on his arm.
"Hey, Isis." She smiled at her screen. Isis' bright smile came through, along with the sound of Bryson singing in the car to whatever they were listening to. Apparently, it was 'Coffee' by Miguel. He nodded his head to the beat of the song and sent a quick smile and wave into the camera.
"Happy birthday, sis!" Isis squealed, causing a laugh to fall from Solana's lips. "I hope you two are being responsible... and I hope you." She pointed at Bakari, "Are giving her whatever she wants."
"Don't I always? I do that without question."
"He didn't lie." Bryson interjected. "Ya'll two are spoiled without question."
Isis looked at Solana through the screen as her mouth fell open. She slowly turned her head towards Bryson and raised her eyebrow. "You want to be on his side now?"
"I'm pointing out the obvious, queen." He shrugged and took one of her hands and pecked it, looking back at the road. "Happy birthday, Lana. Don't come back here stressing over anything. We got it all taken care of."
"What about Ant?"
Bryson rolled his eyes, followed by another smack of the lips. "Ant ass is somewhere high as a kite, as we speak. You know he does what he has to do, but that Nigga is the only person I know who gets high... just to be high."
"It's the only way he shuts up." Solana mumbled. Bakari rested his chin against her shoulder before pecking at the sensitive flesh against her neck. "Didn't I tell you to behave?" She whispered.
"I could definitely get way worse on this call. You wanna try me?" He sank his teeth into his bottom lip and ran his hand against the inside of her thighs teasingly.
"See... I'm gonna go before I have to witness a iPhone budget porno." Isis pretended to gag jokingly. "But anyway, I wanted to call before the night was over for you both and say, happy birthday; and that we love you both. I'll have your gift waiting for you when you get back."
"Thank you, we love you guys too." Solana gave a heartwarming smile. Bakari knew that what Isis told her hit a emotional nerve, and he was happy that Solana could hear someone else tell her that today.
Truthfully, he planned this trip not only because she always mentioned wanting to visit Barbados, but also to get her mind off of her parents. Each year, he would try come up with an idea to keep any thoughts of them away, because he knew how emotional she could be. Even when she tried to hide it, he knew that it would be on her mind.
From what he knew, he was doing a good job at keeping her mind on what was going on now, so that she could enjoy her day.
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"Did she like it?" Bakari's mom spoke and looked into every possible camera on the FaceTime call, trying to possibly see around into the room even though she couldn't. "Where is she?"
"She liked it, ma." He chuckled as he laid on the bed as their balcony doors stayed open, allowing them to get a cooling breeze to flow into the room. "She's in the bathroom taking a shower. She wanted to turn in early so she could be ready tomorrow for the other stuff." He lied. He wasn't going to flat out tell his mom that she was changing into something that he bought her that was more suitable for what was going to happen, but he figured she caught on.
He didn't want Solana to have to get ready for anything before they left. So he had Isis help him pick out her clothes, and even went to La Perla to pick her out lingerie pieces that they both would enjoy.
"Mhmm." Donna gave a smug look into the camera. "Whatever you say, but I'm not stupid, Michael. You two have fun, regardless. And tell Baby doll your dad and I said happy birthday. Whatever she needs, she knows we're here for her too. Love you both."
"Love you too, I'll make sure to tell her." Their said their last goodbyes before ending the call. Solana came out of the bathroom within a few seconds after, pulling her hair into a bun. The white lace set hugged every inch and curve of her body.
"Was that Donna?" She smiled, leaning against the door frame.
"I would've let you talk to her, but I didn't need her all knowing mind to start being nosy. But, she said to tell you that her and my dad said they love you, and happy birthday." He came forward to sit at the foot of the bed as she came over and straddled his lap. His hands ran against the light material on her body, making him smirk and look at her. "You sure you don't want a baby for a birthday present? I could make that happen and top all this shit off right."
"We are in absolutely no position to try and make a baby, B. Save that for another time. Probably when I'm like... twenty-five or thirty." Solana laughed and moved her hair from off her shoulders. "But you can definitely give me something else to fill in the gap for it." Her hands went towards his chin, cupping it.
Bakari wasted no time pressing his lips against hers, partially silencing the moan that was about to fly from her lips. Solana felt his arms wrap under her thighs as he lifted her from his lap, switching the position that they were once in as he hovered over her. "See, now I'm starting to think this was the main thing you wanted."
"I think it'll be a good way to end the night, if you ask me." Solana purred, pulling him down closer to her level.
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L O C A T I O N : C H I C A G O
Crystal sat in the love-seat in their living room as the TV volume was on low. Her foot shook out of habit, as she brushes her thumb under her eyes to get rid of the tears that were slowly escaping her eyes as she looked at the picture in her hands of her daughter who was celebrating her birthday today. It would be another birthday that she missed, and another year that's gone by with them not speaking. She was torn.
She didn't know if she should blame her daughter for the choices that were made, or her and her own husband for going about things the wrong way. Crystal had regrets, and moments where she questioned if she should pick up the phone and call her daughter; but she was almost positive that her number changed. However, her pride was strong. And so was her husbands. Knowing that she missed out on a large portion of Solana's life made her sick.
Crystal would have her good days, where the memories of Solana would come and go; and she wouldn't give them a second thought because they were so small. Then she had days like today; Solana's birthday, and even Christmas that would hurt.
The day that Solana and Bakari came to get her things, her mother made it a point to not communicate with her. When she agreed that night to leave with Bakari, instead of her own family, Solana sealed the deal that she didn't want everything that her parents built for her. Changing phone numbers, moving, and fully taking away Solana's ability to contact her family was the final nail in the coffin.
"Crystal!" Her husband, Gregory, calls as he walks around the corner, adjusting his glasses on his face. "Whats- sweetheart." He sighed when he saw her quickly try to put away the picture of a younger Solana. "Not this again."
"I'm just curious about how she's doing. She's a grown woman, and we missed out on so much of it."
"Because she allowed us too." He interjected. "We didn't tell her to leave with that boy, remember that. We gave her the option."
"We haven't heard from her in years-"
"And it should stay that way. You remember what she said to us that night. That she didn't give a damn about us, she could care less about what we thought about the situation?! All because she wanted to run off with a boy. She wants to be grown, we let her be grown. We saw them at the funeral, and that was enough." Gregory snapped, slowly taking a breath and rubbing his temples. "I know you miss her-"
"You miss her too." Crystal sniffed.
"I miss my little girl, not the one she ended up being. We didn't raise a murderer, we didn't raise a liar, we didn't raise a girl to talk back to and disobey her parents, we didn't raise her to put her hands on us and run off with some boy. She made her bed, and I'm sure she's comfortable with being in it." He brushed off the comment, even though she was right. "Come to bed, please. If she's still with that boy, I'm sure she's fine."
Crystal winced at the memory of that night, remembering the physical altercation that happened before she left. A small flood of anger went through her body all over again.
"And if she's not?"
"We did all we could do." He placed a kiss onto her temple and reached for her hand, taking the picture that was in front of her and turning it face down. "Come to bed."
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CHAPTER UNEDITED
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In conclusion, Lana's parents ain't shit.
And ya'll get why everyone is sensitive when it comes to her.
Next chapter is gonna be a present day and it's about to get interestinggggg
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