Hey guys, before you start reading this chapter I just wanted to take a moment and say that I hope you've been taking care of yourselves mentally and emotionally as much as you can in the midst of all the chaos going on in the world rn. From the pandemic, to the racism, police brutality/killing of our black people, and anything in general that you may be going through. Times have been really tough, I know. 😪💔
I'm here if you ever need to talk. My DMs are always open 💗
BLACK LIVES MATTER ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
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Kelly
Saturday, July 26
San Juan, Puerto Rico
"Whew, let me sit my ass down."
I was chillin with Lala, Cici, Gabby, Serena, and Kim in our suite after the rehearsal dinner for the wedding which was tomorrow.
Well, scratch that, I wouldn't call it chillin. It's a full-blown bachelorette party and we been wylin out.
"Kelz lemme find out you can't handle your liquor anymore." Cici said to me.
"Who can't handle what?" I placed my hand on my chest dramatically. "Couldn't be me. I'm just getting a lil hot."
"Cause yo ass tipsy." La chimed in trying to call me out.
"Psh, not even close." I lied.
"From the way you been throwing it back all night as if ya man was right behind you, I beg to differ."
"Shoot, I wish." I muttered under my breath but they caught me.
Gabby wagged her finger at me, "None of that tonight missy. This is girl's night which means we ain't thinking about no men until tomorrow."
"Who the hell came up with that rule?" Serena protested.
"Let the record show that it was not me." I replied.
"As the oldest, I did. Cici and La co-signed." Gabby confessed.
"Damn y'all, for real?"
"Aye I don't have a choice. I can't see him until I walk down the aisle." La shrugged.
"Exactly, and neither should we with ours." Gabby said.
"Now hold on now." Serena and I said literally at the same time.
"Come on y'all. We be with them all day every damn day, including today with the wedding rehearsal and dinner. I think we can handle it. And besides do you really think they're thinking about us at that bachelor party right now?"
"I know what they better not be thinking about." Serena mumbled.
"Oop. And that wasn't even me this time." I laughed.
"Listen I'm down with the cause and all, but it's gonna suck getting drunk without dick to look forward to afterwards." Cici frowned.
"THAT part!"
"Well we could always sneak away in the middle of the night." Serena said.
"Noted sis."
"You guys!" Gabby shouted. "Stop being wack. And Kelly hush up agreeing with them."
"Meanie." I fake pouted.
"We gotta stand in solidarity with La. Tonight and tomorrow's focus will be solely on getting her right and ready. No distractions... or should I say dick-stractions." She started cracking up at her own joke and we all just gave her blank stares.
"You thought you did something there, huh? And you call us wack."
"Sheesh, tough crowd... Anyways, are y'all with me?"
"Not Gabby lowkey taking my spot tonight." I laughed.
"You can have it back first thing tomorrow." she said jokingly. "Sooo...?"
"Yeah I'm with it." Ciara sighed.
"Same." Serena responded.
"Kelly?"
"But what if-"
"Kelly..."
"I feel like we should-"
"Kelly."
"Okay okay. I'm down."
"Thaaank youuuu."
Kim's ass chose to stay isolated in a little corner completely disconnected from us and on her phone. That was fine with me if she wanted to continue to be petty because I'm all good on this side and we wasn't paying her no mind no way. I honestly forgot she was here up until this point.
"Okay ladies, how bout we kick things up a notch and play Never Have I Ever?" I announced.
"Aw hell. What's the penalty?" La asked.
"Shots! Y'all not drunk enough for me."
The girls and I set the scene, pouring up hella shots of tequila and laying out ten for each of us.
"So how we gon do this, first one to ten wins... or would that be a loss?" La joked.
"Shit, I'd say it's a win. Means you've lived a quite fulfilling life." I laughed. "Who wanna go first?"
"I'll start with something easy. Never have I ever had sex in a public setting." Gabby said.
"Girl..." I let out a chuckle as I took a shot along with everyone else.
"Well damn. Anyone wanna follow up and share the craziest place they've ever had sex?"
"The beach. Pretty basic honestly." Ciara replied.
"In the bathroom at church..." Serena said quietly.
"Church?! You heathen!"
"I mean hey, it was with my husband. And we repented afterwards."
"This girl said repented." I cackled.
"Yes, you heard right. Now what about you little miss sex kitten?" she asked me.
"Define crazy cause anything you name, I've probably done. Except church." I teased.
"Mile high club?"
"Check."
"Public park?!"
"Check... With no one around of course. I ain't that stupid."
"Rooftop?"
"Check but I'm not telling you where."
"Sheesh! Am I gonna have to think of something outrageous like 'in the backseat of the car in the middle of a freeway during midday traffic' for you to finally say no?"
"Damn, that's pretty specific..."
"Aha! I finally stumped you!"
"...Sometimes when you and ya nigga in a rush to get home and you got that urge but them cars just not moving, you put yo shit in park and go."
"Ohhh brother!!!" She threw her hands up in defeat. "I give up!"
"Well you asked!"
"I didn't think you'd actually- Kelendria honey, I say this out of concern... you might have a problem."
"You call it a problem, I call it being adventurous." I shrugged. "Let's move on shall we?"
"Alright I'll go next since I spent all this time bugging you." Serena laughed. "Never have I ever had a sexual experience with someone of the same sex."
We all took shots except for Serena, Gabby and Cici.
They gasped, "Kelly spill!"
"Wayment, why just me?"
"Girl cause you the only one we haven't heard about already. When and who?!" Gabby pestered.
"Let's just say I'm a sexually fluid person and my single years were a fun time."
"Who made it fun?" Ciara asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
"I don't kiss and tell, darling." I smirked.
"Says the one who just finished telling us four of the craziest places she's had sex with Trey."
"Yes because the only person I can speak on is who I'm married to, thank you very much. Next callerrr!"
"Yeah yeah whatever. We'll come back to this subject another time." Gabby said with a smug look on her face. "Kim why don't you get more involved? Ask a question."
I rolled my eyes internally while the girls tried to get Kim to participate. They're better than me cause I would've been told her sour ass to leave. Oops, excuse me, I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be nice.
"I have one..." she said looking right at me for some reason. "Never have I ever caught my friend's significant other cheating and kept it a secret from her."
All I could do is laugh. "Yeah I'll take a shot. Hell I'll take two."
She's referring to something I witnessed years ago involving Carmelo at an attempt to make me look bad but really the only person who's about to look bad is herself. She's gonna wish she never tried it. "La please let her know, or I'll be happy to do it."
"Kim if you're talking about Carmelo, Kelly actually did end up telling me about that while I was filing for divorce. At that point I didn't even care because it was just another incident on top of the many times he already cheated." La explained.
"Thank you for clearing that up. I think I'll go next." I flipped my hair and cleared my throat dramatically. One thing about me is if someone starts something I'm gon finish it. "Never have I ever pushed up on that same friend's significant other at a party while the friend was in the next room."
There was an awkward silence in the room while everyone just sat there with their mouth open, including Kim.
"Is this still about Carmelo?" La asked her slowly.
"Yes..."
"Well I mean, I wouldn't put it past her to eventually do the same thing with Chris." I mumbled under my breath, thankfully no one heard me.
"But La, it was so long ago I barely even remember what happened!" Kim continued frantically. "I was drunk and we were just playing around-"
"You know what, I don't even wanna know. Not right now. Just hearing his name alone is making me feel sick."
Suddenly this whole interesting turn of events was interrupted by someone banging on the door.
"Saved by the bell... or knocks. I'll get it." I said.
I got up and opened the door to find some man standing there. I was confused at first but once I peeped his uniform I already knew what it was about.
"Oh boy. She told them no." I said to myself, shaking my head. I led him into the room and Gabby started getting all excited. Just like that, I knew it was her that hired him.
"Is there an Alani Vazquez here?"
La gave me a look, "Why the hell is there an officer in my room and what does he want from me?"
"It ain't no officer girl." I replied trying not to laugh. Like clockwork, he ripped his top off and started swinging it in the air, then Gabby put on some music.
"KELLY! I said no strippers!!!"
"This wasn't me, I swear!"
He started rolling his body while making his way to La and she screamed. "Man get this dude out my face before I roundhouse kick his ass!"
Next thing you know he started making his way towards me.
"Uh no thanks sir, I'll pass." I said quickly. "I'd rather watch."
"Shoot, I'll take him! Come here Papi!" Gabby shouted, opening up her arms and shimmying as she prepared for him to give her a lap dance.
"Okay. Gab is officially drunk." Ciara laughed while we watched this madness.
"As hell. Which means we need to catch up." I quickly downed three shots in a row and winced as I felt the burning sensation in my throat.
"Shit!"
The next morning
"Shit."
I had waken up later than the rest of the girls, to some mess. Apparently La had been in the bathroom throwing up all morning and they've been in there with her trying to figure out ways for her to get better. At this point the wedding was in less than six hours.
Ciara sighed and shook her head, "This is crazy."
"Any of y'all got Pedialyte?" I asked desperately.
"Already tried that sis. She couldn't keep it down."
"Fuck!" I started pacing the room until I realized that this was no time for panicking.
I took a deep breath, "Okay, how bout you guys stay here and I'll go try to find some medicine and food that her stomach can hold."
"You mean you're gonna leave? Naw girl we need you here." Gabby replied.
"I mean one of us has to do it... Or should I call her mom and ask her to bring some stuff? We have to do something!"
"I just- this is all too much right now." Ciara said on the verge of tears. "It's all our fault. We should've known better than to have the party the night before the wedding and we should've never got carried away with the drinks."
"Cici it's okay, we'll figure something out-"
"We? Our?" Kim said out of nowhere in a snarky tone.
Here this bitch go. We were all fine with her silence, why ruin it?
"Kim please don't start." Serena groaned.
"Too late, I'm starting. We all shouldn't be held responsible for this if Kelly was technically supposed to be in charge of everything."
"I'm sorry, were we not all there?" I responded, trying my best to keep my composure and speak calmly. "Now is not the time to play the blame game, we obviously have bigger issues to tend to."
"No I think this should be addressed now. You wanted to act all high and mighty with your position as matron of honor and you can't even handle it."
Not to be a shit starter, but I would really love to know what exactly that conversation between her and La consisted of because it's been weeks and she's still on the same type of shit. There's no reason for someone to be this bitter over me when I'm not even provoking them. At this point I'm convinced she's facing an inner battle with herself that she's taking out on me, and I hope she gets that sorted out on her own time.
But for now, I'm going to speak up for myself because she not about to use this as an excuse to come at me sideways.
"Kimberly, you really kill me. I see right through your bullshit. This isn't even about you being concerned about La, this is you doing what you do best: making everything about you. You've been so busy focusing your energy on something so small that it's stopped you from being productive and actually contributing to the planning of this wedding. You didn't get what you wanted, and instead of simply getting over it you make it something bigger than what it needs to be. Grow the fuck up and stop thinking about me so damn much. It's getting weird."
"I don't need to grow up, I deserve better! I don't understand what she sees in you that she doesn't see in me! She should've picked me and it's especially not fair that she wouldn't let North be in the wedding but allowed freaking Kiara to be included at the last minute!"
I had started to walk out the room while she was throwing her little temper tantrum but as soon as I heard Kiara's name my body did a whole 180.
"Now look here." I walked up to her and got all up in her face. "I promise you I don't give a fuck about what you crying about but what you will do is keep my daughter's name out ya raggedy ass mouth. Let's make that clear."
"And if I don't?"
"I can assure you, you don't wanna know the answer to that."
"I think she gets it Kelz..." Serena said slowly.
"She doesn't, but I'll set it aside because like I said earlier there are other things that need our attention right now." I began to walk away from her again and she took that as an opportunity to start talking slick under her breath.
Something along the lines of, "Always the angry one."
I stopped in my tracks and turned towards her. "I'm sorry what was that?" Now all of a sudden her ass wanted to be on mute. "Oh, cause I thought a bitch who tried to fight me in the middle of a store last month over some facts said something about me being angry."
The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Then her dumb ass decided to speak up again.
"That was one incident. You, however, have a problem. Why do you always have to be so vulgar and insulting? It's like your temper is nonexistent. Is this what you teach Kiara-"
I don't even remember what happened next, by the time I became aware of my actions she was on the floor and I was on top of her basically clawing her face out while Serena and Gabby tried to pull me away.
"You guys, stop!!!!!" La screamed out of nowhere. Hearing her voice snapped me back into reality and I finally stood myself back up, brushing myself off. It's crazy cause just a couple weeks ago I vowed not to let a disaster happen on her wedding day, yet here I was.
"Look what she did to my faaaace!" Kim cried as she touched her cheeks and looked at the blood on her hands.
"You asked for it hoe." I squirmed around trying to get out of Gabby and Serena's grasp. "Y'all let go of me I'm fine."
"Girl hell no." they responded at the same time.
"La don't even worry about this right now, just go lay down." Ciara said attempting to lead Lala into her bedroom.
"Not until I understand what just happened."
"This goddamn animal just attacked me for no reason, that's what happened! Is this what you allow in your circle?!" Kim shouted.
"...Yeah I'ma kill this bitch." I tried to jump at her but Serena and Gabby were gripping onto me way too tight.
"Kelly!" Serena exclaimed.
"Did you not just hear what she fucking called me?! That's y'all friend. I pray to God she don't refer to y'all in that way behind closed doors."
"So telling the truth makes me racist?!" she said defensively. "Wow. Pulling the race card to deflect from the fact that you're aggressive, violent, and like to call people out on stuff but never wanna hear about your own shit. How dare you call me a racist when I have plenty of black friends and have done so much for the black community?!"
"That's the thing, when did I ever use that word? Your guilt is showing sweetheart, you just set yourself up... but that's none of my business. Cross paths with a washcloth for your bloody face before you ever think of crossing me again. Dumb bitch."
"Both of y'all, please. Cut it out! I'm already dealing with enough." La begged.
"And so am I. I've had enough of this foolishness. She keeps talking about how I am as a friend but she's clearly not someone you should confide in. All she brings is drama. I won't stand for this any longer, someone has to go. It's either me or her." She crossed her arms and stared at La.
"Bitch what?! Are you giving her an ultimatum?! You really done lost your mind now. I don't like your ass and at this point I'll let it be known to anyone who will listen, but I still would never be insensitive enough to put her in a position where she'd have to choose between us!" I yelled.
"Well thank goodness I'm not you." she said smartly.
I looked back and forth between her and La, and noticed La standing there looking like she was in deep thought.
"Are you actually... Wow. Just wow."
"Wait, Kelly it's not even like that! I'm just trying to take into account everything that was said and-"
"You know what, there's no need to even explain. I'll just remove myself." I snatched away from Serena and Gabby, grabbed my phone and any other necessities and stormed out the room.