“See, here you go.”
14 /JAHLIL
The group was backaround the table outside, everyone had settled and gotten back into the swing of things outside of Ashton and Emani. Ashton ambled down the stairs behind Emani and onto the patio.
“Carson, tag you’re it,” Ashton spoke. “I would ask Jahlil but fucking around with Rambo, none of us would have food.”
“I can hear you, Tiny Tim!” Emani shouted from the kitchen. “I don’t need none of you niggas. I can fix my own food, thank you.”
Kyrie chuckled, reshuffling the cards. “I think we’re getting our girl back.”
“I swear all that mouth,” Ashton huffed, sitting on the left of Jahlil. “If her and Malik don’t work out, I probably need to take a stab at her.”
“Do not waste your time,” Emani grumbled, stepping on to the patio with a small amount of everything on her plate. “You got to be this tall to ride this ride.”
Ashton looked at her hand placement and then at Jahlil. “That ain’t six-nine.”
Carson fought a laugh, earning a dart of the eyes from Jahlil. “I mean it ain’t.”
“Been there, done that,” Emani sassed, taking a seat next to Jahlil as if she wasn’t ready to turn the house upside down moments ago. She positioned her body more towards Donnée than Jahlil but that didn’t stop him from pulling her chair closer.
“Stop playin’ with me,” he grumbled, earning a sharp look from her that read the same before moving her chair back to where it was.
“Alright, before they get started, I was thinking we can pull up to the step show tonight since Jahlil has kicked everyone out,” Donnée spoke up, pouring a round of shots.
“Muhfucka should’ve kept his mouth shut,” Jahlil grumbled, digging into his plate of food.
Donnée received a collective ‘I’m down’ from the group as Kyrie threw the UNO cards out.
“E, this is for you. When you win, don’t flip the table and shout UNO muhfucka like you like to do,” Kyrie stated, making Emani laugh.
“It’s very serious when it comes to UNO,” Emani stated with pride as she held the title for the group’s UNO champion. Studying the cards in her hand she looked at the optional blank cards and the messages. “Truth or dare or draw 30. Who wrote this bullshit?”
Laughter spread throughout the group and Donnée shrugged innocently. “It’s been too long since we’ve all been together like this so I’m going to dive into everyone’s business.”
“Aight, remember that when we dive into yours,” Ashton shot back.
“Oh, Ashton wasn’t nobody going to get in your short ass business,” Donnée huffed.
“He don’t have business for real,” Carson chimed. “He has brief summaries of colorfully-worded bullshit.”
“Aight, aight,” Jahlil said speaking up. “Let’s go. Let’s get this over with so we can get out of here.”
Emani didn’t have to smell so good or look so good this close to him. She sat with her legs crossed, smooth golden brown thigh peeking out from the cover up she loosely wore. Yeah, he was thirsty. He’d admit it. He was a panting dog, tail wagging just waiting for her to pay attention to him for real.
“You real hype about having to carry Ashton on your shoulders,” Carson joked as Ashton hopped up in the barstool from his original seat. Legs swinging.
Emani and Donnée fell into each other laughing.
“Why you jump like that when I was right here to lift your baby ass up?” Jahlil asked.
Ashton turned around and grinned. “I had ya girlfriend’s titties on my neck, I can fly right now.”
“Nigga, I’ll knock your head off your fuckin’ shoulders playing with me,” Emani sounded off. “My titties have never and will never be on your neck.”
“Muhfuckin’ right,” Jahlil added. “He ain’t tall enough.”
“And furthermore, I’m not his girlfriend,” Emani replied, arranging her cards in her hand while Carson and Donnée switched seats. Carson took the cards and swapped out. It was their age old trick so Emani could win and make Ashton mad. Childish games that still held a torch amongst the group.
