”If we have a baby, I wanna name him or her Forrest. I think that name is dope,” Juniper gushed bashfully, looking at me.
“Forrest? ‘Cause you like nature and shit?” I smirked at her.
”Uhn-huh, and it goes with our last name. Forrest Banks, get it?” Juni winked at me, and I had to stop myself from blushing. Real niggas don’t blush.
“I can fuck with it.”
”Like you had a choice.”
”I love you, Juni.”
“I lo—” Juniper stopped talking and leaned forward looking out the front window. “Ain’t that my daddy and yours?” She pointed out the window to a group of three niggas.
Sure enough, Big Frank, Clive, and another young nigga were coming out the doors ofFloppy’s.See, I knew my dad was on some other shit. Big Frank didn’t fool with new niggas. Seeing him Clive and some young nigga, that didn’t sit right. My gut was telling me some foul shit was going on. And Big Frank hated Floppy’s, so I knew he didn’t come here to eat with them niggas.
”Should we go say something to them?” Juniper asked, peering out the window curiously.
“Nah,” I absentmindedly answered. My focus was on dialing Big Frank’s number.
The ringing of my phone echo'd through the car as we watched him pull out his phone and step away from Clive and the other nigga to answer.
”What can I do for you, son? I figured you’d still be locked away with Juniper,” he answered calmly, chuckling at his joke.
”Shit, I’m about to stop byFloppy’sthen head over to y’alls place. Mama said she had something she wanted to give me,” I lied to that nigga effortlessly.
Big Frank looked around nervously before waving for Clive and dude to follow him. Hurriedly, they walked over to his BMW. “Yeah, well I’m out taking care of business. Uh, I might not be home in time to see you, son.” I listened in silence as Big Frank sped past my car out of the parking lot.
If Big Frank wasn’t on bullshit, he would have easily spotted my whip, but since he wasn’t on his shit tryna be sneaky and hide whatever the fuck he was doing.
“What was that all about?” Juniper asked, looking over at me.
”Ion know, but I’ma find out.”
I ain’t know what Big Frank and Clive was up to, but I was finna find out.
________________
A Few Weeks Later
“Mixie Hill,” the nurse called Mixie back.
We’d been sitting in the waiting area waiting for Mixie’s doctor’s appointment for the baby. Shit between us had been hella strained. We hadn’t talked since the party my parents threw for me. The day Juniper and I came home, MIxie was nowhere to be found. I let her make it a day or two before I called her to make sure she was straight. Like I figured, she was in her feelings over the threesome shit. Ion know what sheexpected, but it wasn’t finna be that with Juniper. I had to hunt Mixie down when she refused to answer my phone calls. She called herself hiding out at her parents’ house. I almost didn’t look there ‘cause she might have defended her parents. Her ass hated being at their house just as much as I did. Oddly enough, I didn’t feel the need to make Mixie come home when I laid eyes on her. My only thought was to make sure her and my seed were straight. There was no point in leading her on when I knew where I wanted to be.
Mixie thought a nigga was finna demand she come home, and when I didn’t, she went the fuck off. I was tryna end shit in a way that we didn’t have any negative feelings against each other since we’re going to share a baby. She wasn’t tryna hear a nigga though. No matter how I tried to put shit, Mixie wasn’t hearing anything besides us being together as a family. I eventually got tired of going back and forth with Mixie. Plus, I wasn’t trying to stress her out. I offered to let her come back to the condo since that was where all her stuff was and she was familiar with it. I could have gotten Juniper and me a room until we found another crib. Why I said that ‘cause I don’t think it dawned on Mixie that I wanted to really be with Juniper until I said that. Then the guilt trip started, and I tried to get why she wanted to be with me so bad, but she couldn’t even tell a nigga besides saying we had too many years.
I put some money in her pocket and left after that. Mixie confirmed everything I needed. She wasn’t meant for a nigga, and I wasn’t meant for her. In the last few months with Juniper, I knew more about her than I did Mixie. After spending years with her, there was little I could even tell you about Mixie. Juniper though, I could tell what she was thinking before she thought it.
Later that same night, Mixie brought her ass back to the condo slamming shit, huffing and puffing. Acting like a bitchforreal. I guess she thought she laid the law down when she told me she wasn’t losing me without a fight. What she failed to understand was that there wasn’t a fight because Juniper had won. In the weeks since I hadn’t slept in the same room as Mixie. I did check on her everyday to make sure she was good, but other than that, I didn’t do no romantic shit with her. If I wasn’t tryna figure out what Big Frank had going on, I was up under Juniper. Quiet as it was kept, Juniper had been looking for a new crib for us. I still hadn’t told Juni about the baby, but I was going to tonight. I wasn’t feeling the lying shit, it wasn’t in my character to do foul shit like that. A nigga might have to get on his Keith Sweat shit,begging and eating coochie. For Juniper, I would do whatever I had to, to keep her in my future.
“Can you step on here for me?” the nurse asked, pointing to the scale.
“Do you mind holding my purse? Or is that too much to ask of my baby daddy?” Mixie said to me with an attitude and her purse held out to me.
Instead of replying, I grabbed the purse from her and ignored her. After the nurse got her weight, she led us into the room. Mixie sat on the exam table, and I sat in a chair in the corner. The nurse was asking Mixie’s question, but she was being rude as fuck for no reason. It was crazy, I always knew Mixie had an attitude, but it never phased me because it wasn’t towards me. Seeing that shit now was a turn off. Once the nurse left out the room, we fell into the awkward silence we’d been sitting in since we got in the car. I didn’t mind; I wasn’t here for Mixie’s funky ass attitude, I was just making sure my seed was healthy and growing.
”Hey, Mom,” the female doctor said, coming into the room. She turned towards me waving as she said, “Dad, I take it?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, keeping it brief.
