“Oh, I know.” She nodded. “But I’m not coming back to the house until you do. Dead whatever she thinks y’all got going on,” she continued calmly. “Then call me and let me know how that goes.”
“There ain’t shit going on,” I replied. “She playing mind games. That girl ain’t pregnant. I’m gonna address it, and that’s going to be that.”
“Well, we won’t know it’s a mind game until you know whether she’s actually pregnant or not. Until then, I’m not about to be sitting comfortable, pretending to avoid the elephant in the room. And as petty as this may sound, I’m not about to share inno pregnancy with no bitch. I don’t give a damn if I’m almost done baking and she just got started. I’m not doing it.”
I sucked my teeth. “I’m telling you that girl ain’t pregnant.”
“Don’t tell me. Show me.” Pushing the car door open, she stepped out. Ducking her head in the door before closing it, she spoke again. “Photoshoot tomorrow. Don’t forget.”
“How you gon’ do a photoshoot wit’ a nigga but don’t wanna come home with me?”
“Easy. Show up, get dressed, smile for the cameras, and leave. Your possible slip up don’t mess up my day to day. And I hope for your sake that it doesn’t take us five steps back after we just took a leap forward. I love you.”
“Yeah, aight, man. Love you too. Close my door.”
I was pissed, but I didn’t pull off until I saw her parents’ door open, and she walked inside. Her mother waved, and I stuck my head out the window to say hi out of respect. But I wasn’t in the mood to be hospitable, so I didn’t stick around. Pulling back out of their driveway, I didn’t make it halfway down the block before my phone rang. It was Aura. I sent the call to voicemail. He called back a second later.
“What, nigga?! Damn!”I barked.“If I didn’t answer the first time, clearly I don’t wanna be bothered.”
“And when I start giving a fuck about that, I’ll stop double calling, Grumpy Man. Where you at?”As always, Aura was unfazed by me snapping on him.
“Minding my black ass business,”I said, opening my text thread to send Alexis’ ignorant ass a message.
I quickly typed my message in all caps but deleted it before I could send it. The threat was clear. And after a quick thought, I decided it wasn’t something I needed to leave a trail of.
“Yo,”I called out when he didn’t respond.
“My bad,”he replied. “Muted the phone on accident. Pull up to G crib real quick. The guys here.”
“Nigga, what guys? And why y’all at G crib?”
“You know, for a nigga who don’t wanna talk, you sure are asking one too many questions.”He chuckled.
“You telling me to come by G crib on a random ass Tuesday. I wanna know what for.”
“Just pull up, Grumpy Man. And leave ya pissy ass attitude in the car. You not bout to come up in here fuckin’ up her Feng Shui.”
I didn’t want to laugh, but I did once he ended the call. Aura was always trying to act like he was our grandmother’s representative, letting that favorite shit go to his head. Needing to buy time before I popped up on Alexis, I headed to Grandma Lettie’s. I hoped whatever they had going on over there put me in a better mood than I was in currently.
I entered Grandma Lettie’s basement through the garage that we all had a code to. When I stepped inside, I heard voices before turning the corner. The second I did, everybody turned in my direction. I identified the same family members that had trapped me into a toast at the party — my father included.
“If y’all niggas thinkin’ bout doing an intervention, go head and count me out now,” I said, stepping farther inside.
My uncle, Ace, Aura’s father, clapped his hands and smiled. “No intervention here, nephew. This is the Sullivan crossover to fatherhood get together.”
I frowned. Usually, this was a planned gathering. They’d sprung this one on me. When a Sullivan man was preparing to become a father, the guys would get together, have a cigar, and give words of wisdom. My great grandfather had done it and passed it down to his sons who’d passed it down to mine, Aura, and Tay’s fathers.
Only difference was they had remixed it to include not just expecting fathers but potential dads. The last time we had doneit altogether was with Jay. Enzo opted to do his privately, and we respected that.
“Who else got a baby on the way?” I asked, taking a seat on the sofa where Enzo and Tay sat posted up.
Jay sat at the bar, while my father poured shots. I was starting to think my old man was an alchy on the low.
“Nae should be pregnant by tomorrow,” Aura said seriously.
We all laughed.
“I’m not even gon’ ask no questions. I’m scared of the answer,” I said with my hands up.
