Prologue
Sean knocked on the screen door of his best friend, Jhavon's grandmother's house and opened it at the same time. If they lived in a larger town, maybe Big would have kept her front door locked. But here, in Lovetown, Texas, there wasn’t a need. Somebody next door or across the street would have already registered Sean’s presence on King Drive.
“What up?” Sean announced himself to the household that might as well have been his, given how much time he spent there.
“Big is sleep.” Jazmin, “Jazzy” fussed at a volume almost higher than Sean’s greeting. She didn’t even look up at him as she walked through the living room to the bedroom she shared with her identical twin sister, Janiyah.
Niya.
He hadn’t seen her yet, but he could smell her sweet scent in the small house. Maybe it was roses. Maybe it was strawberries. Maybe it was his imagination that, over the past months, was wild with thoughts of her.
He had known Niya for most of his life because he had been friends with Jhavon since preschool. Head Start, in fact. The government-run school for low-income children, though it hadn’t occurred to Sean, Jhavon, or any of their friends they were “low-income.” They were just kids having fun, learning, living their lives.
Back then, Sean had a mom and a dad and some good memories. But when his mother left, a piece of Sean’s happiness went with her. His father’s happiness slipped away, too. And, all of a sudden, Sean found himself hanging out with Jhavon’s family more and more.
Jhavon’s mom would make a cake for no reason at all. “Just wanted something sweet,” she’d say in her chirpy, bird-like voice.
She would let the four of them—Sean, Jhavon, Jazzy, and Niya—lick the batter bowl with their fingers. Vying for the last few fingers full of flavor, their four heads would bump one another. “Stop hogging it all!” and “Don’t use yourwholehand!” they’d yell at one another.
And then Jhavon and the twins’ parents died. Both of them. Like, boom-boom. Sean was too young to measure the time surrounding their deaths in years or months. He had processed them in feelings. Worse, and worse still. And before they knew it, Jhavon and Sean started feeling like all they had was each other. Like brothers.
Which was what made Sean’s secret crush on Niya difficult. This girl—no, she was all woman now with curves and lips and perfume and hoop earrings, though he couldn’t recall the exact moment it happened. Like the terrible memories, the good ones of Niya followed a progression—cute, beautiful, amazing. She’d been cute the night she went to the Junior High prom. She’d been beautiful that time he’d seen her at the Lovetown vs. Red Valley homecoming football game. She’d been so breathtaking, surpassing the bougie Red Valley girls from the right side of the tracks. Sean had done a double-take and the girl he’d taken to the game had slapped his shoulder for looking at another female.
And tonight, he saw her as “amazing.” Jazzy was trying her hair-braiding skills on Niya. “If I can figure out how to braid hair, I’ll be ballin’ for real in this little bitty town.”
Big woke up from her nap for a few hours, made beef ribs, green beans, and mashed potatoes with gravy, and went back to bed. Everyone else stayed up watching movies. Sean couldn’t remember what they were watching because the screen’s glow on Niya’s face was all he wanted to see. She tilted her head this way and that, allowing Jazzy to part and braid, add a swath of fake hair to her shoulder length curls, unbraid, and start over again.
Niya had been so patient. So encouraging. “Come on, sis. You can do this.”
And all the while, Niya had been the one who saw the “surprise” ending of the movie coming in the film a full hour before it happened.
“How did you know he was going to find the money?” Jhavon had asked when whatever it was did occur in the plot.
“Niya probably watched this movie already,” Jazzy teased.
“I did not,” Niya insisted. “Don’t hate on me because I’m brilliant.”
At that, they had all laughed, even Niya. And it occurred to him, then, that this was why he had fallen for her instead of Jazzy. Niya could be feisty when she needed to be. She was smart. And she let her sister try for hours and hours despite what appeared to be painful tugging at the hair on Niya’s scalp. Plus the fact that her smooth, brown legs, twisted in all different directions depending on Jazzy’s braiding angle, went on for days.
He couldn’t keep this level of admiration to himself much longer. And, if Sean wasn’t mistaken, Niya felt it, too. She’d averted her eyes from his and shied away from his stolen glances but she couldn’t hide her smile. It was a miracle Jhavon hadn’t seen the chemistry sizzling between them.
“Whatchu wanna watch next?” Jhavon asked when the credits rolled for the first movie.
“I’ve got an old one in mind,” Niya said. She cleared her throat. “The Lion King.”
Jazzy scoffed, “The Lion King? No way.”
“Ummm...I don’t think so,” Jhavon said, shaking his head.
Sean raised his hand. “I vote forThe Lion King, too. I mean, think about it. Scar. Mufasa. Simba. How can you deny—”
“Anck.” Jazzy buzzed him out. “We are way too old to be watching a cartoon.”
Sean shook his head. He looked down at Niya, whose eyes fluttered up at him.There. He’d seen it. The spark in her eyes, again.
And, in that moment, Sean looked over at Jhavon. He must have seen what transpired, because his mouth hung open and his eyes widened with shock before they narrowed to slits.
“Pick something else,” Jazzy said, “Nota cartoon,” unaware of Sean and Jhavon’s silent communication.
Jhavon hopped up onto his feet. “Hey. Me and Sean are going to run to the store and get a few things, all right? Y’all figure out the movie. We’ll be right back.”
Sean didn’t protest. He was kind of hungry and could use a snack. Even more, he could use a moment alone with Jhavon. Because it was only a matter of time before something popped off between him and Niya and Sean needed Jhavon to be cool with it.
Unfortunately, Sean would never get that chance.
