“I’m just sayin’,” he replied with a grin. “That’s what you said.”
I shook my head, still smilin’, then leaned in and kissed his chest. “You be hearin’ more than you let on.”
He rubbed his hand down my back slow, pullin’ me closer. “I be listenin’.”
I looked up at him again. “You ready to walk down the aisle in a couple weeks?”
He kissed my forehead like it was nothin’. “We already married, livin’ together and got a baby. Ain’t no pressure, baby. We just doin’ it right.”
I smiled a lil’ at that, then asked him, softer this time, “So you ready to spend the rest of yo’ life with me?”
He looked at me like that answer ain’t even need thought. “I’m ready to spend my life on earth with you, and when we gone at a hundred and ten, I’mma still be with you after that.”
I laughed under my breath. “What if we don’t end up in the same place?”
He huffed a lil’ like I had said somethin’ dumb. “Then I’m findin’ you anyway. I don’t care who I gotta run up on, who I gotta check, I’m comin’ to get you.”
I laughed harder, shakin’ my head. “You crazy.”
“And you mine,” he said, pullin’ me in tighter.
I settled into him, feelin’ that warmth wrap around me the way it always did.
“I love you,” I murmured.
He kissed my lips slow. “I love you too, mommy.”
And just like that, I lay in my husband’s arms, feelin’ everything fall into place the way it was supposed to. I was readyfor that aisle, ready for that life, and ready for whatever came with it as long as I had Kay’Lo.
Drahma Town
Kay’Lo and Toni was ‘bout to get married tomorrow, and since that nigga ain’t wanna have no type of party, me and Kelli decided to take our asses out and make somethin’ shake anyway, ’cause sittin’ around watchin’ everybody play family man the night before a weddin’ just wasn’t in me.
I ain’t gon’ lie, I thought for sure ‘Lo was gon’ do somethin’, even if it wasn’t no wild shit, but just a lil’ get together with drinks, music or somethin’ to mark the moment. But nah… that nigga was off somewhere bein’ soft with his wife and his people. Pressure was right there with him on the same type of time.
That left me, Kelli, Reni, and Sha’Nelle, and I already knew before we even stepped out that the energy was gon’ be what it was.
It had been a couple weeks since that lil’ moment in the kitchen, and I knew Reni ain’t like that Pluto even asked what I wanted on my plate. But to me that shit wasn’t even worth talkin’ about. Pluto ain’t want me, I ain’t want Pluto, and I wasn’t about to sit there and entertain no back and forth over some shit that wasn’t even real.
That was female shit, and I let it stay right there. But I still peeped the shift, even though it wasn’t loud or dramatic. It was just there in a way you couldn’t ignore once you noticed it.
And Sha’Nelle… her loyalty was already locked in with Toni and Pluto, so she wasn’t about to be all in Reni face actin’ friendly after that. She kept it respectful, but she wasn’t fake with it, and I could respect that.
What made it crazier was how everything else had been smooth.
Me and Sha’Nelle had been runnin’ into each other more these past couple weeks, whether it was at ‘Lo’s crib or over at Pressure spot. Once we got that weird distance shit out the way and actually spoke on it, everything after that fell into place in a way that felt natural instead of forced. It wasn’t awkward between us no more either.
We could be in the same room, drinkin’, laughin’, talkin’ shit with everybody else, and it felt regular, even natural.
Nelle was funny as hell too, and she ain’t have to try.
Half the time she’d be sayin’ some shit under her breath or givin’ somebody a look that had me catchin’ it before anybody else did, and I’d just be sittin’ there tryna act like I ain’t hear her, but that shit be funny as a bitch.
And the crazy part was she ain’t hold back at all, ’cause if she felt somethin’, she said it without worryin’ about who it landed on. But she still wasn’t loud or extra with it. She just moved how she moved, and somehow that worked around me.
That’s why I kept my distance how I did before, ’cause I already knew what type of energy that would be if it ever got outta line. I ain’t never been the nigga to blur lines knowin’ I had a woman. So, I kept everything right where it belonged; cool, respectful, and contained.
Tonight, though, we was all in the section together, music loud, drinks flowin’, and the whole place packed like everybody on the damn island decided to come out at the same time.
