“You in Louisiana, man. The way we do it around these parts is if there’s food on the table, with empty seats, then that’s your invite. I’m telling you that you ain’t never tasted the kind ofmacaroni and cheese that my mama made. My uncle made a mean pot of gumbo too. Come on, man. Ya’ll already saw the gender reveal. We practically family now,” he egged it on, and then his friends started prying as well, telling us to come over.
“My sister a chef, man. My grandma and my mama get down in the kitchen too. I got high expectations,” Gemini joked.
One thing about Gemini, he was the kind of person that could make a friend anywhere. That was how his personality was. Since being on the road with him, I watched how he was able to spark up conversation with just about anyone. A lot of conversations would start with other men complimenting him on his truck. Those compliments always turned into long conversation, and you would think that Gemini knew some of those people for years.
“Come on and find out. I’m Tyrell. What’s your name man?” he asked Gemini, as I stood from Gemini’s lap because it looked as if we were getting ready to go over there.
“Gemini. This my girl, Amina,” Gemini did the introductions.
It was so sexy to me that this man was going around, saying that I was his girl, and letting it be known that we were a couple. Mind you, his ass never even asked me to be his girlfriend. According to him, since we were having raw sex, I guess that just automatically put us in a relationship.
The other men came over, introducing themselves, and we shook hands with them too. They all led the way, while Gemini and I walked behind them.
“Gemini, I feel weird. What if the mom to-be isn’t cool with us coming?” I asked him, and that’s when he laughed.
“Man, you wanted to be a part of that damn gender reveal with them so bad. You tried to make a bet with me on the gender. You counted down with their family and friends and started crying with them once you saw that it was a boy. Amina, the only thing left is to eat with them. Trust me, your ass going to fit rightin,” he said to me. I playfully hit him, and before I knew it, we made it over to the pavilion.
It just so happened that as we were approaching, the mom to-be was standing amongst a group of girls, talking with them, but once she saw Gemini and I approaching, she stopped talking. She looked over at us, and she smiled.
“Baby, come here,” Tyrell said, calling his girl over.
She walked over, and all I could do was stare at her baby bump. It was nice and round. Even though she wasn’t that big, she was carrying super low, and that’s how I knew that she was carrying a boy in the first place.
When she made it over to us, Tyrell placed his hand on her stomach, smiled at her, and placed a kiss on her forehead.
“Bae, this is Gemini and his girl, Amina. They from Miami. Gemini is a truck driver. He got his truck parked at a truck stop not too far away, and they just came to the park to clear their mind a little bit. They were sitting over there at the table, and they saw the entire gender reveal go down. I told them that they could come over and get something to eat,” Tyrell said to his girl.
Just by the way he talked to her, you could tell that he was such a good man to her. It was the way his eyes weren’t on anyone in the park but her. She looked at him lovingly too.
“Hi Gemini, and Amina. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Reyna,” she sweetly said, reaching her hand out for Gemini to shake, but when she got to me, she hugged me.
The way we hugged each other, and rocked back and forth, you would have thought that we were long lost cousins. When we pulled apart, Gemini congratulated Reyna on the baby boy that she was carrying, and I followed, doing the same thing.
“Bae, take Gemini to meet the guys. I’ll keep Amina with me, and take her around to meet the ladies,” Reyna said, grabbing my hand, not even giving her man a chance to say if that was cool or not.
“You are so beautiful, girl,” was the first thing that Reyna said to me, once we were away from the guys.
“Thank you. You are too. You’re carrying your son so well. We were sitting over there at the table, and I was telling Gemini that I believed you were carrying a boy because of how low you’re carrying. Judging by the dress that you’re wearing, and the reaction that you gave, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you wanted a girl,” I said it in a joking kind of way, which made her laugh.
“Girl, yes. This is Tyrell and I first baby. We got married last year. For years, I’ve been saying that I wanted a little girl. I’m happy with knowing that I’m getting a son, though. I don’t want to be selfish because I know it’s so many women out there that struggle with having children, so I don’t want God to think that I’m being ungrateful,” she told me, and I nodded my head to that.
“Exactly. You look so young, so girl, you have plenty of years to keep trying for that daughter,” I said, and she laughed, while putting her hand up, so that she could give me a high- five.
After that, Reyna took me over to where the women were. They took up about three tables. She went around, introducing me to them, giving them the same story that her husband had given her about Gemini and I. The Southern hospitality that I was receiving was out of this world. Everyone was so nice, and respectful. I received compliments on my braids, I was told how pretty I was, and even though my nails were in desperate need of a re-fill, I even received compliments on the designs on my nails.
Once the introductions were done, Reyna took me over to where the food was. I never had gumbo before, and when I told her that, she made it her business to fix a bowl of gumbo for me. While she did that, I grabbed a plate and fixed something for myself. Just like Tyrell told us, there was so much food that wasleft over. Even with Gemini and I coming to the function to eat, there still was going to be a lot left over.
I finished fixing my plate, grabbed a bottle of water out of the cooler, and I went over to the tables where the women were. Reyna came over, and she sat in front of me.
“You and Gemini have any kids Amina?” she wanted to know.
Her question caused me to look up from my food, and smile at her. If only she knew the wild roller coaster that I’ve been on these past couple of months.
“No. We don’t have any kids,” is all that I said.
“Girlllll, the day that ya’ll do, those kids are going to be gorgeous. You are pretty as hell, and no disrespect to you, but your man is very handsome. How long have ya’ll been together?” she wanted to know. That question made me laugh.
I didn’t know how to answer it. It was so complicated. Hell, I just found out a few minutes ago that me, and Gemini were a couple. I thought that me and him were still going with the flow, but according to him, I was his girl, and he was my man. I didn’t mind though.
