Page 48 of Mahogany 2
Looking down at her messy ponytail, I just watched her. She was so into the show that she didn’t even notice. Instead of asking questions, I sat there, quiet watching Blippi’s crazy ass with her.
After a while, she went from sitting against the wall to falling asleep with her head in my lap.
I must’ve sat there a good fifteen minutes, letting her rest, before Ms. Rochelle peeked her head in the doorway. With a smile, she said, “Aww.”
I looked down at Diary, with cheese crumbs all over her face, and felt the same way. I had another little princess to love on and protect. It was bittersweet for real. I didn’t even want to leave the bed; I already knew that eventually leaving her to go home would be hard as hell.
Carefully, I picked her up and laid her on the bed. Reaching over, I hit the lock button on the iPad to turn Blippi off.
“She been up since seven this morning,” Whispered Ms. Rochelle as we crept out of the bedroom. “I was wondering when she would tire herself out.”
“Seven huh? That’s a minute. I know she keeps you on your toes,” I said.
She sighed. “Mmhmm. She sure do.”
Walking into the living room, I was greeted by Aaron, Erika’s brother, and who I assumed to be Justin. He played a role in the family, I just didn’t know what. My gut told me he was Erika’s boyfriend, the way he’d been moving like a bitch. It didn’t give cousin, uncle, friend or none of that. He was at the hospital and the wake. Was the nigga who’d made the slick comment when I was standing at the casket.
Aaron chucked his chin. “What up doe?”
I chucked mine back in return. “What up?”
Justin just nodded. Ms. Rochelle looked between the two of us and said, “I thought y’all were introduced.”
“Nah, we weren’t,” Justin said, with his eyes on his phone and a screwed look on his face.
I laughed and shook my head. “Who is this nigga? Gotta be her nigga.”
He looked up from his phone, stuffed it into his pocket and locked eyes with me. “Fiancé.”
I wasn’t surprised. I would have put two and two together a long time ago if I hadn’t been so wrapped up in what I had going on. The nigga moved like a bitch about the situation. He was in his feelings. The only time a nigga moved like that was when and if his bitch was involved in some type of way. No disrespect to Erika—I was just saying.
With my mouth turned down, I nodded. “Figured. Ay, what’s good tho’? You gon’ be a problem?”
“Nah nigga,” he said with raised brows. “Is you?”
“Come on now y’all,” Ms. Rochelle pled with her hand on her hip.
She didn’t have shit to worry about. I didn’t want smoke with the nigga—he had an issue with me. For what? I didn’t know. I hadn’t fucked with Erika in years. It didn’t make any sense for this cornball ass nigga to have a chip on his shoulder. Ah, you know what? It was about Diary. Had to be about Diary. Didn’t make any sense for it to be about Erika.
“I’m cool, ma. I’m straight. You already know what it is,” Justin said with a sigh. “We good nigga. Just… adjusting like everybody else. My bad if I came off a way. Sorting through shi—stuff.”
I didn’t give a fuck about him sorting through shit. I was sorting through shit too. I hadn’t come off as disrespectful to the nigga once.
“Y’all niggas be cool,” Aaron said. “E left all of us fucked up.” He sized me up. “Cut the nigga some slack.”
Gripping the top of my joggers, I sat in a chair across from where they sat on the couch. Cut the nigga some slack? Fuck him. How niggas had been coming at me since I showed up was crazy. Shit, E kept a big ass secret from me, and I wasn’t around this bitch mean mugging, making slick comments. My disappointment in Erika wasn’t taken out on neither of them.
“Go ‘head ma; say what you need to say,” Aaron added.
Ms. Rochelle took a deep breath and looked over at me. “This has been a transition for all of us,” she paused. “I lost my daughter—Duke, you just gained one. Justin… you lost your fiancé. Aaron… you lost your sister. More important than all of that, my grand baby lost her mother. And she needs support more than anything right now.”
Neither of us said anything.
“Justin… I know accepting Duke has been hard but?—
“I don’t need acceptance,” I interrupted with a frown. The fuck? I didn’t give a fuck about neither one of them niggas.
“Respectfully… let my momma talk, dawg,” Aaron said.
