Today was Christmas Eve and the convivial atmosphere from two nights ago could still be felt throughout the house. Everyone was in high spirits and ready to continue with their own holiday festivities before the gift exchange tonight.
"Sam getcha skates and let's go. I wanna get to the rink early because I know everybody and their mama gonna be there tonight."
"I—I'm coming!" Samara called out.
"Girl kiss Zay goodbye and tell him you'll see him later! We gotta go!"
"I'm just grabbing my stuff!" Samara lied.
"Whatever!" Zen said not believing a word. "I'll be in the car!"
In the guest room Samara was trying her best to gather herself. "Zay stop," Samara giggled. "You heard Zen. I gotta go."
"I know. Just five more minutes," he mumbled before slowly kissing her neck. Samara savored his advances for a moment before mustering up enough strength to push him away.
"Zay," she stammered, his mouth now grazing her ear. "I—" her voice broke. "Okay, okay, okay," she said rushing the words out. Her hand was now resting firmly on his chest. It was her last attempt at creating some space between them, though it did nothing to keep their urges at bay. "We can finish this later," she smiled, "but right now I have to go."
"A'ight," he said swiping her chin. "Imma hold you to that."
Samara grinned up at him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "We won't be gone long. I'll be back in your arms in no time."
"I know," he said biting his lower lip.
Samara smiled and stood on her toes to reach him. "I love you," she said against his lips before kissing him profusely and making him laugh. When the laughter settled Zay told Samara that he loved her and proceeded to playfully kick her out the door.
"Damn. What was taking you so long?" Zen asked when Samara slid into the passenger seat of her car. "Wait. Don't answer that," she said quickly. "I know better than to ask."
Samara laughed and hid her smile behind her hand. When she opened her mouth to speak Zen tried to tune her out by saying random words loudly. "Pineapples! Ice cream! Chicken nuggets!"
"Zen, stop it!" Samara laughed. "Nothing happened."
Zen looked over at her and laughed too. "I'm just messin' with you. Y'all are so lovey-dovey, but it's too cute. Seeing y'all boo'd up makes me miss Mal even more."
"Aw. How is Malachi?"
"He's good girl. I just talked to him this morning. He's in Japan with his dad's family having the time of his life, but we gon' try to link up for New Year's."
"Aw. That'll be so nice."
"Yeah," she grinned. "I can't wait to—"
"Pepperoni. Hot sauce. Yams," Samara said cutting her off. "See. I can do it too," she smiled.
"Unnecessary," Zen laughed. "I was just gonna say I can't wait to cuddle. I miss my baby."
"Oh, sure!" Samara joked.
"Hey! Even if I wasn't gonna say that, you can't come for me, because you being nasty with my brother and I know it," she laughed.
Samara burst out laughing. "Girl, whatchu know about what we doing?"
"I see the way y'all be staring at each other. Y'all doing something," she smiled. "But like I said pineapples, ice cream, chicken nuggets bitch. I don't wanna know shit."
Samara laughed loudly. "I'm sick of yo ass!" Zen looked over at her and laughed too. "Just get us to our destination in one piece," Samara chuckled.
..
Inside the skating rink Zen and Samara headed over to the lockers to store their belongings.
"Hopefully I don't bust my ass," Zen said lacing up her skates. "It's been a little while."
"Girl, you'll be fine. It looks like the rink has been resurfaced and there's not a lot of people on the ice yet, so it's not messy," Samara reassured. She grabbed her arm. "Come on. Don't let these kids show you up."
"Please. Never," Zen said following Samara out.
"Okay. Show me what you got." Samara stepped onto the ice and started skating away from Zen backwards.
"You are such a show off," Zen laughed. "Let's go. I see Izzy and Demi with the girls.
When they approached them Demi was sitting on the sidelines. Izzy was standing nervously on his skates. "Please take the girls out with y'all. I'm two seconds away from bussin' my," he stopped and mouthed the word ass. Zen and Samara laughed.
"We got 'em Iz. Go sit down with Demi," Zen chuckled. Blair and Bailey were so excited.
"How do you skate so good?" Bailey asked Samara.
"Lots of practice."
"Sam," Blair said grabbing her hand. "Can you teach me?"
"Me too! Me too!" Bailey said on the other side of her.
"Sure," she laughed. "Let's go." Samara looked over her shoulder at their parents, "We'll be back!"
Demi waved to them. "Take your time."
"Have fun!" Izzy shouted out. He was so glad that he didn't have to be out there making a fool out of himself.
"Wait for me!" Zen said as she skated out to the three of them.
..
"Good job Blair," Samara encouraged. "Just take your time."
"Like this Sam?" she asked as she moved her feet from side to side.
"Yes. Perfect!"
"What about me?" Bailey asked.
"You're doing a great job, Bailey! Keep it up." Samara gave the girls two thumbs up.
"Sam can you show us a really cool move?" Blair called out to her.
"Yeah!" Bailey agreed. "Please, please, please!" she begged.
Having been at the ice rink for nearly two hours, Samara's body was beginning to feel tired, but when she looked at the both of their smiling faces she knew she couldn't say no. "Okay," she started, "I'll do a simple one, but don't try this without a teacher," she cautioned. "This move is called the flip jump." Samara skated off a little ways from them and did a three turn before positioning her body for the half flip jump. She stretched her arms out in front of her like a hoop before jumping in the air with her body turned. When she stuck her landing perfectly the girls clapped and cheered along with a few other people who were watching her.
..
"Mommy! Did you see the move that the girl in the gray hoodie did? That was really cool!"
"Yes London. Mommy saw her." Lovie was zipping up her daughters jacket and moving fast.
"Can I go tell her that she did a great job?"
"No baby. We need to go. We have to help grandma prepare for the big family dinner tonight, remember?" Lovie stood up and took London's hand in hers.
"Oh, look mommy! She's leaving the ice. Can I please talk to her? I'll be really quick," she swore.
Desperate to leave without being seen Lovie answered sharply, "London no! Let's go." London mumbled the word okay, put her head down, and somberly followed behind her mother.
As the two of them were headed in the direction of the exit, they passed two young men, one of them being Zay. Lovie was too busy trying to get London out the door to notice, but London, being the sharp-eyed girl that she was, recognized Zay and said to her mom, "Mommy that's the basketball guy we saw on TV!" When Lovie turned around to see who she was talking about her eyes grew wide. She locked eyes with Zay who didn't look too thrilled to see her.
"Lovie?" he questioned. "What are you doing here? Did the girls invite you?"
"Mommy you know him!" London squealed. Her eyes danced with excitement when she looked up at Zay. "I saw you on TV!" she beamed.
"Really?" he said smiling down at her. "What's your name?"
"My name is London," she said excitedly.
"Nice to meet you London. I'm Isaiah."
"And you play basketball!" she shouted excitedly. "My mommy says that you're the best on your team."
"Oh does she?" he asked, briefly looking up at Lovie. "And what do you think?" he replied stooping down at eye level. "Am I any good?"
"Mmmhm," she grinned. "You get a lot of points and then you win!"
From a short distance away, Sam and Zen were gathering their things to leave when someone came up behind Zen and hugged her.
"Who the fuck?" she said quickly breaking away from their embrace and turning around. She screamed excitedly when she saw that it was her boyfriend, Malachi. She quickly jumped into his arms. "Oh my goodness! Hi baby!" she said into his neck. "What the hell are you doing here? Why are you not in Japan?" She looked at him and kissed his face all over. "I missed you so much. I can't believe you're here." Her arms were wrapped lovingly around his neck. She didn't want to let him go.
"Well, I was talking to Zay a few days ago and he told me y'all were doing the Christmas gift exchange. I told him that I wanted to be your gift this year, so I flew in to see my favorite girl. We came straight over here from the airport."
"Babe, you really left Japan for me? But you were having so much fun." Zen started to tear up.
"Mmhm," he grinned. "And I got the gift wrap and the bow to prove it," he winked. "I'll let you unwrap me later," he whispered in her ear. Sam was close by so she heard it.
"Mmmm. Y'all nasty," she teased. Malachi and Zen just looked at each other and laughed.
"Let me go find my man. Y'all gotta bitch feeling lonely," Sam joked.
"Oh. He's over by the door talking to some girl, but he did not look happy to see her."
"What?" Sam said looking over in that direction and then back at Malachi. "What she look like? Tall? Golden brown? Long braids?"
"Yeah. That's her." Malachi nodded his head.
"Oh. So that's just Lovie then," she shrugged.
"Girl, when has she ever been 'Just Lovie'?" Zen teased.
"Since today. She is not gonna fuck up my mood."
"I know that's right!" Zen cheesed. "That's my girl!"
"But you know what? Let me go over there and make sure she not fucking up Zay's. I'll see y'all back at the house," she said to Zen and Malachi. "See you guys later," she said waving over to Izzy and his family.
As Samara approached Zay at the exit, Lovie made eye contact with her and gave her a look of relief. "Hey baby! Didn't expect to see you here," Sam said standing on her toes to kiss Zay on the cheek. "You okay?" She was standing on his left side and noticed that he looked a bit peeved.
"Excuse me," a little voice interrupted. Samara looked down at the girl holding Lovie's hand. "I saw you do all those cool skating tricks with those two girls. You were amazing!" she gushed.
"Well thank you," Samara laughed. "Aren't you the sweetest? Do you take ice skating lessons?"
"Not yet. Mommy said that once I turn five she'll sign me up. And guess what?" she cheesed. "My birthday is tomorrow!"
"On Christmas! Woah! That's really cool. That means you'll get twice the gifts, huh?"
"Yeah," she said nodding her head.
"That is so exciting. You're a very lucky girl."
Lovie cleared her throat to get her daughters attention and to put an end to all the pleasantries. "London. It's time for us to go," she uttered with a crack in her voice. "Grandma is probably wondering where we are."
"Okay mommy," she answered. London looked up at Zay and smiled big as her mom led her away. "Bye Isaiah," she waved and then she turned back to wave to Samara shouting, "Byyye!"
"Aw. Bye sweetie," Samara waved back. When Lovie and London were out of sight Samara turned to look at Zay. She was unsure of what to say, but told herself that she'd try to remain calm for him. Internally flustered by the unvoiced news, she asked in a low voice, "What is going on? Why did—? Are you—? I-I mean...um. Is she y—" She paused and exhaled. This jaw dropping revelation kept her thoughts jumbled, as it was clear she had no clue on how to approach the subject gently. Samara quickly decided to pull back and mumbled sorry, since she felt she had overstepped just a tad. Zay, instead of addressing it, just casually switched gears.
"You got all your stuff? You ready to go?"
"Uh. I guess so?" Samara questioned. Confusion was etched all over her face. She watched him take her small duffle bag from her shoulder and sling it over his.
"I told my mama we'd pick up the food from Miss Jay's on the way back. We got fam back at the house, so I don't wanna keep them waiting too long," he said turning to leave.
"Zay. Wait," Samara said placing her hand on his arm and stepping in front of him. "There's no rush. I can ask Zen to pick up the order for you. We don't have to go home right away if you don't want. I can drive," she offered. Samara ran her hands along the sides of his sweatpants before slipping her hand into the pocket that held the keys. Zay placed his hand over hers and stopped her.
"I'm good. I got it babe," he reassured.
With her hand still in his pocket, Samara protested. "Zay just let me dr—"
Zay leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on her lips. "I appreciate whatchu trynna do Mar, but she ain't say nothing to me, so until she do, I'm good."
Samara didn't like his response, but slowly moved her hand from out of his pocket anyway. "Okay. Fine. Then...I guess I'm ready to go." Zay took Samara's hand in his and walked with her out of the building. He made sure to keep on his brave face for Samara, although deep down he was terrified. Fatherhood was not a path that he wanted to walk on so soon. He silently hoped that what he suspected wasn't true.
...
