Downplay| Jordan Clarkson & Quincy Brown

•f o r t y t h r e e•

April 25 2023

"You really thought having losing sex the morning we were coming in was a good idea?"

Aya mused before sipping her mocktail. She cradled her two-month-old son DJ close to her while her eldest daughter Destin sat and played with her younger daughter Dior in the playroom next door.

"In my defense, I lost track of time." Zolee defended initiating laughter that took over the whole room.

They were all gathered to celebrate Zolee and D'Angelo's upcoming wedding, but Yara had to admit she was still shaking the events of the past week. She and Jordan had both opted to charge Mylin for child endangerment and Jordan had motioned for primary custody of Jayden pending the results of a Psych evaluation on Mylin. It was a lot; in fact, it was so much that Yara was glad she lived in a different state and that Quincy was the protector he was. He didn't let Jahi or Yara out of his sight, which was why he was even in New York for the wedding. Nonetheless, as the girls were gathered, he'd opted to spend time with Christian and Justin tonight.

"That's what got us all here." Kaia stated as she rocked her one-year-old daughter Kalila. Kalila was such a beautiful baby. The little girl grinned down at Jahi.

"Yup, two under two. I'm due in September again. Who would've thought this would be me?" Yara added while holding her nearly one year old son's hand. The little boy was playing with Kalila.

"Especially when you called me crazy for it."

Sticking out her tongue, Aya taunted her sister who waved her off.  Yara rolled her eyes but was intrigued by the way Zolee's friend Ashanti sat and watched how the foursome all huddled together.  Yara knew of Ashanti because the Zaic family was practically black New York royalty. No man could be that rich or have that many kids, eleven,  without being noticed. More importantly, Yara knew of them because they were all successful. Furthermore, she'd planned a few parties for the only Zaic son Asher and she'd also been made aware of the fact that her ex-fling Keith was married to one of the sisters now, Ayla.

Ashanti could see in their interactions that these were truly Zolee's best friends and to imagine they'd been like this from childhood amazed her. She didn't have any friends she'd held that close. She just had her sisters. Looking over them, she noticed that of all the ladies there only Zolee, Yara and Aya had rings.

Zolee's other friend, the very fashion forward Wynter seemed to catch her eye on this as the conversation continued.

"How did all of you end up with NBA players?" He asked interrupting their conversation but earning grins as Aya and Zolee shrugged.

"Contrary to what the blogs say, we're not jersey chasers, the jerseys chased us."

Normally the last to speak, Kaia was the first to tackle the question. Ushering Wynter closer she gave her friends looks before they nodded their approval. Evidently a story time was in order. Yara was just happy to see Kaia in such a positive mood, she hoped that everything was okay.

"When we were in college Aya met Devin on a photography internship, she got to shadow some sports photographers who were taking pictures of the draft picks while they were doing interviews. They had a tryst that resulted in their oldest daughter Des, but she didn't tell him until Destin was five and she had no choice but to."

Scandalized, Wynter sipped his sangria and held his chest while Ashanti sat on his lap to get closer to the action.  Aya laughed at their expressions, Kaia always knew how to captivate an audience even with the most boring truths.

"They reconnected and he pretty much worked relentlessly to get her, they got married two years ago and obviously have been living in absolute bliss seeing as they added two more kids to the bunch in only two years."