Closer

Cravings.

September 11, 2015

Jalapeño poppers. I need Jalapeño poppers. Drenched in ranch. Ooh, cucumbers and rice with hot sauce and ranch. It's 2 am and that's all I can think about. I creep downstairs to the kitchen, trying not to wake Ryan and Dakota. I raid both freezers before I find the never ending supply of Jalapeño poppers. I preheat the over to the designated heat, find the rice, the instant kind because I'm lazy, put that on, and then cut up half a cucumber. Ooh! Ice-Cream too. Butter Pecan. The oven beep and I put the whole package into a pan. The rice boils over, so I drain most of it put it in a bowl and add the cucumbers into it, drenching it in hot sauce and ranch. Before I can enjoy it, oh I know it'll be good my mouth is watering, the oven beeps. The poppers are done! Yay! After grabbing them out and placing them on a plate, next to some ranch, I grab a cup and fill it with my favorite Ice-Cream, Butter Pecan. I hear thuds and I know it's my dogs coming to see me. Sure enough I can feel Chaos' thick tail thwacking against my bare legs, and I see Atlas' head making way to my lap. They've gotten really big, like twice their size and then some since I got them, and when I got them they weren't that small. They remind me of my other Pit G that I had when I was a young girl. My father took him when he left because he bought him.

"Need to go 'side? Need to go potty? Come on, let's go 'side." I say talking to them. I get up and let them outside in the back. Atlas runs and grabs his tennis ball, dropping it at my feet, looking at me with his head cocked to the side.

"Want me to throw ya toy?" I ask him. He, no lie, nods his head, laying down at my feet looking at me expectantly. It takes a while but I finally reach the ball that's on the floor and throw it into the darkness of the yard. But before Atlas comes back he and Chaos are piercing the night with their deep barks. Oh shit, someone's in the yard.

"Atlas, Chaos come." I call frantic, stepping aside as they bombard through the door. I quickly lock the door and turn off the kitchen light, using my phone to guide me back to my food. There's a brisk knock on the door, and the porch light has turned on.

"Who is it?" I ask over my dogs barking.

Pearl?" I hear, it's a female voice, one that I know like the back of my hand.

"Antie?" I ask, I don't say Aunty because its weird to me, I've always said Antie, like Ant-e, not Aunt-e." I turn on the lights, unscared now.

"Yes baby, it's Antie Randee, me and your cousins are here. Your ma didn't tell you we were coming?" She asks.

"No." I say unlocking the door and letting her in. She smiles and reaches to hug me, but is stopped when Atlas sits in front of me, growling at her.

"Gaawiin! Ondaas!" I call to him, and he comes to sit at my side, still wary of my Aunt. I just told him no and to come here. Now when she tries to hug me there's another thing that stops her. My protruding stomach.

"Ooh." She says, eyes big, when she steps in to hug me and is partially halted. "Hey there." Soon my cousins step in the house, all 7 of them. Lil Randee is 17, Roy is 16, Ron is 15, Mon is 14, Rihanna is 13, Marah is 9, and Rayne is 8. The last 3 are girls and the first 4 are boys.

"Randee! Look at you all tall and stuff!" I say, but he's not looking at me, he's looking at my swollen stomach.

"Um? Who did that to you? I swear I'll kill him if you want!" He says, nostrils flaring, voice dangerous and low. I giggle at that.

"My fiancé did this and I'm quite pleased with his work and him so no, I don't need you to kill him." I say. Randee and I have always been close, he's like a brother to me, always has been, despite our different ways of living. He's more into that gang shit, while I prefer school. I forgot they didn't know, none of them had a Facebook, the boys mainly because they were jailbirds constantly in and out of jail, and my Antie because she was a workoholic, working with but without ma.