THE REUNION

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The grass smelled fresher, the dew drops were wetter, the air tasted better. Fields of pure fluff carrying the same shade of gray as a rhino's dry skin decorated the weather machine she and a past best friend dubbed as heaven's carpet when they were children. Waves of emotion were fluid in the electricity that naturally attached itself to her body, the energy building with her every step in each direction she wandered in as she sought out a clear spot to sit directly beneath the sun that managed to peek out from between the clouds. Granted, her tanned skin didn't need much more as it recovered from her summer in Puerto Rico but her soul was in desperate need of warmth.

It'd been five long, life-changing years since Cynthia had been in the city longer than an hour. After her care keeper and legal guardian passed, she went on with her life hoping to find the right kind of happiness to keep her broken heart from slicing any of her internal organs as it remained trapped in her chest. The city of Charlotte reminded her of many nostalgic feelings, nostalgic feelings that could ever so easily be overshadowed by all of her embarrassment and regret from her wild adventures during her younger years. Even when she accepted her fate of the emotional rollercoaster she was signing up to ride, she knew there was one thing she could not deny.

Hidden Valley is home.

"Mom, isn't it about to rain?" Damian stood at the patio door of his great-grandmother's home as he watched his mother take a seat in a white, plastic lawn chair.

Cynthia glanced over her shoulder, kissing her teeth at her son, and faced forward into the backyard's abyss. "A little rain never hurt anybody, Dame. Don't act brand new after Puerto Rico," she joked, shifting in the chair as she searched for comfort.

"Uncle said he didn't want the chairs to sink into the lawn. He said it's gone make holes."

While she adored how strong her son's relationship with her only brother remained regardless of their own sibling turbulences, Cynthia hated the way her son took in Javon's words as solidified law. Cynthia sighed as she lifted from the chair, following her son inside as a sudden burst of thunder proved her family correct. She giggled at the squeals of her niece and sister-in-law, Mariah and Melinda, as they were made aware of the weather's conditions. Cynthia sashayed into the kitchen, grabbing a glass, wanting to know how long it'd take her boyfriend to finish teaching her nephew how to break wood with a karate chop of the hand in the living-room.

Javon enters the kitchen behind his sister, rolling up the sleeves of his expensive, loose button-down. His wife usually joked that he belonged in an R&B video. "Aye, Cyn," he called out to her. Cynthia's silky locks naturally flip over her shoulder with the turning of her head. Her heels click against the wooden floors as she steps back enough for Javon to fully approach her, a sense of discreteness in his body language. "Letty on her way."

"Can I just ask why you'd invite her here if you knew I would be here," Cynthia asked, lifting the glass to her mauve lips.

"She was gone stop by the house but when we got here, it just made it easier to have her swing by."

Javon wasn't around much after being drafted but he kept his positive relationships with his childhood friends closer to his heart than most realized. He initially let his newfound fame get to his head but after his first injury threatened to permanently take him off the football field, he realized who truly was in his corner. Paulette and Javon previously discussed her coming up to Cornelius to see Javon and his family on one of her usual auntie stops. A car accident that ruined traffic put an end to that and when Javon suggested they stop by Big Mama's old house to freshen up, Paulette still agreed to come see her niece and nephews.

From the entrance of the kitchen, Melinda peeked her head in, not wanting to interrupt her husband's conversation. "I doubt you heard the phone but that was Letty. She had to pick some things up for Lucy's party but Evelyn's still stopping by to pick the kids up. They're gonna go to the movies to see an E.T. screening and meet us at the ceremony."

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