Time Waits for No One

Chapter 6, Part 1 - First Tango in Manhattan

The Following Night

"BE LOVIN' YOU TILL! MOTHER NATURE! MOTHER NATURE SAYS HER WORK IS THROUGH!!!"

"YES, LORD!"

"BE LOVIN' YOU UNTIL THE DAY THAT YOU ARE ME AND I AM YOU! NOW AIN'T THAT LOVIN' YOUUUUUU?"

"LET HIM USE YOU, SISTER!!!"

"Y'all look a fool." Margaret laughed from her front-row audience view of the Carter 2, who were putting on a gospel revival to the soundtrack of Stevie Wonder's "As".

"Your mama!- NOW I'VE GOT TO SAY ALWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYS!" Jacqueline cracked back, not missing a beat in her churchy vocal performance, singing with a growl and fervor as she baptist stomped around her living room, Jimmy hooping and hollering as he danced and hyped his sister up.

"HALLELUJAH!" Jimmy exclaimed, a big smile brightening his expression as he and his sister goofed around like they were still little kids. They were supposed to be getting ready for their night out, but the Stevie soundtrack took over and the half-dressed pair wound up in the middle of a nasty praise, with Jacquline using her hair brush to amplify her performance of Wonder's sermon of love. As the ending beats of the track rang out, the siblings caught their breath, laughing at their own ridiculous improv set.

"Maybe if we could get the hell on over to the Jackson's house, we could have some real entertainment." Margaret said, wiping away tears from her laughter.

"You look mighty entertained to me over there, lil mama." Jimmy quipped.

"She just ready to hang out with the Jacksons that's all that is!" Jackie joked, turning the music down before repurposing her brush to go back to actually brushing her hair, loosening up her pin curls from the night before.

"You have a lot of nerve considering you can't decide if you wanna be Latoya's best friend or hunch on Michael," Margaret said, making both The Carter siblings reply at once, likely for far different reasons.

"Woah!"

"Hey!"

"Let's not get carried away, it's not like that. Don't give Jimmy a stroke, please." Jacqueline responded, fixing her hair in the living room mirror.

"Not like that, my ass. It's all you've talked about all day. I ain't never seen you this excited to go out in your life!"

"Please, ain't nobody thinking about that boy! I just wanna have a good time with my friends, don't make it weird!"

"Right, yeah, don't make it weird, babe. I was just getting to like Michael." Jimmy said, rolling his eyes.

Before they could dive too deep into the subject of Jacqueline's attraction to the pretty boy frontman, her phone rang. Inwardly sighing in relief that she could escape the hot seat, she crossed the room to grab her house phone.

"Y'all talk that out amongst yourselves." she waved at the couple before answering the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, little mama." a deep voice vibrated through the phone. "How's my girl doin'?"

"Oh. Hey Lester." Jacqueline replied, rolling her eyes.

"What did I tell you about calling me that?"

"It's your name! What did I tell you about that 'my girl' noise? Also, I can't really talk right now."

"Yeah, whateva. You know what it is with you and me. Now, what you so busy doin' you can't talk to me, beautiful?"

The compliment made Jacqueline blush involuntarily as she tried to ignore her nosy family in the background.

"Yeah, and you know what your name is. I'm minding my business, about to go out."