If I Have To

What We Say

New York, New York
February 29th

Kasey L.

"Aye!" Jeremy and Delmar shouted, their arms going in the air at the same time.

Xena look back, her face expressed concern. All I gave her was a head nod to help with her worry. We made our way to the table where Jeremy, Delmar, Harmony, and Emily were sitting at. Two empty seats awaited us both.

"We were wondering where y'all were," Delmar spoke while Xena and I took our seats.

"A woman deserves all the time she needs to get ready," I responded, sliding my jacket off and placing it behind my chair.

We were late only because Xena went through several different outfits. She put one outfit on then next thing I know she was changing into something else. In her words, 'she wasn't dressing accordingly,' and I had no idea what she meant by that. I let it be and allowed her to go through six outfits before putting on jeans and a crop top with several laces. She thought it was basic. I thought it was cute.

"Oh, I feel you," Delmar interjected, side-eyeing Harmony. She rolled her eyes but deep down she knew it was true. Women took forever to get ready for even the simplest events or activities. It seemed like a universal thing at this point that all men in relationships were dealing with.

I chuckled. "Yeah, anyway, Xena these are my friends, Delmar and Jeremy," I began pointing at the two of them. Jeremy gave her a head nod while Delmar gave her a salute.

I continued, pointing at Harmony. "This is Delmar's wife, Harmony." She waved and Xena waved back.

"And this is Emily," I quickly said, barely pointing in her direction. I didn't want to acknowledge her in the first place but concluded how rude that would be. I was trying to keep this night as peaceful as possible.

"It's nice to meet you all," Xena spoke once I was done.

"Oh no! It's nice to meet you!" Delmar emphasized, pointing at her. "Kasey hasn't done much talk about you and we're all curious to know who Xena is."

"As if we don't already know," Emily remarked. I turned to face her, we made eye contact while she drunk her liquor. I looked away not wanting to cause any drama right now.

"Actually, we don't know much and I wanna know..." Harmony began, leaning closer to Xena. "...is Kasey being a good husband to you?" she continued. I smack my lips and all of them laughed, expect for Emily. I wasn't expecting her to.

"No, seriously though, how is everything so far?" Delmar seriously asked.

I look at Xena, allowing her to take this question. They already heard enough from me about our marriage. I like to think we were good. There was no issues, we got along, and look good together. That was my perspective though. I'm not all the way sure how Xena was feeling. She was in her head majority of the time.

"Oh, we're good," she answered. She turned to face me with a smile on her face. I look her in the eyes and could see the sincerity in it.

"He's really nice," she went on. "And makes me very comfortable with the whole transition. I'm liking it."

Hearing that warmed my heart more than anyone knew. I smirked, my cheeks getting hot and I'm sure turning red.