Host of Imperfections

Chapter 42

That Saturday, I was accompanying Marcus on some errands he had to run when Kelly called and told me to stop by her mother's place if I wanted some free food.

She knew damn well she didn't have to say that but once and expect me to agree. What did it matter if the occasion was in honor of an eight year olds birthday party, I was definitely going to be there. At the mention of food, Marcus didn't mind tagging along either.

When we arrived I was greeted by the overly excited birthday girl Trinity , the first born of four belonging to Kelly's cousin. Not too far behind, her little brothers and a few unfamiliar faces I assumed were her friends followed up giving me a hug just because they saw her doing it.

By the looks of it they were all dressed in swim wear and on their way towards the 35ft long slip 'n slide moon bounce set up. The kid in me was envious to say the least; what I'd give to go back to that carefree time in my life where boys were nothing but mere idiots with cooties. Obviously nothing about them had changed.

I found everyone else except Kells on the patio giving suspicious looks at the guest I'd brought along with me. Uncle Larry was no where in sight this time, thank God. I could tell some of the old heads were trying to figure out why he looked so different from the last guy they saw me with but before they had a chance to call him by the wrong name, I introduced him; "This is Marcus." No labels, nothing.

After a few more minutes of small talk with my second family, Kelly stuck her head out of a window on the upper level yelling for me to come in the house real quick. Following suit to her ignorance, I left Marcus outside with everyone else before going in. Niecy was on the phone in the kitchen complaining about some defects with the birthday cake she'd ordered; flashing a smile and waving as I walked through.

The last thing I expected to see when I finally I made it upstairs was RJ frolicking atop Kelly's bed butt naked. "Bebeeeee!" He squealed dropping dramatically and covering up his little member.

"Boy aint nobody worried about your thang!" Standing right next to the bed frame, Kelly took that time out to shove a pair of swim trunks over his legs.

Glad my presence could be of assistance in distracting his craziness; that little boy was a trip.

"Hey girl!" She muttered all the while giving RJ's bottom a light tap. "Now go on downstairs wit Trin and her friends! Be careful and do not run!"

He jumped to the floor and walked slowly out of the room leaving her to flop down on the edge of the mattress sighing like she'd just run a race. "You know you can always baby sit whenever you feel like it, right?"

I had to laugh at that! "It'll be a cold-cold day in hell Kelly! Believe that!"

She glared at me for a second. "What are you trynna say? I know the boy's wild but he aint THAT bad!"

"I'm playing, just make sure he's dosed up on some NyQuil before I take him anywhere with me."

"Now thats messed up!" she laughed standing to her feet and picking up some scattered clothes from the floor that couldn't have belonged to anyone but RJ. I sat down while she stopped and peered out of the window. "So that's Marcus, huh?"

I don't know how it may have slipped my mind that this was going to be her first time seeing him in person.

"Yep."

She grunted under her breath letting that speak volumes for what she was thinking.

"What!?" I couldn't help but laugh. I already knew what she was thinking. Kelly had always been into pretty boys, not saying that Marcus was one but off first glance I could easily see how someone could mistake him for one.