"Footz!" "Sir?" "We're heading over to the park. We'll see y'all in a minute." My dad calls. "Yes sir." I reply and turn back to my closet. I was pretty much groomed. I just couldn't find anything to wear. "Baby, you almost ready?" Cole asks and I feel his chest against my back as he hugs my waist. "No. I don't know what to wear." I say and lean back into his embrace. "Timbs?" "No." "Flats?" "I need to buy more." "Shorts?" "It's cold out there." "Niggah! Make up your mind." He says and I laugh. We stand there debating on my clothes for another 5 minutes before he grabs a hanger. "What about this? You haven't touched it since you bought it." Cole says and holds up one of my True Religion outfits. It was a pair of gray skinny jeans, a white long-sleeved shirt that had 'TRUE' in blue and the shoes that went with it were a pair of blue, baby blue and white J's. "Snap back or headband?" I ask. "Headband." "Thanks. I knew there was a reason I kept you around." I say and run when he tries to hit me. "Buster!" I yell from the bathroom. "Okay. Wait til ya ass come out." Cole responds and I Bol. I get dressed and walk out cautiously. He comes out from outta nowhere and lifts me up. "Put me down!" I yell. This is some terrifying stuff. Y'all don't even know. "Nope." He says and we walk downstairs. "Nigger." I mumble under my breath. "Big ass baby." Santos says when we come down and I flip him off. "Are y'all ready?" Tray asks and we nod and walk out the house. It was starting to get cold out but it was still sunny. "Cole, what did you get me?" I whine once we start driving. "I'll give it to you before the night is over." He says and I pout. He's a fucking buster! And curse California.
*30 minutes later*
We were in that bitch deep! The Boys and Girls Club was closed so there were no little kids but it looked like my whole school came when it probably just the class of 2016 with a sprinkle of upper classmen. I was making my way over to my brother when I'm tackled by the midgets I call my niece and nephew. "Happy birthday, TeeTee." They say and hand me a box. "Aww, thanks Munchkins." I say. "TeeTee's gonna open this when we go home, ok?" I say and they nod. I see Raven and Trin pull up. "Go with Uncle Cole. I'll be there in a minute." I say and they run to Cole's open arms. It's been about 3 days since I've seen Raven. She calls us but she hasn't shown up. "Glad you could slide through." I say and pull her into a hug. "Yea." She says. I turn to Trin and hug him but when his hands slide a little too low, I pull away. "The boys are over there. Ray, you with me today." I say and usher her off to where Zeny, Daisy and Jessika were. When Raven stopped coming over, I didn't think of it as unusual because she stays home a lot. But how she looks right now makes me feel like there's something wrong. "Aye, my thugga thugga!" Zeny says and hugs her. We sat there chopping it up when my phone rings. "Happy birthday, Kit-Kat." Someone says. It wasn't Tray, though. "Uh, who is this?" I ask while looking around but I spot a set of 3 people looking my way. I sprint towards them and embrace 'em in hugs. "My gangstas! Turn up!" I say. Faith, Davantae and Mike all laugh. "Happy birthday, Kit-Kat." They say and hand me presents. "Come on. I got some people for you to meet." I say and walk them back over to the girls while talking. "This is Azendra, Raven, Jessika and Daisy. And this is Mike, Faith and Davantae." I say. I peep everything so I don't miss the way Davantae looks at Raven. "So ... where's Cole?" Mike asks. "Right here. Nice to meet you all." Cole says. I swear he be coming from out the air. "Nice to meet you too. You and Kyrie make a cute couple." Faith says.
Who keep her glass filled to the brim. The notorious K-I to the M. Y'all know my attitude. Can't stand my cologne then stay yo ass home. You and yo chaperone.
"Oh shit! Come on. My dad went 90s." I say and usher everyone into the middle of the park. Me and the girls start dancing, trying to get the boys to move. My mom got on the intercom from my uncle's food truck and yelled, "Switch!" And everyone rotated to another person. I'm dancing with Tray when 'Thug Love' comes on. Anyone and everyone who knows that song were using their hands as props to imitate the sound of the gun in the background. "Switch!" I spin into the arms of Mike. "You finally learned how to dance." Mike says and starts laughing. "You weren't any better." "Switch!" I rotate my hips and turn around to be faced with Santos. "Hey, boo." I say and he laughs. We dance to 'Watchu Like' by Da Brat.
*2 hours later*
We all just spent 2 hours dancing. I'm taking my ass to sleep when I get home. But right now, my parents are trying to let it 'marinate' as my mom says. Cole and I are swaying to 'Step in the Name of Love'. "Enjoying the party?" I ask. "Yea. Your parents had it turnt." "As usual." I respond and lean up to kiss him. I feel like we haven't had a proper kiss in forever. I hummed when his tongue slid across my bottom lip. Someone tapping my shoulder makes me pull away. Zeny, Tray and Santos were standing there. "Raven wants you. You, Tray and Chresanto gotta handle something." Zeny says to us. We nod and go our separate ways. Me and Azendra run towards the Club building. "What's up, Ray?" I ask and she looks up. Her eyes were puffy and one of them were black. "Oh my Gosh! Who did this to you? Was it ... Trin?" I ask and she nods. "We finna squad up and fuck shit up!" "Zeny, calm down. She needs us. Now, why didn't you tell us?" I said while turning back to Raven. "I was scared. He kept saying that he'd kill me." "He wasn't gone do shit!" I yell because at this point, I'm fuming. First, my aunt and now my best friend. This fuckery here gotta stop. "Where did the boys go?" "To fuck him up." Azendra says. She's so aggressive. "We need to stop them. Let karma come back on him." I say and we walk Raven over to my mom. Then me and Zeny rush over to the boys who were crowding Trin. "It's not worth it." I say as I pull at Tray and Cole's arms. "Nah. Don't nobody touch my sister." Cole says and snatches away from me. "Cole, Tray, please don't do this." Raven says as she comes walking over with my dad. "Son, did you hit this young lady?" My dad asks and Raven starts to cry again. "Dad, don't do this." I said. "You know what? I ain't got time for this. Raven, let's go." Trin says. "I'm not going with you, Trin." Ray says. "What?" "I'm not leaving with you. I can't let you hit me anymore. I'm not leaving!" "Oh, yes you are!" Trin yells and snatches her out Cole's arms. "Let her go." I say through gritted teeth. "What are you gonna do?" Trin scoffs. "Niggah, this here ... this ain't what you want." I respond. There's a lot of things I play about but my family? That's something different. "Whatever. Raven, are you coming or not?" He says. Raven shakes her head and turns away from him. Trin nods and walks off. "Can we catch a late show?" I ask my parents and they nod. "I'll take Raven back to the house. Call me when you guys are done." Cole says and kisses me before walking back to his car with Raven clutching his shirt. "Aight. Let's get this park cleaned up." I say and start picking up the trash. It's been a long day but overall, my party was fun. I just hope Ray doesn't go back to Trin. That niggah got a lot of shit coming to him.
