I'm Yours (PRN)

ii

Monae sings and she sings loud. "Now, Miss Sophisticated your nose up in the air—"

Monica cuts off the look on perfect cue with her rising to her feet. "You play too much." Earth, Wind, and Fire was about to bring Monae an untimely death. Monica's smooth glide across the house comes off more as a float in whatever direction she walks in and the look seems to be all kinds of amazing.

"Monica, you look especially amazing today! Look at you, baby! Hold on, do a little turn," Aunt Joy calls out with a glass of wine in her hand. All of her aunts are in the kitchen finishing the last of the details of dinner and they've had a few glasses throughout the process. Of course they're going to gas Monica up to her fullest and she loves her single minute of it. "And ya' hair, the way it just falls down your back!" After all, Monica did sit for an hour and a half this morning pressing and curling her hair. Again, she appreciates every remark thrown her way.

She peers around the kitchen out of curiosity. The aroma of whatever is in the oven has been working its way out into the general air and it has been eating Monica alive. "I was just coming to check out the scene." Monica smiles, rocking back and forth. "Trying to see how long until we eat."

"Give me about ten minutes," Brenda happily replies in efforts of axing out the way she was too hard on Monica the night before.

Monica nods, upon her exit, her Aunt Joy throws a biscuit her way with a wink. As Monica takes a bite out of the biscuit, she begins heading back for her corner where her favorite cousins relied to eat the biscuit in their faces when the doorbell rang. Considering that she stood on the plastic ramp that lines up and directs people from the door, down the hall to take their shoes off and put them on the floor of the coat closet, it seems that she has no choice but to open the door.

Glossy red nails of hers shine brightly next to the luster of the bright gold doorknob belonging to her front door. Nonchalantly twisting, Monica opens up the door with a wide swing. She expects another group of family members that she barely saw unless it happened to be another holiday where they ate for free. Instead, she is getting a surprise she has been waiting on since she was home for Easter earlier in the spring of last year.

"Oh my god!"

Her scream earns everybody's attention as large crumbs of biscuit fall from her hand, she'd crushed it into tiny pieces out of excitement. Monica flings herself into the arms of her big brother. Anthony had been away for quite some time. President Reagan decided it was a mighty good idea to interfere with the Iran-Iraq war. Monica had no knowledge of what that had to do with Anthony but she came to learn quick that whatever happened, it took her brother away and left her with his irritating stand in– Who is at his mother's house as they speak.

"Anthony, oh my god. Look at you! You got a mustache? What the hell, I thought you couldn't grow one? A–and look... Tony, you're buff! Oh my god. I have to call Lindsey. She needs to come over right now!"

He grins, brushing off all of her screams. "I brought somebody with me," Anthony smiles, stepping to the side. There he was, roughly three inches taller than he was when Monica had last seen him. "I saw him pulling up– It's a long story. I brought him with me though. Be glad."

Boldened eyes express another wave of excitement. "Dre!" Monica squeals, hugging him tightly. She hadn't seen Andre in what feels like years to her. Well, that's exactly what it had been. It had been quite a few years. "Linda, your brother's here!"

"Thank me!" Anthony hollers with laughter as Monica moves aside and Andre steps into the house. His mother let's out a falsetto-based scream ten times the volume of Monica's. "And now you can kill me," Anthony mumbles.

Monica's way too excited to take notice of anything her big brother has said within these last few seconds. Ready to burst through her chest, Monica's heart is pounding. If it were to beat any faster, she'd drop dead of a heart attack at that very second. All she can do is and smile and giggle at every little thing that is said. Everybody is so pumped at the idea of Andre and Anthony standing before them, just like Monica, they don't think it gets any better. For Monica, it can't and that's because it gets worse.