29. Quasim
Quasim
My head was pounding as Anjo slammed shit around on purpose. I knew she was doing the shit on purpose, because who slams down cotton swabs hard.
Blair did… that’s who.
I closed my eyes as I listened to her slam more things around until I sat up in the bed and watched her, fully dressed.
“My love, the fuck is up with all the noise?”
She turned around with her hand on her hips. “Me and Capri chased you bitches on the beach for two hours. Quasim, you faked like you were going to bed, snatched a bottle of rum from the kitchen and started two stepping with the bottle while passing it to Meer.” She recounted our actions last night.
“Shit… I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Blaze.”
Her scowl softened. “Baby, you needed that and I’m not mad, but I am sore because you had your pregnant, soon-to-be wife chasing you while you both screamed lyrics at us.” She tried to bite back the laugh, but she couldn’t hold it in.
“Come here, Anjo.” She put the box of lashes she had in her hand down. “So, you can put shit down quietly?”
“Next, I was about to slam the lamp over on your side.”
I laughed as I kissed her hands and then she came close for me to kiss her lips. “I’m sorry for getting fucked up like that.”
“Please, Quasim. You needed that night with your brother. Meer is gonna be in trouble because he told Capri he found a diamond and when she came close, he blew sand in her face.”
We both started laughing hard as shit because that was some shit Blaze would do. I let his ass convince me to get fucked up like that. After four shots, I was feeling it, but he wanted to keep talking shit, so I had to show him why I was the big brother.
We ran into the chicks from the lounge, and the strong looking one gave Blaze a piggyback ride down to the beach before we took off running. She was chatting about something about not being able to get her licks in, while Blaze was hollering ‘Giddy up’.
Then his ass suggested, as we drunkenly ran across the beach, that we had a sing off. When I was drunk, I liked to prove myself to the world – the only time I got like that. In the middle of the Delgato beach, we started singing and then carried that shit onto our beach, and eventually, our backyard.
After that, everything was a blur because those drinks were fucking me up. I winced as I closed my eyes because she had the shades wide open with her petty ass.
“Close the curtain, baby… damn, my head.” She closed the curtains and then kissed me on the lips as I lifted my head. “Where the fuck you going?”
“To try on my dress… apparently Alaia and Erin picked the perfect one from Telly. Do you know your brother, Cappadonna, and Gams are planning our wedding?”
“Apparently.”
She laughed. “Your brother is heavily invested. Capri said he has a notebook and checklist in his phone.”
Blaze was going to plan this wedding and wasn’t letting either of us fuck with his vision. “I’m letting him rock and giving us what we want. I’d marry you in this bed… so I’m not picky.”
“I may need to rush him before you get cold feet and start running again… see you later, Simmy. Take Elijah to get fitted for his suit, too.” She headed toward the door.
“My love?”
“Yes, baby?” she asked, as she snatched her purse from the vanity.
“Fuck ya!” I stuck my middle finger at her.
She broke out laughing. “You wish you could… Blair, come here,” she mocked me, and then I leaned up in the bed.
“You did do that fuck shit in the bathroom.” I hopped out the bed as she quickly rushed out the room and I chased behind her, catching her as she made it into the kitchen.
“Stop, Simmy…. Damn, how you moved that fast?” she was wiggling in my arms and laughing so hard.
“Say you sorry, Anjo… say the shit.”
Blaze was at the kitchen table with a towel on his head, Gams was cooking breakfast while Ryder and Elijah were at the counter. Capri was feeding Cherry while they stared at me tickling her in the middle of the kitchen.
“I refuse… you did it first.” She doubled down as I softly bit her shoulder while tickling her. “Simmy, stop!” she screamed while laughing and trying to get free from me.
Elijah jumped down from the stool and started tickling me to help Blair. “I got you, Anjo.” He continued to tickle me and realized that I wasn’t budging.
“Ouch, my ankle,” he limped, and we stopped and focused on him. “Run, Anjo!” He screamed, and she bolted away from me.
While she was running, Elijah continued to tickle me. I picked him up and spun his ass around, and he laughed so loud. The shit was so infectious that it had me laughing with him. When I put him down, he held onto my arm while trying to find his balance.
Ryder got down and she held him. “Come on, I’ll lead you. Gams said we have to brush our teeth before we go over to get CJ.”
I looked over at Gams and she was crying. “Gams, what’s the matter?”
Blair came back into the kitchen, concerned. “I’ve prayed for this, Moochie.”
I pulled her into me and wrapped my arms around her as she wet my chest with her tears. “I know, and I love you for that. When I gave up, you never did… no tears, please.”
“Please, Gams… I’m trying real ha?—”
“Dammit,” Capri said, as she sniffled, and I looked over and she was crying. “I’m crying because my eye is irritated from the sand and then this… I’m no good.”
“I’m sorry, Suga,” Blaze apologized.
“Meer, you can kiss my ass for what you did… why would… you know what, let me go back to giving you the silent treatment.”
“You can’t give me the silent treatment… I’m the wedding planner. Your invitation will get revoked quick as hell. Might have to sleep with the wedding planner to get it back.”
“Go to hell, Robert!”
“Morning family,” Jaiden yawned, as he came downstairs and I looked at Blaze, and even he didn’t know he was here.
“Jaiden, when the fuck you got here, and why you in my house?” Blaze asked.
He kissed Capri’s head. “Hey, boo… how was the flight last night?”
“I almost missed that shit, but it was good. I’m staying here because I’m surprising Erin. She texted me that she missed me, and I made sure to be here to see this nig… man get married.” He quickly corrected himself.
“She’s on her way over here now. I told her that I needed her help with my eye before we went to Telly’s shop.”
Jaiden touched her eye. “What the hell happened?”
“Ask Pissy over there.”
Blair coughed. “Um, baby, he not the only one. You pissed all over yourself last night and then chased them on the beach in it.”
Capri laughed. “And didn’t you drop Sim’s toast yesterday and kissed it up to God.”
“Oh, Hoe, you foul.”
“The hell, Blair?”
“Don’t you call me Blair… it was literally three seconds. You know the five second rule exists, right?”
Gams squeezed me as she laughed. She patted my butt and then kissed my cheek before letting me go. She had a way of transporting me back to that little boy that went to her for everything. She’d hug and kiss me, then pat me on the butt before sending me on my way.
After that familiar comfort from her, I felt like I could take on the world. I kissed her head and then allowed her to finish cooking breakfast.
“Good morning,” Syn yawned as she walked downstairs with Havoc behind her, and we all paused, staring at them.
“Relax, we all shared the room. Me and Syn shared my bed, and Havoc took her bed. Hams, you may like to unplug at night, but you snore horribly, and we can still hear,” Kobe pushed past them, his bonnet crooked and looking like his sleep was disturbed.
Synthia laughed. “It was soothing to me… like white noise,” she shrugged.
“Yeah, whatever… I had to chase you around a beach all night.”
I grabbed a piece of bacon and went to sit at the table while Blaze continued to cover his face with the towel. “I ain’t never drinking again.”
“Auntie twin!” I saw CeeCee running toward her aunt. “Can I see?”
CeeCee called Capri her auntie twin ever since she learned that they had the same name. Capri got down from the stool and kissed her niece, as CeeCee kissed Cherry.
She turned slightly and then her eyes got wide when she saw Jaiden standing there. He put his finger to his mouth as she rushed into his arms, right when her mother came around the corner.”
“Capri, you need to wait for mommy and daddy,” she said as she looked for her, and Jaiden stepped forward. She was gagged and couldn’t speak.
“Mommy, Uncle Jay Jay is here!” CeeCee screamed as she choked her uncle around the neck in a hug.
“Jaiden,” Erin rushed into his arms and hugged him. “You said you couldn’t make it because you had that thing before the draft.”
He kissed his sister’s head. Around the family, Erin hardly wore her wig because she was comfortable. It was normal for us to see her without her wig, and Capone encouraged her to take it off. “I had my agent arrange for them to come to my college to watch me do my drills, so I could come here. When you started sending me pictures of moms and pops, and saying you missed me, I knew you needed to see me. Plus, Sim’s getting married, not missing that.”
I smiled as I watched them embrace, and Capone came around the corner with Cooper on his back. He stopped when he saw Jaiden, flipped Cooper to the front of him, and put him on the floor.
“What the fuc… Kid, how you get here?”
CeeCee allowed her uncle to put her down, and Capone hugged Jaiden, kissing his head. Jaiden’s height had shot up, and he was right there with Capone now. “You ain’t the only one that come running when our Queen feeling down.”
He smirked and kissed the side of his head, and they both hugged. “My boy declared, too… we going to the fucking pros!”
Jaiden wasn’t the lanky boy that always felt like his sister was ruining his world anymore. He was 6’1 with tattoos and muscles. Capella ran around the corner and then jumped on Jaiden’s back.
“Big headed ass told me that you had something to do and couldn’t make it.” They both fell onto the floor, fighting each other and laughing.
“I’m surprised yo creepy ass ain’t track me.” Jaiden laughed as they hugged on the floor and then mushed each other.
“Gam-Gam, candy?” CeeCee asked her.
Gams dug in her pocket and gave CeeCee a piece of candy and put her on the counter so she could watch her cook.
Jaiden promised his sister that they could have lunch today, just the two of them, before the ladies got ready to leave. Blair came and kissed me on the lips and sat on my lap. I kissed her shoulder, smelling her fruity scent that made me crazy.
“I love you, Simmy… still going to see your mom today?”
“Yeah, I need to see her.”
“You do.” She kissed me and then headed out with the ladies. I ate breakfast, showered and went to climb back in the bed to sleep for a little bit before taking the golf cart and going over to Jean and Des’s house.
Recommendation: Listen to A Song For Mama by Boyz II men
I parked the golf cart and walked up the pebbled drive, toward the house. Between all our houses, nobody locked the doors. We all just came in and out of each other’s houses because we knew we were safe. Majority of the island was filled with their family.
Jean was in the kitchen on the phone with her notepad. When she saw me, she came around the counter and kissed my cheek and pointed down the hall where my mother was. I made my way down the hall and smiled at all the pictures of the Delgatos as children.
Capri in a project hallway, posing with her little hip poked out, and then Capone posted up like he was the baddest muthafucka around at only thirteen. Little did he know, he would become that nigga.
None of this shit would have been possible without him. That import deal was because of his hard work, and he cut us all in on it when he and his family could have been the only ones eating from it. It was funny to see Cappadonna in most the pictures with his brother.
Their dynamic was so apparent back then. Capp being the bigger presence, and his twin perfectly fine playing the background. I stopped when I saw a picture of Capri in college, and Blair was in the picture.
She had long hair, and she was smiling at the camera, but she wasn’t happy. I could tell from the picture, she wasn’t happy. She was putting on a front, which she had a habit of doing. Capri held onto her as they smiled.
They were so young and so ready for life.
My baby didn’t get the chance to have that life she wanted and experienced pain. I was going to make sure she never experienced that shit again. God, I was gonna marry the fuck out that woman.
And then fuck the shit out of her.
I knocked on the door and entered, and she wasn’t in her chair. “Mommy?”
“Hmm?” She poked her head out of the bathroom with her mousse in her hand.
I leaned in the doorway and smiled at her trying to do her hair. It had become normal to see Gams doing her hair.
She was still doing therapy and could still speak, but the therapist said her thoughts came faster than what she could get out, and she became frustrated. Her memory seemed foggy. Like, she remembered who we all were, but certain things we spoke about, she couldn’t remember.
“Where’s Pops?”
She often paused before she responded, like she was finding the words. I was patient and allowed her to figure it out before she spoke. “Backyard.”
We didn’t need to share words because I was comfortable in her presence as she figured out her curly mane that we all had been blessed with. She messed with it for a while before she eventually scrunched it and then smiled at herself in the mirror.
She kissed my cheek as I moved out the doorway and she entered the room. I turned and watched as she picked my father’s pajamas up from the bed. “So messy.”
I laughed. “He’s always been messy.”
“Uh huh.”
She finished messing with his side and then sat in the chair near the door that led out to the backyard. The windows were open and even with Jean and Des’s house being more inland, you could still smell that fresh smell of sea water.
Jean came into the room with fresh water and medicine in her hand for my mother. “Denim.”
Jean paused in her tracks. I looked between her and my mother, confused as to why she was becoming emotional. “What happened?”
She sat the water and medicine down and held onto the dresser with tears in her eyes. “Bina,” she whispered.
My mother smiled at her. “Denim and Bina.”
Jean was going through it, so I hugged her. “She never called me Jean… told me my name was funny when we first met. Always called me Denim. God, I haven’t heard that name in years, and… Bina you do remember.” She went over toward my mother and pulled her out the chair.
Jean sobbed while hugging her and my mother rubbed her back. “Infern...” she sighed, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. “Infernos and Delgatos forever,” she said it slowly this time.
Jean pulled back and smiled at her. “On that beach in Staten Island, we made that promise… the four of us. Life pulled us apart for a while, but we’re back together now.”
The phone rang and she kissed my mom on the cheek and then rushed out the room while sniffling to get the phone.
I stood there watching my mother sit back in the chair as she looked over at me. “ meu bebê, venha aqui,” she motioned for me.
I walked over toward her, and she patted her lap. “Mommy, I’m too damn big for that now.” I laughed because she just wanted to hold her first born again.
She paused, then patted her lap and pointed to the ground. “Get down there.”
I obliged and climbed on the floor as she patted her leg. Resting my head in my mother’s lap transported me somewhere I hadn’t been in a long time. She rubbed my hair as she kissed the side of my face.
Tears blurred my vision as she kissed my cheek and rubbed my hair. “Marriage is good.”
“You think so?”
“Sim.”
I loved when she switched between languages. One would confuse her for saying my name, but Sim also meant yes.
I took one of her hands and kissed her hand. “I missed you, mommy.”
Tears fell down my cheeks as she hugged my head. She always smelled like the baby lotion Baby Magic. It was like her scent teleported me back to my childhood when she used to rock me in her arms, and I would smell her signature scent.
On her dresser in my parent’s room, there would be a bunch of rosaries hanging from the mirror with her perfumes and lotions. Baby Magic was always one of the lotions among her others.
“Me too, Pop.”
The door opened and I watched as my father came into the room. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at my mother and me. He leaned up and kissed her on the head, then kissed me before sitting back down on the bed.
“Nanny!” I heard Ryder, as she ran into the room, stopping when she saw me laying on my mother’s lap.
She got down on the floor with me and cuddled against me. “Everybody is a big baby for their mommy, right Grandpop?”
He smiled. “Yeah, even the biggest and baddest.”
I closed my eyes as my mother continued to kiss and hug my head, while Ryder put her hand around me. “Do you like dirt bikes?”
“Ryder, why are you trying to butter your uncle up when your father said no?” My father called her out.
She sucked her teeth, kissed my cheek, and then left the room. “I’m getting that bike,” I heard her mutter before she left out the room.
My father left the room soon after, as I felt myself becoming sleepy in my mother’s lap. “Love you, mommy.”
“So much.”