Chapter 5
Jade
I tried not to overthink it, but the fact that Oden was coming over tonight had me giddy like a schoolgirl.
That was comical because Tuesday I had been cursing the very ground he stood on.
After the night we shared I couldn’t help but be pissed when he blew me off then seemingly ghosted me.
Honestly, I didn’t know how to feel about it until he called me earlier.
I didn’t know what to make of his disappearance, and for the most part I kept it to myself, but Ava could tell I was bothered by something.
We spoke on it briefly, but my attention was pulled elsewhere when a piece of art I purchased for the boutique couldn’t fit through the doors.
So I never fully expressed my disappointment.
I just bottled it up, like I did everything else.
“You’re awfully quiet today, Jade.” Ant, the internet guy for the entire building, interrupted my thoughts and made me look up from my cup of tea at him.
The internet in the building had gone out last night, so they sent him out to check the units and rectify the situation.
This was the fifth time this month, hence why he and I were on a first name basis.
“Just thinking.” I blinked a few times before fully focusing on him.
Ant stood at about six feet even with a diagonal type afro with the front of it being the high point.
He was the color of Hershey’s chocolate dressed in chinos and a cardigan.
He was a cool guy from what I knew. My only beef was that he was here for too long when he was here.
It was like he lingered, looking for conversation.
I assumed it was him just being polite, so I didn’t put up a fuss.
He nodded.
“Have you figured out what’s going on? This is like the fifth or sixth time this month, right?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I think it’s some faulty wiring.
It’s not all the units, just a few, including yours.
Probably going to rewire the module and that will either alleviate the problem or escalate it.
Your internet services are back up right now, but we can’t guarantee that they don’t go back down,” he warned.
“Of course. Thank you anyways.”
“I’m gonna leave you my card, just in case it goes down. Just call me and I can possibly get here quicker instead of waiting to be dispatched by the building.” He then slid the blue business card across the island to me.
“Um, thank you.”
“Also Ja—” he started but there was a knock at my door, then the sound of my brother’s voice filled the space.
“C’mon Jade, come open the door. I gotta take a leak.” Reminisce was literally the loudest nigga I had ever met.
I shook my head and moved around Ant to open the door for Reminisce. Though I didn’t really care for Reminisce’s popup moments, I was grateful for this one. It meant, one, he wouldn’t pop up tonight, and two, he was interrupting whatever the hell Ant was about to ask me.
When I had the door open, Rem rushed in, going straight toward my bedroom. This fool said he wasn’t a guest, so he wasn’t using the guest bathroom.
“What the fuck is he doing here again?” Rem asked loudly, while I looked from the direction he had gone in back to Ant.
“Rude and he’s here to fix the internet again,” I called out, eyes on Ant. “Well, it was nice talking to you. I know you have to get to the other places on your call.” I held the door open for him, hoping he would leave.
It was odd how he seemed to think about moving before he moved. I could tell by the way his eyes glossed my place then lingered in the direction Reminisce had gone before he nodded. “Yeah, I’ll see you around.”
When he left, I silently exhaled. I was walking away from the door at the same time Reminisce re-entered the front room.
“Wasn’t his weird ass here the last time I came over?”
I nodded. “Yeah, the internet keeps going down.”
His expression grew serious. “Out of nowhere?”
“Yeah, these last few months have been really bad. It’s annoying and so random.” I turned and went back to my kitchen. Then there was another knock at my door. I was about to get it but Reminisce stopped me.
“That’s G and Rennix. Cay finally let that nigga have his balls back.”
I didn’t bother responding. At this point I was so used to my brother saying things that I didn’t even react anymore.
About fifteen seconds later I heard the door open and close. All three of my brothers then walked into the kitchen like this was a planned visit or something.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of having the triplets in my damn kitchen this early?” My eyes jumped between all three of them before back to the cup of tea in front of me. It was so crazy how they all looked alike.
“You know I don’t look like these niggas. I got my own face.” Rennix waved me off then went to my pantry. “Damn it’s clean as fuck in here,” he commented loudly.
“Yeah, please keep it that way,” I called out, knowing damn well I paid to have the place cleaned. No, I wasn’t lazy, but I rarely had time to clean my entire condo with everything I had going on.
I felt Dimitri’s eyes before his observant ass spoke. “Whole place in order, huh? What plans you got?”
“My own, but damn, I can’t have my place cleaned?” I laughed. This was literally a weekly thing but thank God Consuela had taken care of me yesterday right in time for Oden to come over today.
Rem tilted his head to the side. “The fuck you grinning for?”
“Because I can. This is my face. What do you all have planned for this evening?”
“Dinner at Adjacent. I heard that shit be banging on O’s days. Beyah be on that take me out to eat shit knowing damn well we got kids.” Dimitri pulled his phone out and began tapping.
“It is. I had it earlier in the week. It was divine.” I smiled, thinking back on my experience.
Rennix re-entered the area holding a box of my animal crackers. Of course he was eating them, then he had the nerve to pull an Honest juice box from his pocket and sit it on the island. “You always got the snacks.”
“Who’d you have it with?” Reminisce asked, eyes boring a hole in the side of my face.
“You act like we didn’t already have this conversation.
I told you I wasn’t telling you. The date was a dud, so there is no point in talking about it.
” I crossed my arms over my chest, meeting his serious stare with one of my own.
It was strange to be the oldest your whole life then look up one day and there was a nigga not only older than you, but bossier and too set in being the oldest.
“So, we’re keeping secrets, Jade?” Rennix asked, still smacking on my damn animal crackers. I always kept them around during my menstruation time. Something about that frosting soothed a craving with just a few handfuls.
“There is no secret. I went on a date. You don’t know him; shit I wish I didn’t. It wasn’t to my liking, so there will not be another date.”
“Did he do something to you?” Dimitri asked. His expression was tight.
“Besides finish my fucking food when I simply told him I wanted it, no.” I shook my head.
“Damn, you went on a date with a greedy nigga? What the fuck, Jade?” Reminisce’s face was turned up like I had offended him.
“First of all, I didn’t know he was greedy, and second…” My sentence trailed off because he was speaking again.
“Why yeen call me? I would have come through and made him regurgitate that shit.”
Rennix and Dimitri laughed hard as hell because Reminisce actually meant that.
I pointed at him. “And that is why I didn’t call you. You answered your own damn question.”
“You feel like babysitting tonight?” Dimitri’s voice made me look in his direction.
“I love my nephews, but nope, I have plans.” I couldn’t hold back the smile on my face at the thought of my plans.
A six-foot-three, athletically built nigga with the stroke game of a demon.
Yes, demon because that shit was sinful and I had been thinking about it since that night.
Not only that but that big nigga was even gonna feed me.
“Plans. What the fuck you doing besides sitting here watching reruns of SVU laid up on this couch looking homeless?” Reminisce’s stupid ass asked with a big grin on his face.
“If you must know, I intend to be lying on my back on this very couch, and maybe on this counter too. Hence why it’s so clear right now. Ample space and opportunity, big brother.” I winked and that sent his skull through the roof.
“Yo, don’t nobody wanna hear that shit.” Rennix’s expression was of pure disgust and so was Dimitri’s. Rennix was so disturbed he snatched his juice from the space it sat on, even though it was clean.
“Too much information. Don’t nobody wanna hear about you fucking.”
I laughed. “Well see your way out of my business, because I swear, I wasn’t trying to tell either of you about my sex life but it seems like y’all only don’t wanna hear about it after you’ve probed me.
So, any more questions before I change the subject?
” My eyes jumped from nigga to nigga. I took their silence as them being ready for me to change the subject.
“That ain’t gonna stop me from being in your business.
But nah, I don’t need to hear about it, especially since you in here hiding identities like we know him or something.
Anyways, I figured I’d tell the two of y’all while we’re all in the same room.
Rennix and I have been talking about his expansion as we all know, moving into my own mental space. ”
“What is a mental space, Reminisce?” Dimitri’s question was what I was thinking.
“I need a lil bit more than I normally do. Not too much of a change, but some fresher waters.”
“Meaning?” I tilted my head to the side.
“If y’all let me finish, I’ma get to the fucking point.” He had the nerve to look irritated with our questions yet he was taking too long to answer them.