Chapter 12 #8
“Some people come into our lives for reasons and seasons. Don’t let dat man do anything permanent to you if he’s not prioritizin’ you.
You’re too young and pretty to let a man use you up and toss you aside.
You ain’t got no kids… keep it dat way until he proves to you he can be the man you need.
We got to stop lettin’ these niggas ‘baby mama’ us while we stuck with the babies and dey ’round here living their lives to the fullest. I love my sons, but I’m a woman first. The first time you spot bullshit, block his ass and run for the hills. You hear me?”
I had never had a woman put me up on game when it came to boys.
The only thing my mother told us was to go to her when we needed birth control, not to let a man put their hands on us, and to keep them out of her house.
I knew Mama Payne’s words came from not only experience but from wisdom.
The error of her ways and pain were the driving force of how she operated with her kids, and now me.
“I’m here to tell you what I’m sure you already know.
You made a life for yourself—a damn good one.
You’re the first woman he’s been with dat has her own.
That much I can guarantee you. Make sure he meets you where you are.
If he can’t give you something you can’t give yourself, leave his ass at his sister’s house.
Ain’t no nigga, no handsome face, or no dick worth your mental. ”
Nodding, I picked the spoon back up. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Am I hurting you?”
Using the pointed end of the rat tail comb on the braid, I shook my head.
As soon as we uncovered all of the foil, Mama Payne remembered she hadn’t made her spaghetti, so I was forced out of the kitchen.
I ran into Kassie and mentioned I was ready to take my braids down.
Next thing I knew, she, Tuscany, and I were on the porch taking my braids out.
The only reason I agreed to porch sitting was because the sun had begun to go down.
If it had still been blazing, we would have stayed inside.
“All this hair you got, I know the Africans charge you extra,” Tuscany said as she slid the weave out of my head and dumped the crinkled piece into the plastic Walmart bag sitting in my lap.
“Nope. They did it for free in exchange for a promo. Oh, and it wasn’t an African salon. They’re Black owned.”
“Ohhh! I wouldn’t know how to act. How do you not get overwhelmed with all the free shit that is offered?” Kassie asked.
She and Tulscan’s one-year-old son were in the middle of the yard pushing a toy, while Tuscany’s son played with blocks at the far end of the porch.
The kids could go for siblings instead of cousins, rocking that signature Payne look everyone seemed to have.
I hadn’t even known Tulscan and Kassie had a kid because they were empty-handed when they came in, so I didn’t meet him until I was ushered outside with the ladies.
One of his uncles had grabbed him on their way in, and the poor baby had been outside ever since, playing in the grass like he wasn’t dressed in Kith.
Seeing the kids made me miss my Godson, Ezio Jr. I couldn’t wait to steal some snuggles from him the next time I saw him.
“It gets overwhelming sometimes, but it comes in handy.”
“So you just gonna walk ’round nappy-headed?”
I was so focused on getting the braids out that I hadn’t noticed Tunan walking up.
He looked just as good as he did an hour ago.
With everyone constantly shouting his name and the large bulge in his pockets, I could tell that the dice game, which was now winding down, had been a successful one for him.
“Ain’t nothing nappy about her hair. Fall back,” Tuscany noted.
“Umm-hmm,” I added while looking up at Tunan as I worked on the right front side of my hair.
We’d already cut the braids as far as they could be cut without snipping my real hair, and Tuscany was doing the back left while Kassie handled the back right. Tunan tugged on the braids on the left side like he’d done earlier, but this time, he kept it in his hands and started unbraiding the hair.
Turning my head, I peered at him with squinted eyes. “Really, Tunan?”
Licking his lips, he stood gape-legged while unraveling the braid. “I’m the best at this braid removal shit. You know how many times Tuscany had us taking hers out? I was a fuckin’ pro before I hit puberty.”
I sat stunned as he backed up his statement.
He had just walked up and already taken the braid down while I was still working on the same one for five minutes, and I had a comb to help.
He dropped the weave in the bag on my lap, ran his fingers through the freed piece of hair, and scratched the dirt from my scalp.
“Yeah, you was the coldest, no lie.” I could hear the smile behind Tuscany’s words.
“Who was the coldest? I know you not talkin’ ’bout dis nigga?” Tulen had his red hat cocked to the back as he jogged up the steps with a snarl on his face.
“You know what it is. You can barely get through the braid without tangling it,” Tunan chided.
Sucking his teeth, Tulen came to the right of me and gently grabbed the braid that I had been working on. I was still in disbelief that Tunan was taking my hair down, so I didn’t even have the words for his little brother joining in.
“Yeah, Tulen… I need to see if your skills done got up to par. You used to slaw me all the way out.”
“Mane! Y’all so fuckin’ cap. Ain’t it, sis-in-law?”
“Yeah, brother… they lying on you,” Kassie answered with amusement in her tone.
“Who lyin’ on who?” Tuden had joined the party, tossing his twist out of his face. He was proof that Tunan would still be handsome if he decided to grow his hair out.
“This nigga actin’ like I ain’t the best at this braid take down shit,” Tulen stated with his chest puffed out.
Sucking his teeth just as his brother had just done, Tuden took a spot beside Tulen and grabbed a braid. “Ain’t no fuckin’ actin’. He tellin’ the truth. You be gettin’ hair tangled up and shit.”
I now had five people in my head, four of them being Payne siblings. They were all clowning each other as if taking my hair down was a normal family activity.
“See, Den… you fuckin’ up and talkin’ ’bout me,” Tulen pointed out when Tuden struggled to unravel the weave from my real hair.
“Mane, get the fuck outta my section. I’m doin’ this new technique I came up with. Watch I finish more than you niggas.”
“Aye! Don’t be fussin’ and shit over my wife’s head.”
Cutting my eyes at Tunan, his teeth were on display while the braid in his hands became undone.
“Wife? Ion see no ring on her finger,” Tulen asserted.
Tunan and I held each other’s gazes, with me shooting daggers at his ass, and him grinning like he was funny.
“Not yet.” He winked at me, not breaking the stare off we were having. “But not never. Then again… you unpredictable as a muthafucka, so let me not even put shit past you.”
“Y’all gone pull her fuckin’ hair out!” Tulscan yelled as he and Baguette shared a blunt a good distance away from the babies while keeping their eyes on them.
I didn’t know what else to do with my hands since I had a headful, so unlocked my screen to check my social media accounts. The ladies had texted me back, but I wasn’t opening my texts with all these people being able to see my phone over my shoulders.
“Boy, please! Come help or shut dat shit up,” Tulen yelled back.
“Y’all got it.” Tulscan blew out a wad of smoke.
“Glow.” Tunan’s voice always went past my ears and straight to my panties. I couldn’t squeeze my thighs together, so I aggressively liked a video that I wasn’t sure if I liked since I hadn’t watched it yet. Getting closer to my face, he asked, “Is it hurtin’?”
Those three words shouldn’t have made my kitty thump, especially since he wasn’t meaning them in the context that my brain processed them. Trying to shake the arousal from my voice, I answered. “N…no.”
He leaned back up, dropped more weave in the bag that had begun to get full, and pulled softly at the hair he’d just freed. When his fingers grazed my scalp, I tensed as he removed the dirt from my hair.
“Aite,” was all he replied, but it was still the sexiest thing ever said.
The boys went back and forth for the next half hour while the ladies cut in with snide comments, and I’d laughed so much that my stomach was hurting.
I couldn’t imagine growing up with as many siblings as they had, but if their banter went anything like this back then, I knew it was a chaotic household. I see why Mama Payne went crazy.
“Glow.”
I tensed. Tunan had given my girl below a break by not addressing me during his family’s roasting session. Now, he was staring at me again; I could feel his eyes without turning to face him.
“You okay? You comfortable? Been sittin’ on this step for a hot minute.” The concern laced in his voice wasn’t missed by his family or me. Tuden and Tulen started mocking him under their breath, but he ignored them, never taking his eyes off me.
“Uh… yeah. I’m good. I—”
“Food done!” Mama Payne shouted as she burst through the door with a plate piled with food that had steam still coming from it.
I was happy to be cut off because conversing with Tunan in front of everyone made me sweat, and the sun was about gone.
Mama Payne stepped down the porch to face me.
Cuffed under her arm was a Coke Zero, and in her left hand was a foldable table.
Even though the food looked amazing, that was way too much food for me.
My plan was to try a quarter scoop of my favorites once they let me up from the braid removal.
I was most excited to taste the greens and mac and cheese.
“That’s my plate, Mama?” Tulen asked in what I assumed was his sweet voice.
She kissed her teeth before saying, “And ain’t!” causing most of us to snicker.