Story
“Hey guys! How is Barbados?” I asked my parents when they video called me.
“It is breathtaking! We may never come home.” My mama joked.
“Not to mention your father has come alive since we have been here. Last night---
“Ma! Do not finish that sentence!” Pixie screamed.
Jesse got up and left. Me and Regan covered our ears screaming. We loved our parents and were happy they were on a trip for their anniversary. But we did not want to hear about sex when it comes from them. They were gone for a week and wanted me and Regan to come stay with Pixie and Jesse.
Even though Pixie was nineteen and Jesse was now sixteen. They did not want them to stay seven days alone. Regan made sure her clients knew she would not be in the shop for a week. I did the same with my clients as well.
“Regan, did you have any problems with reheating the lasagna I froze?” Mama asked her.
“No problem at all because it is still cozy in the freezer.”
Me and Pixie laughed at how our sister answered the question. One thing our mama loved to do was freeze leftovers or freeze prepared meals. Sometimes it was fine, mama could cook like nobody’s business. But we are older now and are not about to keep eating homemade TV dinners.
“You better not have your siblings surviving off of fast food while we’re gone!” Dad got in the camera and scowled.
“Enjoy the rest of your trip! We will see you in two days!” Regan blew kisses at them and she closed the laptop.
“I’m going to Original Hamburger Works. Text me your orders!” Regan announced then picked up her purse and keys.
I just laughed at her because all of us had been eating fast food or going out to restaurants every day for dinner since we have been here. I went upstairs to my old bedroom and closed the door. When I stretched across my bed with my phone in my hands, I unlocked it and got on Instagram.
Siren called me while I scrolled. I happily answered.
“Hiii!”
“Hey you! Look who got sick just like I said!” Siren turned the camera on Blake.
She was covered up in the bed with her nose red and her eyes puffy. Siren kept telling Blake that if she kept going outside like Michigan winter was a game then she would catch a cold. Blake swore all she needed was a long sleeve shirt and she’d be fine.
“Aw Blakey!” I poked my bottom lip out.
“Story, you see how she does me. Instead of her loving me and taking care of me all, she wants to do is tell me how right she was.” Blake stuffy nose had her sounding congested.
“You know Siren loves you and will take cade of you. But she was right to remind you that a long sleeve shirt isn’t enough to stop those temperatures. Get well soon Blakey.”
When she started coughing Siren handed her a cup of hot ginger tea then she left out of the room.
“I hate when she’s sick, but I warned her. Anyway, I’m ready for you to come back.” Siren told me.
I laughed because me and her were so close, she’s like a third sister to me.
“Two more days and I’ll be back in the winter cold with you.” I rolled on my stomach and folded my pillow bear under my chin.
“Good. You know I was scared when you went back to Arizona. I know that’s home for you, and I did not want you to stay.”
I shook my head, “As much as I love being back home with my siblings. Michigan is my new home so no worries. I had to swear on a stack of bibles and practically leave a kidney behind for Hendrix and Karter to believe me when I said I was only coming here for seven days.”
Siren smiled and stopped what she was doing, “Those my gay husbands, I promise I love them.”
I had to hold my stomach because I was laughing so hard. “You, Blake, Hendrix and Karter are all…Lord Jesus I have no words.”
Hendrix rented an Airbnb mansion for his birthday last year. The party was the best of the whole year. Hendrix went all out with food, drinks, he had male and female strippers. Somewhere in the mix the four of them got drunk, high and had a threesome in one of the bedrooms.
When Hendrix and Siren told me I thought they were lying but I quickly learned that it was true. Not only that but they liked it and wanted to do it again. Hendrix assumed I’d feel some kind of way because he and I never had sex. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
If we were kids again and he got a girlfriend after he came out to me so close together.
Then I would have been hurt and thought something was wrong with me.
But Siren and Blake were lesbians, or whatever they identified as now, and for that I felt the three of them spoke the same language. As freaky as I could be.
I wasn’t that freaky, so I did not mind that they had an odd thing going on. Siren and Blake lived together, Hendrix and Karter lived together. But from time to time, they would hook up and act like a quadruplet couple.
If you bothered one, then the other three were on your neck. It was that serious between them even if society couldn’t make sense of it. They were happy and it made sense to them so that’s all that matters.
“You do seem bubblier since you’ve returned home.” Siren pointed out.
“I think it’s because me and Regan needed it. Sometimes coming back here is like a recharge. I think it’s like that for lots of people when they have a piece of nostalgia from childhood.”
“I can relate to that when I watch certain movies or TV shows. I just wanted to check on you and see what you were doing. I’m about to go give Blake some medicine. Karter stopped by with a care bag this morning.”
“Thanks for checking on me. Love you, I’ll call you tomorrow.” I blew her a kiss.
“Love you too, bye.” Siren blew me a kiss back and we hung up the phone.
When I was about to get back on Instagram my phone rang again. I smiled a little because of who it was.
“Hello.”
“There goes my baby girl. How are you doing?” His suave voice played in my ear.
“I’m good, How are you doing? How was your day?” I rolled on my back again.
“There was a problem at work with two of my men.”
“That sucks, I hope it didn’t stress you too bad.”
“Not at all, I fired them and looking for replacements now. That’s enough of me. Tell me how your day went. I’d know but someone did not call me earlier.”
“I know, I got busy with my sisters. But you were going to hear from me before the day ended.”
“But I expressed to you that I do not like that. Unless you’re at work there is no reason for you to not communicate with me.”
He was right and I wasn’t that busy today with Regan or Pixie. But I was not about to tell him that.
“I’m sorry, I’ll work on that starting tonight. I had some things to do with my sisters, then my brother had to be picked up from football practice. I’ve enjoyed taking a break from the snow back in Michigan.” I joked.
He laughed with me, that made me glad because it meant the mood was fine.
“We just got three inches. Can’t wait for you to get back. I want to see you and get between them thighs to relieve stress.”
His flirtatious words made me giggle but I wish I felt the same way he did. We talked for a couple of minutes then he had to go.
Keanu and I have been dating for three months, and I was up and down when it came to him. The first red flag was no one knew I was with him. Not my siblings, Hendrix or Siren. Keanu was much older than me.
I did not want them to hound either of us on what we could have in common. I’ll be twenty-two years old in October, but it did not change that Keanu was thirty-seven years old. I felt nervous when I first met him at the mall.
But we had a lot in common and I found him sexy. To be honest, his age was my excuse not to tell anyone of us. With the situation both of my best friends were in I did not worry about them judging me.
The real reason I kept me and Keanu quiet was because of my last relationship. It had been three years since the awful breakup between Halo and me. At nineteen, I thought my heart would never stop breaking. I still relayed the entire night in my mind when I discovered the missing condom.
The fight between me and Dallas the morning after. Me staying at my sister’s house for a few days. Halo turned into another person when we broke up. The drama escalated when Halo would not let go. He came to Regan’s house the entire four days I was there.
Then when I went home, he showed up a few times. He’d park outside and wait for me to come out. Hendrix got involved and the two of them were about to fight a few times. I changed my number so Halo would not be able to call me.
He was blocked on all my social media and two months into our break-up. I decided to move to my own place. My new apartment was a fresh start, and Halo could not get in. It was gated, password only and I finally felt like I could breathe.
Regan banned Halo from her braid shop, and she told him that she would not hesitate to call the police to him if she showed up. It took six months for Halo to get the picture that it was over. There was no closure I needed and wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of explaining.
He cheated, it was wrong, he got caught and I left. There was nothing further to discuss. I hated Halo for what he did, and I meant my words when I told Dallas that she could have him. Speaking of that slut, I just knew her and Aspen would press charges on me and Siren for the fight.
But they did not, all they did was block us on social media. I only knew because Blake noticed she was blocked. I did not care if she stayed away from me. Blake was Halo’s cousin, so I only ask her to respect my choice not to be around him at all.
Birthday parties, kickbacks, or anything planned. If Halo was there then I would stay far away from it. Siren did not invite him to her ski cabin celebration for her birthday. After a while when Halo stopped things slowly got back to normal.
If I saw Greek or Golden around, I spoke to them but wouldn’t say much more than that. I never asked about Halo, and they did not volunteer any information about him to me. One incident happened at Siren’s four-day ski cabin celebration.