Chapter 28
Lourdes
“Too tea! I know them niggas be on her body at Ubr,” I praised as we continued to watch Aspen do back to back bucking counts.
Ubr had just passed and they conveniently stopped right in front of us to give a show.
For the previous two parades, they marched right past us so we only got a quick glimpse of Aspen strutting.
That was more than enough for me because her strut was phenomenal and she looked beautiful each time.
But getting to see her actually dance today was a real treat!
“Man, chill, I’m not tryna hear allat,” Armias grumbled.
I was good and tipsy because I was running my mouth like I wasn’t sitting in his lap.
All of us adults had to bring our own chairs if we wanted guaranteed seats, so Armias and I ordered chairs online last week.
My pink chair with the attached umbrella was occupied by Zee who sat criss-cross apple sauce watching all the floats pass by with bright eyes.
He refused to get up close with the rest of the kids and a parade ladder was out of the question for him.
He had a fit when Armias merely mentioned it.
I didn’t blame him because beads and everything else they threw off the float could be dangerous.
Most New Orleanians joked that being smacked in the face with a pack of beads was a right of passage.
“My bad, daddy,” I grabbed his face by his jaw and kissed him sensually.
“Alright, y’all nasty asses is blowing it,” Fendi laughed.
I didn’t blame her because we were being extra touchy feely, so it was probably a lot to witness.
I didn’t have no type of shame, though. I’d been looking for any ole reason to kiss Armias all day and I refused to hold back just because we were in public or around family.
I was high on love and the fact that it was Valentine's Day contributed to that feeling. Everyday felt like Valentine’s Day with him, but I made it a point to really cater to him this morning.
Louri had spent the night with my mom at her house, so we had the house to ourselves this morning.
I woke up before him so I could make us a big breakfast. I put extra effort into the presentation of breakfast with V-Day themed plates, champagne glasses, and utensils.
I lit some champagne toast candles and I spread rose petals all over the kitchen.
I even rocked a pink V-Day themed negligee, I did my makeup, and my hair was freshly done by Fendi in a curly half up, half down.
The mood was set the second he came downstairs and eating breakfast became an afterthough as we fucked right in the kitchen.
After getting it in, I fixed his plate and excused myself to go wash up because he busted a load inside of me.
I couldn’t sit around with his nut dripping out of me like it was comfortable.
When I returned in another sexy negligee, my man had laid out the gifts he got me next to the gifts I got him.
I wasn’t surprised because exchanging gifts was the only thing we planned to do for Valentine’s Day.
Making actual plans wasn’t an option because the city was overcrowded with tourists right now.
It was the busiest weekend of parade season and we wanted to attend the parades to support not only Aspen but Aneesah as well.
So national lovers day wasn’t our focal point for today, but I still did something to make my man feel special.
It wasn’t lost on me that this was the first time I was eager to cater to a man, but that only meant that Armias had put in the work to get this version of me.
“Let’s leave,” Armias said when I pulled away from him.
“How we gon’ leave?” I asked while laughing.
“By getting up, packing up our chairs, and walking to the car.”
“But the parade is still going on.”
“Right, it's the perfect time to get the fuck before traffic be backed up. And we already saw Neese and Aspen. That’s the only reason we’re here in the first place. Now we gotta go because Louri misses us.”
“Nigga, I know you not using my baby as an excuse to leave,” I laughed. “Louri is at my mama’s house in case you forgot.”
“Shit,” he uttered as if he forgot. “Well, we can check on her before we go home.”
“You don’t want to bring her home with us?” I smirked.
“Nope,” he kissed the side of my neck. “I need you to myself tonight. Uninterrupted.”
“And that’s what you’ll have. But we literally can’t leave right now, baby.”
“Why not?”
“Is this your first time at Endymion or something? The streets are literally blocked off. You can’t drive through a parade, baby,” I giggled hysterically because he appeared to be genuinely bewildered about why we just couldn’t just up and leave.
“Damn, you right…”
“Exactly. Plus, you’re brothers and sisters are here. You can’t drop them off at home right now, so they’d be coming home with us.”
“No the hell they wouldn’t be. They mama is here in case you forgot.” He nodded to the left.
“Oh shit…I forgot she was here,” I chortled when I looked at Rahesha who was standing several feet away.
She was towards the front with Icelyn, Milan, and Phoenix while they caught everything they were throwing off the floats.
She spoke to me and Armias when she arrived with the kids.
We spoke back and I prepared myself to tolerate her because we were in the presence of not only her kids, but other people's kids. All of the Pierre’s had popped out and it was a family affair, so I didn’t want to ruin it by slapping Rahesha.
Thankfully, it didn’t look like it was going to come to that.
She’d kept her distance and was focusing on her other children for once.
There were so many people roaming from tent to tent that it was easy for her to blend in and go unnoticed.
“Yea…I knew Mardi Gras would bring her ass back around if nothing else did,” he muttered.
“Well…doesn’t she always show up to support y’all?”
He smacked his teeth. “Man, she came here today for the free food and liquor.”
“She doesn’t have a drink in her hand,” I said as I watched her drink from a water bottle.
“I bet it's vodka in that water bottle. Don’t be fooled.”
I bursted into laughter. “You really refuse to give that lady any credit, huh?”
He shrugged. “I gave her chance after chance and nothing changed. Why should I believe things are different now?”
“Maybe you cutting her off has triggered her to really turn things around. Ya’ never know.”
“I guess only time will tell if that’s truly the case. Until then…nope, I ain’t giving her no credit. Especially for shit she should be doing.”
“And you not wrong, daddy,” I pecked his lips.
“Man, I really wanna leave,” he grumbled.
I laughed. “We’ll be home by 9 or 10, so we’ll have all night to do whatever you want to do, baby,” I kissed the side of his face.
“We going to the bathroom in the church across the street!”
My head popped up because I’d been holding in pee for a while. To my knowledge, public porta potties were the only bathrooms nearby. I didn’t know the Catholic church was letting people in to use the bathroom.
“Oooouu, I’m coming!” I raised up from Armias’ lap at the speed of light to catch up with Kyree's wife, Kamaria, and his twin sisters, Kyana and Kyomi. I’d been cool with them since we met last year, but we’d gotten even closer over the past few months.
They’d added me to the female cousins group chat and everything, so the girl’s definitely fucked with me.
“You want me to come with you?” Armias questioned.
“Damn boy, let that girl breathe,” Peaches cackled. “She’s just going across the street to piss.”
“Lourdes?” He looked directly at me.
“Nephew clean ignored your ass,” KG laughed.
“I’m good, baby. I shouldn’t be too long.”
“Alright…” he stood up to have a better view of the church across the street. “They got a lil line so it should take you no longer than 15 minutes. After that I’m coming to check on you.”
“What you think we gon do? Get to the bathroom and jump her?” Kyana quizzed incredulously.
“Shit, that’s what I’m wondering,” Kyree laughed. “He must don’t trust y’all with his girl.”
“Nigga, stop being messy,” Armias chuckled. “You know damn well this is not about me trusting them.”
“Then what are you worried about?” Kyomi asked.
“That’s what I’m tryna see,” I giggled. He was always protective but it was kind of embarrassing that he was acting like he had to come with me and his cousins to the bathroom.
“It’s Mardi Gras time,” Qaylo looked at us like we were crazy. “It’s nothing but drunk, unruly muthafuckers everywhere.”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” Kamaria said politely while holding up her massive keychain that contained a purple bedazzled pepper spray, a pink taser, and a heart shaped alarm.
“Yea, and I got these,” Kyomi held up her fist in a perfect fighting stance. I immediately knew that she could fight based on that alone.
“I know that’s right, baby!” Her mom hollered with a half empty bottle of Dusse in her hand. I loved animated drunks.
“Girllll,” Kyana laughed. “Come on before I pee on myself, y’all.”
We shuffled away giggling and talking about how extra everyone was being.
We were all New Orleanians, so this wasn’t our first rodeo with Mardi Gras.
We knew what we were dealing with and drunk people were the least of our problems. Hell, we were drunk, too.
We weren’t all the way fucked up, but we had surpassed tipsy.
That’s why we couldn’t stop laughing at everything.
“I can’t believe the church made us pay to pee!” Kyana hollered as we exited the church.
“I can believe it,” Kamaria laughed.
“No, for real," I giggled. “At least it’s a pass for the whole parade, though.”
They gave us wristbands that served as a multi-use pass for the duration of the parade. The bathrooms in the church were clean and spacious, so I was more than willing to pay for the convenience of using them versus the porta potties.