Chapter 7 Emani
“You not going to kiss me? Same attitude from two days ago? Bad enough you won’t give a nigga none,” Malik lowly fussed, blocking Donnée’s view of them from the kitchen table.
“With that attitude, you won’t get a kiss either.
I didn’t do shit but be your mirror for three days.
I reflect how I’m treated. Whatever you got going on is making you miss what’s happening in your home,” Emani replied back, never once lifting her eyes from her laptop.
“Anything else? I’m trying to finalize my set list.”
“That’s why I got a fuckin’ attitude. You putting this shit over what we need to be doing,” Malik stated.
“What do we need to be doing, Malik? You’re busy with your phone and basketball.
You’ve subjected me to plan a wedding with your mother with little to no time to do it.
Tell me what we need to be doing and I’ll cancel my dress fitting and do it.
” Emani paused her typing to look up at him, blinking slowly and waiting for a response.
“Don’t cancel that,” Malik retreated after kissing her face. “I just want us to get back to what we were, before all of this kicked back up again.”
Emani chuckled softly, getting ready to respond before Sandi and Joanna walked in.
“Final looks are here and I have the dress,” Joanna said in a sing-song voice.
Like Emani was fire, Malik took a step away from her. “I’ll see you after practice.”
Emani dropped her eyes back to the keyboard and closed her eyes. While she was resetting, Donnée caught the look exchanged between Joanna and Malik. She took a mental note and hummed sweetly, “have a good practice, Malik.”
“Mhmm,” he grunted.
“You’re not going to tell your wifey you love her?”
Malik stopped and turned back to Emani, gripping her chin and kissing her lips. “I love you.”
“Yeah,” Emani hummed. “Love you.”
She watched him as he quickened out and closed the door behind him. Joanna was on her way upstairs to Malik and Emani’s bedroom before Donnée’s voice rang out again.
“No one is here, we can do the fitting down here, Joanna,” Donnée said, moving over to Emani. “I’ll finish this. Go try your dress on.”
Emani flashed her a look. The dress, like everything else, was rushed.
She had the right mind to say no to all of this but her heart was pleading for something else.
“Joanna, is everything packed for tomorrow? Can you get with Derrick and make sure hair matches outfits. He should have like six different wigs.”
“You don’t want me to help you with your dress?” Joanna asked, as if Emani asking her to do her job slighted her.
“D is here and Carson is pulling up,” Emani shared as Donnée took the dress from Joanna and walked down the hall to the guest bedroom. “Everything is in the living room to be packed.”
In the guest bedroom, Emani took off her oversized shirt and groaned. “I should thank you for signing me up for homecoming. It’s a break I didn’t even know I needed. I’m at capacity right now.”
“It’s not getting better?” Donnée asked, unzipping the garment bag and removing it.
“Titties up, I’m coming in,” Carson’s voice sounded against the door.
Emani cupped her breasts and stepped into the dress and wiggled, helping Donnée pull it up. Carson walked in right as Emani was adjusting her breasts in the dress. He didn’t bother sitting as he examined her.
“This is what you picked?” Carson asked. “This isn’t the one we looked at.”
“No, that one was vetoed by Janet. I-” Emani sighed, twirling the ring around her finger. “I don’t think I want to do this.”
“That nigga is still in the driveway, you want me to tell him?” Carson asked, pointing over his shoulder.
Emani shook her head. “Let me sit with it. I’m overwhelmed. I hate this dress. And this rushed wedding ,like I’m pregnant, is too much.”
“Are you?” Carson and Donnée asked in tandem.
Emani frowned. “He can’t touch me without a rubber.”
“Damn!” Carson grunted. “You know what kind of nigga you got to be for your girl to hold up the rubber in the throes of passion?”
“Let’s not even harp on it. Let’s just get me out of this.”
Oceania State University Homecoming: Welcome Home Rebels.
A large sign read as the sprinter holding The Crew rolled down University Row.
Three of the sorority and fraternity houses were located on this block of houses.
The groups pledged organizations, Phi Beta Alpha and Sigma Zeta Delta had houses at the end of the block.
That was the greatest lick the group ever pulled together.
The six of them were determined to succeed and a way to do that was to pledge and rub elbows with people they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
“Carson remember that letter Ashton wrote up for you as an apology for that thing?” Donnée asked with a snicker.
“That thing?” Ashton asked, playing confused.
Carson, who sat next to Emani, had his hands resting on top of her legs scrolling through a series of emails. “Let this be the last time we bring up Ashton fuckin’ my momma.”
“Ohh, yeah that,” Ashton spoke snapping his fingers. “It was either I got that nigga in or he was going to kill me.”
“Got him in and paid his dues,” Kyrie spoke with a snicker. “Carson, he made that payment for the year yet?”
“For life, nigga,” Carson spoke back, making the group erupt with laughter.
“We did some shit didn’t we,” Donnée hummed.
Emani stared out the tinted windows and let her mind play all of the times they had on campus. Good and bad, joy and heartbreak. “Y’all remember that time I got that work study job in the Eagles Nest?”
“Stole all their chicken, it was a mystery for years,” Kyrie laughed. “I don’t know who let our ghetto asses up in here and decided to have us back as special guests.”
“Man, let’s not forget Donnée bleaching the entire drumlines uniforms because of that nigga Jermel,” Jahlil commented with laughter finding its way in his voice.
The sound of it made Emani’s hair stand on ends.
As if the woodsy scent of him wasn’t enough to inhale for the forty-five minute ride down the coast.
“I told that knock-kneed nigga not to play with me,” Donnée said, shrugging her shoulders. “You were right there with me snatching all the uniforms and drums off the top shelf too.”
“Damn straight. Ky was there too,” Jahlil pointed out. “Pretty sure he knocked a couple of that nigga’s teeth loose and dared him to do something.”
“You know, looking back on it. I swore it was going to be Emani and Jahlil married with at least three kids by now and Ky and D right behind them.”
Emani watched Carson’s face twitch and Donnée pretend like she couldn’t hear anything Ashton said.
“So y’all going to pretend like y’all don’t hear me?” Ashton huffed. “Aight.”
“My bad G, can’t hear shit that low to the ground,” Kyrie muttered.
“Anyway, I have an itinerary. Alumni kickback is tonight we can go and kick it then have our own shit at the house,” Donnée shared.
“That’s cool with me. I have a hard out at nine though,” Emani replied, looking over the seat and catching Jahlil’s eyes. They locked for a moment before she turned away.
“Don’t tell me you brought that nigga with you,” Kyrie grumbled.
“She knows better,” Jahlil returned.
“I was looking forward to watching him ruffle Jahlil’s feathers,” Ashton spoke, making Emani roll her eyes.
“He’s on a trip with his mother,” Emani shared before her phone chimed with a text from Joanna.
Jo: hey boo. Listen, Malachi is sick. Sandi is at the house setting everything up and I’ve sent the photos to Derrick. I know you’re going to kill it! Love ya!
Emani sucked in a deep breath. “You know, the trouble with hiring friends is they think they’re irreplaceable.”
Carson hummed. “I told you to let her go when she was crying over that hospital bill the first time. You can’t be charity and an employee and a friend. You give too damn much.”
“Anyway,” Kyrie grunted, waving Ashton off. “Where you got to be at nine, E?”
“I got a house a couple doors down. Got rehearsals in the morning and an interview with the mass communications department.”
Jahlil’s face frowned, the question coming out before he could stop himself. “Who’s staying with you?”
He knew she didn’t like sleeping alone and Carson hadn’t mentioned staying with her or anyone else.
“Relax, dad,” Donnée teased Jahlil. “I’m staying with her.”
“Does that make you feel better or are you going to say fuck her nigga and stand guard at her door?” Ashton asked before receiving a mush to the face by Jahlil’s massive hand.
“Leave me alone, stubby.”
Ashton, flailing his arms and legs, fell out of the leather-tufted seat. “When I get back up, I’m whooping your ass.”
“Be careful,” Kyrie started. “That’s a long climb even for you.”
Off the Sprinter, The Crew filed into the main house designated for the group.
Donnée had a chef come by and prepare lunch for them.
Ashton helped himself to the bar and started handing out shots while Emani opted to eat.
Sandwiched between Carson, who was putting food on her plate and Donnée, Emani chewed on the inside of her lip.
“Why are you doing that?” Donnée posed. “What’s on your mind?”
“Not really mind, more like my gut. Something isn’t adding up,” Emani muttered returning to twisting her ring around her finger. “Joanna isn’t coming. She’s handed everything over to Derrick. Apparently Malachi is sick but when he facetimed me by accident this morning, he seemed fine.”
“You know with kids anything can happen,” Donnée spoke. “Isn’t that right, Jahlil?”
“What?” he questioned from behind her, acting as though he wasn’t listening. Emani could sigh a hundred feet away from him and he’d hear it. The same with her.
“Kids. Anything can happen with them. One minute they’re cool, next minute they’re sick,” Donnée said, trying to find something to ease Emani’s overthinking.
“I mean yeah. But if you pay attention, you know when they’re about to get sick. They slow down just a little bit,” Jahlil replied. Emani detected a pride in his voice. It was nice to see but it was equally as sobering. “Why, who has a kid?”
“Her stylist. She’s not coming because her son is sick,” Donnée shared.
“Let that be the last of my business you tell him,” Emani grumbled, picking up napkins and silverware and following Carson out to the patio.
Donnée turned to look up at Jahlil. “You need to tell her you’re divorced and you need to make sure she doesn’t marry that nigga.”
“Why is everyone putting this on me?” he asked, annoyed that Emani was annoyed.
Donnée punched him in the arm. “Because this is your fault. Fix it. Last time we’re going to tell you.”
He groaned as she walked away, leaving Ashton and Jahlil alone.
Ashton started to speak but Jahlil flashed him a look. “Fine, I won’t say nothing.”