23. Bleek
Bleek
Saturday mornings around my house usually started the same way.
A cup of coffee in a quiet kitchen. I would take a few minutes to myself before everybody else got up.
As of late, these Saturdays weren’t the same, though.
MJ was at his place, Mali was at Tahari’s, and Maylee was at a damn slumber party.
I sat at the island scrolling through the news on my phone when I heard the front door unlock.
A second later, Maliah walked inside with her backpack hanging off one shoulder and an overnight bag in her hand.
“Morning, Daddy.”
“Morning, baby girl.”
She leaned over and kissed my cheek before setting both bags beside one of the barstools.
“You want some breakfast?” I asked.
“Nah, we ate before I left.”
I nodded and took another sip of my coffee while she grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
As she twisted the cap off, I found myself watching her.
Something was different. I just couldn’t put my finger on what.
It wasn’t her clothes. It wasn’t her hair.
It wasn’t even the smile on her face. It was the way she carried herself.
It was like she had stepped into another season of her life overnight.
It was funny how life worked like that. One day your child was asking you to check under the bed for monsters.
The next, they are walking through your front door after spending the night with somebody they loved.
“Daddy?”
Her voice pulled me back.
“Hm?”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I was just thinking.”
“Uh-oh,” she said as she laughed.
“What? I just blinked, and somehow you grew up on me.”
Her smile softened.
“I’ll always be your baby,” she said reassuringly.
“I know. And don’t you forget it either.”
She rolled her eyes playfully.
“I won’t.”
She started toward the stairs with her backpack and spend-the-night bag.
“Aye.”
She stopped and looked back at me.
“Yeah?”
“Sometime this week, I want you to show me where Tahari stays.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“You still do?”
“Yeah. You spend enough nights over there. So, I want to see how he’s living.”
She smiled one more time before heading upstairs.
I watched her disappear around the corner, then picked my coffee back up.
I had cleaned the kitchen up and set Eternity a plate in the microwave.
She had been doing more sleeping during this last trimester.
I was halfway through my second cup of coffee when my phone started ringing across the island.
I glanced at the screen before answering.
“It’s too early.”
MJ laughed on the other end.
“Damn. Good morning to you too, Pops.”
“I said what I said. What are you calling me this early for?”
There was a brief pause.
“Aight…I got a question.”
“Shoot.”
“You know them little white flowers they put in bouquets?”
I frowned.
“The filler flowers?”
“Yeah. What are they called?”
“Baby’s breath. They add a nice touch to a bouquet.”
He got quiet, then his silly ass opened that mouth of his.
“I ain’t ask you about the baby.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“I asked about flowers.”
“Boy,” a laugh escaped me, “they are called baby’s breath.”
“Oh.”
There was a moment of silence, so I got straight to it.
“So why are you asking?”
He cleared his throat.
“I was thinking about grabbing Penelope some flowers before our study session later.”
A smile crept onto my face before I could stop it.
“Oh…” I said with some sarcasm.
“It ain’t nothing like that.”
“Mhmm.”
“I just figured it’d be nice.”
“So, you’re buying flowers for girls now?” I teased.
“Pops…”
“Listen, if you are really trying to impress her, don’t just grab any bouquet. Pay attention to what she likes. Do you know her favorite flower? And if not, get something that’s her favorite color.”
There was a second of silence.
“I ain’t think about that.”
“I know. That’s why you called your old man.”
“You are right, and I appreciate it.”
“Anytime.”
Before hanging up, I couldn’t help but smile.
“Aye.”
“Yeah?” he answered.
“If she smiles when you hand them to her, then you did something right.”
He laughed again.
“I’ll let you know.”
Right when I hung up the phone, Eternity walked into the kitchen wearing one of my T-shirts and a pair of leggings. One hand was resting against the curve of her stomach. She looked at me with sleep marks still stretched across her face.
“I smell pancakes,” she smiled as she walked over and kissed me, “good morning.”
“Morning, beautiful.”
She opened the refrigerator and frowned.
“I woke up starving.”
“Your plate is already in the microwave, Ma. Go and get comfy in your spot on the couch. I’ll bring it to you.”
She kissed my lips before scurrying off to do exactly what I told her to.
Her plate was still warm, but I heated it up a bit more because I knew that she liked her food hot.
And I mean burn your tongue hot. She preferred to chew her food fast as hell because she liked it so hot.
I opened the fridge and shook the bottle of orange juice before pouring her a cup.
“Find a show for us, Ma, and not Grey’s Anatomy either.”
“Aww man,” I heard her sigh in the distance.
I smiled to myself as I put her food and juice on a tray before heading her way.
MJ
I glanced at the clock on the microwave for what had to be the twentieth time.
Penn would be here any minute. I had already vacuumed and straightened the couch pillows.
I made sure there were enough snacks for us too.
I rearranged the bouquet on the kitchen island more times than I cared to admit.
Pops wasn’t lying, that baby’s breath really did make the roses look better.
Before I could second-guess myself again, I heard the lock click. The apartment door opened.
“I’m here,” Penelope called.
“I’m in the kitchen.”
She walked in wearing one of those oversized MDC hoodies she loved with a pair of black leggings. Her backpack was hanging from one shoulder.
She smiled when she saw me.
“Hey you,” she cooed.
“Hey.”
Then her eyes drifted toward the island. She froze mid-step.
“MJ…”
I rubbed the back of my neck nervously.
“What?”
She slowly walked over to the flowers like she couldn’t quite believe they were sitting there.
“Are these…”
“They’re yours,” I confirmed.
“For me?” she still had to ask.
I nodded.
“You told me your favorite color was pink one day when we were leaving campus. I remembered.”
She looked down at the bouquet again. It was two dozen pink roses surrounded by tiny white baby’s breath. She reached out and gently brushed her fingers across one of the petals.
“I’m glad you like ‘em,” I said with a smile.
She looked up at me with the prettiest smile I’d ever seen.
“I don’t like them… I love them.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding.
“Don’t do that,” she giggled.
“I couldn’t help it,” she teased.
She picked up the bouquet before wrapping one arm around my neck and pulling me in for a quick hug. I got a quick whiff of her floral scent, and it made me smile.
“Thank you,” she said when she pulled back from our hug.
“You ain’t gotta thank me.”
“I know, but I wanted to.”
She carried the flowers over to the sink, filled a vase with water, and carefully arranged them on the counter. I leaned against the island and just watched her. She always took her time. Nothing she did ever felt rushed. Not studying, talking, not even arranging flowers.
“You know what’s funny?” she said without turning around.
“What?”
“I’ve never gotten flowers before.”
“For real?” I said with a slight frown.
She nodded.
“Not even from my parents.”
Something about that bothered me more than it probably should have. She smiled as she admired the bouquet one more time before turning back toward me.
“Time to study.”
I let out a sigh but followed behind her to my living room.
We settled onto opposite ends of the sectional with our books spread across the coffee table the way they always were.
This was a study session, and that’s what I was supposed to be doing.
At least, that was the plan, but when I read the same paragraph three different times and nothing stuck, I knew that I wasn’t going to be getting any studying done.
Every few minutes, my eyes wandered back to her.
It was the way she tucked a curl behind her ear whenever she got focused.
Or the little wrinkle that formed across her nose when something confused her.
It was so damn cute the way she quietly mouthed sentences before writing them down.
I even liked the way she pushed her glasses back up with one finger without realizing she was doing it.
I started noticing everything when it came to this girl.
“You gone keep staring?”
I looked up.
“Huh?”
She smiled over the top of her notebook.
“You’ve been looking at me this whole time.”
“I have not.”
“Malik Junior.”
I sighed.
“You only pull my whole government out when you know I’m lying.”
“Exactly.”
She closed her notebook.
“So…” she dragged.
“So, what?”
“What is it?”
I looked down at the pencil turning between my fingers.
I was never the type to lose my words. I always knew what I wanted to say and when I wanted to say it, but this girl man.
She had me all over the place. I had this butterfly feeling in my stomach, and I hated that shit because wasn’t that only for women?
Did niggas get butterflies too? Finally, I set the pencil on the coffee table.
“I like you,” I blurted out.
She blinked.
“What?”
“I like you. I’ve been trying not to. I kept telling myself we were just friends that study together. But somewhere between all these takeout nights and you fussing at me about my English papers, I stopped lying to myself.”
She didn’t interrupt. She just listened.
“I think about you when I wake up. When I’m sitting in class, I wonder how your classes are going. And when something funny happens, you’re the first person I want to tell. When you leave here, I’m already looking forward to the next time you come back.”
I smiled nervously.
“And this gone sound crazy, but every night before I go to sleep, I really hope your pillow is cold on both sides.”
She just stared at me, and then tears slowly filled her eyes. I immediately sat forward.
“Penn… why are you crying? I done messed this up already, didn’t I?”
She laughed through her tears and shook her head.
“No. You didn’t.”
She wiped beneath her glasses.
“It’s just that nobody’s ever thought about me the way you do.”
“Well, I ain’t keeping it to myself no more.”
We both sat there still for a while. It was so quiet in my apartment that I could hear my neighbor next door dragging her slippers across her floors.
I felt better getting the shit off my chest. I felt like I could breathe a little bit easier. After taking a long exhale, I reached over and picked my English book back up. She frowned.
“So that’s it?”
I looked over at her.
“What?”
“You don’t wanna know if I like you too?” I asked.
I smiled to myself before I opened the book.
“Nah.”
“Nah?” She blinked.
I shook my head.
“I said what I said because it was true. I didn’t say it so you’d feel like you had to say it back.”
I looked down at the page even though I wasn’t reading a single word.
“I never want to force anything. If you don’t feel the same, that’s cool. I was just getting that shit off my chest.”
I stared down at my notebook, trying to look like I was doing something when we both knew that I wasn’t. I heard her close her notebook.
“Well, good thing nothing’s forced.”
I looked up, and she was already looking at me.
“I like you too, MJ.”
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, but I stayed quiet because she continued talking.
“I think you scare me a little.”
That caught me off guard.
“Me?” I said with a chuckle.
She nodded.
“Not because you’ve done anything wrong. You scare me because…”
She searched for the words. “This feels real.”
She looked down at her hands before smiling to herself.
“I’ve spent so much of my life keeping people at arm’s length. I was always making sure nobody got close enough to disappoint me.”
Her eyes found mine again.
“And then you showed up. You make me laugh. You make me feel seen, and you remember little things I tell you without me having to repeat them.”
She glanced toward the bouquet sitting on the kitchen island.
“You remember things like my favorite color. My favorite snacks. The way I take my coffee.” A soft laugh escaped her. “Who even remembers how somebody takes their coffee?”
She looked at me, and we were both quiet for a little minute.
“I like you too. A whole lot more than I was planning to.”
I couldn’t help but grin.
“So,” I placed my textbook onto the coffee table, “we definitely ain’t passing this study session today.”
“Probably not,” she laughed.
I looked over and looked at Penn, and I mean really looked at her.
She was so damn pretty, so damn quirky and just perfect.
Being around her just felt right. I thought of everyone in my family, and I felt like things were lining up for us exactly how it was supposed to.
Pops and Ma have the new baby coming, Mali has Tahari, Maylee is the head honcho of her little friend group, and here I was with Penn. Everybody found their spot in life.