MONFUA
After Beans and I got Mali home, I opted to go to the bar and grill because I was mentally tired.
It wasn’t because of what happened at the club tonight, but the fact that the OGs didn’t respect us.
Foe saying what he said had let me know what I had been feeling since the day Chevy busted into the house, pointing a gun at us.
To the guys, they thought I was saying the shit out of the side of my neck, but I knew what not being taken seriously looked like.
I dealt with it with my father. Since leaving Samoa years ago, I’ve been trying to make amends with my dad, but my father felt like I was a lost cause.
Now, don’t get me wrong, my father was raised with the older Samoan traditions, but the way he lived, he was still hood, or at least was.
However, he was very serious about his traditions, his family, culture, and making something of yourself.
There was a time when he tried to teach me the language, introduce me to the culture, and even explain Siva Tau and its meaning, but back then, I wasn’t taking it all in.
Now, I’ve been trying to capture it all.
I wanted to show him that I could embrace the other part of me that runs through my veins.
I wanted to show him that I could do something he could be proud of.
It was the reasons I decided to try to become a firefighter.
We had a cordial relationship. I made due with what I could get from him and kept it moving.
I felt like he was still upset at my mother, not only for leaving him, but also for feeling as though she had turned me into a mama’s boy.
He felt she had condoned the bad choices I made and placed a divide in my culture as if she didn’t want me to embrace the Samoan side, but he was wrong.
I love my mother with everything in me, but I wasn’t a fucking mama’s boy.
At that time, I was young and naive, and I went where I felt I was most accepted. However, I was a different person now, and hopefully, soon he would see that. I was only minutes away from my place when my mother’s name popped up on my screen as I rode, so I answered it. “Hey, ma,” I called out.
“O fea oe?” she asked.
I loved it when my mother spoke Samoan. She knew what I had been trying to do, and her way of supporting me was to teach me the things that my father had taught her. “I’m on my way home. Why?”
The phone fell silent for a second before she came in. “That girl you brought here a while back. She’s here, she’s—”
My head flew back. “Sukalati?”
“Yes.”
She was just at the club not too long ago. I wasn’t sure of her reasons for going to the bar. Was she looking for me? “Is she ok?”
“Fua, come get her. I mean, I can take her to where she needs to go, but I’m a smart woman. I’m sure she would much rather see you.”
I passed up my street, then made a U-turn and headed downtown.
I was curious why Lakia had gone to the bar in the first place.
Also, I’d hoped she didn’t go running her mouth because I still hadn’t told my mother that we had eloped, and I knew once she found out, it would break her heart.
It was one of the things she always talked about when I was young.
She wanted to see me get married and have a family.
When I walked into the bar, Lakia was on the dance floor, slow rocking to no music.
Oh, her ass is fried. I spotted my mother peeking from the back.
I ran my hand down my face before I stepped over toward her.
Lakia’s eyes squinted, her head fell to the side, and her arms stretched out to me.
A smile eased on her face. “Fua,” she giggled.
Nobody called me Fua but my mother. However, her saying it made me feel good inside. I moved closer to her, taking her hand into mine. “Let me get you back to your brother’s.”
Lakia snatched her hand away from me. “No!” she spat as her eyes widened.
“What do you mean, no?”
She stumbled away. “I mean, I can’t go back there. This is all because of you!”
Me? Why was she blaming me? I hurried behind her as she tripped and her body went forward.
She was so drunk that in her mind she probably thought she was moving fast, but her ass was going down slower than a fucking turtle.
When I caught her, I didn’t bother to go back and forth with her in here, and she slipped up.
I tossed her over my shoulder, walked over, grabbed her purse, and left the building. I opened the passenger door to my truck and gently put her in. “Fua, you got a big boy toy,” she slurred.
I went around, hopped in, and took off. “Ayo, I know you got your liquid courage and all, but don’t be around here saying shit is my fault. I’m taking your ass to Foe’s.”
She tried to sit up, but her body wouldn’t let her.
Lakia was no good for anybody tonight. Fuck!
I decided against taking her to her brother’s.
What I didn’t want was the nigga blaming me for something I had nothing to do with.
If he said one wrong word, we would be throwing hands. Instead, I drove to my place.
When I pulled into my driveway, I parked.
I sat there for a minute in thought. My head dropped back on the headrest as I turned to glance at her.
She lay there with her thumb in her mouth, asleep like a baby.
For a minute, I thought it was odd, but the more I watched her, the more it grew on me.
The way her lips held onto her thumb and how comfortable she was, I could tell it was some coping mechanism.
It made me wonder what her drunk ass was dreaming about that made her feel like she needed it.
The more I watched her pretty ass, the more I began to question every fucking thing.
I did like Lakia, but I wasn’t a chasing ass nigga.
I shook the thought as I got out of my truck, and I jogged around to open the passenger side door.
Lakia’s head was slightly tilted, resting on the edge of the seat.
I tapped her a few times. “Sukalati, wake up,” I whispered.
She pulled her thumb from her mouth as her eyes opened, and they were glassy as hell.
I knew she was drunk off her ass. I’ve seen this look so many times while dealing with Mali.
She lifted to reach out for me and almost fell headfirst. I caught her head to try to sit her up.
Her head rose to me as she smiled brightly, “Fua, is that you?” she slurred.
Damn, every time she said it, that shit did something to me. “Let me get you inside.”
I wrapped my hand around her thigh so when I picked her up, I would have a good grip. Lakia opened her legs wide as her hand landed on mine, sliding my hand upward. “She wants to play,” she barely got out.
Lakia moved my hand until it was on her bare pussy. Baby girl didn’t even have panties on. Did I want to test the waters, yes. However, I wasn’t a man who took advantage of women who weren’t in their right minds.
I used my free hand to gently stroke her face as I stared into her empty, drunk eyes, “If only you knew. You're so beautiful,” I paused. “Thank you for marrying me,” I mumbled.
I wanted to do all the nasty things to her, hell, I wanted to fall in love with her, but in this state, I knew it would be a memory for me, and a memory that she would never remember.
I removed my hand from her face to pick her up, when her mouth opened, and instead of words coming out, everything that she had consumed over the last few hours landed on me, her, and inside of my fucking truck.
When her ass woke up in the morning, we needed to talk before I dropped her off.