15. Right Where I’m Supposed To Be
Right Where I’m Supposed To Be
KYIRIS
“Somebody tell Kyiris she betta not touch nan decoration in this backyard when she get here, and I’m not playin’!” I heard Grandma Lettie holler through the phone as I spoke to my mother while getting dressed.
“I ain’t even get there yet, and she already beefin’ wit’ me.” I laughed, pulling my capris up over my butt. “Tell her I already got the memo that I’m not allowed to do anything once I get there.”
My mother laughed on the other end. “She know I’m on the phone with you. That’s why she said it loud enough for the whole kitchen, in case you pretended like you didn’t.”
I smiled, shaking my head. “What time everybody supposed to start showing up?”
“It starts at three. Me and Daddy been here since seven. Your cousins just got here to help your uncles set up them cabanas. Your grandmother got all hands on deck. We got a whole assembly line going on in the kitchen.”
She didn’t have to tell me the kitchen was packed. I could hear everyone moving around in the background.
“All hands on deck except for mine, apparently,” I said sarcastically.
“Well, what’s wrong with you sitting down for once, Key? You don’t always have to be the point person, baby.”
“I know,” I replied, rolling my eyes.
“And stop rolling your eyes on this phone.” She called me out.
“What the hell?”
“Yeah,” she chuckled, “I can hear you.”
“That’s witchcraft,” I joked.
“No, that’s a Black mama. Let me get off this phone, so I can peel these eggs. I’ll see you when you get here, baby. Love you.”
“Okay. Love you too.”
Ending the call, I tossed my phone in my purse.
Fully dressed, I sprayed myself with a new body and hair mist that I picked up from Ulta then paired it with one of my Kayali perfumes.
Sliding my feet into a pair of sandals, I was ready to head out the door.
Putting my hand up to the doorknob, my phone rang in my bag.
I smiled to myself, almost sure that it was someone ready to ask me to do something because if my hand wasn’t in it, things weren’t done to perfection.
This wasn’t a myth; it was a known fact.
I took the phone out, ready to say I told you so, and froze when I saw Mehki’s name on the screen. I stared at the screen for a few seconds as his name danced across it before sending him straight to voicemail. Almost immediately, my phone went off again, this time with a text message.
B.D.E: Answer the phone, fine ass girl.
Me: No.
Three dots appeared, and his response came soon after.
B.D.E: You don’t wanna talk to me?
I instantly got irritated by the way my heart betrayed me as it fluttered. I did want to talk to him. I had missed him the last few days, but I wasn’t going to make the mistake of making him think I was the bitch you could put on hold.
Me: This is me setting a boundary, good dick ass nigga.
B.D.E: Lmao. Why you always gotta say some wild ass shit, good pussy ass girl?
Me: Ion know. But I don’t wanna speak to nobody that think they can deal with me when they feel like it.
B.D.E: You miss me?
Me: You’re delusional.
With my phone in hand, I proceeded out the house and into my car.
The nerve is what Mehki had to be calling me out the blue after kissing everything but a bitch underarm and making me orgasm until I felt my soul leave my body and then go ghost?
In what lifetime? Because there was no way he thought it would be okay in this one.
I started up the car, and the phone went off again before I could put it in drive.
B.D.E: Aight then, I’ma holla at you.
“Whatever, nigga,” I said, connecting my phone to Bluetooth and putting my R&B playlist on shuffle.
I took the scenic route to Grandma Lettie’s just so I could shake off any remnants of an attitude I now had thanks to Mehki.
I knew she wouldn’t let me in her house with no bad energy, and I didn’t want to be the center of any questions today.
I just wanted to let my hair down, have a few drinks, and eat until I had to roll my pants down to digest all of the food I planned to consume.
The music could be heard as I turned onto Grandma Lettie’s street and drove down to her house.
The block was already lined with familiar cars, and I could already smell the charcoal, jerk chicken, and barbeque as it filled the air.
I couldn’t get out of my car fast enough to get inside.
I double parked in front of Jay’s car, and as soon as I closed my door, the kids in the front yard bum rushed me.
“Key!”
“Key!
“Aunty Key!”
“Heyyy, y’all,” I greeted, trying my best to hug everyone that latched onto me.
“Come get these Icees.” Jay said from the door where he had Baby Jay strapped to him, eating an Icee of his own.
“Hey, big man.” I pulled him into a hug.
“Keka!” He jumped up and down.
“Wassup, Key?” Jay spoke.
“Hey. Where you get this from?” I asked, pointing to the apparatus that wrapped around him and Baby Jay.
“His ABA teacher ordered it for me. This shit cool. It gives him room to move but stay close at the same time.”
I nodded, agreeing that it looked easy to function with. “Everybody inside?”
“Yep,” he replied, focusing on Icee distribution.
“Okay. Let me know when it’s my turn,” I said, referring to looking after Baby Jay.
“Good lookin’ out,” he replied with a nod.
I hit his shoulder and proceeded inside the house. In the kitchen, there was an assembly line, just like my mother said over the phone. Only now, it looked like most of the cooking was done, and they were just preparing everything to go outside.
“Heyyy, Key.” A few of my aunts and cousins spoke, and I went around giving hugs and kisses.
“Wassup, y’all? Y’all need…”
“Nothing.” I turned to see Grandma Lettie standing in the entryway in a pair of joggers and a shirt that said Fuck Around and Find Out. “They don’t need nothing. Go sit down and enjoy.”
“Alright, Grandma.” I walked over and hugged her around her neck and made my way out to the backyard.
The place looked like someone was throwing a family reunion instead of a cookout.
There were white cabanas set up, long tables with food waiting to be uncovered, and a whole dessert table.
They even had a steel drum set up for the real jerk chicken.
The bar had to be the star of the show though.
I could tell it was fully stocked with nothing but the good shit.
“She pulled it off without you,” Amil said, walking up next to me. “G did a hell of a job.”
“She did.” I had to admit I was impressed.
“Aunty Key!” EJ ran up to me with a Super Soaker.
“Wait,” I put my hands up on instinct, “don’t wet me, EJ.”
He looked at Amil, then at the gun, then back to me.
“To the water area please, EJ,” Thyri spoke sweetly, appearing out of nowhere.
“Okay, Mommy.” Turning, he ran back the way he came.
“Hey, boo,” she spoke, hugging me.
“Girl, how you do that?” I asked.
“Do what?”
“Tame Lil’ Chucky,” Amil added, and I snickered.
“Y’all better stop talking ‘bout my son.” She laughed.
“Where everybody at?”
“Enzo over there on the grill, Danae and Aura went to the store to get more ice, Dai and Pryce on the way. Oh, and Ebone too,” Thyri ran down.
“Awww, look at your dad and Aunty Fawn, Thyri.” I pointed at her father fixing my aunt’s hair.
“I know. They are too cute,” she agreed.
“Let me go say hi to everybody else. You know how this family get when you don’t give everyone a hug personally.”
“Girl, will talk about you like a dog,” Amil said, laughing.
One by one, I made my rounds, hugging everyone in attendance, trying to figure out how an intimate cookout became this grand thing.
Kissing my parents, who seemed to be having a good time dancing to the old school cuts, I found myself helping set out the rest of the food, even though Grandma Lettie insisted I sit down somewhere.
About thirty minutes in, we had an Uno game going on, and as with any card game and a Sullivan, shit was getting intense.
“Jay, you can’t throw your Draw Two down on my Draw Four, my nigga,” Tay argued.
“Yes, I can. It’s a draw card, man,” Jay fought.
“No, you cannot. Throw a Draw Four or pick up that eight, my nigga. You buggin’.”
“Key,” Jay turned to me, “tell this nigga I can throw this Draw Two down.”
I was too busy laughing at them to fight either of their cases. “That’s not my business. All I know is my Draw Four led, and I ain’t the one that gotta draw the cards.”
“Milz.” Jay turned to Amil for a lifeline.
She shook her head. “You can’t, Jay.”
“Thank you!” Tay yelled, making Baby Jay put his hands up to his ears. “Oh, my bad, Jay.” He reached out and squeezed his arm twice, signaling to Baby Jay that everything was cool.
I smiled once Baby Jay nodded that he was good. These moments reminded me why being a Sullivan was one of my favorite things in the world. No matter what was going on, we always had us.
Jay huffed and picked up his cards, and I threw out a skip. “Uno,” I said. And then another on top of that. “Uno out. I’m going to get a drink. Anybody want something?” I laughed, standing.
They both ignored me, salty about their loss.
I turned to head to the bar, stopping in my tracks when I saw Aura, Danae, and Mehki walking into the backyard. My heart stuttered at the sight of him before my mind caught up.
“What the hell?”
Danae reached me before they did. “Aura’s idea, not mine. But in his defense, he doesn’t know y’all haven’t spoken,” she reasoned quickly.
“Thanks for the heads up,” I said before making my way over to them before Aura could start reintroducing him to people he may have already been familiar with.
Stopping in front of him to block him from moving, I crossed my arms on my chest. “You are not slick.”
“Who? Me?” Mehki played.
“Damn, Key,” Aura let out. “Why you all up on that man like that?”
“Shut up, Aura. Mehki, can I talk to you in my car?”
“Yeah,” he answered smoothly before grabbing my hand. “Come on.”
“You can let go of my hand now,” I said once we were standing at my car.
He dropped it and cupped my face, smashing his lips into mine. The kiss was intense. He parted my lips with his tongue, sticking it in my mouth, kissing me deeply.
“Mmmm,” I moaned into his mouth, falling into him.
Pulling back first, he kept his hands planted on both sides of my face. “I like yo’ fine ass. I can’t stop thinkin’ ‘bout yo’ fine ass. I need yo’ fine ass.”
“Wait, huh?” I asked, my heart fluttering with a mix of confusion and I want you too.
“You asked me what I valued most, my wants or my needs. Over the last few days, I figured out I not only want a woman that thinks for herself, but I need a woman who challenges my thinking. That’s you.
I want a woman who’s interested in my dreams, but I need a woman who’s building dreams of her own without my input.
That’s you. I used to think I wanted two women.
” He paused, and my brow raised. “Turns out, a nigga really needed seven. And you have the makings of them all, so essentially, I just need you.”
I smirked. “You got a good memory,” I said, remembering that I’d mentioned having seven different personalities on our first unofficial date at the diner.
“Real shit though, you said you’re scared of committing to someone and possibly wasting time. I don’t wanna waste your time, Kyiris. I don’t wanna waste mine either.”
My lips formed a thin line before curving into a smirk. “Once you lock in wit’ me, you stuck wit’ me, nigga. Poly be gone.”
He leaned in and kissed me again. “Key, you’ve unlocked the parts of a nigga that I ain’t know were reserved until I met you. You unlocked my heart.”
“Your heart was easily accessible before, Mehki. I’ma need your soul.”
He smiled and nodded. “You got it, fine ass girl.”
AND THAT’S JUST THAT ON THAT, FINE GWORL!