Another throw away. Blog is still cancelled until Charmed is out.
still not posting blogs until the book is out but this is another throw away.
Benjamin Moore
“Welcome! Welcome to the Moore and Milton Boys night out!” I obnoxiously hollered as I swung the screen door open. I slapped the porch light on and smiled watching my best friend, and brother from a different mother…
Damn sho’ a different mother, Piru came walking up the steps with his daughter walking hand in hand by his side, and his niece Violet holding his other hand as she waved. Percy was just getting out of his his new silver Benz and on the phone yelling at whoever was incompetent at the job. I felt a small hand on my back as I looked behind me seeing Delilah dressed for the night in a red slip of a dress that should have been only for my eyes at night, but she looked so damn good, I almost forgot to go off on her.
I smiled, turning my whole body to face her as she did a slow turn for me with her dreads dangling just above the booty. Chocolate thunder legs and breast sitting up right full of milk, I licked my lips and nodded in approval. Makeup was light, lipstick was right, eyes said she was down to fuck but she had somebody at home that could blow her back out on command.
“Yes or no?” she asked as Piru stepped inside, nodding in approval before moving on with the two tots.
“How long you gonna be out?” I asked.
“Not long. Caroline, and I just need some grown up girls time is all. I’ll be home before one or whenever I need to pump,” she said as I leaned down to kiss her, “will you be up?”
“Wake me up so I can undress you,” I growled in her ear as she laughed with a playful shove of my chest. I watched my baby mama walk out the house like it was my first time seeing her and grinned.
Delilah is crazy as hell. Ain’t the friendliest, and I could see how she starts shit then hides her hands. She may hurt people's feelings with her words alone, but damn it my baby was fine. Cornbread fed fine.
“Aye!” I yelled out for her attention as she turned around, “for real though! If I’m snoring, don’t wake me up but if I ain’t snoring, you already---”
“Bye Ben,” she laughed.
“Mmmm… Damn you fine! You got a man!?” I yelled as she threw her middle finger back at me as she walked around my car, “I’on see no ring! You single!? I’m tryna fuck the dog shit outta that ass!”
Delilah pushed her locs back with a sexy gaze at me before dipping into my car and closing the door shut. I looked over at Percy who was still on the phone pacing back and forth when I called out to him.
“Aye! While the sun is still up, bring yo ass in this house and help watch these kids!” I yelled before stepping back in to see Piru laid back on the couch with his daughter walking over towards me with her shoes already off. Dark curls pulled back to show her emerald earrings as she held her arms up, knowing she was my favorite baby. I picked her up and kissed her cheeks repeatedly as she smiled.
“Don’t do that!” Violet demanded angrily. “Ru don’t like that!”
“Violet, don’t tell me what to do lil woman,” I threatened as Violet glared at me with a pouty mouth, “why we always gotta fight when you come over here? You always being mean to me.”
“I not mean,” she muttered, turning her nose up as she leaned on the Piru’s lap.
“Can you believe how stupid people are?” Percy let out as he barged into the house with his attitude, “I work with the dumbest people in the world. It doesn’t matter whether he’s guilty or not! That’s not our problem! We argue the case and do what we can to prove otherwise!”
I watched Percy plop down on the recliner, rubbing his forehead with his eyes closed as Violet walked over towards him.
“If this is a boy’s night out that I’m forced to be at might I add, why are there children here? Little girls at that?” Percy asked in a tired voice.
“Because boys night now means give the women a break from us and the kids… You got a wife. She wants space from you---”
“She has all the space she needs,” he muttered. “All she gets from me is space. We don’t even share the same bed… We don’t even have se---” sighing as he opened his eyes, “we don’t even share the night together.”
“When did you ever share the night,” I mocked as Percy glared at my tone, “I’m being for real! Between all that cheating and sleeping around, when did you ever want to share the night with her? Where would you have the time? She’s doing the same thing she’s always been doing.”
“That’s not the point! We’re married now! It’s different.”
“I told you to divorce her,” Piru stated as I sat down on the couch with Ru in my lap.
“I’m working my way to doing that. We’re supposed to go to therapy in a few days. Maybe this doctor can talk some sense into her. She barely speaks and when she does, it's a fake front she puts on for others. Honestly, if you can’t stand to be near me, then leave! Why are you sticking around if you’re so miserable?”
“Because she’s a miserable bitch,” Piru stressed as I shook my head before getting up with Ru in my arms. I sat her down and went over to the play area I had set up for the night. Ended up buying a giant blue indoor play tent to put together but the moment it came in a box with all these pieces to put together, I figured drinks, a few snacks and music would be the best way to kick this night off.
“So I stood my ground,” Piru declared as I flipped open the paper instructions to this tent. Percy stood with his hands on his hips in disbelief as his brother told the story about the time he and his wife almost filed for a divorce. “She was wrong. She’s wrong 90% of the time and I’m constantly correcting her but Frannie lives in this lala land of a life where everyone is friendly, everyone wants to be her friend and nobody has drama. Ever. I said, Frannie, it's not realistic. You’re not being realistic. How do you go up against a family like hers? That she barely knows but they come dump all this magic stuff on her at once?”
“You really believe that?” Percy asked as I looked between the two men. The girls were playing around with the bubble wrap, and my son laid peacefully in his rocking chair and binky with his eyes closed. Not a care in the world.
“I’ve seen it for myself. I’ve seen Frannie do some unbelievable things that make you question life so yeah, I believe it,” he stated.
“Tuh! You fool!” Percy laughed.
“How am I the fool when you spent your whole life playing video games, and---”
“I never---”
“Or should I tell the story on how you wanted to be a magician growing up. Wandering around the house with a purple cape and hood talking about drinking goat’s blood---”
“I never said that!”
“Or the time you wouldn’t go anywhere without your wand and magic cards---”
“They’re called tarot cards, dumbass!”
“Aye,” Piru laughed as he looked towards me, “this nigga begged for a bunkbed even though he had his own room, and a play room because that’s what mama’s boys get when they’re the youngest and spoiled… He begged for a bunk bed just so he could do little spells and pretend like he had the power to fly. I used to pop me some popcorn and sit by the door and watch his attempts until---”
“I fell and almost---”
“Bust yo fucking head open,” Piru let out with a laugh as Percy stood with a beet red face full of embarrassment, “and you’re asking me if I believe in magic but you used to live and die by that notion that magic is real. Witches and werewolves, vampires and---”
“I just said you are a fool if you believe it. I was there from the beginning but now because it's cool, you want to believe in it. You’re a fool and a fraud for believing in it at this age whereas I got it out of my system early on.”
Even the girls stopped to look up at their uncle before Percy snatched the instructions from my hand to flip open.
“Why is all of this focus on me anyway? I know what’s real and what’s not real. For Piru, who has spent the better part of his life mocking me and my existence, I’m shocked he believes it is all.”
“Yeah well, I remember having this outer body experience one night. I woke up,” Piru said as we began to grab the small plastic poles to put together, “my body was still laying on the bed but I was up looking down at myself when I felt Frannie’s hands come up behind me. She told me don’t panic, if I panic, I’ll wake up and ruin the dream.”
“So you had a sex dream about your wife, I have those on a regular basis. Nobody cares,” Percy grumbled as Piru shook his head.
“Wasn’t an ordinary sex dream. It was real. Granted,” Piru shrugged like only a nigga with money to blow could do, “we had sex but it was like on a different level. I woke up the next morning to baby girl beside me watching TV. Frannie was already downstairs in the kitchen, and when I asked her about it? She said she learned how to do that from her cousin. She can tap into my dreams at any time and she’s learning how to bring me into her dream. Now she got me meditating every morning and night. She’s not even the spiritual type like her family claims to be but she reads into it and then tells me about it, and I interpret how I want… Some nights we’ll lay together in silence, and it's the most I’ve ever felt connected to her. The nights where we don’t say a word to each other, we’re just there...”
“Same,” I nodded, thinking about Delilah, “the right woman will elevate your way of thinking and way of life. Delilah always tells me my energy creates the space and environment for our relationship and family, and her energy sets the tone for the relationship altogether. When she told me that?!” I let out with a laugh as Piru nodded in agreement, “I changed my entire way of thinking. If I’m pissed off or upset about some shit I can’t control, bring it home to her and take it out on her or just snap, lemme tell you something? Delilah won’t let me hear the end of it. Life will be miserable until I make peace with whatever the fuck I got going on or talk it out like an adult. Instead of having dreams about Jasmine, you should probably talk to her like an adult and say what’s on your mind---”
“I’ve tried!” Percy declared as Piru looked around for his daughter only to see she was by the front looking through the screen door with Violet. “I’ve tried my best to communicate, to remain calm and not raise my voice. I’ve tried everything and it's like talking to a fucking brick wall at this point!”
“Divorce her,” Piru stressed. “It’s that simple. I tell Mother this all of the time, divorce him and move on with your life. She’s only going to drag you down with her. Nobody likes the bitch. Even Pia agreed it's probably best you divorce her. Why Jasmine hasn’t done it is because she’s comfortable. You’ve let her get comfortable in her miserable ass spot in your house while you went off and did whatever. Serve her the papers and be done with it,” he waved off.
“I say talk it out,” I told him, putting my angelic smile on, “she ain’t divorcing you or leaving you for a reason. She’s waiting on something to change.”
“Give her the papers and take the ring back,” Piru muttered as Percy looked from his brother to me, “imagine another girl finer than her waiting for you to wife her up. What happened to the Serena chick?”
“Nah, nah, don’t bring other women into this,” shaking my head, “that’s what Jasmine is expecting you to do---”
“How long have you been without sex Percy?”
“Too long,” he mumbled with a drop of his head, “she won’t sleep in the same bed. I’ve tried being romantic or attempted to do something special but she won’t budge. She’s asleep when I get home and I’m gone before she wakes up.”
“Because you’re avoiding her,” I stated as Piru jumped in.
“She’s avoiding you but wants to continue to live up in your damn house---”
Suddenly, the screams and laughter from the two girls came rushing back towards the living room with Ru pointing towards the front with a wide eyed look at Piru.
“Daddy, the door. Somebody’s at the door,” she spoke in her naturally soft voice. “Ding dong. Ding dong Daddy.”
“Somebody out there?” Piru asked as he protectively grabbed his daughter. I yanked up my jeans and started for the front, motioning for Percy to keep Violet.
“Probably Delilah coming back because she can’t stand to be without Yuma for an hour,” I laughed. “I’on know why she play herself like she going out to the club to have a good time.”
I walked up to the screen door ready to close up shop altogether when I looked out at the truck parked across the street. I didn’t think much of it until I watched a tall light skin man step out of the passenger seat with a red Braves snapback on. As soon as he turned around, I recognized the red beard and shotty freckles littering his face when he pointed towards my house.
“What the fuck?” I muttered, snatching the screen door open to step out onto the porch. I pulled my single braids back into a makeshift ponytail and stood on the steps of my property watching Dre and two other men I didn’t recognize step forward. The street lights were just starting to come on as evening began to settle in when Dre held his arms out with a wiry smile.
“I don’t mean any harm Ben! Promise bro! I came to talk to Delilah! See if she would reconsider my offer!” he called out as he stepped foot on the grass. I heard the screen door slam open and close as I looked back to see Piru standing behind me and Percy standing behind the door, keeping close to the kids. “I wanted to talk to her and apologize for how I came off last time we spoke. I feel like we left off on a bad note.”
“What is he talking about?” Piru asked as I leaned over to let out a shot of spit.
“I don’t know but if you see me,” I muttered over my shoulder. Piru nodded. No questions were left to ask.
“I got you.”
“I called Delilah a few times trying to get her to help me out---”
“So you brought yo dumb ass to my house to try yo luck instead?!” I yelled, yanking my sweats up, “Dre I’on know what you on… I don’t know what’s going on. Whatever you got going on with Delilah is your problem, and your problem alone. Don’t come here looking for her because you already know you gonna get me instead---”
“I don’t want any problems Ben,” he laughed coolly as he stepped closer to the porch steps, “Piru, come on man… You know me. We used to have long talks about your sister. I was apart of the family at one point, what the fuck happened?! It’s like everybody just cut me off and I’m expected to move on because yall did! I raised that little girl like she was mine! I put money into her like she was mine, and I was planning on marrying Pia! My family became attached to that girl! Nobody wants to hold Pia accountable for lying! For dragging me into a relationship with her, and her daughter knowing that the father was out there! Why am I the one to suffer for it because I simply did what the fuck a man, a real man was supposed to do when he loves a woman!? Huh!? I shouldn’t be out here begging to see Violet! Begging to talk to Pia! All I wanna do is talk to her… That’s it. She told me to move on, I’m trying,” gripping his head in a helpless manner, “I really am but I can’t. I just want to see her. Why am I at fault for loving her when she’s the one that played me? She played everyone yet she gets away with it, and I’m left wondering how to move on!”
The neighborhood in that moment felt silent as we all mulled over his final words. Part of me felt sorry for him because I knew this ran much deeper than just Pia. This was Delilah’s doing. She put something on this nigga that she wasn’t able to get off, and it showed.
“I called the police!” Percy declared from behind the screen, interrupting my thoughts as Dre’s eyes grew wide before his mouth tightened. I looked back at Percy who held his phone in hand, “I just bought these shoes and pants so yeah I called the police because I don’t feel like fighting. He looks like he’s on the brink of an emotional breakdown that could easily turn violent.”
“Hey!” Dre yelled out as we looked back to see him raise his hands in the air, “don’t worry about it. I’m leaving.”
The two guys that came with him were already coaxing him back towards the car when Dre started to walk backwards with a forced smile.
“I won’t come up here again. My last time disturbing the happy family. I won’t ask again,” he smiled before turning around and starting for his car across the street. As soon as they sped off I leaned over to let out another dry shot of spit before turning for the house.
“I need to call Delilah and tell her to bring her ass home. This ain’t got nothing to do with Pia or Dre but everything to do with her.”