After today you can call me a genius
I had the perfect timing, the perfect plan, the perfect everything. As soon as school was over I went straight home to change out of my uniform and into something way more comfortable, tank top and grey sweats for the win.
"Are you ready?" Blair asks over the phone
"More than ready. And you can take Indiah home now, this is her surprise too"
"Got it. Ok I'll see you in a bit"
I slide into my crocs before leaving my room, the sound of Destiny's child and baby noises fills my ears once I make it downstairs.
"Hi my baby", I coo whilst picking up Gia from her rocker
She smiles at me whilst holding her fist against her mouth and I wipe away dribble as I kiss her. "You ok cutie?"
My sister babbles happily in response. She'll be two months in a couple days, her and Braylon are becoming more familiar with us all each day.
I carry her with me to the kitchen, where mom is humming along to the music playing from the speaker.
"Hey I'm leaving in a minute"
She's sat at the island breastfeeding Braylon, "Zay back yet?"
"Almost landed, I'm gonna go pick him up" I reach over for my car keys
"This plan is so sweet"
I smile a little, "Isn't it"
I can't even put into words how much I miss my boyfriend, his presence, his cuddles, his everything. We've been texting everyday and we'd always leave each other sweet messages before we went to sleep and whenever we woke up.
Whilst mom and are I conversing, GG makes her way back from the bathroom.
"Ma you hungry?", She asks GG
"I could eat, sure"
"I wanna go see that new restaurant that opened down the street" She says whilst looking back
"Ain't you cutting out junk?", I remind her
"You, hush"
I snicker, "Mom just admit that you like having a big ass"
She waves me off, "Fuck off-
GG tuts as she hits her on the shoulder, "Stop swearing in front of the kids all the time"
"Yeah mama stop swearing in front of us"
My mother raises an eyebrow with amusement, "You want me to tell GG how you be talking when she's not here?"
That was the moment I decided it was time to go.
"And on that note, I'll see you guys later"
My grandmother looks at me unimpressed as I give my sister to her, "She knows better than to use them cuss words around me"
"Of course I do", I innocently reply
And that is how their ongoing debate about cuss words started, GG was telling her that she shouldn't be letting me swear in the house and mom was using the defence that I never swear at her, and that I keep it to a minimum (which is true).
"Bye guys"
They gave me a small goodbye before resuming with their conversation.
Xavier went to Thailand with four of his friends to celebrate his eighteenth birthday, before he had booked it he was asking me if I was ok with him going and I said yes. I genuinely wanted him to have fun and after what happened at Kaian's birthday back in August I'll never doubt him again.
Besides he was always calling me when he had the time and he bought me so much shit from his holiday, he's so sweet and I honestly don't deserve him. His actual birthday was two days ago but now he's back and I cannot wait to see him.
Zayâ¤ï¸: wya?
Me: just parked
I spot him walking in front of his friends, exiting the airport. He's with Kaian, Rico, Jerome and one more friend that I'm not familiar with.
Without a second thought I get out of the car excitedly and Xavier grins as soon as he sees me, he still had my bracelets on. Immediately, I'm lifted up into a hug, I bury my face into his neck unsurprised by the fact that he smells so fucking good. "Hi", I murmur
He gives my hip a gentle squeeze, "I fucking missed you"
I smile, "I missed you too"
"Awww", Kaian interrupts
I ignore him and instead give Xavier a kiss, "Nice flight?"
"Yeah it was chill, I slept"
Not surprised
"Zay I'll catch you later, ubers here" Jerome says
They spud and he nods at me
"Bye J"
He waves before getting into a black car and Xavier keeps ahold of my waist, when he starts getting handsy it's not long before I fold.
"You ready to go?", I ask
"Yeah. I want a chill night, I'm exhausted"
I haven't told him much about where we're going, he just knows I have a surprise for him. But Kaian knows, hence why he's smiling. "Alright we're gonna leave you guys to it"
"Bye", I say amused
They all leave shortly, leaving just the two of us
My hand squeezes his, "Alright come on birthday boy, looks like you get to be passenger princess"
But Xavier's not even worried about that, he's too busy peeking through my sweats nosily, "This a red thong?"
I scoff, "Xavier-
"Just looking", My boyfriend defends
"Babe get in the car"
"Alright alright"
I get into the driver's seat and he gets comfortable in the passenger seat after putting his suitcase in the trunk, enjoying the special treatment he's getting today.
"Where we going?"
"You'll see"
I hate how far airports are and I hate that I'm gonna have to drive on the fucking highway but it is what it is.
"Rico still in contact with that girl he met at the hotel?"
I heard stories.
Zay looks at me like I should know better, "Pfft not at all. They had a one night stand and left it at that"
"I'm not surprised"
"Speaking of surprises"
That's when I notice the gift bag in his hand
"Ooh what's that?", My tone was eager
"You'll find out when I find out mine"
"Wow you ain't even gonna tell me?"
"Nope. Unless I get a clue on where you're taking me"
He's so impatient when it comes to surprises
I laugh, "Not telling"
"Can you at least pull the car over so I can show you how much I've missed you?"
"You can show me tonight cause if I pull over then we're gonna be here for an hour"
"An hour huh?", He grins with intrigue
I look away from the road innocently, "Yes"
"I'm cool with that"
Zay had his hand rested on my thigh and was gently squeezing it here and there. I was very tempted to pull over many times but I remained composed and drove us all the way.
***
About an hour later we made it back.
He tilts his head with confusion as I park the car, "Home"
I undo my seatbelt, "Come on"
"Ree...-
I roll my eyes, "Zay just shut up and come with me"
He narrows his eyes suspiciously but eventually follows me out of the car, I leave out my hand and he takes it. "Am I being pranked"
"Yes there's a serial killer in your house"
Once we got inside I covered his eyes and made sure he wasn't peeking, although it was a struggle since he's taller than me. The house was pretty quiet, but I managed to guide us all the way to the kitchen without Xavier asking more questions. Indiah and Blair were smiling from where they were sat.
"If I open my eyes are you still gonna have clothes on?-
"Jesus", I mutter
"This is killing me"
"Relax, the surprise is here"
"Is it now"
"Mhm"
It was quiet for a second, until a voice finally spoke.
"What you thought I was gonna miss you turning eighteen?"
Xavier freezes and I smile as I uncover his eyes
"No fucking way", He turns around with surprise and his older brother grins
Thank fuck I was able to pull this off
Immediately, he hugs Malik with closed eyes as they hold each other tightly, a smile spreads across my lips as I watch the two of them interact.
"I wanna be in the group hug", Indiah gets up from her seat before hugging both of her brothers and they eventually accept her
My face softens as Xavier's face stays buried in Malik's neck, he was crying. Blair touches my arm gently and I hold onto her hand, I'm just so happy that we're able to witness this moment.
I know that his one wish for these past couple months was to have his brother home so of course I had to plan something. My boyfriend puts on a brave face but I could see how much Malik being away affected him.
Speaking of Malik, hes just pulled Xavier in for a headlock. "So I leave for a couple of months and you grow even taller?"
He taps his arm with a smile, "Nah you're just shrinking"
"Shrinking my ass"
"I thought you still had a month left?"
"I do", He shows him his leg, there's an ankle monitor attached to his left ankle
"It was getting too crowded so I'm serving the rest of my sentence at home. But Ree planned the surprise"
My boyfriend pulls me towards him by the hand appreciatively, "Thank you my love"
"You're welcome"
Obviously every time I had gone to see Malik in the past we'd talk about Zay's birthday and he told me how it might be possible for the judge to reduce his sentence due to good behaviour. That was the original plan, but then his prison was getting overcrowded so in other words that was a miracle in itself.
Zay pulls me aside before lifting me up into a hug, I widen my eyes a little with surprise but then again I'm used to his public display of affection by now. "You're perfect you know that?"
"I love you", I say softly whilst cuddling his neck
"I love you"
Blair, Malik and Indiah were talking about what prison was like for a little while. It was nice to see my best friend get excited to talk to her brother again because I know she missed him too.
"What's this I hear about you and Kaian?"
She crosses one leg over the other with such a cheesy smile, "He's my man now"
"What do you know about having a man?", Malik says amused
"A lot"
"Ya'll ain't done anything right"
"That's on a need to know"
"Well I need to know if a nigga's gonna try break my sisters heart again"
"To be fair Archie was white", Blair snorts
Indiah rolls her eyes at the both of them, "Yeah yeah. Anyway I will let you know if anything goes wrong"
"Hmmm. As long as you're giving Zay a taste of his own medicine I'm cool with it"
We all laugh except from Xavier who's rolling his eyes, I couldn't think of a more better surprise for today.
This was perfect
**
"He's really happy", Indiah says softly
I smile as we watch Xavier and Malik, they're in the kitchen catching up. Once our little staring moment was over, I suddenly remembered how stressful it is to surprise that boy.
"Remind me not to surprise him again, he's impatient as fuck"
She snorts whilst lighting the blunt in her mouth, "What you ain't learnt from the time ma tried surprising him for his twelfth birthday? Cause that shit totally didn't work out"
"Touché"
I watch as she exhales smoke, "You know your mom's coming back home soon right..."
"Yeah I'm not gonna smoke the whole thing", She offers it to me but I decline
"I'm alright"
I wanna be fully sober when I hang out with Xavier later. "Suit yourself"
"Question. Does she know about you and Kai yet?-
"Ughhh, Ree are you gonna leave this alone?" She asks with boredom
I raise my hands with surrender "I'm just shocked that she hasn't figured it out yet"
"Cause she ain't here half of the time, and I prefer to hang at his place anyway"
"I know, ya'll are a pair of rabbits. Remember the morning after we slept at his beach house and you were getting it? You was all like Kai-
She gapes, "Hey you weren't supposed to hear that"
"Well bitch I did", I laugh as I continue to mock her and she tosses her lighter at me whilst trying not to laugh
"Shut up-
"Ya'll gotta be kidding me"
We were too busy laughing with each other to notice Latoya's entrance. It honestly took me by surprise, she's in her scrubs and looks quite annoyed.
"Alright there's no we it's just me-
She takes the blunt out of Indiah's mouth and stubs it out, "I don't know how many damn times I'm gonna have to speak to you about this"
Dee looks so unbothered, "My God stop screaming-
"Stop acting like I'm in the wrong for telling you off for doing something you're not supposed to, you're sixteen for fuck sake!"
I don't think I've ever seen her shout at Indiah like this.
"Can you just ground me so we can get this over with-
"Do you think this is a joke?", She scoffs as we get up
I'm not sure whether I'm meant to go inside or stay put, "You're putting words in my mouth now-
"Keep up with that back chat Indiah, see where it gets you-
Latoya stops talking as Malik and Xavier walk over to the door, she literally froze.
"Malik" She whispers
She knew he'd be back today but I don't think she fully prepared herself.
Oh boy
He moves away as his mother tries to hug him, I can see he's still hurt by the fact that she never went to visit him. Not even once. His grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins visited, but not Latoya.
They just looked at each other, her with tear filled eyes and him with a clenched jaw. She was about to say something else but then Indiah started to head inside the house, "I'm not done with you-
"What else is there to say?", My best friend scoffs
"We need to talk-
"I don't wanna talk-
"You know what fine, I don't even know why I bother. Ya'll wanna keep wasting your lives and behaving recklessly? Go right ahead, but when you amount to nothing don't say I didn't tell you-
"Jeez, ma chill out" Xavier says annoyed
Fucking hell.
Now Indiah's tearing up, "I literally hate you-
"Indiah", I say in a gentle tone
She's heading for the front door with her car keys, so much was happening so fast. I was calling out to my best friend and Malik was trying to follow her.
"Malik the ankle monitor", I remind him
He stops in his tracks, "Fuck sake-... Dee come back"
She's crying
"It's ok", He says softly whilst pulling her in for a hug
I don't even know how we got here, but Latoya was out of line for saying that to her. And right now she just looks stunned.
"This is ridiculous", Xavier voices
That snapped her out of it though
"Ridiculous? You're children, and you think I'm going crazy for telling ya'll not to smoke and drink and all the other craziness you do-
"No, you telling us off about doing allat is cool because you're right we are young. But what you don't get is that you can't expect to call my sister a low life and tell her she ain't going nowhere, constantly compare her to Zion who by the way isn't as bright as you make him seem and then expect her to not start crying" He snaps back
Seeing him defend his siblings like that was just really sweet, I've stayed silent throughout the whole conversation because it's not my fight but Zay summed it up perfectly.
We hear a sigh, "Alright family meeting"
Uncle Darnel and Zion have arrived
Things were going great today, and now the day's ruined. We went from a happy moment between the Campbells to such a sad one, two distant siblings, one who's pissed and one who's perfect in their mother's eyes. Now we're all seated in the front room.
"Should I even be here?"
"Course you should. You're family" My boyfriend replies as I sit next to him
"Exactly", Indiah agrees from where she is on the couch
She's lazing against Malik
"You good?", I ask
"Ecstatic", She sarcastically replies
"Yo you gone to see Zoe?", Zion asks Malik
He looks at his tag and then back at his brother, "Nigga what do you think"
He starts snickering, "Oh yeah you're trapped. Shit invite her over-
"Who's Zo?", Their mom asks
None of them reply
"Oh boy", I mutter
Darnel pulls out a chair before sitting down, he was dressed in a suit so obviously hes just come back from work.
"Clearly we got a lot to talk about"
"Evidently"
"Ya'll getting a divorce?", Indiah questions
"What? No"
"Then what is there to talk about"
Malik smiles a little
"See what I mean", Her mother says to her father with disbelief
He puts out a hand towards her, basically saying I hear you.
"We need to set some new rules"
"See now what's that gotta do with me?", Zion questions
"A family meeting is a family meeting", Latoya replies
"We're here for moral support" I let him know
He shrugs, "Sounds good"
"Alright look, it's clear that things keep on getting out of control and I ain't even gon hold you guys for long. No smoking in the house, no drinking in the house-
"In the house? You mean not at all", Aunt Latoya scoffs
"How about you let me finish"
She kisses her teeth lightly
"These rules apply to the boys. Zi doesn't even live here and he's twenty one so he can do as he pleases, Malik can't even smoke with that ankle monitor on his foot and even so he has a probation officer for a reason, improvement will follow-
"And Zay??"
"Toya for once in your life listen"
"Divorce sounds great", Indiah comments
"Child I will-
"Whoop my ass?-
"Dee", Her dad warns
She doesn't reply
"Baby girl I know you're upset, and you'll get to explain it alright? Just give me a minute"
"Ok", She eventually agrees
He turns to Xavier, "Zay you shouldn't even be smoking to begin with. Neither should you Ree-
"Why am I in the mix", I defend
"Cause I told your dad about this conversation, and he told me to talk some sense into you as well"
Zay chuckles and I hit his shoulder, "Not funny"
"I don't even smoke like that", He replies to his dads comment
Oh baby, let's not lie
"Moving on. If I even catch a whiff of weed when I step into the house then there's gon be consequences, read a book, listen to music, go for a walk. You all need a break from the ganja, and I got those plane tickets for back home on hold so feel free to test me" Latoya rants
"Agreed?"
"Yup", We all reply (except Indiah)
Knowing full well I'm not apart of this, I still agreed anyway.
"Dee Dee, straight up no smoking for you. I'll get you one of those diffuser things and some gum, it'll keep you off" Her father says to her
"Sweet"
See? Indiah responds well to effective communication, we all do.
"Next topic"
Malik looks bored, "There's more?"
"Yes there's more. As I was saying, next topic. Sex" She announces
Darnel looks at her disturbed, "I get that you're a nurse but do they really need a sex education debrief?-
Xavier lightly kisses his teeth as he lies against me and I laugh a little, you know what aunt Latoya has her annoying traits but she's hilarious sometimes, I'll give her that.
"Chill, not like that"
"Why do you have to make it awkward? We know it's not the birds and the bees", Zion fusses
She ignores his comment
"We've got two minors in this room" She refers to Indiah and I
"Zay you're technically a pedo" Malik snickers
"Shut up"
"I'm seventeen in one month and four days thank you very much" I add
Zay was born October 27th, I'm December 3rd
Darnel chuckles, "You two make me laugh"
"Thank you"
Aunt Toya waves him off, "Look anyways. I don't care if the law says sixteen is the legal age to have sex and yadayada, it's not happening"
"You sound ridiculous", Indiah states
"How exactly is that ridiculous?"
"Of course Xavier's not gonna listen when you say that"
"I was talking about-
"Yes I know, me and Ree. But they're in a relationship so who else is he gonna do those things with? And aunt Kota isn't as pressed as you are, she just said they can't sleep together when he stays over. Why don't you just create boundaries instead of freaking out cause the world ain't gonna end over sex"
Darnel smiles proudly
"Can we stop discussing my sex life, this shit is weird-
Latoya dismisses Xavier and instead turns to Indiah, "What are you getting so defensive for?"
"Aren't you the same person who was questioning our sex lives not so long ago?", She returns
"Ain't you the same person who said you didn't have one?"
'Indiah, don't do it'- I thought
I even give her a look to say don't do it because I know she likes to have the last word.
"Well what if I did?"
She did it
Zion turns to his sister
"Pause"
"What?"
"Are you lying?"
She looks at him sarcastically, "Of course I'm lying-
"Dee what are you actually doing-
"No no no we're not doing this hypocrisy nonsense cause you've been bringing girls in since you were fifteen", I cut in
"Exactly", Indiah scoffs
"And it's because I've done it that I don't want her making the same silly choices-
"The difference between you and me is that I don't fuck randos-
"So you got a boyfriend", Him and Latoya question
Xavier and Darnel are just sat there, over the conversation. The fact that he's way more chill around this topic is what shocked me the most, I think he has peace knowing that his daughter is dating someone that he knows and approves of.
"Maybe I do-
"Didn't you just get out of a relationship?"
"That was ages ago, and don't go big brother on me-
"Is it another white boy?-
"Jesus. It's Kaian"
The room goes quiet, and I mean dead silent. The shocked silence was only between Latoya and Zion because we're all over this conversation, Xavier's checking the basket ball match scores online for the game he's currently missing, Malik's texting Zoe and Darnel is actually on a phone call.
Well then...