ADORE
“Girl, it seems like all he’s used to is them hood rats. Give him some leeway. He is trying.” Kalena said.
“No matter what happens Nee, have some fun,” Chelsea said.
Najah had another opinion. “I don’t like that he’s in that motorcycle club. Those niccas are dogs.”
Ashley laughed out loud. “Y’all crazy.”
“What you think?” Chelsea asked Ashley.
“Uh, it’s early, but I think it’s kinda good that the drama is coming out, so y’all can get this over with now. Lisa just needs to fall back now. He told her you were his girlfriend and he loves you to her face. There ain’t nothing else to discuss. That’s all a nicca had to say to me and I’m kicking rocks quick! Speed on before you get peed on!”
We all laughed at Ashley. “Them ghetto hood rats? Not so much,” Kalena chimed in.
“Trust me, Al’s other chicks were just like her,” she added.
“Well then, they can get on to loving after this chick backs down,” Ashley added.
“Yeah? Well, there was another one that he kicked it with too.”
“Really? Najah asked, shaking her head.
“We went to the movies to see The Secret Lives of Bees and his phone was blowing up the whole time, and he just told me the deal with her. Her name is Chante and they met at a washhouse four years ago. Her daughter calls him daddy. Anyway, he said he needs to go over there and talk to her and end it so she doesn’t come over acting a fool too. I told him to go handle it. He couldn’t believe that he had a woman that was supportive of the way he was trying to deal with these chicks.”
“I wonder was there any drama between them before he meet you Nee?” Kalena said.
“Naw, them girls seem to like sharing.” Najah said jokingly.
“So, how did that go with Jules and Chante?” Chelsea asked.
“He said she was still talking about their plans to move in together, but then realized he was telling her it was over and she told him good luck.” I said.
“So that’s one who’s not a hood rat?” Kalena asked.
“And you said her daughter calls him daddy?” Najah asked, rolling her eyes.
“Well, she can start calling him Goddaddy!” Chelsea said.
We all laughed loudly.
Najah made more daiquiris while we were packaging the favors. We had to put CDs in their cases and tie bows around them. The bows had little music notes tied to them. I wanted to hear the CD, so Kalena put it on and we jammed to 16 love songs.
I read the back of the cover. We had some good songs picked by: Mint Condition, Luther, Sade, Anita Baker, Al Green, Outkast, Prince, and Anthony Hamilton, just to name a few. We had 175 favors to do. Ashley was decorating the broom Todd and Kalena were going to jump over. We brought our dresses to try on for each other. We looked good and Kalena was pleased. Mama Len wanted to see us too. She also came by to show us her outfit she had found at Durant Square. It was a nice long chocolate brown dress with a matching short jacket made of taffeta with ruffles everywhere. Some of us couldn’t believe that her dress came from an indoor swap meet, but Ashley confirmed it for us. Mama Len pulled me in the hallway to tell me she had a dream that I had a little girl, and that I was over at her house playing with the baby and she was smiling.
“So you babysitting then?”
“Of course,” she confirmed.
I was so happy about her news. Then it occurred to me that we didn’t use a condom last night.
Oh, shoot! I never slipped when it came to protection, even if he got the good stuff. He was very well endowed, I must say. I started tripping, but told myself to not panic and to just ask Najah how to get a morning-after pill. It was too soon to get pregnant today! That thought made me laugh.
I took a deep breath and went back into the kitchen, ’cause Chelsea noticed that I was missing from my post.
“Chelsea, you sure are turning into a grouch.” Najah said.
“Yeah we are going to call you Bridesmaidzilla,” I said.
“Yeah, I’m the bride and I’m not even stressed out or hollering at people,” Kalena reminded her.
“That’s because Todd makes you watch Bridezilla with him, so you don’t turn into them dumb broads on TV,” Chelsea continued. “Is that how you get a husband now? Ya gotta act crazy?”
“Well, if I recall, Ms. Chelsea, you displayed an act of that at the Hilton Garden Inn a few months ago,” I reminded her.
“That was more like an audition for Cheaters, not Bridezilla.
We laughed. We needed that burst of laughter to get us all on the same page, ’cause the energy was a bit off.
I didn’t know about Chelsea. She had been trying to stay active lately with the church and hanging around her family more. But she seemed to be getting meaner by the minute.
“I hope you are not letting Greg turn you into a bitter chick, because we are bigger than that, and you will be ok in due time girlie. So start acting like you’re fine now and your feelings will catch up.” I said.
Kalena looked up from the CDs and said, “I like that one Nee. Act like you wanna be and your feelings will eventually turn into that, right?”
“Yep,” I said.
“That’s game right there,” Kalena admitted.
Najah gave Kalena a high five, as I smiled and Chelsea digested the thought.
“I will try that ’cause I just haven’t been feeling like myself lately. I’ve been eating uncontrollably, feeling sick. I think I got the Love Jones or something.”
“Greg was good to you just not for you,” Najah said.
Chelsea gave a look that could kill.
“Yeah, but what kills me is, he said he would never date another girl from our church, and that’s exactly what he did.” I said.
“You need to change churches,” Kalena said.
“I have committed myself to my usher ministry for another year.” Chelsea said.
No one was gonna say nothing to that, ’cause we all knew ya just can’t win with Chelsea and it was best she had the last word sometimes. This was one of those times.
Ashley hooked that broom up. It was gorgeous when she finished it. Mama Len came into the kitchen and poured herself a drink. When Adore came on, she started dancing. She held her hand up and had her head down with her eyes closed. This was her song. She went in the living room to turn the volume up and she joined in. We spent another two hours unpacking and wrapping the CD favors.
When we were done, Ashley commanded Kalena to go put on a dress that was hanging in her closet. Ashley was a great younger sister. She was ten years younger but had an old soul. Kalena was puzzled but she didn’t put up a fight at all. Todd had somehow softened her up. She smiled a lot more. I loved it. We all had on black sundresses of different lengths. Ashley bought Kalena one in white and some cute silver wedges.
“Okay, but what’s going on now?”
She looked at us and we shrugged our shoulders. I looked at the clock in the kitchen and advised that she had thirty minutes to get herself together, and she did.
She was blindfolded when the limo pulled up. She looked amazing. Her hair was pinned up, and her makeup was popping. She glowed in the white sundress. It showed off her nice legs. I could tell that Kalena was losing weight. I could only imagine how cute she would look in her wedding dress.
When Todd unfolded her eyes, she was so surprised by her cousins appearing out of nowhere. They all kissed and hugged. Her cousins handed her gift bags and cards.
She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t figure out how we pulled this off for her. No one ruined the surprise.
“Get in,” Mama Len told her.
“Wait, we gotta take pictures,” Ashley said.
Todd, Brandon and Mama Len were snapping pictures. Todd had a digital camera, Brandon had his iPhone and Mama Len had her camera too. After twenty minutes of the photo shoot, we all got into the limo with our bags, bottles and the cake.
Kalena wanted to know what the bags were for and we all laughed.
“Girl, you are in for a treat,” one of her cousins said.
We said our goodbyes and went off to enjoy Kalena’s mobile bridal shower.