Summer Ménage III
AnniKay
Sam/Mercedes/Puck
Disclaimer: I own Nothing…Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennen along with Fox and others own this fandom and all the characters there in…Anything you recognize obviously belongs to them
*****PLEASE NOTE: If I am using an actor or musician as a face claim, they do not exist as their famous persona in this universe. IE: Darcy Lewis is a person so Kat Dennings doesn't exist. Or Hiram Berry is a person so Jeff Goldblum is not.*****
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Thank all of you for being avid readers & reviewers of my stories:
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Boredom Busting Fic Reread Rec
Temptation With A Southern Accent by sadhappygirl
(Oh my God the Imagery is worth the reread!)
Isis Aurora Tomoe & Princess 976 You are the most awesome Betas ever. Thank you for being such a help in my time of need!
OMG just read an article about a One Direction FF author who got tapped to turn her fic into a novel. WHERE do I sign up? Seriously Dear Readers, if anyone of you know anyone…start a petition, call a honcho, beg a brother in law…Hook a sister up!
Happy (Pharrell Williams)
Kevon PoV
Growing up in an upper middle class black family in a city like Lima Ohio teaches you a lot of lessons. It teaches you to be careful of the motives of those who you let call themselves your friend. It teaches you to make sure that you are upholding what you believe in and not trying to be a poster black person for all the white people you know. It teaches you to hope for the best but prepare for the worst in every situation you will encounter. It definitely teaches you how to make lemonade from the bullshitty lemons people hand you trying to bust you back down to where they think you belong. What it doesn't teach you is what to do when you are well and truly happy and the few roadblocks you had in your way are suddenly removed. MeDe was dealing with that. Her dreams were coming true and as her big brother, I couldn't have been happier. But as her big brother, I also couldn't help but be a little worried about how much she was sharing the wealth. She paid off any and all student loan debt me, Pattie, Dev and Tonya had, which admittedly was only about twenty-five grand total. But in addition to that, she managed to find out about our car payment information and paid off those loans too. Even though that triggered the early buy out fee. I understood why she wanted to do it. I would have done the same thing in her situation. But I was worried for my little sister. I didn't want her to end up like MC Hammer or Toni Braxton or something.
But no way was I stupid enough to go to MeDe with my concerns. I knew my baby sister…well little sister, she wasn't the baby any more. Still, she would cuss me up one side and down the other for acting like she couldn't manage her money. Then she would point out that she was the one who always had money in the bank. The one Dev and I had to turn to to keep our money when we wanted to save up for something because we both got itchy when we knew we had money to burn. It was too dangerous to ask Mercedes about it, well at least too dangerous to do it alone. So about halfway through May, I grabbed Dev for lunch one day and as soon as we'd ordered, I looked him in the face and just bluntly stated, "I'm worried about MeDe…she is spending her money as fast as she can make it."
Devon looked at me like I'd grown two more heads. "Kev…two things…first of all Mercedes Antoinette Jones still has part of the very first allowance she ever received. You know how she is about saving money. Girl may like fashion, but she is crazy responsible. Second of all, do you even realize how much a pop star can make now in days? I mean…li'l sis and her boos are uniquely successful. Plus, they aren't just spending to be spending. They are buying real estate. Look at the house they are in now. It cost a lot, yeah…but since it's in New York it doubled in equity the second they nailed in the last nail. You know that the same thing can be said in Chicago and LA. Shoot, man, I thought you were calling me because you were flunking out or something."
"Hell no. You know better than that. I've gotta gets that paper so I can make some serious cheddar." I shot back. "So if you aren't worried about MeDe too…why do you look like you're losing sleep?"
"I never said I wasn't worried about Mercedes. But she got the money issue. I know she is good there. It's the fucking internet trolls that are pissing me off. I don't know which is worse the jealous bitches trying to cast shade because she is a thicker girl, or the wish they were sex sharks talking about my baby sister like she was just some meat. Them muthafuckas don't even know. They didn't just piss me off…they got Tonya calling them misogynists and sexists and every other ist under the sun. You know how she gets."
I nodded. "Pattie's worried about the trolls casting shade. She says that Mercedes experiences in high school probably gave her body issues that the internet assholes can only exacerbate."
Devon rolled his eyes. "I don't think Sam or Noah are gonna let that shit stand." He had a valid point.
"What can we do to help?" I asked him quietly. We'd always done whatever we could to protect our little sister, just because she had her hubbies, that didn't change the fact that we were still and always would be her big brothers.
He looked around and lowered his voice. "Me and Tonya did come up with a major ass idea. In fact, we were gonna invite you and Tricie over for dinner Friday. We were hoping that you could create us all shadow social media accounts so we could troll the trolls."
I smiled an evil smile. "I can get behind that. I can definitely do that. Route the IP address through a few places that'll make it damn near impossible to trace back to us…no way to link it to MeDe and the guys…we can get as rowdy as we like."
Devon's smile matched mine before looking a little worried. "You won't get into any trouble, will you?"
"Like I give two shits less than a flying fuck if I get in trouble for trolling trolls who think its fine and ducking dandy for them to hurt MeDe. As long as it can't be traced back to her…because you know that the press would twist this shit around to make her look bad." I said with all sincerity. "Besides, it's not like I'll be hacking the pentagon or something."
It took me a couple of weeks to have everything in place. I ordered each of us a special tablet from a guy I knew who changed the SIM card to make T Mobile believe that the IP signals came from half a world away. He only charged fifty bucks per tablet over the actual costs. Since we were only using these tablets for one thing, I went cheap and just got us each an Amazon Fire. Once I had those in hand, it was kids play to get an international debit card, link that to , route that through Google's new pay system…pull that from a not so closely associated with KAMA bank account. Now that last part, admittedly took a little hacking. But, I made sure to cover my ass by getting permission to do so. What can I say, Big Mama loves little MeDe. Tonya's grandmother told us that if we wanted her to, she would pay for the monthly fee. But we knew that at over two hundred bucks for the four of us, we could handle that better than she could. Though Big Mama said she hadn't had a balance on any of her utility bills since April. I just smiled…MeDe looked out for her people. She always had even when we were just upper middle, middle class dentists' kids. I guess I should have realized that having money, like insane amounts of money, wouldn't change that part of her.
Once everything was all set and ready to go, for an added level of protection, the four of us would head to Starbucks or internet cafes or the campus library and we'd troll the trolls for a while. The Yahoo Comments sections on articles about MeDe and her boys were always good for find assholes who didn't realize that just because they 'were entitled to their opinion' that everyone else had to agree with it. My personal favorites were the bible quoters who misquoted to suit their agendas. Thing was that I'd been raised in the church…a black church. A real, hard core black church where children's church was a monthly thing and we had bible knowledge jeopardy at vacation bible school. I could correctly quote the good book and use the real verses to support my cause.
Tonya had her own 'cause'. She loved to go ham on the misogynists. Those men who used the pseudo-anonymity online to talk about Mercedes body and all they wanted to do to her. They were often racists one way or another too. So they either blasted Sam and Puck for being with a woman who was black or castigated Mercedes for being with men who were white. Tonya blasted back at all of them. Her favorite method was to hold a mirror up and make them face their hypocrisy. Devon was a whole different kettle of fish. He had somehow fallen down the rabbit hole into the really dark stuff. He had me set him up secondary access so that he could keep track of all the people who made him fear for our sister. He created a spreadsheet and found out everything he could about each of them. He didn't let the girls in on what was being said, but I made him show me. After throwing up everything I'd eaten for the previous week, he showed me the logs he was keeping. "If they get any worse or start to seem like they are doing more than spouting off at the mouth…I'll send everything I've got to NYPD or the FBI or that security company that takes care of their place in New York."
I nodded. "Man, what the fuck is wrong with those people. I mean, you gotta expect crazies…but the chicks are just as bad as the men. Don't they know that anonymity on the net is actually pretty much a myth. Even if you really are good enough to hide yourself from most users, there is always someone better."
"Right." He agreed. Still we kept track of every nutjob that he ran across. Heck, we decided to be safe. The people that gave Tonya bad vibes got kept in a separate sheet. We weren't too worried about Pattie's body shamers. She ended up being more worried about some of them harming themselves than harming MeDe. She decided to go back to volunteering at the suicide help line in the afternoons between her internship and her evening class. That was all on top of the last few weeks of wedding planning. Though she didn't actually have all that much to take care of in that last month. The invitations had all gone out weeks before, the RSVPs were pretty much back in.
Patrice had probably been planning our wedding at least since our freshman year of college. She had saved for it as diligently as I had saved for her engagement and wedding rings. Unfortunately, when we started the planning, she started to feel as though the amount she had managed to save wasn't going to be enough to get her the wedding she wanted. The next thing I knew she told me that she had contacted her father and threatened him with a lawsuit for back child support. She offered him the chance to avoid that he would just need to come up with the money she wanted for the wedding. Landon Foster sent her a cashier's check for fifty grand. She sent him back a receipt and a signed and notarized promise not to sue him for the child support he owed Ms. Quita for her. But it also stated that the amounts he owed for each of her younger siblings. Patrice decided that since she was shocked as hell when she got a letter back from him at Christmas asking if she need anything further. She sent him a letter politely telling him that she didn't really want anything further to do with the man who had been so sporadically involved in her life. But he still sent her another ten thousand dollars. If that wasn't shocking enough he sent twenty-five hundred bucks to Ms. Quita to get Christmas gifts for Marie and Brandon. Since she hadn't gotten anything from him since the divorce…not the alimony he was supposed to pay, not the child support…she was shocked as hell. Ms. Quita proved that she was a much better woman than her ex was a man. She sent him a Christmas card that included pictures of Marie and Brandon from the previous eight years.
I couldn't imagine missing so much of my children's lives. It went against everything I had been raised to believe in. Uncle Bryant had two kids from two different ex-wives, but he'd still been completely involved in Daniel and Mellisent's lives. Like the father from Clueless said 'you divorce spouses, not kids'. I shook off those thoughts though to refocus my mind on my previous thoughts about the interesting summer it had been. My bride to be was very, very traditional when it came to many things. She was definitely completely traditional when it came to planning our wedding. She had assembled her team, her mother, my mother, her sister Marie and her best friends Tonya and Candi. Candi and Patrice had been friends since they were assigned as roommates their freshman year of college. Personality wise, she was nothing at all like Pattie. Heck if she wasn't fully white, I'd have sworn she was one of my Harris cousins. Candice Manning changed boyfriends like my cousin Hannah. She had no physical preference that I could put a finger on, other than fit. While Patrice was working on her masters in civil engineering and her MBA, Candi had majored in pharmaceutical chemistry and microbiology and she was enrolled in a dual pharmacology doctorate and pharmacy doctorate at the same time. Candi was very much determined to find a pharmaceutical company to pay her large amounts of money to do what people in her hometown usually ended up in jail for. Candi was completely bold and brazen. She had pledged the same sorority as Tonya and Patrice because they were her friends and she didn't want to join any group they weren't a part of.
Once she had the cashier's check deposited in a special account that we would only use for the wedding stuff, Tricie called a meeting of all of us together. Momma, Marie and Ms. Quita Skyped in, and the rest of Pattie's minions were assembled in the living room of our apartment. We talked and went over the decisions Pattie had made like colors and location and then she turned into a straight up general. Everyone had their assignments. Ms. Quita, since she was in Lima had to go and visit the venues Pattie liked. Marie was to go online and find out when area bridal shops were having trunk sales. I was glad that she got that assignment because I had no idea what a 'trunk sale' was. Patrice had delegated a few duties to me. I, of course, had the traditional honeymoon planning duty, but I also had to get her a list of my groomsmen, which had to match her list, including having dual best men to go along with her matron and maid of honor. My other duties were to decide on and purchase the groomsmen gifts, bring her four different choices for tuxes for the groomsmen and decide on five different choices for the wedding favors that we would then make the final decision together. Really, I only had four duties, MeDe, Sam and Puck had told me that they had the honeymoon handled and we just needed to make sure that we had the time off for it.
It was nice to be involved a little. But it was really nice that Pattie didn't really want my input on other things. I wasn't asked to give any input on the flowers. I didn't have to help her decide on the colors. She knew what she wanted for the theme. She knew what kind of cake she wanted and everything. I had heard horror stories from some of the guys I knew who were engaged. But my baby had it all under control all by herself…it was great. The summer seemed to fly by and before I knew it, we were heading home for the week of the festivities. We'd each taken the summer session that started immediately after the end of the spring term which left us only my summer job and her internship to schedule around. Since both were at corporations we'd had a very positive and long association with, it had been no problem to have the two weeks we needed free.
MeDe, Sam and Noah got there on Monday just in time for me to drag, Sam and Puck with me to meet the rest of the groomsmen for the last of the fittings for our tuxes. MeDe went to a meeting with the event coordinator at the UNOH Event Center with the girls. Their dresses and accessories had all been ready six or more weeks ago. Heck, I was pretty sure that I heard Tonya and Candi calling the other five bridesmaids to make sure that they had their shoes broken in and everything. I'd have loved if we could have worn suits we already had, but Devon, Sam, Puck, Jake and I all owned tuxes but they weren't all by the same designers so there were slight differences…Pattie was adamant that we all be in the same one. Then my boys, Nick, Greg and Tont didn't even own a tux. Men's Warehouses were everywhere, so we'd each been able to get our measurements done where we lived and we just had to make sure that everything was in order at this fitting.
Thankfully we got there and everything was exactly like we ordered it. The eight Ralph Lauren three button, super fine tuxes with the notched collar sized correctly for all eight of our different body builds. The seven petal pink satin bow ties and cummerbunds. The black satin set for me. The simple white microfiber shirts with the point collars. Two of the same looking tux in boys' sizes twenty and one in a 4T for Stevie, Brandon and the ring bearer. We were good. Everyone was providing their own socks and shoes, black socks and black round toe leather dress shoes. Pattie told me that I could go ahead and give them their gifts so they could try them on with the tuxes. "Alright, gentlemen…gather 'round. It is tradition that the groom gives his groomsmen something for their service. Now there are lots of new trends…but the traditional one is for the groom to give the groomsmen the cufflinks and shirt studs they are to wear on the big day." I handed them each a black box. "Inside each of these boxes are sterling silver and onyx shirt studs and cuff links sets. They are to be worn with your tuxes. Consider them your gift from Pattie for helping us celebrate this momentous occasion."
"Wait, if these are from Tricie…what did you get us?" Devon teased.
I rolled my eyes. "I'll give you my groomsmen gifts tomorrow at the bachelor party." I did to. It was perfect. Since we had two groomsmen under twenty and two junior groomsmen, we decided to have the bachelor party at Westgate Lanes and invite all the dads and every male who was already in town. It was great. As soon as everyone was settled at our tables, I passed out the shiny black gift bags with the petal pink tissue paper that Pattie had gotten for all of the bridal party gifts. Inside each of themI had placed a cool big beer stein monogrammed with their first initial. For the rest of the night we had a blast. It was all really epic. We bowled. We played laser tag. We played video games. Everyone used their gifts, those of us over twenty-one had beer in ours, while the under twenty-oners had sodas in theirs. It was a pretty awesome night all around. Tonya and Candi took all the girls to a spa night that included lots of wine and snacks. They were completely happy, though Pattie wasn't happy with how hungover she was the next morning.
Friday evening, we had the rehearsal at our church, then my parents hosted everyone for the rehearsal dinner at their house. But Momma did have the dinner catered rather than trying to cook herself. Instead of us giving out gifts, Pattie had given her girls their jewelry sets at the spa night, we received many of the ones our friends and family had for us. Pattie's grandmother, Nana Selma, gave her a gorgeous diamond and sapphire cross and an antique lace handkerchief to carry as she went down the aisle. Grandma Mae allowed her to borrow an antique ivory bracelet that had been in her family for generations. Bubbie Ruth gave her a diamond hair comb…it seemed to be almost something of a tradition that the grandmothers were handling the 'something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. I learned later that it had started at Devon and Tonya's wedding and when Pattie's grandmother heard about it, she decided to follow the new tradition. MeDe and her guys gave us the final information we needed for our honeymoon…it was a perfect evening.
The wedding and reception were both completely beautiful. Pattie wanted 'Elegant Passion'; that was her theme and that was exactly what she got. The church was alive with petal pink flowers and ivory candles in silver holders with trailing black satin ribbons. The reception hall was decorated in all three colors with small pops of black hidden in the lighter colors. We ate a wonderful dinner and danced a million dances. Candi caught the bouquet, which amused me greatly. Especially since my boy Greg, who had been trying to date her for three years caught the garter. It looked like they had made a love connection as they were dancing. It was cute. The cake was moist and delicious, vanilla bean with chocolate mousse filling and a chocolate ganache frosting…under the petal pink fondant. By the time we made it to our hotel room, I'd not made love to my bride in over a week. I didn't even get her out of her dress before I was inside her once we'd closed the door behind the bell hop. We made love a couple more times, caught a nap and a shower before we met the family for breakfast and church. With all the grandmothers, except Pattie's father's parents, present and accounted for…we had no choice at all.
We flew out the next morning to Barbados. Our little siblings got us seven nights at the Sandals Resort there. It was perfect. Our room was awesome. The food was great. Other than the massage that MeDe had pre-booked, we didn't actually do any of the activities. We made it to the beach a time or two and to the pool once…but mainly we made love all the damn time. The night before we left we made it to the Carnivale Beach Party, but we didn't stay very long. Pattie was looking so beautiful in her sundress that I had to take her home and make love to her until we almost missed our return flight. Unfortunately, we had to get back to the living of life the very next day. The rest of the summer was comprised of days of normal married living punctuated with family events. Dad's Fourth of July Barbeque, Becah and George's wedding, the VMA nomination announcements…we spent some time with KAMA in the studio helping them 'lay down tracks' for their Christmas album…all of our friends and the four of us drove to Chicago to go to Lollapalooza to see KAMA perform. Candi and Greg almost got us kicked out when their making out during 'Rub You the Right Way' got way too heavy for a public place. The summer was pretty much capped off by Saul and Mills wedding. The only thing that came after that was Sarah's birthday weekend and the VMAs, neither of which happened until classes were back in session. The four of us had planned a watch party at Banfield's, a bar and grill we all loved, but then somehow Devon and Tonya decided to go watch it with the family in Lima, so Pattie and I and like thirty other people were watching in rapt attention. Every time KAMA won something one of our really close friends would buy the bar a round. Greg got it when they got 'Artist to Watch', Candi bought everyone shots when they won the 'Best Direction' award. Tont bought the bar a round when their name was called for the 'Video with a Message' statue. Nick sent everyone a drink to celebrate the 'Video of the Year' win. Then the world just flipped.
The crowd in the bar got quiet as hell as Puck called out cops. But then the weirdest thing happened. People started talking. They started talking about what he had said and why he'd said it. I heard Pattie telling one guy that wasn't even there with us that Puck had had a few experiences of his own with the police so he knew what he was talking about. I listened as Greg and a white dude from my programming classes started discussing white privilege. I heard a guy with a military build starting to get pissed and going into automatic defense of officers of the law mode and his girl looked at him and calmly said loudly, "with your training, if a fight broke out in here and you beat someone to death you would be put away for a long ass time because you are supposed to know better. Cops are supposed to be trained. They are supposed to know better. Why do we hold military men and women to such a high standard, but cops supposedly get a fucking pass? That Puck dude has a point. My dad was a cop for twenty-five years, he never shot anyone. He retired because he felt the new cops coming in think they are playing a video game. They consider themselves some fucked up kind of urban commando or something." She finished angrily.
From there the conversation swelled again as people started discussing their own experiences with police, be they positive or negative. it was like a live and in person version of the twitter back and forth a I saw earlier, #DrivingWhileWhite vs #DrivingWhileBlack. I knew why Puck did it. In his mind his black brothers were in just as much danger as the other black men in the country. He had Jake, he had Devon, he had me. Devon and I we'd always felt insulated by the fact that we were more like the Cosby kids than we were like Biggie or Tupac. But lately we've both talked about whether or not that even mattered. Whether or not we should or even could allow the privilege that our parent's money gave us to blind us to what others are experiencing. We certainly knew that we couldn't. Neither of us knew what we should look like, but apparently Puck knew exactly what he should do. He should speak up and speak out. I was very proud to call him my brother. But immediately began to worry for him. I'd spent most of the summer worrying about MeDe…spending the fall worrying about Puck could be a nice change of pace.
It Don't Have to Change (John Legend)
Devon PoV
The summer of the beginning of my sister's stardom was interesting as hell. I wasn't naïve. I knew how Americans dealt with our celebrities. They loved and hated them by turns. They both worshiped and reviled them…and sometimes they stalked and/or killed them. Mercedes Jones was now a celebrity. But more importantly she was my little sister. That had been my only worry about her dream of becoming the world's next Beyoncé. Scrolling through twitter feeds for #KAMA did nothing to dispel that worry. She did have a lot of positive comments but she also had way more sexualized comments than I really liked. I mean, didn't those people realize that she was a human being. She wasn't put on earth for them to perve over. Even beyond that she was as God meant her to be. What gave them the right to try and claim that she should change to fit some stupid ideal that no real human being can reach if they aren't genetically predetermined to look like that.
But that summer wasn't just a series of changes in my sister's life. It was a time of great change in my own. Even though Tonya and I had been married for the better part of a year, we were just beginning to approach the time in our lives where we really had to step out into the real world. Kevon, Tricie, Tonya and I would all get degrees, I would be earning my PhD, while Tonya wrapped up her lingusitics masters and her Pedagogy PhD. At the same time Kev and Tricie would be getting their masters. Neither of their fields called for doctorates, so we would be entering the work force at the same time. It was not necessarily scary…but it was daunting that we could end up who knew where. Me and Patrice would need to work in a major city. Tonya needed a city with a good selection of liberal arts colleges. But Kevon could conceivably work anywhere. It might seem strange to others, but I wasn't really ready to separate. Kevon was my brother. He and I had been tighter than twins since middle school. Besides, he got stupid ideas sometimes and Tricie followed him up way too easily. So Tonya and I both agreed that we'd look at the same cities those two were looking at. If I thought I could stand living in New York, we'd probably only look there so we could be close to MeDe. But that was one of those cool places to visit, but I did not want to live there full time.
Time flew by. I had classes, but nothing that I couldn't handle. But the more bullshit I saw aimed at my MeDe online the less I slept. It got to the point where I was lucky to get a couple of hours without being awakened by nightmares…especially after I followed the wrong troll down the wrong rabbit hole. I think that the people on that sight were actually the stuff of nightmares. I'd been wondering what the hell I was going to do about it. I was really driving myself pretty much crazy. Then Tonya and I came up with this awesome idea of trolling the muthafucking trolls. By the time Kevon had everything in place for us to be able to actually spend some real time retaliating against our little sister's detractors without it getting linked back to us, I'd made up my mind to catalog the dangerous assholes on that scary site I'd stumbled into.
Once I had a way to feel like I was doing something to protect my first baby sister, I slept like a baby. Between classes, spending time with my Par'Mach'kai, her internship, and life in general, days flew by quickly. Patrice had set her wedding date between summer terms, which worked for me and Tonya since we were both taking classes for all three summer terms unlike Kevon and his bride who only took classes the first and third terms. It made sense though I mean it would have sucked for them to have to rush their honeymoon. Their wedding was nice. It was very sweet. Traditional, but they made it their own just because that was who they were. One day, I was going to get my sis-in-law back for making me wear pink though. Kevon and Patrice left for their honeymoon the Monday after their Saturday wedding.
The trio had given Tonya and I a trip for our first anniversary, which was great because the whole first anniversary traditional gift being paper thing had messed me over. I assumed that the paper all the information for the trip was printed on covered us for the traditional gift, I could do something fun for her instead. So I took pictures of us from our wedding day and pictures of the traditional Klingon wedding garb to a local portrait painter, who had great reviews on every site I could find. Before we left I picked up a beautiful framed painting of the two of us in the red outfits Jadzia Dax and Worf had worn for their wedding on DS9. It was perfect. The artist had done an amazing job. I took a picture of it with my phone before I took it and had it wrapped. It stood waiting for our return for her to open it. We had two days after we got back to Ann Arbor before we flew out to the Beaches Turk and Caicos resort that had been our gift from MeDe, Noah and Sam.
When we checked in, our assigned concierge directed us to the French Village because the resort was actually divided into four villages with different entertainments for each. Our room was pretty gorgeous. We walked into a living room with a sofa, dining area, and a big ass TV. The bedroom had a big ass, mahogany, king sized bed and overlooked the Riviera pool and the formal gardens. The bathroom was nice, it wasn't huge, but the shower would definitely hold us both…so it worked well for me. The first thing Tonya and I did was to change into our swimsuits. My beautiful wife stepped out looking like an amazing earth goddess in an ocean blue bikini with a wave white sarong tied about her waist. My own plain green board shorts were nowhere near as sexy. Then again Tonya could wear a burlap sack and still be the most beautiful woman in the world. For the next six days we had a ball.
The seventh day was the first of July, our first anniversary. We started our anniversary with a long walk through the gardens before having a couple's massage. That relaxing experience was followed by an afternoon spent lounging on one of the world's most beautiful beaches. Then we had dinner at La Petite Chateau, the most expensive looking restaurant I've ever been in in my life. Thankfully, the resort was all inclusive, so we didn't have to pay for anything. Heck the menu didn't even have any prices. Tonya looked amazing in a strapless, metallic bronze cocktail dress and sky high heels. We exchanged our gifts, though the best I could do for mine to her was to show her a picture of the painting. She teared up so I was sure that she really loved it. My amazing wife presented me with blu-rays of the entire Star Trek movies series from the original eighties films through the Next Generation movies all the way to the JJ Abrams reboots. God I loved that woman. I spent the entire evening showing her exactly how awesome I knew she was.
The rest of our time at Beaches was just as awesome as the days before our anniversary. We ate a ton of wonderful food. We frolicked in the waters of the ocean, the pools. We went to an amazing water park. We made love every morning, every afternoon and every night. It almost sucked to head back to real life. But when it was time, we returned to the real world happier and even more in love with each other and so relaxed that nothing could stress us.
That turned out to be a very good thing. The rest of the month of July was packed with activity. Dad' s Fourth of July Barbeque, George and Becah's wedding, the Harris Family Reunion. Some years I look forward to seeing my cousins and family, but most of the time…I dread those damn things. Hannah and Aunt Arielle could be such bitter bitches to MeDe and because I had to treat Aunt Arielle with respect and MeDe wanted to handle them herself, there was nothing that I could do to help her. but over Christmas Mercedes and Hannah's relationship had changed completely. After Hannah got her head extracted from her ass by my cousin on my dad's side, Franklin, it was like she was a whole new person. So that year's reunion was going to be entirely different. Not only were MeDe and Hannah getting along better but Aunt Arielle had basically disowned Hannah because of who her heart chose. And I knew I wasn't unbiased, but Franklin Jones was a damn fine choice for Hannah's heart to make. The only thing about him that anyone could consider a negative was that he was technically old enough to be her father. He was strong and caring. He was from a long line of monogamous relationships. He could take care of her. Heck, he wanted to take care of her. In Franklin's field having a wife who was a stay at home mother wasn't frowned on like it could be in other industries. Granted once the twins were old enough to go to school, Hannah would probably be dying to get a job. That was just how we rolled in both sides of my family.
Since the hotel we'd been having the reunion at for years had run out of rooms the past two years in a row, the family had switched to a new one that summer. The new hotel was right on the intra-coastal waterway and almost entirely ours for the weekend. The Harris Family booked ninety percent of the suites available in the hotel. Of the remaining ten percent, KAMA had rented thirteen or fourteen rooms for the weekend since MeDe, Sam and Noah were technically working that weekend. They had a show in West Palm Beach on Saturday. The whole family was still in New York after George and Becah's wedding, so we all flew down together. Sander and Gabby took Triple S, Tessa, and Jake to Disney World while Mom and Dad brought Sloane and the twins with them to the Reunion. We decided to do things that way so we wouldn't have to subject the kids who were old enough to remember the occasion to the more annoying of the Harrises, plus Gabby and Sander would be able to have a good time without having the baby to take care of.
We didn't get there until Friday morning, since KAMA was recording their Christmas album that week. But a lot of the fam didn't come in until Friday afternoon. As long as everyone was there before the opening dinner…it didn't matter what time we got there. We got checked in and took everything up to the rooms. I was kind of relieved to find out that MeDe and her guys were in a different wing of the hotel. At least I was until I was walking back to the room with the full ice bucket and saw Hannah and Franklin letting themselves and the twins into the room right next door to us. Hart and Hawk were four months old and, according to Hannah's mommy blog, Facebook and Twitter posts, colicky. I immediately started to pray that the boys would sleep through the night, or at least not cry while me and Tonya were getting our groove on.
As soon as I had passed Tonya the bucket through the door she kindly opened for me, I went back and helped Hannah and Franklin with all the babies' stuff. They should have done like Mom and Dad had done and just gotten a bell hop for all their plus the babies' crap. It might be wrong to say, but since she showed up at Mom and Dad's for Christmas, I've finally started to like my cousin. She actually acted like a normal person when we saw her and she treated MeDe like family, not like a personal affront to her very being. Plus, the twins were four months old and Hannah wasn't freaking out about the extra fifteen pounds she was still carrying around. "Thanks a lot, Dev." Franklin's quiet voice boomed throughout the room. "They are bringing up our portable cribs, so I didn't want to make them carry everything."
"Not a problem, cuz. You're family." I said with a grin. He really was family all the way around.
I was a little surprised when he followed me back into the hall with the babies while Hannah was in the bathroom. "So be honest with me…am I gonna have to break my foot off in my mother-in-law's ass?"
"Wait, Mother in law?"
He glanced back to make sure the door was closed. "Hannah and I got married over Valentine's day. We just aren't telling anyone until after we have a real wedding on our first anniversary. I wanted to be married when the babies came; she wanted not to be waddling down the aisle. This is our compromise. So, how bad is your aunt going to be tonight?"
I shrugged. "I can't even guess. Have you even met her yet?"
"I met her way back in the day when your mom and dad got married, but I was barely eighteen. If I'd run into her somewhere before Hannah and I got together, I doubt I'd have remembered her face." He said honestly.
"She hasn't come to see the boys?" I was shocked. Grandma Mae always came to see Mom and help her out whenever she had babies…Even with the twins and Momma had plenty of help already home then.
Franklin gave me a derisive look. "Your Uncle Bryant saw them before they left the hospital. Your Uncle Ethan and his wife Amanda helped me figure out those complicated ass car seats in the hospital parking lot. Your Mom and Dad stopped in before they returned to Ohio after MeDe's drop party and they have come a couple of times since then. Danica Skypes with Hannah at least once a week to see how she is handling twins the first time out the gate. Your Uncle Christophe lives in Bethesda…we see him whenever he has nothing better to do…which pretty much means we see him at least twice a month. We live in Glover Park and your Aunt Arielle lives in Georgetown…she still hasn't so much texted to see if Hannah needed anything."
I shook my head. "Aunt Arielle is a control freak. She has no clue how to interact with Hannah now that she has slipped her leash and is doing what Hannah wants to do rather than what she wants Hannah to do. It's sad but true. Eventually either Arielle will get over it or she won't all you can do is be there for Hannah and support her no matter how Arielle behaves. Leave it to Hannah or Mom and the Uncles to set her straight. If you fight her battles for her, Hannah will never grow all the way up."
Franklin might have been a man in love, but he was also a grown ass man and a pragmatist. He knew that what I was saying was the truth. Hannah had gotten herself to the point where she was happy and comfortable in her own skin and not being a bitch to every person she came across. She had real relationships including friends and, apparently, a husband. She was facing the ultimate test of adulthood…standing up for herself, even if it meant going up against her mother. She had run away at Christmas, which was right and good since she was pregnant and didn't need that stress. But she definitely needed to make her stand. It was good that it would be where she would have a lot of support, though none of us would do it for her. I kissed the babies and helped him open his door before I returned to my room. Tonya and I found that we had just enough time to enjoy some quality time together before we needed to get dressed for the Opening Dinner.
I had it easy, a pair of slacks, a button up shirt and a sports coat and I was good to go. Tonya however had to actually 'dress'. We showered together and I watched her getting dressed while I threw on my clothes. Dressed in some sexy lace bra and panty set the color of perfectly ripe cantaloupe, my beautiful bride did her hair first. She'd trimmed her locs up to her bra-line and had had them retwisted and curled earlier that week. She pulled back and braided them into a complicated fishtail braid. Tonya was not a makeup fan. She used a little eyeliner, a couple of swipes with her mascara wand and some melony colored lip gloss and called it a day. Once her face was done, she tucked her lips together so that she wouldn't smudge them and put on her dress. She had been very proud of finding the Calvin Klein watermelon pink sheath cocktail dress on sale for more than half off. Of course, like my sister and mother, she then blew any savings on the shoes. Actually, I think maybe, she said that she got those on sale too. When she showed them to me, I may have become more obsessed with getting her under me wearing nothing but those gold sandals rather than paying attention to what she told me about them. They were just that hot.
When she put on the last of her jewelry, which admittedly wasn't much, a couple of bangle bracelets and a pair of hoop earrings, she grabbed her purse and we headed down stairs. The hotel had room service and a room that could be rented for parties and occasions, but it didn't have a traditional restaurant. Which meant that we could and did have the Opening Dinner catered by a local gourmet grocer and caterer. The food was pretty epic. The night started off with a contemporary seafood bar and a traditional antipasto bar for what basically amounted to a cocktail party. It was nice. Got to see a lot of cousins that I hadn't seen since the summer before. It was funny because all of us who were born before Hannah, Daniel, Uncle Bryant's eldest, me, Kevon and some of the second and third cousins were all keeping an eye out for Aunt Arielle.
When she showed up, she kind of reminded me of a black Cruella DeVille. Her dress was a severe black and white cocktail dress that came up to her throat and looked like if she weighed even a pound more it would have choked the life out of her. Her heels were black, tall as hell and spiky…they were scary. She stepped into the room and looked around. Hannah and her family hadn't arrived yet, so there wasn't any real reason for everyone to be so tense as if waiting on a confrontation. I should have realized that Hannah was new meat…Arielle always had preferred a different victim. MeDe was talking to some of the younger cousins, they had all brought their KAMA CDs with them and, of course she and the guys were autographing them for them. From the one Melliscent showed me, she made sure to reference their familial relationship on them too. The kids were all hella happy.
They took one look at Aunt Arielle approaching with her air of killjoy-ocity and dispersed. MeDe just straightened her spine in her royal purple, ruched satin-looking dress and black heels. But before she could marshal her resources, Aunt Arielle sent one across her port bow. "So Mercedes, I suppose you think that because you have an album, you have everything you ever wanted. I guess next you will let one of those fast talking managers talk you into quitting college to devote yourself to your music. Next thing you know you'll be flat broke and relying on the family to get you through yet another stint in rehab."
MeDe just rolled her eyes. "Aunt Arielle…I would say it was a pleasure to see you again, but I'd either be being disrespectfully sarcastic or I'd be lying. Instead I will say congratulations on your beautiful little grandsons. Hart and Hawk are truly adorable. They have your and Hannah's eyes."
"Hart and Hawk…" she murmured with a small eye roll. "While I do applaud her for making sure to name the boys after herself rather than 'that man', I do wish she had gone for more traditional names. I suppose that I should say thank you for the compliment, but I honestly haven't seen the children yet. Hannah hasn't seen fit to bring them to see their grandmother as of yet."
"She hasn't…you do realize how much trouble traveling with twins is…even getting them ready for their pediatrician visits is a battle of epic proportions. Their other grandmother is significantly older than you and I know for a fact that she has traveled across the country and visited them twice in the last four months." MeDe shot back. "So if you were trying to make Hannah look bad, you totally just made yourself look like the worst mother since Joan Crawford."
Aunt Arielle looked around the room and saw that a lot of us were agreeing with MeDe. "I do not have any obligation to be civil to the man who got my young, impressionable daughter pregnant out of wedlock. A man who is closer to my own age than hers. If not being please with that old man manipulating and impregnating my darling daughter…probably against her will…makes me a bad mother than I suppose I am guilty."
"Arielle, you need to watch your mouth." Dad's voice boomed across the dining room. "Franklin is my cousin. He is a damn good man and the fact that he saw something worth falling in love with in Hannah is the only thing that made my family rethink Hannah and realize that she was more than just your little bitter clone."
"Besides…you can't rape the willing and Hannah has slept with way too many guys who were older or darker or both for me to think she wasn't perfectly willing." A voice said snarkily from within the crowd. It sounded like my third cousin Greta. Greta had gone to Howard too. She was a year ahead of Hannah and had actually graduated.
"I was perfectly willing, Greta. Franklin is an amazingly kind and generous man and a truly amazing lover. He is as good a person as Uncle Benton and Devon and Kevon. He has treated me with more kindness and love than anyone ever has. All he asks of me is to be who I am inside…to be kind and good and to treat him with love and kindness too. He doesn't withhold his love if I do not behave exactly as he would like. He doesn't commit emotional blackmail when I don't agree with him. He would never ask me to isolate and humiliate my own flesh and blood just because her skin is dark or she is thick and curvy. Thankfully MeDe has forgiven me…but Mother, you were entirely wrong to reward me for my treatment of her for all these years." Hannah's voice was strong and she looked completely undaunted by the fact that the whole family was hanging on her drama.
Aunt Arielle looked like she had swallowed a lemon. "I'm sure that I don't know what you mean."
"Really, because when I was eight and pushed her into the sandcastle she spent an hour building, I got a new bike. And when I was eleven and I actually made MeDe cry at the Opening Dinner…I got that super expensive computer. The year I told you I made her so upset that she threw up, you bought me my breast implants." Hannah listed off without any hesitation. "I knew it was wrong, but it made you proud of me. That was about the only thing I could do that made you completely happy."
"Well, it wasn't my fault that there was so little to take pride in in your accomplishments. Your grades were mediocre no matter how many tutors I provided you with, you refused bring home As. I paid for you to have every kind of lessons available. Piano, violin, harp, flute, ballet, jazz…voice…you couldn't play, you couldn't dance, you couldn't sing. When you were thirteen you were caught with a boy in the school gym, both of you in an extreme state of undress… Mercedes was chaste and she was studious. She had more talent in her little finger than you did in your little finger. Greta had four point ohs from kindergarten all the way through. Marie-Anne could be a world class ballerina…All of my cousins and brothers and sister's daughters were more accomplished than you. What was there to be proud of?" Arielle shot back.
Hannah laughed. "I hated those lessons. The only lessons I really liked were the gymnastics classes, but just when I started getting really good, you decided that those were too unladylike and made me stop them. And I did get As…I got As in home ec and any cooking class I ever took. But that was never good enough for you. Now, I'm happy. I am truly happy. I have a husband who loves me. A man who helps me to bring forth the best parts of my personality. I have two amazing little boys who have at least one grandmother who loves them both more than she loves herself. They have great-aunts and uncles that have been there since the minute they arrived. Cousins who love them no matter how much of a bitch I'd been to them growing up. Hell, MeDe went shopping the morning after her record release party for them…tired though she probably was…that's how beloved they are. They don't need you and Mother, neither do I."
MeDe and the female cousins all encompassed her, Franklin and the twins, while Mom, and her brothers pulled Aunt Arielle to the side. Kevon sidled over to the cluster surrounding Hannah and I got as close to the grown folks as I could. Just as I got close enough to listen in, the loud, stinging report of a slap echoed throughout the entire room. My mom was shaking her hand as she started going off on Arielle who looked completely shocked as a red hand print bloomed on her high yellow cheek. "I knew that you didn't like Benton. I knew that it was for bullshit reasons. I knew that despite growing up in the same home that the rest of us did, you somehow ended up completely color struck and just about bat crap crazy…but I never thought that you would be enough of a bitch to make your daughter torture her own family just to make you feel like less of a failure. I never thought that my own sister would or even could go out of her way to hurt my child. I can't even fathom the harm you have done. But you know what…it wasn't to Mercedes. My daughter turned out just fucking fine. No the damage you did you did to your own precious child. Hannah had a right to find her own talent. But all you could do was hold her up to other people. You destroyed herself worth. You almost made her as twisted and bitter as you are."
Uncle Christophe and Uncle Bryant were looking just as angry. "You had the benefit of having been raised to adulthood by our mother…she was kind. She was caring. She made sure that we each loved ourselves…because she knew that there would be times when no one else in the world would." Uncle Bryant said quietly. You have done amazing things in your life. In a time when a lot of colleges were only barely allowing us in, you went to a desegregated college and got a great degree. You found a husband and you two traveled for quite a while before you had Hannah. No matter what you may claim, remember that I know Duane Tucker. I still have lunch with him four or five times a year. Even though Duane knew that Hannah wasn't his, even though he never wanted to have children, he still sent you money for her every month. Even though you refused to sign the divorce papers until he finally got a default divorce judgment, he still sent you what basically amounted to alimony. You have no reason to have done any of this. You could have had a happy marriage or, having failed at that, you could have had a reasonable divorce. You have a great career. You've got a smart, beautiful daughter who is happy and has given you two healthy grandsons. I think it might be best if you go Arielle. I can't condone your actions. I can't excuse your behavior…"
"You cannot ban me from a family reunion. This is my family. I am the eldest." Arielle defended.
I shook my head. That was bullshit. She was the eldest in my mother's branch. But Mom had more than one cousin that was older than Aunt Arielle. And there was still a few surviving members of my grandparents' generation. But it wasn't someone older than her that spoke up. "No Arielle…it is our family. A family that you like to reap the benefits of being a member of without accepting any of the responsibilities for. Danica was ten when Momma died. You were twenty. I'll give you that you were trying to finish college…but Danica gave up her whole youth being a mother to me when to be honest that was your place…your duty. You like to call yourself the matriarch…but Dan is the one we all turn to, the one we can count on. All you did when I was young was criticize everything she or I did. Benton has outlasted every other spouse in this whole family, and yet you still go out of your way to make him feel as if he doesn't belong. Mercedes has just as much Harris blood in her as Hannah, but you have always gone out of your way to make her fell less than. Here is the truth Arielle; if you left here tonight and never came back, no one would miss you. No one would feel anything beyond relief. How sick and sad is it that if you got hit by a truck tomorrow…we'd be sad for a minute…but we'd plan your funeral out of duty and obligation…not love and care. We wouldn't mourn you like we would Ban or Dent. You can go. For all of my life I've only really had one sister…the time has come that I finally admitted it."
He turned and walked away. He was completely done with her and yet, almost as if to spit in her eye, he walked over and hugged Hannah and started talking with Franklin and playing with the babies. I looked over and noticed that Dad and Noah had gone over with Maea and Mara too. I focused back in on Aunt Arielle and saw that they had been joined by Great Uncle Woodrow. He was Granddaddy's brother and the oldest blood Harris of his generation. "Arielle…I have never been as ashamed of any of my nieces and nephews as I am today. You haven't been acting like a Harris. Your father would be ashamed. Your mother would roll over in her grave. Unlike your brothers and sister, I know exactly where you got the model for your behavior. You act just like my mama. Despite all the goodness and love your parents raised you with, you chose to listen to Mama who knew she was wrong to convince you that giving your children conditional love to bend them to your will was a good thing. She was my mother and I loved her, but I know that the devil has her soul…so he can have yours too. The rest of us are tired of the tension and drama every year that always seems to trace back to you. Last year you raised such a fuss that Ethan's pregnant wife had her pressure run up. The year before that you made Danica so mad that she cussed you and all your cousins out. It's always something to do with you trying to control everyone else and trying to force your will on others. I'm the oldest blood member of this family and I'm bout sick and tired of not being able to enjoy my brothers' kids and grandkids because they are all up in arms over you. So like Bryant said. You can go…now. Come back next year with a better attitude or don't come back at all." he told her sternly. His eyes locked on hers until she finally backed down and swept from the room. "I'm too old for this BS." Great Uncle Woodrow sighed. "Now let's get to enjoying ourselves. Danica's boy…Devon, come on over here and stop eavesdropping." I went over and hugged my mother. Before turning to him for his instruction. "Devon, I want you to go and get little MeDe and her boys to sing for us. Tell her I like that 'You Send Me' song and the other one…'Leave a Light On'. Ask her if she'll make an old man happy and sing those two for me. Get this dinner back on track."
Great Uncle Woodrow was a smart man. MeDe, Sam and Noah did acapella, stripped down versions of both of those songs and a couple of more and by the time we all sat down and were served our dinner, it was like a weight had been lifted and a pall was gone. The rest of the weekend flew by in joy and laughter and music. MeDe, Sam and Noah had worked it out so that all of the twenty-five to thirteen crowd had tickets to their show on Saturday night. A blast was had by all. Every one of them came back with ridiculous amounts of swag. Come to find out all of their parents gave them money to spend and most of the adult gave the kids money to buy them some things too. It was the most fun I had ever had at the reunion on that side. My poor wife seemed as relieved as Hannah and Dad. It kind of made me feel like a crap husband that I hadn't realized that Aunt Arielle had upset her too at some point.
MeDe seemed the least affected, so Sunday, after the Closing Dinner, I asked her about it. Her words shocked me. "Aunt Arielle was the worst. She was definitely way worse than anyone else, but she wasn't alone. The rest of the family never stuck up for me. They let her and Hannah get away with everything they did to me. Even this year, they stood up for Hannah. It had nothing to do with me. The younger cousins and I are cool. Great Uncle Woodrow has always been kind and encouraged me. Mom's brothers I know they love me, but the rest of these people…they are family in an extended, nominal sense. I'm fine with that." She shrugged. I guess my face showed that I hadn't realized how isolates she had felt. "Dev, chill. I'm good. I may not have felt all sunshine and rainbows at the Harris fam reunions, but I had fun most of the time. Besides, for every Harris reunion there was a Jones Gathering and you know that I was totally loved and wanted at those."
"No, I think the word you were looking for instead of loved and wanted was feared." I teased. She ruled our generation of the Jones family with an iron fist.
She gave me a Kanye shrug. "Eh, same thing." She smiled. "So, how did you and Tonya like the resort?" she changed the subject and we talked for a while longer. Before too long though, she had to get packed up and head out. KAMA had to head straight to Columbus because they were recording the last track for their Christmas album. The rest of the family flew out the next morning. By the time the family gathered for both Saul and Mills' wedding and Sarah's birthday weekend, I was ready for school to get back in session just so I could get some rest.
I was taking only three classes and working on my doctoral thesis. My dissertation was looking at the effects of the Citizens United decision on the American political system and comparing the use of big money in the US versus the much more rigid funding systems of our allies. Luckily I had been able to get my thesis topic approved quickly and easily. Unfortunately, Tonya wasn't having the same luck. Her first topic to be shot down was examining the new moral culture of microagressions and how the culture of dignity had given way to the culture of victimhood on college campuses and how it was getting, in Tonya's opinion, ridiculous. She had niced it up, but that was basically what she meant. The second topic to get shot down examined the roles of Rater language in background, language attitude, and training of speakers of the different versions of English spoken all around the world. Finally, her thesis committee allowed her to do her third choice of topics where she looked at the voices from the Haitian America community: linguistic and educational adaptations of adolescent and adult Haitian immigrants. Considering that my girl spoke French and both Haitian and Louisiana Creole, she knew that she could handle it with no problem at all.
We had planned to host a watch party for the VMAs with Kev and Tricie, but Tonya really needed a break from our college town and our crew, most of whom had had their thesis ideas accepted on the first try. We surprised Momma and Dad by showing up at their party and it was totally worth the drive. Momma had out done herself. She even worked it out so that the guys wouldn't have to listen to the women dissect the fashion choices of the stars. The only comment I had to hear about fashion was when Dad noticed MeDe's shoes. "Oh, Dani hated those shoes. She bought MeDe a different pair, claiming that they were her reward for her grades this semester…but really she was just hoping that your sister would wear the other pair." Instead conversation centered around current events. We were in the Midwest so a lot of us were paying close attention the Mike Brown case and that lead to discussions of the Staten Island police killing as well. Dad finally had to call a halt to the conversation since things were getting heated. "Look, black folks all know that this is just the way a lot of the cops in this country are. You read the old police reports from the eighties and nineties and you'd think every black man they encounter is crazy and drugged up and dumb ass enough to reach for their gun. The only difference is that now everybody and their momma is walking round with a video camera in their pocket. So now we're gonna table it for another time, because my baby and her husbands are on the biggest awards show they have been on yet. I don't want to miss a single minute."
The entire congregation of men dropped the subject just as Mom and the ladies came up to integrate the gathering. From there, it was a hell of a good time. Seeing my little sibs get a damn near standing ovation from that jaded ass audience was the most epic thing ever. We got so loud in our joy that somebody called the cops. But they were nice about it all. Stayed for a bite to eat. At least until they won the first award of the night. Then I was just over the moon. By the last award I was the proudest big brother ever. Then Puck spoke realer talk than most people in Hollyweird ever utter. Actually then I was the proudest big brother ever…but I was so worried about him. Suddenly the celebrating in the backyard took on a strange feeling. The parents and Mr. Adams went in the kitchen to talk about the possible consequences of Puck's honesty. Sam's statement was real too…but the NRA could be a nuisance, but the cops…that would be an entirely different kettle of fish. More like a kettle of ravenous sharks.
I was worrying about that when I felt my phone vibrate. I answered without looking thinking it would be Kevon. But as soon as I said hello, Uncle Bryant's voice spewed forth. "Where is your mother? She isn't answering her phone and I need to talk to her. We've gotta get ahead of this and spin it in their favor." I ran the phone in and all the arrangements being made around me pretty much made my head spin. Within half an hour after the broadcast ended, everything had been set up. My cousin Daniel would be heading to New York to work PR for KAMA until either he decided to stay there with them, or they found a permanent PR person. They would have a bodyguard on them moving forward. Thankfully we already knew who to go to for that and Rangeman was cool with working with MeDe, Sam and Puck to make sure that they would be safe.
Talking to Tonya on the ride back up to our apartment, we were wondering about what the fallout would be when we saw red and blue lights go on behind us. My breath caught in my throat. My heart started to pound in my chest. I could feel my hands get sweaty and my mouth go dry. I glanced down and saw that I was technically speeding by two miles per hour. Tonya grabbed her phone and dialed her mom and dad on speed dial while I carefully moved over a lane. I have never been so relieved when the cop kept going, not intent on stopping us but on answering whatever call had come in. The worst part was that it wasn't the first time, we'd had that happen, it probably wouldn't be the last. We'd worked out our 'being pulled over protocol our freshman year of college. We'd been pulled over later at night going back to campus from a party. The car had been full of half-drunk classmates as I was the designated driver. I doubted if any of them were old enough to drink. The cop had harassed me for almost an hour running my tags, my insurance, my name. He'd made me do every single field sobriety test there ever was. He'd leered at Tonya, but thankfully had left her alone. I don't know what would have happened if one of the guys from my floor, who'd been in the back seat hadn't called his dad on his cell phone to complain about the length of the traffic stop and how he was sure that I would refuse to DD for him ever again. Dude's dad was the state rep from the thirty-sixth district. Next thing we knew the cop was getting yelled at over his walkie talkie.
The next morning, Lund came to us. His dad had a few tips for us for dealing with future stops. A lot of them were ones I'd learned while Dad was teaching me to drive. "Look, always keep your hands on the wheel and tell him when you are moving them. Stay respectful, yes sir and yes ma'am. If you have someone in the car with you or if you have Bluetooth, call an adult and have them on the phone for the entire conversation." We've followed them and spread them to pretty much every black person we knew. It wasn't really fair, but it definitely kept us safe. There have been two occasions that the officer realized we were talking with our parents and they could hear every word they said and their attitude completely changed. Yeah, no matter what anyone could try and claim, Puck had been right to say what he was feeling. Enough was enough and we needed to see change.
Tom Sawyer (Rush)
Dave Briggs (The Drummer) PoV
When I was a kid, I had to read a Mark Twain book for a school assignment. I got totally hooked. Like Obsessed. I read every single one of his books. Every short story credited to him. Every notable quote. Then one day I was online and I stumbled across a music video for a song called Tom Sawyer. The drum beat and solo in that song had me as obsessed as the author I was searching for more information about when I found the song. It took me a minute to convince my parents to let me have drum lessons, but in Newark when a young black boy wanted to do something that would keep him off the streets and away from the gangs, most parents, mine included moved heaven and earth to make that shit happen. In middle school I joined the band, that meant I could play every day rather than just a couple of times a week. Then I played in the marching band all through high school. I wasn't studious, so I didn't have the grades or the temperament to go to college.
After I graduated; and yeah I graduated, there was no way I was disappointing my mother any more than I had when I said I wasn't even trying to go to college; I joined a rock band. It was small, just the tri-state area…but that led to me getting noticed by a bigger band one that actually went to most big cities…then when that one dissolved I found myself in Vegas auditioning for my next job. I lucked into a band that was already popular and known. They needed a drummer, and unlike a lot of rock bands they didn't care what color my skin was, just that I could jam. That was freaking epic. I spent three years in that band. Technically, we're still together, but that's really just a publicity ploy. Since I was out of work and really my money management game hadn't been all that great to begin with, I needed to find work pretty quickly. I did take a little time, went down south and visited my grandmother and a few relatives. Met an awesome DJ chick and we bonded tighter than tight. As soon as I got home to Newark, the manager for the band that I'd just finished out with called me.
"Hey Dave, I did something that you may or may not appreciate, but know that I did it out of a place of love." Channing started in as soon as I said hello.
I rolled my eyes. Channing Prince's road to hell was paved with actions he'd undertaken with the very best of intentions. "What did you do Chan?"
"Well, I found out about a pop/rock/country fusion group looking for a full time back up band. I know that you don't care what genre you play for as long as they music is on point. So I sent them your resume and some vids of you playing and a link to your webpage. They want you to come for a face to face meeting and a jam session." He blurted out hurriedly.
I had to admit this one didn't sound too bad. "Are they new on the scene or are they signed?"
"All the correspondence has been with an exec at Warner…so I'm thinking that they are signed. They didn't name names, but she said that it was time sensitive." He took a deep breath. "Look man, they are right in Manhattan, you go…check them out. If you aren't feeling it…no harm no foul."
So I went. The audition was held in a loft space in the same building as one of WMG's recording studios. When I got to the loft the first thing I saw was a table of five women, one of whom I recognized as an A&R exec at Warner. When my former band was with Fueled By Ramen, we'd hobnobbed with the WMG execs quite a few times. The other four women looked like they ranged in age from barely to just legal, a black girl that looked hella familiar, a blonde who even seated moved like a dancer, a Latina with a beautiful face but a scary smile and an efficient looking red head. Walking around the room, and probably the fillers of the empty chairs at the table were two white guys, one blonde and one with really short dark hair. Seeing them I realized that these were the new kids that had done the SongBird soundtrack and were making big news everywhere.
Deborah Jergens greeted me and introduced me to the others. Mercedes Jones was pretty…but it was a very ethnic, very real pretty. Part of me was a little surprise that they were even going mainstream with her. Mainstream tended to prefer black women to have European features. Sam Evans and Noah Puckerman, Puck, took seats on either side of her to Sam's right sat the efficient looking redhead, their PA Hudson Friedman. The blonde, their friend and dancer Brittany, sat next to Santana Lopez and they were joined by a guy in a wheelchair who was introduced as their extra guitarist and videographer Artie Abrams. I was shown to a seat across from KAMA and we had a conversation. It wasn't really an interview, it was us talking and getting to know each other. When I mentioned I'd just come from the south visiting family, Sam told me about his own southern roots and we talked about the summers I'd spent down there and how different it could be from up north. By the time we finished talking, I'd seen pictures of their daughter, Beth, their siblings, some of their friends…and they had seen a bunch of the tour pictures I had still on my phone. It was cool. I felt like I knew these guys better after an hour than I did with my last band after knowing them for a month.
Then it was time to embrace the music. They had rented a drum kit, a good one, the Gretsch Energy Series. I had brought my own sticks with me. "Alright, our friend Finn said that we should ask you for the Jojo Mayer "Sedation Deprivation" drum solo and then we should play seven-seven-seven, ninety-three eleven all together…then we can just jam out." Puck said as he, Sam, and Artie all got up and we moved over to the instruments.
Damn…the Finn dude knew his shit. The "Sedation Deprivation" solo wasn't the hardest drum solo in the world, but it was certainly in the top five. And the Prince written Morris Day and the Time drum beat was fairly complex. We did those two then Artie started in with the guitar entrance for Earth Wind and Fire's "September" and I followed. Three songs later and I was asked to join the band. I said yes. They were good people and they loved music. When they mentioned the fact that they were thinking about having a DJ tour with them to help them keep things fresh, I immediately told them I had the perfect person. I told them about the DJ chick from the ATL that I'd bonded with pretty well a few weeks before.
After that things passed in a whirlwind. We had the meeting where we got the information about our salary and benefits package. If I hadn't already been damn glad that Channing had done his do before, I would have when I read my contract. I got paid not by the gig but a yearly salary just to ensure that I was available when they needed me. I was still free to do whatever I wanted when they didn't which was great since I was technically still in my other band. That would make it easy to work things out if the old band ever did a reunion show or something. The contract gave us recognition and a percentage of the royalties for any song we helped write, the biggest of big deals in the music industry. But the real thing that pushed me from cool into actual happiness was the benefits package. I would be able to stop forking out four hundred bucks a month for my silver tier health insurance. That was pretty nice. Once all the players were in place, we practiced together in the evenings got our shit cohesive. Then there as the drop party and the press junket. We played the MTV Movie Awards…that was a freaky experience. But it also showed me that when Puck, Sam and Mercedes had said that we would be treated well and not like third world refugees, they weren't blowing smoke up our asses. The hotel rooms were nice. We were treated to a spa visit. It was strange but cool.
I quickly realized that while our three vocalists were still in school, work would happen in fits and stops. We were running nonstop for a couple of weeks, then just practicing and shit until school let out and we hit the festival circuit. The summer passed quickly as hell. We did a whole lot of tour dates, but many of them were dates I'd done with my previous band, so I knew plenty of people. I introduced the crew around and once the other bands and crews realized that Cedes, Sam and Puck were about music for real, not just a pop machine by product…they got accepted and everyone learned shit wherever we went. Since none of them had ever played the drums for real, the drum lines on their first CD were pretty simplistic. We worked on songs for their next CD on the busses in our down time, so I helped make sure no one would be able to say that about their sophomore album. By the time we hit the VMAs, I was ready to get home for a break. The performance that night was bigger than anything that had been tried by the group before but we pulled it off.
When they won we screamed our asses off. Those guys might be young but they inspired a very real loyalty. I'd never seen anything like it before in my life. I was kind of resisting, just because I tended to be an asshole like that. It was a trait I knew I possessed. I didn't let it stop me from doing my job…and doing it better than anyone else they could have found. But I was resisting drinking the kool-aid. Erika had said after just a few gigs that she was in this band for life. Cass and Justin both agreed. I managed to deflect without them thinking anything of it. I'd already had a band that I thought I was going to be with for the rest of my career. Shit didn't work out that way. I wasn't putting myself out there like that again. Then Puck had to open his mouth and speak a truth of my life for no reason other than he knew it was the right thing to do. From that moment on, I knew that there was nothing at all that would ever draw me away from being the drummer for KAMA. They had my loyalty. I would do everything in my power to make sure that they rose even higher than they had dreamed.
Congratulations to Miz Amber Riley...our inspiration...on her new role as Effie in Dreamgirls being staged in London at the Savoy Theatre in the West End. If only I had to money to go.
RIP Dave Mirra & Maurice White
I hope that you will all read, enjoy & review! Please & thank you.
Next Chapter will be Saul, Becah & Xena. (If anyone has a good idea for a back story for the tall, amazonian looking back ground singer, leave me a review & let me know.
I love you all.
TTFN,
Anni