Chapter 3
Kia leaned over her bathroom sink, panting for breath. She had been putting on the finishing touches to her make-up when a great pain had grabbed her stomach. She winced and gripped the sink as another one hit. Closing her eyes, she began to breathe normally. Turning around to lean her hip against the sink, she began to slowly massage her stomach. She had begun to get these lancing pains a month ago, but she had thought they were nothing. But now they were getting worse, a day didn't go by when she didn't get one. At first she had thought it was appendicitis, but she had had her appendix removed when she was 13. She was starting to get increasingly worried, but she hadn't wanted to alarm anyone, so she hadn't said anything and they hadn't noticed. Slowly she moved from the sink, stopping once, as she felt lightheaded. Heading downstairs, as she heard voices, she decided she'd visit the doctor tomorrow. Maybe she'd ask Dionne to come with her.
D.A.
stayed in her room, ignoring Jordan and C.K.'s knocks. Fuck! She knew she
shouldn't have gotten like that when Flex had said her first name, but it just
brought back bad memories. Memories, she'd rather just forget, but now they
were probably all going to ask her questions and shit. Whatever, she'd just not
answer them, she didn't owe them a damn thing! She lifted her head as she heard
voices outside. Oh great, the Brady bunch people were here! She rolled off the
bed and peeked out her window.
Raising
an eyebrow, she could see she was wrong in her labeling. They looked like the
skater bunch! Laughing silently, she scanned the group. There were about 6
people she could see. There were four guys and only two girls. She figured they
must be tag alongs, or hoes or something though. Dismissing them she looked
through the guys, her eyes stopping on the bald headed one. Wow!! This one
looked good enough to eat, and that was only from far away. Deciding, she was
going to join then after all, she dressed in a tight low cut tank top and tight
jeans.
Dionne sat in the kitchen, mixing the salad. Ever
since her "disagreement" with Dwayne, she had been in a depressed mood. She
hated being reminded of her faults. She groaned as she thought of staying here
the whole night, when all she wanted to do was go to bed. She had to be at work
for 8 tomorrow. Grabbing the plates from the cupboard she jumped when she felt
hands on her shoulders.
"Glad you came Dee!"
Turning around quickly, and almost dropping the
salad bowl, she put a hand to her chest as she realized that it was only
Jordan. "Dammit, you know I hate that shit!" Pushing him slightly in the chest,
she turned back to her task of getting the plates.
Jordan smiled and clutched his chest in mock pain.
Jumping up on the counter, he tipped his head to look at his best friend
closely. "What's wrong??"
She frowned. "What are you talking about JJ??"
Folding his hands across his chest, he leaned back
against the cupboard. "I know you to well, Dee. What's wrong??"
She rolled her eyes. She admitted that she could
talk to Jordan about anything, well anything but Dwayne. She finished setting
the table and turned to wipe her hands on a cloth. Without looking at Jordan,
she sought an answer to the question that had been plaguing her all day. "Am I
like Karyn, JJ??"
Jordan snorted in disgust. "Fuck no, Dee. Your
sister was a self-centered bitch, who used your low self-esteem to make herself
feel better." Jumping off the counter he stood behind her, and wrapped his arms
around her waist. "You should be happy. You are definitely nothing like your
sister."
Dee smiled and turned out of his embrace giving him
a large bear hug. He always tried to make her feel better about herself. When
she was with him, she didn't have to worry about him judging her. "Thanks,
Jordan."
Pulling away Jordan smacked her ass as she walked
away, laughing when she yelped. Hearing a car door slam. He turned to the
window and peeked through the curtain. "Well, looks like company's arrived,
Dee."
Jordan smiled as he heard Dee groan. He knew she
hated being in places with lots of people. Knowing her she would probably
disappear, for the whole night.
"Ok, put on your happy face Dee, almost time to
mingle!"
Dwayne stood outside of the house, waiting as saw
Letty and Dom hop out of their cars, followed by Mia and three other guys.
Walking down his front steps he moved towards Letty.
"Wassup, ya'll??"
Letty smiled as she saw the familiar face. "Nothin'
babe, good to see you. So where's the party at??" She said, as she leaned
forward and lightly squeezed Dwayne's stomach. He looked over her shoulder at the slightly open door.
Dwayne smiled and turned to Dom and greeted him.
"Sup, dog?"
Dom grinned. He had been feeling better ever since
Letty and him had managed to get on speaking terms. Well, a little more than
speaking terms, though things were far from fixed between them. "Nothin', just
chillin'. Trying to get a feel for the east coast."
Dwayne nodded and moved slightly past him to kiss
Mia lightly on the cheek. "How are you Mia??"
Mia smiled as she grabbed Brian's hand and returned
the light kiss. "Same here, I guess I should introduce everyone since no one
else is??" She turned to Brian. "This is my boy, Brian. Brian this is an old
friend Dwayne."
Dwayne shook hands in greeting and dismissed him
after sizing him up. "Call me Ice." Though he knew that Dom must knew these
guys pretty well for them to be traveling with them. Dwayne didn't and he
didn't let anyone he didn't know use his first name. It was how it worked in
Florida.
Brian nodded, noting Dwayne's subtle hint, that he
wasn't welcome to use his first name.
Mia pointed out Leon and Jesse. "These are our
friends Leon and Jesse, we met them a little while after you left L.A."
Dwayne greeted them and decided the Dom's crew
didn't seem all that bad. Blinding them all with smile, he headed back into the
house. "A'ight, ya'll I'm guessin' ya'll are hungry!!"
Everyone nodded and Letty let out a cat's meow in
response.
Mia squeezed Brian's hand in response to Letty and
Dom's seemingly better attitude towards each other. "Looks like things are
getting back to normal?"
Brian nodded absently. Things got back to normal a
little too quickly if you asked him, but he nodded to comfort Mia. Only time
could tell with those two.
C.K. waited in the kitchen with her auntie Dionne.
She had wanted to go outside with her daddy but Auntie Kia had said to wait.
She huffed to herself. D.A. hadn't let her put on her bootie shorts and instead
she had to wear Capri's. Well at least D.A. had let her wear her cheetah print
halter-top. Auntie Kia had done her hair earlier, and she had braided it just
like 'Licia Keys. She smiled and ran towards her daddy's voice as she heard him
come in the house. She hoped that they one of the parties where she got to dance,
'cause she felt like showing off tonight.
Dwayne opened his arms when he saw his little girl
running towards him. Rolling his eyes slightly at what she was wearing. She
always had to wear something revealing. "Hey stinky, did you dress yourself
tonight??"
Letty smiled at the little girl, having remembering
seeing her in the store. "Had to go make a kid that looked just like you huh??"
Dwayne laughed. "No other way, Letty!" He turned to
everyone. "This is my daughter Carla Kashay, but everyone calls her C.K."
C.K. glared at her father. "Daddy, you know I don't
like that name!" She turned to everyone, not feeling an inkling of shyness. "I
don't like C.K. I like Carla, so you can call me that."
Everyone laughed and Mia reached out and touched
her hair. "Nice hair, who did it for you??"
But C.K. had stopped paying attention to everyone
and was keenly focused on Dom. He was so cute. She pointed directly at him.
"Are you my daddy's friend too??"
Dom smiled, a little taken aback by the little
girls forwardness. "Yeah, I know your daddy from along time ago."
C.K. nodded and continued staring before she turned
back to Mia and answered her. "My Auntie Kia did my hair for me." She turned
back to Dom. "Do you like it??"
Letty smirked. Looked like Dom was popular with all
the girls. "Looks like you got another admirer Dom."
Leon had stood back quietly when meeting Ice. He
had decided even though Ice had seemed a little cold, he was all right. He
smiled at C.K. and shook his head. "Letty, seems like you've got some
competition."
Everyone laughed again. C.K. didn't care what
everyone was laughing about, already deciding Dom was going to be her new boy
toy. She opened her arms to him, indicating she wanted him to take her from
Dwayne.
Dwayne raised his eyebrow at this, knowing that his
daughter didn't really like everyone.
Dom winked at C.K. as he received her from Dom's
arms. "Yeah I like your hair, you look very pretty." He laughed as C.K. buried
her face in his neck.
Jordan
leaned over the back of his chair, as he straddled it. "Is Flex comin' Kia??"
He shook his head at the irony of him having to ask Flex's girlfriend where his
own cousin was.
Kia
nodded. "He said he'd be late, he had to pick up his car from Marcelle's. He
said black smoke was comin' out of the exhaust."
Jordan
nodded. "Tell us about the crew comin' here tonight."
Dionne,
Kia, and Jordan sat in the kitchen talking. "So how long have you known them
Kia??"
Kia
sat opposite Dionne. She shrugged. "Well they lived down the street from us.
But we became friends when I was four, Letty and Mia were five, Dom was um...12
and Dwayne was 13." She sighed and laid her head down on the table. "We were
the best of friends until ma decided to move out here, to live with grandma."
Dionne
smiled at the thought of Dwayne as a 13 year old. "You never called them or
anything??"
"Nah,
ma didn't have the money and by the time we could, years had gone by. I wish we
had though we were like family. Dom and Dwayne were always pulling tricks on us
and Mia was always yelling at Dom for something. But Let and Dwayne were the
closest out of all of us."
Dionne
continued smiling though she felt that tightening in her stomach again. She
berated herself, for feeling the least bit jealous. It wasn't as if she was
even close to Dwayne that way. If anything they weren't event really
good friends.
Kia
continued talking, lost in the past. " . . . Although Let always followed Dom
around." She laughed aloud. "We used to tease her so much about that, but
anyways Dwayne had always been the one to protect her, and Dom had ignored
her."
Dionne
tried unsuccessfully to get thoughts of Dwayne out of her head. She tried to
change the subject but was beaten to it by Jordan.
"What
about Mia??" Jordan was curious about this new crew. It was kinda weird, that
other people had known Dwayne and Kia before they had.
Kia
lifted her head as she heard people's voices heading their way. " Mia and I
were always the romance queens, Let was the tough girl so she didn't really
join in on our "playing house" games." She turned her attention towards the
kitchen door as Dwayne walked in with Letty, Dom, Mia and three other guys
behind him.
Dionne
froze momentarily at the sight of Dwayne but quickly hid her feelings.
Immediately, she was looking for a way to excuse herself after saying hi. Maybe
she'd go hang out with D.A. She didn't think D.A. would come downstairs, well
hopefully she wouldn't.
Jordan
looked up and had a smirk on his face when he saw C.K. in a bug guy's arm, who
was built like Dwayne. The corner of his eye caught Dee's expression and could
already see the wheels turning in her head. He sighed; he knew she already
wanted to leave. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her towards
him. "Stop It." He whispered.
Dee
turned an innocent face to his. But knowing already he had noticed her trying
to plan her escape. She grimaced; it was a little disconcerting how well he
knew her. "Sorry."
Dwayne
narrowed his cold eyes at Jordan and Dionne. He noted her uncomfortable
ness. He turned towards the guests,
nodding towards Dom, Mia and Letty.
"You guys know Kia and you've met Dionne." He turned towards the rest of them. "Leon, Jesse, Brian this is my sister Kia . . ." Pointing towards Kia. " . . . And this is a friend and C.K.'s aunt Dionne and this is my boy's cousin, Jordan."
Kia waved brightly and smiled at everyone, while Dee waved shyly beside Jordan.
Jordan moved his arm from Dee's shoulder. "Wassup?"
Letty lifted her eyebrow. Damn! That's two fine guys in one week. Maybe Florida isn't so bad.
D.A. ran down the stairs and bounded into the kitchen. "I guess, you forgot 'bout me Ice." She said dryly. Eyeing everyone warily, her eyes landed on Dom and she did a double take. Wow! He was even fucking, hotter in person!!
Dwayne rolled his eyes, D.A. always had to make an entrance whenever she decided to grace anyone with her presence. He didn't bother turning around. He threw his head back in her direction and folded his hands over his chest. " You said you weren't coming. This is my cousin D.A. ya'll."
Letty's eyebrow inched higher in warning to D.A.'s appraisal of Dom. This bitch looked like would have to be watched. "How ya livin' girl??"
D.A. absently nodded at everyone, her eyes not leaving Dom. When she heard Letty's voice, she pulled her eyes away and stared at Letty. Well, this one looked like a bad bitch. But D.A. didn't think anyone was worse than her. Actually, looking at the girls again, neither of them looked like hoes. Maybe she'd been mistaken about them. "You're Letty right?"
Letty's face didn't shift an inch. "That's right."
D.A.'s blatant staring at Dom hadn't gone unnoticed by anyone else in the room, either. Dionne chewed her bottom lip. She hoped D.A. didn't cause any trouble tonight. She groaned inwardly, she guessed that she wouldn't be able to escape tonight at all.
Jordan narrowed his eyes on D.A. Fuck! He could tell she had wanted to stir up trouble, judging at least by the outfit. His jaw clenched.
Kia looked around and decided to take charge. "Ok, we'd better stop talkin' and start eatin' , 'cause I don't know 'bout ya'll but I hate eating cold food!" She moved toward the door. She hoped Flex would get here soon.
Everyone looked away from the staredown and followed Kia out to the back porch where all the food was.
Leon's eyes lingered on Dionne. Damn!! She was fine! With all the drama already starting, he could tell it was going to be an interesting night.