A couple of weeks flew by and soon before anyone realized it, we found ourselves at the day before Thanksgiving. Granddad was cooking up a storm in the kitchen with the turkey and the ham hopefully not going to burn the whole house down. Every year our fambam and the DuBois' do a joint Thanksgiving with each other and alternate whose house will host. This year was our turn, and I was doing everything in my power to watch Granddad so that he didn't hurt himself cooking. Huey was somewhere upstairs sleeping his life away; his flight didn't get in until late last night and the jet lag hit him hard. Not just that but he hadn't been sleeping much the past month either; he's trying to officially get into the Pre-Law program at Princeton for next semester, and not only does he need to basically get perfect scores on his finals, but he also has to take a hard special test-I forgot what it was called whatever he told me-and get a high enough score, or he won't get admitted and basically be set back a semester, and I don't know how he'll handle being off track by that much.
"Boy! Get me the giant pot from beneath the counter!"
I groaned and got up to grab the exact pot he needed. Granddad grabbed it from me and put the turkey inside it. The turkey has to be the first thing prepared. Granddad has this special blend of spices that he's gonna let soak and marinate overnight. He won't tell me what they consist of, but me tell y'all; whatever it is it completely transforms that dry ass bird. I'm not really a turkey fan. The shit is literally drier than the desert. I remember my mama and daddy begging me to eat turkey. Huey could handle it no problem, but they always had issues with me. Granddad would literally have to force dry bird down my little throat. It wasn't until Huey and I moved to live with him that he figured out the secret blend of Turkey spices. It was a complete accident believe it or not. That first thanksgiving Granddad was just experimenting and put all these seasonings together, and when I first tasted that bird, my little 8 year old eyes lit up with glee, and Granddad's been making it that way every since. The texture still bothers me a bit, but ya boy Young Reezy can willingly eat turkey.
Just like the turkey, Granddad lets all the meat like the chicken and ham and anything else just soak and marinate overnight so that all the flavors will be top capacity. Me and Huey would be in charge of the all the side dishes, but with all the cooking that was gonna be happening we would have to run across the street to use the DuBois kitchen. Granddad started moving all over the place trying to get everything needed. He then opened the cabinet that had all the seasonings but before he picked any out, he turned his head almost completely 180 to look at me.
"Boy! Get out the kitchen! Can't have you seeing the special turkey spices!"
"Fine whateva," I groaned, rolling my eyes as I got up and left the kitchen. I made my way upstairs to my room to lay down on my bed. I opened door too wide completely forgetting that Huey was sound sleep in there as it hit the wall. Luckily he didn't stir and I flopped on my bed. I reached for my headphones and clicked shuffle on my phone. I started jamming out as I looked over at Huey still bundled up and his body moving up and down as he breathed, but then something caught my eye in my lower peripherals. I looked down at my night table and saw the flyers for NYU's art program. I picked them up and looked through them; it's been a few weeks since my encounter with Swirl and her cousin Lonny, and I have yet to tell Huey or Granddad that I had met them, or that I was even considering NYU for school. Granddad believes that I'm staying home and going to Woodcrest Community College down the street (mainly because I haven't really expressed any interest for another school and have said that I wanted to start out there a couple of times), but Huey sees potential in me and wants me to do my research so I could start at a 4 year university. I think a part of me wanted to start at home because I wanted to keep an eye on Granddad. He wasn't getting any younger. But even Granddad had told me to spread wings and fly; he didn't care where I went to school, he just didn't want me to regret not going to the school of my choice because of him. I reached for my laptop under the bed, opened it up, and searched up NYU. I didn't even know if I wanted to go there yet. Best to look up what the school had to offer other than their art program. I don't know how long I was on my laptop, but it was as if the entirety of NYU's website took over my mind. I was flipping through and back tracking through pages of campus life, dorms, classes, and even found myself looking up New York itself; unlike the suburbia that was Woodcrest, New York was definitely all city. It would almost be like being back in Chicago. I even did some in depth research on the art program, and to be quite honest, I was hella impressed.
"Mmmm, what's up?" came a groggy voice
I snapped my head to my right and saw that Huey had woke from his slumber rubbing his face. I slammed my laptop shut before he fully looked at me.
"Uh nothin' whats up with you nigga?"
He arched his eyebrow at me in that stupid way that he does, and then shook his head and looked at his phone. I put my laptop under my bed so that Huey couldn't look over and see what I was looking at. I wasn't ready to talk to him just yet about it. Besides, I didn't even know if wanted to go there yet. Huey stretched before getting out his bed. "How long was I out for that time?"
"Uhhhh like 3 hours."
"Hmmm."
He walked over to his suitcase and pulled out a shirt to put on. He then pulled out his law books and sat at the desk and turned on the computer. I stared at him all confused; How in the world was this nigga able to just sit at the computer and just study? He was barely sleeping!
"Huey, why are you studying? You need to take a break nigga!"
"Because I need to. Besides, I take the LSAT in two weeks."
He started to type away at his computer, lost in his own world. When I sure that he was focused on his work, I whipped my laptop out and continued doing my own research on my potential future school.
The next day brought us Thanksgiving. Granddad was up super early to get the meats going; the turkey would take the longest. Old nigga was banging every pot and pan possible down there, had me stirring in my sleep. I ended up fully waking up at 9am because I just couldn't take it anymore. I mean I guess it was a good thing I did, beacause about 10 minutes later, Granddad's voice came floating up the stairs.
"Boys! Wake up! I need y'all to start making the rest of the food!"
I grumbled and then grabbed something light and threw it at Huey's body. He stirred and sat up, rubbing his face, and looked at me.
"Time to cook?"
"Time to cook."
He yawned and stretched before making his way to the bathroom. I reached into my drawer and put on the first shirt that was in my grasp and pulled my black sweatpants that were on the ground. I looked at the mirror and groaned. My cornrows were looking hella messy. I'll have to rebraid them soon, hopefully before dinner. Huey came out the bathroom with his toothbrush in his mouth brushing away while he looked around in his suitcase for something to wear. I made my way into the bathroom so I could start brushing my teeth or whateva. Brushed, grabbed my mouthwash, swish swish, spit, washed my mouth out, and I was done. Imade my way downstairs to see what Granddad needed cooking for tonight.
"What's up Granddad?"
"There you are boy! Look I need you to handle the cornbread, the macaroni, the stuffing, the sweet potatoes, and the pies. Huey will handle everything else."
Everything that Granddad wanted me to do needed to be in the oven, but because he was using the oven for all the meats, I had to go across the street to the DuBois house. With bitch ass Tom and stuck up Sarah and high maintenance Jazmine. I grabbed some stuff, slipped into some slides, and walked out the door. I rang the doorbell and waited with stuff in my hands looking around. Finally someone opened the door and low and behold it was the devil with strawberry puff hair and emerald green eyes.
"Oh hey Riley!" came her overly cheery voice that annoyed me greatly.
"Hey Jaz, I'm here to take over y'all's stove."
"Oh right right! Come on in!"
She moved to the side so I could get in. The living room was spacious with an open concept floor plan as everything blended into the kitchen. I could honestly count the number of times I had stepped foot inside the DuBois house on one hand; I made it a priority over the years to not step foot inside unless I had to. I set down the stuff on the kitchen counter and started grabbing stuff from Jaz's fridge to start mixing with.
"Whatcha making?" she asked as she stared over my shoulder.
"Granddad needs me to make cornbread, macaroni, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pies."
"Ohhhhh okay," she replied back. She reached in the fridge to grab the rest of the stuff that I needed as I had started on the macaroni. I saw out of my corner of my eye that she was wearing a long sleeved light purple pullover sweatshirt. When she turned over to put more stuff on the counter for me, I saw the giant NYU logo across her chest. I had completely forgotten that she went to NYU as well. I literally could ask her anything I wanted to know. She could definitely be the influence to-
"Ooooh Riley, you have to let me rebraid your hair. It's very messy."
"Yeah I was finna ask you. How bout you sit me down and do it while this macaroni bakes?"
"Sure thing, let me run upstairs and grab my stuff."
She took off upstairs and I put the macaroni in the oven to bake. I washed my hands off and then sat in one of the high chairs at the island table. Jaz came back with her hair stuff and started unbraiding my hair.
"Do you want me to wash it for you?"
"Eh sure."
She started massaging my hair and scalp with some oil before leaning me over the kitchen sink and washing my hair. All of Jaz's hair stuff smelled fruity and soooo good. Had me feeling like I was on a tropical island or some shit. But I ain't gonna tell her that though because that shit's gay. She finished washing and conditioning my hair and started leaning me up. I patted my head slightly with the towel she handed me, and then she put some type of deep conditioner in my hair. She tied my wet naps back with a hair tie and put a plastic cap over my head and set a timer on her phone for 30 minutes. I check on the macaroni to make sure it was still cooking good. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously; how do you casually bring up the subject of school since no one really thinks you're going to a big 4 year school? I looked at Jaz while she scrolled away on her phone and gulped and decided to get it out of the way.
"So uh, Jaz, uh, how's NYU?"
"Oh yeah it's great! I love being there, and New York itself is so amazing! There's so much to do in my down time!"
"Oh word?"
"Yeah! Why'd you ask?"
"Well, uh, hah, you see..."
I pulled out a folded brochure from the back of my pocket and handed it to her. She took it from my hands and studied it for a bit before her eyes lit up and she looked at me excitedly while bouncing up and down.
"Riley! You're considering NYU?!"
"Uh yeah, two people from the art school there came up on me while I was painting a mural a couple of weeks back. They were hella impressed with my work and told me to apply. I've been thinking about it ever since but I dunno, part of me wants to stay home for a bit."
"You should totally go for it! I've seen your artwork, Riley. You're very passionate about what you do. NYU would be lucky to have you."
I walked over to the stove to take the macaroni out (which was cooked to perfection if I do say so myself) and started mixing up the cornbread mix.
"I dunno Jaz, I mean what if I don't fit in the scene-"
"Which you will."
"Even so, what if...what if..."
I turned off the mixer machine because I started getting cornbread mix everywhere.
"What if I'm not good enough...?"
I placed the cornbread mix in the oven and adjusted the temperature. She walked me to the kitchen sink and leaned me over, taking off the plastic cap and hair tie, and washed the deep conditioner out of my hair. She also massaged my scalp which made me feel super nice. I stood up straight and grabbed the towel and wrapped it around my head.
"I think a lot about whether or not I'm pursuing the right thing, ya know? I suck ass at school, only really just maintaining my grades to pass. Art's the only thing I'm really passionate about. Used to be basketball, but for some reason I had like an epiphany over it and decided not to pursue it no more. I dunno Jaz, say I do apply here and go. Them what if when I get there I realize that I was wrong to pursue art and that I was wrong about myself?"
I slumped against the counter. I felt lost, and quite honestly, I felt a little scared. This was the most I've ever cared about my future. Jaz leaned next to me on the counter.
"I'll tell you this. There are three types of people: those who know exactly what they want to do with their lives, those who have no clue what they want to do, and those who thought they knew what they wanted to do but are now not too sure. And the truth is at some point, we all become one of those people. It's okay to be doubtful of the future. No one is certain until they become certain. It's like *boom* it just happens. Suddenly you know just what to do. And if it's any consolation, should you go there and ever feel down and lonely in the great big world of New York, I'm always a phone call or text away for us to grab lunch together, and talk about life, or have a meltdown over our homework together."
I chuckled at the last part and she did the same. I don't know if I still wanted to go to NYU, but at least I knew I'll have an ally up there if I went. I took the cornbread out the oven and started prepping the sweet potatoes. I guess Jaz had a way with words when it came to comforting people, because I felt a helluva lot more confident in my future pursuits. Now what school those pursuits would take place in, I had no idea yet. But no matter what I decided to do, it'll be my choice and I know I'll be doing the right thing for me. Jaz sat me down in the chair, took the towel off my head, ran the blow dryer, then massaged a leave in conditioner and started parting my hair to braid it. NYU was definitely a major potential choice, but I had to be cool about it.
Besides, I didn't even know if I wanted to go yet...but Jazmine might've just persuaded me in that direction.
By the time I got back to the house, there was a only about 2 hours left until dinner officially started. I'll never understand the point of early Thanksgiving dinners; normal dinnertime was about 6/7:00 damnit. No nigga gonna be hungry at 4:00! But I stumbled my way in holding the pies and the macaroni and had to run back across the street for the cornbread and sweet potatoes. Granddad had specific display holders for them so I just put them all where they belonged. Meanwhile, Granddad and Huey were running around and setting up; Granddad was working like crazy to cleanup the kitchen while Huey was cleaning up the living room and all the rooms downstairs. When Granddad caught a glimpse of me, he gestured me over.
"Boy! Come take over the kitchen for me, I need to go take a shower and get dressed!"
It was true, he was still in his pjs and apron. He took off his yellow gloves and handed them to me then ran up the stairs to get ready. I looked at the sink and groaned; so many dishes and pots and pans that needed to be washed.
"Aye Huey! Crank on some tunes! Here, come get my phone and plug it in to the stereo!"
A few moments later he came in and grabbed my phone and in about 10 seconds, my cleaning playlist was blasting through the house. I jammed out as I scrubbed food bits and sauces off the pans and whatnot. I had to put some muscle into it because whatever they cooked was already sticking and caking to the pans. When I finished hand washing the pots, I put them on the rack to air dry, then I put all the pans and bowls and everything else in the dishwasher for an extra wash. I wiped down the stove and the counters, while Huey began setting the dining table. Like most families we didn't use the formal dining room until around major holidays that included a special family dinner. I walked in there and watched Huey arrange the special fabric napkins with the silverware.
"You gone set a place for Ruckus?"
"I dunno, should I?"
"You prolly should just in case. I know Granddad ain't invite that nigga but you know he gone prolly find a way to crash anyways."
"Mmmm."
He then started on setting an extra seat for Ruckus, because let's be honest: when has that crusty nigga not crashed an event? Once we both finished cleaning up and making everything look presentable, there was roughly about an hour left until dinner. We both went upstairs to get our best clothes out. We both decided on button down shirts; Huey went with light blue, I went with white. I decided to up it a bit and pair with with a plaid sweater vest. Dorky I know, but hey I can work a sweater vest it turns out. I wore jeans, Huey work khaki pants, both of us wore belts, both of us wore black dress shoes. I saw Huey reach for his glasses and I decided to get mine too; yes, as much as I hate to admit it, I had to succumb to the glasses regime. My eyesight wasn't that bad, but it got to the point where I was squinting real bad in class even though I was at a decent distance from the board to be able to see stuff. We both sprayed on some cologne and then went downstairs to watch some tv before everyone came over. Huey turned on the tv and started flipping through the channels. After a few channels, we stopped on Maury where the lady just found out the guy wasn't the baby daddy. I love pointless tv drama, I didn't give two shits if it was fake. Huey would always raise an eyebrow at the ridiculousness of it all, but he would never change the channel so I guess he tolerated it enough to shake his head at hood people having raw sex countless of times. Sometime after, Granddad came down the stairs all smooth and shit. He was wearing a navy blue suit and brown loafers, with a nice ass cane to complete it.
"Okaaaaayyyyy Granddad!"
"Real smooth, Granddad."
"Thank ya thank ya, boys!"
He started making poses like a runway model, and I started whooping up and down the place encouraging him while Huey smirked and shook his head. As old as he was, Granddad still got it. After he stopped making a fool out of himself, as if it was perfect timing, the doorbell rang.
"Alright boys, turn off that nonsense, we can watch baby mama and baby daddy drama later. Best behavior now!"
We both nodded as we stood up and straightened our clothes out while Granddad opened the door.
"Tom! Sarah!"
"Hey Robert!"
Granddad stood back as the DuBois family came inside, all of them carrying desserts. "Just put them over there on the counter kitchen counter." They did so, and Granddad stood with Tom and Sarah to talk with them, and Jazmine came over to the living room with me and Huey."
"Hey guys!"
"Hey."
"What's good, Jaz."
She gave me a one armed hug that I returned, then she went and kissed Huey's cheek and wrapped herself around his arm.
"Who else is coming do you guys know?"
"C-Murph said she would swing by but I don't think she's staying the whole time."
"Then other than her, and then anticipating Ruckus to crash the party, I think it's just us."
The doorbell rang again. I answered it and a smirk spread on my face when I saw Cindy standing there in a simple blue dress and hair down. She returned the smirk. She was absolutely gorgeous.
"What's good Reezy?" she greeted me as she hugged me before coming inside. Her face lit up when she saw Jaz.
"Jazzy!"
"Hey C!"
They hugged each other and then C-Murph turned to Huey, who wasn't paying her no mind, with her arms crossed.
"Hello Huey."
"Mmm."
She scoffed and stomped her foot. "So that's all I get huh. Not even a hello?"
"Mhmm."
She scoffed even louder as she watched my bitch ass brother walk past her, Jaz giggling as she followed him.
"I'm gonna get him to like me one day."
"I dunno why you so hung up on this nigga. You should be grateful he still even entertaining yo' ass."
We both bust out laughing as she put her arm on my shoulder and we walked into the dining hall together. Everyone was standing around the table, Granddad at the head, Tom and Sarah to his right, Huey and Jaz sat to his left but Huey left a seat to Granddad's immediate left because c'mon now we all knew Ruckus would probably crash sooner or later. I sat next to Jaz and Cindy sat across from me.
"Okay everybody, join hands and-"
The doorbell rang causing Granddad to grumble and shuffle to the front door.
"Now who's that ringing the doorbell late? I said dinner starts at 4:00!"
"5 bucks says it's Ruckus," I mumbled under my breath so only C-Murph, Jaz, and Huey could hear. The 3 of them smirked and nodded.
There was a bit of commotion and then of course like predicted, here came Ruckus barging in like he lived here.
"Well if it isn't my favorite group of niggas and half-monkey in the presence of two pretty white women!"
"Ruckus! I did not invite you! Get out of my house!"
"Oh come now Robert it's Thanksgiving! You can't kick people to the street on this holy day!"
Granddad groaned as Ruckus took his place at the empty seat next to Huey. Granddad stood back at his place.
"Alright now that everyone is here let's join hands, bow our heads, and I'll lead us in prayer."
We all bowed our heads and Granddad started off with 'Heavenly Father'. I kept my eyes open and stared at the delicious food. My stomach started grumbling and it felt like Granddad was taking years and eternities to get through his prayer as he thanked God for every little thing. C-Murph opened her eyes and we made eye contact. She smiled at me and then stuck her tongue out. I did it too and we giggled silently, and just made weird ass faces at each other, until finally Granddad finished the prayer.
"In Jesus' name we pray, amen."
"Amen!"
We all started going around the table and grabbing the food we wanted on our plates, and once we were satisfied we sat down and chowed down. Conversations flowed around the table. I looked at C-Murph's plate and noticed she had barely gotten any food.
"You not eating?"
"Nah, my family's dinner starts at 6:00 so that's why I'm not staying long."
"Ohhhhh okay."
I looked down the table and saw that Granddad, Tom, and Ruckus were engaged in whatever the hell they were talking about. I was just relieved that Ruckus wasn't starting no dumb shit. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was gonna be a calm Thanksgiving.
"Oh hey Riley," Jazmine said to me.
"Yeah?"
"You left this at my house while you were cooking."
She reached into her purse and took out the folded brochure I had brought over there. I quickly grabbed it and made to put away but C-Murph took notice.
"What's that Reezy?"
"Uh, um, it's nothing. Nothing important."
Now C-Murph has quicker reflexes than me, so before I was able to put it away, she snatched the brochure from my hands, unfolded it, and looked at it. It only took a few seconds for her eyes to get wide.
"Oh my God, Riley, are you applying to NYU?!"
Unfortunately she said it out loud, and now the entire table was staring down at me.
"I was, uh, um, thinking about, uh, considering it, um, I guess."
"Well that's wonderful, Riley!" Tom said with that cheery as voice and smile, "Jazmine goes there as well!"
"Boy! Why didn't you tell me you were thinking about going away for school?"
"Ah so the little monkey is finally thinking about his education."
"Yeah, Reezy, why didn't you say anything?"
I looked across at C-Murph's enthusiastic face but I was stressed out.
"LOOK, I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT YET. CAN WE PLEASE JUST GO BACK TO DINNER."
Everyone stared at me in shock. Not wanting to make eye contact, I went back to eating my food. Everyone started eating their food again and awkwardly continued the flow of conversation. After a bit, C-Murph made to get up.
"Well I better get home, my family's dinner is about to start. Thanks for dinner, Mr. Freeman!"
"Anytime honey! You be safe now!"
"And you," she pointed at me, "you text me when you're ready to talk."
"Mm."
She grabbed her purse and then left. After a bit, and after getting a second plate of food, dessert time rolled around. I still didn't want to talk to anyone, so I just took a slice of pie, some peach cobbler, a couple of scoops of ice cream, and went upstairs to my room. I put in my headphones and jammed out to my music, but I was still stressing out. I wasn't ready to even talk about the possibility of going to NYU but now everyone knew about it. I didn't want to let people down. Granddad looked so excited about me leaving for school, I didn't want to disappoint him. At some point, the door creaked open, and Huey came in. He sat down on the edge of his bed and faced me. I took out my headphones and looked at him.
"What nigga?"
"Can we talk?"
"I mean, you kinda not giving me any choice." I sat up and faced him.
"So. Why didn't you say anything about looking at other schools?"
"I just wasn't ready to. I feel like I was gonna disappoint everyone no matter what I did."
"You're beating yourself up. How long have you been interested in NYU?"
"For about a few weeks. When I was finishing up painting a mural, two NYU people from the art program stumbled on me and said they really liked all my stuff. They told me to check them out."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah. This is the first time I've had like an epiphany over what I want to do in the future. I'm questioning myself whether pursuing art is the best thing to do. It's the only thing I'm passionate about right now."
"I'll tell you this. I've never seen anyone more passionate about art like you. I've seen all your artwork, and I'll admit I've had a sneak through your sketchbook-"
"Hey!"
"Yeah sorry, but looking through those pages, all I've got to say is that whatever you decide to do in the art path, you're going to be successful in it. You know I've been pushing for you to go to a 4 year university instead of staying at home."
"Yeah, I know."
"So then what are you waiting for?"
He stood up and made to leave. He stopped at the doorway and looked back at me.
"Just know that no matter what you decide to do, you're doing it for you. You won't be a disappointment. So if my two cents means anything, I really do think you should apply there."
He left the room and closed the door. I stared at the door for a bit before pulling out my laptop. I opened up NYU's website and clicked on the undergrad admissions tab. I didnt know how long the application process was gonna take, but I was determined to stay up all night if I needed to.
Besides, I finally knew where I wanted to go.