Heyyyy guys. I just want to specially thank the Guest that reviewed back in November, the Guest that reviewed today (6/17/16), Imaginativequeen101, Aris Moon, Youko Fukui, thetinyturtle, NarutoPlug, and norahiddlesbatch for your reviews, favorites, and follows that you've given me. It really means a lot. If you wish to know my thoughts and additional information about the characters or story that I didn't mention, don't hesitate to read the little author's note on the bottom. So, without further ado, chapter 3. Enjoy \(^-^)/
Chapter 3: You're Not Alone
Early Saturday morning, about 10 o' clock, the Freeman house was eerily silent. No one seemed to be awake. Only the sound of the wall clock ticking could be heard. The closed curtains helped the house remain dark. It was unknown whether or not Granddad came home last night alone or with his date.
Breaking through the silence came the very low beeping of an alarm clock followed by a groan. One of the upstairs door opened and out walked Granddad as naked as the day he was born. He yawned loudly and scratched his stomach then scratched his genitals as he walked down the stairs to the kitchen. He grabbed the door handle to the fridge and opened it, mumbling about how bad his neck hurt, and grabbed the container of orange juice. Peeling the carton open and raising it to his mouth, Granddad was surprised when nothing came out. He grabbed a cup out of the cabinet and shook the empty carton over it, watching as one drop of juice dropped into the cup. His face turned red with anger before he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"BOYS! GET YA BLACK ASSES DOWN HERE!"
3 minutes later, Riley and Huey were in the kitchen in front of Granddad still half asleep. Riley leaned up against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed over his chest with his eyes partially closed, and Huey sat in a kitchen chair with crust in his eyes and a scowl plastered on his face. He glared at Riley then Granddad, trying to figure out why the hell he was woken up when all three of them knew Riley was the one who put a damn empty jug back in the fridge. To make matters worse, Granddad was pacing back and forth butt ass naked.
"Ya'll get on my goddamn nerves, ya know that? All I do is sit up in here and provide for ya bad asses and this is what I get." He shook his head in disappointment while Huey stared at him with real discontent.
"Granddad, you know I wouldn't do something as lazy and disrespectful as putting an empty orange juice bottle back in the fridge. We all know Riley is the one who always does it, and he did it this time. Now please let me go back to sleep, and please put some drawers on," Huey declared as he stood up and proceeded to exit the kitchen.
"Nah nigga! I wasn't the one who put that empty shit in there! I ain't got no reason. Always hatin' Huey when you don't want to take the bla-" Riley retorted before being cut off by Granddad.
"Both of ya'll shut the hell up! Riley, drink up my orange juice one more time, I'mma beatcha ass till you can taste my leather belt. And no the hell you can not go back to sleep. We are going to meet our new neighbors in about an hour and I want you two ready." Granddad trashed the container and pulled the bread from the breadbox.
Huey sighed and rolled his eyes. It was time for him to get up anyways. He just felt unusually tired. Ignoring Riley's loud obnoxious shouting about how he wasn't going anywhere followed by a scream as Granddad popped him with a spoon, Huey walked up the stairs and yawned. 'I don't necessarily have a problem going to meet our "new neighbors" but we didn't have to go so early.'
He walked into the bathroom and stared in the mirror before turning the faucet on and grabbing his face towel. 'I'd rather stay home and read a book, or maybe go to the library. Hopefully Jazmine won't show up to annoy the hell out of me on a Saturday. She should have cheerleading practice today, anyways…' He wiped his face cleanser off that he applied on his face moments earlier and left the bathroom right as Riley was coming up the stairs mumbling about something.
"Always beatin' me and shit, this ain't right… one day I'mma whoop his ass before he can whoop my ass…" Riley looked up as he noticed Huey was looking at him with that judgmental look he gave his brother every time he did something dumb. "The hell you looking at, McHater!?"
"Nothing of great importance." Turning on his heel, Huey walked down to his room and closed the door.
"The fuck you mean, nothin' important?" Riley yelled in the hall. "Come back out here and say it to my face bitch!"
"Riley!" Granddad yelled from the kitchen.
"What!" Riley yelled right back.
"Shut the hell up boy before I come up there and tear ya ass up! Again!"
~~OoO~~
Two hours later, Huey sat downstairs on the living room couch watching the news. He was dressed in dark gray jeans with a red, white, and gray button up that he left up revealing his fitted black t-shirt that accented his abdominal muscles nicely. Even though he wasn't into the major trending of what Jordans were in, he purchased a few pairs over the years. On his feet today, he wore his black and red Air Jordan Retro 13s. To top it off, he even ran his pick through his hair making it softer and bigger.
Sex was sitting in the living room of the Freeman house.
Huey changed the channel after Donald Trump showed up on the screen. He didn't even stay tuned long enough to see what the new incarnation of satan was saying. 'And here I thought Ronald Reagan was the devil… Well he was the devil, and now Trump is his spawn. He's literally only three letters off. Donald, 6 letters, John, 4 letters, and Trump, 5 letters. No one can tell me otherwise.' Huey nodded in agreement to his newly decided thoughts. He had such amazing ways to put himself into good moods.
"Yeah yeah yeah! Ya boy Reezy is in da house, fresh and cleaner than a mofo, ya heaaaard me?" Riley came dancing into the room blasting Chief Keef from his phone in his back pocket.
And Riley had such an interesting way of killing those great moods.
Huey looked away from the tv to give his brother a dry stare who was making his entrance into the living room. "Do you have to be loud everywhere you go, Riley?" Riley smiled evilly at his brother, whom he enjoyed irritating with a passion.
Riley wore a fitted white Hollister shirt and khaki joggers with an ice blue snapback with the word "BO$$" printed on it. He bent down and wiped off the toe of his white Legend Blues that he hardly wore, only for special occasions. Riley had grown up exceptionally even at the age of 14. He grew to be 5'8 with about ten pounds of muscle. His frame wasn't big and bulky, but he also wasn't lean like Huey. He was just kind of, big. After years of physical work, Riley had managed to get a four pack. However, for some odd reason, the other set of two refused to fully form, so Riley just left it alone.
Riley took off his snapback to run a few of his fingers through his cornrows to ease the itch. It was about time for him to take his hair down and wash it and have it rebraided. But, after cussing out the woman who did his braids the last time at the barber shop, he was no longer welcome. Until then, he was forced to hide his nappy braids underneath hats.
Riley put his hat back on and started to speak with an air of sophistication."As a matter o' fact, McHater, I do. I gotta let all my bitches and niggas know, especially the bitches, that Riley is in the hizzzous!" 'Nigga we gon be alright, we gon be alrig-' "Aye, what's happening C-Murph?" The music that Riley had playing abruptly stopped when he received a call only to have his ringtone of one of Kendrick Lamar's most popular songs play. Huey rested his head on his fist and turned his attention back to the tv.
"Whatchu mean, he was sayin' he was better than me? Why you just now callin' me, Murph? He ain't even seen my skills on the court! I'd set dat nigga straight and break the shit outta his ankles! He 'on even know me like that, son." There was a pause in his ranting to let the person Huey assumed to be Cindy McPhearson speak on the other line. "Okay, well you can tell dat nigga he can squad up on the basketball court today at 2:30. Aight, cool." A beep was heard as Riley hung up the phone.
"Got somewhere to be today?" Huey mocked from the couch.
"Niggas always think they can talk that good shit, till a nigga hear what he been sayin'. Dis nigga don't even know who Riley motherfuckin' Freeman is! You just gotta let niggas know, Huey."
"What do you mean 'let niggas know?' What are you going to do now?" Huey commented. He found out over years that Riley himself talked a lot of shit but had a very hard time of backing it up.
"Boy, what did I tell you about saying all them goddamn nigga words in my house? It's always 'nigga dis' and 'nigga dat.' Shut the hell up." Granddad came into the room buttoning up his green shirt and carrying a bottle of aged wine. Both boys sighed inwardly that he was now wearing clothes.
"Oh, so now you want to join Huey McHater over there? Ain't nothing fun about being a hater, Granddad." Riley crossed his arms and glared at Granddad. 'Old nigga always thinking he can tell me what to do and shit.'
"Whatever, boy. Both of you can start makin' ya way out the door. We have neighbors to go meet."
Huey almost forgot the reason why they were even up and together like this. 'That's right… that girl and her family. I have yet to figure out why we're all going.' "Granddad, you do realize we could easily just run into them any other day, right? Riley and I could probably run into the new girl at school, and you might meet her parents in the grocery store or something. You're making a very big deal out of nothing."
Huey and Riley walked casually to the door with Riley exiting first and Huey leaning back to get a reasonable answer out of Granddad who was right behind him.
"Goddamn it, Huey! Why the hell do the both of ya'll keep questionin' me? Just do what the hell I say sometime. Wouldn't you appreciate it if you were new to a town, your own neighbors would come say hi?"
"No."
"Hell nah, I shoot a fool first, runnin' up to my door like that."
Granddad sighed and closed and locked the door behind him.
~~OoO~~
The lavender colored room was highlighted dimly as the burning sunlight attempted to penetrate the thick curtains that hung in the room. Strips of light fanned out across the room, illuminating certain objects. Two boxes of pictures were subjected to the light. One of the pictures on the top showed a two year old baby girl with thick curly brown hair, smiling brightly and showing off her newly pierced ears.
In the next box, another picture seemingly showed the same girl except many years later. She wore black spandex, knee pads, and a purple jersey that had Warriors written across the front. Her hair was pulled back into a big ponytail as best as possible and wrapped with a black headband. Her face was in full concentration as her hands had come up to set the volleyball that had come to her on second hit.
Said girl groaned in irritation from the light beamed down across her eyes, causing her to roll over and pull her blanket over her head. It took several minutes before Elaine sighed from underneath the covers and threw them off. Reaching to her nightstand for her phone, she saw that her clock read 10:12 and she hummed in satisfaction. 'Not too early, not too late.'
She woke her iPhone up and held her thumb on the home button waiting for it to unlock. Once it did, the brightness increased and caused her to squint at her phone until her eyes adjusted. This is how she started her "morning-before-I-leave-the-bed-routine." She scrolled through Facebook for about 10 minutes, liking pictures and watching videos. Then, she checked CNN News to see what was going on in the world. And lastly, she opened her Snapchat and began watching everyone's stories until her feed was cleared, pleasing her greatly.
Elaine set her phone down beside her as she stretched ridiculously hard, and her body ended up bent and turned to the point of where she looked possessed. Making matter worse, she made the sound of a dying, screeching cat. She laughed at her own actions and swung her legs over the side of the bed and wiggled her toes in the plush carpeting. Laney stood up to reveal the short and tight spandex shorts she wore and "Setter" tank top.
She yawned as she walked out of her room into the bright white hallways into the bathroom. She looked in the mirror at her appearance and grimaced. Her face was shiny with oil and there was a new pimple on her cheek. "Fuck, come on now. You were fine yesterday night…" Laney talked to herself as she touched her face and the new pimple. She knew very well that she shouldn't touch it, but it had already come to a head so, why not?
"I'm gonna get your ass, just you wait."
After a few gentle pushes and nudges of the area around her red, agitated skin, Laney finally got the courage and all out pushed on the puss filled bump with her nails. It exploded slightly on the mirror. However, that was the least of Elaine's concerns as she screamed with her mouth closed and danced around the bathroom in pain. "GOD, that hurt! Geeezzzz, MM!" She bent down and opened the bathroom cabinets hoping to find some peroxide to clean her new wound. There was a creak in the hallway from the opening of another door but Elaine paid no attention to it as she patted the pimple with a peroxide soaked towel.
Elaine's mom yawned and walked down the hall to the bathroom where she knew Laney to be. She arrived and leaned against the door frame, laughing a little. "Haven't I told you not to pop puss filled pimples, Lane?"
Laney glanced over at the door, seeing her mom, who's hair was still wrapped in her royal purple silk scarf. She also wore a thin silk robe of the same color and matching house shoes.
"Ma, you don't understand. My face was fine when I went to sleep. But, nope! This THING wanted to make a surprise appearance. It was huge, Ma. If I had just let it stay there, I feel like everyone I encounter today wouldn't be looking at me, but the gross monstrosity sitting happily on my face."
"Aw honey," Olivia walked into the bathroom and stood behind her daughter. "People would be looking at your beautiful eyes, and your pretty smile." She grabbed Elaine's cheek and pinched lightly, making Laney giggle childishly.
"Really? Do you mean it?"
"Of course I do. They'd also be looking at your glorious assets that I have bestowed upon you." Olivia pinched Laney's ass, causing her to squeak and jump a few feet in the air in embarrassment.
"MOM! Really?" She could feel her face heating up. Her hands went to her behind and covered it from any other assaults her mom might have in mind. That wouldn't be happening any time soon since Olivia was too busy laughing at her daughter's discomfort.
"Child, it's the truth." Olivia managed to breathe through her tears. "They always scan your body before they glance at your face." She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and grabbed a dry towel to help Laney with her face. Laney ignored her mother's actions as she pouted at what was just said.
"Laney, you know, you make it too easy for me to mess with you." Elaine remained passive to her words. "But, on a serious note, the right guy would be more welcomed and pleased with your personality. You have so much to offer; you just gotta wait for the right one to take notice, hon. The little blemishes on your face would fade into the background. All he would be looking at on your face is the smile he helped make."
Elaine didn't respond to her mother right away, waiting to see if she'd follow up with another embarrassing statement. Moments passed and neither of the spoke. Elaine finally looked over and smiled at her mom who smiled back. "Thanks, Ma."
"You are oh so very welcome. Now, I hope you had a good sleep because you're cooking breakfast this morning! Go on and freshen up. I'm gonna go wake your dad up." Olivia kissed Elaine on her cheek that didn't have the pimple then left the bathroom. Elaine smiled fondly, looking at her mom as she left.
"Well… I guess I better figure out what's for breakfast, huh?"
~~OoO~~
Huey, Riley, and Granddad walked down the street with Granddad whistling and humming an unknown song, Riley was typing in something on his phone, and Huey was doing nothing except for walking with the other two with his hands in his pockets. Well, he was thinking. 'I still don't fully comprehend as to why we have to go as a whole unit.' Huey looked at the back of Granddad's head and narrowed his eyes. 'He has ulterior motives, doesn't he?" His train of thought was interrupted when Granddad began to speak.
"I'mma let ya'll know right now; if ya'll act a fool in front of our new neighbors, I'm beating both ya asses when we get back to the house." He rounded the curb and walked up the walkway to the front door. Granddad glanced back to the street, however, when he noticed a black Lincoln Navigator and a silver metallic Dodge Charger in the driveway. Huey watched his line of sight and all the pieces fell into place. "So this is why you wanted to come over here? Because they have money?"
"Boy, I would never! … They got some nice cars though. Just look at this house! And here I thought I had to best house in the neighborhood, ha ha." Granddad began to ramble and sweatdropped. Huey wasn't fazed now that he knew the real reason why Granddad wanted to come visit so quick. What he still hadn't figured out is why he and Riley had to come.
Now, they stood on the one step stoop in front of a brown door. Granddad was fixing his shirt and running a hand over what was left of his hair, and he turned the bottle of wine in his hand so whoever opened the door would be able to see the brand.
"Oh my God Granddad," Riley commented from behind while laughing real hard. "You phony as hell! Going over to these people house cause they got money! Ahaha!" He adjusted his hat and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. There had been just too many funny things around him and they got him laughing quick.
"Riley, shut the hell up! You don't know shit!" Granddad turned around with fury in his eyes as he reached for his belt buckle and began undoing it. Riley's laughter stopped real quick and he started backing up down the walkway. Huey huffed in great irritation and pinched the bridge of his nose to spare himself a headache. "Now I'm really bout to whoop ya ass! Come he-"
The door to the house unlocked and opened.
"Uh, why are you yelling on our door step?"
There stood Elaine leaning against the door frame with raised, arched eyebrows. She had recently gotten in the shower and had dressed herself for the day in blue booty shorts and a white lace crop top with a thin burgundy cardigan. She also wore mascara and winged eyeliner. Her thick curly hair was pulled up into a big ponytail while she had a partial braid that disappeared into the ponytail. (So basically it's like a braid crown kind of style but instead of it going all the way around, the braid's end is tucked into the hair tie.) Her hair from a distance had looked black or brown, but up close it was a pretty shade of brown and slightly red in the light.
She shifted uncomfortably in her place as everyone stared at her. Elaine refused to make eye contact with any of them.
Granddad was the first to recover from his sudden shock and buckled his pants back up, turning around to face Elaine fully. He smiled at her sweetly before speaking. "Well, hello there sweet young lady. My name is Robert Freeman and these are my two bad grandsons, Huey and Riley." He gestured to each of them as he spoke.
Elaine looked up at the older man as he spoke and glanced at his two grandsons briefly before she did a double look and made eye contact with Huey. 'He was the one I saw yesterday.' The tall, scowling man with wine red eyes was basically staring into her soul and she couldn't look away. His strong jaw line, his high cheek bones, his abs that were clearly visible through his shirt, and the little crease in his forehead between his eyebrows that she assume was always there… Elaine felt her face become hot as she noticed all these features of his from only staring at him for 30 seconds.
"… H-hi."
Huey would admit to himself that he was staring down at her and wouldn't look away. He was anticipating that she'd look away eventually considering the current look on his face, but no, she stared at him like he had told her Popeyes was going out of business and giving away chicken for free.
Since they were already examining each other, he went ahead and took her in. Being this close to her now, he was able to decide that she had to be at least 5'2. God,she was small. Her squared nails, which didn't look fake, were painted matte navy blue with some kind of designs on her ring finger nails. His eye flickered downward, finally noticing her physique. He soon felt his own face heat up a little as he finally broke eye contact with her and looked down at his shoes then up at Riley.
Even though concealed with her white crop top, Elaine's breast strained against the fabric, wanting to be free. Moving lower, her waist narrowed only slightly but her lushes hips flared out in her shorts. Her legs were long and her thighs were smooth but lightly scarred with stretch marks. Huey had a strong feeling that she was packing just as much in the back as she was in the front.
When Riley laid eyes on Elaine, his brain broke and heat flooded down to his groin area, causing him to shift uncomfortably. He silently thanked whatever god was listening for guiding him to wear loose joggers. Her body was beyond whatever he might have seen from a distance yesterday. Riley decided then in that moment he wouldn't hesitate to worship the ground those sexy legs walked on. He bit his lip and nodded in satisfaction before clearing his throat and breaking the silence that had surrounded everyone. It also caused Elaine to stop staring at Huey.
Riley stepped in front of Granddad, trying to be real smooth, and put his hand against the door frame she leaned against to give himself some support. "Aye, I'm Riley, also known as Reezy but you know," he flashed a sideways grin. "You can call me whatever you like."
Elaine brought her attention to what appeared to be the younger brother of Huey who gave her a kind of cute smile. She returned with her own small smile, oblivious to the fact that Riley was trying to flirt with her. "Nice to meet you, Riley." She spoke with a voice that was deep and sultry, which made Riley's chest tighten up and sent a shiver down his spine. Huey reacted in the same way but with a little more tact than what Riley was showing.
Elaine smile shrank a little at her overall embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Elaine Jackson but I'd rather be called Laney. Um…" She glanced over her shoulder and peaked into the kitchen to see her mom on the phone. "Would you like to come in?"
"Oh, really? Why thank you! You didn't have to invite us in!" Granddad pushed past Riley into the house as Elaine stepped back to allow all of them in. She closed the door behind them and turned around and noticed they were looking around in amazement.
Rolling her eyes with a smile on her face, she walked in front them, gesturing to follow her in the kitchen. "Ma! We have visitors."
Riley didn't hesitate to follow behind Elaine. His eyes were glued to her ass as it swayed back and forth naturally from her walk. All he could do was imagine what it would be like to bury his head between her cheeks…
Huey stopped suddenly when they entered the kitchen, causing Riley to glare at the back of his head since he interrupted his booty staring.
A woman with relaxed black hair was leaning against the island counter top in the middle of the kitchen on the phone. Huey guessed she was Elaine's mom due to some of their …. similarities. She smiled at Riley, Huey, and Granddad before returning her attention back to the phone. "Yes, you can help me. I've been waiting on this damn phone for 15 whole minutes." There was a quick pause in speech from Elaine's mom and she smiled again at them before walking out of the room. "Yes, Olivia Jackson. 310 ..." Her voice disappeared the further she walked away.
"Hehe, sorry about that." Elaine scratched the back of her head. "I didn't realize she was taking a call right now. Please, sit down." She gestured towards the bar stools at the island. They all took a seat, with Granddad on the left, Riley in the middle, and Huey on the right.
"This is a very fine house you have here, Ms. Elaine." Granddad decided to start a conversation before Riley could even form words.
"Oh yeah yeah. It's pretty cool. It's way bigger than any house I've ever lived in in California." Elaine was trying very VERY hard to be vocal and hold a conversation with someone she really didn't know. It really put her out of her comfort zone. As she spoke, she glanced back at the bacon she had laid out in the skillet on the stove and the uncracked eggs. "Um, if you guys don't mind, I was about to cook breakfast for my parents. If you guys are hungry, I can make a little extra," she shyly asked as she fiddled with the nob on the stove.
"Oh baby, you don't have t-" Granddad was quickly cut off by Riley.
"Oh forreal? Breakfast? I'm down for that. I don't know about these two niggas though." Riley smirked at her, crossing his arms on the table, and leaning forward on them.
"If you don't mind." Huey finally spoke up since being in her presence. Elaine looked at him again with something on her face that looked like a question. Huey never got the chance to ask her what was wrong before her mom came back into the kitchen.
"Oh my gosh! Our first guests. Hi, I'm Laney's mom, Olivia Jackson." Being the happy huggy person Olivia was, she hugged the men one by one really tight.
Huey hugged her awkwardly. It had been a long time since another person, a female no less, hugged him without him telling them to get the hell off. He didn't mind it all that much, though. She smelled really good, too…
His eyes widened when he realized what he just though and he rubbed his temples very hard. 'I don't know what it is with you today Huey, but it needs to stop.' It had also been awhile since he addressed himself in third person.
"I'm Robert Freeman and I'm ya neighbor that lives down the street in the house with the brown roof. It is a pleasure to meet you. These are my grandsons Riley," he stopped and pointed behind him to Riley, "and Huey." Granddad was grinning too hard at Elaine's mom for Huey to even be comfortable with. Elaine had her back turned to preparing food, so Huey decided to end something before it started.
"Mrs. Jackson, right?" Huey spoke up from the end of the island. He watched as Olivia walked to a cabinet and managed to grab 6 glasses, and started filling them up with ice water from a jug. She looked over her shoulder with a smile.
"Why yes, I am married." Olivia turned around fully and placed all the filled cups on the island, moving 3 cups in their direction. "Here you go." It was in that moment that Granddad noticed the two large diamond rings on her left hand's ring finger. It looked like he deflated within a few minutes. Huey, congratulating himself on a job well done, noticed how quiet Riley was being. He didn't know why until he saw where his eyes were looking.
Elaine was bustling back and forth in the kitchen. She cracked nine eggs into a bowl faster than what should have been normal. Huey watched as she added a good dash of salt and pepper and cheddar cheese before taking a fork and began whipping the eggs quickly. While doing that, she put another strip of bacon into the already sizzling pan. She put the bowl of eggs down and moved onto another large bowl that was surrounded with flour, sugar, an egg, butter, salt, baking powder, and milk.
Olivia and Granddad were having an interesting conversation about something neither Riley or Huey were listening to. They were too busy watching Elaine move.
Elaine sifted the dry ingredients first into the bowl and slowly poured in the wet. Picking up the blender beside the stove, she turned it on low and put it in the bowl. Changing the hand that was holding the blender, she reached over and turned the large griddle pan on. As much as he didn't want it to happen, Huey was waiting for her to mess up somewhere from moving too fast.
She threw four pieces of toast into a toaster but didn't push them down. Turning around quickly, Elaine noticed that Huey and Riley were staring at her intently. "W-what?"
"Nothin'," Riley responded before Huey could. "It's just… you movin' so quick. How you ain't mess up yet?"
Elaine smiled and blushed slightly at Riley's word. She turned around and continued moving, grabbing potatoes and onions. "I don't know, I just move fast I guess. I like cooking and I do it often. I guess you can say I'm pretty confident about my cooking skills." While she said that, she started peeling potatoes, setting each other them down on the counter behind her. "And it's really not hard to cook…" Laney said this while skinning an onion and slicing it in half, and began quickly dicing it up. She quickly did the same with all the potatoes she had skinned.
"So, what are you cooking this morning?" Huey could easily take a guess at what was being made but he wanted her to tell him.
"Ooh, so glad you asked." Laney spoke with her back to him. "Okay, so I'm making scrambled cheese eggs, bacon, toast, country fried potatoes, and pancakes." Huey noticed she said the word pancakes with a sort of veneration. She greased the hot skillet in front of her, spread it around before walking away to pour the eggs into the other skillet she had ready for it. She quickly started stirring and within minutes she was pouring the big, golden fluffy eggs onto a serving plate.
"Country fried potatoes? Is there a special occasion, Laney?" Elaine's mom finally spoke up after awhile. Huey glanced at Granddad and noticed he had a content look on his face. He wished he would have been listening to their conversation.
"The special occasion of moving into this new house, obviously." Elaine moved the pan off the stove and into the sink, moving quickly back to her potatoes and onions. She tossed both diced items into the greased pan hearing them sizzle. Picking up the pan by the handle, she tossed the potatoes around in the pan. The kitchen was starting to smell heavenly. Elaine quickly dashed salt, pepper, and a spice Huey wasn't familiar with over the potatoes, she moved to the spice cabinet and pulled out a large bottle of vanilla extract.
"You right, you right. Want me to help?" Olivia asked and walked over to the fridge, opening it. Elaine poured a large amount of vanilla into her pancake batter before she stopped mid pour.
"Um, no one is allergic to vanilla, right?" A look of fear crossed her face as she looked at Granddad, Riley, and Huey.
"Nah, we all good." Riley responded. "What's the point of that anyways?"
Elaine sighed in relief and smiled again. "You'll find out soon. And Ma, I'd appreciate the help. Can you please take out some plates and forks and orange juice and apple juice? Oh, and syrup." Laney started loading pieces of bacon onto a plate covered with a napkin to let the grease drain off. Then, she put that skillet in the sink. She spun on her heel and pushed the toaster down to get the bread cooking.
Olivia did as she was asked and hummed while doing so. After placing the last plate, napkin, and fork in front of Huey, she started another conversation. "So you're Huey, right?" She smiled kindly at him. He nodded his head. "How old are you Huey?"
"I'm 16. I'll be 17 in a few months." He reached for the cup of water that was offered earlier and took a sip.
"Oh, fun. Laney will be 16 in September." Huey saw Elaine's shoulder stiffen as her mother mentioned her name. "Does that also mean you're a junior?"
"Yeah. School started only about a week ago." It was too late to take back what he said. Riley was already dancing to that outdated Hot Nigga song in his head. Huey rolled his eyes.
"Laney! Isn't that great? We moved at a pretty good time of the year, huh? Any later and you would have been behind by a good month." Olivia poured herself a glass of juice and sat at the island next to Granddad.
"Who starts school in August, anyway? That's way too early for me." Noticing that her mom hadn't said anything to Riley, Elaine decided to. "Riley you're younger than Huey, right? What grade are you in?"
"Ya boy just became a freshman. And I'mma be 15 in November," Riley said proudly and had a smile with it. Elaine smiled too because she understood how it felt to finally be in high school after so many long years. She poured the golden brown potatoes onto another serving plate and grabbed the toast out of the toaster. She turned around and put eggs, potatoes, and toast on everyone's plate.
"Freshman year was fun for me. Kind of boring but fun. Do either of you do any sports?" She now directed her question to the both of them.
"Basketball fo' life. They havin' try outs next Thursday and you can bet Reezy gone making that varsity team." There was nothing but confidence in Riley's voice before Huey spoke.
"Yeah, a freshman on varsity. Good luck with that one. I've been doing karate for a long time, but I'm thinking about track this year." Huey quickly popped his brother's bubble and answered Elaine's question efficiently. Elaine laughed as she poured some pancake batter onto the large skillet. She produced 10 palm sized pancakes. She flipped them all over once they got solid and spread butter on all of them.
"I was thinking about track, too but they say running long distances messes up your vertical. No vertical, no setter. No setter..." Elaine didn't finish her sentence as she shuddered in slight horror.
"His black ass almost didn't make it." Granddad glared at Riley and almost hit him again like the same day when he found out if Riley didn't pass at least two of his finals, he wasn't leaving 8th grade.
"Well, he made it Mr. Freeman; that's all that matters. And don't count your brother so short, Huey. Laney made the varsity volleyball line up as a freshman."Olivia smiled proudly at her daughter her blushed a little but smiled.
Huey raised his eyebrows and Riley got excited. Now, he'd have an even better reason to see her ass. Volleyball players wore spandex right? Blood slowly returned to Riley's groin. "How long have you been playing volleyball, Elaine?" Huey asked.
"I guess all my life." She laughed and plopped two pancakes on his plate. "My mom started me really early, so I've always just been doing it. I also started softball which is really fun too." Laney delivered another 8 pancakes to the plates sitting on the island. She made sure the stove was turn off before sitting down beside Huey.
Everyone had already started eating so she watched their reactions before she ate. "So what do you guys think?"
"You already know I love whatever you make," Olivia said happily, eating the potatoes and eggs first. She had gotten up and grab the ketchup from the fridge in case anyone wanted some.
"It's actually really good. Thank you," Huey looked at Elaine with a barely noticeable smile on his face. Elaine titled her head into her shoulder and looked away with a small smile on her face.
"You're welcome."
"Aye, you should start selling this." Riley's food was almost gone. Laney's eyes widened a little at his plate and she laughed at his comment. "I'm serious though. I can put you on. We'd be making hella money."
"I don't think I can sell this stuff, Riley. It would take a lot of effort and money. If I was a sophomore and you told me this, totally would have taken you up on your offer." She cut up her pancakes and drowned them in syrup. "This is like the worst year of your high school life. Barely got time for sports."
Huey nodded in silent agreement. It wasn't like he struggled in school but when stuff started piling up, it'd annoy the hell out of anyone.
"Your cooking is excellent, baby. The pancakes have a lovely little taste to them. Never would have thought to put vanilla in the batter," Granddad complimented as he put two pieces of bacon and pancakes in his mouth.
"Neither did I. My mom's friend had us over for breakfast one day and there was a taste in her pancakes that I couldn't figure out. After my third pancake, I had to just ask her because my taste buds were betraying me. It was the best day honestly." Elaine smiled fondly at the memory and her discovery.
Huey looked over at the look on her face. 'She looks kind of… cute.' He didn't scold himself on his thoughts this time because she genuinely did look cute. He looked down at his plate and continued eating.
Riley had been looking at Elaine as she spoke and he caught the look Huey gave her. It didn't look like much to the untrained eye but Riley could tell he looked at the girl differently than he did Jazmine. His eyes narrowed in irritation. The one girl he found that was worth being on his arm in public, and Huey staring her down like he'd never seen a female before.
This wasn't over.
"Mrs. Jackson, if you don't mind me askin'," Granddad began.
"No no, call me Olivia!" She smiled at the older man with a kind smile. She looked down at the piece of bacon she was breaking in half then looked back up at Granddad.
"If you say so, Olivia," The word came out a little weird. "How did you pick Elaine's name? It's not any of my business but you don't often here that name, and it kind of sounds familiar." Granddad pushed around a potato before stabbing it and putting it in his mouth. Elaine had slowed down eating to listen to what her mom had to say. She already knew the answer though.
Olivia set her food down and looked at Granddad with a spark in her eyes. "Well, as you already know, I was born and raised in California, home of the Black Panthers. Elaine Brown went to Cali to be a singer songwriter but she ended up becoming involved politics and joined a black powered movement that traveled all over the country. She joined the Black Panther Party doing petty tasks, then recording songs for their powerful campaign, then began the first woman to lead the Party." Olivia by then had looked passed Granddad and was simply in her own world but she continued talking.
She talked with so much passion, it was almost possible to not listen. Anyone who was aware of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s would know of at least some of the struggle African Americans went through just to gain the rights they should have been entitled to when the damn country was founded.
"If that isn't inspiring and motivational, I don't know what is. So, I decided that if I ever had kids, and if I had a girl, I'd name her Elaine; after the woman who encouraged me to keep on moving. It was not only hard for blacks back in the 60s and 70s, but it was equally bad for women." Olivia looked over at Elaine with a proud, bright smile. Elaine was looking back at her with a small smile on her face. "Elaine Brown succeeded and made a difference in lives like mine; I want my Elaine Jackson to conquer and persevere, too."
Huey looked between Elaine and her mom and couldn't help but give a small smile at the way her mom was looking at her. They appeared to be close. That knowledge caused his heart to clench a little in angst knowing he'd never see his own parents ever again. He looked over at Riley who, once again, became extremely silent. Usually, you'd be able to hear him smacking on his food.
Riley was staring down at his plate pushing a potato around in the pancake syrup. He looked like he was in deep thought.
The same thoughts that crossed Huey's mind were placed into Riley's. He knew his parents had died in a bad accident, but it still hurt knowing he didn't remember them as well as Huey might. He never voiced these concerns that haunted him because he thought he'd look bad for showing that side.
He felt something nudge his leg from underneath the table. Riley looked up out of his trance and looked at Huey.
Huey was giving him this funny look but it was a look that Riley understood – Huey felt the same way. Riley never said anything, and he didn't need to. He had someone in his life who felt the pain he went through.
It was his brother, even though he was still a bitch.
Riley snorted and a lazy smile formed on his face before he ate the last potato on his plate.
Author's Note
Ta-da! Chapter 3! I liked this chapter because of the content but I'm not too impressed with my character interpretation. Riley is naturally a loud outspoken character so you can almost guarantee he'll be saying something loud and obnoxious. But Huey to me is quiet and more reserved, and his speak unless spoken to game is hella strong XD I plan on giving Huey a lot more internal dialogue with himself for quite a few more chapters until his curiosity of Elaine gets to him. Granddad is just... Granddad. Hell, I don't know.
And if it wasn't already noticed, instead of typing Elaine all the time, I personally switch between Elaine and Laney because it's something different.
Uhh, lemme see... OCs are kind of hard for me to write because I add my own attitude and temperaments to my character without knowing it. So, if Elaine is shy one minute then a boss ass bitch the next, just know it was an accident XD
A few of Elaine's hobbies will come from my real life because it's easier to write about something I know personally (volleyball, softball, etc).
AND yes, in this fanfic Huey and Riley's parents were killed in a car accident back in Chicago while they were in the back seat. I'm kind of scared that I stole this idea from another Boondocks fanfic I read but I can't jog my memory to know if that's true or not. So if you see that I have stolen this idea from another fic, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND I WILL CHANGE IT.
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