"Her lips are devil red and her skin's the color mochaaa," Necia, Mani and I sing out loudly. Apparently the bar had karaoke, and who were we to deny ourselves the simple pleasures in life? The guys stayed at the table, but were singing along with us. We finished our song and went back to the table, out of breath. I go to sit in my seat but Nari pulls me into his lap.
"You did good baby girl," he whispers in my ear, laughing. "I even got you on snap," he shows me the video he got of Mani and I salsa dancing, while Necia belted out the lyrics.
"We did do good huh?" I laugh along with him, showing everybody else the video.
"You can't even play like you not Rican, Linda. Them hips was moving boy," Mani comments, making everyone laugh again. Nari taps my thigh, signaling me to get up.
The only thought circling my head was that I was too heavy.
The thought puts an immediate damper on my mood, and I take a shot to try and cover it up.
"You good, Mal?" Jo asks me quietly, calling by the nickname he'd given me. I nod my head and he gives me an unsure look.
"I'm good, don't worry about it," I wave him off, trying not to bring any attention my way. Nari comes back from the restroom, and motions for me to return to his lap. I shake my head, my insecurities still taunting me. He makes a face, but says nothing.
"Aiight yall, another round then we gotta go. I gotta get Bash from my momma," Mani announces.
"Jo, what you up to after this?" Kaz asks, to which Jo shrugs.
"Not shit for real. Wassup?"
"You and Nari can come to the crib and I can dust yall asses in some 2k," Kaz offers and Necia rolls her eyes slyly.
"Me and Linda got some things planned, maybe tonight though?" Shonari answers, making me look at him confused.
"Thank you Shonari, cause I really could use a damn nap," Necia responds, pushing Kaz lightly. We take our last shots, and separate in the parking lot. Mani and Jo kiss and part ways, and Kaz and Necia are having a heated conversation on their way to the car, probably about Kaz inviting people over without asking. 😂
"Alright, see you guys later," I wave, getting into the car. The first 5 minutes are quiet, only the radio playing softly.
"You gone tell me what you've got planned?" I interrupt the silence, glancing over at Nari. I hadn't noticed his tense posture until now. "You okay baby?" I turn towards him, rubbing his shoulder.
"Why you ain't wanna sit back in my lap?" He grunts out. I roll my eyes, thinking he was mad because of that.
"Babe, it's really not that ser-"
"Nah what is serious is that you've got that little voice in your head, and you listen to that instead of me," he glares at me before turning his attention back to the road.
"What are you talking about, Shonari?" I look at him confused, not understanding what he was hinting at.
"Why you ain't wanna sit back in my lap?" He asks again, and it dawns on me that he caught on to my little mood change.
"Babe, I just-"
"You just what, Malinda?"
"I didn't want you to be uncomfortable" I look down at my hands after feeding him that bullshit excuse, knowing he'd say something about it.
"Really nigga?" He makes a face at me, showing his disbelief.
"I thought you told me to get up because I was heavy, and that you used the excuse of going to the bathroom because you didn't wanna hurt my feelings," tears brim my eyes, and I huff, frustrated that I'm about to cry again. We pull into the space in front of my apartment, but neither of us make any move to get out.
"Your beautiful lil brain thought all that shit up, but didn't take the chance to think that a nigga just had to take a piss?" He turns toward me. His eyebrows raised, and he really looks surprised that him actually using the bathroom hadn't even crossed my mind.
"That shit is not healthy, Malinda. And I'm a grown ass man, I can handle that ass. I thought I proved that to you already," he laughs, grabbing my face, making me look at him. "But for real ma, had it been uncomfortable, I would have politely told you so. Did I say, 'get up, you heavy'?"
"No," I answer quietly.
"Then the thought should have never even crossed ya mind. You keep up with this self depreciating shit, and we gone have some issues," he finishes, turning back in his seat and starting the car again. "But don't get it twisted, I love you," he kisses my knuckles, placing our hands in my lap. What did I do to deserve him? 🙂💕
"I love you too. Where we going?"
"Since you mentioned me getting locked, I figured we'd go visit one of my niggas. He helped me through some shit in there and I told him I'd visit when I got myself together... anndd I guess it'll be good for me get over the whole thing," he explains his reasoning for this impromptu trip and I nod my head.
"Thank you for letting me in," I kiss this hand that was previously in my lap lightly.
~~~
We spent the last 3 hours singing loudly, joking and talking, when we finally made it to the state prison.
"You seen ya pops in a while?" Nari asks while I place my purse in the trunk, grabbing my keys and I.D.
"Nah, but I put money on his books every month," I rolls my eyes, not wishing to speak about my deadbeat ass father. "Besides we came here for you, and I don't have shit to say to that puta,"
"Damn, touchy subject, okay," he jokes, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my neck.
"Whatever cabron,"
"What that mean?" He asks ignorantly, making a face at me. I laugh at him before answering.
"It means bastard,"
"Damn, why I gotta be allat?" He laughs with me.
We enter the prison, giving them my keys and our I.D.'s, we're admitted into the reception area after Nari tells them we're here to see a Kane.
"He must mean a lot to you for you to come back here," I glance at Nari, he pops his knuckles, before starting to bite his nails. My baby bout nervous as hell. 😩 I pop his hand to stop him from biting his nails, and place my hand on his thigh, my thumb rubbing small circles in the denim of his jeans. "We can go. We don't have to do this today,"
"No, It's cool. I'm cool," he kisses my check lightly, then leans closer to my ear. "You keep rubbing circles on my thigh, and I'm gone rub circles on you," he pulls away as if he didn't just threaten me with a good time.
"Stop it nasty," the guard by the elevator waves at us. "Come on, let's do this," I grab his hand, walking in front of him to the elevator.
