Chapter VI:
C H R I S B R O W N:
I awoke to a pair of hands shaking the fuck out of my shoulders. I looked up and it was August with a cup of liquor dangling between his teeth. I looked at my phone for the time, it was only 5pm.
“Getting started early, huh Aug?” I asked him as I sat up on the bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
“Hell yeah! We in Norfolk nigga, turn the fuck up!” Trey said as he came into view with the Ciroc bottle August must have been drinking from too. I shook my head.
“Y’all are wild. What time does the show even start?”
“Doors open at 7, August goes on at 8. I go on at 9 and you go on at 10. Then we party until 2am nigga!” Trey answered as he tried to hand me the Ciroc bottle. I took it and sat it down on the table next to me.
“You not drinking?” August asked, already slurring his words.
“Nah, I’m good. We at the hotel right?” They both shook their heads yes. I text Big Pat and told him I was ready to check in. Which I was, I didn’t want to be under their scrutiny for not drinking with them any longer than I had to. I found my suitcases and my phone before meeting up with Pat at the back of the bus. We were able to out the bus and into the lobby successfully, it was the task of getting to my room that was about to be a challenge.
“You’re going to have to take the emergency stairs Boss Man. You run the risk of getting seen on the elevator and the main stairs,” Pat said as he passed me my room key. I was on the top floor of this damn building, in one of the condos. I’ll be damned if I take my ass up 13 flights of steps so I made my way to the elevator with my luggage.
“You sure about this?” Pat’s nervous ass asked.
“Yeah nigga, just don’t let anyone else get on the elevator.”
“Nigga this not my shit, I can’t keep people from getting on the elevator. My job is to keep them from touching you. Just don’t bring any attention to yourself. Put your fucking hood on, help me out here.” I rolled my eyes as I put my hood on and pressed the button for the 13th floor. We rode without interruptions until the 5th floor but even then it was just old ass people that couldn’t give a rat’s ass about me that got on. I was beginning to get stuffy so I took my hood off once we got to the 10th floor.
“Oh my God,” was all I heard as the doors opened. I looked up and almost fell to the fuckin’ floor. I managed to avoid her for years now and all of a sudden…
“Chris?!”
“Kae?! Yo, what the fuck is up?” I asked as she got onto the elevator. She went to hug me and surprisingly I hugged her back, with a stiff ass arm though.
“Nothing really, just out here for Hampton’s homecoming. What are you doing out here?”
“I’m out here for homecoming events too, with Trey and August. I think we at Old Dominion University tonight.”
“Oh okay, that’s wassup. You uhhh…you look great. How’s the marriage and father life treating you?” she asked as she pointed to my wedding band. I looked down at it and smiled.
“Great. I’ve never been happier.” I saw her face drop as soon as I said that. I didn’t mean to hurt her but…it was the truth. “How are you though? The modeling thing still working out?” I asked, trying to switch the subject as we got to my floor.
“Yeah, everything is great. I’m not the happiest that I’ve been but I’m doing alright. Man, it’s been years Chris…why no contact whatsoever?” I scratched my head as I looked down at the foot caught in between the elevator doors to keep it open.
“I just been focusing on my career and my family Kae. I didn’t need any distractions. I gotta go though. Take care.” I told her before heading towards my room door.
S E R E N I T Y:
“Xavier Maurice Brown, if you don’t sit your lil butt down somewhere,” I said through gritted teeth. This boy little boy managed to climb on top of the latter that’s in the graffiti room in the 2.5 seconds I was gone. I picked him up and set him down on his feet by me as we watched Leah paint. She’s the spitting image of her father. She spent most of her time down here with him. She has her own little section of the wall with her own little set of paint, brushes, and even spray paint. There’s been many of evenings I would be out doing something like buying groceries or getting some other shopping done while Chris watched the kids and I would come home to Leah being an absolute mess. There would be paint all on her face, in her hair, and all over her clothes. She loved painting more than anything though, so I could never be upset at the mess I was always left cleaning up.
“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” X and Gabbi started yelling together. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I wrapped them both in my arms.
“Yes babies?” I asked them as Leah put down her paint brush and ran into an open space in my arms as well.
“Daddy!” X said as he started pointing to my cell phone sitting on the floor beside me. I looked at the time and figured Chris should be able to talk, so I FaceTimed him.
“Wassup Beautiful?” he answered. The kids lit up with smiles from ear to ear. I can’t even lie, I did too.
“Oh, you got the whole crew with you! Look at my beautiful ass kids. Hey babies!” I rolled my eyes at his use of profanity but I wasn’t going to bring it up, I’ll let the kids enjoy this moment.
“Da-da! Hi Da-da!” Gabbi said as she took the phone and held it extremely close to her face, planting kisses all over it.
“Aw thanks for my kisses Gabbs, Da-da needed those man. What y’all up to?” he asked as I wiped the front camera free of Gabbi’s juicy kisses. I then gave the phone to Leah.
“Go show Da-da what you painted,” I said as I nudged her towards her latest creation.
“Wow Lee-lee, that’s amazing baby. I can’t wait to see it in person. Make sure you keep up the good work while I’m gone, okay?” She shook her head and ran back towards me with the phone. I then passed it to X.
“You tell Da-da how you climbed the latter in the graffiti room?” X immediately started shaking his head trying to deny it and I burst into laughter.
“You did what?! Boy, you bet not let mommy catch you doing that again. You hear me?” X just started smiling and biting on his fingers, something he always did when he got nervous or could tell he was in trouble for some reason.
“Other than that, they’ve been perfect, little angels so far. We’ll see how long that lasts though,” I told Chris.
“That’s good. Aye, Da-da loves y’all man. Stay good and lookout for one another, aight?” They all shook their heads before blowing kisses into the phone. Then they took off to play with the various toys and games that found their way down here too.
“So, how is everything?” I asked him.
“Everything is cool. I just finished getting dressed. The show starts in an hour but I don’t go on until 10. What about you, you good? Miss me yet? I miss you, so damn much.” I blushed as I pushed my hair behind my ear.
“I miss you more, Brown. I’m not going to hold you up though, I know you got things to do. The kids just wanted to say hello.”
“Just the kids?”
“No, I wanted to talk to you too babe.”
“Good, that’s what I like to hear. But look, I don’t get out of here until 2am. Go cook for the kids then put them down for bed so you can nap until then. I got some things planned for us later.” I rolled my eyes, he done lost his mind.
“Like what?” I asked. He just grinned while biting his lip. I looked away from the screen, he was not about to set up a damn thirst trap just like that.
“Wear my favorite color panties….actually, don’t wear any at all. That’s all I’m saying. I gotta go though, baby. I love you,” he said before bringing the phone up to his face and kissing the screen. I giggled as I did the same before hanging up. I then gathered my babies and we made our way to the kitchen. I sat each of them on the counter and began our nightly routine. First, I’d clean their faces and their little hands off while asking them what they wanted for dinner. After we came to a conclusion, I’d set every ingredient we needed out and would let them help me prep before actually cooking as much as possible. They get a kick out of it and so do I. It’s the little moments like this you begin to cherish over anything else in life.