Page 102 of Don Caselli

It wasn’t an aesthetic, or the perfect lighting. I didn’t practice my words or actions. It was me needing to dance, feeling mycousin’s arms as we both did something that was the norm for us. We had grown up listening to everything from Soca to reggae music, so this was in our blood. We watched our mothers do the same thing, grabbing each other as they danced and our uncles tried to playfully stop them like they weren’t grown with kids of their own.

Music was so important to our culture. It fed our souls, when we were feeling down, or when we were feeling joy. We could always count on the music to tell us how we were feeling. Our body naturally reacted to the beat without us even thinking. Greene whined her hips over toward Beans, and he was trying not to feed into what she wanted, but then she turned around and started whining on him, and his hands held her, as she danced.

I could tell from the way he was holding her that he had feelings for her. Greene always spoke about him being nice to her, and always flirting with her, and hearing it was one thing. Seeing how he stared down at her when she finally turned around to face him solidified it. Her hair went one way while her body went the other way. She was into her element, moving her body and letting loose.

Tossing my arms around Landon, I took my camera and turned it to face us. “How does it feel to be on my vlog?”

He kissed my lips. “You want the world to know you got a man, Bleu?”

I blushed, because the camera was shoved in his face, and he was only paying attention to me. I mattered in this moment, not my career or this camera. “Wouldn’t be a bad thing, huh?”

He flipped the screen down and held it. “Can’t be recorded like that, Pooh.”

“Will you explain why?”

“Soon.” He grabbed a handful of ass, and I was satisfied to be in his presence. Feeling something I hadn’t felt in my soul in a while.

Peace.

The feelingof his cool lips on mine, kissing me awake felt like I was on top of the world. His arms gripped me tightly as he continued to kiss me, wanting me to be in his skin. My eyes fluttered opened, and I kissed him back.

“Happy birthday, Pooh,” he said between kisses on my lips and neck, as I giggled, and hugged him around the neck.

“Thank you, baby. Why have you been up early every morning since we got here?” I kissed his cheek, as his lips found mine again.

His hand squeezed my ass, his favorite thing to do. He loved squeezing my ass, and just randomly slapping it. We spent yesterday at Sugar Beach and enjoyed the silence. I read my book while he read a magazine about computers or software. We didn’t need to have constant conversations, we just enjoyed being in each other’s space.

Greene and Beans went to do their own thing while we sat on the beach. I was sun burned, but I had no regrets this morning on my birthday. I smiled so wide as I looked at him admiring me.

“Did you think this would happen when you interrupted my reading at that dinner party?” I snorted.

“You was so smitten you put that book down and wanted to talk to me.”

I shoved him. “Whatever. You kept chatting and clearly you wanted to see what Navy Bleu was about.”

“Damn right I wanted to see what she was about.”

“Any regrets?”

“None… you?”

I winced. “You snore a little bit, but that’s alright. We don’t live together, so I don’t have to deal with it all the time.”

“Oh yeah?” he tickled me, and I fell back laughing.

My phone started ringing from behind him, and he reached and handed it to me. When I saw Antwan’s facetime call coming in, I rolled my eyes and showed him the phone.

“Answer… you were with him for a minute. You don’t just forget about someone you cared about birthday.”

I was surprised by his response and slid my finger across the screen. “Hey.”

“Happy birthday, baby.”

Before I could respond, Don snatched the phone and came into view. “Chill on the baby, my boy…. Say happy birthday and keep that shit respectful.”

He handed me the phone back and I busted out laughing in Antwan’s face. “This the shit you really on, Nav?”

“Her name Navy… cut those nicknames out, too.” He yawned, getting out the bed.

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