Page 9 of Ony If It's You
“Alright then,” my uncle finally said after eyeing me.
“Bet. I’m going to get ready then.”
I stood and went to my room to do just that. There was no point in dwelling on any of that shit because people’s opinions were their own and they were entitled to feel how they did. All I could do was pray this image lady knew what she was doing.
Chapter Four
Kehlani
Sitting on the toilet with the lid down, I sniffled as I stared at my blank phone screen. Jocey had just called and told me how much she missed me. I wanted so badly to get on the first flight out of here and go home to my babies. I was really that mother that was never away from her kids.
“Lani!” I heard Celeste yelling and her voice was getting closer and closer. Quickly, I wiped down my face with the palm of my hand. I knew if and when she saw me crying, she would…
“Oh, hell no bitch!” she fussed, barging into the bathroom and seeing my red eyes. “What the hell, Kehlani?”
“I know, I’m sorry. This is rough for me,” I whined.
The twins were six and I could count on one hand how many times that I had actually been away from them. The result was the same every time, me locked away somewhere crying.
“Girl, you have got to stop this. They are fine, you are fine.” She crouched in front of me and took both of my hands into hers. “They’re with Ms. Jean, so you know they’re in good hands, plus if they need anything, their trifling ass father is there in the city with them.”
She rolled her eyes when she said the last part in true Celeste fashion. I laughed and wiped the few tears that escaped while she was talking. She was right. Jocey and Si were in good hands, so there was nothing for me to worry about. I just didn’t want them looking for me and I wasn’t there. That was my own personal struggle.
“You’re right.” I sniffled. “I’m sorry.”
“I know I am.” She smirked. “Now come on and let’s touch this makeup up so that we can go meet up with Bridezilla.”
Normally I remained neutral between Celeste and Brooke, but she was right. Brooke had been a total bitch since we’d landed and it wasn’t even her wedding day yet. I could only imagine what we had to look forward to tomorrow.
After getting myself together, I grabbed my clutch and put my phone away before we left the room to meet the rest of the ladies down in the lobby of the hotel. Brooke’s older sister, cousin, and sister-in-law were the other women that made up her wedding party. They were all waiting on us when we stepped off of the elevator, Brooke wearing a scowl on her face. Celeste snickered when she noticed the way she was looking.
“Imagine being fashionably late tomybachelorette party.” She scoffed when we were near.
“Well, it would make sense the ones with the most fashion would befashionably late,boo,” Celeste taunted.
She and I did dress better than anyone in the group. My father had left a large amount of money stashed at my grandmother’s that left me in a great place financially as both an adult and a child. Celeste’s parents were both in real estate, so she was well off. On the other hand, Brooke’s mother was in the restaurant business working as a cashier at a local burger joint and her father worked for the city as a sanitation specialist.
It wasn’t until Brooke met Lance that she got into a better situation. He was a local dope boy that stayed in trouble, alwaysin and out of jail, but he took care of her and she was happy, so that was all that mattered.
“Anyways,” Brooke spat and rolled her eyes from Celeste to me. “What took so long?”
“Jocey called. I got a little emotional after talking to her, so I had to touch my makeup up,” I said.
We were now all in the back of the pink stretch limo that Brooke had rented for the night. Her plan was to “Bridal Bar Hop”, whatever that was supposed to mean. I found it to be a little unnecessary considering that we were staying on the strip where everything was, but it was her wedding, and this was her bachelorette party, so she could do what she wanted.
“Whew, sounds like a lot. Seeing you be a mom makes me glad that I never allowed a man to make me a baby mama.”
“Bitch, please,” Celeste spat before I could say anything. “You can’t say that when you’ve had enough babies vacuumed out of you to fill a boarding house.”
“Be that as it may; I’m not crying about whatever her kids have done,” she replied curtly.
“I wasn’t crying because my kids did anything, I miss them. That’s it.”
“And you’re well within your rights to do so,best friend,” Celeste added. “That’s what good mamas do.”
“Like I said I didn’t allow a man to trap me for me to know whatgood mamasdo. I took care of that before it even got that far.” Brooke smirked. “I made my man legitimize me before that could even become an option.”
I wasn’t going to entertain the conversation any further, so I changed the subject. The rest of the ride to the first bar was spent talking about the plans for tomorrow. Although Brooke was being a bitch toeverybody,we still were happy and excited for her. Well, most of us were, Celeste probably couldn’t care less.
