Page 97 of Girl, We Go Together
“Maaaaa…” she yelled, and her voice echoed a bit because the place was half empty.
“She started calling for y’all, so I figured I would bring her down for a bit,” Ms. Nora said as she limped over.
I stood from my seat to allow her a space to sit, but she declined. Still, I stood anyway. Oriana took off running right to her room to explore the space.
“Oooo,” I heard her excitedly say once she made it into her room.
I stood in the doorway and watched her walk over to the wall with the stickers and look up at it. The room was very spacious, and I knew I would have to get her a lot more furniture than that toddler bed Kassidy had bought to fill the space.
“Oriiiii,” Ms. Flora sang, “Come with Nana so I can give you some nuggets.”
Ms. Flora said the magic word. Oriana took off full speed back into the living room. I followed her. When I entered the room, Ms. Flora and Kassidy were whispering about something, but then they stopped when they saw me. It didn’t make me uncomfortable, but I did notice. Trying not to put too much thought into it, I brushed the moment off.
“Ms. Flora, Ori is having a Family Friday event at her daycare next Friday, and I would love for you to come.”
She picked up Oriana and smiled. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
She limped her way out of the basement, singing some song to Ori on the way out. When Kassidy stood from the futon, he did a light stretch, then started putting the boxes in the rooms they belonged in. The moving process was stressful, but the worst part was over. My old keys were returned to my old property management, and all my stuff was moved into this space. I knew it would take us all weekend to have everything unpacked and where we wanted it.
Orion
I stood on the other side of the door, waiting for it to open. Shenell pulled it open with Ocean in her arms.
“Hi, fat man.”
He leaned so far out of her arms that he damn near jumped on me. She didn’t even say anything to me; she just walked into the apartment, leaving the door ajar. I walked past OJ’s room and saw him playing his Xbox.
“What’s up, boy?”
“Hey, Dad.”
He didn’t even turn to look. Roblox had my boy in a chokehold right now. I took some time for myself to think about the current state of my love life. I had to really come to terms with the fact that Cayla had moved on.
“Can you watch them tonight?”
I scrunched up my face as I sat down on the couch. I placed Ocean on his feet and watched as he took off. I was sure he was about to raise havoc.
“It’s Wednesday.”
“I didn’t know a day of the week mattered when you were grown.
It was obvious that Shenell had an attitude, and I was debating on poking at what was wrong with her. Ever since she had Ocean, she had been short-tempered with me. Considering that I had Brandi’s ass paraded like she was my happily ever after, I could understand the anger. I sat there quietly, trying to read her. She folded her arms across her breasts and then shifted her weight to one leg.
“Can you watch them or not?” she asked after sucking her teeth.
“Yeah, I guess.”
She stared at me, and I opened my eyes wide because I had already given her my answer.
“You were just gonna let me take my ass outside?”
I scratched my head because I was so damn confused. The girl basically asked for a free night, and I was about to give it to her.
“Uh, yeah… if you wanted to go do something. I know how to be a dad.”
She stomped her foot and then threw her arms down.
“What happened to the nigga who used to tell me that I wasn’t gonna see him swing, all because I didn’t see his text?”
