Our brother's best friend Markell had two sons Marquis and Malik and we were tight with them just like our fathers were.
"So you still rolling to Marquis party tomorrow right?" Khamani asked.
"Bruh, I honestly don't feel like going."
"Why? You know Quis party bout to be live nigga." Khamani replied and even though he was telling the truth I really could care less.
"I guess I'm just not in the mood." I answered.
"Come on nigga you know Charmaine got a lock on that dick in your pants. She probably said she gonna cuss yo ass out if you go huh?" Khamani always knew how to get underneath my skin. He knew Charmaine was the gateway to my frustration.
"Man … shiiiiit … you know Charmaine ain't controlling shit this way bro. I just haven't been in the mood to party lately but you know I'm not gonna miss Marquis party. I'll be there."
"Well do us a favor and leave Charmaine's dramatic ass at home." Khyree said as he took a long drag from his blunt. The way my brother said it I knew he meant that shit. No one in my family could stand Charmaine. People only tolerated her because she was the mother of my son but other than that they didn't fuck with her on any levels. Shit at this point I barely fucked with her at all too.
"Bro, I'm already on it. I won't be able to have any fun or enjoy myself with Charmaine trying to watch my every move. She'll be left at home. Trust me."
"And how are you gonna do that nigga?"
"Well all I'm gonna do is pay her usual babysitter to be busy tomorrow night and she'll have no choice but to stay her ass home."
"Okay Kwame we gon' see if your little plan work. I'm gonna bet your ass one hundred dollars that Charmaine still finds a way to push up on your ass." Khamani said.
"It's on. And what happens when she doesn't appear at all?" I asked.
"Then we will both give you a hundred dollars fool. If you lose you owe both of us." Khyree said.
"Bet." I replied and both of my brothers busted out laughing.
"Man, fool Charmaine gonna bust up on that ass and go off on you. Watch." Khamani said as Khyree handed his blunt over and he inhaled.
"And when she do I'm gonna record that shit and put it all on You Tube." Khyree started cracking up as if he just told himself the funniest joke.
"Whatever. And when y'all see that you are wrong. I want a new pair of Jordan's too." My brothers always thought they knew what was gonna happen between me and Charmaine. I mean they wasn't lying when they said she was dramatic because she was as dramatic and as extra as they came. Most of the time she was doing entirely too much and instead of going round and round with her I usually left her standing alone looking stupid. I hated to argue so any time Char wanted to be all in her feelings and shit I usually disappeared.
"I'll buy you whatever you want if you win the bet." Khamani offered. My cell phone rang and I answered it knowing that if I didn't answer her call she would call me back to back until I answered.
"Char, I'm leaving my brother's house now. Stop with the bullshit." I said without even giving her a chance to say anything and then I ended her call. I looked over at my brothers who couldn't help but laugh. They laughed their asses off as if they were front row at a comedy show.
"Yeah, get ready to pay up nigga!" Khamani said as he punched me in my arm as I started walking out the door.
"Okay, we gon' see bruh." I replied. I walked back on the porch, hugged Sariyah and then I hopped in my car and headed toward my house. Charmaine got on my last damn nerve and I definitely had something for her ass since she tried to keep a nigga on a ball and chain. I pulled out my phone and called my reinforcement K'Seana.
"What up Kwame?" She said the minute she answered the phone.
"You going to Quis party tomorrow night?" I asked even though I already knew the answer.
"Naw bro. You know the party scene ain't my thing. Besides, you know Charmaine probably gonna call me and ask me to keep lil man."
"She probably is but I got five hundred for you if you suddenly come up busy for tomorrow and can't do it."
"Uh oh. Bro, what you trying to do?" K'Seana asked. She started laughing knowing I was on my usual bullshit for the day.
"Nothing at all sis. I just need to have a night out without the watchful eye of Charmaine watching my every damn move. You know how she be. I can't even breathe the wrong way or she would accuse me of cheating on her. She be like nigga you breathing like you just got done fucking some hoe."
"Kwame, you crazy as hell." Kay continued to laugh but she knew I was telling the truth.
"Kay you know I'm telling the damn truth. Your girl be like agent private eye up in this bitch and now since it's a party she gonna really be on her investigative shit. Please say you got me."
"For five hundred dollars I got you bro for real. I just won't answer my phone tomorrow."
"Alright cool. Well I'll drop the money to you tomorrow morning and I appreciate you doing this."
"You know it's nothing. Talk to you tomorrow."
"Bye Kay." I said hanging up. K'Seana was Charmaine's best friend who actually was cool and had a good head on her shoulders. She just got hooked up with the wrong nigga and before she knew it he left her with three kids and absolutely no help. Her baby daddy Antwan was cool as hell but he just didn't have any sense of responsibility and wasn't trying to be anybody's father. Even though he had three kids with Kay and two by another girl he wasn't a father to any of them. Kay was the type of chick who definitely had her priorities straight and was in Youngstown State University getting her Respiratory Therapy degree so I always tried to help her out when I could. I was so glad she was able to help me out this time though. If she ended up not being able to watch my son and Charmaine ended up going to the party with me I didn't even want to go. All this meant was I was one step closer to winning the bet I'd just made between my brothers.
I received a text message from an unknown number while I was sitting at the red light on the bottom of the Market Street Bridge.
Hey Kwame I know you don't know this number but it's Kyhanna and I wanted to make sure you had my number just in case you wanted to text me back. I'll be at Marquis party tomorrow. Hope to see you there.
A smile swept across my face as I read Khyanna's text. I was glad she finally decided to text me so I could at least have her number. I had been thinking about her ever since I'd ran into her at the store that day and regretted the fact that I didn't at least get her number first but glad she finally hit me up.
Reading this text from you was the best thing that happened to me today. I'll be sure to slide through Quis party tomorrow. See you tomorrow.
The way she was talking to me in the store I just knew that she had threw my number in the trash when she got home but now I see that she didn't. Now I was even more hype to go to Marquis party knowing that she would be there. I looked up from my phone after locking it and realized I had made it to my street already. I let out one long ass sigh as I pulled in my driveway and parked in the garage next to Charmaine's White Dodge Charger. There was a time I used to love my house and coming home was something I couldn't wait to do but Charmaine had managed to make my place of serenity into a place full of confusion and chaos. She always made sure she kept something going on and if that wasn't bad enough she never cleaned up or cooked a damn thing. We did more eating out than anything.
The minute I walked in my house, it was apparent that Charmaine had an attitude. It was evident in her entire body language. I could read her like the back of my hand. My son KJ was on the floor playing with his Tonka truck. I decided to walk over to him before shit went sour.
"Hey lil man. I missed you." I said picking him up and giving him a kiss.
"I missed you too daddy." He replied hugging me around my neck. It didn't matter what type of day I had when I saw KJ it made my entire day worth it.
"So KJ is all you fuckin' see Kwame?" Charmaine asked and hearing her cuss in front of my son made me instantly mad.
"Charmaine how many times I gotta tell you to watch your mouth around my son." I reminded her. I didn't care that she cussed I just didn't want my son to develop a potty mouth before he could even talk real good.
"Kwame he's not just your son. He's my son too. And whatever. I know not to cuss around him but I'm mad right now and I can't help it."