1992

The Robinson family's annual Fourth of July barbecue was today and Bumper wanted to bring you along considering you guys relationship was a month old and you never met his family besides his siblings. It was a little nerve wracking but it helped knowing that his siblings liked you.

"Baby, want another one?" Bumper asked, pulling a beer out of the fridge.

"Um, no. But I'll take a water babe"

He just nods his big ole' head, digging into the back of the fridge to get you an ice cold water.

You and Lauren were just starting to get to know each other, and Bumper really loved watching his girlfriend and sister bond. Lauren was going on and on about this guy she met at a football game. Apparently he's 6'1 and got it going on. Bumper held the icy bottle in his hand while he watched in amusement while the teenager gushed about some lil boy before when the doorbell rang out throughout the house.

Bumper smiled and answered the door for his Mom, being pulled into the daps and hugs from his friends that were at the door. Your heart stopped when Lauren looked up, smile erupting on her face as she jumped up from her spot next to you.

"Lauren!" She cheered, tackling Lauren with a huge hug.

"What are you doing here Sabrina?" Bumper asked, hugging her next.

His arms circled around her tiny waist, locking around her, face buried deep in her neck, eyes shut. You looked down at your empty hands, noticing the drinks he was getting on the table next to him.

"Heard the superstar was back in town, had to come over and say wassup" This Sabrina chick answered his question, rubbing his back up and down as she hugged him.

"It's been too long," He sighed, pulling back just slightly.

You stand and look around, wondering if there was another place you could go to so you didn't have to watch this.

"_______, have you met Sabrina?" Lauren asked, noticing you stand.

You look over, Bumper's eyes widening when he finally looks back over at you.

"Shorty, meet 'Brina" He says nodding his head for you to come join the group.

You put on a tight lipped smile, stopping to grab your water along the way.

"Oh sorry, I got distracted." He says pointing to the water.

'Yeah your ass got distracted alright' You thought.

"It's okay, I got it." You smile at him, looking at Sabrina.

"'Brina this is ______, ________ this is 'Brina" He introduces the two of you.

"________? I don't think you've ever mentioned a ______ before." Sabrina looks to Bumper, who shrugs in response.

You swallow thickly, jaw tensing as he moves almost a little closer to her. He must want you to go to jail for a double homicide. The group gets carried away with conversation, slowly moving outside where games and the grill were set up. You stood away from the group, talking to his brothers about nothing really.

"Where's Bumper?" Marcel, the younger twin, looks around taking a swig of his beer.

"He's catching up with some old friends, didn't want to intrude." You shrug.

"Intrude on what?" Marc asked.

"Bumper catching up with Sabrina and his friends." You answer, looking at your toes.

"Did he say you were intruding shorty?" Marc asks messing with the forty in front of him.

"No, I just wanted to give him his space with his friends. I'm not apart of that world for him." You shrug, leaning back in your chair.

Marcel looks at you confused, head tilting, "You're apart of his world yeah?"

"Yeah." You nod.

"Then you're apart of all his worlds, apart of everything." Marcel nods.

You look back over at Bumper who's laughing and smiling brightly at Sabrina.

"But her," Marc points at Sabrina with the bottle he was holding. "She's not apart of his world anymore, none of his worlds."

"Doesn't quite look like it." You mumble, watching as she grabs his arm.

You sit from afar tonight, watching him interact with her, Lauren interact with her, Mrs. Robinson interact with her.

It's so natural for them. They all make conversation easy, and have old inside jokes. For you to get Mrs. Robinson to even remotely look like he might smile you have to bring up something that Bumper told you to bring up.

The more you watch him and his family with her the more left out you feel. You are so out of place here, and this made it very apparent. You had your doubts that they actually liked you but now you had your true answer. You were not good enough to be with him in their eyes.

You stand from your spot on the porch steps, heading inside, passing the small group of elders playing cards in the kitchen and going to the door.

You slip your shoes on, reaching for your purse when one of his cousins you'd met earlier pokes her head around the corner to look at you.

"You leaving?" She asks, scaring you.

You jump, hand reaching for your heart as you look up, "Um," You look at the door and back at her. "Yeah, just gonna head home".

"Why? Are you okay?" You'd learned her name was Tayqaneisha, but since it's too long, she goes by Tay.

"Yeah, think it's just time I head out. I have work early in the morning" You nod.

"You leavin'?" Marc asks, joining you two by the door.

"Yeah," You sling your purse over your shoulder.

"Did something happen?" He asks noticing your upset gaze.

"I just don't quite think she's out of his world yet, and that's okay. But I'm gonna leave." You say softly, making Marc look out the back window.

You take that as your chance to dip, so you quickly step outside reaching for your keys. You fumble with the key fob, unlocking the door, opening it and slamming the door shut after you climb in. You start the car, unrolling the windows. You go to move the car to drive when you see no cars coming up the street, when that same tall figure you've grown infatuated with comes jogging up to the drivers side of your car.

"Hey, what are you doing? Why are you leaving? And why is Marc and Marcel pissed at me?"

You look up at him, sighing when you see his concerned eyes. You almost break, tell him your being stupid. You almost get out of the car and go back inside with him but then;

"Bumper where did you go? We were playing spades." Sabrina calls from the gate.

"Come back inside, come on." He says reaching inside your car to grab your keys.

"It's okay, just go back." You mutter, swatting at his hand.

"Come back with me." He says looking at you, noticing the tears pooling in your eyes,"lil mama" He asks looking at you more worried now.

"Bumper? Come on!" Sabrina yells, making him look up and over at her.

"Yeah Bumper, go back to her." You spit, putting the car in reverse so you could leave.

"Baby wait." He says walking with your car. "Stop the car, talk to me ma"

"There's nothing to talk about Bumper" You kept going eyes directly on the rear view mirror.

"Of course there is, why are you leaving _______?" You could hear him as he walked along side the moving car.

"Bumper!" Sabrina whines.

"Just go back to your girl Bumper, it's all good." You say glaring at him.

He stops short, eyes widening.

"What are you talking about?" He says, still following your car. "I am with my girl right now."

"She's over there." You point to Sabrina who's standing on her toes to see him over the cars.

"No," He shakes his head at you, "You're right here." He says reaching for you.

You swat his hand away, and he looks at the house and then back at you. It shocks you that he runs over, opening your passenger side door and climbing in as your car is moving.

"Bumper get out."

"No, not until you talk to me."

You start to drive away anyway, with his eyes pleading for you to look at him. You drive for a while, maybe a block or two until you start to unravel. You pull over, putting the car in park as you cover your face with your hands.

"You're my girl." He whispers, touching your arm. "You are, not her."

"Seemed like she was tonight." You mumble as a tear falls.

"No," He shakes his head frantically, thumb wiping your tear.

"She just fits you know?" You look at him.

"No, I don't know."

"Shut up, yes you do." You groan.

"What are you even talking about?"

"I'm talking about how she fits with your family. With you, and your friends." You yell, tears furiously falling.

"No she doesn't." He protests.

"No?" You question, eyebrows raised, "Think your mom said more words to her tonight than she ever said to me." You bite your lip. "Lauren was real quick to leave her conversation with me to go to her."

Bumper sighs, reaching for your hand but you pull back.

"And you," You sob, making his heart break at the sound. "The way you hugged her, and spoke to her, and ditched me for her."

He looks at you, eyes wide, mouth open to say something but nothing coming out.

"So yeah Bumper, she fits better than I do." You say crossing your arms.

"She doesn't." He sighs, feeling so broken about the way he made you feel.

"I'll just drop you back off," You say reaching for the gear shift.

"Fuck no!" He roars, ripping your keys out of the ignition. "You're not leaving like this, you're not leaving me ever." He says gripping onto your keys.

"You say that to her too?" Your eyebrows raised as more tears fell.

"Would you stop that?" He requests.

He takes your face into his hands, wiping at your tear stained cheeks. "I love you," He whispers. "I love you, I'm in love with you."

You reach up and grip his wrists, shutting your eyes tight making more tears spill out.

"I love you so much, and you're so wrong." He cries. "She doesn't fit, never had never will. There is a reason why we broke up, you know the reason."

You roll your eyes, "She was your first love Bumper, no one forgets that."

"No." He shakes his head. "I thought she was my first love, but I didn't know what love was until I met you."

You stare at him, to see if he's telling you the truth.

"The things I would do to see you smile," He grins, "What I would do to hear that ugly ass snort laugh you do, or to hold you at night just so I can rub on your fat ass while we watch Martin. I wanna make you breakfast, lunch and dinner, just to make sure you're eating. I wanna comb your nappy ass hair when you get out of the shower, and I wanna hear about your messy ass co-workers. I pray it's your name on my screen every time I get paged, just so I can call you and talk about nothing."

He pulls you closer, his breath fanning over your face.

"I could be having the shittest day, but then I see your smile. It doesn't even have to be directed at me. It could be you smiling at anything and bam I'm having the best day of my life. Because you're there, because you're my first love. You're the love of my life. You're my girl, and I don't plan on letting you go."

You are sobbing, crawling over to sit on his lap so he can hold you, and he does. Locks his arms around you, your face buried in his chest as he whispers that he loves you in your ear.

"My mom takes awhile to open up to people, and he likes you. Told me just tonight that I found the one. That he's never seen someone make me so happy and treat me so right. She likes you _______, she thinks your the one."

You laugh a bit into his chest.

"You are the one." He mumbles, kissing the side of your head.

"And Lauren likes you too, she just is friends with Sabrina. Which is a bit weird but whatever. But she talks about you all the time, looks up to you, wants to be you." He runs his hands through your box braids.

"You think?" You sniff raising from his chest to look in his brown eyes.

"I know." He nods, "And my momma, she fucking loves you. Has since the first time I came home and went; 'I think I found her Ma, think I found my one.' She asked about you and I didn't even know your name yet, all I knew was that you dranks a White Chocolate Mocha at Urth Caffe and that I was the one who paid for you that day. But she loved you then."

You laugh and smile at the memory of how you and Bumper first met. You was running late for work and really wanted a white chocolate mocha. You'd forgotten your credit card at home and didn't have any cash on you. Right when you decided to cancel your order and leave empty handed, someone's arm reached over you with a deep voice paying for your order and his.

"And me?" He hugs you tighter. "Well you heard what I gotta say, but I'll say it again. I'll go on longer if you need me too. Because I love you, I've always loved you, I'll always love you, and that's not gonna change. I'm gonna marry you one day kid".

"I love you too." You look at him pecking his full lips.

"I'm sorry," He whispers, brushing the hair out of your face. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I didn't care about you." He pouts, "You have to know that I care, I care the most, I care so much."

"I know you do."

"God I love you," He sighs, leaning up for another kiss.

Your hands are in his hair, his are on your hips, lips on each other as you both hold on to the other for dear life. You pull away first, shifting over to the driver's seat, his hand on your leg as you take the keys back and start the car.

You make a U-turn and park back in your spot at his parents house. He watches you with careful eyes as you get out of your car, wiping at your eyes.

"What are you doing?" He asks as you wait for him to get out.

"We're going back to the party, I never got food and you never brought me that water."

He drops his head and gets out, reaching for you.

"I thought you were dropping me off." He whispers, hugging you for real now that he can hold you.

"No, I'm staying too." You whisper, holding him tighter from around the neck.

"You better be staying for life." He palms your entire ass with one hand

"I am" You peck his lips, smiling from ear to ear.

"Bumper, there you are! What happened?" Sabrina asked walking out of the gate.

You tensed in his arms, and he sighed.

"Just talking to my girl." He said staring into your eyes. "My girl." He whispered to you

.

"Yours." You whispered back.

He leaned down, kissing you softly. He tasted like the beer he was drinking, but a lot like the love he was conveying to you. His hands pulled you closer by your hips, as your hands slid up his neck to the crook of the back of his head.

His tongue ran over your bottom lip and you gladly opened up for him. He moaned softly when your tongue came into contact with his.

Sabrina cleared her throat but he waved her off, lifting you off your feet, making you wrap your legs around his waist.

She sighed, rolling her eyes as she went back to the party, alone.

'That's right bitch, he's mine' You thought.

"Was that necessary?" You giggled against his lips when you heard the gate latch into place.

"It was." He nodded, looking up at you now that he was holding you.

"You're crazy." You laugh, shaking your head.

"Crazy in love with you." He smiled, letting you jump down and gently put you on your feet,"Let's get you food and a water."

"Ugh, and corny" You playfully roll your eyes, "I might take that beer now actually".

"I'm corny eh?" He laughs chasing you back in the house.

Mrs. Robinson stands in the kitchen when you both come running in laughing. He kisses your cheek, leaving you at the island so he could make you a plate of food. Mrs. Robinson looked over and smiled at you.

There was laughing from outside as the sliding door opened, Bumper returning to your side with a plate of food piled high for the both of you to share.

"Bumpy, I think this is your beer." Sabrina said in her disgustingly cute voice.

'Girl if she don't go sit down somewhere with that annoying ass voice. And what the fuck is a bumpy. Dumb bitch' You thought, smirking to yourself as you cursed the girl before you out.

"Oh thanks," He said around a mouth full of food. "But I'm actually gonna have a water," He swallowed, sliding the beer over to you. "That way ________ can have the rest of my beer." He smiled.

"Oh," Sabrina said shifting her weight from one foot the to other.

"Thanks," Bumper said nodding to her and looking back at you, feeding you a strawberry.

She groaned, walking away.

He laughed as you took a bite, shaking your head at him.

"Think she got the picture now?" He asked eating the rest of what you didn't.

"Maybe?" You giggle.

Mrs. Robinson stands, leaning against the counter, arms crossed, as she watched the whole scene play out. She walked past them, hitting Bumper in the head making him wince in pain, whipping around to look at her.

"Ma?" He asked confused.

"You're stupid, but a smart stupid."

"Thanks?" He said looking at you confused as his Mom walked away.

"She's right," You shrugged, taking a bite out of his burger.

"I'm smart stupid?" He said taking the burger back.

"Yeah, but your my smart stupid." You grinned with your mouth closed, chewing slowly.

He grins, mustard on his lip, making you laugh.

"You have," You point to his mouth, laughing harder as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, spreading it further, "You made it worse".

"Help me!" He whines, pulling your chair closer.

You grab your napkin, wiping his face off, holding his chin in your hand.

"Bumper Robinson, you are smart stupid and I love you." You sigh, staring into his eyes.

"_______    ________, you're really beautiful and I love you." He whispers, leaning in and kissing you.