After what felt like the longest drive yet, and a few days of rest between them, Sakari and Mekhi were back to their normal Texas routine. They'd just gotten back from walking the kids to the bus and were now getting ready to take Tyree to daycare.

"It's gonna be so weird not having my fatman at home with me all day," Kari pouted, as Khi buckled him in properly. "Sissa is gonna miss you stinky,"

"Sakari his school is ten minutes away, we can go get him early if you feel so empty without your son," Khi chuckled.

"Please believe me, we will," she immediately replied, as they both got in the front seat after handing him a teething cracker. "But I'm glad he's in school, my grandmother needed a break after watching us all for so long—and Ty needs baby friends. All he got is sisters. And you," she noted.

They played music softly in the background as they made the journey to Tyree's early learning center. This summer would be way different than Sakari was used to, actually. The younger girls were in camp this summer, and Semaja being 17 didn't need her big sister's supervision anymore.

"It's so weird, I feel like an empty nester," she giggled, stopping at a red light, momentarily checher rear view mirror to look at her brother.

"Well...I mean you are," Khi shrugged. "You been taking care of these kids since you was 'bout 10," he noted. "Does it feel good?" he wondered. Khi was always around when Sakari was doing her duties but he wasn't an older brother, really. He had no siblings and sometimes was envious of Kari's big family. But he also remembered when she'd miss certain things because of the kids, or she insisted that her mom got some more sleep, even if she missed her own to watch Ty when he didn't sleep through the night and woke up hour after hour.

"I mean...yes and no. I miss my siblings but I don't miss being a teen mom basically. I never really blamed mama and daddy for having so many children, but I do wish that these promotions and raises came when we were younger. The girls and I never went without but of course with four daughters and a little baby, things go wrong, money gets tight no matter how much you save—and they tried. They did, I watched. I been around since my mama and daddy was 19," she reflected. "I just wish everything they had now, we had then,"

Recently, it seemed like blessing were being showered over the Washington home. Dre and Tamera both either had a promotion or a significant raise, which is what helped get Sakari her car—which they were currently in. They were able to put the girls in summer camp, pay ahead on Kari's tuition and put aside prom money for Semaja as well as enrolling Tyree in a full time daycare.

"I get it," he nodded. "Well enjoy your child free summer, you deserve it," he chuckled.

"I'm sure I will, I can't be bored when you always wanna take me outside," she smarted. Everyone knew Kari was the homebody of the pair, and Mekhi would go outside at the drop of a hat—and as best friends, that meant he made her go outside too.

"I'm glad you're aware," he smirked.

The rest of the drive was pretty quiet save for Tyree whining for more food, despite him eating 3 packs of crackers already.

Once they arrived at his school, Khi got him out from his seat and carried him behind Kari who had his backpack. A woman with a bright smile greeted them at the desk while Kari checked him in, and they followed the directions her mother had given her earlier to get him to his classroom.

"You ready stinky?" she asked, pushing the door open immediately being greeted by screaming toddlers and music playing. Khi's eyes blew wide open as he watched a teacher chasing them around with a bear puppet.

"Oh good morning!" a different teacher greeted, wiping her hands with a paper towel and big smile on. "Is that my Ty! Good morning big boy!" she cheesed and he squealed, reaching for her.

"Oh so you just not gon say bye," Mekhi teased.

"You must be Sakari! Your sisters always talk about you!" the teacher said as Tyree scrambled to get picked up. "Will you be dropping off and picking up this summer?"

"Yeah," she smiled, seeing her baby brother being taken care of. "I'm home for the summer—this is my boyfriend Mekhi, he'll probably be with me,"

"Oh, yes, your mom put him on the emergency contacts and approved pick up list as well! Im Ms. Key," she introduced, as Tyree tried to snatch her glasses clean off her face. "Excuse me, sir," she snatched her head back only serving to make him laugh.

"He's so rude," Kari shook her head playfully. "Have a good day baby," she cooed and blew him a kiss.

"Say bye bye, Ty," she waved, encouraging him to do the same. He lifted his little and and waved goodbye to them, and they were off.

Once back in the car, Sakari was immediately speeding toward Chick-Fil-A to not miss breakfast.

"They were so nice! I see why he was so pressed to go to school," she said, Khi nodding in agreement.

"Kids are so loud, it wasn't nothing but 8 kids in there and allat hollering for what?" he chuckled.

"See why I'on want none? Loud and nasty," she shook her head.

"You say that now," he pointed.

"And I will say it until I die," she cheesed.

Later on, Sakari had woken up to a heavy head on her stomach. She groaned a bit and reached for her phone, seeing that it was only 11:30. Khi on the other hand was knocked out with his hand up her shirt. Typical.

She grabbed her phone off of his nightstand and checked her notifications, eeing the countdown to Barbados, making her grin widely, suppressing the need to kick her feet since Khi was sleeping so well.

She could barely believe it when her aunt Tam had broken the news with the biggest smile on her face. She and her mother shared a look of disbelief, looking at her, then back to Tam, to her uncle Dre, at Khi and her dad, noticing they were dead serious and screamed at the top of their lungs.

"I need to go shopping as soon as possible," Kari said, once the shock of the surprise had worn off. "What do I even wear?! Oh my God how many bathing suits do I need?!" she asked herself, Khi watching her with a smirk.

"Lemme pick em out," he suggested, just to watch her face turn up visibly.

"So you can have me walking around with my ass out? I'm okay. You already gon' be tryna touch me in front of my mama and daddy, I cannot have my ass out on top of that. We'll be killed," she chuckled.

"Man ain't nobody gon try to touch you," he teased, and she gave him a look. "Aight not too much on me," he resisted a bout of laughter once she busted out laughing herself. "I'm glad you excited Tootie,"

"I'm so excited!" she squealed. "I've never been out the country before, I'm ready to get all tan on the beach drinking out somebody's coconut," she added.

Just the vision of Sakari darker than she already was had a chill running down Khi's back. He could just imagine her now, in her bikini laying out on the beach, briads down her back and her skin shining in the hot sun.

Maybe he'd be killed by her dad after all.

It was only May, and she had about 12 bikinis in her cart along with sarongs, beach pants, cute flip flops and sandals, shorts and crop tops.

She had no idea how she'd afford all these things, but what was life without window shopping, right?

"Tootie," she'd heard a small whine in the middle of browsing, making her jump slightly, hand flying to back to his head, rubbing it and his ear to try to soothe him back into sleep, as she'd stopped rubbing to text back faster in the girls group chat. Then giggled to herself at how much she babied him, feeling him instantly breathe a satiated sigh.

"My big baby," she cooed, taking a picture of him for her instagram story.

"You hungry, baby?" Khi asked, around 3:30. The girls were home, and everyone was lazing around in Khi's living room. His dad had come home, and gone to take Tam to lunch, forcing Khi and Kari out of bed to help him pick an outfit, so Khi's nap was cut shorter than he'd have hoped.

"Mhm, but these little monkeys are about to fall asleep," she said, glancing at the girls who were cuddling on the couch. To be 8 and 4, Siarah and Shiloh adored each other. They reminded everyone of Sakari and Semaja when they were that young.

"And they sleep like some damn rocks," Semaja smarted, from her corner of the couch. "Can we go get something? I wanna practice driving," she added, eyes wide and pleading, looking directly at Mekhi, because Sakari was gonna say no.

"Yeah, come on," he chuckled, and she immediately jumped up, power walking to the door.

"Don't let that visually impaired child crash your car Mekhi," Sakari laughed, going to lay up with her sisters.

Once Maja and Khi settled in, she began driving, listening to his directions, not caring what she ate as long as she could drive.

"Khi, can I ask you something," she said quietly, glancing over at him at a red light.

"Yeah Maja, wassup?" he replied, putting his phone down and looking back at her.

"So. Hypothetically, if somebody asked you on a date—hypothetically,"

"Right," he nodded, trying not to smile.

"Right. Hypothetically. So, you said yes. But, now you're really freaking nervous because you have social anxiety and you don't know what to talk about with people you don't know, and you're scared to make a bad impression because you've liked them since Christmas, but you never said anything, because they're kinda out of your league in terms of social status, and they play sports and stuff and you just...are in band and—"

"Maja! Maja calm down mama," he said, as she was starting to lose her breath. "First of all, nobody is out of your league. You are out of theirs. You not just in band Semaja, your damn near a nationally renowned musician if this competition go well! Don't reduce yourself for nobody, not no boy or girl I don't care who it is," he began, and he glanced over at her to make sure she was listening.

"Secondly, they asked you out because they like you, Maja. They like that you're quiet, they like your smart ass replies to everything, they like that you like to read and draw and play your violin! I understand having anxiety please believe me, but somebody who likes you is gonna ease all your worries once you're with them, and it's gonna be so much fun, I promise you,"

"You really think so?" she asked, smaller than he'd ever heard her speak to anyone about anything.

"I know so. You're beautiful, and you're smart and you nice when you wanna be," he teased, making her laugh a bit. "If they really like you, then that'll naturally shine out of you when y'all are together. Just be yourself, aight? And if they'on like it I got some niggas that'll jump if I ask," he shrugged.

"Okay, Tupac," she laughed again. "Thank you Khi Khi. I get so nervous sometimes," she sighed.

"We human, it happens," he shrugged. "But you're welcome. I better get to meet this one, since you ain't wanna tell nobody you had a homecoming date," he rolled his eyes.

"It was October, Mekhi! I apologized!" she whined.

"You forget I'm going to be an elementary school teacher, Khi? We can't afford nothing too expensive now," she giggled.

As of now, Khi and Kari were wedding planning, through pinterest, of course.

It was two in the morning, and they were in their separate houses, still too afraid to ask to spend the night at home. Khi was on his iPad and Kari was on his MacBook that he left over there for this specific reason.

"Girl please, if my mama and daddy have it their way, we not paying for a damn thing, live it up,"  he said. If he knew one thing, it was that being spoiled in his house did not have an expiration date. He was good. And by extension, Kari was good.

For their wedding? He knew if his mother could she'd make it Paris in Springtime in that church.

"You are absolutely right!" she laughed. "But, still. We cannot be tacky. Too much gold is tacky," she explained, and he nodded as if he understood why. He didn't. 

"So, realistically, how many people would be in our bridal party? I'm thinking 13, 4 bridesmaids, 4 groomsmen, 2 flowers girls and a ring bearer," she broke down.

"Sounds good to me," he yawned, watching her count on her fingers at the top corner of his screen. "What colors you like?"

"Good question. I have no idea," she said in the most deadpan voice possible. "I thought I knew when I was like 17, but I don't like orange like that anymore,"

"Orange?! You want me to look crazy?! You know I am almost orange?" he exclaimed. "I would look a hot ass mess, Sakari,"

"I realized that when I realized I was in love with you in high school, so I dropped it," she said nonchalantly, making his mouth drop. "What?! You knew this,"

"Stop saying it so casually, it gives me butterflies," he said, seriously, making her erupt in laughter, immediately covering her mouth so she wouldn't wake anyone. "We really in love and getting married, what the hell,"

"I know, if you would've told me that when I was 15, I would have laughed. Now look at me, committed and shit," she chuckled. "I love you, Bubba. You know that?" she said shyly, looking up at the screen from beneath her eyelashes.

"I love you too, baby. You everything I ever wanted, I don't even know why my dumb ass wasted all that time anywhere else. When somebody invents a time machine, I'm going back to middle school and slapping some sense into myself," he laughed.

He didn't say it, because he didn't wanna ruin the mood, but that would have solved so much more than their late romance. More than he could ever imagine.

"Please Mekhi, I was not that cute in middle school," she said.

"Lies! My pretty girl, you always been beautiful," he said, in a very intentionally low tone, watching her try to stop smiling. "My gorgeous baby, look at you. Stunning," he smirked.

"Stop, Khi," she muttered.

"Why should I? I can't call my future wife pretty? Gorgeous even?" he prodded further, waiting for her to crack.

"No! It makes me shy when you talk like that all randomly," she replied, still suppressing the grin he so desperately wanted to see.

"Oh! But when we in the bed, you want me to whisper all in yo' ear about how pretty you look taking my—"

"Mehki Ahmad," she snapped, making him laugh. "Stop it!" she insisted, but just as he suspected, a beautiful grin spread across her face, so he finally relented.

"There she go," he cooed. He swore seeing her smile like this could light up any room she was in, it surely turned around any sour mood he'd ever felt around her—even when they were kids. If Khi was in a funky mood as a little boy, all it took was hearing Kari laugh at something on tv—likely spongebob, they always watched it after school, and he was paying attention to whatever made his best friend smile.

"You're so irritating, you know that?" she tried to roll her eyes, but with her cheesing he couldn't take her serious.

"And you love my irritating ass, now. Back to the wedding,"

👉🏾👈🏾...hi friends.

this feels weird im not gonna lie to yall. its been over a year. yall are allowed to be SO mad at me! please be mad! i deserve it!

i really wanna say thank you all for riding with me because you really could have left me in the dust lol but yall leave me such nice messages even if i don't reply i see them and i appreciate them.

i've been open with yall about my anxiety...and i think i have imposter syndrome. its very scary, ngl i thought i'd never be able to write this much again, it was like something just turned off in me and i was SO so sad.

but, ive been rereading all my stories over and over and over (i was so cringy my goodness) and trying my best to get some inspiration. i got some and well. here we are with our favorite college kids 😭

i missed them! i miss kasiah and sade, i miss xavion and emari.

i miss you guys most of all and i hope you forgive me for my absence.

NOW THAT THAT'S OUT OF THE WAY.

how did y'all enjoy the chapter?? i hope you loved it bc i actually had fun writing this one. i really did. leave me your thoughts!

give me life updates! how are my babies doing?? im doing well, i turned 25, im a daycare teacher (like dira) and...thats it. i hope yall are well.

hopefully ill see yall again soon. pray for ya girl.

i love youuuuuuu i missed youuuu!

till next time ❤️