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Victoria

"Hold up, they don't love you like I love you.
Slow down, they don't love you like I love you," Vanessa sang as she smacked on green grapes.

It was the beginning of February and the two of us were in me and Kareem's bedroom. I was doing Vanessa's hair for her gender reveal baby shower. Although we all tried to bribe her, she would just take what we were offering and not tell us the gender of she and Kaseem's baby. Eventually we got tired of her shit and just decided to be patient and wait until they decided to tell us.

Once we gave up, Vanessa felt that it would be a good time to inform us that she didn't know the gender either. Granny was that only person that had seen the envelope with the baby's gender in it and we knew not to go ask her anything about it.

Vanessa snaked her body to the rhythm of the music and I sighed, moving the flat iron away from her head. Since forever, Vanessa held one of the worst heads ever and then had the nerve to be mildly tender headed. I was getting ready to just give up on what I was doing and let her walk around looking like Who did it, and why?

"Be your ass still before I burn you," I spoke, accidentally rhyming with the lyrics to Beyonce's Hold Up.

Like I knew she would, Vanessa put her hand on her chest and gasped, "You'll probably do it on purpose."

My face tuned up at the sound of that. She obviously didn't know that I played no games. "When did the words on accident come out my mouth? Okay then."

Rolling her eyes, Vanessa sat straight up and continued eating her grapes. "You're so rude."

I bet her ass will be still though.

The two of us rapped along to Kevin Gates' Ask for More as I sectioned off another piece of Vanessa's Peruvian weave. Since she was in favor of having a girl, Vanessa wore a baby pink tube dress, that really exposed her large stomach, nude sandal heels, diamond studs, a matching, gold Audemars on her wrist, natural makeup, and glossy lips. Simple, but cute.

Oh yes, my baby sister was looking nice.

"Guess what," Vanessa spoke after a few minutes.

"What," I replied, expecting her to just tell me what so that we could go on with the conversation. But, Vanessa being the asshole she is, of course she had to make my life hard.

"You're supposed to guess, Tori," she groaned, pouting at me through the mirror. I stopped what I was doing to give her one of my infamous faces to make sure she knew I wasn't playing with her.

"If you don't tell me what, you're gonna be having a conversation with yourself."

"Kaseem is planning on going back to school." She grinned

"I'm proud of him," I spoke honestly. "How does this make you feel," I questioned because I was more than sure she wanted to keep going. I didn't mind listening to her talk though.

Vanessa looked down, playing with her fingers as she gathered her thoughts before looking up and through the mirror at me. "Honestly, it makes me emotional, but that's not surprising. In the beginning of our relationship he would talk about how the streets are his life and how he didn't see himself doing anything else. Of course I didn't agree with it and I saw the potential for something better, but I love the boy and I can't change him. But it's almost two years later and he wants to get in line for our child. I couldn't ask for anything better."

I could hear the sincerity of her words as well as the emotion in her voice, resulting in me becoming emotional. "Don't make me cry, man."

"I'm sorry, Tori. I just can't help it. We're not perfect but I can't see myself with anybody other than Kaseem. I can't describe how he makes me feel if my life depended on it, but I know I don't wanna feel anything else... What is going on with me, man," she mumbled, playing with her fingers again.

"You're in love, Vanessa," I cooed, shaking her shoulders.

"I'll take that," she nodded as she wiped her tears, managing to not mess up her makeup.

"Now I have a question."

"Shoot."

"I know you said you don't care about our parents not coming to the shower, but is that how do you really feel?"

Granny informed us that she'd chewed them out for the whole Rondell situation. When Vanessa and Kaseem went to get the rest of her things from their house, our parents made sure she knew that they weren't coming to the baby shower and that they wouldn't be there for the baby.

Surprisingly, Vanessa was the one to blow up first out of she and Kaseem. She yelled and cursed but never shed a tear over the situation. Vanessa said that she wasn't phased by their absence, but you never really know how someone feels.

"Of course it makes me sad that my parents don't support my relationship or their grandchild. But, what can I do? I won't chase after anybody or try to make them do anything. We will be fine with or without them." Vanessa shrugged and then popped another grape into her mouth.

"And that's why I fucks with you, baby sis," I spoke before putting my hand out so that we could do our handshake.

The alarm system spoke, notifying us that the front door was open. A few seconds later I heard Kaseem messing with stuff in the kitchen, and Kareem coming up the stairs. I knew Kaseem was in the kitchen because that was always the first thing he did when he came over. He claims our kitchen has a better food selection than his.

Yeah, alright.

"You getting kinda chunky my dude," Vanessa said as soon as Kareem walked into our bedroom.

He licked his finger and acted as if he was about to wipe her eyebrow off but she slapped his hand away. Laughing, he continued his walk over to me and tried to kiss my lips but I turned my head and he caught my cheek instead. Kareem sucked his teeth and backed away from me, going into the closet.

I don't even know why his moody ass showed up trying to act like everything was peaches and cream. I should've known shit was about to change when he couldn't stay off his phone during our trip.

The night we came home, New Years, he dropped Kai off with Layla and then was in the streets. He didn't come home until two days later. In addition, once the holidays passed, I'd been traveling all across America to do hair for clients, models, and anything else that came up.

Then, when I was in Houston, I was in my own shop making sure my home clients were taken care of or meeting with the contractor about my new shop that was being built.

Shockingly, we had time to spend the night of our anniversary together. We had a nice little time too. Who knew you could do such things with fruit roll ups and ice? But seriously, the amount of passion exerted through our love making was breath taking. I don't know if it was because we had been missing each other, the tension, or whatever else, but it was some sensational, baby-making type love.

Unfortunately, the two of us had about a day and a half to enjoy each other's company before we were back to how we were before.

When I went to visit Jazmine's grave sight, the two of us had planned out an entire day for ourselves but I ended up going alone. Kareem had to stay in California for another day. By the time he got home, I was already on a flight to New York.

It may be surprising, but I'm not mad. There is no reason to be upset with him. I'm more frustrated and stressed than anything. I just wish we had more time for each other.

It doesn't make it any better that Kareem has been more moody lately. I had to reevaluate my life and behavior the when he first started acting like a hormonal female a few weeks prior.

His crappy ass attitude had me ready to apologize for ever treating him like he was doing me because it was hard to handle. Majority of the time I didn't know whether to laugh or pack my shit and leave for a few days.

"You been chunky for the past 8 and a half months," he replied and then leaned against the dresser. I could feel his eyes staring a hole into my face but I didn't dare look up at him. I just continued separating and straightening Vanessa's hair.

"Kaseem," Vanessa yelled.

We heard him groan before responding, "What? I'm tryna eat."

"Come here," she yelled back.

Not too long after, his heavy footsteps were ascending up the stairs and then he was walking through the bedroom door with a scowl on his face. Since his preference was opposite of Vanessa's, Kaseem wore a baby blue button down, khaki cargo pants, and the Legend Blue 11's along with a gold chain and his favorite Audemars watch.

"Man what," Kaseem questioned in an aggravated tone. He didn't play about his food. I couldn't even lie about how he'd gotten a little chubby over the past few months. It was cute though.

"I ain't a man. Get hit," Vanessa threatened, pointing her phone in his direction.

Kaseem flailed his arms, frowning once he heard the microwave finish. "What do you need?"

"Ain't Kareem getting chunky?" Through the mirror I saw Vanessa glance in Kareem's direction.

Once Kaseem realized what she was doing, he gasped, putting his hand on his chest. "Somebody come look at this."

"My man," Kaseem exclaimed before him and Kareem did their handshake.

"What the hell," I spoke, confused out of my mind. I did notice that Kareem was getting chubby as well. But, that's just because he's never home for me to cook him a real meal and he doesn't have time to exercise.

"Give it a few. You'll find out," Kaseem winked before leaving the room and going to get whatever concoction he'd put together.


*


"Are y'all ready," Granny exclaimed, holding a large black balloon and and a needle.

It was finally time for the gender reveal and I was sure all the guests of the baby shower were anticipating this moment as much as I was. I could finally order more clothes and shoes for my niece or nephew. The only difference would be that I actually knew what to expect in the next two weeks.

For dinner we had a whole bunch of soul food and desserts that were in the process of giving me the itis. We'd played a bunch of baby shower games, my bad ass, cheating ass cousins and Kaseem won majority of them. Since Granny was the one who basically took over the planning, the prizes were bible scriptures. To make things better for everybody, I'd made the party favors and spent a pretty penny to make sure they were enjoyable.

Overall, we were having a good time and celebrating the new addition to our family.

After handing the balloon to Seem and and needle to Vanessa, Granny went to take her seat next to Paw Paw.

As soon as the blue sprinkles exploded into the air, everyone got loud. It seemed like majority were expecting a girl, and the rest were expecting a boy.

Vanessa pouted and Kaseem grinned like a Cheshire Cat before dropping the popped balloon and beginning to Milly Rock. "Give me my mothafuckin money, Reem," he yelled in our direction as he continued to dance. 

"Kaseem!" Some of our family yelled at his language. Others, including myself, died laughing at the way that he ran around the room cheering.

"He has to give me fifty dollars," Kai sang with a blue cake pop in her hand, pointing at Kareem from her place in my lap.

When Kaseem finally calmed down and caught his breath, he walked over to Vanessa and grabbed her hands. He made a silly face at her causing her to widely grin.

Kaseem looked at Granny, nodding his head and she got up from her seat to quiet everyone down. "Hey! Be quiet!"

Within a few seconds, the whole room was silent and looking in Kaseem and Vanessa's direction. We all knew that if Granny had to say something more than once, stuff was gonna be flying.

Kaseem took a deep breath before beginning to speak. "Alright... So I met Vanessa almost two years ago in her sister's beauty salon. I had to take my roll dog, Kai, to get her hair did for a recital. As soon as I walked through those doors, I saw this beautiful ass woman not doing her job." We all laughed, knowing that he was telling nothing but the truth. Vanessa rolled her eyes but continued to smile.

"Me being me, I had to holla. The two of us played with each other for a while, I won't lie. Honestly, I never would've thought that she would have me reevaluating myself as a man or that we'd be bringing a child into this world. With that being said, I have a real serious question for you."

Kareem quickly handed Kai something and hopped off of my lap and ran towards the two. Everyone awed as Kaseem retrieved the black, velvet ring box from her hands before getting down on one knee.

"Vanessa, will you do me the honor of being my wife," Kaseem asked, causing all of us to erupt in cheers.

Vanessa stood with her mouth agape, shocked as tears ran down her cheeks. Times like these, I knew she was happy she spent money on that expensive ass waterproof mascara and eyeliner.

Granny walked up with a wine glass in her hand and then tapped Vanessa, "you're supposed to say yes now."

"Yes. Yes I'll marry you," she finally spoke through her tears. Kaseem put the nice sized ring on her ring finger before getting up from his knee and engulfing her in a hug.

I caught myself wiping my own tears. Their engagement was such a beautiful sight to see and I was genuinely ecstatic for my sister. She deserves to be happy.

Vanessa brought her head from his chest and pecked his lips. "I love you so much."

"I love you," Kaseem grinned, bending down to kiss Vanessa's protruding belly, "and I love you too."


*


"When are you gonna be home?"

Kareem and I had just gotten back from the baby shower and he was already leaving. On the way to the venue before picking Kai up, we'd planned the next few days with each other.

That obviously wasn't gonna happen.

"Next week," Kareem mumbled, walking out of the closet.

Nodding slowly, I replied, "Alright."

Not bothering to move from my spot at the edge of the bed, I watched him pack. When he was done, Kareem pecked my lips and then proceeded out of the bedroom.

Blowing out a breath, I wondered how I was gonna spend the next few days since I had a break. Just as I'd begun my mental list, my phone vibrated once, notifying me that I had an email.

One of my associates was informing me about a fashion show they wanted me to attend. There was an opportunity for more clientele and other incentives that I couldn't say no to.

Well so much for that break.
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I'm sorry I have to do this to y'all... 😊

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