Xander It’s a little after 18:00 and Nikki and I are laying on the floor, covered with a small blanket that was on the couch, she’s fast asleep, and I’m awake, drawing small circles on her arm. Alone with my thoughts, I’m overwhelmed by the silence. A lot has happened, and every time I realize how far I’ve come; I’m amazed at the amount of unintentional healing I’ve done. The more I experience life with Nikki, the more I realize how much I missed out on growing up and being shielded and lied to by my father. People come in all forms, good and bad. It doesn’t matter who they are or where they come from, a human is defined by their actions and circumstances, each of our experiences in life determines who we become, we either chose to let them define us or redefine our circumstances. I’m about to be a father, and every day I’m learning something new about pregnancy and just how much value there is in a woman and why they are the supreme human being on this earth. They deserve more
Nikki A few days later “Mama, can you please stop doing that?” My mother smacks her teeth and proceeds to wipe my jacket with her handkerchief. “Can’t have my daughter looking like she came from the township,” she says and pinches my cheek. I huff, “Mama, it’s just a doctor’s appointment,” “I know but you know what I’ve always told you,” “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” I say to her mother. I sigh, for the life of me I don’t understand why my mama has to be like this, I’m grown as hell. We are waiting outside my doctor’s office and I’m nervous as hell, I haven’t had one of these in a while, I barely get sick and if I do, I use home remedies. I feel my mother’s hand on my thigh, and I look down and it’s bouncing up and down. “Everything is going to be okay,” I nod. From the corner of my eye, I see Xander coming in with my food, these pregnancy cravings were something else, I had him go across town to get me some meat from a restaurant that I went to with Chantel, two yea
Xander We have two hours left before Damien’s proposal, and I am freaking out. The venue messed up the catering and the proposal area, and I am about to get some people fired. “We have two hours until the event and everything is a fucking mess,” I grumble as I walk past Nikki. She grabs me and pulls me towards her. “Look at me,” she says softly, and my eyes meet hers, and she gives me a soft smile, “It’s just a minor issue, can I call Chantel to come help, she’s good at handling situations like this?” I sigh, I didn’t want to seem weak, or incapable, but I needed the help and as part of my therapy sessions, I was told to always ask, accept, and give help. “I’d really appreciate that baby,” She gives me a light kiss, and she pulls her phone out of her pocket. “Chantel, I need your help,” she says, not wasting any time. “Okay, I’ll send you the address,” she hangs up the phone and starts typing, she hits send and puts her phone back in her pocket. I kiss the side of her head,
Xander I am panicking. I am nervous for Damien; everything has to go perfectly tonight. We arrive at the restaurant and Damien is waiting for us outside. He looks calm, like always, but I know he’s nervous. He is wearing royal blue, a white shirt and white Nike sneakers. He seemed to be playing with a box in his hand. “Damien, you look amazing,” Nikki says as she gives him a hug. “Thank you,” he says with a smile. I give him a hug, “Are you ready?” He nods, “I’m excited and nervous. X sent me a text saying they are 20 minutes away.” “That’s great, so what was the excuse?” “Just a nice family dinner,” he chuckles. Nikki and I laugh. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face,” Nikki says, “He’s very difficult to surprise, but this plan is foolproof.” “Let’s head inside and get everybody ready,” I say, “Can’t keep the guests waiting.” We all step inside, and we are greeted by my mother, sister, and Nikki’s mom, as well as Chantel. “Mom, Jessica, thank you so much for coming,
Nikki “Nikki, come on, we need to get going, we are going to be late,” Xander yells for the fifth time this morning. “Yell at me like that again, and I’m going to kick you where the sun doesn’t shine,” I yell back. It’s been a few weeks since Charles and Damien’s engagement, and this is the final week of testimony in Aiden’s case. I am exhausted and could not wait for it to be over. They had a pretty strong case against Aiden, and it looked like he was going to be facing some serious jail time. I pick up my handbag and I make my way downstairs. Xander is on the phone, and he looks stressed, he has been for the last few days, but he doesn’t seem ready to talk about it, so I won’t force him to. He looks at me and smiles and ends his phone call. “You ready to go?” he asks as he kisses my forehead. I nod, “Yeah, I’m sorry I took so long, I couldn’t pick out an outfit, this baby seems to be growing a little too fast, and I’m getting fat.” “More ass for me to grab,” he smirks, I hit
Xander “You are lying,” Nikki shakes her head, “I wish I was, but this came straight from Chantel herself and she would never lie to me.” I am in utter disbelief, there is no way Damien would cheat on Charles, let alone with a woman. “So, Damien is bisexual?” Nikki nods and sips on her apple juice, “Apparently.” “What are we going to do?” “Nothing baby, this is absolutely none of our business,” She made a fair point; it was none of our business and we have no right to get involved. We will just have to pretend as if we know nothing. “I need another drink,” I pour myself another shot of whiskey and Nikki just laughs. “This is insane, out of all things that have happened, I wasn’t expecting this.” “I don’t think either of us was, I mean, when did this even happen? Where did it happen? And why?” “I wanted to ask those same questions, but I told myself that I would give her time and have a more serious conversation with her at a later stage,” Nikki replies, “But Xander, you tel
Damien I stood outside the door of her apartment with a gift bag in my hand. I had gotten the perfume, just like Charles had said. My palms were sweaty, I had not fully prepared to see her. “Just in and out, Damien. Give her the gift bag, don’t go inside.” I walked to the door and knocked. I hear footsteps coming and the door opens. The first thing I notice is her thick thighs, her smooth, thick mocha thighs. Concentrate. “Hey Chantel, I hope I didn’t come at a bad time,” I say with a smile. Her curly hair was in a messy bun, and she was in a tank top, with no bra, shorts, and no makeup. “Hey Damien, no you didn’t. How can I help you?” I hold the gift bag in front of me, “I brought you a gift, from Charles and me to say thank you,” I hand her the bag and she gives me a wide grin; she pulls out the small perfume box and squeals. “You guys, you didn’t have to. I love it. How did you know that I wanted this,” I put my hands in my pockets and chuckle, “Charles told me,” She pu
Later that night Xander “Charles, this is more luggage than we came with,” Damien says, “You have a serious shopping problem.” Nikki and I watched as Damien struggled with Charles's suitcases, we just couldn’t believe that Damien cheated, and on a woman. “Unbelievable,” Nikki scoffs, “And you’ll never believe what Chantel sent me a text, on the way here.” I look at her, “What?” “Charles and Damien got her a signature perfume, Delilah,” I gasp, “You’re joking?” Nikki shakes her head, “I kid you not babe and I think they may have fucked too.” I hum, “I think so too,” We give Damien a judgmental look and we shake our heads. The day Charles finds out, he is going to be devastated, and I as his best friend have to be there ready to support him and blow Damien’s balls off with a shotgun. “What if Charles knows?” “Now that’s an interesting theory but I highly doubt that babe,” Nikki shrugs, “Yeah, me too.” I pull her into my chest, “Enough about them. I am going to miss you.”