by Desirée
“Hey, Ontrell! Did you call your brother? We need a whole gang of Atlanta guys present within the next fifteen minutes!” someone yelled out as everyone continued to run around, making the small house so chaotic.
I looked at Ontrell, who was on the phone, and smiled. He looked like his older brother Anthony. They were both dark brown with dreads, although Ontrell had his head shaved on the sides and back, with his locs pulled in a ball on top.
These damn Carter boys. And I wasn’t even talking about the rap group, just the brothers in general.
Suddenly, I heard the music go off to their new song, and I stepped back outside, with them guiding Jordyn out behind me. They were doing Jahiem’s part again, with Elijah singing in the back, sitting on top of the car with a girl, while Jahiem took center stage to rap. With Jade coming to stand beside me, we ended up watching Jordyn’s video debut as they told her she was the love interest of Elijah. She was the girl he was going to be singing to. I’m not even going to lie—I was almost happy for her. Damn near wanted to shout out, “That’s my roommate!” In between takes, he would continue to sing to her, and I caught them kissing quietly amongst the chaos as he spoke against her mouth.
“Look, I know I didn’t care for the bitch in the beginning,” I started, looking at Jade. “But they are the cutest thing next to Jahiem and me.”
“Jahiem look means as fuck, yo,” Jade said as we looked at my nigga, seeing he was talking with some nigga sternly.
“He got a mouth on him, but he means well,” I told her as the other two brothers came out of the house.
By the time it was over, we had watched the entire thing being played out. All four brothers had their love interest playing the part. The very last thing to happen was five cars pulling up to the scene, damn near blocking the road, and about five niggas from each car hopped out, looking uncivilized as hell, like all they knew was the streets, and they wouldn’t know how to act around people.
“That’s the other oldest brother, Shiloh.” Jade pointed at the light-skin man who stepped out of his car, face instant mean-mug. Shit.
“He looks like a light-skin version of Elijah.” I laughed as we moved closer, seeing all of the men crowding in the street with the cameras on them.
Shiloh stood in front of his small army, as the rest gave shout outs, making faces, hollering out. They were wild niggas, being wild as fuck, almost scaring some of these white people that were here. They were waving red bandanas in the air as the song played.
I watched Elijah, with Jordyn in hand, jump in the front with his brother, and I nearly gasped at the resemblance.
“So, he’s related to Elijah by his mama?” I asked Jade, who nodded.
“That’s Trent and Elijah’s older brother on both sides. Nigga is fine as fuck, too,” she said, and I smiled, eyeing Shiloh.
It looked like everyone was just having fun. Even Jordyn got into it. You know when it’s a group of Atlanta niggas, somebody is going to start dancing.
“Aye, lemme give a shout out to the streets that raised me!” one guy yelled into the camera.
“East side, partna! Zone six, mothafucka!” another yelled as Elijah stepped up.
“Bruh, we doing big thangs out here! You see how we roll in the A!” Elijah said, looking back at the huge crowd. “Never forget where you came from, you feel me? This the big homie right here!” He put an arm around Shiloh’s neck. “This the nigga you don’t wanna fuck with! We run these streets! Every mothafucka is on payroll under this nigga right here! This woman right here,” he said, taking Jordyn’s hand, kissing it affectionately. The director nearly ate this shit up, signaling for him to keep going, even with the music already stopping. “Only woman that matters in my life. Fuck every other bitch. This is the only one.” It was cute until he damn near attacked the side of her neck with kisses.
Jahiem even got Jade and me in the video before it finally wrapped up. Shit was long as fuck, and it was well past midnight when everyone started to pack it up and head home. I saw all the brothers talking in a small circle as Jade and I slowly walked up to them.
“What time we gotta be there?” Elijah whined, and Shiloh cut his eyes at him. Damn, he was fine. Nothing better than a hood nigga that was fine, with pretty hair, and truly about that life.
“Nigga, just show up. Y’all owe her that. I didn’t want her to see that side of me, and now she has, so bring whatever the fuck you gonna bring, and be at the house. Apologize to her,” Shiloh demanded.
I felt Jahiem slip his arms around my neck, kissing me hard on the cheek.
“You ready for bed, baby? You shouldn’t be up this late anyway in this freezing cold,” he said, babying me as I rolled my eyes.
“Nigga, I’m good, but I do want something to eat before we get back.”
“Is she going to want to see us after that incident?” Anthony asked.
“I’m still trying to convince her, but just show up, bruh. Don’t fucking embarrass a nigga either, because I will call everyone out on y’all shit.”
“Nigga, what?” Elijah laughed and Shiloh smirked. “Embarrass you? She must be something if you worried about us embarrassing yo’ quiet ass. Trent said Mama want us at her house tomor—”
“Fuck her,” Shiloh spat, and Jahiem held his hand up to Shiloh, bringing it in for a quick hug and dap. Getting ready to leave, he said, “Just be over there. I don’t ask for nothing from y’all niggas, but I like this girl, so tone all that thugging shit down when you get there. She’s not used to all of that.”
“How she get with you, then?” Anthony joked.
“She’s too good for me. That’s the problem,” Shiloh admitted, and I smiled.
He got himself a good girl and don’t know how to act right now. Cute.
“I’ll be over there tomorrow around noon, nigga. I need to get her home,” he said as all eyes were officially turned to me like they’d just noticed I was there.
“This is the newest addition. I remember you,” Anthony said with a laugh. “Welcome to the Carter family, baby girl.”
“Thank you,” I gushed, feeling him hug me before the rest brought it in.
Suddenly, all eyes fell on Jade. None of them knew who she was, but she knew who they were.
“Yo, that’s Trent’s girl,” Elijah said, and their mouths dropped. Even Jahiem, who just now noticed she was there, was surprised.
“Ahh, you the one that got into a fight with that nigga.” Ontrell laughed as Jade shrugged.
“He tried the fuck out of me. I wasn’t about to take that laying down, son. Not for a second,” she said easily.
Despite how she’d started off with Trent, no country nigga, especially from Atlanta, could resist a girl from up north. She could talk all the shit she wanted, but her accent was what kept them by her side. That night was no different, because each brother damn near looked infatuated with her way of speech.
“I can’t believe he even got a girl like you, shawty. You fine as fuck, too, but you already know you not his type,” Jahiem said, and I hit him hard in the chest.
“What I say?” he yelled.
“Nigga, just shut the fuck up,” I snapped with a roll of my eyes. “We need to go.”
“Aye, I’ll see y’all tomorrow,” Jahiem stated before we turned to walk off. “You ain’t had to hit me in from of them.”
“You didn’t have to eye my roommate like that in front of me, nigga,” I mocked back as he laughed.
“I like girls with dreads. Shit is sexy when you can pull it off. And she got tattoos, too? She look good—okay! Okay!” He laughed, and I aimed my fist at him, ready for round two. He wrapped his arm around me, kissing me hard again on the side of the face. “I love you, crazy mothafucka,” he said against my ear, and I smiled. “You already know as soon as we get home, I’m coming for that pregnant pussy before you even step foot in that bed.”
“Eww, Jahiem! You so nasty!” I laughed, pushing him away from me. “You ain’t coming for shit.”
�
�We’ll see.”
Sure enough, we didn’t even make it to the house. I let it slip that I never had sex in the car before, so this nigga pulled over on the side of a major highway, pulled his dick out, and had me riding him in the driver’s seat like it was nothing. He ended it with a shaky “I love you” against my lips before starting back up again—just because we could.
Noelle
“So, while y’all do that, I’m going to be in New York for a few days. I don’t even want to be in Atlanta knowing he’s here,” Tyree said, grabbing his suitcases. It was only seven something on a Sunday morning, and instead of me going to church, I had to get ready to cook.
“You’re going to have to talk to him eventually.” I yawned, standing by the door as I watched him pack his stuff in the car. Shiloh and I had gotten back from our road trip late yesterday evening, and somehow, he’d convinced me to meet his brothers—the same ones I saw in the house that day. They were the same ones that felt up on me, and now they were coming over. I told Shiloh I didn’t know if I was ready for this, but he wanted to clear the air, and he claimed they were going to apologize.
“Noelle, boo, do me a favor,” Tyree said as he stood next to his car, hanging on the window, wrapped up in his coat and scarf from this morning cold.
“Yes?”
“Fuck yo’ nigga by the time I get back,” he said, and I laughed, watching him get in the car before pulling out.
I walked back in the house, closing the door, and started to clean up a bit. I took away the air mattress and sheets from Tyree’s makeshift bed. Today was going to be an interesting day. Shiloh had already warned me that Sundays, when they got together, it could be hectic, as I’d witnessed last Sunday.
Hearing the house phone ring, I suddenly looked around for the cordless phone. Yes, I still had a house phone. My daddy made me put one in, just in case something were to happen. Tyree had mostly been on it, so I knew it was in the living room somewhere. As it continued to ring, I lifted up the couch cushions and found it. I answered without even looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?” I said politely, only now realizing who would be calling at 7 o’clock on a Sunday morning. How rude.
“Hey, Noelle, this is Michael from church,” he said smoothly as my mouth dropped. I didn’t even give this man my cell phone number, let alone my house number.
“What are you—”
“I know you’re a little surprised. I was just seeing if I could carpool with you today for church. My car is acting up. Dang near driving me insane,” he said, sounding stressed.
I sighed, walking to my room. “How did you get this number, Michael?” I opened the door, seeing Shiloh. He was lying flat on his stomach, legs wide, one eye barely open as he slowly turned over. He slept like a caveman at times.
“One of the ladies at the church gave it to me a while back. You know I wouldn’t be calling unless this was serious. I know you have a boyfriend and all, but if you were going to church, I wanted to cop a ride with you.”
“I, um . . .” I looked at Shiloh, who just stared at me, fully awake after hearing the male voice on the other end. “I don’t know, Michael. I’m not even going today.”
“Come on, beautiful angel. Help me out here,” he cooed, and I smiled before quickly dropping it when I saw Shiloh’s eyes squint.
“Hold on,” I said, pressing the phone to my chest as I looked at Shiloh. “He wants a ride to church.”
“Who the fuck is he?”
“Michael.”
Shiloh just stared at me.
“His car is messed up, and he wanted to carpool with me to the church, Shiloh.” I watched him yawn as he turned back over on his stomach.
“Ain’t shit wrong with that nigga’s car.”
“Shiloh, come on now. Show some compassion,” I pressed, and he looked at me, holding his hand out for the phone.
“Hold on, Michael. I can maybe have my boyfriend take you. Will that be okay?” I asked.
There was a small pause.
“Yeah, that’s cool,” he said, clearing his throat.
I smiled, handing the phone to Shiloh. It’s an amazing feeling when you can get your boyfriend and a male friend to be cordial to one another.
Shiloh sat up on the edge of the bed as I sat on top of my dresser, watching the exchange.
“Aye, who is this again?” Shiloh said into the phone.
I could hear Michael introduce himself.
“You needed a ride to church?”
I could hear Michael explain the situation as Shiloh looked at me through tired, lazy eyes, sitting on the edge of the bed, shirtless, wearing gray boxer briefs. I definitely loved this man more and more with each passing minute we were together.
“You know what you should do?” Shiloh said into the phone, probably about to give out some mechanic-like advice. “You should pray to your God that I don’t ever catch you outside that church, nigga,” he said in a low, deadly voice.
I nearly hopped off the dresser in a panic.
“Ain’t shit wrong with yo’ fucking car, nigga. Fuck you doing, calling my girl’s house this early in the morning, thinking you can get a ride? Bruh, tell Jesus to carpool with yo’ stupid ass, because she’s not doing it. All this transportation in Atlanta—buses and trains—and you pressing on my girl for a ride. Nah, nigga, not to-mothafucking-day, bruh,” he snapped.
I tried reaching for the phone.
“Call this number again and see what happens.” With that, he hung up and politely handed me the phone as my mouth dropped in horror.
“Shiloh?” I said, trying my hardest not to laugh as he lay back down in the bed, pulling the covers over him like he didn’t just go off on someone.
“Nothing was wrong with that nigga’s car, Noe. He wants it. He wants you. I’m not stupid. Matter of fact, he better be glad I don’t know what that nigga look like, because I would have already taken care of this shit.”
“Shiloh . . .” I sighed with a slow smile. “He’s the guy from the church.”
“I only caught the back of his head, Noe. That’s a blessing for that nigga that I don’t know his face.”
I shook my head, thinking. “I gotta change my number now.”
“Yeah, you do that,” he mumbled.
I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me. Last night when he came in, we’d already set aside some money to buy the groceries, so as I was getting dressed in and out my room, making a mental list of things I needed, I thought about Tyree. He and everyone else seemed to be pressuring me to have sex with Shiloh. With my luck in life, I would be the one that has sex for the first time and gets pregnant. I refused to have a baby out of wedlock. It was not how I was raised, and not how I planned on raising my future children.
At the store, I started picking out the food. I stocked up on everything. I was feeding seven boys—no, men—seven men, three women, not including myself, and just to be on the safe side, I bought kiddie snacks if they were bringing kids over. By the time I made it back to my house, my driveway was already full, with cars lined up. What in the world? I wasn’t even dressed yet. My hair was a wreck, and I was meeting his family for the first time looking like a bum. Smoothing my edges down, I quickly looked my face over before getting out, deciding to park at Shiloh’s house since there was clearly no space in my driveway for my small car.
Shiloh stepped out, shirtless, wearing his long basketball shorts, with a beer bottle in hand. The sun was barely out, looking like it was trying its hardest not to rain, but the gray clouds were looking heavy with water.
“So, I can’t park at my own house?” I asked, closing the door as I walked across the yard to my steps.
“My bad. I’ll get them to move their cars,” he said. “You left the car unlocked so we can get the groceries?”
“Yeah.” I heard the commotion from my own living room as I stepped in. All eyes were on me. I had a flashback to the night at Aunt Alice’s house, and it nearly made me faint as I stared at the sam
e faces. I saw two girls I didn’t recognize standing up against the wall, smiling at me. Then there was another woman who was pregnant, sitting down next to her guy.
“I apologize for the mess,” was all I could say as they all stood up, smiling at me.
“Bruh, she’s beautiful,” one said, tapping Shiloh on the arm in confirmation. “We want to apologize for that day you saw us. We were just trying to protect our sister standing over there,” he said, pointing at the dark-skin girl with the hazel eyes as she waved shyly.
“Aye, introduce us, Shiloh,” another said as I felt his hand come to my lower back.
“A’ight, so look,” Shiloh started, pointing as he introduced every sibling in the room. They even brought me two dozen roses, putting it in a vase with a red ribbon tied around it, and a “Sorry” card. It was confusing at first to learn who was related to each other under the same parents, but I knew the triplets were Shiloh’s main siblings, since they shared a mom as well. Another was married with the pregnant wife, and the biggest one was the one that had all the damn kids. He was also the oldest by a few months, with Shiloh coming in as the second oldest.
Like clockwork, I watched the boys go to my car, grabbing the groceries and dropping them off in the kitchen as I prepared my stove and oven for this meal. The girls came in the back to help me. We ended up swapping college stories, and it turned out Olivia and I were sorority sisters. So, it was definitely easier talking to the girls than getting along with the boys, who were watching a football game.
“I can’t believe Shiloh could even pull someone like you,” Olivia said as we all sat on the countertop in different corners of the kitchen. Toni grabbed a chair to sit in, rubbing her belly, with her locs pulled up in a bun.
“Girl, Shiloh probably wouldn’t know what to do with a street chick. It would be a chaotic relationship,” Taylor said to Olivia before smiling at me. “How did y’all meet anyway? Besides living next door to each other,” she asked, eyes squinting with a curious smile, just waiting.