Page 32 of Exit: Us
My grandmother’s house, along with every house on the block was made of brick. It didn’t have all that modern shit going on like you see back home in Miami. These houses were homes. The kind of home that you pulled up to, and you could feel the love. I’m telling you, just being outside of this brick home, I knew that I had love waiting for me on the inside.
“Gemini, this is nice. This is her house right here on the right?” Amina wanted to know. When she asked that, I chuckled.
“Yeah. You don’t see that Delta hat sitting on the dashboard of that Mercedes? I told you she takes that shit serious. Wait till we get out and you see her license plate frame. That’s decked out too,” I let her know.
I went ahead and parked the truck, leaving it right here onto the street in the front of the house. I shut it off, stepped out, making sure to grab my phone, wallet, and keys.
I walked out, so that I could assist Amina in getting out. I held her hand, as she walked down the two steps, and once she was standing on the concrete with me, I let her hand go. She was in a cute set this afternoon. I fucked with the Alo brand that she had on today. Usually, she would be in her chill attire, mostly wearing sweats, leggings or shorts, but since she knew that we were going to pull up on my grandma this afternoon, she went a little different today.
She had on a navy-blue two-piece set. The bottoms were trousers, and they had sort of a tight fit to them. She paired it with a quarter zip, that sat just above her waist. I fucked with the navy-blue Alo headband that she had on top of her braids, as her braids were hanging loosely. Like always, her edges were laid down, styled to perfection. Simple Puma sneakers were on her feet, and the only thing that she carried in her hand was her phone.
I didn’t want to come off like a creep for staring, so I eventually closed the door, and led the way. As we were walking up the big driveway, I pointed at my grandma’s license plate, so that Amina could see the frame for herself. She laughed when she saw it, seeing that I had been telling the truth, and wasn’t exaggerating.
We made it over to the large, dark mahogany doors, and I was the one to knock. From where we were standing, you could hear loud, old-school music that was coming from the backyard. Being as though the music was so loud, I didn’t think that theywould be able to hear me knocking, so I went ahead and knocked again.
I knocked harder this time, and in about ten seconds, I could see the doorknob turning. The door opened, and it wasn’t my grandma standing on the other side. Instead, it was her best friend Gail standing there. She stood there with her hand on her wide hip, and a red cup in her other hand. I knew that red cup was full of liquor. Her and my grandma got down on that liquor and wine. The two of them didn’t play.
When Gail saw me, she smiled big. Her messy ass smiled even bigger when she saw Amina. She didn’t know Amina though. She probably only smiled because she thought that this was me coming over, bringing a girl to meet my grandma.
“Look at you, boy, with your handsome self! You get more handsome every time that I see you,” Gail said, walking closer to me, wrapping her arms around me.
It wasn’t shit friendly about this hug on her end. Her nasty ass was trying to cop a feel. It was the way she wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tight. During the hug, I looked over at Amina, and she had a smirk on her face.
“Gail, what’s up. What you got in that cup?” I asked her once we pulled apart. She laughed, raising the cup to her lips, and took a sip.
“It’s nothing crazy. Just a little margarita. Who is this that you got with you?” she asked, focusing her attention on Amina. Gail was smiling at Amina, while talking to me.
“This Gianna best friend. Her name is Amina. She on the road with me,” I said.
When I said that to her, she took another sip from her cup and gave me a look like I was full of shit. If she was doing this, I could only imagine the timing that my grandma was going to be on once she saw me with Amina.
“Hmm. Okay Gianna’s best friend, Amina. How are you doing? I’m Gail. It’s nice to meet you,” her shady ass said, walking over to Amina and the two of them exchanged in a quick hug. They spoke for just a little, and then we made our way inside the house.
You could smell the food the second that we stepped inside. The music that was coming from outside was even louder. We walked through my grandma’s house, and the party wasn’t going on in here. The party was outside, so that’s where Gail led the way to.
We reached the back of the house, and instead of having Gail slide the patio door back, I was the one to reach over her to do it. I let her step out first, Amina, and then myself.
The second I was out here in this big ass backyard, it felt like home. The music. The people sitting around at the tables. The food that was lined up on the rectangular shaped tables. The DJ that was out here.
My grandma’s backyard was huge. Really just full of land. The kind of backyard that was meant for gatherings like this.
Blasting on the speakers right now was Cheryl Lynn’s, Got to be real song. I knew how much my grandma loved that song, so looking out, seeing that her and her Delta sisters had turned the spot on the grass into the dance floor, and they were actively strolling, stepping to perfection, I smiled. That made me happy. The kind of happy where I was going to want to resort back to it, so I pulled my phone out, wanting to record her. At seventy years old, she looked good. Dressed in her crimson and cream attire, just like I knew she would be, stepping with a red cup in her hands, I watched her proudly.
“She looks so good for her age,” Amina said from the side of me.
“She does, huh?” I asked her.
My grandma’s back was turned to me. It took her about five seconds more of dancing before she turned around. Her eyes landed on me, and just as happy as I was to stand here and record this video of her is as happy as she was to stop dancing, and she quickly made her way over to me.
Those big dimples of hers that she passed down to me, my mom, and sister were brought into view. Perfect set of straight white teeth. That perfect, rich chocolate skin as mine. Her hair went through this change a few years ago where it turned silver. Shit was beautiful on her. She wore her natural hair in one of those twist-out styles that my sister likes to wear.
“Look at my handsome grandson. Boy, look at you!” you could hear it in her voice that she’d gotten a little emotional when she saw me.
“Ain’t he handsome, Evelyn? I just told him at the door that he gets more handsome every time that I see him,” Gail said, standing here, agreeing with what my grandma just said.
“How you doing, beautiful?” I asked my grandma, stepping closer to her, wrapping my arms around her.
I squeezed her tightly, and like it meant everything to her, she rocked us, not wanting to let us go. When she eventually let me go, I kissed her forehead, and her eyes immediately left mine, and they shot over to Amina. I turned back to look at Amina, and she looked scared shitless. I don’t know if she thought that my grandma was going to curse her ass out because I brought her over here or what. I told her back in the truck that my grandma wasn’t like that. I guess she didn’t believe me.
