Page 1 of The Plus One

One

Kema Anderson

“Bitch, you can’t be serious.” I glared at Sierra from my spot on her couch, waiting for her to chuckle. Tell me she was joking. Say sike. Shit, something. Hell at this point I would take Ashton Kutcher jumping out from behind the couch. I just knew my best friend was lying to me.

But instead, she sat across from me looking guilty as hell, twisting that big-ass rock of an engagement ring around her finger. I couldn’t deny Stephen did a great job picking that ring out. But my bitch was being a big goofy right now. “You’re serious?”

“Kema—”

“No.” I held my hand up. “Because before you say anything else, I need to make sure I heard you correctly. Not only is Markel coming to the wedding. But he’s also going to be the best man.”

Sierra sighed. “Yes.”

“And y’all agreed to let him have a plus one.”

“Yes.”

“At your wedding, Sisi?”

“Kema.”

“Maybe I’m confused about whose living room I’m sitting in right now. I just need to make sure my best friend isn’t pranking me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Girl, stop.”

I wanted so bad to throw a tantrum. Markel being at Sierra and Stephen’s wedding wasn’t necessarily the problem. I could see Markel without bursting into tears or throwing myself off the nearest balcony. I was over him. And I had been for a while. What I wasn’t over was the fact that he’d wasted four years of my damn life just to cheat on me with a woman he swore was “just a friend.”

And apparently, that friend was coming to Cancún too. That was the part Sierra had been taking her sweet-ass time getting to. I leaned back against the couch and crossed my arms. Was I pouting? Yes. And it was because this shit wasn’t fair. How do my friends allow for the nigga who hurt me to bring the plus one he used to hurt me? “So let me get this straight. I’m your maid of honor.”

“Yes.”

“And Markel is Stephen’s best man.”

“Yes.”

“And that Tootie is coming with him?”

Sierra’s lips pressed together. I leaned forward. “Sierra.”

“Yes, Kema. Tiana is coming.”

I chortled. Because sometimes all you could do was laugh. When the alternative was catching a charge. They wanted me to revert to my old ways, but I’m healing and my therapist said I’m doing a great job at not beating a nigga ass… So instead of blowing up on my best friend I just nodded and said, “wow.”

“Kema, please don’t be mad...”

“Mad? I’m not mad. Actually this is hilarious.” I grabbed my wineglass from the coffee table and chugged the rest of it. “You mean to tell me I’m about to spend a whole week in Cancún with my ex-boyfriend and the bitch he cheated on me with, and y’all are just now deciding to tell me?”

“We didn’t just decide to tell you.”

“Oh but you did Sisi. The wedding is in four days. Y’all just now decided to tell me. That’s crazy actually,” I said grabbing the wine bottle from the table and pouring some more wine into my glass.

Sierra looked at me with hesitation. And that shit was pissing me off more. Quite frankly everybody had me fucked up. Maybe I should catch that charge. “Sierra.”

“I found out last week.”

“LAST WEEK?” I hollered damn near choking on my wine. “And you’re telling me now?”

“I knew you were going to react like this!”