Step Up - Step Up Part 10
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Step Up Part 10

fourteen.

Tameka The Fourth of July. And the picnic table in the backyard was filled with ribs, chicken, pork chops and hot dogs. A huge bowl of potato salad sat right in the middle of the table, and Jell-O cake with whipped cream on top looked inviting as I made myself a plate. My parents and Uncle Rich and Aunt Annette listened to Frankie Beverly's entire CD and I wondered if they forgot that there were young people there, too-or cared. I thought they should at least mix the music up a little bit-play a little Frankie Beverly and then a little Kanye West-a little Marvin Gaye and then a little Beyonce. What happened to the compromise?

The Fourth of July used to be one of my favorite holidays-right up there next to Christmas and my birthday. But this year I wasn't quite feeling it. It was hot and muggy in Atlanta and the mosquitoes were eating me alive. And every time one of my little cousins popped a firecracker, I nearly jumped out of my skin. One time I thought my water would break and I snatched the pump from my cousin Nate.

"What did you do that for?" he asked, unaware of the fact that he was getting on my last nerve.

"Because," is all I said.

"Because what, Tameka? I was using that pump!" Nate yelled.

"Not anymore." I smashed the fire out on the sidewalk.

I was always glad to see my twin cousins, Nick and Nate, but only for a short time. I knew it wouldn't be long before they started to run me crazy, and being pregnant didn't help much at all. In the city for less than twenty-four hours, they'd already broken my iPod, drank up all of my favorite juice that was in the refrigerator and destroyed my bedroom. Their Wii had been hooked up to my television since the moment they arrived.

However, I was glad to see their sister, my older cousin Alyssa, despite the fact that her little brothers drove me crazy. I hadn't seen her since my Grandpa Drew's funeral and we had so much to catch up on. She hadn't seen me since my stomach had grown to be the size of a small watermelon and my ankles were swollen. The last time she'd seen me, we had sat huddled in the small bathroom at Grandpa Drew's house awaiting the results of my home pregnancy test. It was the day that my life had changed forever.

"Wow, you are really big," she said as she dropped a heaping spoonful of potato salad onto her plate.

"Thanks a lot."

"I didn't mean it like...an insult or anything." She smiled. "It's just that...your stomach grew so fast...."

"I know, and it's only gonna get worse. I'll get bigger before I get smaller."

"You talked to Vance?" she asked the million dollar question that everybody wanted an answer to.

"Not often. He's so busy with classes and basketball, he doesn't have much time for his pregnant girlfriend." I said it sarcastically.

"Does he know that he's just as much responsible for the baby that his pregnant girlfriend is carrying?"

"He knows," I groaned and took a bite from my pickle. I changed the subject. Everybody seemed to have their opinions about Vance and I really wasn't in the mood for hearing them. "What about your little college boyfriend? He still around?"

It was no secret that Alyssa had been dating an older guy. Much older. He was in college and her parents had no idea about him.

"T.J.?" She smiled and I knew the answer to my question. "I'm gonna have his children someday."

"Not anytime soon, I hope."

"Of course not anytime soon, Tameka. I have to finish college before I even think about getting serious with anyone. I think I'm in love with him, though."

She didn't need to tell me that. Her eyes said it all. It was obvious that she'd already slept with her nineteen-year-old boyfriend who attended FAMU. The evidence was written all over her face.

"I hope you're using protection," I said.

She was shocked by my comment; didn't know what to say, so she simply rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious, Alyssa. Make sure you're using protection. You don't want to end up like me, pregnant at sixteen."

"I'm protecting myself, okay?" she whispered.

"Good," I whispered back.

I took a seat at the table, set my plate down in front of me and began to devour my food. It seemed that the more I ate, the hungrier I became. It was as if my hunger could never be satisfied. Alyssa took a seat across from me at the table. The music seemed louder and Daddy was playing more old school than new. And Indigo and the rest of my friends hadn't shown up yet like they'd promised. They were late. When I sent Indigo a text message, I found out that they'd had a change of plans. Somehow they ended up at Six Flags instead. At first I was hurt that they hadn't bothered to invite me, but after thinking about it I realized that Six Flags wasn't a place for a pregnant person. I wouldn't be able to ride any of the rides and all the walking would have me worn out and I would've probably spent the entire day sitting on some bench in the middle of the park-watching my friends have the time of their lives. Six Flags definitely wasn't for me.

When I heard a loud giggle coming from the house, I recognized it. Fawn from my exercise class. She waddled from the kitchen carrying a dish covered in aluminum foil. Her son Sean followed behind her carrying a case of soda. He looked handsome in his crisp tan shorts and orange shirt. He wore orange-and-white sneakers to match. I couldn't help noticing that orange definitely looked good against his dark brown skin.

"Who's that?" Alyssa asked. "He is fine."

"His mama is in my prenatal exercise class."

I watched as Mommy introduced Fawn and Sean to Daddy. She took the dish from Fawn and set it on the table with the rest of the food. Daddy took the case of soda from Sean and placed the cans one by one into the cooler. When Mommy started looking around the yard, I knew she was looking for me, and once she spotted me, they all headed my way.

"There she is," Fawn said as she approached. "Here's our little mommy."

I stood and gave her a hug.

"What's up, Tameka?" Sean said in his deep voice.

"What's up, Sean?" I said, "This is my cousin, Alyssa. Alyssa, this is Fawn from my exercise class and this is her son, Sean."

"Hi." Alyssa smiled at both of them.

"Nice to meet you," Fawn said and shook my cousin's hand.

Sean simply gave her a nod that said "what's up?"

Fawn disappeared into the house with my mother; the two of them running their mouths and catching each other up on the latest gossip. Sean made himself a hefty plate filled with ribs, chicken and potato salad and took a seat at the table next to me. As the wind blew, I caught a smell of his cologne. It was an enticing smell, made me want to lean closer just to inhale it.

"What was that dish covered in foil that your mama brought?" I asked. It seemed that food was the most interesting thing in my life these days.

"It's just some peach cobbler that she made this morning," he said.

"Are you for real?" I asked. Just the thought of it lingered in my mind for a few moments.

"Yeah. My mom makes the best peach cobbler." He smiled. "You should try it."

"I plan to."

"You want me to get you some?" he asked.

"You would do that?"

"Of course," he said and stood. "You stay right here. I'll be right back."

Alyssa stared at me. Her hand on her chin, a goofy grin on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"He likes you," she said.

Her comment was ludicrous. No one as fine as him would be interested in someone as pregnant as me. Not when there were thousands of unpregnant pretty girls in the Atlanta metro area. Not to mention, even if he did like me as Alyssa seemed to think, I had a boyfriend. There was no hope for any type of future for us. Vance and I were still a couple. He was just away at school, just for a moment. He would be back during the holidays and we would be a family just as soon as the baby was born. There was no room for anyone else in my life.

"He's just being nice," I said, and couldn't help sneaking a glance over at the food table to watch as he made me a plate of peach cobbler.

"He's cute, though, isn't he?" Alyssa smiled as she stuffed a forkful of potato salad into her mouth.

"He is cute. I give him that, but I do have a boyfriend," I said.

"When's the last time you talked to this boyfriend anyway?" she asked.

"Last night," I told her. "He said that he was driving down to Mississippi with a few friends from school to spend the Fourth of July."

"Do you think he's excited about the baby?" She asked the one question that I'd asked myself a million times. Sometimes I wondered if he even remembered that there was a baby growing inside of me.

"Of course he is," I told her, and hoped that I was right. "He's just a little scared. But so am I. We can't let that get in the way of our future, though."

Sean walked up and placed the peach cobbler on the table in front of me.

"Here you go." He smiled.

I watched as he took a seat at the table and began to dig into his food. He was a sweet guy, I thought. He'd be a perfect match for one of my girlfriends. I just had to figure out which one.

fifteen.

Vance The drive from Grambling to Jackson seemed to take forever as Jaylen and I sat cramped in the backseat of Jessie's Kia Sportage. Mississippi's heat was muggy-worse than Atlanta's heat in July. And it didn't help that Jessie's air-conditioning didn't work. Lexi drove the entire way, the two of them in the front seat running their mouths the whole time. I was glad when she finally pulled the car into the driveway of a huge two-story house. The house was white with black shutters on all of the windows and sat on a huge piece of land. I was willing to bet that it was more than an acre.

The four of us stepped out of the car and followed Lexi up to the house. A huge barbecue pit was fired up next to the porch and some older dude was flipping burgers, ribs and chicken on it. A group of people were playing horseshoes and laughter filled the air. Another group of young men tossed a football back and forth to each other, and there was a card table set up on the opposite side of the yard where four people played Bid Whiz and cussed each other out.

A full-figured woman with a face that was identical to Lexi's stepped out the front door and onto the porch as we approached.

"Hi, baby." She grabbed Lexi and hugged her tightly. "I was expecting you last night."

"We decided to drive down after practice this morning," Lexi explained and then changed the subject. "Mama, these are my friends...this is Jessie. She plays on the team with me. And these are my friends Vance and Jaylen."

"So nice to meet you all," Lexi's mom said. "I'm Katherine Bishop. You can call me Kat. Everybody does. I know y'all are hungry. Come on in here and get yourselves something to eat."

We followed Kat through the immaculate living room with plastic still on the antique-looking furniture. The hardwood floors were shining so bright you could almost see your reflection in them. In the kitchen, there was so much food that you could barely see the countertops. Several large pans of food were covered in aluminum foil.

"Grab yourselves a paper plate and dig in," Kat said. "Lexi, you know where everything is. Make sure you take good care of your guests."

Kat disappeared and the four of us grabbed plates and began to load food onto them. I wasn't wasting any time. I was hungry and Lexi's mother had instantly made me feel at home with her Southern hospitality. I sat next to Lexi at the island in the kitchen and stuffed my face with barbecue ribs. I didn't care that there was sauce all over my face, and I didn't even mind when Lexi took the corner of her napkin and wiped it off.

After dinner, Jaylen and I played horseshoes with Lexi's father, Don Bishop, and her three uncles. It was my first time playing the game, but it wasn't rocket science and I caught on pretty quickly. That didn't make it any easier to compete against men who were experts at the sport. They whipped our pants off and then sent us into the house to play a game that they claimed was more our speed-Bid Whiz-with Lexi's aunts.

"Come on in here, babies, and sit down," Lexi's aunt Florence said as we looked on.

"We'll teach you how to play," her aunt Doris said.

"She'll teach you how to cheat," Aunt Florence corrected her. "Because that's all Doris ever does is cheat."

"I don't cheat. I'm just an expert at the game."

Jaylen and I sat across from each other at the card table, pretending we knew what we were doing. Aunt Florence and Aunt Doris taught us everything they knew, and for a brief moment we were actually giving them a run for their money-their quarters anyway. We were playing for quarters and by the end of the night I had lost every one that I had in my pocket. I was sure that Jaylen was broke, too. We knew it was time to get up.

After a few games of Bid Whiz, Jaylen and I joined Lexi and Jessie in the family room where they were watching All About The Benjamins, a movie that I'd seen at least ten times. But I sat down to watch it again for the eleventh time. I plopped down onto the leather sofa next to Lexi, where she snuggled close to me-so close that I could smell the oils that she'd just bathed in. Jaylen sat in a chair in the corner of the room and Jessie sat with her legs crossed on the floor. Lexi and Jessie had both showered and changed into pajamas.

We watched All About The Benjamins and then Lexi popped in Friday After Next, and we laughed about everything that Day-Day had to say. Just the look on his face was enough to make us laugh. I couldn't remember the number of times that Jaylen and I had watched all the Friday movies. We knew each line word for word, and no matter how many times we'd watched it was always just as funny as the first time. After the credits from the movie rolled up the screen, I started to feel tired.

"You think I can grab a shower?" I asked Lexi.

"Of course. Let me show you where you and Jaylen will be sleeping tonight. There's a bathroom attached to your room."

I followed Lexi down the long hallway; my sneakers made a squishing noise in the plush carpet as I tried to tiptoe, careful not to wake her parents. After ushering everyone out of the house, they had said their good-nights and then retired to their bedroom. But not before her father gave us all strict instructions about our sleeping arrangements and warned us that there would be no funny business.

He looked me square in the eyes when he said, "If everyone obeys the rules, then I won't have to break nobody's legs."

His shoulders were broad like a bodybuilder's. His head was bald and his beard was graying. He didn't seem like anyone that I wanted to be in a confrontation with. I had every intention of obeying his rules and keeping my legs intact. After all, it was his house and I was too far away from home to be playing with my life.

Lexi stopped in front of a room with blue walls and two twin beds against each wall, with a nightstand in between them. The blue-and-red plaid comforters made the room feel manly and I was glad there weren't a bunch of flowers everywhere. It seemed warm and comfortable.

"Here we are." She smiled. "You and Jaylen can sleep in here. Let me grab you a towel and a washcloth so you can take a shower."

"Cool," I said. I took a seat on one of the beds and watched as Lexi disappeared down the hallway.

"Who are you?" A young boy wearing a Celtics jersey popped his head into the room.

"I'm Vance. Who are you?"

"Zach," he said. "Are you my cousin or something?"

"Nah, I'm Lexi's friend," I said.

"Do my parents know that you're here?" he asked right before Lexi pushed him out of the way.

"Get out of the way, big head," Lexi said and pushed Zach inside the door before I could respond to his question. She explained, "This is my little brother, Zachery. He's a ten-year-old nosy busybody. And don't pay attention to anything he says."