Give Me Something I Can Feel

by B. Love

  “What’s a set up?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Mommy and daddy are in their room talking about a set up. Daddy is mad at mommy because he said she needs to stay out of your business, but mommy said it’s her job as your sister to be in your business.”

  I sat my phone down and gave my full attention to Ariel.

  “What did you just say?”

  I know Veronica wasn’t trying to set me up on another blind date. Ariel shrugged and grabbed the pendant on my necklace that she tried to talk me into letting her have every time she saw it. Little did she know… I’d purchased her her very on for Christmas.

  “Mommy said you need to be set up. What’s a set up? Why do you need to be set up?”

  For once I was glad that Ariel was just as nosey as her meddling mother.

  “I don’t need to be set up, Ariel. Your mother is just…” with a groan I put Ariel on her feet and stood. “Just difficult for no reason.”

  With my phone in my hand, I placed a kiss on her forehead and headed for Veronica and Greg’s bedroom. Sure enough, they were in the middle of a heated conversation that was immediately cut off at the sight of me.

  “He – hey, Lie. How long have you been standing there?” Veronica asked with a fake smile.

  “I’m going home.”

  “You’re not staying for dinner?”

  “No. I’m not in the mood for steaks and set ups.”

  “Set ups? Charlie…”

  “No, V. I told you not to do this shit anymore. I told you no more blind dates. You promised!”

  “I… it’s not a blind date, Charlie!” Greg did one of those I can’t believe what I’m hearing chuckles and walked away from her. When he made it to me he squeezed my shoulder before leaving. “I simply suggested that Chris…”

  “Chris? The creepy guy that plays piano at church? Really, Veronica?”

  “He’s not creepy.”

  “He is creepy. He sweats all the time.”

  “It’s hot up there when he’s playing!”

  “That is not a good excuse. Chris has sweat dripping down his bald head as soon as he gets to church, V. I cannot believe you tried to set me up with him!”

  “But he’s nice! You need a nice man…”

  “No I don’t. I don’t even have time to date anyone. Why can’t you and ma understand that? I’m not using that as an excuse. I honestly do not have the time to date, Veronica. When I have the time, trust me, I won’t have any trouble meeting a man on my own. Step off.”

  Her eyes watered like the drama queen she is, and immediately I regretted being so harsh with her. It hardly ever happened. I was the nice sister. In fact, it only happened when she did stupid shit like this. I walked over to her and gave her the most forced hug I felt like I’d ever given in my life. I didn’t want to comfort her for pissing me off. I just wanted to be pissed and go home!

  “Don’t cry, Veronica. It’s not that serious. I’m sorry for snapping. You just get on my nerves sometimes when you do stuff like this. I keep telling you over and over and over and…”

  “OK. OK. I get it. I won’t try to hook you up again, but if you let 30 years of your life fly by because you’re so focused on working that you miss out on what’s most important don’t blame me. And don’t expect my kids to take care of you. You want someone to wipe your ass and keep you from getting bed sores… have your own kids.”

  “I do not plan on staying single for 30 years, Veronica. And in 30 years I won’t even be old enough to need someone to take care of me. Do you hear yourself?”

  “Auntie Ruth said the same thing and look at her.”

  She had a point. Our aunt was so focused on proving that she didn’t need a man that she’d let her entire life float right by without having one. And by the time she realized she wanted one… it was too late. Well, it wasn’t too late, but she was no longer concerned with dating at the age of 60, so she spent the rest of her days alone.

  I released Veronica and put some space between us.

  “I won’t be like her.”

  “Just stay for dinner and talk…”

  “No.”

  “Maybe you guys could just exchange…”

  “Veronica…”

  “Fine. I’m going to look really bad if you leave, Lie.”

  “That’s not my concern. You should’ve thought about that before you invited him over.”

  I kissed her forehead just as I’d done Ariel before turning and leaving. Ignoring her protests, I pulled up my Chili’s app and started a to go order. Forget what she was talking about. I was not about to spend one of the few free nights I had having an awkward dinner with her, Greg, and Chris. An appetizer combo and a few movies would do me just right.

  This was not how I planned on spending my first day of the off season. First of all, I didn’t plan on being home at all. I planned on being in Miami somewhere on the beach with a few drinks. Not sitting outside of Harlem’s best friend’s house waiting for her to come out. Last night I could barely sleep. My baby sister was pregnant. She was only 16 and she was pregnant.

  That had been eating at me all night.

  I had no clue who the father was. What their relationship status was. If he planned on sticking around. If his parents knew. None of that. But it was my goal to have all of my questions answered by the end of the day.

  The creaking of the door opening grabbed my attention. I put my phone down and looked towards the door. Princess had one bag and Harlem had the other as they made their way to my car. Getting out, I said a silent prayer that I wouldn’t be too hard on her. Harlem was tough, but I was the only person she softened for. I was the only person whose opinion seemed to matter to her.

  We had that alike. Tough and hard hearted for everyone but those we kept close. For them we were soft and easily wrecked. That’s why she tried to stay clear of Carmen. She already had enough to deal with dealing with pops. Dealing with judgment from an older sister who tried way too hard to be her mother was a stress Harlem didn’t want or need.

  Nodding at Princess, I grabbed the bags from both girls and my eyes immediately lowered to Harlem’s stomach.

  “Hey, Knight,” Princess spoke. “Thanks again for those tickets for my dad’s birthday.”

  I nodded but kept my eyes on Harlem’s stomach. It stuck out a little but not much. Because of the tight shirt she had on it looked like she’d stuffed herself with food and had a little gut. Shopping for clothes that fit was now at the top of the list of things to do today.

  “No problem. Are your parents’ home? I want to thank them for letting her stay.”

  “They haven’t made it in from work yet.”

  “Cool. I’ll stop by a little later then.”

  Princess nodded and pulled Harlem in for a hug. She whispered something that I couldn’t hear in Harlem’s ear that caused her to smile and nod, then she let her go and walked back to her house.

  Harlem and I stood there – just staring at each other. Well, she was staring at me. I was staring at her stomach. Harlem crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to her left side.

  “Are you going to just stand there staring at me all day, Knight?”

  “I just can’t believe you’ve got a baby in there.”

  My eyes met hers finally and she smiled. I smiled. This was still my baby sister. She was still my pride and joy.

  “Believe it. It’s real.”

  “Can I… touch it?”

  Harlem chuckled and rolled her eyes as she nodded. I put her bags in the backseat and walked over to her. Even though I asked, I had a hard time actually touching her stomach. Her small hand grabbed mine and she placed it on her stomach. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but it definitely felt like something was in there.

  “What happened, Harlem? I mean I know what happened but…”

  With a shake of my head I pulled my hand away and opened the passenger door for her. She walked over to it slowly and looked up at me
instead of getting right in.

  “I know you’re probably disappointed in me, boo, but I really didn’t plan for this to happen. I’m sorry.”

  Unsure of what to say, I nodded and motioned for her to get in the car. We had nothing but time to talk. There was no point in rushing it now.

  I thought I’d take her to a regular store and she could buy some stuff that was a few sizes bigger than her size, but Harlem told me that she wanted to go to an actual maternity store. That was cool. I wanted her to have all that wanted and needed. She chose a store called Bundled that I’d never even heard of before. We pulled up, and I was bound and determined to sit in the car and wait, but she suckered me into coming in anyway.

  Apparently I wasn’t the only man in that position. There were three others that were sitting on a bench in front of the window. I wasted no time sitting next to them and joining them. Thankful that I had my earbuds with me, I grabbed them out of my pocket, connected them to my phone, and got some music going. I was pretty sure this was going to take a while, so I leaned my head against the window and prepared to get me a little nap in.

  It felt like just as soon as my body started relaxing I was being nudged in the shoulder. My eyes opened slowly to the sight of Harlem pointing towards the section where they had car seats and shit, but I couldn’t focus on those. My focus was on the beautiful woman standing in front of the car seats.

  She had big, wild tight curls in her hair. Very big and wild and tight curls. They were long and full and just… everywhere. Smooth brown skin covered her toned frame. From a distance it looked to be blemish free, but I couldn’t be sure. Her skin had a reddish tint, but it was the same brown as acorns.

  I wanted to taste it.

  At first glance, I wasn’t expecting her to actually be working here because of what she had on. She was dressed in a white button down shirt dress. It stopped mid-thigh, and she had on a pair of white sandals with it. The dress was the right length to give me the perfect view of her slim thick thighs.

  She laughed and pulled my attention back to her face. The sound of her laugh was the most beautiful laugh I’ve ever heard in my life. It sounded so… full. So full of life. And her smile… she had the biggest, brightest smile I’d ever seen. It took over her whole face. As beautiful as her dark tight eyes were, I think I liked them better squinted and practically closed as she laughed.

  She took the papers from the girl that had said whatever it was that made her laugh, then returned her attention to the car seats. Now I was only blessed with a side view of her, but I’d take that too. Baby was beautiful on all sides.

  “Knight! I said come look at the car seats with me,” Harlem said for what I gathered to be the second time before walking away and returning to the car seats.

  I scratched my chin as I looked the woman over once more. She was definitely my type. Beautiful real hair. Beautiful brown skin. Beautiful shape. Beautiful dark eyes. Beautiful smile and perfect white teeth. Just beautiful.

  Remembering my fast, I stood and unwillingly made my way over to the car seats, Harlem, and the beauty. My nose was assaulted by a perfume that it didn’t agree with, and I sneezed… which apparently caught the beauty off guard because she jumped in the most adorable way and dropped all of her papers.

  “Dang, Knight! I told you about sneezing in public. Loud ass sneeze,” Harlem scolded as she tried to bend and help the beauty pick up her papers, but she stopped her.

  “No. No. I got it, sweetheart,” sweetheart? “But thanks.” I call her sweetheart.

  Shaking whatever I was feeling off, I squatted to help the beauty pick up the papers. Her hands worked quickly to gather the papers, but when she looked into my eyes they stopped moving. And so did mine. Her smile fell. So did mine.

  “Apologize, boo.”

  I heard Harlem, but I wasn’t trying to see her. I didn’t want anything or anyone taking away from my view of this beauty.

  “I apologize,” I offered.

  The beauty smiled that beautiful smile before lowering her eyes to the ground.

  “It’s OK. Your sneeze just scared a little life out of me.”

  I chuckled as I grabbed the rest of the papers and handed them to her. We stood at the same time but she put some space between us.

  “My bad. I know it can be loud, so I try to hold it in as much as I can.”

  “You don’t have to apologize for that. It’s natural.”

  With a nod, I put my hands in my pockets to avoid touching her hair. I knew how naturals were about their hair. That was definitely not a battle I wanted to endure again. Not without her permission at least.

  “OK, Knight, I can’t choose between these two,” Harlem pulled me by the arm towards her. “Red or black?”

  “I thought you were picking out clothes today?”

  “I was, but we might as well get as much as we can today; unless you want to make another trip so you can flirt with that lady some more.”

  The beauty was standing off to the side, but I saw her eyes widen out of the corner of my eye before her shoulders tensed and she busied herself further away from us.

  “Really, Harlem? Why would you say that?”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “I was not flirting with her.”

  “Whatever. Help me pick out a seat.”

  “I ain’t helping you pick out shit.”

  “Knight! Come on now! Don’t start being mean! If you don’t help me do this kind of stuff who will?”

  “Where’s the dude that’s responsible for this?”

  “Responsible for this? This? Did you call my baby a this?”

  Now she was about to start acting crazy.

  “Um…” the beauty walked back over to us timidly. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but… if your boyfriend…”

  “Boyfriend? This meanie is my big brother,” Harlem quickly corrected.

  The beauty bit down on her top lip as long as she could before a smile appeared. She nodded and inhaled deeply.

  “Oh. OK. If your brother doesn’t want to help with this kind of stuff, allow me. I have a bedside service business. I make baskets for expecting mothers. I offer pre and post delivery services such as shopping, baby registry and birth announcements, nursey design, diaper delivery, laundry service, hospital prep, baby shower planning and throwing, pampering, and…” she gestured towards the car seats, “I put together packages filled with things you’ll need from Bundled including car seats,” the beauty pulled one of the papers she’d dropped out of the stack and handed it to Harlem. “Here’s a list of everything in the store. If you want, you can walk around the store and make a list of everything you want and need. Then I’ll get it all together for you and deliver it.”

  Harlem grabbed my forearm, “Knight,” she shook it, “Can we have her?”

  The beauty blushed and lowered her head.

  “Harlem, go somewhere. Let me talk to her for a second.”

  “Fine.”

  Harlem turned her attention to the clothes, what she should’ve been looking at in the first place, and allowed me to have the beauty to myself.

  “Sorry about my sister. I have no excuse to offer besides she’s just crazy.”

  The beauty smiled, and I couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel to see that every day for the rest of my life. Blessing.

  “She’s cute. She reminds me of my older sister when we were younger.”

  Her hand went to the collar of her dress and she squeezed it as if being around me made her uncomfortable.

  “So… bedside service?”

  “Right. Right. I also make doctor’s appointments when you or the father can’t go with her. I’m basically there every step of the way for whatever you guys need. Even random calls at midnight because she’s craving dill pickle chips and ice cream.”

  “How does this work? And how much does it cost?”

  “Well, my website is on the bottom of the paper I gave your sister. All of my packages are listed there. I like to m
eet with my clients and get a feel for what they will need before I suggest a package, but they range from five hundred to five thousand depending on how present you want me to be.”

  “Cool. I’m sure we’ll just end up taking the biggest one. Your contact information on that paper as well?”

  “Yep.”

  “You know what? Can we just set up a time to meet now? I want to help her all that I can, but I can already tell we’re not going to get along much and I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

  The beauty smiled again.

  That smile was going to get her pretty ass in trouble.

  “That’s perfectly fine. I’m here a lot, but if you can give me a second to grab my planner I’ll let you know my availability.”

  “Sounds good.”

  She took a few steps back before walking off to the side and behind me. Not caring if it was obvious or not, I turned around to get a view of her ass. Nice little small yet round ass. It was small enough to not be too much, but enough for me to grab a handful of. Her hips were curvy, and her waist was small, but it was natural looking. Not like she spent every day at the gym in one of those waist shapers.

  While I waited for her to return I looked around the store for Harlem who was now looking at baby bags.

  “OK, so… it looks like I’m available… in two days. Saturday. Will that work?”

  I turned at the sound of the beauty’s voice. She had her head in her planner, so she didn’t see me checking her out. Even if she did I really didn’t care. I just… couldn’t stop looking at her.

  “Yea, that’ll work. What time?”

  She met my eyes again and smiled.

  “Noon?”

  “Cool. I’ll have Harlem text you my address.”

  “OK, well, it was nice meeting you…”

  I extended my hand for hers. She looked down at it and back at me before putting her hand inside of mine.

  “Knight Carver.”

  Her head tilted to the side as I pulled her a little closer to me.

  “Knight Carver? The sports announcer for the Grizzlies? I thought your face was a little familiar.”

  “You into basketball?”

  “Just the Grizzlies. I love going to their games.”