I'm waken up by the sound of commotion and I realize that I'm being carried princess style to the elevator. I wrap my hands around Mekhi's neck and close my eyes once more. When the elevator stops, someone, either Jerry or Smith opens the door for us and Mekhi kicks off his shoes and carry me directly to the room and place me on the bed. He then gently removes my shoes and takes my bag.
"Hey," I say with a smile opening my eyes.
"Hey, are you still tired," he asks with a warm smile.
"No. Thank you for taking off my shoes," I say.
"You're welcome baby," he says and sit down at the end of the bed.
"What's up," I ask him noticing he looks a little lost in his thoughts.
"It's nothing, do you want to go down and look at all the things we purchased today," he asks with a small smile.
"Yes, besides I have to see which items I'm leaving behind to spare me the shame of carrying them home," I say with a smile sitting up hoping to brighten his mood.
"Alright then, let's go," he says standing up and pulling my hand.
"Ugh, my feet hurt from all the walking we did. I don't think I can walk," I say feigning hurt.
"Hmm, then climb up," he says shaking his head before standing and sitting in front of me.
"Wait, what," I say confused.
"I'll give you a lift," he says patting his back.
"Since you insist," I say wrapping my legs around his waist and hug him from behind.
"I do, let's go," he says standing and carrying me out of the room.
"Lead the way captain," I say with a giggle as he carries me through the house to the living room finally placing me on my feet in front of the sofa.
"Where do you want to start," he asks looking at me.
"I don't know. This is a lot of stuff," I say staring at the sea of bags in his living room floor.
"Let's start here and separate what's staying and going over there," he says pointing to the bag furthest from us and to a somewhat empty area for separation.
"Okay," I say walking over to retrieve the first bag and sit on the floor to sift through its contents.
"While you get started with that I'm going to heat up the leftovers from last night. I'm sure you're starting to get hungry as well," he says walking to the kitchen.
"I am, thank you," I say smiling at him as I realize that this bag contains Mekhi's things.
I sit his bag on the couch and continue looking through the bags one by one. As I'm going through my third shopping bag, I begin to smell the food that Mekhi is warming up and my stomach issues a growl announcing its hungry presence. Unable to withstand the temptation of the smell of food wafting through the air, I abandon my task and walk into the kitchen. When I walk into the kitchen Mekhi's back is turned so I walk up to him and wrap my arms around his waist holding him close.
"What's up," he asks looking over his shoulder at me.
"Nothing except the food smells so good that I can no longer continue the task at hand without eating first," I say to him.
"Alright, go and have a seat at the counter. I'm almost finished," he says with his famous half-smile.
"Yes sir," I say and do a little skip-step to my seat at the island.
He loads up two plates with food and places one in front of me and the other next to me. Next he fills two glasses with juice and finally sit on the barstool next to mine. He then grabs my hand and kisses the back of it before bowing his head to bless our food. With that we begin eating.
"It tastes even better today than it did yesterday," I say with a satisfying moan.
"Yes, it does," he agrees with me.
We continue eating our dinner while chatting about the events of the day. It has been a long day to say the least. A late night and early morning is turning into another late night and possible early morning. When we're finished eating feeling full and satiated, I wash our dishes and wipe down his kitchen. While I'm cleaning Mekhi goes to the living room and sorts through some of the bags helping me to simplify my task.
Finishing my task in the kitchen, I join Mekhi in the living room and see that he has been very efficient in separating our things. He has been categorizing the items that are definitely going with me and leaving the unsure items in an area alone to be reviewed by me.
"Wow, you've got a lot done," I say surprised with his fast and efficient efforts.
"It was just a process of elimination, baby," he says easily with a smug smile.
"Of course, how could I forget how capable you are," I say shaking my head and join him on the floor.
"I don't know how you forget, I must work harder to help you remember in the future," he says
moving to sit behind me and wrapping his arms around me.
"I won't forget it," I say pausing as I sit in between his legs while he holds me.
"I hope so, dinner with my mother is just the beginning of what it's like to be in my world. I really hope that you are strong enough to go through this with me," he says in what I can say is a moment of weakness.
"As long as you are loyal to me and come to love me in your heart, I will go through this with you and strengthen myself to be able to stand by your side and not behind you. I don't give my love and loyalty easily, so once you've lost it, you have lost me. This is my only wish," I say to him sincerely as he holds me.
"I can give you this, as long as I get to have you," he says leaning into my ear causing me to shiver.
"Then as long as I believe you, you shall have me," I say and I turn my head to kiss him on the lips sealing my words to him.
We then finish going through the contents of the shopping bags ending with three distinctive groups of bags. The group of items that are going with me are closest to the door and my items that are staying are grouped together closer to the group with Mekhi's items. We gather as many bags as we can and march them up the stairs to his room, then go back for the rest of the bags and decide to shower before we actually sort the clothes into his closet. Mekhi takes out my night clothes while I run the shower water. Even though I would love to soak in the tub, I think that if I do that I won't have the energy to sort out the items going into Mekhi's closet.
Stepping into the shower, I let the day's events play out in my mind as the hot water cascades over my body. I think about the words I've said to Mekhi and realize that my dream of teaching may have to wait for a little while. I may be able to continue working with children during the summer, however, I have to get stronger for me and my future. I wash myself and strengthen my resolve to do and be the best I can be for myself. When I get out of the shower, I notice that the bags that were previously in front of the closet has disappeared. Knowing Mekhi, he has already put them away, so I grab my pajamas and underwear and finish my routine.
Mekhi comes into the room freshly showered as I'm walking out of the bathroom from brushing my teeth and washing and moisturizing my face. He sits on the bed and opens his arms and I go to him willingly snuggling up against him.
"Ready to go to bed," he asks.
"Yes, I'm exhausted for sure. Thank you for putting the clothes away," I say to him.
"You're more than welcome baby. We have had a long day, we should get some rest," he says with a yawn.
"Kai, I think I'm going to accelerate graduating as well as double major," I say to him.
"You don't have to do that, it'll be hard and time consuming," he says alert.
"I know, but I want to. We are college students now, I just want to be able to be on an even playing field and not have school as a distraction for too much longer," I say to him.
"Well as long as it's what you truly want to do, then I'll support you. You should talk with your family about your plans as well. You know your mom is getting to give birth to a set of twins and although she won't need your help you will still want to be there to help and support her. Will you be able to manage all of that," he asks.
"I will learn to manage it all. It's more about me choosing to do the right thing for me and my family as well as nurturing the career path I want to follow as well. If I can have the best of both worlds then everything else will work itself out," I say to him sleepily.
"You've got it figured out, plan your steps carefully and thoughtfully and there's no way that you can't achieve your dreams," he says.
"I will," I answer him with a yawn.
"Alright, come get under the cover and go to sleep," he says pulling the comforter back.
"Okay," I say as I follow him under the cover.
"Now go to sleep," he says using his phone to turn off the lights in the room, then pulling me close so that my head is on his chest.
"Yes," I say and close my eyes as he rubs circles on my back.