Grammy asked me a billion questions the second he left. I have been on a roller coaster ride of emotions all night! So I tried to start at the beginning. I told her about what happened at Sarai's place and what they did at the park. "You can't hang out with those lil sluts no more, Keya do you hear me?!" she yelled. "I don't want to Grammy, I had no idea they were gonna do that!" I told her honestly, I mean it's one thing to hear them say it, but to have actually seen them do it, Yuckage! "And did Manny try anything with you?" she said staring hard at me her eyes narrowed. "Well he kissed me a few times but that's it, I promise!" I loved that I could talk to Grammy about everything. "Uh huh, okay, I believe you", she said satisfied.
Then I told her how he took me to the Carnival and we got on all the rides. And then he took me to see his parents, we watched the fireworks, and that they had cooked all this food and he had made some plates for me. I held up the bag to show her. "Well open it up, let's see what you got girl," she said happily. It was lots of foods that I had never seen before, but man oh man it smells delicious. We ate til we were stuffed, talking about how good the food was. She said that we were gonna have to come up with an agreement between me and Manny, I'm not sure what that meant, but okay. Grammy was really smart and only wanted the best for me, I trust her decision always.
Manny called me when he got home and said he would see me in the morning. "Ok I'll be ready, I promise", I said "Ok good night babygirl sweet dreams", he said. "Goodnight see ya in the morning, Mr. Manny" and I hung up the phone. WOW JUST WOW! Today was crazy! I have a boyfriend again which is exciting,... but what about Steve...he is so irritating but I still liked him. And what those girls did, I just can't believe it, like they were outside 'doing it!', for awhile I was afraid that Manny was gonna try to do that to me. But I'm really grateful that he didn't, I don't know if I could handle that type of situation right now. His kiss made me feel like I was on fire and I couldn't breathe, it felt like I had goosebumps all over my body, 'shivers' I shook myself to get rid of the feeling.
I can't believe that he's been waiting to talk to me since I last saw him at the restaurant though. I mean I just hugged him that's all! Wow! And he wants me to be his wife!! WHAAAAAAAT!!! My heart started beating fast just thinking about getting married to him one day. He is fine and his body is rock hard, his deep voice making me tickle on my neck, oh man and his thing was stabbing me in my leg, that wasn't cool, holy crap! But he was so happy to see me and he was there for me when I was crying and we had sooo much fun at the Carnival, plus he gave me money. And the best part was that kiss, OMG WOW! What he did to my tongue...'shivers'...gulp...it made my butt all tingly, I didn't even know that kissing was done like that! What a night, I'm exhausted, my sister is sleep listening to the jazz station on her radio and it puts me to sleep like a lullaby.
I wake up happy thinking about what happened yesterday and excited about today. I go downstairs and start making breakfast: oatmeal with fruit, biscuits, sausage links, hashbrowns and apple juice. I take a plate upstairs to Grammy and a glass of ice water, she loves ice water, then call everyone down to eat and we enjoy our meal. I tell them that I have a new boyfriend and he's coming to pick me up to go to church with him today. "I thought you liked that Steve guy, Keya, who is this Manny person?" my second brother, Tey asked. "He's a man I met yesterday at the Parade" I tell him. "Ooooo weeeee I'm telling Grammy on you Keya!" my third brother Tez said teasingly, "I already told her, nana nana nana!" I poked my tongue out at him and rolled my eyes, laughing. He's always bothering me smh. "Is he cool? Does he play video games?" my first brother, Trell asked, "Hmm I'm not sure but I'll ask him today. And if he wants to play Sega Channel with us too!" I told him smiling. My sister Phat said, "So you don't want to be with Steve anymore?" I talked to her about Steve all the time so she knows how much I really like him. I shrugged my shoulders, it all happened so fast yesterday that I forgot all about Steve....I still like him...but I'm with Manny now 'sigh' its really confusing. "I do still like him, but Manny asked me to be his girlfriend so...oh, I don't know", I told her. We finish eating, I wash the dishes and put up the leftovers.
Its 10am and I go take my shower and get dressed, I wear a royal blue, seamless, short sleeved, knee-length dress and black wedges, I put blue ribbons around my two ponytails and had my purple teddy bear backpack on, I put on my cherry lip gloss and put it in my backpack along with my word search puzzle, a pen, some money and a bottle of water.
Before I made it downstairs, I hear a knock on the front door, my heart jumped and started beating fast in my chest! Is it him? "Keya! Manny is here!" Grammy called towards the stairs. "I'm coming!" I walk down and Wow! He is gorgeous! He's wearing a royal blue muscle shirt, I can clearly see his 8 pack, with a pair of white slacks and some black dress shoes. And for the first time I can really see his face, he's not wearing sunglasses! His eyes are greenish brown and he has a big smile on his face when he sees me. I was so mesmerized by him that I missed the last two steps... 'SLIP'...Whoopsie!...I closed my eyes instinctively thinking I would hit the ground, but...he caught me! I opened my eyes and I was in his arms, instead of on the floor! I looked up at him, he kissed me and whispered smiling, "Good morning beautiful" I was so happy he was there to catch me and boy was he handsome up close! He smelled good too like coconuts or something.
"Thanks Mr. Manny" I said shyly. "No problem, babygirl" he whispered, his breath smelled good too. He stood me upright and said "These are for you" 'GASP' He brought me some flowers! "Wooow, thank you, I love flowers!" and again without thinking I hug him, he stiffened and I heard that growling again from last night and back at the restaurant. I felt his 'thing' hit me in my stomach and realized that maybe I shouldn't have done that...I looked up, biting my lower lip nervously and his face was red, his eyes closed, frowning a little, was he mad? I thought. He grabbed my arm lightly and mumbled "Mmmm, Hold on" he shook his head breathing hard and asked "Where's the bathroom?" I showed him and he went in.
Grammy motioned for me to come to her, "Is he okay?" she said frowning towards the bathroom. "Um I hope so, he gets kinda weird when I hug him" I said a little embarrassed. "Well it looked like his dick was hard to me, you be careful and stop hugging him if he gets all horny and shit, okay?" she whispered seriously to me. "Okay, Grammy" I said sadly, lowering my head. "Don't be sad, Keya, its just he is a man and he has needs. Needs that you can't satisfy for him right now, so just be careful is all I'm saying okay?" I cheered up a little "Okay" then I heard my brothers running down the stairs. Manny was coming out of the bathroom too. "Mr. Manny these are my little brothers, Trell, Tey, Tez and Qwan" "Hello everybody" he waved smiling. "And this is Mr. Manny" I said proudly "He brought me some flowers, too, look!" My brothers didn't care about flowers, but my sister did, "They're really pretty, Keya, can I have one?" I looked at Manny, he nodded and I let her choose one. "Thanks, Mr. Manny!" she said, "And that's my sister Levii, but we all call her Phat, because her cheeks are so chubby and fat" I giggled.
My brothers started bombarding him with questions and crowding around him, "What video games you play?", "Do you love my sister?", "How old are you?" "Can you play video games with us when you come back?", "Do you play with toys?" It was getting crazy so I told them that we had to go, but we'll be back later and they could ask him then. "Okay!" they were really excited, mainly because my last boyfriend used to play video games and play race cars with them. "Y'all go on and mind ya bidness now, go on" Grammy told my brothers. "I'm sorry about that Manny...kids you know" she said shaking her head. "Oh its cool I'm the youngest of 8 kids Grammy, and I have tons of nieces, nephews and cousins so I know" he said laughing, his laugh was a beautiful sound, like roaring water from the fire hydrant. I loved it!
"Oh big family huh, we are too, that's good, you'll fit right in here with us" she said chuckling, "Well y'all best get on outta here, don't wanna be late now, pass me them flowers, Keya, I'll put them in some water for ya" I hand them to her, "And you young man, learn to tame that snake in your pants, I don't want any great grandbabies just yet, you hear me now?" she said to him seriously. He turned red, lowering his head, "Yes ma'am, I..I'll do my best, it's just when she touches me... it feels like I'm being struck by lightning and it's hard to focus sometimes, but I'm okay now" he said. I was stunned, I didn't know I made him feel like that, goodness gracious! "Ok well see y'all later, have a good time at service, and Manny that food was delicious!" And we left. He wasn't on his bike today, but he opened the door for me to this beautiful shiny blue Cadillac, its was so cool! It had silver rims and was tan on the inside, leather, it smelled good and it matched our clothes too! I guessed it was his favorite color.
I put on my seat belt and wait for him to get in. He did, started driving and said smiling, "Well that was fun, I met your family, and now you're going to meet mine, almost all of my family attends this church, so be prepared okay?" "For what?" I asked a little curious, "It's been years since I've had a girlfriend and I've been telling my family about you, so they're excited to meet you and after service we are going to a cookout at my aunt's house" he told me coolly. "Oh ok, awesome!" "Did you eat breakfast yet, sweetie?" he asked me. "Yup, did you?" "Si" he said, "Doesn't that mean 'yes' in Spanish?" I asked. "Yes it does" the way he smiled at me, 'TREMBLE' he was sooo handsome when he smiled, I feel it getting hot in here and I wave my hands to cool myself off. "You hot babe? I can turn on the AC for you." I nod, he does and it helps a lot.
His church isn't that far at all from where I live only like 3 blocks. We pull into the parking lot and he tells me to wait so he can get the door for me, I do, and he opened my door, "I could've opened it myself", "No, I am a gentleman, and I'll get the door for you baby, always" I didn't really understand but I guess it was nice having someone open the door for me. He held out his hand for me, I'm thinking rather or not I should touch him, heeding Grammys words. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Well Grammy says that I shouldn't touch you if it's gonna make you all weird and stuff" I said looking up at him, I'm worried what to do. He squats down and says "I think it's only when you touch my neck or my chest, not my hands, sweetie." "Oh ok, I'll try to remember that then, Mr. Manny" I was happy hearing that. He leaned in and kissed me slowly, "Just call me Manny, ok babygirl" I nod, my butt was tingling again, "Ok M..Manny" I smiled, he said, "Let's go"
We walked in holding hands and I can hear most of the people speaking Spanish, I really needed to learn the language soon. We were greeted by nearly everyone there and he introduced me to them as "This is My Keya!" I whispered to him "Why do you call me My Keya?" he turned right in front of me, looking me dead in my eyes and said slowly, very firm but smiling, "Because you are mine and no others', remember that okay?!" 'Gulp' His eyes were a little scary and I knew that he meant business so I said, "Oh..okay" and didn't ask him anything else for awhile. He said, "Good girl" and smiled. We sat in the very front row and I seen his parents come in and they sat next to us. "Hola, como estas!" I told them, remembering what they said to me the night before. They looked very happy that I remembered and his Mom spoke with a heavy accent, "You learn very fast, Keya, that's muy buena!" She gave me a hug and so did his dad. More people start to arrive and service starts after awhile.
It was very different from my church as he was Christian and I was born in the Coptic Faith. But we sang songs and held hands to pray and they even asked me to join their church. I looked at Manny for guidance, he nodded his head and I became a member of his family's church. After service was over lots of people came to greet me and say "Congrats" and they were glad that Manny found him a 'good one'. Some of the men were staring at me a little too hard, and Manny shot them a look and they backed off quickly.
We drove not too far from the church to his aunt's house, it was nicely decorated and had a warm feeling. She had the backyard set up with tables and chairs and a grill was smoking, some music playing. We went and sat down to talk. His aunt's name was Michelle she was Mannys' favorite aunt he told me, she was black and had married his oldest uncle, his dad's older brother, Jorge. Manny grew up with his father's side of the family, his mother married his dad when she was 14. And had lived with them ever since then. He said he had 4 aunts and 4 uncles, 5 sisters, 2 brothers, 24 cousins and lots of nieces and nephews. I told him I'm the oldest grandchild on both sides of my family. I have 7 aunts and 3 uncles and lots of cousins, no nieces or nephews yet as I'm the oldest, he grabbed my face, kissed me and said looking at me deeply "You're the oldest so you'll have kids first, and we are going to have lots of kids!" "L..lots of ki..kids?!" he nodded his head slowly still looking at me deeply, I felt like he was looking through me, to the person I was gonna be, not the person I am right now.
My heart started beating fast and I thought about my 2 friends that were pregnant right now, Maria and Ruth, their big ol bellies and then I thought about my other 2 friends or former friends, Sarai and Yahaira and what they did in the park last night! It was a bit too much to deal with right now and all of a sudden I was crying. That's not what I wanted right now...to have kids...I'm still a kid..there are things that I still need to do in life first...I'm still taking care of my siblings and Grammys not doing too good....from far away I heard my name being called..keya..keya.."Keya!" "Wha..what happened?" I asked "Why are you crying? Are you okay?" I'm crying? I feel my face, and it was wet! "Can we go somewhere and talk?" I asked him.
There were lots of people here now and I needed to talk only to him. "Yeah" he takes me in the house into one of the bedrooms and closes the door, I sit on the bed. "What's wrong baby?" he kneels down in front of me, looking worried. "Manny I don't want to have kids right now, I'm waaaaay too young for that, and I'm not ready to 'do it' either, I am not doing anything like that until I'm married and older!" I tell him determinedly. "I know babygirl, I'm willing and ready to wait until you are older and ready okay?" he said reassuringly. "Really? Because you look at me sometimes like you want to eat me alive, its scary.." he grabbed my hands and kissed both of my palms with a loving look on his face. "I'm truly sorry sweetie, my eyes give away my thoughts, that's why I wear shades a lot. So people can't read me." he said kinda sad. Ooohhh I see now, I touched his face and then quickly pulled my fingers away, remembering what happens to him when I touch him sometimes. But nothing happened, we were both a little surprised and he said "One day we're going to have to see what parts of me you can and can't touch" we laughed and smiled. "I'm not trying to rush you into anything right now babe, but it's really hard for me to hide how much I love you Keya" 'GASPS' He..loves me!? Holy Crapola! I knew he liked me a lot but..but he loves me? I didn't know what to say..I didn't love him.. yet, I really liked him, but not love him so I couldn't say that back. Although that's usually what you would say to someone that says that they love you right...?
I didn't know what to say..so I told him the truth, "Manny I like you a whole lot but..but I'm in love with this guy named Steve he goes to my school.." he looked really different after I said that, very cold and angry his eyes narrowed, he said through clenched teeth "Who is this Steve? Tell me about him!" he said, he sounded so mad that I didn't even want to talk anymore I was..afraid to tell him. He clenched his fists and said very slowly, "Tell me who he is?!" I started sweating and trembling and I swallowed really hard, "He's just a guy at my school.." "And why do you like him?" "I'm not really sure.." "Does he put his hands on you?" I nodded lowering my head, he cupped my chin and lifted my face so I had to look him in his eyes. "How does he touch you?" his eyebrow rose, "Where does he touch you?" he looked me up and down. I started crying again but I told him what Steve had done to me, everything he had ever said too. He stood up and walked away from me I heard his knuckles crack and I jumped, I thought he was gonna hit me, but.."I'm not angry with you baby, I'm mad this motherfucker put his filthy ass hands on you, I want to choke the life out of him!" I was still crying, he took a few deep breaths and then came, pulled me up off the bed and hugged me into his chest, rubbing my back, it really helped calm me.
He wiped my face and kissed my forehead for a long time. "Baby I'm going to show you how to protect yourself from people like him okay?" he lifted my face to look in his eyes. "I don't want any man touching you, you are mine from now on and I'm the only man that's allowed to touch you okay? And if someone does have the balls to touch you, you let me know right away, and I'll handle it, you hear me? I'll always protect you, sweetie" "Ok Manny" I was so happy to hear that, that I almost hugged him again, he looked down and grabbed my hands. I wanted to kiss him but I couldn't reach him, he is so much taller than me, he bent down and kissed me with such passion, "Mmmmm, Manny!" my butt was tingling like crazy, "Mmm Keya!" he moaned, I wanted to hug him but he was still holding my hands near his chest.
'KNOCK KNOCK'
"Manny, Keya y'all okay?" It was his aunt Michelle. We stopped kissing...breathing hard, "We're good auntie" he said, his eyes closed, "Okay everyone asking about y'all, so come on out here" he looked at me smiling, "Ok we'll be right out! That was close" he whispered chuckling. He wiped my face and said laughing, "Now Keya this is the second day and the second shirt you have cried into, we're gonna have to do something about this" "I can wash it for you" "Oh can you now?!" he started tryna kiss my neck it tickles so I'm giggling, blocking his mouth with my face and shoulder. "I'm just trying to cheer you up babygirl, I want you happy not sad, okay?" I nod and we check ourselves out in the big mirror on the dresser, "We look perfect together, don't we babe?" I looked at us too, and agreed. I held his hand and we left the bedroom.
The house and backyard are packed full of people. And it smells amazing, there's so much food here, but there are so many people that it has to be enough I guess. We go back outside to our chairs and people started greeting me. And Manny introduced me to all his siblings, their spouses and their kids. I have a photographic memory so I remembered everyone. I saw his cousin, Victor who is Michelle's youngest son and he came over and said, "Yo, this the chick from last night right, so this the girl that's got you whipped huh cuzo?" he put his fist to his mouth laughing hard. Manny said "Hell yeah this is My Keya, don't start nothing Vic and it won't be nothing" he told him. Victor just laughed and left.
Some people were dancing, it didn't look like any dance moves that I knew, I was watching them and it didn't look hard, but really fun. Manny pulled me over to where they were dancing and said, "Let me teach you some Bachata!" and he showed me the basic steps, it was fun and really easy, I loved it! Then he showed me another one called Merengue. It was also fun, I really liked dancing. And Manny was a good teacher. We danced for awhile, like 45 minutes straight. I asked, "Do you know how to do Chicago Style Stepping, it's one of my favorites?" "A little bit" "Can I show you how to do it?" I asked him and Michelle came by saying, "Gurl you know how to Step?" I nod. "Come on, let's show him how it's done gurl, Victor put on my Stepping song" I hear one of my favorite songs come on, Moments in Love by The Art of Noise. "I love this song!" And me and Michelle started Stepping together, she was really good too. We twirled and dipped and really put on a good show. We danced the whole 10 minutes that the song was on. I noticed lots of people watching us too. We got a standing ovation from the family, I was a bit shy, I did a curtsey and ran to Mannys' side and grabbed his hand, smiling really wide.
"Well that's how you Step!" I told him. "You are amazing baby!" he said, and I giggled, "Thanks Manny" "Y'all ready to eat?!" someone called. Manny looked at me and flicked his head towards the tables, so we can go eat. There were two full 6ft long tables packed full of delectable looking foods and another table just for drinks and sweets, the first small table was for plates, cups, bowls, cutlery and napkins. And we stood in line youngest to oldest, some of the people were behind the tables serving the food, but some was self serve. And they let you pick however much you wanted, no limits. We got our food and went and ate, it was sooo good. I was so full, that I started getting sleepy.
We talked to a few people some more and he decided It was time to go because I was yawning like crazy. We packed half of an aluminum pan with food to take to my family, then said our goodbyes and left. I was smiling as we walked to the car, that was so much fun. He opened my door for me, I get in, put on my seat belt and I am sleep before we get to Grammys' house.