Synergy (21 page)

It was
an awkward situation having to follow Dee around to all different
friends and family, telling people it was nice to meet them and
having to stand around having small talk with people. He knew it
was just part and parcel but it didn’t mean it was any easier. Some
were more welcoming than others. Daya had certainly been welcoming;
maybe because she knew how it felt not to be immediate family,
after all, she was only in the family because she was a baby
mother, and maybe an on-off girlfriend. Dee’s best friend Shaneeka
had also been really welcoming, but she’d also warned him off
hurting her ‘girl’ and threatened to chop his manhood off if he
did, so that was definitely not a welcoming sentence. He had now
met cousins, aunties and friends and it was exhausting. Kiki and J
had managed to get the family a table, so while many of them moved
around to different tables and to the bar, they also had a place to
sit in down time. After a few hours, Dee and Jason made their way
to the table and sat with Monique, Neesee, and Tip.

As Jason
took a few glugs of his beer, he savoured the break from small
talk. It was nice to finally sit down with people he knew. Luckily,
he’d sat down next to Tip, someone who had welcomed him earlier at
the house, so he had found it easy to get along with him. He
couldn’t help but notice the family was more female orientated so
it was nice to have a conversation with a fellow male around the
same age as him.

“
You wanna get
some fresh air
?” Tip asked, picking up a
packet of cigarettes from the table and grabbing his beer in the
other hand. Jason agreed. He knew the code for ‘fresh air’ was a
smoke, and though he didn’t smoke regularly, he liked one when he
was drinking.

The air
outside was a refreshing change from the humid air indoors. The
body heat radiating from everybody in such close quarters had made
the area almost sweaty and though it was a nice night outside, the
air had a breeze to it, which felt amazing on his skin. There was a
small outside seating area with benches and an outside heater,
though the heater wasn’t needed. The men sat opposite each other on
the bench, and Tip handed Jason a cigarette, lighting him up before
lighting his own. They sat there for a minute, not speaking, but it
wasn’t an awkward silence. Jason didn’t think men always had to
talk with each other, unlike women. It was nice to listen to the
silence outside for a minute.

“
Is it getting a little much in there?” Tip asked, flicking
the ash from his cigarette onto the floor.

“
No, it’s fine. It’s nice to have a break though.”

“
Must be crazy meeting all this family and shit at once
man.”

“
It is a little
crazy, but, we’re on borrowed time I guess
.”

“
Try’na do
everything before the baby gets here
?”

“
Yeah. We just
wanna do it properly, you know
?”

“
I heard that man.
Sometime I wish I did shit properly
.”

“
You got
kids
?” Jason asked, puffing on his
cigarette.

“
Yeah man, I got
four
.” Tip laughed.

 “
Shit
.” Jason said, laughing at his
surprise.

“
You’re only Dee’s
age though, right? How’s that work
?”

“
Had my first at
fourteen man. It wasn’t cool but, I was just a kid, you
know
.”

Jason
nodded in understanding. He couldn’t judge people that had kids as
teenagers, it may not be ideal but he had seen it happen time and
time again.

“
You got girls or
boys
?”

“
Both. I got two
sons and twin girls
.”

“
That’s nice.”

“
Yeah man, I try
to see ‘em as much as I can
.”

Jason
appreciated Tip bringing him outside to talk to him. It was nice to
know that somebody Dee considered as a best friend had taken the
time to make him feel welcome and involved. He could see why she
liked this guy; he was really down to earth.

“
Anyway man, I’m
going the bar, you coming
?” Tip asked, as
he stubbed out his cigarette.

“
I’ll catch up
with you
” Jason said, as he took the last
drags of his cigarette. He decided he would just take a minute to
himself before he went back inside to the madness. Tip seemed to
understand as he went straight back into the party, the music
sounding louder as he opened the door inside. Jason sat quietly for
a moment, drinking his beer in peace. It was pretty quiet outside
which he was surprised at, as there was a crowd of people out here
earlier. He thought maybe it was getting to the time of the
speeches or cutting of the cake, which would explain why everyone
was inside. He thought he’d better get himself back inside just in
case, but as he stood up from the bench, he heard shouting coming
from nearby. As he looked around, he couldn’t see anyone in the
same space as him, but the voices sounded near
nonetheless.

Though
Jason wasn’t listening particularly to what was being said, the
tone of the shouting didn’t sound too friendly, and he wondered
where he had heard the girls voice before.  That’s when he
realised, it was Kiki’s. As he searched outside for Dee’s sister,
he noticed an alleyway round the side of the seating area, and
there he found the source of the noise. As he stepped into the
alley, he saw Kiki with a man, who he then realised, was her
boyfriend J, who he’d met at the house. J had seemed quiet and down
to earth at the house, and he had joked around with him and Tip,
but this guy was not joking. He saw the rage pouring out of both of
them, and before he had chance to react, J had grabbed Kiki by the
throat and pushed her against the alley wall.

“
Hey
!” Jason shouted, his body
reacting quickly as he ran in their direction. “Get off
her!”

J
instantly released his grip and jumped away from Kiki as if he
tried to pretend it didn’t happen. As he saw Jason running toward
him, he started to run in the opposite direction, and by the time
Jason was next to Kiki, J had gone.

“
Are you
okay
?” Jason asked, putting his arm around
Kiki who was now crying, tears falling down her
cheeks.

“I’m ok
” She answered through
sobs.

“
What
happened
?”

“
Nothing, we just
had an argument.
”

“He had his hands around your neck
.”

Kiki
suddenly sobbed, as if the words had made her realise what had
actually happened.

“
Come on, let’s
sit down
” Jason said, as he led her out of
the alleyway. Kiki wiped her eyes incessantly as they moved away
from the alley, as if she was embarrassed. Once they were back in
the seating area, Jason motioned for her to sit down and sat
opposite her, waiting for her to speak. He didn’t want to pressure
her to say anything, but he knew that what happened in that
alleyway was not normal behaviour. He never thought it was
acceptable for a man to put his hands on a woman, and he couldn’t
believe what he had just witnessed, especially as the pair were
only sixteen years old.

“
He’s not usually
like that
.” Kiki said, once her tears were
wiped away from her face. “
He’s just, not
himself lately
.”

“
Has he hurt you
before
?”

“
No
!” Kiki exclaimed quickly.
“
He’s not like that, he’d never hurt me.
He’s just messed up on God knows what, he doesn’t know what he’s
doing
.”

“
Drugs
?”

“
Yeah. Please don’t say anything, my
mom would kill him. He’s been like a second son to her. Dee would
kill him too, and I know you don’t want a pregnant woman on a
rampage.”

“
I don’t want that, but I can’t accept a 16 year old grabbing
a girl like that.”

“
I know, neither can I. He’s never done that before. That
wasn’t even him; he had like, this distant look. He was off his
head.”

“
How long’s he been taking drugs?”

“
I don’t know. It’s a new thing. I never thought he
would.”

There
was a short silence while the two of them let the information sink
in.

“
Where are you staying tonight?”

“
At
home
”

“
So you’re not
seeing him tonight
?”

“
Not
now
”

“
Good
.”

There
wasn’t much time to process what he had just been told because
after a few minutes Dee had rushed outside to find them.

“
Come on, they’re
doing speeches and cake
.”

Jason
and Kiki stood up from the bench and followed Dee inside, where
everybody sat around with a glass of champagne, ready to toast the
couple. As they were rushed to their seats by Dee, she handed Jason
two glasses of champagne, telling him he could have hers too, since
she couldn’t. Kiki and Jason took one last look at each other from
across the table, both knowing something no-one else did. It was a
tough decision he had to make, whether to tell anybody or not.
She’d promised him it hadn’t happened before but could he really
believe her? He didn’t know that boy from Adam, so as far as he was
concerned, he could be capable of anything, and not saying anything
could lead to something far worse. Whether he decided to or not, he
knew he couldn’t say anything during the party, so he raised his
glass along with everybody else and toasted the happy
couple. 

Chapter 19 – Falling in Love with You

Once the
party was over, it was pretty late, and as everyone headed to walk
home or jump in someone’s ride, Dee and Jason followed her family
back to her mother’s house. As the group of them walked, Jason
slowly took Dee’s hand in his, entwining their fingers. It took her
by surprise, as it had been a while since she’d walked hand in hand
with somebody like that, and though she looked at him with
surprise, he didn’t seem to notice, so she continued the walk
without mentioning it. Monique had drank her fair share of drinks
both before and during the party, so Tip had been roped into
staying at Monique’s as he needed to practically carry her home. As
she stumbled along the street, Tip kept an arm around her, propping
her up. It was always handy to have somebody so huge as a
friend.

 
Kiki didn’t say much on the walk home, she
walked quietly, every now and then taking her phone out of her
pocket and checking it before putting it back, looking more
disappointed each time. Dee noticed there was something up with her
sister, and Jason could tell. He watched Dee watching her sister’s
every move, almost as if she was deciding whether to say something,
or what to say if she did. Around halfway through the walk, Dee
finally piped up.

“
What’s up
Keeks
?”

“
Nothing
” she replied, not even
looking her way.

“
Why you got a
face on you
?”

“
I
don’t
”

“
So why you not
looking at me when I’m talking to you
?”

“
For Fuck’s
sake
!” Kiki spat, stopping mid-walk and
turning around to look at her sister.

“
What
?” she asked, looking at Dee,
her lips pursed angrily, almost as if she was waiting for a
confrontation.

“
Tell me what’s
up
”

“
There ain’t
nothing up
”

“
Where’s J
at
?”

“
How should I
know
”

“
There we
go
,” Dee said matter-of-factly.
“
Trouble in paradise
.”

“
Dee, just shut
up, you don’t know anything
.”