Legos and Birkins

Peanut

I’m on a tight schedule.

All my favorite girls are gonna be at the crib for Valentine’s Day, so I gotta get all they gifts and shower them with love, and make sure I’m setting the bar all the way at Pluto.

Choc got Lil’ Mama’s class Valentine’s Day cards set, but of course I’ma show up to her school with my own balloon, rose, and teddy bear. Gotta let them muthafuckas in kindergarten know my baby don’t need no muthafuckin’ soggy ass candy and generic ass Bluey card to be impressed.

That’s not even counting what she’ll get at the Valentine’s Day brunch I’m cooking for the fam.

Then, Lena’s in town. For what? I’on know, and truthfully, I’m afraid to ask. Her and that nigga Trell are thick as thieves, and Choc tryna keep me off the ledge, but I see what the hell is happening here from a mile away! But it’s cool, because while she under my roof, she on lockdown! Ain’t no blue broncos pulling up here!

And then of course, my Choc. I’m already knowing she gon’ love her gifts, but her biggest one is ready, and I gotta go get it.

But of course, my lil’ nigga taking forever to come to the fuckin’ car.

As soon as I pull up our text thread, he hops in the front seat.

“Waddup, Nut.”

I do a double take. His lil’ ass was just crying and shit! Just running around like a pipsqueak. Now he’s thirteen, voice sound like he been smoking, and almost my height.

Time need to slow down.

“Waddup, nigga. How was school?”

Denver is moody as fuck. He don’t give me attitude or nothing, but puberty is beating his ass. He got acne and shit now. He stank, like bad. And he never wanna talk about shit. I told Choc we need to put his ass in a more urban school, but the one he in now has a better basketball program, that feeds into a prep school that’ll set him up.

Denver sighs, before shifting in his seat. I wait him out, though, lowkey giddy that I think he’s finally finna let a nigga in for once.

He don’t keep no journals, and his friends have some made up language that Choc swears is just slang, but I don’t understand nothing. He and Lena are enigmas to me and it pisses me off.

But not today. Today, Denver is gonna come to me with a problem, and I’ma solve it.

“So, there’s this girl–”

Lawd! Why is everyone growing up?!

“Well, two girls–”

I groan inwardly. I am not equipped to handle this.

“One of ‘em, Chloe. She’s really cute. She told me–well, she told Desean, who told Imani, who told Aaliyah, who told Will, who told me, that she wanted a Birkin for Valentine’s Day.”

“A Birkin?! How the fuck a thirteen year old bi–I mean, girl, know about Birkins?”

Denver shrugs. “I’on know, but I looked up how much they were, and I couldn’t believe it. And Mom has three of them.” He cuts his eyes to me as I weave through traffic.

“Well, I’m a grown ass man, and I get money. I can get Choc Birkins and shit. You thirteen, and can barely remember to clean up that nasty ass room of yours to earn some allowance, that fasho not covering that.”

“Right. But that’s not it. There’s the other girl. Loren. She’s really cute, too. But like, in a different way.”

“What you mean different?”

Denver fights off a smile as his eyes dart everywhere. “She’s just… I’on know. Weird. But not bad weird. She like, builds things with legos, and makes these, like, animated movies. We sit together in history class, and Eddy told me that Carlos said that Yesenia overheard Loren and her best friend Tyanna talking about me at lunch. That she likes me, too.”

“Do her ass want Birkins, too?” I can’t help but ask.

“No, idiot,” he chuckles. “Lo isn’t into shit like that. Today she was going on and on about this Lego set she wants to get, that she’s saving up for. It’s three hundred dollars; way cheaper than a Birkin.”

“Well, besides the price, because we neva broke, which one you actually like? I ain’t raising no nigga who be dogging females. You gotta treat girls like you’d want Lil’ Mama to be treated, and nothing less.”

Regardless, I make my way toward the Galleria, since clearly I’m helping my young nigga buy his first real Valentine’s Day gift for a girl.

Choc gon’ hate that she not here, but she can’t handle this. Austin articulated a whole sentence last week and she broke down.

I’ll send her pics.

“The guys feel like I should make Chloe my girlfriend. She’s always walking with me and sitting with me, and she’s really popular and pretty, and her birthday parties are always lit. But a Birkin, Nut?! And I know she’s serious. Plus, I don’t think my mom would like her. She’s… you know… not like us.”

My eyebrows crumple before I realize where he’s going, and I can't hold in my laughter.

Choc would fasho cut up about that. But, I still say, “If that’s who you like, I’m sure she will support it, if she’s a good girl.”

“I don’t… I don’t think I really like her like that though. I mean, she didn’t even tell me about the Birkin. She told Desean.”

“Well, isn’t Desean yo ace?”

I pull into the galleria and find a spot on the roof of the parking structure, so we can get in and out. There’s an entrance that leads to the food court, and we get in line for some Chinese food.

“Yeah, Desean and I are cool, but he not the one who has to spend racks on a damn–I mean, a bag. Then, from what I heard, she’s acting like I got it like that. Told you not to show up to Back to School Night in a Maybach, but you gotta be you.”

I roll my eyes and order us both a small container of honey walnut shrimp. The nigga is growing like a weed, so I know his ass is hungry, and we gonna be in here for a little bit.

“Them PTA hoes tried to play me like I’m not that nigga ‘cause I got tattoos and shit, so I had to show up and show the fuck out. Now, you learning that the chickens will show up when they smell money. Proud of you for seeing shit for what it is.”

Nosy ass muthafuckas are all in our conversation, looking at me crazy, but I’m already toning it down enough. Choc and I are serious about instilling as much game as we can into Denver.

That nigga is so damn cold on the court. He’s fasho going to the league, no doubt about it. And I’m not letting no bullshit stand in his way.

Reem just had us reading a book about a nigga who almost got derailed from an accusation from a bitch, and shit had me tore up, crying and shit at three am and promising myself my lil’ nigga ain’t gon’ go out like that.

We stop in a small stationary store first, called Season’s Greetings. They make custom cards and shit, and I got each of my favorite ladies special cards. Denver picks up some generic ones they have in stock, and then we start making our way toward where the Louis Vuitton store is to get Choc’s new bag.

But shit, maybe I should get my baby a new Birkin.

“So, you like the lego girl?”

Denver shoves his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. I’ll never understand how kids can wear hoodies when it’s hot as fuck outside.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Nuh uh.” I put my hand out, right before we can turn into the Lego store. “I ain’t finna cash out on legos for a girl you guess you like. Man up.”

Denver curls his lip up at me as he shoves my hand away. “I like her,” he growls in his burgeoning man voice.

I flinch at his ass, making him chuckle.

“I’ll still knock yo ass out. Come on. I know yo anal ass already made sure the legos was in stock.”

“You don’t know me, Nutty.”

The lies he tells.

---

“Can you believe it’s a girl in Denver’s school demanding a Birkin for Valentine’s Day? It’s not too late to put that nigga in Franklin. He need to be around niggas, bae.”

I’m rubbing my baby’s feet as we watch some old white people show she loved back in the day. All the gifts are packed and stored in my mancave for tomorrow, and Lena’s here, watching a movie with the kids in the living room.

I almost fell out when I seen a fucking tattoo on her wrist. A tattoo! And it’s a matching one, because who the fuck gets “To infinity” and not the “and beyond”?!?!

I swear to God, if that nigga Trell got and beyond anywhere on his muthafuckin’ body, I’m lighting all of East Kenton up!

And why the fuck is our sperm donor okay with her having a tattoo at sixteen?!

“There’s plenty of Black kids at Denver’s school, Pat. Desean is Black. Most of the basketball team is Black. And there’s this pretty Black girl named Loren who he introduced me to when I took him to the arcade last month. He’s fine.”

I grin, thinking about the legos we got two days ago. Denver gave them to her today, since Valentine’s Day is on a Saturday this year. He’s back to not telling me shit, but I saw how Lena lit up when they were whispering, so I think it went well.

“So you met her? She’s Black?”

Choc lifts up from her pillow to eye me. “He told you about her?”

I grin. “Duh, bae. I can get info outta anyone. I ain’t know for sure if she was Black or not.”

She rolls her eyes before settling back down. “Yeah. Pretty girl, blind as a bat though. Her glasses are thicker than me.”

We both snort, as I switch to her other foot.

“She was a nervous wreck though, but he swore they were just friends when I asked him about her.”

“Oh, he fasho likes her. But you know he in that mode where he care too much about what other people think. You should tell him about how yo nerdy ass pulled his daddy.”

I cackle when she tries to kick at me. My grip on her foot tightens until she settles down.

“I wasn’t talking shit, bae. And I’m not saying he should get a girlfriend, either. In fact, I don’t think any of them kids in the living room should even think about the opposite or same sex until they forty. But, I also feel like he should figure out early that the opinions of others don’t make nor break him. Them niggas he hang with want him with a mini Karen who is expecting a thirteen year-old to cash out on a bag I’m sure her mama don’t even own, at least a real one. Told you we shouldn’t have let him throw a pool party last summer. Got them thinking we swimming in cash.”

Choc sighs, like she always does whenever I gripe about our kids being down to earth. Denver’s not so bad, but Anaïs… my goodness. My baby is spoiled fucking rotten. Choc gotta do her hair every week or she will refuse to go to school. For her birthday last year, she wanted a personal stylist.

I don’t know where she gets that shit from.

“He… we haven’t talked about Mo in a long time. I don’t want to upset him.”

I ball up my face. ‘Cause what?

Pausing the tv, I turn so that I’m fully facing my fine ass, crazy-sounding wife.

But then, a lightbulb goes off in my head, and I grin.

“You scary as fuck.”

She sits up immediately and mugs me. “Excuse me?”

“I said you scary. You all nostalgic and shit ‘cause he at the age you met Mo.”

She purses her lips, but I know I got her number when she can’t look at me.

I tsk, pulling her into my arms and resting my back on our headboard. “My gangsta. It’s cool, bae. You can be soft with daddy.”

“You know it’s weird when you bring up Mo all nonchalant.”

I shrug. “Nigga gave me his blessing. We was never beefed out. You the one who was lying. But we not on that,” I rush out, tightening my arms when she tries to twist out of my hold.

“Settle down. I’m just saying… maybe it’ll be good to talk about it with Denver. He already be shutting us out. It could be a way for y’all to, I’on know, bond. You can run it by Dr. Pearson if you don’t trust my fire ass suggestion, but I know he’ll agree with me.”

“Ugh, I hate when you’re right,” she says, melting into me. “I just… I can’t believe we’re here you know? Dances, and Valentine’s Day gifts. And then we’re gonna have to do it over again two more times.”

“Yeah.” I kiss her temple. “But, we gon’ get through it together. And then when we got a empty nest, we’ll be able to walk around here naked and shit. Only… seventeen more years.”

We both sigh a deep Negro Spiritual sigh. Especially when we hear high-pitched laughter, followed by multiples of heavy ass feet running right toward our room.

Lil’ Mama bursts through the door first. She doesn’t stop, jumping onto our bed and crawling until she’s right in between us.

Choc kisses her teeth, until Anaïs throws her arms around her neck and smushes their cheeks together.

Denver comes in next, carrying Austin, who’s still screeching.

“Mama! Mama!” he yells, before squealing when Denver throws him onto the bed.

Choc be so mad that he calls Anaïs “mama” instead of her, but that’s what we all call her in a sense. He calls his own mama “bae” like he pay bills around here, and she don’t hear me complaining.

Anaïs abandons us quickly to pull Austin into her lap. I often wonder how she’d feel if she got a little sister like she wanted, instead of a brother. She’s so protective of him, it warms my heart. All three of them are locked in, and you can tell when they’re only laughing about who sits where as Denver grabs the remote to find another movie to watch in here.

“Y’all supposed to be chillin’ with Lena,” I gripe. I knew I shoulda locked our door.

“Well, we wanna be in here with you. That a problem, Nutty?” Denver asks, smirking.

“Nope,” I reply, snatching the remote from him.

“Got any room for me?”

I look up at the doorway and grin.

Lena’s got this random loc in the back of her head, and wears her hair up now to showcase it. Between that, the tattoo, and her shaping her eyebrows now, I feel like I’m blinking and she’s becoming this whole new person.

But she deviated from the plan. That damn school is actually good for her, even with all the weird cult shit and that one time me and Grimey had to turn up. So she’s finishing out high school there, on the condition that she comes to KSU for college.

I won’t hold her to it though. Even if I want to. As scary as it is, I’m glad she’s finding herself, making mistakes, spreading her wings and shit. She’s happier than I’ve ever seen her, with way more good days than bad.

“Yup.”

I shift everyone as she climbs in on my side.

“I missed you,” I tell her.

She beams at me, before snatching the remote from me and going to another streaming channel.

“Duh. That’s why I’m here instead of–”

“Lena, here. Take Austin.” Choc reaches over me to dump Austin in her lap, but he just crawls into mine.

“Nah, finish what you was gon’ say.” I scowl at her before cutting my eyes at Choc.

But Lena just pats my back. “It’s nothing, hermano. What matters is that I'm here with you.”

I curl my lip as we all settle in. She picks a polar bear documentary she says is really good, but I’m knocked out before the first ten minutes are done.

My three favorite girls, and my two lil’ niggas. Life is good.