Messiah stood and chased her to the door, catching her by her waist from behind, and sending her into fits of laughter. Messiah pushed her behind the door, as he smiled and opened the door, naked, dick swanging, hitting mid-thigh even when it wasn’t fully erect. He was sculpted like an African king. He grabbed the pizza, roughly, from the college, pretty boy standing in front of him. “How much I owe you, homeboy?”

The light-skinned boy stammered, as he looked up instead of straight at Messiah. “T…twenty bucks,” he said.

Morgan snickered behind the door, as Messiah handed her the pizza and walked over to his pants, pulling a wad of money from the pocket. He peeled off a hundred and walked back to the door to hand it to the pizza man. “Keep the change. And ayo, if you ever come here and my girl answer the door wearing some skimpy shit, and you start thinking about trying her, remember me, my nigga. It’s good, but it ain’t worth dying over. Have a good night.”

Morgan’s laughter bellowed, as Messiah closed the door. They shared a laugh, as Morgan put the pizza on the counter. They ended the night in her kitchen, naked, as she sat on the countertop beside the box and he stood between her legs feeding her pizza. Messiah had never been so relaxed with a woman and Morgan had never been without an insecurity. She always worried about the way people saw her or how she sounded. In this room, with just the two of them, they realized that discomfort didn’t exist and neither wanted the sun to rise and burst the bubble they had created.

17

“Pastor asked me to see if you would mentor in the debutante pageant this year,” Nannie asked, as she moved around the kitchen, preparing a meal fit for a king, as Alani sat at the table, writing in her journal.

Alani’s pen paused, as she looked back at her aunt. “That doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time. Being around all those mothers with their daughters…”

Nannie removed her silver pans from the oven and placed them on top of the stove. “Well, I already told him yes. All that money the church donated when you were in need, you better have your butt down there tomorrow morning for the rehearsal. There are a lot of girls who need mentors. Everybody don’t have a mother to participate with. I’m sure whoever you get will appreciate you. And, girl, get your narrow tail up and come help me with something. You invite a man over your house for dinner and got me fixing it,” she fussed. A horn honked outside, and Nannie went to grab her purse. “Now, I’m going down to the bingo hall with Mr. Larry. I’ll see you later.”