Guy
My hangover headache was massive, and Jaxson wasn’t making anything better as he jumped up and down at the foot of the bed while singing along to the theme song of whatever cartoon he was watching.
It had been awhile since Lamar and I hit the scene together, so we made it a mission to catch up on lost time, though our tolerance only reminded us we were a lot closer to thirty than twenty. And while I was grateful to have made it home safely, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to have to pay the price in a different way as I buried my head under the pillows in an attempt to drown him out.
“Daddy, I’m hungry!” Jaxson shouted, his bounds inching closer to my face according to the shaking of the bed.
I was tempted to send him Nova’s way knowing she had a soft spot for his food requests. But since she had already given more than her fair share by watching Jaxson the night before, and helping him the night before that, and feeding us the night before that, I quickly decided against it, peeling out of the bed as I instructed him to go potty and wash his hands.
While he worked on that, I struggled to find a t-shirt to throw on before making my way to the kitchen to find Nova already occupying it. She looked as if she had just gotten back from a run according to her attire; calf-length tights with a t-shirt hanging from her waist like a towel, a sports bra, and a pair of tennis shoes. Her skin was glowing and covered with a clear layer of sweat, and her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail as she quietly sang along to whatever song was playing in her headphones while mixing her bowl of oatmeal.
I knew I should’ve announced myself, but I couldn’t help just taking a moment to watch her, to appreciate her, as she happily made her way around the kitchen, reaching into the fridge for the colander of freshly-washed blueberries and tossing a few into her bowl. Whatever song she was listening to must’ve picked up in a pace the way she shook her body against the beat, obviously in a good ass mood. And while I wished I could take some of the credit, I knew things between us hadn’t exactly made it to that point last night, our activity coming to a halt just before I could show her what she had been missing.
Maybe it was a good thing that we didn’t go all the way, maybe it was the sign that I needed to chill out and fall back. But every time I caught myself going down that road, something would happen to pull me back in.
She would pull me back in.
As if she could hear me thinking about her, she finally peeked my way. What I thought was going to be an awkward moment after the night before surprisingly turned out to be everything but as she smiled while pulling one of the headphone buds from her ear, the action prompting me to tell her, “Good morning, Nova.”
“Good morning, Guy. You hungry?” she asked, heading back towards the fridge as if she was already prepared to whip something up.
But before she could pull the door open, I ran a hand against my knotted stomach as I told her, “I don’t think I could eat anything right now without throwing it right back up.”
She laughed at my pain, grabbing the orange juice instead. And as she poured us both a glass, she replied, “Yeah, you were pretty wasted last night. Talking all crazy, doing crazy things…”
I shouldn’t have been surprised that she had created that narrative in her head, that the alcohol was to blame for my behavior. And while it certainly might’ve increased my urgency to get at her, the truth was, “Wasn’t nothin’ crazy about what I said or did, Nova. I meant every word.”
“I did too,” she replied with a smirk just as Jaxson joined us in the kitchen, interrupting the moment before I could get any more out of her.
“Miss. Nova, Daddy let me watch cartoons in his bed,” he announced as if it was the most important thing in the world.
Nova played it up, completely exaggerating things when she snapped her head back and asked, “Did he? That’s so nice of him! He’s such a good daddy.”
“He’s my favorite,” Jaxson added as he wrapped his arms around my legs, something that would’ve warmed my heart if I didn’t know his angle.
But since I did, I dragged us both towards the cabinet to grab the cereal and called his bluff. “Somebody’s trying to get Lucky Charms instead of Cheerios I see.”
Nova laughed as Jaxson gave a sheepish smile, staying close enough to make sure I grabbed the one he wanted before going to the fridge to grab the milk. And as he struggled to hand it to me, I reminded him, “Your charming behind is still going to school today, Jax.”
The timing for him to start school couldn’t have been any more perfect since I wanted nothing more than to spend the day sleeping off my hangover. But that didn’t mean Jaxson was going to make it easy for me, his little lips instantly beginning to tremble as he looked up at me and whined, “But Daddy, I don’t wanna goooo. I wanna stay here with you and Miss. Novaaaa.”
Nova actually looked affected by his plea, her lips pushed into a pitiful pout as I shook my head. It really shouldn’t have been a surprise to me that my baby boy would try and cry his way out of going to school since he knew exactly what that shit did to me. But I had to stay strong, especially since Nova was watching and had already witnessed me struggle through too many of these battles.
I was completely ready to stand my ground when Nova randomly asked, “Jaxson, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Uhhhh… a teacher, like Daddy!” he squealed, the smile he wore completely contradicting his leftover sniffles from the fit he was ready to put up.
Since her alternative method seemed to already be working, I followed her lead when I added, “Did you know Miss. Nova is a teacher too?”
She nodded. “That’s right. But I could only be a teacher if I went to school. So if you want to be a teacher then…”
“You have to go to school too,” I finished for her, peeking her way to catch her wink of approval.
Jaxson seemed caught off-guard by our tag-teamed efforts, his eyes bouncing back and forth between us before he finally asked, “Are they nice at this school?”
Nova put a reassuring hand against his shoulder as she answered, “I’m sure they are. You’ll make all sorts of new friends and have lots of fun.”
“And I’ll make sure you’re good and safe before I leave,” I told him.
But you would’ve thought my word of support didn’t mean anything considering the way he turned his attention to Nova and asked, “Miss. Nova, can you come too?”
Once again, I shook my head as I started, “Jaxson, she…”
“I’ll come,” she interjected, cutting me off.
While I appreciated her willingness to be a good sport about him, I still tried to explain, “Nova, you really don’t have to…”
“Trust me, I do. And you’ll thank me later,” she replied with another wink before turning to rinse her empty bowl in the sink.
“Damn, she’s in a really good mood,” I thought to myself as I tried to identify the source while getting Jaxson’s cereal ready.
Maybe her morning run had her endorphins on another level, or maybe she had simply slept on the right side of the bed. Or maybe… she had finally talked to him - her man. Maybe he had told her all the right things, made all sorts of empty promises for them to make up and she was still floating from their conversation.
Since drawing my own conclusions felt useless, I decided to go to the culprit herself when I set Jaxson up at the table and casually mentioned, “You sure seem to be in a good mood today, Miss. Nova.”
“No reason not to be,” she tossed over her shoulder as she headed towards her room, leaving me without a definitive answer. And even though the cause shouldn’t have really mattered, for some reason it still sat heavy on my mind as I watched Jaxson devour his cereal before getting him ready for his first day of school.
&
The pep talk Nova and I gave Jaxson all the way to school meant absolutely nothing now that we were actually in the building, actually standing outside of his classroom, actually ready to drop him off while he cried bloody-murder.
“Jax, you’ll only be here for a little while and then I’ll come back and get you. I promise,” I told him, peeking back towards Nova who was across the hall face deep in her phone, but wearing a smirk as if she fully expected this to happen.
“No.”
“No?”
“No!” he screamed, crossing his arms defiantly.
I released a heavy sigh, just staring at him while I tried to come up with a new strategy that didn’t involve taking him to the bathroom and beating his little ass like my father would’ve done me. But before anything came to mind, Nova finally approached us, squatting down in front of him and asking in the softest voice, “Hey big boy. What’s the matter?”
Jaxson was completely in tune, wiping his own face as he answered, “I wanna… stay with you. And Daddy.”
“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked, waiting for him to nod which caused a single tear to stream down his face. But Nova’s determination didn’t waver as she wiped it away before she leaned in to whisper something in his ear.
The longer and longer she spoke, the wider and wider his eyes got, until eventually his frown turned upside down and he asked, “Really?!”
Nova nodded. “Yep. So now do you wanna go to school? I’ll even come in with you for a minute.”
“Okay! Bye Daddy!” he yelled, giving me a hug so quick I hardly got a chance to react before he had already let go.
Nova opened the door to his classroom, turning around to whisper, “I’ll be right back.” And while I wanted to get some immediate answers for her Jaxson-Voodoo skills, I only nodded as I watched my son proudly stroll into the classroom next to his new friend.
They located his teacher, met some of the other kids, and even engaged in a puzzle before Nova slipped out without saying goodbye. And as we both watched him through the glass window of the classroom, I told her, “He’s gonna cry once he realizes you’re gone.”
She brushed me off, smiling proudly as she insisted, “He won’t. He doesn’t even care about us anymore. Too much new stuff to play with and too many new people to entertain.”
I wasn’t as convinced as she seemed to be. But after watching him for a few more minutes and finding her theory to be true, we decided it was safe to leave.
Once we got to the car, I couldn’t help but ask, “What did you say to him?”
She was already back on her phone, typing away as she answered, “I told him that if he’s a big boy all day long at school that we can watch an episode of his favorite cartoon together on Netflix tonight.”
“Ohhh, so you talked him into some Netflix and Chill so that he’d go to school? Classy,” I teased as I pulled out of the parking lot, catching the side eye she threw my way before going back to her phone.
As she typed out her message, she fired back, “Don’t be mad cause I got skills and you don’t.”
“I have skills. I mean, you keep saying how good of a kid he is. That’s gotta count for something, right?” I asked, trying to earn myself at least a few points.
But Nova only gave me half credit when she replied, “It does, though I’m sure some of it can also be attributed to his mother.”
I nodded to agree. “Yeah, you’re right about that. Mariah is as solid as they come.”
If I was going to be in a situation where I wasn’t with the mother of my child, having Mariah as my partner in that was truly ideal, especially now that our friendship was back on solid ground. Conversations about Jaxson’s well-being easily turned into conversations about our lives in general, though we both knew we weren’t interested in ever rekindling the flame. But we were good as friends and made a damn good parenting team, and that was all there was ever going to be to it.
As if I had talked her up, my phone rang through the car’s Bluetooth system I had synced it to with her name scrolling across the dashboard screen. And even though I wasn’t exactly sure why she was calling or what she would say, I still had no problem answering it in front of Nova, pressing the button on the steering wheel before I asked, “Baby Mama, what’s the word?”
Mariah smacked her teeth in the phone as she threatened, “I swear to God I’m knocking your ass out when you get back in town.” Making me laugh as she continued, “Where’s my baby?”
“You just missed him. I dropped him off at his new school for the summer,” I explained, peeking over at Nova who had her eyes trained to her phone as if she was trying her hardest not to listen to our conversation.
I could hear the anxiety in Mariah’s voice as she groaned, “Oh my God, how’d he do? Did he cry?”
“You know he did, but we worked it out. He was fine when I left,” I insisted, knowing I had Nova to thank for that.
Still, that didn’t exactly bring Mariah any comfort as she sighed, “My poor baby. Can you send me the contact info for his teacher? I’d like to get the same updates that you do.”
While it seemed a little ridiculous since I could forward her all of the same things and it wasn’t like she was here to do anything about it, I still agreed, “Gotcha, Riah. Anything else?”
“You enjoying your trip?”
I nodded as if she could see me. “I am. Very much so in fact.”
Once again, I peeked over at Nova who acted as if she was still engrossed in her phone, though I could see the hint of blush in her cheeks meaning she had heard my comment. But on the other hand, Mariah had read beyond my comment to reply, “Good Lord. I think I know what that means…”
“I’ve actually kept it to myself, thank you very much,” I defended, regardless of the close call situation I had found myself in the night before.
Mariah didn’t seem too convinced, brushing me off to say, “Whatever, crazy. Let me get back into the hospital. Just call me when you pick him up tonight please.”
“Will do, baby mama.”
She immediately groaned as expected. “Ugh. You get on my nerves.”
“Back at you, baby girl,” I replied with another laugh before ending the call.
I thought nothing of the conversation as I continued the drive towards the condo, but it was clear Nova was already reading a little too deeply into my teasing when she said, “Sounds like you two are pretty close.”
It was interesting to see her reaction, interesting that she had a reaction at all as if it really mattered to her, especially if it was who I thought it was that she was still messaging back and forth with. But since I didn’t have an issue being transparent, I shrugged as I answered, “Practically grew up together, share a child. I guess I’d have to agree.”
“So if you two are pretty close that means last night probably shouldn’t have happened...” she trailed, gnawing on her lip as she waited for me to confirm everything she was already thinking.
But I couldn’t confirm since the truth was, “We aren’t like that, Nova. We’re friends, parents, but she has a boyfriend. And I... see other people too.”
My response seemed to legitimately puzzle Nova, her face scrunched as she turned in her seat to say, “But you guys are so… nice to each other.”
“We shouldn’t be nice to each other?” I asked, my eyebrow piqued as I tried to catch her drift.
Her explanation was more to herself than me when she replied, “I mean… yeah, you should. I guess that’s important. But it’s also so… different; from what I’m used to seeing... in situations like this. And I promise I’m not trying to offend you or anything. I guess my mind is just a little blown, and maybe I’m also a teeny bit confused.”
“What is there to be confused about?”
While I understood Mariah and I actually getting along as well as we did might’ve been an anomaly, I honestly thought it was something that should’ve been praised instead of causing confusion. But it was apparent I was focused on the wrong part of the scenario, Nova’s head elsewhere when she asked, “If you two can be such good friends, why didn’t it work? Relationship-wise?”
A year or two ago, that would’ve been a question I was too jaded to answer. But thankfully we had both grown to the point where I could now easily explain, “What Mariah and I shared back in the day was… special. So when we both moved back to the city after college, it seemed like nothing to try and capture that again. And I suppose we did on a physical level since we made Jaxson, but everything else we didn’t see the same. We had grown apart in ways we didn’t realize until we were going at each other’s neck about it night after night while trying to make it work on that level. So eventually we separated, and things have pretty much been golden since.”
Nova was quiet as she digested my answer, probably overanalyzing in the way she always seemed to do. And while I knew she was thinking deeply, I still wasn’t expecting her to ask, “Did you think she was the one?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. I mean, I toyed with the idea of proposing when I found out she was pregnant, had picked out a ring for her and everything. But it never felt completely right, and I suppose now I know why.”
The phrase, “Dodging a bullet” seemed a little too severe for the circumstances, but I could’ve only imagined how things would’ve been if I had made that move, forcing us to stay together for better or worse. The fights we would’ve had, the toxic environment we would’ve created for Jaxson long term, and how that would’ve affected everything about him moving forward. But being apart and able to focus on just him was what had allowed me to regain my appreciation for who Mariah was. And even if we weren’t going to be together, I was still confident in continuing, “Things just weren’t in the cards for us, but she still gave me the greatest gift in my son. So I’ll always appreciate her for that, always show her the utmost respect, always have love for her.”
“As it should be,” Nova replied with a look of admiration in her eyes.
Now that I had her back on leveled-understanding, I decided it was time to shine the spotlight on her, get answers to the questions that had been lingering in my mind all morning. “Alright, enough about me. What’s up with you?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, her rosy cheeks giving more away than she probably realized.
But even if she was going to try and play it down, that wasn’t exactly my style, prompting me to be direct when I elaborated, “You’ve been chipper all day, giggling all in your phone and shit. Loverboy tryna win your heart back?”
The question made her tense up, her nose flaring as she asked, “What? No. This isn’t him I’ve been texting.”
“Ohhh, so you done went ahead and snagged you a new nigga? I told you that picture was the one,” I teased, hoping that wasn’t actually the case.
Her tense expression turned into more of a grin as she pulled the corner of her lip between her teeth and stared down at the screen. “It’s not a… nigga. It’s just Kaylin. I was telling her about last night after she left and she’s been rippin’ into me all morning about…” she stopped abruptly, her cheeks turning even more red as if the ending was something embarrassing.
“About what?” I asked, knowing there was nothing to be silly about no matter how lame it was.
But it turned out not to be lame at all when she finally blurted, “About how I should’ve rode your dick off into the sunset.” Before covering her face with her hands.
While my eyes did go a little wide at what sounded like a direct quote from Kaylin, I shrugged it off to reply, “That’s a real ass friend for you.”
“Oh my God. Shut up!” she squealed, smacking a hand against my arm that I pretended to dodge.
“What? I’m just sayin’. Pretty sound advice from your girl,” I said, only making her blush even harder as I continued, “Nah, I’m just messin’ with you, sweetheart. You wasn’t ready for all that. You got some shit to handle like you said, and I respect that. I respect you.”
Even if her explanation from the night before was a little foggy in my mind, I knew there was a lot of truth to it, enough for me to stay in my lane and wait for her to make her move. Flirting with her was nothing, but anything more would be completely on her terms.
She seemed to appreciate that, whispering a soft, “Thank you,” as I pulled into the circle drive of the building. But the second I watched her ass as she climbed out of the car, I felt myself already slipping back into my old ways, the moment tempting me to say something slick as we made our way into the building.
Somehow I held off, the elevator ride up to our floor quiet, though Nova did shoot a friendly smile my way before diving into her phone. And once we made it into our spot, she didn’t seem in a rush to get away from me, her slow steps giving me unnecessary ammunition. Ammunition I couldn’t help but get rid of when I caught her by the wrist to say, “I’ll be in bed until it’s time to pick up Jaxson. So if you’re feeling the urge to follow Kay’s directions, I mean... the stage will already be set.”
For a second she just stared at me as if she was really considering it, a reaction I wasn’t expecting. But just as quickly, she was pulling away from me to head towards her room, tossing over her shoulder, “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”