Page 52 of Rayzor: Tell Me It’s Mine II

“It was agony, but we did it, baby.” She smiled.

“Hell yeah.”

I went back in, slipping my tongue into her mouth. That kiss was already different. It had that marriage taste to it. Everything about us flashed like a movie inside my brain. We did all of that to get to this moment. It’s something I’d never fucking forget.

I grabbed her ass I stood us back up then interlocked our hands as we faced the crowd. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. This was what love looked and felt like. I’ve never had this since Pops died. This was familiar, but it was mine with a different twist.

“I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Courtland Anthony Kirkland,” he announced. That shit sounded so good to hear. I wanted to hear that shit all the time.

“… M

aleek Kirkland,” the science teacher announced the winner. It surprised me because I knew mine was good, but there were so many other good ones as well.

Science was one of my favorite subjects, and with everything I had going on at home I used the time to lock in. Even though I was distracted a lot, I had to see it through.

I looked to the back of the auditorium and saw the dark spot empty. That’s usually where Courtland sat. He never missed important events when it came to me.

“That’s my baby!” Mama shouted.

I grabbed my trophy while searching the crowd.

He had my schedule and knew that this was coming up. Yeah, we weren’t talking like that, but he’s never missed anything this important. Were things that bad to the point where he didn’t want to show up for me?

Ma was seated in the middle aisle, edge of the row, clapping for me.

I smiled.

Once the awards ceremony was over with, everyone went their separate ways. Ma was nowhere to be found. I went searching for her amongst the crowd when I saw her turning around with the phone to her ear, ending a call when she saw me.

I knew from her demeanor what that meant.

“Hey, baby. I’m so proud of you.” She hugged me then grabbed my trophy and admired it. “We can put this right along with the others.”

“Thanks, Ma.”

“Baby, I got to leave. I’m already two hours late for my shift. Let’s get you packed up and gone so I can take you home.”

I didn’t like how she couldn’t just take off work to spend this time with me. It’s always on borrowed time, always has been. I can’t recall the last time Ma stayed put after award shows. She always has to run like it’ll kill her to take time off.

“I got it, Ma. Go ahead,” I told her, trying to refrain from snapping or putting too much bass in my voice.

“No, Maleek. I can take you home.”

“I got it,” I said a little too loud, and the bystanders all started staring at me.

Ma even looked shocked that I raised my voice, but instead of sitting there watching her disappointment, I turned to walk away and found one of my homeboys to distract me. I joined in on their conversation just so Ma could leave.

I saw her reflection in the trophy case as she walked away, and when she was out of sight, I turned around. My chest felt tight, my jaw was tingling, and I was pissed like a bitch. I couldn’t stand my fucking family right now. Me, the baby of us two, and I felt the most unseen.

I ended up going to the cafeteria where they had desserts and shit for the students of the science fair. It was the same foods we got on a daily, the only difference was the cake. I barely ate school lunch because I ordered off door dash with the debit card that Courtland got for me.

Right now, he would’ve had me at Ruth’s Chris or something big. Instead, he was doing him, and thinking about it further pissed me off. I can’t believe he didn’t show up for me. I pulled out my phone, scrolling through my call log and saw I had a few missed calls, but none of them were from Courtland. The same with the text thread. Nothing.

“Aye, Leek, we’re goin’ to D&B, you down?” my boy Joey asked.

“I’m going home.”

“But it’s Friday. You already know everybody’s about to be there.”