The walk from Whitaker Street to Jones Street wasn’t too long—only approximately fifteen minutes. I was lucky to have the infamous Forsyth Park as a part of the path I walked on. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to admire the iconic scenery of the garden surrounding the fountain. I knew that I would have much more time to admire the view for a few minutes while I headed home from school later this afternoon.
Forsyth Park, itself, was one of the best things I admired about my small hometown of Savannah, Georgia.
When I arrive at Jones Street, I don’t have time to admire the gorgeous neighborhood either. Instead, I forced myself to make my way towards the Chambers’ familiar household. When I knocked on the door, their French bull dog, Beignet, started barking like crazy to signal my arrival.
I stepped back to give whoever opened the door for me some space. Not even ten seconds after my sharp rap on the door, the door opened and the Chambers’ mother, Kiomara, stood there. She was stunning, with dark chocolate-brown skin, shiny straight hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck.
“Hello, Melanie,” she greeted me warmly as I stepped inside. “Come on in. A.J. can’t stop asking when you’ll be here. She’ll be glad to know that you’ve arrived. Make yourself at home.”
I let her lead me to the leather sofa in the family room.
It was clear that the Chambers’ family was very religious with Holy objects everywhere—crucifixes at every door, rosary beads piled neatly in a little tray, a Holy Water font right by the front door, holy icons, a Mother Mary shrine, etc. I could hear soft, Gregorian chants being played in the background, immediately giving me some sense of peace.
“Coffee?” Mrs. Kiomara asked from the kitchen. I jumped, alarmed. I’d been so wrapped up with the peace of the home that I’d momentarily forgotten where I was. I smiled briefly at her.
“Brayden is getting me some coffee for breakfast as an early birthday present since he’s going to be at school all day training for his engineering club before and after classes get out. But thank you, though.”
“Are you sure you don’t want a party or something? Sweet Sixteen is a big deal—it only happens once in a lifetime,” Mrs. Kiomara insisted. I tried to not roll my eyes and keep my respect. Instead, I smiled slightly.
“I’m fine with no partying, Mrs. Kiomara. But thank you for your concern. I’ll probably have one on November 1st or later . . . .”
I trailed off. Mrs Kiomara gave me an odd look as she studied me.
“We have church on November 1st, don’t we?”
“Right,” I muttered under my breath. “I almost forgot about that. We can always do the last one I suggested. I made a promise to my little brother that I could take him out for trick-or-treating tomorrow night if he makes an A or B on his Pre-Algebra math test I helped him study for.”
Hopefully that would be worth the stress, tears, and late nights while studying. That was my hope.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go partying?”
I shrugged indifferently. “I really don’t mind, Mrs. Kiomara. Parties have never been my thing.”
Mrs. Kiomara looked a little miffed, but didn’t pressure me. Instead, she eyed me with concern. I noticed that someone else wasn’t around. It was clear that Mrs. Kiomara’s husband, Javon, was not in the house.
“Did Mr. Chambers go to work early?”
“Unfortunately, yes. He had an early start today in St Joseph’s Memorial Hospital. At least he gets off at around lunch, though. He was bummed that he didn’t get the chance to tell you ‘happy birthday’ personally, so he told me to pass along the message.”
I smiled slightly at her. “Tell him that I said thank you.”
She winked at me, putting her mug of coffee to her lips. “You know it, love.”
We were silent for a few moments. Then, on cue, a blood-curdling scream sounded from somewhere upstairs, making me jump in alarm. Once the shock was over, I glared at the direction of the stairs.
I knew who were screaming ‘bloody murder’ at the tops of their voices—Andi-Joelle’s brothers, Andrew and Christopher. Like Katie and Sienna, they always found something to argue over, especially when there were guests around.
“Mama!” Chris wailed as he and Andrew literally sprinted down the stairs. I noticed the way Andrew had the TV’s remote control high above his head in a taunting way. Chris had tears streaming down his cheeks as he tried to reach for the stupid TV remote.
“Mama, tell Andrew that it’s my turn to choose what we get to watch this morning! He had his chance yesterday!”
“Yes, but you changed the channel right as I was finishing up getting ready for school, loser,” Andrew protested. He stood on his toes and continued to hold the remote control away from his brother’s short height.
“That’s enough,” said Mrs. Kiomara sharply. She snatched the remote control from Andrew, pointing it threateningly at both of her sons. “Since y’all are acting so petty this morning, no TV for either of you. We have a guest, anyway.”
Both boys looked blank. Chris was the first to recover.
“Guest?” he repeated. “Who—?”
His eyes landed on mine, and they widened in shock. Andrew was the first to act naturally.
“Hey, Melly,” he greeted in his supposedly-innocent voice. I only raised an eyebrow at the two boys in front of me.
“Good morning, boys.”
“Morning,” Chris trilled brightly.
“What is this noise all about?” the familiar, annoyed voice of A.J. floated down the stairs. I turned just in time to see her coming down the slightly-spiraled staircase.
“Just Chris and Andrew being boys, as usual,” Mrs. Kiomara returned, glaring at her sons. Both boys rolled their eyes. “And in case you have forgotten, your bestie arrived just a few moments ago.”
It was A.J.’s turn to roll her eyes now. “I know, Mama. I could hear Beignet barking at the door for no reason that signalled her arrival. I’m not deaf.” She then added under her breath, “I don’t want Brayden to see the racket my brothers are making.”
“Wait—why is Brayden coming?” Chris asked, as he was the nearest to his sister. A.J. stiffened, looking momentarily panicked. For once, her brothers seemed to have forgotten about their useless arguing over a stupid TV remote.
Chris started snickering appreciatively. Andrew’s eyes were bright with his usual mischief—something I knew that my little brother, Eli, would love. That boy was the biggest prankster in my family.
Andrew turned to his brother, grinning. Chris returned the gesture, and both cracked identical grins. It was only after A.J. had stopped her ceaseless rambling that she finally noticed the looks on her brother’s faces.
Despite her face going white, her eyes narrowed suspiciously at her brothers.
“Why are y’all looking at me like that?” she demanded.
Andrew snickered appreciatively, obviously delighted.
“You have a crush on Brayden,” Chris sang accusingly. Instead of A.J.’s face going even whiter, her face suddenly turned a bright shade of red. She immediately became her stubborn self and she crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest.
“No, I don’t.”
“C’mon. We all know that it’s obvious,” Andrew insisted, trying to pry into his sister’s love interest.
“Obvious about what?” A.J. asked, her tone oddly calm, something that was rare in her. I’d always known A.J. to be stubborn.
Chris continued snickering loudly. “About your crush on Brayden. C’mon, sis—it’s so obvious.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” A.J. retorted, her tone oddly calm. Despite the odd calmness in her voice, I could see her cheeks heating. Andrew snickered appreciatively.
“You’re not denying it,” he pointed out, delighted.
“Shut up.”
This only made the Chambers brothers snicker in triumphant delight. Mrs Kiomara made an obvious point to step in.
“That’s enough, boys.”
“But she’s not denying it,” said Chris triumphantly.
“And you better not say a damn word to Brayden when he gets here.”
Andrew looked confused. “Why is Brayden coming?”
“He promised to go ahead and get me a coffee as an early birthday present since I’ll be busy tomorrow afternoon and he’ll be busy all day tomorrow,” I replied at once.
Chris immediately looked hopeful.
“Mama? Can we go get coffee before school starts?”
Mrs Kiomara’s eyes immediately went bright; livid. She put her hands firmly on her hands, unamused.
“After the way the two of y’all behaved earlier today? Absolutely not.”
“C’mon,” Andrew pleaded. “Please?”
“*No*. And that is my final answer, boys. Maybe next time, if y’all didn’t act so childish over a stupid remote control, I would have thought about it.”
Both boys looked abashed and guilty. Andrew quickly regained his stubborn composure. Before they could try and argue with her, there was another knock on the door. Beignet started barking like crazy as the familiar silhouette of Brayden Santiago came into view. Mrs Kiomara brushed past us to let Brayden in.
“Good morning, Mrs. Kiomara,” Brayden greeted as he stepped into the dim lighting of the home.
“Good morning to you, too, Brayden.”
His eyes were now fixated on us. “Are y’all ready to go?”
“Seems like it,” I replied at once. I caught A.J. shooting her brothers warning looks. As we began to leave, I noticed Chris making lovey-dovey heart eyes while Andrew made secret kissy-kissy faces behind Brayden’s back when he wasn’t looking.
A.J. rolled her eyes. Her cheeks were dusted slightly with pink but she seemed to ignore them. The only time they did shut up was when their mother gave them firm looks.
“Thank you for letting me hang around for a few minutes, Mrs. Kiomara,” I said gratefully. Mrs Kiomara gave me a soft smile in return, giving me a hug.
“Any time. Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.”
With that, I turned on my heel, and followed A.J. and Brayden out the door.