“That’s the plan,” I reply, returning the smile. “This has always been one of my favorite times of year, because I love being able to give back.”
“Same here,” he nods before placing the box on the designated table. He turns back to me and continues, “This school and the foundation have been near and dear to my heart ever since I was a teen. My younger brother went here for a year before we moved to BR, but he was also part of their youth organization. I always loved how accepting they were, and that he’d forever have a place where he could be himself unapologetically. So any way I can help them, I’m there.”
“You sound like a great older brother,” I gush. “Honestly, you remind me of mine.”
“Well, you know,” he smirks, popping his collar. “Older brothers are the best.”
“Ah, yes, and there’s that older brother arrogance,” I joke, and we share a laugh. “I’m Zseyah, by the way.”
His eyes narrow in recognition before a smile stretches across his face. He was a handsome guy, not going to lie, and if my sister were here, she’d be drooling over him, because he was one hundred percent her type.
“Oh, wow, I knew I’d meet you eventually, since you work here,” he states. “My brother has talked about you a bit, saying how much of a great friend you’ve been to him since starting here and how helpful and sweet you always are. And any friend of my brother is a friend of mine.”
“Wait…your brother?”
“Where are my manners?” he chuckles before extending his hand, and I shake it. “Hi, I’m Felix. Felix Woods. I’m Sai’s older brother.”
I gasp as the realization finally starts to set in. The more I looked at him, the more I saw the same facial features that adorned Sai’s. How in the world did I not realize it right off the bat? Felix was a carbon copy of him, except they had different builds and skin tones. Sai had talked about his brother before, but I’d never seen a picture or anything of him. What I did know was that his brother didn’t play about him from the stories I heard, and I always loved the fact that Sai had someone always there by his side to look out for him, especially during his youth, when he admitted that he got bullied a lot because of his sexuality.
“Oh my god, yes, of course!” I chuckle. “I don’t know how I didn’t put that together. Y’all look just alike!”
“Really?” He questions, teasingly. “I think I’m way more handsome.”
“Yeah, whatever,” I heard someone say.
We both turn in time to see Sai walking towards us with a box in his hands. He sets it down on the table before playfully elbowing his brother out of the way. Felix pulls him into a headlock, chuckling as only an older brother could. I crossed my arms, shaking my head at their shenanigans. Theystarted bickering, and I smiled because it really did remind me of my brother and me.
“Okay, I got one more box,” Kay says as she finally makes it to where we are. Felix and Sai seem to have settled down, but as soon as Felix sees Kay, he claps loudly. She chuckles, shaking her head as they embrace. “Felix, what in the hell are you doing here?”
I was confused for a bit about how they knew each other, but then I remembered when Sai and I first met, and I introduced him to Kay; they recognized each other instantly as well. When I’d asked how they knew each other, Kay told me that her cousin Warren was really good friends with Sai’s older brother, who was also dating his sister, Miesha.
Even though I’d met Miesha before, I could count on one hand the amount of time she came around the orchard,and when she was around, it was only ever her and her son. So, this was my first time ever seeing Felix in person, but from what Sai told me, he and Miesha had only recently gotten married, after years of ups and downs and couples therapy.
“Well, it’s nice to officially meet you, Felix,” I tell him. “Thank you so much for helping us out today, by the way.”
“Likewise,” he nods. “And it’s no problem at all.” He turns back to Kay and attempts to whisper. “Kay, I like her for you. I see why you’re so head over heels for her.”
“Yeah, that’s my baby,” she replied with a smile, winking in my direction. I could feel my cheeks warm, and a smile stretched across my face. She takes my hand in hers and brings it to her lips to kiss. “Okay, enough dallying. We still have a few boxes to go.”
“True,” Felix nods. “Oh, don’t forget that Myron’s birthday party is next weekend. You’re invited. You too,Zseyah.” He then turns to Sai. “And you already know he’s expecting you to show up since you promised him that expensive ass game.”
“Ugh, he’s so damn spoiled,” Sai replies, but chuckles.
“And whose fault is that? You been giving him whatever he wants since he came into this world almost nine years ago.”
“Well, he’s my nephew, so of course he can get whatever he wants. Y’all need to gon head and give me a niece too, why you standin’ here poutin’ in my face,” Sai retorts.
“How aboutyougo have a child so mama can finally have more than one grandchild,” Felix says back.
“Tuh, she might as well wait til Samir gets old enough to gift her with another one because kids ain’t nowhere in the near future for me!”
“Samir’s ass is only 14, so he betternotbe bringing no babies round here anytime soon!” Felix argues, referring to their younger brother whom Sai had also mentioned before. We’ve actually met a few times, though. “God, you bouta make my head hurt.”
“You are annoying because I know you heard that I said that she’d have towaituntil he getsold enough,” Sai sighs. “Do you ever listen?”
Kayla and I stand there and look on as they continue to go back and forth for the next five minutes until Kay finally pulls me away. We could still hear them bickering as we traveled down the hall and giggled at their antics as we made it back to my classroom. We’d been in charge of packing a few hygiene boxes to go along with the food boxes, so there were items scattered across the two tables we’d pushed together earlier today.
We immediately jumped back into finishing up the last few boxes we had to do, as light conversation flowed around us. We talked about plans once we left and ultimately decided to grab a quick bite to eat at one of our favorite restaurants. My stomach growled just thinking about the golden fried catfish and etouffee with cornbread on the side.
