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Shakira
“I can’t even lie.Itispretty cute that you and Snoop met at one of your infamous kickbacks, and now you’re throwing him a surprise one for his birthday.”
Gianna’s support of what I,too, thought was a cute idea was enough to have me grinning from ear-to-ear as I put the finishing touches on a pineapple upside down cake, Penelope only adding to my contentment once she agreed, “Right?I’m lowkey obsessed.”
But honestly, even with their approval, I was still a little nervous about the whole thing, expressing that to my girls when I sighed, “Well I hope Kendall is too. Cause he definitely acted like his birthday was no big deal when I asked him what he wanted to do for it.”
To be fair, there were a lot of factors that could’ve been contributing to Kendall not wanting to do anything special for his twenty-sixth trip around the sun, including the important game he had coming up this weekend that had the potential to put the Skyhawks one step closer to the playoffs. And then, of course, there was everything that had happened surrounding last week’s game, part of which Zara referenced when she suggested, “Shit, if I had to pay a fine as big as the one Snoop had to earlier this week for punching he who shall not be named in the face, I probably wouldn’t be in the mood to do shit for my birthday either.”
“That’s a good point,” I responded with a nod. “But at least the money iskindagoing to a good cause. And his game check being thirty-thousand dollars lighter is still a better outcome than him not getting one at all, which would’ve been the case had he gotten suspended.”
Even beyond the money, there was a lot of upside when it came to Kendall getting fined versus having to miss a game or two, especially considering how late in the season it was. But apparently, the money part was all Gianna could think about when she asked, “Do y’all even realize how crazy that shit sounds? Losing thirtythousanddollars is actually being considered a win here.”
Saying it out loud made Gianna start chuckling in disbelief while Zara agreed, “Yeah, that NFL money is different.” Then she moved a little closer towards me to ask, “Speaking of which, youdidsay Hawk was gonna be here tonight, right?”
“Yeah, he’s coming,” I answered with a smirk, the hopeful look on Zara’s face making it hard for me not to giggle when I added, “Him and his fiancée, Briyana.”
While the mention of Hawk’s forever plus one made Zara roll her eyes instantly, she didn’t let it keep her down, instead moving on from her crush on the defensive player to ask, “What about Hunter? He’s still single, isn’t he?”
“As far as I know,” I replied with a nod. Though I couldn’t help the way my eyebrows bunched once I realized, “But, wait… since when did you start checkin’ for Hunter?”
In all of the years we’d known him, I’d never once heard nor seen Zara show Hunter that kind of interest. But it all made sense when she answered, “Uhh… since I learned how much these league niggas are getting paid on a weekly basis,” her response making both Gianna and Penelope laugh while I just shook my head at her as the doorbell started to ring.
And then pretty much never stopped ringing.
First, it was Gerald and his wife. And then it was Hawk and Briyana. And after that, it was Mama Dogwood, Kimberly, my father, and Bryn, all of whom had flown in just for the occasion.
Then, not too far behind them, it was Donatello and my Auntie Iris followed by Hunter and Carmelo plus a few of Kendall’s other teammates I was less familiar with, the packed house only making me more anxious once I received the text from my main accomplice, Anastasia, that read,“We’re five minutes out!”
After relaying the message to everyone in attendance, I tried my best to get us all organized in the living room and kitchen in a way that made sense. But with the clock working against me, I didn’t have much time before Kendall walked into my house yelling, “Ayo, Shake! Whereyou…”
“Surprise!” everyone yelled in unison from their less than optimal positions.
But by the look on Kendall’s face, the chaotic formation didn’t seem to matter all that much, his childlike excitement making my heart swell as he sang, “Wowww,” before turning back towards his little sister to say, “I should’ve known your ass was up to somethin’ when you randomly said we needed to stop over here on our way to Franklin’s!”
While everyone started to laugh,including Anastasia, Kendall started making his way around to say hello to all his people. And only because of where I’d placed myself did I end up being one of the last, Kendall saving the best, most tightest hug for me and then pairing it with a long, thorough kiss that had me blushing after Hunter yelled, “Get a room!”
“Or don’t!” Gerald suggested, earning a hard smack to his chest from his wife that had him quick to defend, “I’m just sayin’. Wouldn’t be the first timewe…”
The rest of Gerald’s comment got lost in his wife’s hand once she used it to cover his mouth, the gesture making me giggle as I turned back towards my man. Then I looked him right in those soft brown eyes of his so that I could finally say, “Happy Birthday, Snoopy.”
“Appreciate it, Shaky,” he replied with a dimpled grin, nodding towards the room to ask, “This all you?”
Averting my gaze, I answered, “I mean… I had alittlehelp from your sister and Hunter,but…”
“So yeah, it’s all you,” he concluded with a chuckle. Then he tightened his embrace, pulling me as close as he could get me when he expressed, “Thank you, Shakira.For real. Means a whole lot that you even thought to do some shit like this for me.”
“You know I got you, Pup,” I told him, the use of his mother’s nickname for him making Kendall roll his eyes in a playful way.
But before he could actually check me on it, Donatello came out of nowhere saying, “Man, I always get the best candids of y’all two.”
In that same moment, Kendall was being pulled away by one of his teammates, leaving me to check out the pictures Gianna’s little brother had taken of us on his phone by myself. And I was just about ready to tell him to send me a few so that I could post them on Instagram later until I was hit with a realization, frowning as I said, “Wait a minute. It was you who took that picture of us that went viral all those months ago, wasn’t it?”
With a somber expression, Donatello quietly admitted, “Yeah, I took the picture. But I wasn’t the one who shared that shit to social media.”
While it was nice to have cracked at least one part of the case, it was the second line of his statement that made my frown deepen when I asked, “If not you, then who?”
“Well… when I first saw you and Snoop getting a lil’ cozy, Imight’vesent it to the group chat I was still in at the time with your ex as proof that you were really done with his bitch ass. And I can only assumehewas the one who sent it over to the blogs.”
