"Ooh cousin you look so cute!" Amora hyped Nai as they walked around the house. Thanksgiving was always a huge deal in her family. Both sides got together in the biggest house available, which was her grandfathers this year.
It was around 4, and everyone was starving, but they knew better tthan to rush anyone in the kitchen.
"Thank you, babes. I don't even remember where I got this," she said, looking down at her jumpsuit. She was never one to not dress up for thanksgiving, but this year she tried something a little different.
"Chile, I felt that. I look at half the shit in my closet and realize I have no clue where it came from," Pheonyx agreed, as they joined their multitude of uncles and cousins in the room watching football. They got kicked out of the kitchen for playing too much so they had nothing better to do.
Nayeli took pictures of her outfit earlier, so she decided to send one to Armani. She missed him terribly, but she was happy to be around her family. Omari talked her head off for hours, and the first night she came home they stayed up all watching anime and eating unhealthy food like they used to do. Amani and Sarai were eager to tell her all the tea from school and Ajani was just waiting for her to come home so he could play basketball and 2k with her.
She and Armani talked every night before bed and virtually all day long. She missed seeing his face in person and really wanted to just be under him watching stupid netflix shows right about now, seeing as that's what they'd be doing any other day.
: here's my thanksgiving fit as requested 💜
boo🥰: gahhh damn baby
boo🥰: you look good as fuck 😭
boo🥰: I miss you bruh wtf
: awww thank you boo 😚 i miss you moreeeee
"That's that nigga you talk to huh?" Dallas smirked, standing above her.
"My boyfriend? Yes," she smirked back. She was honestly the last of her cousins to start dating, but for some reason everybody was still shocked when it happened. Happy, but shocked. Dallas and Kareem couldn't wait to meet him.
"Boyfriend, excuse me," he held his hands up, making her laugh.
"Boyfriend? Who got a boyfriend?" her Godfather Xavier asked, walking past them, catching literally every other man's attention in the room.
Including her father.
"Dallas I'm gonna beat your ass," she gritted out, teeth clenched together, as her dad made eye contact with her from the other side of the room. She instinctively stood up, going to the sunroom off the side of the den, and Gionni joined her.
This certainly wasn't how she anticipated breaking the news to her dad.
"Hey daddy," she chuckled nervously. "I meant to tell you, I swear!"
"So why didn't you, baby?" he leaned back on the couch that faced the windows, as the sun set on them slowly.
"I-I was scared how you'd react. I've never had a boyfriend or anything and I don't know how I'm supposed to come to my very protective daddy about things like that," she confessed. As badly as G wanted to be mad, he completely understood where Nai was coming from.
"You really think I would have gotten mad at you, princess?" he looked over at his daughter, still in awe of how grown up she was.
"No, I just don't know how you'd feel. I wouldn't want you to be disappointed in me or anything..." she drew out, nervous.
Her father's opinion was so important to her. She always looked to him for advice, and he looked for his approval often. She wanted to make him proud, disappointing him or her grandfather was one of her greater fears in life.
"Nayeli," he chuckled. "You have a boyfriend. While it's completely shocking that my baby girl is finally dating someone, that's not something for me to be disappointed in, unless he's a bum with no goals," he cut his eyes at her.
"No! No he's not I promise," she quickly said.
"Good. Well anyway, I couldn't be disappointed in you for that babygirl. You're growing up, and your old man just gotta start accepting you're not a little baby anymore. As long as you remember why I sent you to Louisiana and stay on top of your grades like you always have, and you keep shining like you always do, I'm always gonna be proud of you, princess," he said truthfully, kissing her forehead.
"Thank you daddy," she sighed in relief. "I love you," she pouted.
"I love you more, baby. Now tell me about the nigga," he instantly switched subjects, putting on his most serious face, making Nai laugh.
"Hijo!" Armani heard his mom yelling from behind the door. He groaned and got up, opening the door to the room he was sleeping in at his grandma's, seeing his mom.
She had him running around all day long, picking up things they'd forgotten, and he was already tired. Thanksgiving had barely started and he knew it was about to be the longest day.
"Yes mamá?" he asked, leaning on the doorframe.
"You were sleeping?" she asked, hand on her hip.
"No, ma. I was just resting," he assured her.
"Hm. Well your cousins are here, I need to take pictures, go get dressed and socialize," she instructed him. He nodded and turned around to put some clothes on. Thanksgiving at his house was never really formal, everyone just wore whatever and they sat around to eat.
After getting dressed, he joined his cousins and sisters outside, where they were just sitting on their grandmothers stoop just like they always did as kids. Nothing had changed except their ages.
"So how's school treating you this year lil cuz'?"one of his older cousins asked him.
"Good," he nodded, instantly thinking of Nayeli, trying hard not to smile. "School been aight,"
"How's ball been this season? I been missing your games, my bad," he asked. Most of Armani's cousins his age knew about the fact that he wasn't in love with playing basketball anymore, and they didn't really ask about it, but he didn't blame his cousin for not knowing.
"It's straight, don't worry about it, bro, its good," he said passively, not wanting to dwell on it for too long.
Before any conversation resumed, their aunts and mothers came out to take pictures of everyone outside, and Armani made sure to get some alone so he could send them to Nai.
: I look boring compared to you
Mariposa🦋: stop ittt, you look good 😍
: thank you mamas🖤
He exited their thread and smiled at the picture of her on his homescreen. It was a picture of her, dressed in her cheer uniform, holding up a 19 that she and Bri made. Since they both dates players on the team they made little cutout numbers for them. She was cheesing in the picture, holding up his number and he loved it too much not to put it somewhere he could see it all the time.
"Damn," he heard someone say from behind him. He looked to see his younger cousin, TJ. "Who is that? She bad as shit bro," he said, trying to grab Mani's phone so he could look closer.
"Nigga move," he snatched his phone away. "That's my girl, stupid,"
"Why I gotta be stupid?" TJ laughed.
"She has on a Grambling uniform and she's holding my number up. Who else would she be?" he tilted his head, and TJ just laughed again. That prompted all of his cousins to wanna see pictures of Nayeli, his male cousins especially.
"Aight don't get too excited, y'all could get knocked the hell out, cousin or not," he curled his lip up at all of his cousins basically drooling over her pictures.
"Look at em, he jealous," Camila cooed at her brother. His sisters thought it was so good that he was in an actual good relationship, well at least so far.
They knew all about Layla and hated her for what she put Armani through, so the fact that he was happy with his new girlfriend was all that really mattered to them. They hoped the couple stayed happy.
Armani had finally sat down to eat two hours later, he helped as much as he could before his grandmother kicked him out of the kitchen, she liked cooking alone.
He was glad most to all the questions were directed at his sisters, who were going to college soon, instead of him. Of course there'd been the typical basketball questions, and he dodged them with ease. For some reason, the thought of telling everyone he wanted to stop playing made him uneasy.
He was afraid of facing disappointment. His family had lifted him up and praised him for ever move he made basketball wise, it seemed like the it seemed like that was the only thing they took pride in him for. He thought that if he stopped doing that, then he wouldn't be supported, and that was important for him.
His happiness mattered too, but he needed his family. He knew how it felt to be alone, and he never wanted to feel that again.
"Did you save me a plate, Armani?" Nayeli asked, eyebrow raised. Her eyes were a little low and he could hear people talking in the background. He knew she was with her cousins, but he had no idea what they were doing.
"I did, I got it right here," he chuckled, making her smile. "Why you lookin' like that baby?" he wondered.
"Looking like what?" she asked, eyebrows furrowed.
"Your eyes all low, you been smoking, Nai?" he asked, shocked at even the thought of her smoking.
"Noo! I think I'm tipsy," she giggled. "My TT Lourdes gave us a bottle and they made me take shots, now Dallas is giving me more," she explained. He nodded, laughing. She was cute when she was tipsy, although he thought she was leaning more toward being drunk.
"Okay, well be careful mamas. Don't drink too much," he spoke. She nodded with a smile on her face, just staring at him wordlessly. "What you starin' at?" he asked, smirking at her.
"You just..." she started, leaning her head on her fist. "You're like really fine, did you know that? Like unbelievably so,"
She was definitely drunk.
"I am? Thank you mamí," he chuckled at her.
"And you speak Spanish! Did I tell y'all he speaks Spanish? He's so—ooooh don't get me started," she turned back to her cousins to speak. "You need to come to Atlanta and see me. I miss you,"
"I would if I could, baby. I miss you too," he said, watching her. She wasn't acting drastically different, but it was different enough to make him feel some type of way. He was never the type to prioritize sex in a relationship, he hadn't even thought about going that far with Nai until just now. He knew he was gonna think about it eventually, but he didn't think it'd be now.
Hopefully he could push those thoughts to the back of his head.
"Armani, I told my mama and daddy about you. My mama said you're really cute and she said she wants you to make her food," she said, making his eyes go wide.
"Y-you told your parents?" he asked incredulously.
"Mhm," she nodded with a smile. "I really like you...I couldn't help it," she shrugged. He was shocked, honestly. He knew she told her cousins about him, since they were really close, but not her parents. He knew how important her relationship with her parents was to her, and it warmed his heart that he was that important to her.
"I can't wait to see you, man," he shook his head.
"I can't wait either! You owe me like fifteen kisses, I expect them all upon arrival. Dallas get out my business, move!" she swatted her arm at him, making Mani laugh again.
"I'll give you as many as you want, mamas,"
hello againnn!
i hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!
let's talk. gionni reacted rather well lol. let's hope he keeps the same energy when he actually meets armani 💀
also about armani. y'all know he wants to quit basketball, how should he tell his family? should he even tell them?
how do y'all think they'd react?
also auntie lourdes came through with the liquor getting nai drunk and whatnot 💀 the worstttt lol.
leave me some thoughts or questions! love yalllll 🥰
till next time 🖤