Chapter 7 Engagement Preparations

• Let's just say the rest of my day was great. My back was bent and sprained after running to answer all of Penelope's demands by the time I got home. Sophie's fried chicken welcomed me home. A pop song played loudly from the speakers. the air appreciatively making my way to the kitchen where Sophie danced in front of the pan with a pair of tongs in her hand.
• “Under your sexy body,” her off-key voice rose above the music.
• "Do you mind?" I yelled above the noise. My head pounded.
• She turned to see me standing at the kitchen door and immediately turned down the volume of the music.
• “Nice dress. Penelope's cast away? I thought you were going to sleep over with The Dragon.”
• I dropped my bag on the counter, kicked off my heels, and picked a piece of chicken from the bunch she had cooling on the rack. It was delicious!
• "Where's Nolen?"
• “In his room. I kept him busy with some comics. You are welcome.”
• “Sophie!” I groaned. “He should be doing his assignments…”
• "Done and dusted. Don't worry mom I'm here to help you. I'll put him in bed if you're too tired, okay?"
• I couldn't be more grateful to have Sophie by my side right now, especially after what happened today. As shocking as it seems Nolan's engagement to Lurane wasn't as shocking anymore, it was his rejection of my apology that hurt so much. Why? I shouldn't be concerned. If he doesn't want my apology then so be it. The sooner the engagement party the better. That's how it should be. Instead, I left the park and headed back to my duties hurting like crazy.
• I sighed for the thousandth time.
• Sophie raised a brow. “Did something happen?”
• "I have tea," I confessed.
• “Okay then drink it. You know how I feel about those.”
• A laugh bubbled out of me. “No not that. I meant gossip, juicy talk, hot news, ya know?”
• Her eyes widened with interest. “Well, you should have said so.” She leaned her elbows on the counter and waited. “I'm listening.”
• “Lurane is getting married.”
• She rolled her eyes, pushing away from the counter with a dismissive sound. “That's the hot news? No one cares when snakes fuck so why should I care?”
• Okay, the truth is Sophie doesn't know who my baby daddy is. Not even mom or grandma. Everyone just assumed I hooked up with a random guy at the club after dinner and got careless but I never actually hooked up with anyone, not even so much as a kiss. I couldn't tell anyone Nolen's father was Nolan especially not after Nolan packed up and left. Grandma had gotten so upset when it came out that I was pregnant that telling her it was the kid next door didn' t seem like a good idea. At the time, I was trying to protect Nolan. Also, I felt guilty because it was my fault that he became a dad after all so I didn't try to correct the random-club-hook- up notion. Now facing my best friend who was releasing a string of curses against Lurane I couldn't keep it in anymore. The past came to find me, I must face it.
• "Actually, Soph…there's something you should know. It's about Nolen's father." She halted in her rant and fixed her gaze on me once more. This time the spark of interest was clear in her eyes.
• "You know his father?"
• I nodded.
• “Oh my God, Coco…you swore to the moon and back that you didn’t know him!. This has nothing to do with Lurane does it? Nothing good happens when that bitch is involved.”
• “It does.” The moment of truth. “Nolan is Nolen's father.” She looked confused as she shrugged a shoulder. I took a deep breath. “Do you remember the boy who lived beside my house at Greenville, you called him Hippie Skippy once?"
• “Uh…are you talking about that weird kid with the long hair?”
• "Yup that one. His name is Nolan."
• Sophie's mouth formed a large O. Her eyes went huge like saucer plates. “What the fuck, Chantelle?! How the heck did that happen? Did he force you? Was he drunk?…”
• I winced. Okay, I see how it looks from an outsider's point of view now. A quiet kid and an outgoing girl. “Actually, remember we were drinking to forgetting Jason and Lurane that night? I was so hurt and angry I wanted to do something, anything to hurt Jason, to get back at him for betraying my trust. I threw myself on Nolan in a moment of stupidity. We had sex…”
• Her hand flew to her mouth and for a moment I was scared she was going to scream. To be honest I want nothing more than to scream too. To top it all Jason who had been apologetic after I caught him with Lurane didn't even give a flying fuck he found out I tried the get back at him. He was the first to let everyone know I was pregnant. Luckily, Sophie and Ciara, who suddenly became a friend, I was able to survive Highschool until graduation.
• “Coco…” was all Sophie could muster.
• And she hasn't even heard the rest of the story. I told her so.
• She was aghast. “There is more?!”
• I nodded. “Yup. Nolan is getting married to Lurane. They are engaged.”
• Sophie stared dumbly for a second then burst into laughter. “Lurane? Oh, that bitch had it coming. What? She suddenly lost her taste in men and now dates nerds? Always knew she sucked.”
• “I think you need to see Nolan now before you make your judgment,” I warned.
• “Honey, I've seen a lot of nerds at work to last me a lifetime.”
• She was still talking when I keyed in Nolan's name on my phone and sure enough there he was smiling into various cameras. He got busy in the last 7 years. There were pictures of him at various events, red carpet shows, and the works. I got carried away swiping through picture after picture, drooling away at the green eyes that stared right out of the camera at me. Stifling the urge to sigh I squeezed my thighs together to stop my pussy from creaming all over my panties.
• “Enough talking,” I said to Sophie and pushed my phone towards her. She rolled her eyes, picked up my phone, and stared. Simply stared with huge eyes. I swear she gawked and started to drool. smug smile that had been on her face while she went on and on about nerds was gone.
• "Nolan Pierce?"
• "The one and only."
• “No fucking way,” she breathed. “Wow. Looks like he got hit by Aphrodite. This is Nolan Pierce?” I nodded. “And he is your baby daddy?”
• "Come on Soph, how is he supposed to?" I threw my hands up in the air with a feeling of despair.
• "Aren't you going to tell him? He needs to know."
• “Who says he does? Besides, don't you feel he will think I'm trying to blackmail him to get some cash from him by telling him he has a son just hours after we met after 7 years?! I don't want him to think I'm some gold digger. Nolen deserves the right to know he has a father but I don't deserve to be called a whore."
• “You sound like Nolan is a dickhead. Is there something you are not telling me?”
• I sighed again and rubbed my clean hand on my face in frustration. “I tried to apologize to him today. I got defensive when we first met but I had some time to think during the meeting and realized he was actually a victim in my foolish scheme but guess what? When I offered peace he walked out on me! He literally left me out there in the parking lot with my hand stretched out, looking like a fucking idiot.”
• Sophie winced. “Oh..kay that's rough. Wow. Money changes you…”
• “But you know the funniest thing?” I carried on because I just couldn't stop spewing now that the tea was getting hotter. “When he looked at me today, it looked like he was itching to choke me…not to kill me ". A slow smile spread across Sophie's mischievous face. She cleared her throat and whistled an offbeat tone. "What?" I asked.
• She shrugged still smiling. “I don't know. You don't sound like you're not opposed to the idea.”
• “Of course, I'm not.” The memory of his fingers around mine that morning burned in my memory. I wonder what they will feel like on my throat or lower…
• “Jesus you are smirking!” Sophie laughed. “You are a gone.”
• I shook my head. It must be the chicken. There must be something in it messing with my mind. Geez, Nolan is out of bounds. Besides the fact that he hates me, he is engaged to a snake so, out of bounds Coco !
• "I think you should visit him, hon. Take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and see for yourself if there's a spark. You never can tell," Sophie cooed. She was dancing in circles around the kitchen slowly making her way towards me.
• "Nuh-uh. Sophie, no. I lost my chance. I have just one job, plan the engagement party, and return to my normal life."
• “So you will let him marry Loser Lurane?”
• I shrugged. With another piece of chicken and my handbag, I walked to the door. “Not my business.” Liar. “Great chicken by the way!”
• As I made my way to the stairs Sophie called out from the kitchen. “Suit yourself! Mom called by the way.”
• Aww shit. My mom. I promised to call last week. It had been a very busy week, traveling with Penelope and a couple of models for a beach photoshoot, attending meeting after meeting, creating new catalogs of our new models, and everything else Penelope could think of.
• I peeked into Nolen's room. The little terror was in bed with a Spider-Man comic half falling off the bed. His black curls were a riot around his cute little face. A mixture of feelings overwhelmed me as I sat down beside him. , young and naïve, used to imagine Jason and me celebrating the birth of our first child, playing games with him, or her because Jason promised heaven and earth he wanted a daughter with me, I never imagined I would grow to become the woman contemplating whether or not to tell her baby's father he was a Daddy. Yet here I am.
• Leaning down I pressed a kiss to his forehead. His eyes fluttered open and he stared at me sleepily. Then he smiled.
• "Love you, mommy," he whispered and went back to sleep.
• I sucked back the tears threatening to fall. It took a lot of self-control not to scoop him in my arms and run off with him away from everyone. What of Nolan takes him away from me? I would die if that happened.
• By the time I walked the short distance to my room and took off my clothes I was ready to shrug off the day's events and play dead when I saw the message across my screen. It was mom.
• 'You won't pick my calls so I'm coming tomorrow."
• Just great!