Please excuse ANY grammatical errors.

July 24, 1998

~Derek's P.O.V~

"This some shit I would do with my girl. I'm doin' romantic shit with my brothers." De chuckled.

"Well, you don't do much so I had to come up with something. I just wanted us to spend some time together with my brothers besides work. That's all!" Dalvin replied with a small chuckle.

"Or because he not with Tionne no more. His lonely ass!" I cackled.

De chuckled. "It was bound to happen. Did you talk to uhhh- TIONNE since then?"

"Nah." Dalvin shook his head.

"I told you, she probably was for real this time. If I was her, I would've been gone." De shook his head.

"Nahh, I messed up but I think she gon' come back. If she don't then so be it. I got plenty of people after me." Dalvin snugged his shoulders.

"That includes men." De cackled loudly.

"Stop playin' with me, De." Dalvin mean mugged De.

"Nahh, for real though. You got all those women, but who really loved you?" De asked Dalvin. Dalvin stayed quiet.

"He quiet now." I laughed. "My bad for laughing. I know you young lil bro so if you not ready to be with one person just keep at what you doin' but be safe with it."

"I'm ALWAYS safe," Dalvin told us both.

"You better be." De chuckled.

"How's it goin' with Tia?" Dalvin asked De.

"Yeah, Junior!" I co-signed. "How's it goin' big bro!?"

"It's goin' HORRIBLE and I'm kinds tired of her!" He said angrily.

My goofy expression dropped. "Really!?" Both Dalvin and I said in sync.

"Man, HELL NAWW!" De said laughing his flat ass off. "I wouldn't have introduced her to the family if THAT was the case. To answer y'all question, we good."

"You play too much," I told him.

"She say the same thing but play too much too." He chuckled. "I REALLY love her though."

"I'm sorry, how long y'all been together?" I questioned.

"A little over two months, why?" De asked me.

"You ALREADY talking about love when it's only been two months?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I am, so?" De frowned.

"Don't you think that's too fast?" I asked him.

"Pshh, NO!" He laughed loudly up into the sky.

"They did know each other for OVER five years now and it's been there for a while. Even during they lil friendship break or whatever you wanna call it." Dalvin reminded me.

"But friendships and relationships are two different titles." I reminded both of them.

De stopped rolling the paddles to look at me. "I'm not an idiot, Derek. I KNOW the fuckin' difference. Besides, we not movin' fast at all. It's the slowest I ever moved in a relationship and I'm enjoying it."

"For real?" I said taken aback.

"For real. We tryna spend as much time as possible together though. She finna be gone for a couple of months. Not too far but still. Imma still miss her goofy ass." De chuckled.

"Damn, two months without sex?" Is all Dalvin could say.

"Really? Our big-eared brother spillin' his heart out to us and you talkin' about how long is he gon' be without sex?" I questioned.

"Nigga, you act like we don't talk about this shit all the time." Dalvin rolled his eyes at me.

"We do but now ain't the time for the shit you askin'." I pointed out.

"Well, close yo ears because I wanna know how he deal with that." He turned away from me then back to De.

"I been dealin' with it for a while, so I'm good." De shrugged his shoulders.

"W-what do you mean by that?" I asked confused.

"Oh, so now you wanna know?" Dalvin laughed. "What DO you mean by that, De?"

"I mean we- you know?" De chuckled.

"Mothafucka if we knew we wouldn't ask you! Say what the hell it is you REALLY mean! Always talkin' about some YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN or YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYIN' knowin' damn well we don't!" I told him.

Dalvin laughed because he know it's true. "You ain't have to go off on De like that."

"No, I did because he don't get that WE don't get him when he THINK we do. What's up?" I asked De.

"We haven't had sex." De FINALLY told us.

Dalvin's head jerked back. "Why not?"

"Not that it's none of y'all business, but I'm abstinent now," De answered.

My eyes widened. "Absti- WHATTA?"

"Abstinent!? De, what the fuck?" Dalvin said blinking his eyes rapidly.

"Wrong word because he ain't doin' NONE of that. What made you want to do this?" I questioned.

"Damn! Y'all just like ma and pops. Askin' all these damn questions." De shook his head at us. "YES, I'm abstinent. Y'all BOTH heard right. Why is it so hard to believe?"

"YOU KNOW why it's hard to believe!" Dalvin laughed.

De chuckled. "It really ain't."

"Why are you abstinent? You mean sexual abstinence, right? Is she abstinent too? On who terms are you on?" I asked.

"Or a born again virgin?" Dalvin cackled again. I'm tired of his cackling.

De shook his head and I looked at Dalvin. "It's one of them!" I yelled to Dalvin.

Dalvin stared at De with wide eyes. "WELL?"

"Well, what? The fuck!" De said then started to paddle away from us.

Dalvin and I started paddling again as well. "So you gon' ignore our questions?" I asked trying to catch up.

"Look, I said too much already to y'all nosy asses. I'll tell you my business but not hers if it's that personal. COMMON sense just ain't common at all. If I'm abstinent in a FULL-blown relationship- Bottom line is YES, I'm sexually abstinent. This is my relationship and what we do is what we do. We good with our decisions and that's final." De said to us.

"You the one who started the topic talkin' about Tionne BUT WE nosy?" Dalvin said looking at De.

"ACTUALLY, Derek started up the Tionne conversation by making fun of you, I just kept it rolling." De corrected Dalvin.

"Whoop-De-Damn-Do! You STILL contributed to her being the topic and now we asking you questions that you don't wanna answer!" Dalvin said irritated.

"You right. I'm not finna answer all those bullshit questions y'all askin' me. Quite frankly, y'all some gotdamned idiots. Drop it." De said getting irritated with us.

"Alright!" I screamed.

"Damn, okay..." Dalvin trailed off.

"But imma miss her. We already don't get to see each other as much as we would like due to work." De told us sounding kind of down.

"Yo, you JUST said drop Tia as the topic of discussion!" Dalvin laughed.

I waved my hand at Dalvin, telling him to shut the hell up. "You think she loves you like you love her?" I questioned.

"No doubt," De said getting offended. "Listen, we BOTH tell each other and SHOW each other each moment we speak and see each other."

"Just in a non-sexual way," Dalvin added with a nod.

"See... Why don't you see what abstinent means before coming at me for a decision- a GOOD decision I decided to make? A'ight?" De directed his question more towards Dalvin but I know I wasn't excluded.

"We all think so too but we just don't want you to move too fast WHICH you already said you not doin', so that's good. As for the abstinent part, I NEVER would have imagined yo big-eared ass being abstinent. That's all." I chuckled. "Like you said, it's your business, and do what y'all feel is best. Tia is a cool girl, and I know that because I knew her for years too. Probably not on the same level as you but I do know her. Y-" I was cut off by De.

"You say not to move too fast. Tell me, when did you find out Maria was the one? Since you say I'm moving too damn fast." De asked me. "Tell me!"

"Didn't you just hear me? I retracted my statement."

"You THOUGHT you retracted your statement when in reality it was just a contradiction. You didn't apologize for what you said or nothin'." De told me. "You just jumped from one thing to the next. Answer the question, DEREK. Since you THINK you know so much."

I sighed. "I knew during the first few months," I responded.

"EXACTLY, but I kinda always knew even before we started dating. YEARS back even though THEN it was more of a lustful feelin'. NOW I KNOW for sure what the fuck LOVE is and I can't help that nor do I want to, so don't come to me about that, DEREK. Remember, I'm older." De pointed to me.

"What the fuck you being older got to do with it?" Dalvin laughed.

"Right!" I said in agreement.

"Everything," De emphasized with a laugh.

"You don't know what the hell you talkin' 'bout a lot of times to be fair." Dalvin chuckled.

"Ion like the way you keep sayin' my name, De. Putting all caps on it. I got more experience in relationships than the two of you put together.-"

"Wait a minute, how does THAT help your situation? If you had that much more experience than us in relationships, then you were the problem too." Dalvin asked me.

"That is what counts. I just knew the difference between what was real and what's fake. Well, figured it out eventually..." I trailed off, completely ignoring Dalvin.

"Keyword: EVENTUALLY!" Dalvin shot at me.

"EXACTLY! Eventually! Most people EVENTUALLY figure it out and some a little too late and I PERSONALLY feel like abstinence has helped focus even more on the MOST important," De told us.

"Know what I'm thinkin'?" Dalvin asked us with a stupid look on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm thinkin' why De hands was so soft when I dapped him up!" Dalvin said laughing his ass off. "Nigga been usin' A LOT of lotion on them hands lately!"

De waved his hand at Dalvin as a dismissal. "Shut the fuck up, nigga!" De said joining in, as did I.

"Seriously, I don't know how you do that shit, man." Dalvin she ok his head still laughing.

"Oh, you know HOW he do this!" I pointed out, laughing. "Just like when he had to stay with ma and pops for that short period of time. All them damn lotion bottles this man had!" I laughed.

"That's a lil suspect of you to be thinking how soft my hands are." De shook his head with a chuckle.

"Love makes you do things that otherwise you wouldn't do. Not like how you was with Tionne because that shit wasn't love, ion care how you twist and turn your words around to make it seem like it was. You don't sleep around when you love somebody." I pointed at Dalvin. "Love ain't toxic like y'all was. Sure LOVE does have it's problems, but y'all problems were BEYOND that. De KNOW what he talkin' about. I was just making sure. I'm sorry De because you DID vocalize it before y'all were even an item. So I believe everything you sayin', De."

"True and thanks. I'm just turning into the man that I would want my daughters to date if I were to have any. That shit I did before is in the past and WON'T be nowhere near my future or present life." De told us. "If my daughter bought the old me home, I don't know what I'd do." De shook his head.

"I'm happy that you are happy," Dalvin told him.

"Me too," I agreed. "It's been a LOOO-OH-OO-OH a long time comin' but we know OH-OO-OHH the change has come!" I sang loudly.

"Oh, yes it has!" De sang, tapping on the kayak, making a beat.

"It's been TOOOOO hard being abstinent, but De's afrai--a-E-AID to LIE. A change has come!" Dalvin sang.

I sang "He know, he nEEd some lovin', but and he KNOWS he's ti'ed-"

"Of beatIN' awwfff! Ohhhh, yes he ISSSS." Dalvin ended in a little note as De made the tambourine noise. We all laughed.

"Y'all know y'all ain't shit. On the other hand, I'm too damn tall for this lil shit. My knees hurt!" De yelled at us.

"You 'a be a'ight!" I told him laughing.

De moved both legs to each side of the kayak, rocking it from side to side. "Aye, now, De sitting on the kayak lookin' like a bad bitch sitting on her man's lap facin' him!" Dalvin yelled to me.

We all laughed. "Fuck you!" De responded. "You talked us into this bullshit."

"It is bullshit. I'm kinda tired of paddling this myself." Dalvin sighed.

"I choose the next location!" De said to us.

"I don't give a damn who choose as long as it's good. But this and not that bad." I told both of them.

"It is for me! Thing had my knees all pointed to the sky like I'm finna give birth and shit." De laughed. "Y'all both not as tall as me. That shit hurt."

"You blessed to be that tall. I WISH I was yo height." I said to him.

"I been blessed a lot lately," De said trying to stick one leg back into the kayak but it flipped over, taking him into the water as well.

"Welp, THAT sure is one hell of a blessing you just experienced!" Dalvin laughed. "He even got self-baptized!"

De took a deep breath, rising up out of the water, and wiped his face with his hand. "I really just fell in this filthy ass, murky ass water and y'all just watched?"

"I don't see why not. You CAN swim and the water is only waist deep on yo pencil stick body built ass." I reminded him laughing. "On the flip side, it will mess that perm you got in to head up!"

"They can't be washed out, you dumb ass." De squinted at me and rocked it to flip it back over, but couldn't.

"Look at yo dumb ass!" Dalvin threw his head back laughing. De walked over to Dalvin's boat and tried to get in it, making it rock from side to side. "Aye, man there's gators in this water! Go get in yo own boat! This boat is only fit for a king. Not a king and his peasant!"

"Dirty ass water," De told us. "Imma have to go to the doctor after being in this shit." De continued to mess with Dalvin's kayak. "Come inside the water with me and get eaten by these alligators, Dalvin." De laughed at Dalvin being scared.

"Ain't no damn alligators in this water. I ain't EVER seen no damn gators in Charlotte!" I yelled at them laughing. "Some dumb asses!"

"Don't you think I know that?" De tilted his head to the side at me. "I DAMN sure wouldn't be in this water if THAT was the case."

"There are snakes in this bitch though!" I laughed as De Jumped onto Dalvin's kayak, on Dalvin's legs.

"I'm finna beat yo boney ass! Get the fuck offa me!" Dalvin yelled out.

"You gon' help me flip mines over?" De asked him.

"Man, hell naww! I ain't getting in that water. It ain't even heavy, you just wanna fuck with me!" Dalvin frowned. "Talkin' 'bout yo legs, NOW mines hurt!"

"Them snakes don't wanna bite you! What they gon' suck? Bone marrow!?" I laughed.

"Nahh, but if I push Dalvin in, they gon' suck all the blood out his big ass, balloon ass head!" De laughed.

"Y'all some damn idiots! What the fuck are y'all even talkin' 'bout? What kinda snakes y'all thinkin' 'bout, because the last time I checked snakes ain't bats or vampires." Dalvin told us. "Take you and yo imaginary blood suckin' snakes outta my shit now, De!" Dalvin screamed at De.

Some people are passing us on the kayaks and are looking at us all funny. Maybe because of who they are but MOSTLY because of how they're acting.

"Help me, Derek!" De said grabbing Dalvin's arms to stop him from pushing him.

"Nigga, NO!" Dalvin frowned. De rocked the kayak from side to side. "Stop!"

The boat tipped over and they both went down. Don't nobody have on a seatbelt so they automatically disconnected from the kayak. The both of them came out of the water wiping their faces off and I'm sitting here dry and cracking the fuck up. We all play too much and have fun doing it too!

"A gator!" De pointed and Dalvin screamed and jumped until he realized that nothing was there.

"Stop playin' with me, nigga!" Dalvin pushed De back. The people who passed us looked back.

"Y'all some fuckin' idiots, man!" I said shaking my head. They both turned to me and began walking towards me. "Y'all not finna push me in this damn water!" I said paddling away but they caught up to me.

Dalvin on the left side of the boat and De on the other. "You should've kept yo fuckin' mouth shut." Dalvin laughed as they kept rocking my boat to their sides.

"You stop this shit right now!" I screamed then prepared myself to go under.

They just laughed like maniacs until they tipped me over into the water. I held my breath then came back up.

"I'm finna beat y'all ass!" I said once I caught my breath.

"It's two against one." De chuckled. "Who ass you finna beat? I can beat you MY DAMN SELF!" He laughed.

I tackled De into the water, submerging him. Dalvin pushed me making me go underneath. I got back up and spit the dirty ass water out.

"You almost made me swallow some of this nasty shit!" I yelled at Dalvin.

"Good, it'll do them dry ass lips of yours some good anyways!" De said laughing.

"How you take up for him when he the one flipped yo boat over?" I asked Dalvin.

"Teamwork, nigga!" De yelled out. "Let's flip these boats or whatever the hell you call them back over." He suggested.

I nodded. "Alright." I then pushed Dalvin into the water. "NOW, let's lift then push these things back over."

We did just that and got back inside our boats. We only had one problem... Our paddles floated away. We were having so much fun that we forgot about them floating away. The current ain't that strong but it sure did float our paddles away.

"This all De fault!" Dalvin said as we pulled the boats with us to the grass.

"Me? How?" De questioned.

"Hell, yeah!" Dalvin told him. "You started it. Over there on yo boat tryna look like a bad bitch then when yours tipped over, you came to me."

"Y'all BOTH flipped mines over. I was minding my business." I exasperated.

We climbed up the small, grassy mountain, and helped each other pull up the kayaks. "Now we gotta knock on these people's door and HOPE they let us use they phone," Dalvin told us, plopping down in the grass all out of breath.

Walking in water for a long ass time will definitely make you feel out of breath! Me and De plopped down too.

"So... How's the married life treating you?" De questioned. "We never got to you as the topic of discussion."

"It's going well. We both lovin' it. The ONLY thing is that we don't do a lot of things as often as we used to. Yeah, we got kids now but still. So yeah... THAT'S a challenge." I told them.

"Well, damn! I definitely don't wanna get married." Dalvin laughed.

"You no closer to it than you was before." De chuckled at Dalvin. "Bachelor's life."

"I just don't think I believe in that marriage stuff. I feel like it's just a contract." Dalvin shrugged.

"Says every man who has commitment issues." I laughed.

"I was just about to say that. He just got commitment issues is all. I don't think he really believes that. Besides, every marriage is different. Some include prenups and stuff. Look at Will and Jada. Some people do stuff like that, but I don't agree at all that THAT is how a marriage should be. You don't have to feel trapped. What is is is that he don't wanna be committed to one sex partner." De laughed.

"You damn right." Dalvin laughed. "I'm a ladies' man. ALWAYS been and ALWAYS will be. Why should my good lookin' ass be tied down to one woman?"

"Full of yourself." De shook his head.

"And you NOT?" I rose my eyebrows.

"I love myself, a'ight? Not full of myself." De pointed out.

"Same damn thang!" I chuckled.

"Not really but go off," De said with a blank face.

"What y'all got goin' on when y'all go back to Atlanta?" I asked both of them.

"Work is all I got on my list." Dalvin shrugged.

"Me and Tia-"

"He said YOU. It's ALWAYS you and Tia now." Dalvin chuckled.

"Chill, nobody was complaining when it was you and Tionne or you and that other girl. It ain't like they do everything together. They tryna spend a bunch of time together like he said, now let the man speak." I told Dalvin. "You wouldn't know because you don't know how to spend a bunch of time with the opposite gender outside of bed."

"Exactly, now let the men talk and stay in the child's place, lil boy." De chuckled. "Like I was sayin' before I was RUDELY interrupted. TIA and I-" De paused. He emphasized it just to piss Dalvin off but didn't the reaction he wanted to see. "Me and Tia doing another food and supply drive to help those people who were impacted during the tornado. For people who ain't got nothing in general, even before the tornado. I gotta get back to work, and she gon' be gone." De told us.

"That's right, she IS a multi-BILLIONAIRE." I mocked Tia from yesterday. We burst out laughing. "She told ol' girl off yesterday with only a slight raise of the voice."

"She lucky Tia ain't swing on her ass!" Dalvin laughed.

"What you mean?" I questioned.

"She beat this girl ass when we-"

"Dalvin..." De called out. "Stop. Yeah, she fought that Megan girl but she just don't go swinging on mothafuckas like some crazy broad. Somethin' was thrown at her and she reacted. End of story."

"How you feel about her makin' more money than you?" I questioned.

"Right, most men feel intimidated." Dalvin's eyebrows rose.

"I don't. Somethin' we NEVER even discussed was our finances until last night. We knew we both had money but that was the first time I heard her say that. I was honestly surprised my damn self. I don't feel no kind of way though. We both wealthy as shit." De shrugged. "She worked hard for it, so she deserves that shit."

"At least we know she ain't in it for the money like that other girl. She was STRICTLY with you for the sex and money." Dalvin chuckled. "That sure did surprise the fuck outta me too!"

"I think it surprised us all honestly," I added. "I stopped breathin' for a while."

"At least she knows what she got and ain't really flashing it. I mean, yeah... Yesterday she mentioned it to make a point, but she ain't want nobody to hear that. That's why she lowered her voice. She the FIRST cheap-ass billionaire I met." De laughed loudly. "Nahh, but for real, at least she gives back to those in need. Shit just made me love her more thinking about it. To add on to Dalvin's statement about me being with that other girl, people like her are who I'm tryna avoid, which is another reason why I made the choice of abstinence!"

"That cheap part is where you wrong, De. Them rich people don't be spendin' money like you think they do. The smart ones anyway. That's why it lasts for generations. They're frugal. She smart as hell for that." I told him. "It's how the rich stay rich."

"What all she do? I never knew." Dalvin questioned. "You sho' she ain't some type of drug lord?" Dalvin laughed.

"Man, HELL NAWW!" De cackled to the sky. "She does a lot. Investing, stocks, film, she has her skincare line, natural hair care line, her fashion line with her friend, and she still tryna do more. Talkin' about some I ain't goin' back to being broke." De chuckled in an attempt to mock her. "That's what keeps her humble and why she stays busy. Not going back to previous positions." De licked his dry ass lips. "I'm investing and into stocks now. Let me tell you that shit does help. You just gotta know when to pull out of stocks."

"Shit, teach me!" I laughed. "I'm laughing but I'm serious as hell." I pointed at him.

"Shit, me too!" Dalvin cosigned.

"I been tryna tell y'all for the longest." De reminded us.

"Yeah, but we ain't know yo ass was into it and makin' bank!" I told him.

"Shit really been goin' good for me. I probably would've been even more wealthy than I am now if I ain't go through that phase and start slacking for that- What? A couple of years? Then the recovery process took even more time off. Since then, it's just been blessing on blessings. I focused on getting myself right and I ain't EVER goin' back. Again, thank y'all both for that. I really appreciate y'all's help because I needed that. I don't know if I ever thanked y'all for that, but I am now. If I did, I will continue to thank y'all because y'all do care. Not many have family like that who does care enough to tell you what's up. They just talk about them behind they backs." De said opening up for the first time in a long time to us about things like this.

It's been a while since we had a brother moment like this since we all be so busy. Them mostly. But, I do what I need to do too. I'm just not as mainstream as them. People don't know me as they do them. I'm mostly known in Charlotte or as the other brother of them. I'm okay with that due to the fact that people are ALWAYS in their business. Especially De's since he never spoke much.

Not to mention when you're in THAT type of industry you're pulled into more bad things. Not saying Gospel doesn't have its fair share of bad people because it does. I'm proud of them both. Especially De because he has been through the most yet accomplished the most. We weren't poor growing up, but we sure are in a place we only could dream of.

"That's what brothers are for," I told him.

"I love y'all, man and I'm proud of y'all both. Dalvin doing his thang and so are you, Derek. I'd say we doin' pretty good for ourselves." De said with a serious tone and facial expression.

"Give me love?" Dalvin said bringing us in. He is sitting between us.

We pulled away after a few seconds. "NOW! We gotta knock on one of these people's house door so we can get somebody to come pick us up!" I laughed.

"Where we gon' fit THREE kayaks though?" Dalvin questioned.

"I know there's enough room in Dalvin's ass for ALL THREE OF 'EM!" De replied laughing.

"Stop playin' with me, nigga." Dalvin mean mugged De.

De stood up. "Oh, well.... 1, 2, 3! NOT IT!"

"NOT IT!" I quickly said.

"Looks like it's up to Dalvin." De laughed. "Go knock on one of these houses doors and ask to use a phone. If you don't come out in five minutes we bustin' in."

"ALRIGHT! Y'all ain't fair though. I ain't even know we was doin' that." Dalvin stood up all upset.

"Expect the unexpected." De laughed evilly.

We stayed back while Dalvin walked to a house. Three black males going up to a house ain't something a lot of people comfortable with. Hell, I ain't! I'm not comfortable with a group of dudes coming to my house period. We decided that we'd call Pop's, because why not? We were on the lake for a long ass time before we stopped and started joking around. Probably a couple of hours so it's definitely too far to be walking. About a forty-five-minute walk but even less of a drive.

"I hope they're fans!" De said playing around.

Dalvin turned around and mean mugged us. I shook my head laughing.

"Man, go ahead!" I yelled.

We saw Dalvin knock on the door and someone answered.

"He didn't go in. This guy is having a whole conversation with them." I scoffed.

"Probably fans. You do remember that cell phones exist now, right? They common these days, Derek." De shook his head.

"True," I spoke in embarrassment.

Dalvin came back a good eight minutes later. "Pop's said he on his way."

We nodded, looking out. "He finna be mad too. Watch." De chuckled.

"He about to yell at us and shit." Dalvin agreed.

"Were they fans?" I questioned.

"Yeah. As a matter of fact, De, you remember those girls me and K-Ci got into it about when we first started?"

"No way," De said taken aback.

"Yes, way. That's one of the other ones from that group." Dalvin chuckled.

"Small world," I replied.

"Small world? That shit happened here in Charlotte." De shook his head at me like I was stupid.

I rolled my eyes. "Dalvin did you tell pops to bring towels?"

"No, I ain't think of that." He shook his head.

"He really about to be mad. We smelling like dirty ass water, and damp and we sitting on his seats." De told us.

"Where else we supposed to sit?" I turned to him.

"Nigga, ion know!" He said irritated. "Keep askin' me these stupid ass questions." De laughed.

"You see, Derek? THIS is what abstinence does to you!" Dalvin said laughing.

"Y'all still on this shit? Y'all ain't gon' ever let me live this down, huh?" De squinted. "Second of all, it ain't got shit to do with abstinence, he just keeps askin' me these stupid ass, dumb ass questions that he thinks I know the answer to."

"You right, for as long as I know you abstinent, I ain't lettin' you live this down." Dalvin nodded with a goofy expression on his face.

"You really out here takin' yo time. So sex ain't important?" I asked De.

"THIS whole thing made me realize how much I prioritized that shit when I was with other people. It is important eventually but it shouldn't be the main reason to be with that person. Look, my journey is MY journey. Period. Like I said on the water, drop the topic. Make fun of me all y'all want to." De shrugged.

"Don't forget to pick up yo feelings!" Dalvin sang.

We talked and joked around until we saw pops car. We walked to the car and were about to pull the handle but pops drove forward. We tried again and he drove forward again. He rolled the passenger side window down.

"Catch me if you can!" Pops said laughing and DJ was laughing maniacally. De put his hand on the handle and pops drove forward. "Should I let yo brothers and daddy in?" He asked DJ and my son who don't even talk.

"No!" Dj laughed, covering his mouth.

Dalvin jumped through the window. "I caught you. Now that I'M in, we should just go!" Dalvin turned to us with a smirk.

Pops sped off, laughing. Dalvin stuck his head and arms out the window and point at us.

"I know this man ain't just drive off without us, but with my child too!" I yelled at De.

"This whole family play too fuckin' much. That's for DAMN sure!" De leaned against a tree while speaking to me all upset.

I saw his car roll back around and I heard cackling as the car got closer. "I'm not gon' do it again," Pops yelled out to us.

I touched the door and he sped off again. "This nigga..." I mumbled, pissed off.

"That's why I stayed back. I knew he was fuckin' with us." De shook his head.

The car came back around. "Get in this car and stop playing!" Pops yelled at us. We FINALLY were able to get in.

"We forgot the kayaks," Dalvin spoke up.

"Where we gon' put them, son?" Pops squinted at him.

"Forget them kayaks. They just a few hunnid dollars. The paddles floated away anyways." De replied. "We just gon' pay for them."

"Whatever. Y'all DO got my car smellin' like wet dog. This ain't cool!" Pops said with his hand over this nose.

DJ started to bark and my child joined in. "No, stop. That's not funny. Don't make fun of daddy."

"You not my dad!" DJ rolled his head at me.

"Shut up!" De told him.

"No!" DJ told him.

"Don't be yellin' at my son, Junior!" Pops yelled at us.

"What? We yo kids too." De said confused.

"Yeah, but that's my young child. Y'all grown." Pops said as a reminder.

"He just yelled at me though." De defended himself.

"Right, y'all let him get away with a lot." Dalvin frowned.

"Ain't that the truth!" I co-signed.

"Y'all said I was too hard on y'all. I'm just taking y'all advice. Now, where am I goin'!?" Pop yelled out. "Just got me driving with no direction." I gave him the address. "How come y'all ain't ask us to go? I got stuck with all the kids while everybody else have fun."

"What I tell you 'bout him gettin' mad?" De whispered to me.

"You just answered yo own question," I replied to pops.

"Don't get smart with me, Derek." Pops gave me a threatening look.

"Huh?" I said confused because I don't feel like I was being disrespectful.

"You heard me!" Pops told me. I sighed and sat back. "Don't breath at me either."

"What?" Dalvin and De burst out laughing.

"You want us to hold our breaths or somethin'?" De asked pops.

"Yeah!" He yelled at us. "Nahh, I'm just jokin'!" Pops said with a softened expression then laughed. "Y'all could've at least asked if I wanted to go."

"We just wanted it to be us brothers," Dalvin told him. "We haven't done nothing together with just the three of us in a long time."

"How come y'all ain't take DJ too though? He's your brother too." Pops looked at us through the rearview mirror.

"DJ too much to handle and he can't swim. You see we are all damp. We fell in the water. DJ too much to handle in an environment like that. He doesn't even like to listen to us all the time and talks back like he does now." De spoke up.

DJ folded his arms and scowled at us. He knew we were talking about him. He don't even have a full vocabulary but know how to talk back.

"See?" Dalvin gestured.

"We do stuff with him all the time though," I added.

"YOU do, but these other two? No." Pops told us.

"It's easier to spend time with someone you live near. We in a whole other state. He remembers us every time we visit, so we have to be doing something right. We just be busy working." De spoke up.

Pops glanced at me and De through the rearview mirror. "Y'all do be working and that's good but remember that it's four of y'all and not three anymore."

"We know. We acknowledge him as a brother. It's just that we older than him and don't have much in common. We do what we can with him." Dalvin added.

"Another reason I have him is that I have kids too. He hangs with them. Turn left, and we should be right there." I told him.

"You keep sayin' that. You have ONE kid and ONE on the way, Derek." Dalvin corrected me.

"Everybody having kids now. Who next between the two of y'all?" Pops joked at Dalvin and De.

Dalvin turned to face me and De. "Not De, we know that for sure!" He said and we dapped each other, laughing.

"We discussed this yesterday," De mumbled.

"What's the joke?" Pops said wanting to know.

"Pops, you won't believe this but-" the car stopped at our destination and De hopped out if the car. "De is-"

"We gotta go." I got out of the car. "Come on Dalvin!" I opened his door and pulled him out of the car.

"Wait! I didn't finish my-" I pulled him away. "Thanks pops! We'll catch you later!"

"He ain't get snipped, did he?" Pops yelled out the window.

"NOTHING like that, pops." I chuckled. "Why would you do that?"

"What? Pops asked a question to which I proceeded to answer." Dalvin shrugged.

"- I don't know the location but here's a check to cover the cost plus more. We already paid to get on them earlier. I just ain't got the cash on me right now because I wasn't expecting this to happen. We're sorry." De told the owners, writing the check. "$2500 cover it?" He asked.

"The kayaks are only $400 each plus tax. That's more than enough." One replied.

"We'll take this as well as my words as an apology. AGAIN, we're sorry." De apologized.

"We're sorry," I told them.

"Yeah, it was all an accident," Dalvin added. "We sorry about that."

"Thank you!" The woman said shocked.

"You welcome. Y'all have a nice day." De waved then went back to the car.

"Take care!" I waved and left.

"Have a nice day," Dalvin said and we all made it to the car and settled down.

We pulled off with Junior silent the whole time. It's not rare but it also wasn't a comfortable silence  "What's up with you?" Dalvin questioned.

"Nothin', I'm just ready to go." De sighed then turned on the music.

"You done pissed this man off, Dalvin!" I yelled over the music, cracking the hell up. I turned the radio down. "If it makes you feel better, I pulled Dalvin out the car before he could reveal what you got going on with Tia."

De turned to me with a quickness.

"Now I KNOW this nigga ain't just touch my gotdamned radio? Don't you EVER touch a black man's radio. Hell is wrong wit' chu?" De frowned.

"I'm just tryna make yo sad ass feel better." I laughed.

"I'm not sad, I'm just quiet. I'm not tryna say shit that's gon' make nobody mad so imma stay quiet." De shrugged, looking back at the streets ahead of him.

"Dalvin ain't tell dad shit," I repeated.

"Nahh, I wanna know what was gon' make somebody mad. I KNOW he was talkin' forwards me." Dalvin chimed in.

De chuckled, nodding his head. He reached over to turn the music up. "Imma keep it chill."

"Sensitive ass mothafucka." Dalvin mumbled.

"If that's how you feel, then so be it... Let me a sensitive ass mothafucka." De laughed. "Derek, don't EVER touch my radio though."

"I WON'T!" I laughed.

"Y'all put y'all seatbelts on too. Ain't nobody tryna get a ticket." De told us and I did.

"I got one thing to say," I told De.

He sighed. "I feel like you finna spit bullshit." He chuckled. "But what is it?" He said over the music.

"Marry Tia because my kids need a rich auntie!" I said laughing.

"I knew you was finna say somethin'." De said laughing. "Not because I love her, huh? Fuckin' idiot!" He laughed.

"Tryna be a gold-digging brother-in-law?" Dalvin laughed.

"Nahh, I'm just kidding, but it would be nice! Marry her whenever you want and for all the RIGHT reasons. Don't turn her into Tionne by being a Dalvin." I told him.

"Yeah!" Dalvin slammed his hand on De's shoulder. "Don't be a me!" Then he turned to me. "Why the fuck you had to put A in front of my name like I'm some type of obedient animal?"

"You was a dog to Tionne. That's should count." I chuckled.

"Whatever, but don't be a me. I'm the one and ONLY Dalvin. Don't turn a good one bad." Dalvin gave De some advice. He continues to put A in front of his name but complains about me doing it.

"I WON'T, trust me. I have been done wrong too many times to put someone else in my past position AGAIN. I finally got the one I wanted as well as the type I was lookin' for. But now you admitting that Tionne was one of the good ones?" De glanced at Dalvin through the rearview then slammed on the brakes hard, Dalvin almost hit his head on the seat. "Told you to put yo fuckin' seatbelt on, nigga!" He said laughing right along with me.

"A'ight! Damn, you ain't have to do that shit though!" Dalvin said quickly strapping in.

We continued to have fun like we do most of the time. We do argue sometimes but it isn't always like that. That just isn't our relationship dynamic. Others may look at us awkwardly when we're having a moment but we bounce back from that because that's simply how we were taught. We love each other and that'll NEVER change. We are going to ALWAYS look out for each other.

Author's Notes: Do y'all like the long chapters? The 5,000+ ones or is it too much?

Word Count: 7,075
Please feel free to like and comment. Feedback gives motivation, and motivation urges me to continue to write.

Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read another chapter of this story. Thank you for staying despite the slacking.💚🖤❤💜💙💛