The scene-stealing chick has with her a little boy, about two or three years old. The second question after who is she, is how did she get into this reception, 'cause I dang sure can tell from the looks on Mystique's and Zac's faces that she was not on the invite list.
It's almost like time stops as she strides across the room with wide open steps, practically dragging the baby, who is trying to take twenty steps to one of hers. Zac's jaw drops when the girl stops directly in front of him and Mystique, who are walking around to all of the guest tables thanking people for coming. Everyone and everything is silent. You can hear a pin drop in the room. The DJ even stops spinning his record.
“Why wouldn't you want your son to be at your wedding, Zac?” the girl bellows at the top of her lungs.
It's clear now the answer to question number one. This chick must be the alleged baby mama whose existence actually made Zac pop the question to Mystique. I take one side-eyed glance at my cousin, and the satisfied smirk on her face gives me the answer to question number two. She may not have let the girl in ('cause she hasn't left her seat), but she must've given the girl the wedding reception venue.
Mystique's face contorts into an evil snarl. It actually scares me a little bit, even though it's not directed toward me.
“Get her out of here, Zac. Right now.”
The girl laughs in Mystique's face. “You don't have to get me out of here! I will leave willingly. I just thought that Zac would want his son to be a part of his big day. You can't erase him, Zac. And you can't erase me. But as long as you keep sending me those checks, you don't have to worry about me being too much of a problem.”
The girl turns to leave, but does not take the boy's hand.
“Aren't you forgetting someone, Nya?” Zac asks.
“Nope. You can arrange for a sitter when you go on your honeymoon, but I think it's time for Zac Jr. to spend some quality time with his daddy.”
“You c-can't just do this!” Mystique protests.
Nya ignores Mystique and the little boy as he starts to whimper. She strides right out of the reception hall as disruptively as she came in.
The poor little boy is in full-fledged scream mode. “Mommy! Mommy!”
All those years of taking care of my little cousin Manny has given me a bit of experience in the diffusing of tears in little boys. I let DeShawn go and run to the little tot and scoop him up in my arms.
“Hey, little man!” I say as his screams turn back to whimpers. “This is a party for your daddy! You like parties?”
The little boy nods.
“Well, this is a big ol' party too! They have all kinds of cookies and cakes over there on that table. You want to get some?”
“Cake?” he asks, his tears almost forgotten.
“Yep! As much as you can eat.”
I glance over at Zac and Mystique and mouth,
I got this
. I take little baby Zac over to the table and let him fill up a plate of every goodie imaginable. Then, I take him to the table where Zac and Mystique's mothers are sitting.
Zac's mother, Ellie, reaches out to the Zac Jr. “Come sit on granny's lap, baby.”
A huge smile bursts onto the boy's face. He definitely recognizes his grandmother, although he doesn't seem too familiar with his daddy. He scrambles onto Ellie's lap and takes bites out of each of his desserts.
Zac signals to the DJ to start the music back up, and the party resumes as if the interruption had never occurred. I take DeShawn by the hand and walk over to Dreya and Evan's table, the Reign Records table.
I sit down in an empty seat next to Dreya. She snickers like she already knows what I'm going to say.
“That was foul,” I whisper in her ear.
She shrugs. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“That little scene. I know you had something to do with that.”
Dreya laughs and runs her hand lovingly down Evan's arm. “Sunday, I wish I had coordinated that. That chick was the most entertaining part of this bougie, boring wedding reception.”
“Sunday, I know you don't think Dreya would do something like that to a label mate,” Evan says. “That would just be in poor taste.”
I roll my eyes at Evan because his words are saying one thing, but the glint in his eye tells me he and Dreya were probably in cahoots on this thing.
Bethany, who is sitting in the next seat, taps my arm. “Hey, girl. I didn't get a chance to speak to you earlier. You look really pretty as a bridesmaid.”
“Thank you. You look good too. You ready to get back in the studio?”
She grins. “Of course. You?”
“Maybe. Gotta figure out how to navigate around Sam, but other than that I'm ready.”
DeShawn leans over and takes my hand. “I can help you navigate around Sam. Like right now, I can take you right up out of here, and we can have our own after-party back at your dorm.”
“I am ready to go, DeShawn, but don't think something is gonna pop off. This ain't prom night or nothing. You can eat ice cream and brownies with me and my girls if you want.”
DeShawn smirks. “If that's all I can get for now, I'll take it. But pretty soon, you'll want me. You won't be able to help yourself.”
This makes me laugh out loud. “Boy, if you don't take me home . . .”
“What? What's gonna happen, Sunday Tolliver? Nothing. And you know why? 'Cause you like me.”
DeShawn winks at me and holds his arm out for me to grab, and he walks me right up out of Mystique and Zac's celebrity nightmare of a wedding. After this bananas day, I can't wait to get back to the calm peacefulness of my dorm at Spelman and my homegirls Gia and Piper.