Finding Home

Who’s Your Daddy?

Merit

The back of my jeep is piled high with bottles and cans of pop and alcohol. When we pull into the event center parking lot, Carey, Mitchell, and Rivers immediately grab the containers and carry them inside. The party won’t start for another couple of hours, but each of us have a part to play in setting up.

Yesterday the guys and I had set up all the tables in the dining area and today we were bringing over all of the beverages. Aunt Tori and Lena would be here to decorate soon, they made the centerpieces for the tables and were going to tie ribbons on all of the chairs. I’m not sure what Cait and her family are responsible for but I don’t see them here yet, either.

“Hey, there is my favorite artist!” Aunt Abby exclaims as I walk through the door of the kitchen.

As soon as my arms are empty, she is over here giving me a big hug. “Jeremy is setting up the buffet, he’s been looking forward to seeing you. I’ll take care of these drinks. You and the guys can go into the main hall, Alissa and Elle are still setting up the chairs. I’m sure they’d love some muscle to help out.” I just smile at her and follow her instructions. My aunt has a tendency of treating anyone our age like one of her kids so I’m used to it by now and don’t try to fight it.

In the hall, Alissa and Elle are in a conversation so I opt to greet my uncle first.

“Guys, why don’t you start setting up chairs with the girls. I’ll be right back. I’m going to talk to my uncle first.”

Carey, Rivers, and Mitchell jump in right away, as I walk over to where the buffet table is set up.

“Hey, Uncle Jeremy.”

“Get over here and give me a hug, boy.” When he lets me go, he backs up and looks me over. “You look great. We’ve missed you lately, you should stop by more.”

I laugh. “You sound like my mom now.”

“Well, she is my sister after all and she isn’t wrong.”

“I know, I know. I’ve just been busy with classes starting back up, once things slow down again I’ll be around more.”

“I’m going to hold you to that. Do you know if your sister is bringing the baby today?”

“I think so, she texted me the other day about if I thought it would be okay to bring the playpen over.”

“Brionna doesn’t need to bring a playpen, just a bassinet or something for the baby to sleep in if she gets tired. Jerrod and Thea are bringing their playpen. It’s big enough for Izzy and Juniper to share without any issues. They will set it up in the back room near the bathrooms when they get here.”

“Okay, I’ll let her know right now. I’m gonna go help with the seating, is there anything you need from me?”

“No, you’re helping plenty. You’ll have to come find me later and we’ll talk more.”

By the time we are done setting up the chairs, Jerrod and his family have arrived. They come bearing party favors and cupcakes. We talk for a few minutes before the guys and I leave. With everything set up to be decorated, there isn’t anything left to do besides cooking and I’ve been told that Cait’s family will be bringing food and cooking the rest here.

I take the guys back to the apartment so we can all shower and get dressed for the party. There is still time to kill before the party starts so Rivers and Mitchell are f*****g around in the living room while Carey goes to pick up his girlfriend. I’m right behind him walking out the door since I told Whitney I’d drive her.

When I get to Whitney’s house the driveway is empty except Whitney’s car. I’m grateful that her roommates aren’t home. They are not the brightest of girls and I can feel myself getting dumber when I talk to them, even if it’s only for five minutes.

Whitney is waiting for me in her bedroom, but she definitely isn’t ready to go like she should be. “What are you wearing? Why aren’t you dressed yet?”

“I thought you would want to have a little fun before the party, baby.” She positions herself in what would be a sexy pose, if it wasn’t so obviously contrived. “Don’t you like my new lingerie?”

“We don’t have time for this right now…”

Whitney pouts and saunters toward me. She stands up on her toes and places a kiss on my neck. “Come on, baby. I will make you feel good. Don’t you want to be relaxed for the party?”

I don’t reply as she drops to her knees and starts undoing my belt. She unzips my pants and pushes down my boxers, before taking out my d**k. With her hand wrapped around the base, she moves her hand up and down a few times to get me hard. Whitney looks up at me and licks her lips, as if asking my permission.

I nod once and she proceeds, kissing the head of my d**k and swirling her tongue around the edge of it. She eventually takes my d**k into her hot mouth and sucks like its her job. Whitney doesn’t mess around with blowjobs and she has me coming down her throat in less than a minute. After that, I tuck myself back into my pants and go into the living room to wait for her to be ready to leave.

When we finally get to the party, I look around to see if I can find where my friends are sitting. Judging by the size of the crowd, I’d say all of the guests are here by now. I feel guilty for arriving later than I told my parents but I know I haven’t missed anything significant.

The seating is almost like that of a wedding reception. There is a long table in the front where our parents are sitting together. Off to the side is a table with four different types of cake on it and beyond that are the rest of the round tables where the guests sit.

Despite the large number of people milling around, it only takes me a minute to find my friends in the crowd. Lena stands out because she has here hair done up in elaborate braids. Even if she didn’t catch my eye, I’d be sure to see Quinn sitting at the same table since he is almost 6’5” and looms over most of the guests.

Before we can make our way over there, Whitney pulls on my arm. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your parents first?”

I try not to cringe at the whine in her voice. I’ve been dreading introducing Whitney to my parents. She thinks because we’ve been exclusive for a few months that our relationship has the potential to be serious. If I’m being honest with myself, I don’t see this relationship going much farther and I never have.

I had agreed to be monogamous with Whitney for a few reasons; I was tired of girls always throwing themselves at me and Whitney was a good barrier. She was hot and she didn’t f**k around when it came to eliminating her competition. Another perk of dating her was that I didn’t have to go out to score, if I was in the mood I could pick up my phone any time and Whitney would make herself available.

Some guys might see Whitney as a great catch. Her looks alone attracted a lot of guys, but there was also her family name and money to recommend her. My parents raised me to look deeper when choosing a partner though. They wanted me to find someone who was my equal and that I respected, so they would be disappointed when I introduced Whitney to them.

There would be no hiding that our relationship was superficial once Whitney opened her mouth. Either my parents would be disappointed in me for choosing to be shallow or they would question how I could have genuine feelings for someone so vapid. I tried not to think about it too much but now I would have to face the music.

In an attempt to put off the introduction for longer, I point out where my parents are sitting at the head table. They are engaged in conversation with my dad’s parents so it is the perfect excuse. “It looks like they are busy talking with my grandparents, once they make the rounds I’ll introduce you.”

Whitney looks where I’m pointing, then back at me again as if she is trying to figure something out. “Not to be rude, but…” I bite back my impatient sigh and wait for her to continue. “There is no way that guy is your dad. He’s black!” My head jerks in her direction as I look at her in shock. Did she really just say that?

“Yeah, and my mom is white. So what?” She isn’t wrong but her reaction pisses me off. If she was curious, she could have asked me in a million different ways that weren’t so off putting. Trevor is my dad in all the ways that counted even if we don’t share blood. He has been around since before I was born and raised me as his own. I never met my biological father because he was killed before my mom had me, so for all intents and purposes Trevor is my dad.

“Well, you don’t look mixed,” Whitney attempts to recover the conversation.

Annoyed with her response, I spot Brionna nearby and gestured to her. Trevor is in fact Brionna’s biological dad, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it. Her skin wasn’t fair like our mother’s but it wasn’t dark like Trevor’s either. At certain times of the year, Brionna could pass as having a deep tan rather than being mixed race.

Whitney looks confused. “Who is that?”

“That is my little sister. Her skin isn’t much darker than mine is in the summer, and not everyone in a family has to look a certain way.”

“I think you’re overreacting. I didn’t mean to make you angry.”

“I don’t know what you expected when you announced that my dad is black. Do you have a problem with black people? My dad adopted me and the way you just reacted was so rude.”

“I don’t have a problem with black people, why would you say that!?”

“Well, you’re acting like you’ve never seen a black person right now.”

“It’s not that… I don’t know… I’m just surprised, I guess, based off of how you look I expected your family to be white.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t assume things based off of how someone looks. I thought they taught us that in elementary school.”

“Wow, you’re being an ass right now.”

“You should probably just go. I don’t want you here anymore.”

“But, I don’t have a ride, you drove me!”

“Call an Uber or something, I don’t care.” Ignoring the high pitched screech Whitney makes behind my back, I go get a drink before going over to the table with all of my friends. Maybe I did overreact or was just looking for a reason to avoid her meeting my parents, but I am sick of rude questions and reactions from people about how my family looks because it’s not what they expect a family to look like.