Authors: Jasmine Barber
"Yes ma, but I didn't mean for it to come out the way that it did. So after I made an ass out of myself, she went off. She started yelling about how she didn't need a man for nothing and that I had her messed up. Then she got up and left." he finished.
"Well, Kiy you better be lucky that she didn't slap your simple ass. I definitely taught you growing up to give someone the benefit of the doubt until you are shown otherwise." Anyah reminded him.
"I know ma. I apologized to her the next day at her job. She forgave me, but now she doesn’t want to give me another chance. We became like the best of friends like Mercedes and me were when we were younger, but I want more. I'm not gone give up I tell you that much. It's something about this girl that got me wanting to be more. She reminds me a lot of you." Kiyan said.
"Me? Oh wow, she is definitely wonderful if she reminds you of me," Anyah laughed.
"Yeah she is. But I need help with figuring out what to do next." Kiyan said reminding her that he needed advice.
"Well, all I can say is show her that she's different. Do something you’ve never done before. Figure out what she likes and make it happen," she responded.
"I been doing that but you’re right, I need to do more. I don’t even know where to start. But first I gotta figure out this situation between me and Samara" Kiyan expressed.
"First of all Imma kick your ass, who the hell is Samara and why has it’s been months since you had a new “best friend” but you haven’t brought her to meet me. But that’s another story, tell me about what the hell is going on in your life so I can help you come up with some solutions," Anyah offered. Kiyan and Anyah sat and talked for hours about getting Kiyan back on Brielle's good side. After coming up with a plan, Kiyan ate dinner with his mother and kept her company until she was ready to go to bed. He loved spending time with his mother and he had to remind himself to surprise her more often. He would definitely remember the last thing she said before she laid down to go to sleep, “It’s pointless to sit around and dream about things that could never happen, when you can just wake up and make things happen.” He was going to make sure to make things happen with Brielle. But he had to make a phone call. It was time for his best friend to bring her ass home and do what a best friend was suppose to do, help him fix his fuckups.
Chapter 18
“Why did it take you so long to come back home?" -Kiyan
Kiyan sat at the airport waiting for his best friend to arrive. He missed his
homie, it had been a minute since the two had been together. His mother gave him her version of the advice he needed, but he knew he was sure to fix things with Brielle with his best friend's advice. He looked up and smiled when he saw who he was waiting for. He threw his phone on the passenger seat and got out the car and was met by a happy scream.
"Best friend, I missed you yo," Mercedes said as she hugged Kiyan.
"Word yo, I missed you too. Why did it take you so long to come back home?" Kiyan questioned.
"Damn nigga, you gotta jump straight into a conversation about why I don't come home?" Mercedes joked.
"You can ignore my ass now, but mommy gone get in that ass later. She wants you to come by," Kiyan laughed.
"Aw damn, I didn't come all the way out her to be getting in trouble by mommy." Mercedes frowned.
Mercedes knew Anyah didn't play games when it came to her kids She remembered when they were thirteen and they didn't tell Anyah that Tyrese ran away from his adopted parents. She was about to whop all of them for keeping secrets from her. Mercedes remembered that day like it was yesterday. They were sitting on the porch asking Tyrese if he wanted to tell Anyah about his situation. Before Tyrese had a chance to answer, Anyah came outside pissed. She stood at the door and called all five of them in the house.
"Is there something any of y'all want to tell me?" She asked with her hands on her hips.
"Um no," Kiyan said looking around at his friends.
"Oh really, Mercedes come her,"
Anyah replied. Mercedes got up thinking she was safe from whatever punishment the boys were about to get. Before she knew it, Anyah had a belt in her hand and said, "All of y'all are getting ass whoppings if you don't tell me what's going on with Tyrese."
The kids were silent because they knew Anyah didn't play when she said she was going to do something, you better believe it would happen. They looked at each other and then decided it was better to tell the truth then to lie.
"Ma, I ran away from my house. I'm a foster child and they don't even care about me," Tyrese started.
"That's why he's been staying here so much lately," Kiyan added.
"So when were y'all going to tell me," she questioned.
"I think Tyrese was going to tell you today before you called us in," Mercedes answered.
"We didn't lie ma," Cam added. He didn't want a whopping today, Alonzo didn't either that's why he stayed silent.
They went on to tell Anyah how Tyrese's foster parents didn't even know when he wasn't home. They never spoke to him and they wouldn't even use the money that the state gave them for him. Then Tyrese went on to tell her about the bank account his real parents left for him when he was 11. Anyah couldn't believe the secret that all her "kids" had kept from her these past 2 years. She promised them that she would take care of the situation.
After that day Anyah went down and requested full custody of Tyrese. His foster parents didn't respond to none of the letters sent to their house and when the agent from the adoption agency came to inform them they no longer had custody of Tyrese, they told them that Tyrese was always home with them. Knowing that Tyrese had been with Anyah for the pass 2 months, they quickly deemed them as unfit foster parents. Two days later, Anyah was granted full custody of Tyrese. There was nothing she wouldn't do for her kids whether she birthed them herself or inherited them from their friendship with Kiyan.
Mercedes smiled thinking about how much closer they all became with Anyah after that process was done. Mercedes loved her boys; she was basically one of them. She was the only girl in the group. Whenever you saw the boys, you saw her. When Anyah use to buy the boys matching sneakers, you best to believe Mercedes had a pair of them same sneakers. When Anyah bought season basketball tickets, Mercedes was always included. She was like their little sister, since she was two years younger than Kiyan, Cameron and Tyrese. She was only one year younger than Alonzo.
Mercedes came to Jersey to help Kiyan with his girl problems, but she secretly wanted to move to New Jersey to be closer to her brothers. She had planned to start looking for somewhere to stay. She didn't tell any of the boys yet, because she wanted to surprise them. She also hoped that Kiyan didn't make any plans for her right away because she didn't pack anything. She was ready to shop until she drop all on the expense of one of her brothers, and Kiyan just so happened to have been the one who picked her up from the airport.
They got in the car and Kiy drove off in the direction of the mall. He knew Mercedes like the back of his hand. Mercedes didn’t bring one bag with her, so that meant she wanted to go to the mall to shop. Even though she got treated like one of the boys, her girly side always came out when shopping was involved. He looked over at Mercedes and said, “I missed your big headed ass yo.”
Mercedes smiled and said, “ I missed your
aggy ass to, but you know you paying for everything and carrying my bags.”
Kiyan laughed and replied, “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t make me do that shit.” He missed his little sister and he knew her visit would be good without her bossing him and his boys around.
Chapter 19
“
Kiyan may have a girlfriend but not for long." -Michelle
It was Thursday almost the end of her workweek and Brielle was beginning to stress herself out. So she went to the only person who knew would give her the best advice. Her mother was the only person who didn't mind telling Brielle the truth no matter if it was harsh or not. Brielle was an only child, so her relationship with her mother really meant a lot to her. They became very close over the years. They were basically best friends. Brielle knew her father, but even if he were on fire in front of her she wouldn't acknowledge him. He left her mother all the responsibility of raising a child that they made together. Therefore, Brielle wanted nothing to do with him. Brielle got out of her car and proceeded to take her keys out to her mother's house.
"Mommy, where are you?" Brielle yelled.
"In the kitchen, make sure you take them shoes off," her mother responded.
Brielle just started laughing, her mother was really crazy when it came to shoes being in the house. She missed her and she needed advice so here she was.
"Hey ma," Brielle said hugging her mother.
"Hey baby, to what do I owe this visit" Michelle replied.
"I miss you, so I decided to come spend the day with you." Brielle smiled.
"Spend the day with little ole me?" she joked.
"Yupp, like a whole twenty four hours," Brielle laughed.
"Oh lord, what have you gotten yourself in?" Michelle stepped back.
"I haven't gotten into anything. There has been a lot of things going on and I just need to step back and take a break," Brielle said.
"A lot, like what?" Michelle was starting to get worried.
"Everything. Jaiden is practically stalking me. Kris is starting to get too attached and too demanding. Kiyan is a good friend to me, but it seems too good to be true. My job has me going crazy and I just haven't had a chance to breathe." Brielle answered.
"Why haven't you called me?" Michelle asked.
"First, I was going to call, but then I just waited until we could talk in person. I told you I missed you lady," Brielle smiled.
"Awww, I miss you all the time when you’re not in front of me, she hugged Brielle, now get ready for dinner and we can finish talking then"
Michelle knew Brielle had the whole world on her shoulders and she didn't want her to get so stressed out that she went crazy. She wanted to tell her daughter that she had spoke to Jaiden on multiple occasions and Jaiden was adamant about getting Brielle back. She never had a problem with him, but she knew that he wasn't the one for Brielle. Brielle was her heart and she wanted her to be happy. Jaiden use to make Brielle smile, but she highly doubted he made her happy. As she watched Brielle setting up for dinner, she couldn't help but smile at her baby girl. She was the exact person that she hoped she would grow up to be. She was independent, she had good friends and she had done it all without her mother having to walk her through step by step. She was definitely a proud mother. She would have done the same thing all over again if she had to.
"Okay, so lets start with Jaiden, Michelle said sitting down at the table with her daughter, what's exactly going on?"
"He just doesn’t understand that it's over between us. I wrote the boy a letter. I told him over the phone it was over. One day I was at the mall with Kiyan, I told him I was done with him, but does he leave me alone? No, he won't let it go." Brielle sighed.
"Well you need to tell Jaiden to stop his shit. He can't expect you to take him back after all he put you through. The worse thing a man can do is make a girl fall for him when he has no intention of catching her and that's exactly what Jaiden did. He can't take that back, so now he has to live without you." Michelle preached.
"You’re absolutely right ma, but the problem isn’t me, it's him listening." Brielle reminded her mother.
"Well, you try to tell him one more time, and if that doesn't help I'll talk to Jaiden myself. You know that boy don't want to be on my bad side," Michelle laughed.
"Yeah don't I know it?” Brielle laughed remembering the first time she bought Murder over to meet her mother. He thought he was going to come over her house with his gangsta shit, but Michelle quickly scared his ass to a respectful man.
"Now what's going on with your new friend Kris?" Michelle asked.
"I don't know. He just is doing the most. Like one minute he is cool, then the next he annoys the shit out of me. He had the nerve to ask me to work less. He wants me to depend on him and that's out. Then he gets mad that I won't let him spend the night at my house and what pisses me off the most is he always bring Kiyan name up in our conversations." Brielle explained.
"First off, you need to tell him to slow down. Him constantly aggravating you about spending the night will not speed up the process. He should be lucky that you even let him in the house. My main concern is the fact that he thinks he own you enough to ask you to cut down your work hours. If his ass can't even spend the night he has no business talking about the hours you keep at your business. He done fell and bumped his damn head." Michelle went off.
"I know that's right, look at you going off. Let me find out you about that life," Brielle laughed at her mother.
"Girl bye, you know how your mother get down, I don't play no games behind you. You know you’re my princess," Michelle said.