She put her hand on her hip "when? And how come you ain tell me you needed help"
"Because he helped me. And it was a month or two ago. They cut my hours at work one time but it's all straight now" I lied, not wanting to tell her I was given a week off for that altercation with Aysia
"I wanna talk to him. Call him"
"Like right now?"
"No. Like yesterday. Call him"
"Maaaa" I dragged out while grabbing my phone and started to call him but she stopped me
"No. FaceTime him. I wanna see his face"
"Oh my gosh" I laughed, FaceTiming him instead and he answered quick
"Wassup babygirl"
Before I could say anything, my momma snatched the phone prompting me to laugh
"Hey how are you? I'm Analise's mom"
I could hear Dre laugh a little "I'm good. What about you?"
"I'm great! I just wanted to see who this mystery boyfriend is that's been keeping her so busy"
Again, Dre laughed
"Can I ask how old are you?"
"I'm 22"
"Oh okay the- look in the camera real quick"
"Oh my goodness" I sighed, sitting down at the table
"Them your real eyes?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Mkayyy then. You cute so I'll give you that" she told him before looking over at me then at the phone again "I'm bout to ask you a couple of questions but ima walk off because this about to be between just you and me. You hear me?"
" yes ma'am"
"Ma" I called out as she walked off with my phone and I sucked my teeth while autumn came back into the kitchen
"You let her talk to Dre?" She asked, point in the direction of momma who was now gone from the kitchen
"Unfortunately..."
"She bout to play 50 questions with that poor boy"
"Hell be able to handle it. I just hope she don't say nothing out the way"
"Chile you never know with that lady" autumn said as she sat down at the table with me "so lemme tell you bout your sister"
"What now?"
"So Ypu know she gets food stamps still even though she don't have her damn kids.. well I hit her up yesterday cause we supposed to be doing something for Layton's birthday Saturday. I asked her if she could at least give some food for her child's party and she had the nerve to say she's not about to take money from her house to find a birthday party she didn't plan and I'm like girl. This is your child and you already don't take care of her or come to see her. The least you could do was help a little with a party we throwing for her birthday cause she already feel lonely"
"Does momma need help getting food?"
"No but it's just, besides the point. Like my niece is basically being punished because you brought her into this world knowing you wasn't ready to be a parent. The least you could do is give her some food from food stamps you getting off of her. But instead you to busy feeding a lame ass nigga that's only gonna stick around until that new baby is born"
"And she better NEVER ask me for shit" I shrugged "I'll help get food for my niece party. Fuck aubrielle" I told her while standing up and pulled my pants up
"Ana you getting thick"
"I knowww. Ima blame Dre cause I ain started gaining weight until we got together"
"Cause you happy and well fed"
"Well fed on fast food cause the nigga don't cook"
"Why not?" she laughed
"Dre is lazy when it come to cooking. Instead of getting up to go cook him even a simple pack of noodles this nigga will spend money on doordash claiming it's easier"
"I wonder how his refrigerator look"
"Full of nothing" I told her in the best way I could explain because that's what it was. His fridge wasn't empty but it was nothing in it at the same time.
"You better teach that man to cook chileee"
My momma walked into the kitchen handing my phone back and Dre was laughing
"I like him. You lucky" she told me and I looked down at the phone
"What did y'all talk about"
"I can't tell you that" Dre answered "I'm bout to handle some business real quick. Hit me up when you leave Yo momma house"
"Okay. I love you"
" I love you too"
I hung up the phone and saw both autumn and momma grinning at me
"Aweee look at my sister in love"
" don't be annoying" I rolled my eyes and laughed "now momma what did y'all talk about?"
"That's between me and Deandre"
"Why I can't know?"
"Cause. Like I said it's between us. I had to ask him some questions. But just know I like him.. I also invited him to Layton's party Saturday"
"Momma you must really like him" autumn said with an impressed look and momma shrugged
"He seems good for Ana"
"Well that's my baby" I smiled, playing with the salt shaker that was on the table
