A Lily Among Thorns

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙴𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃

Celai touches her arm and notices Jayelle fighting back her tears. "God sees what you're doing and He's working behind the scenes, getting doors ready for you to open. All you have to do is wait a little while longer. He's not ever going to leave you by yourself in the middle of a storm."

Jayelle sniffs and wipes the tears beginning to run down her cheeks. "I've been trying to save up for a good attorney so I can try and gain custody of Tyler, but I'm on the verge of living paycheck to paycheck so I don't know how long it'll take. I've been thinking of getting another job but that would mean spending less time with Tyler and he's the whole reason-" She stops when she begins getting choked up.

Celai furrows her eyebrows with sorrow. "I'll help," she says quietly.

Jayelle shakes her head. "No, you're saving up for your own place and you have to buy another car soon."

"I'll help," Celai repeats, firmer this time. "I'll pay half of your bills, you just focus on Jesus and Tyler."

"But-"

"I'm not taking no for an answer. I don't pay any bills except my personal ones, and the money I'll get from the insurance company will pay for my new car in full. God had all this happen so that I can help you. Don't shut the door on Him now."

Jayelle nods and a small smile appears on her face. "Thank you," she says.

"Don't thank me, thank the One who put me in this spot," she says pointing up at the ceiling.

Her phone notifies her that her Uber is nearby so she stands up along with Jayelle. They hug each other and Celai tells her, "I'll see you Thursday."

They pull apart and Celai leaves to get in her Uber. Her eyes follow the night sky when the car begins moving and her mind begins wondering about Jayelle's financial situation. She can easily help her, but she knows she isn't the best with money. But that gives her all the more reason to try and mend things with her mom instead of holding a grudge.

Her phone vibrates in her lap and she looks down. Her stomach flips when she sees Julian's name. It's only been a day, but Celai is eager to know what Pastor Edmonds' answer would be to her renovating the church and she hopes that's what Julian is texting her for; she'll be needing the money pretty soon.

And while she'd probably have to enjoy the church project with the pastor instead of Julian, it doesn't take away from the new experience she will get. It won't be just one or two pairs of eyes admiring her talent, there will be several eyes— including God's; it was for Him after all.

She thinks about ignoring Julian's text for a couple minutes, but she knows it'd eat her up inside and she'd rather think of him than Jayelle's unfortunate situation.

She picks up her phone and opens his message. 'Got approval from Pastor. What's next?' it reads.

Excitement spreads over her face and she begins to type back. 'Consultation. Gotta go over prices and discussion on what u want changed. I can prob come up with a sketch pretty quickly after that.'

Thankfully, he responds just as quickly as she did. 'No rush for the sketch. Take as long as u need. I know ur a little perfectionist when it comes to ur work' he sends, followed by a laughing emoji.

Another text bubble appears before Celai can respond. 'But we can set up a consultation. Bernard doesn't want u to be disturbed with church members so how about Friday at 7? It'll only be u and me.'

Celai swallows. Friday night? Just her and Julian? All they had to do was change the location, and it'd seem like a date. Her quick fingers type back, 'That's cool. See u then.'

She drops her phone in her lap and stares back out the car window, her heart beating fast in her chest and it doesn't seem like it'll slow down any time soon.

She's quiet for the rest of the ride, thinking to herself about everything. Her eyes never left the view outside the window. The familiar street, Prospect Avenue, is quickly driven on and Celai can't help but feel a twinge of jealousy, knowing her Uber driver could take her anywhere and not suffer a panic attack.

Jayelle had been with her when she tried to drive on that cursed road that morning, but she nearly had another panic attack so Jayelle took the wheel. However, her best friend made sure to point out that it's only Prospect Avenue Celai struggles to drive on; everywhere else is manageable. The only problem with that is Celai can't get on any main roads without driving on that street.

Celai sees the familiar large and fancy houses and her mother's comes into view, probably being the largest and nicest in the neighborhood. She thanks the Uber driver, "God bless," leaving her lips out of habit and pure thanks as she gets out of the car.

She enters through the front door and sees Kassima is reading a book while Brian is beside her rubbing her feet with his eyes glued to the TV.

"Hey," she says meekly. She doesn't know why there's a hint of nervousness within her. Maybe it's because she turned over a new leaf by not being mad at Kassima. It usually doesn't go this way, so it feels very foreign to her.

Kassima's eyes flick up and she smiles warmly. "Glad to see you made it before the snow."

Celai agrees with a nod. Her mother continues looking at her as she begins going up the stairs. She begins preparing to get a shower when Kassima appears in her doorway.

"Were you at Jayelle's?" she asks.

"Yeah. I should've said something but I was a little upset with you at the moment, my bad."

Kassima furrows her eyebrows. "For what?" she asks. Her voice sounds as if she's racking her brain for what she did wrong.

Celai chuckles and shrugs. "It's silly now, but I found out you put Julian's number in my phone without telling me and it just brought me to an earlier time... I guess it triggered me."

Before Kassima was saved— before her and Celai had a better relationship— she constantly put herself in Celai's love life in an attempt to live the life she couldn't through her. Celai was set up on plenty of dates against her will, told to "act attractive", and all of it occurred the second her mother realized she was beautiful by anyone's standards, at age sixteen.

Kassima frowns. "I didn't mean any malice by it, I sincerely was going to tell you but it slipped my mind. You know I'm not like that anymore, right?"

Celai nods but she isn't completely sold. It's only been a little over a year since Kassima had gotten saved. She promised Celai several times throughout her childhood she'd change and she did, but only for a short while. Though it's the longest amount of time she's changed, Celai feels like she can't let her guard down, not even if she wants to.

"Yeah. Either way, I just had to remove myself for a while. I didn't want to set us back." She sighs, desperately wanting to change the subject "Anyways, I was wondering if you could help me with a money situation of mine," she says, preparing to explain Jayelle's financial matters.

Kassima rolls her eyes. "Girl, you know I work at the bank and I don't like talking about money when I get off. Do you owe anybody money?"

"No."

"Then we can talk about it in the morning." She chuckles and places a kiss on Celai's forehead. "Goodnight," she says. She looks as if she wants to say something else, but instead, she leaves Celai's room.

Celai finally gets in the shower and washes off the events of the day. After, she does her nightly routine and slips into her comfortable bed. She puts something on to watch and begins to feel herself doze off before she drifts into a deep sleep.