Bloom

02 | someday

"It's fine da. I'll do it." I promise and relief visibly washes over him. He's still in his work uniform so I know he hasn't had a moment to really rest yet.

"Thank you, baby girl." He kisses both of our heads and leaves, rubbing his lower back.

"Okay, pooh. We need to clean up now. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share." I put Jamari down, along with my purse and throw everything in his toy box.

"Clean up! Clean up!" The two-year-old sings along with me, grabbing a few things and roughly putting them away as well.

About an hour and a half later, we are both bathed and moisturized. Jamari is fast asleep in my bed, drooling a little. I take this opportunity to straighten up the living room, wiping down the coffee table, picking up more toys, and throwing away trash.

The house isn't normally this messy since my parents care a lot about cleanliness, but things have been hectic since big mama passed away. My mother and her siblings are frazzled and my father has been trying to keep up with his wife.

That means a lot of the household cleaning and taking care of Jamari has been put on me.

I love my sister, but I hate her taste in men.

My parents and I were already picking up her baby daddy's slack, but with everything going on and my sister's busy work schedule, I've been really feeling both of their absences. She works hard, for sure and I love my nephew, but I didn't realize that I'd be parent number two damn near.

I fix myself an ice cold cup of water as a reward for finishing up the living room and head back down the hall. Jamari is snoring now and the vanilla candle that I lit earlier has scented the air deliciously.

My phone buzzes from another text message notification. Semaj has emphasized his own message to highlight the fact that I didn't respond yet. I roll my eyes at the bland "wyd" that he sent earlier.

Finna go to sleep. Gn.

Semaj:
damn I wanted to see you tn.

Don't want to.

Semaj:
we don't have to do nothin'. We can just lay up.

I stare at the message for another three seconds before I press the power button to lock my phone, blow out my candle, and turn off the light.

Yeah, right. That's nigga's favorite line.

Just as I'm rubbing my feet together, my screen lights up again.

Ma 🤎:
can you bring me some water?

I take a deep breath before throwing the covers off of myself and heading into the kitchen again.

Man, I gotta get out of this house.

**********

Thursday, September 15 | 12:28 p.m.
Wind Quartz Luxury Apartments

-

"Girl, hurry up! I wanna try to get ahead of this city traffic and you're walking like somebody grandma." Nadirah yells from the driver's seat, sticking her head out of the window and I pick up the pace, rolling my eyes playfully at her.

The the cool air blasting through the vents greets me as soon as I open the door, making my freshly pressed hair stick to my lip gloss.

"Your nails look good, Nadi!" I compliment as we back out of my driveway and my best friend beams, taking one hand off the steering wheel to give me a closer look. They're long with silver tips that are decorated with jewels and a design similar to water droplets. Very futuristic and badass, just like her.