Back & Forth (Aaliyah | Tupac)

Un.

Leah

"Andre, put those down right now. I won't tell you again." I said through gritted teeth. Out of fear of how I would discipline him, he put the scissors back and ran away. I exhaled and resumed making dinner. I still had so much to do and not much time. There was cleaning to do, studying to do, and I had to check over Dana's homework. As a mother, my work was never completely done.

I heard footsteps creep into the kitchen and then into the freezer. I'd adapted eyes in the back of my head and knew that Dana was searching for an ice cream sandwich.

"Put it back." I said in an annoyed tone. I wasn't annoyed but I wanted her to know that being sneaky with me was impossible. She huffed and slammed the refrigerator before stomping off. "Come here." I yelled. I added some more seasoning to the spaghetti sauce. Her stomping ceased and she slowly came back into the kitchen. "Over here." I pointed next to me. "Where I can see you." She came over to me and I put the sauce on one of the eyes that weren't on so I didn't ruin it. I turned to look her in the face.

"Why were you getting an ice cream sandwich?" I placed my hands on my hips.

"I was hungry." She looked down. I lifted her chin.

"Baby girl dinner's almost ready. You know what time we eat dinner. And we always eat dessert after. If you wanted a snack why didn't you get some carrots or grapes or something?" I looked at her play with her fingers. She just shrugged. "Well I want you to grow big and strong. And in order to do that you need to eat dinner. And if you eat dessert before that," I shrugged for emphasis. "You spoil your appetite. Okay?"

"Okay." She nodded her head.

"Okay you can go." She started running off. "Cut the attitude next time too!" I yelled after her.

I heard the jingling of keys and then the door unlocking and smiled. Ty was home. I grabbed four plates, four glasses, and two straws for the kids. I placed spaghetti on each plate along with a piece of garlicky, buttered Italian bread, and some green beans.

"Mm! Smells good in here." Ty came into the kitchen but I didn't bother turning around. He looked over my shoulder at the plates. "Ooh spaghetti." He licked his lips and then placed a kiss on my neck. "Hey babe." I shuttered inside.

"Hi." I said lowly as I finished the touches on the plates.

"Let me get those." He reached for the plates and I moved in front of them.

"Ah, ah, ah." I wagged my index finger at him. "Wash your hands first."

"You right, you right." He went over to the sink and lathered up with soap and water.

"Dana and Andre! Food's ready!" I yelled to the kids as they came running down the hall. I carried the plates and glasses over to the table two at a time.

"Daddy's home!" Dana exclaimed running to Ty, who was still washing his hands, and hugging his leg from behind.

"Daddy!" Andre ran over to Ty grabbing ahold of his other leg.

"Mhm. Y'all never treat me like that." I said jokingly and they all looked at me and laughed. I filled each glass with ice water.

"Why we ain't drinking lemonade?" Andre said as he sat at the table.

"Why aren't we drinking lemonade?" Ty corrected him. Andre nodded his head.