Remember Me

XIII

Laura was on the couch watching TV and he joined her, sitting on the far end so he could stretch his legs across her lap. She was watching some ratchet TV show but he didn't really mind, he just liked spending time with her. That was one thing about his mother that he loved. She wasn't perfect. Now that he was older and he looked back on the way she raised him, she didn't always make the best decisions; but she did great for someone who was raising him alone most of the time. She was also young when she had him with no guidance so he would never point out the flaws in how she brought him up.

Laura glanced at Takashi, her eyes sunken in slightly, showing she hadn't been getting any sleep lately. "You know Toryn got fired from her job this morning? The manager called and told me."

"Damn. Word?" Takashi said uninterested. He loved his little dork but ever since she started a relationship with Samir, things had been going downhill for her, so she was honestly bringing it on herself.

The house was quiet since it was only the two of them at home. Toryn was at work but now hearing that she had been fired, Takashi guessed Samir had picked her up and she was over at his house now. He knew she would get over it so he saw no sense in calling her about it.

"Yeah, the manager said complaints and issues have been going on with her for a while...he said multiple employees catch her talking to herself all the time...he says he has to constantly repeat a task to her before she does it...and that if he tells her something she doesn't do it right...she stopped talking to her coworkers...said he had to let her go this morning."

Laura shook her head knowing all of the things her manager Lenard from the bookstore mentioned was traits from her Schizophrenia. Disorganized thought, memory loss, hallucination, paranoia. Nobody knew about her mental disorder because she hadn't put that on the application. So as far as Lenard was concerned, he just assumed it was a personal problem at home that was affecting her ability to work.

"They gonna put that on her resumé and shit?"

Laura shrugged, "They gonna have to put something. She didn't quit, she got fired so they have to put a reason for why they let her go." Laura bounced one of her legs causing his legs to raise in the air. They looked at each other, "You should go over to Samir's house and see how she's doing...you know she's messed up over it. She's been working there for three years."

Takashi gave his mother a look that let her know that suggestion was dead on the spot. "Yeah, aight." He said sarcastically. Nobody knew about the comment Samir made that night because Takashi never said anything; but after that, he steered clear of Samir.

He knew he could go to Samir's house because Dupree lived there and they were friends, but just knowing Samir lived there is the exact reason Takashi stopped going over. He kept shit sweet around Dupree in school and when they hung out because he couldn't disrespect his brother, but basically in not so many words, Takashi didn't like Samir.

A horn honked from outside and Takashi and Laura looked at each other again. "He's here!" They both said in unison.

Takashi got up and kissed his mom on the forehead. "See you later."

*****

"BOY WHY YOU ALWAYS LOOKING LIKE A HOOLIGAN?" Florence questioned, taking his eyes off the road for a quick second to look at his son. He was dressed down in black sneakers, a red wine colored silk material sweatpants, a black t-shirt along with the matching red sweatsuit jacket over the shirt that had the Under Amor logo on it.

Takashi clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, looking up from his phone as he narrowed his eyes at his dad in amusement. "What? How I look like a Hooligan? It's a tracksuit."