LEMONADE|| Keith Powers

Chapter 14: Dysfunction

"I feel you babe, but you did stare up a big wave of drama that he has to fix but other than that there shouldn't be so much tension between you two, just talk to him," I said. "It isn't that serious babe; you were just asking so I told you" I explained. "Can you talk to him for me? I asked giving him my puppy eyes. "I'll see," I said

Dreux

I dreaded getting out of my sleep to answer the door. Junior was here and it was my week with him. I opened the door to see Mia with her hand over his head... "Hey," she said placing her hands in her pockets.

"Wassup," I said. I haven't talked to her since our argument and I was over it. I didn't care to give her all my energy like before. "Hey Drewy," I said shaking his head. "Hey, dad" he walked in fully. "Alright, be safe," I said. "Um, they upped his dosage so instead of once a day it's twice, "she said slightly swaying her body.

"I got it" I said. "Okay, see you around "she awkwardly turned around. I closed the door without hesitation, had I, not I'd give in and beg her to stay the night. She had me so weak in the knees it pissed me off at times. I peeked out the window making sure she got in her car safely. I peeped the puppy eyes she was giving and I wasn't with it this time. "You do your homework? I asked.

"I tried, I can't focus," he said plopping on the couch. I sat beside him "I know its hard son; we just have to think of a way to keep you focused" I said. My son having ADHD has its moments. I mean he's always full of life and its never a dull moment because I can tolerate it but its now affecting his grades and I know Mia and I talked about our vision for him. We wanted him to go to college but we were worried his condition would affect his performance in school.

"Dad, I have to read this chapter and answer these questions" he explained. Then I thought of a great idea. "How about you highlight as you read, each sentence" I suggested. I watched him excitedly take his markers out of his bag. "I said highlighters" I laughed

"I wanna use markers with different colors," he said roughly pulling the cap off. "Alright, whatever floats your boat man" I sat back watching him.

I listened to him to read every last sentence as he highlighted every word. I rubbed my head; we're going to be here for a while.

The Next Day

I stood beside Ricky as we passed out gifts to the sick children in need. This was our 3rd hospital visit and we had 3 more to go tomorrow. His whole family was apart of this Dreux, Mia, Kamaya, Rudy, Grant, Cortez, Ms. Monica and a few other family members I haven't met. I smiled handing the patients and parents gifts. Seeing the looks on their faces warmed my heart. I know what a handout feels like and it feels good. I looked at these gifts still impressed by the quality of these gifts. These weren't just clothes and books you often to see at drives. They were was Xboxes, ps4's laptops, gift cards, phones etc. Besides the presence of this event made me feel good. I still had in the pack of my head that Ricky started this foundation off the strength of my sister. My sister didn't have an illness but I just think its weird how fast they started this. I know for sure this family is involved in something. I looked up all of their records on case search and couldn't find anything but traffic violations. Ricky may be suave but I'm not as dumb as he thinks I am and Grant. The way Grant acts and the things that he told me made me believe he was some type of kingpin or something.

"Thank you, ma'am"

I snapped out of my daze "You're welcome" I smiled. I felt my phone vibrate and I quickly grabbed it from my back pocket. "Excuse me," I said quickly taking this call. I felt Ricky give look over at me with his attentive self but it was my sister so I didn't care. "Hey, Morgan," I said stepping to the side. "Hi, Jo... I'm bored" she said. I sighed "You can't call me around this time about boredom" I chuckled. "I watched 3 movies already, "she complained. "Did your classmates see you? I asked.