Chapter fourteen
"What you doing pretty girl?" Ezra asked Haven as she laid at the end of his bed.
"I'm thinking if I want to go see my dad."
That made Ezra sit up in shock, he knew everything that went on with their family so that shocked him.
"Why would you?"
"Closure." She spoke. "Maybe that's why we react the way we do when she gets bought up because we don't know how to accept and let go."
"You talked to your sisters about this?"
"Only Genesis. I don't think Flaire and Indigo would be okay with it, even though I'm not looking for them to be. It's my closure."
"Maybe y'all need family therapy, it helped my family."
"Y'all did family therapy?" Haven asked confused. As far as she knew they were always the perfect family, leading other people by example.
"Yeah." Ezra nodded playing with her toes. "My parents fell out of love, they'll argue every day, barely touched each other, it led to separation. Therapy was how they fell back in love."
"Did anyone cheat?"
"Not that I know of but I doubt it."
Haven nodded her head feeling jealous. She wished her parents would've tried therapy, maybe it would've prevented a lot of things.
A knock sounded on Ezra's door making both of their attention go onto it as he yelled for whoever it was to come in.
"Ezzy did you- oh hey Haven." Regina greeted making Haven slightly wave. "Did you ever get the chance to get all my work?"
"Oh shit, yeah. It's right there on the dresser." He pointed making her grab it.
"Thank you, your mom said to tell you to put your basket outside your room."
"Tell her I already did my laundry."
"Okay, thank you again." She spoke closing the door then opened it back up. "Also can you come with me to get the rest of my things?"
"Yeah, we could do it later."
"Thank you Ezzy." She spoke walking out as Haven continued looking at the door.
"If you decide to go, I'll go with you for support," Ezra told her making her smile.
"That'll mean a lot to me. With everything going on lately, it feels weird to have something going so right."
"We'll always be right." He kissed her foot making her pull it back.
"That's nasty Ezra." She laughed. "Can we watch tv now?"
"All you ever wanna do is watch tv."
"And all you ever wanna do is play the game."
"You in my business?"
"Don't play with me." She threw a pillow at him making him catch it.
"Football player babygirl." He smirked making her bust out laughing.
"You're so corny."
"What you wanna watch?" He asked grabbing the remote.
"Something scary."
"You the only person I know who is always in the mood for something scary, you trying to become a serial killer?"
"Possibly." She smiled laying on her stomach.
Ezra shook his head going to different networks going through all their horror films waiting for Haven to pick one. If she didn't pick one soon, he'll pick one and she was going to be mad at his choice.
~
Flaire walked into the hospital with Brat on her right, she held Ra and Blaire food in her hands waiting for the elevator.
Ra finally woke up and Flaire hasn't left his side unless it was to go to school. She joked that she wasn't letting him out of her sight anymore, even though she was serious.
She walked into his room seeing Blaire, Ant, and three more people she didn't know. She didn't bother introducing herself either because she didn't care.
"Y'all this Flaire and Brat, Flaire this Noodles, CJ and my sister Nat." Ra introduced grabbing his food moving over so Flaire can sit down.
"Hey." She waved sitting down.
"This the one who beat up Mya?" CJ asked.
"Yeah, I remember her from the live." Noodles spoke making Flaire look at them.
Knowing people remember her from fighting made her feel slightly embarrassed. She used to love people knowing she could fight but right now she just felt nasty like she was too old for that.
"Y'all got the video? She won't let me see." Ra spoke.
"I'll send it to you," CJ spoke. "Man your girl was bugging, she was yelling for Mya to fight back."
"She wasn't fighting back?" Ra squinted his eyes in shock.
"At first she was but your girl hits were coming too fast and too hard for her."
"You gassing it." Nat chuckled. "She fought back from beginning to end."
"But she didn't," Brat spoke out. "Sis felt her mouth start bleeding and tried to swing my best friend to the ground. Sober to drunk my best friend don't ever stop swinging. Now next topic."
Flaire looked at her smiling as she shook her head, one thing about Brat she gon speak her mind.
"When you leave?" Ra asked.
"Tomorrow sadly." Brat frowned.
Her school went under evaluation after multiple students were catching the same illness, they shut the school down for three weeks but now it was time to go back.
"Damn, we ain't get to do shit. Next time you come shit gon be fun."
"I'll be back soon." Brat smiled.
She hated she didn't live here anymore, this was her home. She hated her parents so much for deciding to move her senior year.
"We bout to head out," Nat spoke. "We'll be back tomorrow."
"Word, see you later bro. Love you." Noodles spoke.
"Nice meeting y'all too," CJ spoke looking at Brat. "What was ya name again?"
"Brat."
"Because you look like one?" He asked looking her up and down as she studied him.
"Exactly why."
"Yeah, I see it. Your gorgeous mama."
"Thank you," She smiled.
"Aight CJ walk yo broke ass outta here." Blaire stood up making Ant bust out laughing from getting caught off guard.
"Let me know if you need anything, Rara." Nat hugged Ra for the seventh time. "Just call me and I'll come through."
"I'm good Nat."
"Bet, see you later Fire." She spoke making her look up from her phone.
"That's cute, my baby sister does that petty shit too." Flaire put her phone down. "The only difference is I'll beat you the fuck up."
"Girl, you doing too much." Nat chuckled. "It was a joke."
"I just met you bitch, ain't shit funny."
"Whewww." Brat laughed.
Cause one thing about Flaire she was gon speak her mind.
Nat didn't bother responding as they walked out as Ant was still laughing, the people in his life were hilarious.
"She likes you," Flaire spoke looking at Ra.
"Flaire that's my sister."
"Blood?"
"No."
"Then she likes you, that's why she hugged you that many times trying to be funny and shit."
"Definitely." Brat agreed.
"We not finna do this today." Ra chuckled.
"Man, you know Nat like yo ass. I been telling you that shit." Ant spoke. "She thinks this one of these porn videos stepbrother gives stepsister BBC while parents sleep."
"Stepsister?" Flaire asked.
"I said she was my sister."
"Oh, she definitely likes you."
"Horny Ebony sneaks in stepbrother's room while parents sleep peacefully," Brat added making everybody laugh.
"Anyways, I get discharged today. As soon as my labs come back, should be in another hour."
"Why did you wait until now to tell me?"
"Because I wanted to see this smile on your face."
"Y'all wanna step out real quick?" Ant asked Blaire and Brat as all three of them stood up.
"I'mma go sit in my car and smoke or something," Brat told Flaire.
"Nah, you coming with us girl." Ant told her making her roll her eyes as she chuckled but agreed.
Brat, Blaire, and Ant walked out of the room closing the door as Flaire looked at Ra. His neck was tapped up and his head was bushy but he was still so fine. She loved looking at him.
"What you looking at this time?"
"You." She admitted making him smile showing his teeth.
He patted the bed lifting up the cover so she can lay down as she took off her shoes getting under the cover with him.
"What's new? Put me on to everything that's been happening."
"Not much really. I've been going to school then here so I haven't been into much." She shrugged. "Oh, Haven punch Sapphire."
"Haven?" He asked shocked.
"Yes!" Flaire laughed. "Sapphire threw a shot about our mom and Haven hit her like three times. Look I got the video."
"Little Haven growing the hell up." He spoke looking at the video. "Ooh, and she hit her hard as hell."
"Right, proudest big sister."
"You could show me that video but won't show me the video of you fighting."
"Here Ra." She spoke handing him her phone.
He sat there and analyzed the video more than once shaking his head, he saw how Flaire kept telling her she didn't wanna fight but she insisted and got beat up.
"Why you didn't want me to see this?" He asked handing her back her phone.
"Because that shit is embarrassing." She said making him go confused. "I don't want you to see me and just think fighting is all I'm good for. Shit, I bake too."
He chuckled pushing her head so they can look into each other eyes. "I know you good for plenty. I think you finally realize you don't always have to fight."
"I am but when I try to walk away I still have to fight and it's like can I just be in peace for one day?"
"You can if you really want to though."
"Yeah, maybe." She nodded. "Are you ready to get out of here?"
"Am I? I'm praying these labs be some good news, I can't spend one more day in here. Plus I miss my baby girl."
"Did you speak to the cops?"
"Told them I don't remember anything."
"Why the hell would you do that?" She sat up.
"Flaire that's my child's mother."
"And that's also the bitch who shot you, she tried to kill you. You think if it was the other way around she'll be trying to protect you?"
"Flaire-"
"That's the stupidest shit ever. She doesn't give a flying fuck about you, why were you even over there?"
"I was trying to tell her to leave me the fuck alone so I could be with you."
"She's never going to leave you alone because you're being so fucking dumb. Do you think because she says she loves you she does? Love doesn't involve getting a gun! You don't grab a fucking gun to prove you love someone unconditionally because if she can hurt you she can hurt her child."
Ra furrowed his eyebrows confused as tears started running down her face as he sat up trying to grab her to get her to calm down.
"I just need to leave, I'll talk to you later."
"Flaire, Flaire, Flaire!" He got louder as she walked out making him confused.
He just didn't understand why she was so mad. He pulled out his phone to call Blaire who didn't answer the first time but when he called back the second time he answered.
"Wassup? You getting discharged?" He asked putting him on speaker since he was driving.
"Brah, Flaire just went the fuck off on me crying and all then walked out."
"What you do to her?" Brat asked getting alert.
"She asked me did I tell the police Mya shot me then when I said no she started going off talm bout "love don't involve a gun and shit" I don't even know what happened we were doing so good."
"Drop me off to my car please," Brat spoke.
"It's not you Ra, it's the situation itself," Blaire spoke.
"What the fuck does that mean? I know she was mad I got shot-"
"Not the situation with you but her parents. You'll understand when she tells you the full story."
"The doctors just walked in, I'm bout to get discharged."
"Five minutes away."
"Bet, I'll be ready man."
Ra tried calling Flaire but it rang making him shake his head, he hoped he wasn't wrong about Flaire. He really liked her and wanted it to lead to something more.
~
Indigo woke up from her nap on the phone with Sevyn as they laughed about something that happened in school earlier. She walked into the kitchen seeing Genesis eating at the table with Alana. She grabbed the bowl and spoon taking over making Genesis get up to start cleaning.
"Can you watch Alana real quick so I can bring Devon lunch?"
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing, why?"
"Let's try you using a shirt to clean the counter." Indigo furrowed her eyebrows. "Let's not even talk about your clothes being on wrong."
"I'm so tired. I haven't been able to focus on my work because I have to take care of everybody, y'all getting suspended, being Devon's wife, being a mother before I was ready. It's just a lot Indigo and sometimes I just want to give up for a day, just one day."
"Let me call you back Sevyn." She hung up as she continued. "You need to stop letting everybody depend on you when you're not mentally able to. You can get a break, you deserve one."
"Not being a mom to four damn kids."
"Genesis you don't have to cook dinner every night or clean, we can take turns," Indigo said. "I'll take over right now. Go sleep or do some work, I'll take them their lunch and deal with Alana."
"Indigo-"
"I got it, sissy."
"Okay, thank you." She kissed her forehead then went upstairs.
Indigo grabbed the pans of food putting them in Genesis truck as she went back making sure she didn't forget anything. Grabbing Alana, she strapped her in her car seat making sure it was strapped on tight. She walked to the driver's seat starting her way to the firehouse.
When she got to the firehouse, she put Alana in her stroller as she put all the food on top praying she didn't drop anything. When she walked into the firehouse she seen the many men almost making her drool, these damn fine ass men in uniform were looking amazing.
"Indi?" She heard Devon make her look at him as he rushed to her grabbing the food. "Where my wife?"
"Home and you need to talk to her."
"What happened?" He asked starting to worry.
"She was just telling me how she's under so much pressure and stress being everything at once. I told her we can start doing things to relieve her stress."
"I'll talk to her when I get home, we could all have a family meeting to decide what's our next step."
"There goes my Goddaughter." The fire chief, Davidson, spoke walking towards them. "Let me see her."
He unbuckled the straps as she smiled with drool falling out her mouth, she loved being around people and picked up. She was always a happy baby unless she was hungry then nobody got peace.
"Y'all all know my little sister Indi. Indi, you know everybody except our probies Martin and Milly." Devon pointed out making everybody turn to look at her.
"This ain't lil Indi?" Melendez spoke standing to hug her.
"You got so damn big," Dominique spoke hugging her. "And so pretty."
"Thank you," Indigo spoke.
Indigo used to love coming to work with Devon on the weekends but once she started taking cheerleading seriously, she stopped coming around.
"I actually miss y'all." Indigo smiled making a bunch of them look at her sideways.
"Girl byeee, I heard you got a lil boyfriend now too," Dominique smirked making her smile.
"Yeah, I do."
"Nobody wanna hear all that talk, ya hear me na'?" Bunky spoke making them laugh.
"You finna stay until my shift over?" Devon asked knowing he had an hour and some change left to leave.
"She ain't doing nothing, she could stay," Duke spoke.
"I actually was going to stay." She rolled her eyes chuckling as she sat down watching Alana getting passed around the room. "What's your name?"
"Martin." The boy spoke making her scrunch her face up.
His voice was so deep she could've sworn she felt the vibration from the table.
"So you're Milly." She spoke making the boy nod. "Y'all kinda resemble, y'all family?"
"Cousins," Milly spoke.
"I don't look like his ugly ass," Martin spoke making Indigo look at his lips as they both chuckled.
He was so damn fine. 90s fine.
"Aye Indigo, how old you are now?" Jack asked.
"14!" Devon lied making her look at him.
"That girl is 17, stop lying on her." Dominque laughed making Indigo nod.
"Right, I don't know why he lied like that."
"Maybe because I liked you better when you were a kid."
"Whoomp whoomp," Indigo spoke making them laugh.
"You know what I don't understand?" Milly asked getting everybody's attention. "Why can't young people ask old people their age but old people could ask us our age?"
Most of them smacked their teeth while Indigo laughed along with Martin.
"Y'all smacking y'all teeth but when I asked y'all ages the first day y'all assigned me to kitchen duty for two months. Let's be adults here now."
"I agree," Indigo spoke. "When I asked Chief how old his daughter was he told me to mind my business but we really know he didn't answer because he didn't want me to figure his age."
"You know what you "young people" need? To show some damn respect." Melendez said making everybody laugh.
"Thanks for having my back, this quiet ass nigga never wanna speak up," Milly said making Martin lookup.
"Since you wanna ask questions, you know what I don't understand?" Devon asked. "Why is the bathroom still not clean?"
"This is why I don't have your back now." Martin chuckled making Indigo laugh.
"I'm going." Milly chuckled going up the stairs.
"What you said your name was?" Martin asked making her look back over.
"Indigo."
"That's a pretty ass name."
"Thank you, my sisters and I all have pretty names." She smiled proudly.
"So Devon the only boy?"
"Devon isn't my brother by blood, he's married to my sister."
"Word cause I believe Devon told me he was the only child so I was looking at him a little sideways."
"Devon's been in my life since I was like 2, he and my sister have been together since elementary school. He's the closest thing I have to a brother and a father in a way."
"That's how I feel about my oldest sister, when my mother died she had to become the person to take care of me. Thinking about that shit makes me kinda more appreciative of her. She ain't have to take care of my ass, she was just a child herself."
Indigo just nodded her head as she started thinking, Genesis gave up her life to be a mother to kids that weren't hers and never once complained about it. While grieving herself, she still had to be strong.
It hurt her heart thinking of all the times she was ungrateful.
~
"You ready to go back to school?" Ezra asked Regina as he stood in the doorway of her room.
"Not really."
"Why not?" He asked coming to sit on her bed. "Your face healed up, nobody knows your business or what happened to you-"
"You didn't tell Haven?"
"That's not Haven business or anybody else," Ezra spoke. "Even if I did, Haven definitely wouldn't have told your business."
"Thank you for always being there for me."
"Of course, I made a promise. Just because you are safe now doesn't make my promise any less valid, your secret is still safe with me."
"I was watching you and Haven at dinner and I was kind of sad." She spoke looking down at her feet. "We never had a chance to be so open and happy."
"Reg-"
"I'm happy for you, Ezzy." She smiled sadly. "You don't have to hide your happiness because of me."
"I don't." Ezra furrowed his eyebrows.
"Whenever you and Haven are together you will be on her heavily but when I come around you'll drop her hand or just be weird."
"I do it to not rub it in your face Reg, we're not in a relationship but I don't want you to-"
"You don't have to do that though, I've been through a lot and you've been through it right along with me. You deserve happiness."
Ezra stood up to go hug Reg as she wrapped her arms around him.
"You deserve happiness Reg." He told her making her start to cry. "You're used to getting told you're nothing but you're going to be everything you want to be. The family, career, and everything else we talked about is coming to you."
Regina didn't say anything as they hugged in silence while she cried.
Ezra always reminded her what she could be because he knows she got talked down so many times. Ezra saw the beauty in Regina even if no one else did because he knew the real her.
She was a terrible person to other people because she was so hurt. Hurt people hurt people and he saw right through her, he knew she had a kind heart.
"Y'all good?" He heard his mom ask making them both look at the door.
"She just needed to be reminded better days are coming," Ezra spoke.
"They are ." His mom nodded. "I came to tell you they changed the time of your session to 11 A.M so I'll be coming to get you from school early."
"Do the school know?"
"Your principal and guidance counselors do but they aren't legally allowed to tell anyone so no one will know your business."
"Thank you so much." She went to hug her making her smile.
"Told you to stop thanking me." She hugged her tightly then looked at Ezra. "Flaire's downstairs."
"Okay, I'm coming." He spoke making her nod going out of the room. "When you go to therapy tomorrow don't hold back Reg and be honest. Therapy isn't going to work unless you hold yourself accountable."
"Okay." She nodded. "I love you, Ezra, thank you for everything."
"No doubt, I love you too."
He closed her door then went downstairs seeing Flaire eating his Rice Krispie treats making him get slightly annoyed. Nobody touched his shit but her.
"I swear to God, the only reason I'm letting you slide with this shit is that you look sad as hell."
"He's not going to tell the cops his baby mother shot his dumb ass because that's his child mother." She mocked his voice making him chuckle as he sat next to her. "He says he been abused by her, he ready to move on to the happiness part of his life but when he has a chance to hold her accountable for some shit it's his child mother."
"Flaire, I understand what you saying but think about it from his point of view. He's thinking about his daughter-"
"Was she?" She tilted her head. "Her daughter wasn't even 25 feet away from them when she shot his ass. What if she missed and the bullet went through the wall? What if he died? Then the shit would've been too late to tell anybody about it."
Ezra looked at Flaire tilting his head, Flaire really liked this nigga.
"Imma just leave his ass alone." She stood up. "I'm going home, I love you."
"Flaire, you came for my advice and don't-" He couldn't complete his sentence because she walked out making him shake his head. "I love you more!"
He sat there then shook his head once more, the women in his life were something else. He walked into his room turning on his game seeing Tyke and Keygan was online making him nod his head as he grabbed his headphones.
"Alright, we gon have to make this shit quick. Haven ass gon call and complain about the game."
"I got Nina spending a night so I wasn't finna be on this shit for long anyway," Keygan said.
"Nina Nina Nina," Ezra repeated her name trying to recognize her. "The quiet one with the glasses?"
"They say them bitches that can't see be freaks." Tyke chuckled.
"Let's hope so. What y'all wanna get y'all ass kicked in?"
"Yeah aight nigga." Tyke and Ezra said at the same time.
______________
Anyone fighting any mental battles, I love you & you'll get the happy ending you deserve. I'm rooting for you.