Ever since Drake flipped when he found out about all that Safaree thing Nicki has been trying to call him for two days. Nothing. She figured he wanted some space, so space is what he'll got.
But now he was the one calling her and blowing up her notifications. She was done. She was tired of it. Worst part was OJ who has been whining about seeing him and Drake won't even stop for a second and think about visiting his child.
Anyways, Christmas was in a few days and the whole Young Money decided to do Secret Santa for the fun of it since it would be the last day we're all going be in town. After that, Nicki was flying over to NYC to spend the day with my family.
Nicki got Shanell's name so she bought her a few Tiffany bracelets that would look cute with her. Gudda got Nicki's name, he bought her a light pink Louis Vuitton bag.
As the get-together carried on, Nicki could sense Drake staring at her a couple of times, and whenever she would look at him, he pretend like nothing happened. That's really strange, she thought. It was starting to piss her off, so she excused herself from the conversation shr was having with Baby and Wayne, not knowing where to go next. That's when she spotted Shanell sitting on a corner by herself on her phone. She walked over to her and waved her hand over her screen catching her attention while sitting down next to her. Shanell looked at Nicki and gave her a small smile.
"You've been really quiet. Is everything okay?" Nicki asked.
"Yeah, it's nothing."
"Shanell, you can talk to you, you know that."
"No, I don't wanna worry you. You have other things to worry about rather than me."
"I'm worried about you. You're here now, talk to me."
Shanell looked around for something then stood up. Nicki followed her as she led them to the ladies' restroom. After making sure no one was inside, she closed and locked the door.
"Now you're scaring me. what it is?"
"I'm pregnant." She blankly said.
"That's wonderful!" Nicki hugged her but she didn't hug back. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure who the baby daddy is!"
"Oh, wow... Who else could it be?"
Shanell looked away from me. "Some guy I bumped at at the club..."
"Nell, he didn't..." My voice was fading as I didn't want to finish the sentence.
"No, no, no... We were both drunk and, it was what it was."
"Have you told anyone else about this?"
"No, not even my boyfriend, You're the first one to know."
"You have to tell him before he finds out from somebody else."
"I know, I know. I'm just afraid he might break up with me."
So much for déjà vu.
"Look, please tell him. If not for you, for your baby. It may seem hard at first just thinking about it, but it'll be a weigh off your shoulders. Can't guarantee you what will happen but it's worth a shot."
"Thanks. I needed that."
"Your welcome. What are friends for?"
They hugged each other and talked while walking back to the room where everybody was and enjoyed the rest of the day we had together.
***
The next day Nicki woke up with the doorbell ringing. Usually she's not bothered by people coming unannounced, but today she was not in a good mood.
She got up from the bed, slipped on her slippers and put her robe on.
She opened the door to find this man dressed so official and all with a stern look on his face.
"Good morning ma'am."
"Good morning." She said more like a question with a foot and a hand behind the door in case some kind of attempt.
"Is..." He looked down at a paper he was holding. "Onika Maraj here?"
"It's me."
He handed her the paper. She took it from him and gave it a quick scan of it
as her eyes landed on 'Regulation of the Exercise of Parental Responsibility'. After a high-speed reading, she didn't want to believe the little she understood of it.
"Sign here, please." He said now holding a clipboard with a pen on it. Nicki signed everything she had to sign then he dismissed himself. After she closed the door, she sat down on the nearest chair with her eyes still attached to this subpoena. The last thing she needed was Drake fighting for Odell's custody. She wasn't up for that shit.
She went back to her room, grabbed her phone and dialled his number. He picked up on the second ring.
"Drake, what the fuck is this subpoena I just got about?" She yelled into the phone out of angry.
"Good morning to you too."
"Cut the bullshit. I'm serious, what is this?"
"Calm down Nic..."
"Calm down? Calm down?? You want to take my son from me and I have to calm down?"
"Damn it Nicki. Would you just listen for once?" I got quiet. "I'm not trying to take OJ from you. I just want to straight this thing of him staying with me up."
"So you think it's okay for you to just file this in court?"
"What other choice did I have? You're making things complicated."
"How childish can you be?"
"No, the question is, how childish are you? You want to keep OJ away from me? Fine. Let's see what the court says about it."
"You're not taking my son away from me."
"Of course not. I don't have a chance against you in court."
"Then drop this. You know damn well you can come visit whenever you want."
"It's not about that. I want to be able to wake up for him, do breakfast for him, spend the day with him, do man things we can't do because you just have to be around us."
"You're right."
"So, can I take him?"
"Hell no! Go to court. Let the law decide, cause I'm so done with this."
"Fine!"
"Good."
"Good!"
"Fine!" She hang up and slammed my phone to the middle of the bed. She took some deep breaths, didn't want to cause anymore noise by sighing.
She dragged herself over to her son's room where he was sleeping and sat down on the blue bean bag chair and just stared at him in his peaceful slumber. If only he had a clue of what's possibly going on around him. See, this is how life should be. Stressless, peaceful and serene. Why do things have to be such a struggle.
Nicki's trance was cut off when she heard stiffing. OJ was waking up.
"Good morning mom."
"Good morning baby. Are you excited to go see your uncle Caiah?"
"Yessss!" She laughed at the way he jumped out of bed. She loved their uncle-nephew bond, acted like brothers It reminded her of when Jelani and her were kids.
"Good. I'll run your bath. You can pick your clothes then come into the bathroom."
"Okay."
We did as he was told and in two hours their were both ready to leave to the airport for they flight.
***
"Nicki!"
"Caiah!" Nicki squealed opening her arms for the big hug her eleven-year old brother was about to give. She, Safaree and Odell arrived in New York City about an hour ago. Safaree went to see his mom, so it's just Nicki and her baby at her parents'.
"I missed you so much."
"Me too. I'm glad you're spending Christmas with us. I thought you wouldn't make it this year."
"But I'm here now that's all that matters... Now, where did OJ ran off to?"
"Here." Said Carol, coming out of the kitchen holding his hand. She smiled and the two women hugged each other for what it seemed like forever but it was only a matter of seconds.
She invited the traveler to take a bite of something, after Nicki took a two-hour nap before she had to get up again.
Since it was Christmas Eve and Carol's birthday, they decided to go out for dinner. Just the six of them, her parents, brothers and son. It was so relaxing to spend the night with them, cherishing the moments.
After making a toast and having cake that Jelani somehow genuinely arranged at the last minute, the Marajs' went back home. They put the kids to sleep, they looked hella tired, then we stayed up in the living just talking. Nicki was having such a fun time, she lost track of time. It was few after 12 when she excused herself to the hurt room where she'll be staying.
She took a warm shower, then got dressed in a oversized t-shirt and some pj bottoms because it's really could over here.
"Onika." Carol said knocking on the door.
"Come in." Just as Nicki was getting out of the bathroom, Carol was closing the door after she got in.
"Did you enjoy your day?" She asked.
"Of course. With everything I could've asked for."
"I'm glad you liked it." She said going over to thee bed to sit down Indian style while her mom sat on the edge of it.
"But I didn't come here to talk about me."
"Well, what do you want to talk about?"
"You."
"Me?" Nicki raised an eyebrow.
"Yes." She tugged an loose strand of Nicki's hair behind my ear. "Is everything okay with you darlin'?"
"I'm fine, mom, just a little tired from our trip, that's all."
"Now, you and I both know that's not it. Stop pushing me away. Tell me what's going on. It's pretty clear that something's bothering you."
They stared down at each other until Nicki lost it. "Okay, fine..." She went from tell her about about the breakup and makeup with Safaree and his proposal to Drake and her judicial situation.
"I think he's doing the right thing."
"Are you really taking his side?"
"I'm not taking anybody's side. You're being hard-headed about this. Aubrey is OJ's parent too. He has every right to want to spend some quality time with his son. Why do you keep delaying Drake's moment?"
"Because he's not ready."
"He's not ready or you're not ready? You have to learn how to go Nicki. I'm not telling you what to do, but give them a chance. They might even surprise you... I know you're not that mad at him for doing this."
"I am mad at him."
"Because he's mad at you." She paused. "Look, I know you two had history together. It's natural if you still have some feelings left for me, deep in your hear-..."
"Mom!"
"What? Don't jump into conclusions."
"Hmm..."
"As I was saying, maybe you're confused as in where you stand now. It seems like you're using your son to get at each other which only brings the worst out of the two of you.." They stayed in silence as if it was our channel of comment inaction. She gave me a kiss on the forehead and walked over to the door.
"I'm not saying where your heart resides, but do and be whatever and whoever it feels right for you. You deserve better than be here and cry over men. Fight for your true love."
Without any further sayings, she left.
What she said, hit her. Hit her really good. Nicki had no clue what was her mom trying to insinuate, but she was sure of what she wanted. Almost sure.
But what could be unsettling her this much. She knew she has to find some tranquility within herself in order to understand Drake, to see his side.
Maybe her Carol was right. It's time to grow some balls and talk about it, face to face with Drake.
***
Nicki's POV
I walked into the restaurant I told Drake we'd meet up so we could talk. I've been nostalgic these past few weeks and figured out some things I need to get out of my chest. I looked around for him, then I spotted him on a corner table wwaving at me.
"Hi." He greeted me as I sat down and took off my shades.
"Hi."
"How are you?"
"Good as possible. You?"
"Good." He nodded. "I ordered you a glass of water for you if you don't mind."
"Thank you."
We stayed in silent until the waiter came with our drinks.
"So... What did you do for New Year's Eve?"
"Went to Miami, was with my crew. How about you?"
"Went to New York."
"Speaking of which, how's your mother?"
"Oh, she's fine. We spent Christmas with her and the family."
"Coo'." I saw his expression and it said anything but cool. It was my cue.
"Drake..." I bit my lip. "I've been thinking a lot lately and I realised how unfair I've been with you. It's not that I don't want OJ to go with you it's just that, in the past few years everything that's went wrong while raising him I kept blaming it on you and your absence. That wasn't helping at all and... I've felt some type of way towards you for all this time. And then, us suddenly working together was something which made me feel threatened at some point... I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm vulnerable when it comes to my baby. It's scary to me that you finally want to take him in legally. So please, don't judge me." I must have exalted myself because Drake handed me a tissue. I used it to whip a possible tear that may be running down my cheek.
"Sorry if I got a little emotional there."
"It's perfectly fine... And I would never judge you on that. I only did it because I really love OJ. And I have rights upon him. I honestly don't see why are agains it. What else you need for us to take this step ahead?"
"I don't know, trust."
"If you didn't trust me, you wouldn't even let me near him to this point."
"Yeah, maybe you're right but you..." I had a blank right there.
"Ah, see, you don't really have any more reasons. You're just being overprotective." He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Look, let's not fight about this. We're not in this to be at each other's throat but to decide if I can or not take him some time to time. That's all I'm asking for. I hope you can try and analyse what I'm saying."
"I'm sorry about all this. It's just that I'm not used to this type of approach between us."
"What about Safaree?"
"Not even him. My baby almost always was with me, my mom or occasionally one of my girls."
"Defensive as ever... " I nodded. "So we're good then, right?"
"Yeah... But don't drop the process, though."
"Why not?"
"You missed the first six years of OJ's life. There's so much you could have done for him. You have to be penalised for that at some point for that."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah, I mean if it is what you want."
"No, it is what you started."
"Hmm... Let's change topics though, before someone ends up crying for real here." He laughed a little.
"Hey, I wasn't crying, you know it." I tried hard not to laugh.
"I know. I just wanted to see that smile that's cracking up on your face."
I tilted my head to the side a little and let my left dimple show. We both bursted out laughing. Then, we started talking other things like work, just focusing on the positive things we have in common rather than some argument that only now I see it was kind of stupid. Stupid enough to make us forget the main reason that connected us, our wonderful son.