aliana pov
"i can't believe she actually left and you didn't stop her." isaiah complains.
"if his mother is dying, then she needs to be there for him." dad says.
"he broke her heart dad." uriah adds.
"do you know how close she was with his mother before they broke up? did you hear the conversations they had with each other? his mother loved her and i know for a fact kiara loved her too. you're not taking this away from her." geo shouts. he looks at isaiah and uriah angrily. "i'm trying to be a better father. i'm trying to make those tough decisions. i don't need you two telling me what's best for my daughter. you hear me?"
"yes dad." isaiah groans.
"yea." uriah sighs.
the doorbell rings. geo sighs. he shakes his head as he walks to the door. he opens it. mikey stands on the other side.
"hey geo." mikey says.
"mikey. what are you doing here?" geo replies, confusion clearly shown on his face.
"i came here to see kiara. is she here?" mikey questions.
"no, she's-she's out helping a friend right now." geo answers.
"do you know when she's gonna get back?" mikey asks. he looks to geo hopefully.
"honestly, there's no telling." geo sighs.
"ok." mikey spoke.
"do you want me to give her a message or something?" geo asks.
"uh-no. actually, please don't tell her i came by?"
"yea. sure." geo nods his head.
"thanks." mikey smiles shyly. he turns to walk away. geo closes the door softly.
"what the hell was that?" geo asks.
i shrug my shoulders.
"i have a serious question." tobiah says raising a finger in the air.
"go on." isaiah says.
"who broke up with who?" tobiah asks.
isaiah, uriah and geo turn to me resulting in tobiah doing the same.
"he broke up with her." i say.
"so why was he here?" tobiah questions.
"that's a good question." uriah says.
kiara pov
i walk through the front door. i sigh. i walk into the kitchen with my head down. i open the fridgerator door and grab a water. i close the fridge and turn around to find isaiah, aliana, uriah, tobiah and dad all in the living room watching me.
"you ok?" aliana asks.
"no. not at all." i sigh. i place the water down on the kitchen island.
"what happened?" tobiah asks.
"his mom died about 10 minutes after i got there." i sigh.
tobiah walks up to me and hugs me. i hug him back as tears gently fall from my face. he pulls away slowly.
"you wanna talk about it?" tobiah asks.
"no. i really just want to lay down." i sigh.
he nods his head and leads me to the couch. he sits down and sits me beside him. he pulls me close to him.
"you gonna be ok tonight, kiara?" isaiah asks.
"i don't know. there was a lot going on. i still have to check on sean and erica." i sigh.
"come on. let's get you to bed." tobiah says. he holds me as he stands up from the couch.
"are you sure tobiah? i can take her if you-" dad starts, but tobiah cuts him off.
"it's ok. i got it. it'll give me a chance to try to be a good big brother." tobiah replies.
tobiah leads me to the stairs. we walk past isaiah's room and into mine.
"change clothes, ok. let me know when you're done." tobiah says. he looks me in my eyes. i nod my head.
"ok." i sigh.
he shoots me a small smile and walks out of my room, closing the door behind him.
tobiah pov
"ok. i'm done." kiara says as she knocks on her room door.
i open her door and walk inside. she gets under her covers and snuggles against the sheets. i sit at the edge of her bed. she looks to me expectantly.
"i'm not really good at this big brother thing. i honestly don't know how i'm supposed to deal with this, so, bare with me." i take a deep breath. she watches me, waiting patiently as another tear makes its way down her face. "times like this are gonna be hard. all i ask of you in a situation like this is to stay strong. it's ok to cry sometimes and it's ok to be vulnerable. you may not want to, but you have to talk about these things. you have people who are willing to take care of you if you need it."
"thanks, tobi." she smiles weakly. i chuckle.
"that's what mom calls me." i smile.
"really?"
"yea. i'll make an exception for you though." i nudge her with my elbow slightly.
the both of us laugh as we take in the moment between us. i smile at her as she smiles at me.
"you gonna be ok tonight?" i ask.
"no. i'm not." she laughs shyly.
"you want me to stay?" i ask.
"just until i fall asleep." she says, using a high-pitched tone.
"scoot over."
i smile. she smiles back and scoots over in her bed. i climb under the covers. she scoots closer to me and cuddles me.
"is it ok if i cry?" she asks.
"it's ok to be vulnerable kiara." i reply.
"ok."
seconds later, she gently sobs against my chest.
"sorry about your shirt." she cries.
"it doesn't matter. i have other shirts." i sigh.
"thanks for being here for me." she says.
"of course. you're my sister. the only one i've got. i'll always be here for you" i smile.
"i just don't know how to deal with this. she's actually gone." kiara sobs even more.
"just go to sleep, ok? go to sleep." i sigh.
(later)
i close kiara's door softly. i walk back downstairs and into the kitchen. i grab a water from the fridge. i walk back into the living room with aliana, uriah and isaiah.
"she sleep?" isaiah asks.
"yea. she cried a lot before she went to sleep." i reply. i plop down on the couch.
"i can see that." aliana says grabbing my shirt to get a better look. tear stains cover the entire front of my shirt.
"look at you stepping up, being a good big brother." uriah nudges my shoulder.
"did i do good for my first time?" i ask looking to uriah and isaiah for an answer.
"yea." isaiah nods.
"yea. yea, you stepped up. you were there for her when she needed someone." uriah says.
"you did bring out a side of her i haven't seen in a while." isaiah adds.
"what are you talking about?' i ask turning my attention to him.
"she seemed so small and fragile. all she wanted was to be held and loved. she hasn't been that way since tiana died." isaiah says.
"really?" i ask.
"yea." he nods.
"maybe you're better at this brother thing than you thought." aliana says.
"i'm going to bed. it's been a long day and i have to go back to campus tomorrow." uriah says. he stands from the couch and heads toward the stairs.
"same. i'm tired." isaiah fake yawns. "long day."
i shake my head. the both of them head upstairs.
"you can take the guest room. i'll sleep on the couch." aliana says.
"aliana. we've talked about this already. you take the guest room. i'll take the couch." i say.
"ok." she sighs.
kiara walks into the living room.
"tobi? can you sleep with me tonight?" she asks.
"yea. i'll be up in a minute ok?" i reply.
"ok." she says. "goodnight ali."
"goodnight ki." aliana replies.
kiara walks back upstairs.
i go to the corner of the room and grab my overnight bag. i swiftly remove my tear stained shirt and toss it to the side. i look over at aliana to find her silently watching me from the kitchen.
"what?" i ask, a smirk appearing on my face.
"nothing." she shakes her head. "i'll see you tomorrow." aliana says. she smiles. she walks off toward the guest room.
"see you." i reply. i slide on another shirt with a smile. i walk back to the couch. i grab my water off the coffee table. i head back upstairs. i walk into kiara's room. she's already in her bed.
"get in loser. i'm sleepy." she says.
i smile and walk to the other side of the bed. i climb under the covers. i snuggle in as kiara scoots closer to me. she cuddles up to me.
"thanks for helping me today." she says.
"what are brothers for?" i say. i look down at her with a smile. she smiles back and cuddles closer to me.
"goodnight." she breathes softly.
"goodnight." i reply. i slowly let myself drift off to sleep.
(the next morning)
my eyes slowly flutter open. i look to my right to see kiara sleeping soundly on her side. i slowly try to slide from the bed.
"where are you going tobiah?" kiara asks. i freeze. i look over to my right at her.
"i didn't know if you were sleep or not so i just thought it would be better if i didn't wake you." i reply.
"that's very thoughtful of you. thank you. for the record though, i've been up since 6:27." she replies.
"you couldn't go back to sleep?" i ask.
"no. every time i tried, i ended up dreaming about sean's mom and woke up." she replies, her eyes still closed.
"you wanna talk about it?" i ask.
"nah. i'm ok." she finally opens her eyes to look at me.
"you sure?" i ask.
"yea. if i need to talk, i'll make sure to call you." she says.
"ok." i climb from the bed. "i'll see you later."
"ok, and don't flirt with aliana anymore." i turn around to look at her. "you're not slick." she points at me sternly.
i smile and shake my head as i leave her room.
mikey pov
"let's go mike." maliki asks.
i grab my phone off the kitchen island. i follow maliki and samila out the front door. the three of us walk to maliki's car. samila gets in the back as i get in the passenger seat. maliki takes his place in the driver's seat. he grabs the aux cord and plugs it into his phone. moneybagg yo blasts through the speakers.
maliki takes off down the road. he drives for a good 25 minutes before pulling up to the mall. he quickly finds a parking spot. the three of us hop out the car. we walk into the mall together. we immediately head to courtside to look for shoes. i immediately go to the jordan 1's. samila follows me. i find a pair of nike dunks.
"i like those." samila says pointing to the shoe in my hand. "are you getting it?" she asks.
"yea." i reply.
"then i'm getting a matching pair." she replies. maliki walks up beside me.
"me too." maliki says. i look at him. he smiles at me. "what's the name of it?"
"coconut milk jordan 1." i reply, looking at the tag.
"they're more expensive on stock x." he replies.
"then we might as well get them now." samila replies.
today, the three of us decided to spend the day together. samila and i haven't been on the best of terms the last week, so mom convinced us to spend the day together to try and get back to where we were in our relationship. so far, it's going good, but with samila, you never know.
maliki, samila and i walk up to the register to pay. maliki sets the shoe boxes on the counter.
"who's paying?" samila asks.
maliki looks to me expectantly. i sigh.
"i'll pay." i reply.
"how are you doing today?" the cashier says with a smile.
"i'm good. you?"
"i'm good. thank you."
she scans the bar codes on the boxes. she then bags the boxes in their own separate bags. she taps the screen a couple times.
"that'll be $658.35." she says.
i sigh.
"damn mal. we making his pockets hurt." samila says.
i shake my head with a smile. i pull out my wallet from my pocket. i grab my visa card and insert it into the pay machine. the screen reads "approved" on the machine. i take my card from the machine and grab my bag.
"do you want the receipt?" she asks.
"yes. thank you." i reply. she hands my receipt to me. i turn to look at samila and maliki.
"y'all better get y'all shoes." i say. samila sighs.
she grabs her box. maliki grabs his.
the three of us walk out of courtside together. we walk down the isle and to the food court. we stand in line at panda express.
"i'm gonna go to charlie's philly steaks." maliki says.
"ight." i reply. samila watches as he walks toward charlie's philly steaks, then turns her attention to me.
"you ok?" she asks.
"yea. today has kinda taken my mind off kiara." i reply.
"sorry about that by the way." she says.
"i understand. you disagreed with my actions and you stuck with what you believed was right." i reply.
"even though i went against you?" she asks looking up at me.
"even though you went against me." i say. "you're still my sister. you're supposed to go against me if that's how you truly feel. plus i needed that. you made me realize i do need to start fighting for what i want." i explain.
"thanks mike." she smiles.
"you're welcome." i reply.
the person in front of us in line steps to the side after ordering. samila and i walk up in the line to order.
"hello. what would you like-" the cashier stops mid-sentence. i look away from the menu to look at her after hearing her familiar voice.
"mikey?"
"emma?"
♕⚤♔
~TT