Unedited...
It was just a few days before Aaliyah would be bringing her baby home for the first time. She stood in the nursery thinking about everything from when it all started to the morning she gave birth. Now her life was going to really start with mommy duties and things of the sort. She'd been preparing to get less sleep than she was before meaning she was taking multiple naps throughout the day just because she still could. Her hopes were high that everything would be smooth from the day she brought her baby home.
It sucked that she went through such a rough time with postpartum depression but she and everyone else was glad she overcame it. She was still on the road to gaining her healthy weight back and getting herself in shape again but she couldn't help but constantly worry if everything was perfect for the baby to come home. She spent everyday in the nursery moving things around and making sure there was easy access to the things she'd need when she was in there with the baby. Laurent of course didn't understand why she did that so much, but he decided not to question it.
Aaliyah walked back into her own room and laid on the bed for a moment. She stretched out and as she relaxed she placed her hands on her stomach and messed with her belly button ring. Her hands traveled up and she felt her ribs. She tried to ignore it but she felt so boney to herself, she couldn't let it go. He fingertips pounded lightly against each of her ribs. She counted. The closer she got to the bottom, the more upset she became. She hated being that thin. If she could feel her ribs then she knows they were visible to everyone else.
Aaliyah grabbed her laptop and started looking up ways to gain weight. There were a bunch of different supplements and plans she didn't know what would really work for her. She just figured she needed to eat more as well as follow the diet plan her doctor gave her to help her weight come back. But the problem with that was that she never had an appetite like normal. She needed something that would help make her appetite increase so she could actually eat more. She grabbed the paper with the plan on it and read into it.
"The cannabis diet?" Aaliyah read and blinked twice and shook her head quickly. "Wait what?" She read it again and started looking at the meals and recipes on there.
"Hey baby," Laurent said as he walked into the room. She looked at him with a blank expression as he walked to his side of the bed. "What? What's wrong?"
"I have to start using cannabis.." She replied unsure sounding.
Lau kind of stared for a moment. His eyes squinted and his lips pressed in a thin line, he was trying to remember what cannabis was. "Cannabis...?"
"Weed."
"Huh??"
"The diet plan my doctor wants me to try involves marijuana."
"You have to smoke to eat? I have heard of that before. I have a friend who does that."
"Or eat with the substance in it."
A million things were running through her head. How was she supposed to carry out this diet plan while taking care of her daughter? How long would her high even last? She had to do this 3 times a day at least. How was this going to even work?
"When do you start it?" Laurent asked laying back on the bed and putting his arms behind his head.
Aaliyah was shocked. "You're actually agreeing with this? Are you okay, are you sick?" She said reaching over and feeling his forehead.
He chuckled. "Yes I am fine. I tell you I will support you while you get back to your normal self. If that's what you have to do to get that, I support you baby."
"You're so sweet but I don't know if I wanna do that."
He raised an eyebrow signaling that he was asking why without actually saying it.
"I know how I am when I get high and it's not just hungry for food." Aaliyah said rolling her eyes.
Unfortunately, Lau didn't catch on right away. "What do you mean?" He tilted his head "Not just hungry for food.." he said slowly. Aaliyah gave him a blank stare. "Not just... OH!"
"Slowness." She rolled her eyes.
"Shut up. But hey I don't have a problem with that either." He smirked. "It's been a while for that."
She sorted through the stack of bridal magazines on her bedside table. "It really hasn't been that long. Don't know why you're over exaggerating."
Laurent looked at her in disbelief. Did she really believe the words coming out of her own mouth? "The last time we had sex was when we made Lehlanie and that was a accident."
"No it wasn't. The night you proposed to me?" She questioned. "Wasn't that the last time?"
"You wouldn't even let me touch you long enough for that. You were hiding your stomach from me."
Aaliyah sat and thought about it for a moment. Maybe it has been a while since they've been intimate.
"Oh whatever. I don't know if I want to do it or not." She got up and walked into the bathroom before he could start asking questions.
She turned on the shower and threw her clothes in the hamper. She walked past the mirror and turned on her speaker to listen to music and straight into the shower without even giving it a glance. As the hot water ran down her body she thought about what Lau said. It really has been a while and she was surprised that he didn't lose interest after all this time. It was a strange reason that Aaliyah doubted that her and Laurent would be together this long. It was just like a dream to her and she was waiting to wake up and have reality hit her. Her dream was reality though.
She washed her body, carefully washing over her piercings so that her loofah wouldn't get caught on one, then she washed her hair all while singing to the music that was on. Not that she couldn't relax before, but she was very relaxed now.
She got out and dried off then wrapped a towel around her hair. She wiped the fog from the mirror and looked at herself. "Okay.." she breathed. She turned to the side dropping her towel and looked at her shape. "I still have ass so i'm good on that." She smiled.
"My boobs," she faced forward. "Good as always. I just need to gain a little tummy weight back. I got this." She said reassuring herself.
-
Shakel was sitting in kitchen staring into the cabinets looking for something to eat when Aaliyah walked through the garage door and into the kitchen with grocery bags in her hand.
"Hey, its like 3 bags left can you grab those?"
"Gotcha." Shakel responded walking toward the door. It only took her a few seconds to grab the bags and come back in the house. "Are you making something?"
Aaliyah was grabbing stuff out of the bags. "I want to make some jerk chicken, griot and rice and peas. Oh, and some fried plantain."
"Please do! Please make that!" Shakel begged. Her mouth watered just hearing her best friend say it. She loved eating Caribbean food. She placed the bags on the island.
Aaliyah looked at her and laughed. "Chill with yo hungry ass." She got right into it as soon as she took everything out of the bags and got the other stuff she needed out to cook ready. An hour later, everything was almost ready and Aaliyah felt accomplished. All that was left was the rice and peas. That needed to steam a bit but she didn't need to keep a constant eye on it. She actually loved cooking whether she showed it or not; especially if it was something Caribbean.
The twins came through the front door just as Shakel was pouring herself something to drink. "Oh shit! It smells so good in here! Like home." Larry said ecstatically. "You made this Shakel?" He had hope.
"What? Hell no. I don't know a thing about Caribbean cuisine."
Larry sighed and Laurent laughed at Larry's quick facial expression change. "Where is she?"
"Upstairs somewhere. She said she'll be back in a few." Shakel relayed taking a seat at the island.
"This is time for me to go shower then." Larry said glancing at he food. "I like to be clean before I eat."
"So wash your hands..?" Shakel didn't understand him sometimes.
Larry shook his head. "Is not the same. I have to shower."
"You goof."
~~~~~
Larry walked upstairs and went straight into the bathroom. He turned on the shower and removed his shirt before he realized that his dry towel was missing. "Shit," he looked in the hamper and didn't see it. "I guess Spider washed the towels today." Larry walked out of the bathroom and into the hallway to look in the linen closet but there was nothing but face towels, hand towels and bedding. He knocked on Aaliyah's door and opened the door to peek inside. He didn't see her around but he saw the towels folded and stacked on the bed so he walked in to grab one.
As he walked in, he noticed she was outside sitting on the balcony railing looking down at the pool and hot tub below.
"Aaliyah! What are you doing?!" He yelled running over causing her to slightly lose her balance.
"Woah! Larry what the fuck!" She said grabbing the underside of the balcony railing. "Why would you scare me like that?!"
Laurent and Shakel came running upstairs and into the room. "Li! What are you doing up there? Please get down." He said walking towards her.
Shakel was confused on what was going on. She just hopes Aaliyah wasn't trying to do what it looked like. "What's going on..."
"Now I'm too fucking scared to move. Lau get me down." Aaliyah whined.
Laurent reached up and cradled her body to his chest and brought her off of the balcony. "Woah" he said thinking how light she was. "Have I ever picked you up before?"
"Not while standing up you haven't." She laughed.
Lau furrowed his brow a little at her statement. He was a bit more confused on why it was funny. "Gross." Shakel said then walked out of the room.
"I thought you were trying to jump.. I got scared for that. What were you doing?." Larry looked at her concerned.
"I wasn't doing anything. Chill on me bro. I'm not crazy." She smiled with her eyes low.
Larry gave her a weird look then grabbed a towel then went back to his shower. Laurent couldn't help but notice how weird her responses were. "What's up with you?" He asked.
She was placing the towels in the laundry basket completely ignoring him. "Wait, what? Sorry."
"Li, what's up? Why you act like that?"
"Uhm?" She took off her long cardigan. "Nothing? What am I acting like?"
"Look at me," he said turning her face toward him. He looked into her eyes and noticed how glossed over they were. "Are you high?"
"Do I look high?"
"Yes."
She shrugged. "Okay then." She walked back downstairs and into the kitchen with Laurent behind her. She washed her hands then started plating the food she made. She placed them on the counter behind her and told everybody to eat up. She started putting away the leftovers while singing a song to herself.
"You not eating?" Larry asked.
Shakel was only focused on the food until she saw Aaliyah putting things in the Tupperware. "Hey!! What are you doing," She said biting into the griot. "don't put that up yet. I'm gonna need more."
"Aaliyah?" Larry said calmly, waiting for her to answer his earlier question.
She turned around and looked at him. "Larry."
"You not eating?"
"My plate is right here." She answered lifting the plate. "Of course I'm eating! Y'all thought I made this for y'all? Pft!" She scoffed and continued to put things in the Tupperware. Larry couldn't help but notice how low her eyes were.
"Why her eyes look like that?" Larry leaned over to his twin.
Lau shrugged. Not because he didn't want Larry to know but because he wasn't completely sure given the answer Aaliyah gave him a few minutes ago. "I wonder why too. I might know.. but I don't know."
"What?" Larry asked confused. Lau just shrugged.
~~~~~~~
While Laurent hopped in the shower, Aaliyah decided to chill on the balcony again. This time she wasn't going to sit on the railing because she knew it would freak Lau out if he saw her up there again. She took in the fresh air and the small breeze pushing over the Calabasas hills.
She walked back inside and out of her purse she grabbed a bag of gummy bears. She popped one in her mouth then put it back in her purse and put it away. She laid back and waited for Lau to get out of the shower.
A good 30 minutes later he came walking out of the bathroom with only his towel wrapped around his waist. Her glossy eyes scanned his body hungrily. "Babe.."
"Yes, my love?" He answered without turning to look at her. He was searching for something comfortable to put on to sleep in.
"Come here." She whined a little bit which caught him off guard. He turned around and looked at her. He didn't question it so he just walked over to her and stood in front of her.
"What's up?"
She reached for his hand and pulled him to sit next to her. She laced their fingers and smiled at him. "I love you."
"I love you too baby." He leaned over and kissed her. The kiss was short which made her want more. He tried to get up but she pulled him back. "Can I put on my clothes or no?" He chuckled as he leaned over to kiss her again. He got up quickly and put on his clothes then laid down next to her.
"Let's do something." Aaliyah suggested looking down at her feet as she flexed then pointed her toes.
Lau looked at her. "Like what?"
"Dance. I have energy. Let's go." She said hopping up and going towards the closet.
"What song?"
"You'll see. Just go in the loft and wait for me." She said from the closet. She was looking through her shoes trying to find the other heel to go with the black one she found. "And put on some shoes!"
"I need shoes? Okay." He got up and grabbed a pair of shoes near the bedroom door and slipped them on. He walked up to the loft and sat on the floor to tie his shoe laces. He stretched a little bit after that and as he looked up, aaliyah walked in wearing her same outfit from before but with heels on.
"Awh, you stretched for the first time ever." She cooed.
He rolled his eyes and stood up. "Cause I don't know what you want me to be doing right now."
She walked over to the speakers and plugged up her phone. She pressed play and immediately, Lau knew what type of dancing they were going to do. It had a kizomba type of beat but was also a relatively slow song. He watched as his fiancée stretched and loosened up her body to prepare for what they were going to do.
"You missing home today, yeah?" He asked walking closer to her.
She gave him a confused look through the mirror. "What do you mean?"
"You cooked Caribbean food, you want to dance kizomba? You not missing home?"
She shook her head no in response as she stretched her legs out until her body was flat to the floor and she was in a full middle split. Laurent raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't completely believe that she didn't miss home but who knows when it comes to Aaliyah.
She pulled herself up off the floor and met eyes with Lau. They held that stare until the first song ended and the next one started. She walked closer to him, pressing her chest against his. He took her hand and they started dancing smoothly. They didn't know the beat of the song but somehow still managed to catch and step with every beat. The closeness of the moves and the song brought back memories of when they first met. It all felt right to them.
The whole time they danced, only one thing ran through Laurent's mind. He knew he didn't made a mistake choosing her to be his wife. Everything about her was so perfect to and for him and the fact that she was the one who brought his child into the world, made her a million times more perfect. Everything they'd been through was worth it. Every moment including the bad times.