"Cuba I'm so glad your here." Ms. Janis says as I walk in the front door. She smiles and lights the candle inside her jackolantern. I give her a quick hug then grab one of the pumpkin shaped cookies off the counter. "Hey! Wash your hands." She points at me and I raise my hands up in defense. I quickly wash my hands before I finish my cookie.
Jontavion stands in the doorway watching us with a small smile. "Join us." I say to him. He slowly walks into the kitchen and takes the carving knife and starts working on another pumpkin. "I can't believe tomorrow is Halloween. I haven't bought Misty a costume yet.." I jump up grab my phone. "What's wrong fear?" Ms. Janis asks. "I haven't been home since this morning. Misty probably destroyed my house." She smiles at me. "You know your more then welcome to drop her off over here when you have things to do." I look up at Ms. Janis with a smile. This woman is too kind. "I'll drive?" Jontavion asks me and I nod. "We will be right back mom." He says as he kisses her cheek. "Take your time."
I rush out the front door and jump in the passenger seat of the his car. Jontavion slide in and starts the car. The drive to my house is silent but comfortable because he has his hand on my thigh. We pull up and I jump out of the car before he can even put it in park. I unlock the front door and race up the stairs. When I make it inside I see Misty sitting on the couch with one of my heels in her mouth. She jumps up and trods over to me. The hair on the back of my neck stands up as Jontavion walks in behind me. Misty pushes past me to get to him and I quickly go see what else she has been chewing on. When I enter my room I see my nude pumps and white Louie V's are chewed to shreds. "Misty." I call her and she runs in my room. I hold my shoes up to her and tell her that she shouldn't chew my things. She hangs her head and I smile. "My sweet girl." I pick her up and give her kisses.
"Hey could you throw out those heels that are on the couch for me?" I call out to Jontavion. I hear some footsteps in the other room and then I feel him next to me. "You need a bigger apartment." He says to me. I look at him like he's lost his mind because that's the most ludicrous thing I've herd. Before I can respond my phone rings so I step into the bathroom to answer it. "Hey C! It's me Candy." I internally groan because I already know why she's calling. "Hey Candy. What can I do for you?" She talks my ear off for a good 25 minutes before reminding me that tomorrow is my day to make a choice. "Thank you Candy. I'll see you soon." I walk out of the bathroom and see Jontavion standing w a bag on his shoulder. "What's in there?" He looks over at Misty as if the answer is obvious. Misty barks at him before he turns back to me. "This is her going away bag. It's has food, treats, a few sweaters and her bowl." Misty barks at the end of his sentence as if she's agreeing with him. "Oh well then let's go." I say and lead the way to my front door.
When we pull into the driveway at Ms. Janis' house she's on the front porch putting the jackolanterns up. She waves before walking over to the car. I let Misty out and Ms. Janis coos at her as if she were a small baby. Misty rolls over so she can pay her stomach. Jontavion leads me into the house and sets Mistys bag by the couch. "Just so you know I don't think she's going home with you tonight." He smiles at his mother who was leading Misty into the kitchen. "It's fine." I follow him into the back room and smile when the lights come on. There's lights hanging from the ceiling and they look like ice cycles. The back wall of the room had these lights that hung off the wall like a waterfall and I absolutely couldn't resist taking a picture. There were windows where the other wall was supposed to be and it gave off a beautiful view of the forest that was a few miles out behind the house. I turn around and see Jontavion standing there with a bag of weed and a backwood. I smile at him and sit in the beanbag chair closest to the windows. The sun is going down and it's warmth shines through making me remember the day before the twins died.
I push the sad feeling away and try to focus on the happiness of the memory. We were inside the treehouse watching the sun come up. The twins cuddled up next to me and we smiled in unison when the warmth from the rising sun hit. Jontavion places his hand on my knee and I look over at him with a smile. "You okay?" I know and he leans back in his bean bag. "Well then do you want to do the honors?" I gladly take the bag and backwood from him. I roll the backwood in under 30 seconds. As he sits there in shock I smile at him.
"When did you learn that?" "I've been practicing on my own. I can smoke two of these bad boys by myself." I say with a smirk. He nods and tosses me the lighter. "Is your mom going to be mad?" I ask before I light the backwood. "She asked me to build this room for this exact purpose. It has air filters that clean the air when your done and the door has saline on the bottom to keep the smell from traveling." I sit there dumbfounded because in the 7 years I've know Ms. Janis she has never touched a blunt. "She got a note from the doctor a while back." Jontavion seems to hear my thoughts. I shrug and the light the wood. Music starts playing from somewhere and the lights change with the beats of the song. "Built in surround stereo and the lights are bluetoothed to the music." Jontavion says to me as I pass him the blunt. Before I say anything there's a knock on the door.
Ms. Janis walks in the room and Jontavion pauses the music. As I hit the blunt I listen to what she's saying. "She's at my door demanding to speak with you right now." I look over at him and his face is twisted with anger. "I'll be right back Cuba." He leave me in the room with Ms. Janis and I hold the wood out to her. She takes it from me with a smile and takes a puff. My eyes widen in surprise when she French inhales. "Now when did you learn that?" She smiles and before she can answer a very bummed out Jontavion walks back in with Katrina. She has a smug look on her face and Ms. Janis rolls her eyes. As she hands me the wood back Katrina plops down in the bean bag next to me. "Hey Cuba." I look at her with my eyebrow raised and slowly greet her back. "What are you doing here?" I ask her. "Well I know you know my baby's birthday is coming up." She looks over at Jontavion and smiles. He smiles back but it doesn't reach his eyes. "So I decided to give him a early gift." I cock my head to the side and try not to show how uncomfortable I am with this whole conversation.
"Can I join the session?" Katrina asks as she pulls some more weed out of her bag. I shrug because I'm not one to turn down the good stuff. "Do you have a cigar?" I ask her. She pulls out a five pack of backwoods from her purse with a smile. "Okay cool. I'm going to go grab a coke from the fridge. Want anything?" I say to the both of them before I leave the room. Katrina asks me for a water and Jontavion doesn't say anything so I take it as he didn't want anything. When I walk into the kitchen Ms. Janis is coming inside from the patio. She has a plate of juicy burgers in her hand. "Cuba I hope you like salad." She says with a grin. "I love anything. I'm not a picky eater at all." I say to her. "That's good. Can I ask you a question?" She looks at me intently so I nod. "Why does my son see in that girl? I only ask you because I know you two are close." When she says the last part my heart twists. "I think he just really loves her Ms. Janis." She nods but doesn't look convinced. I walk back to the back room and stop before going inside.
"Why didn't you tell me she was going to be here?!" I hear Katrina say to Jontavion. "I don't have to tell you my every move. You act like we were doing something wrong." I can almost see him sitting in the chair head on his knees. Before she can say anything else I open the door and walk in. "Here you go." I say as I hand Katrina the water she wanted. She hands me the wood and attempts a sorry smile. "Who rolled this?" Katrina dips her head down and I sigh to myself. "I'll fix it."
I'm so glad when Ms. Janis calls us for dinner. The energy in that back room was suffocating. Before I go to the kitchen I head into the bathroom to wash my hands. I look at myself in the mirror and smile because I haven't gotten to smoke since the last party I went to. When I walk into the kitchen the air seems to shift and you can almost see the anger rolling off of Jontavion. "It'll just be me and you tonight Cuba." I look over at Ms. Janis and nod. I follow her outside after making my plate and sit with her on the deck. "Are you okay?" I ask her. "He is not to ever bring the girl back to my house. She is very disrespectful." "Did she say something to you?" I ask. She smiles because I know she can hear the venom in my voice. "I handled it but my son needs a reality check. That's probably why he got punched in the eye." I let out a giggle when she says that. "He's definitely level headed." I look around for my drink and realize I left it inside.
"I'll be right back, I left my pop inside." She nods at me. I run inside and head towards the back room. I grab my coke off the window seal and head back towards the deck. I hear loud voices from upstairs so I decide to be nosey because I know my name is going to be in there. "I need her Katrina. She is the one person who helped me get to where I am today. I can't find any other managers who are half as good as her." I hear Jontavion shout. I pause about halfway up the stairs because the floor creeks. The yelling stops but the voices continue. By the time I make it to his room I hear heavy breathing. The door was cracked open so me being me I looked inside. Jontavion has his head between her thighs and she was looking directly at me as if she knew I was coming.
I run down the stairs and out the front door. I shoot a apology text to Ms. Janis and swear that I will make it up to her. She responds back with a smiley face so I start my car and race out of her driveway. I'm so angry as I drive but I can't stop myself. I look at the speedometer and see that I'm going 120 so I decide to pull over and relax before I get a ticket. I pull into what I assume in a parking lot and lay my head against the steering wheel. I don't know how long I stay like that before somebody knocks on the window. I jump and wack my head against the seatbelt thing. I look at the window I notice Blossom standing out there with a smile. I step out of my car and she hugs me. "What are you doing here?" She asks me. I look around so I can see my surrounds and realize that I'm at the building Jontavion lived in. "I was upset and driving. I pulled over to get some air and somehow ended up here."
I sigh and lean against the car. Blossom must notice I'm still upset because she asks me to come inside with her. "I don't know... I have work tomorrow." I say as I look at my watch. It's 11:30 and a Friday night. She holds a black bag with a smile. "I bought wine." I give in and grab my keys out of my car. I decide to leave my phone and follow Blossom into her apartment.
I hope you are enjoying my story this far🙂 it would mean a lot if you could vote and comment. Should Blossom and Cuba remain friends?