All of Me

XXII

Arman immediately hung up the phone and dropped it next to them on the couch. He looked up at Nova with fear in his eyes and began to shake his head.

"Arman, what's wrong?" Nova asked as she placed her wine glass on the coffee table along with his.

"I—I haven't seen her since I was six." Arman replied.

"Who? Your mom? Talk to me." Nova said, soothing him.

"My mom's a fucking crackhead." Arman said bluntly. "She chose drugs over me. I was raised by my aunt. The last time I saw my mom was when I was six and she claimed she had her shit together. CPS went by her place and confirmed it so they allowed her to keep me during the weekends. The very first weekend I was there, she tried to trade me for some crack and her dealer wouldn't accept because he liked little girls—not little boys. She got mad and dropped me back off to my aunt's house and I never seen her again. Fuck her."

"I'm sorry, Arman. I shouldn't have told you to answer the call." Nova said sincerely.

"It's not your fault. Neither of us knew it was her." Arman told her. "I'm glad I did answer it so I can block her number. She better not try to contact my aunt either or we're gonna have another issue."

Nova folded her lips as she decided to keep her thoughts to herself. She did not know what Arman went through because she never experienced it, but she did think that Arman should hear his mother out and talk to her.

Nova grew up in Nashville with her two older sisters in a two parent household. Her mother was a real estate agent and her father was a pediatrician. She and her siblings grew up privileged, however, their parents made sure they understood that others were not as fortunate as them.

"Say what you gotta say. I won't get mad." Arman told her once he saw the look on her face.

"I just—I think you should hear her out. You don't have to develop any type of relationship with her, but talking to her can close and heal wounds that you didn't know existed." Nova explained.

"I understand and I do appreciate your thoughts, but I don't want to go back to the pain and memory." Arman said and Nova nodded.

There was a brief silence before Nova spoke again. "Do you want to take a shot to relax a bit?"

Arman chuckled. "Yeah, what you got?"

"I got some Don Julio." Nova said as she stood up. "Come on."

Arman groaned as he stood up as well. "Only one shot. I don't do well with tequila."

-

"Heather, stop squirming and shit. What ills you?" Amaru asked as he looked down at Heather who was resting against his chest.

Heather giggled. "I can't tell you."

"Be still, then." Amaru fussed.

Heather lifted her head then looked at him. "You don't want to know?"

Amaru laughed. "Go ahead and tell me because we both know you're not gonna keep quiet about it."

"Okay, so—" Heather began as she sat up and straddled Amaru's torso. "I thought I was pregnant because my period is hella late and I asked Mya to take a pregnancy test with me because I was nervous. So we took the tests—mine came out negative and hers came out positive!"

Amaru gasped. "She's pregnant?!"

"Yes!" Heather exclaimed as she cried tears of joy. "She scheduled a doctors appointment for tomorrow to get an ultrasound done so she can do a cute little announcement for Shakur. Then she's gonna tell everyone else at Sunday dinner so you have to act surprised."