Another Lifetime

Chapter 36:

Jasmine's POV:
"Is Cesar coming?" Ruby asks. "Are you cool with it? I know it's been-" he stops me. "He killed someone for me. I have to be ok with it." Ruby hasn't stopped feeling guilty. "You didn't ask him for that." I remind him. "It was all my fault." He has the same blank expression he always has. "Right 'cause Cesar didn't have any problems with Latrelle before the Prophets rolled up on us. We were all there, you weren't the only one who wanted to tell lil Spooky." I walk away.
Monse's POV:
I park outside of Jasmine's house and she's outside smoking. "Monse!" She runs to my car before I even get out. "You're early." Jasmine gives me a hug. "I couldn't stay away." I smile. "You look so good." She tells me. "Thanks, having a baby definitely didn't help." I laugh. "What'd you just say?" She gets serious real quick and I take my daughter out of the backseat. "Surprise." I say and Jasmine just stares at Mona. "Cesar's baby?" She asks and I nod. "You had Cesar's baby and didn't tell me?!" Jasmine yells and Mona laughs. "I was keeping us safe." I explain. "Ok, I gotta see pictures. I can't even picture being pregnant." She drags us inside. "Technically you did see me while I was pregnant." I remind her. "Yeah for like a day!" She says. "Hey Ruby, look who's here!" Jasmine calls him but when he looks up I barely recognize him. "Hey." I smile. "Is that your sister?" He asks. "I have a brother, and this is my daughter." I sit on the couch with him. "At least she doesn't look like him." Ruby looks back at his phone. I'm hella confused so look at Jasmine and she shakes her head. "Right... so my dad told me about the party. I'm obviously gonna have Mona with me so I was wondering if we could keep it kid friendly?" I ask. "Yeah, Freeridge kid friendly." Jasmine nods and I roll my eyes. "Good enough." I laugh. "Monse, you here?" Cesar just walks in her house. "He do that a lot?" I ask her. "Every damn day." Jasmine rolls her eyes. "Can we talk?" Cesar asks me. "I gotta go." Ruby walks out and Jasmine chases him. "What the hell happened to him?" I dodge the actual conversation. "He saw me shoot someone. Now can we talk?" Cesar asks again and I take a deep breath. "About what? Your girlfriend? Your child that I hid from you? How I confessed my love to you even though you're obviously over me?" I smile sarcastically. "Me and Vero are barely dating. She helped me through a dark time after you decided to never speak to me again." He reminds me. "And yeah, I wanna know about my daughter." Cesar reaches for her but she starts crying. "It's not you, she's hungry." I reach for the diaper bag but he helps me out. "The baby food is next to her bottles." I roll my eyes. I'm not gonna lie, seeing him taking care of her makes it hard for me to be annoyed. "She likes you." I tell him. "Yeah?" He smiles. "Yeah, Mona usually makes everything hard on me." I wipe her cheek.
"It still doesn't feel real. Don't get me wrong, I love her already but I can't believe I get to be a dad." He looks at me. "Well believe it 'cause you're stuck with us for at least eighteen years." I smile. "So tell about it, you being pregnant, how was it?" He asks. "Honestly, I hated it. I ended up having her in April... two months early and then I felt guilty for hating being pregnant." I admit. "So she's five months old?" He asks. "Six in a couple days." I explain. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." He puts his hand on my thigh again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you." I apologize and Mona reaches for him. "Can I?" He asks and I roll my eyes. "She's your daughter." I remind him. "That's crazy." He laughs under his breath. "Mona has your smile... it's really annoying." I say. "You know you love it." He says. "I do. It was like having you there." I hate how much I love him. "Listen, about what you said... I'm with Vero and we can't be going back and forth 'cause the baby." He's acting like I don't know. "But if you're sure about this and you wanna give it a shot, let me know." Cesar smirks. "You think I'm not sure?" I ask. "If we do this I want it to last." He says. "I love you." I say. "I know." Cesar nods. "Seriously?" I laugh. "You did it to me for like a month." He reminds me. "Yeah but that was different!" I smack his arm. "I missed this." Cesar tells me. "I think we should go for it." I say and he smiles. "After you dump your girlfriend." I clarify. "Jasmine, we got beer!" I hear Lola and I run without even thinking. "Hi." I don't think I was even this excited to see Cesar. "No way." She puts the beer on the floor and hugs me. "Why are you back? I don't care, I'm just happy you're home." She talks hella fast. "Hi Jamal." I wave but I keep hugging Lola. "Missed you." He smiles. "Who's mommy hugging?" Ky asks and my heart breaks. "Kyrie, don't play you remember her." Lola lets me go. "Hi Monse." He smiles. "Hi baby!" I carry him and he hugs me. "Told you he's spending too much time with Spooky. He's even picking up his sense of humor." Jamal laughs. I give him a hug. "How's Odessa? Still at Mayfield?" I ask him. "Yeah but she'll be home in November." He explains. "Ok Ky, you are way bigger than my baby I don't know how long I can do this for." I put the almost six year old down. "Your what now?" Lola raises her eyebrows. "Cesar, can you bring Mona?" I ask. "You owe me a twenty." Jamal tells Lola. "We don't know if they're back together yet. Are y'all back together?" Lola asks and I shake my head.