Still

16.

Chapter Sixteen

Lauryn James had lived a life that was atypical of her friends. Every single one of her friends had at least one loving parent in their life at some point. Unfortunately for Lauryn, she didn't have that. Instead, she was birth to a crackhead mother who didn't know who her father was.

With the Starbucks cup in her hand, Lauryn began her stride to go into her office, but she was halted by someone calling her name. It didn't sound like one of her coworkers attempting to get her attention, so she stopped and looked over to the woman. She was an older woman with short, heavily damaged hair. Her clothes her stained and dirty. Lauryn could tell just by the eyes alone who she was.

"Lauryn!" The woman called out again. "Gahdammit, I know you hear me!"

Looking around for any of her coworkers, Lauryn stepped away from the door and walked over to her mother. "What are you doing here?"

"You know why the fuck I'm here," she replied. Her speech wasn't the best, as she was missing a lot of teeth due to her heavy drug habit. "You didn't pay me this month and I need my fuckin' money."

Lauryn thought about the date and could've cursed herself out. She'd been so heavily involved in her happiness that she'd forgotten to handle the one thing that made her the happiest - keeping her mother at bay. "I will bring it tonight," Lauryn rushed with reason.

Carrie shook her head. "Nope! I need my money right gahdamn now. I'm not leavin' 'til I get, Lauryn! I see you with that athlete! You good for it."

"Ma, please," Lauryn silently begged, seeing someone coming from her peripheral.

"Fuck that! I want my money!"

"Lauryn?" The male's voice caught her off guard. Lauryn continued to try to plead with her mother to leave, but she wasn't having it. The little two hundred dollars that Lauryn would give her always helped her get more drugs and whatever else she wanted.

"Ain't that 'Lijah?" Carrie asked, stepping around Lauryn.

Elijah was wearing a suit and holding an envelope in his hands. He tore his eyes away from Lauryn and down to the strange woman. The minute he looked her into her eyes, there was no doubt on who she was. "Ms. Carrie," he greeted in a soft tone.

"Ma, leave him alone," Lauryn begged.

"'Lijah, she owes me some money! Tell her I'm not leavin' 'til she gives it to me!"

Elijah reached into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet. "How much does she owe you?"

Carrie's eyes lit up with happiness. "Two hundred. She owes me two hundred." Elijah looked over to Lauryn for confirmation on the amount. In defeat, she nodded her head.

Elijah pulled out the two crisp hundred dollar bills. He held the bills up out of her reach. "I'm giving this to you, but you have to promise to never come back here again," he told her.

Ignoring everything he was saying, she simply agreed. At this point, she'd seen what she wanted and nothing else mattered. Elijah handed her the money and watched as she took off on her journey. He turned his attention to Lauryn and nodded his head into the direction of the door, letting her know it was time to go in. He led the way to Lauryn's office and closed the door behind her.

The moment the door closed, she broke down right into him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her. Everyone was aware of Ms. Carrie. She recognized them and would hassle them anytime she saw them. Because Lauryn had began her monthly deposits to her, they hadn't seen her in a very long time.

"What was she doing here?" Eli asked.

Lauryn pulled away from him and went over to her desk to grab a tissue to clean up her smeared makeup. "I forgot to give her the money before I went out of town and when we got back, it slipped my mind."