Gold Fonts: Sik-k x AA Reader

1. Nineteenth Birthdays and Neglectful Mothers

I laugh softly as Imani Walker my ride or die since 12, cusses smooth tongued into the cell phone. She had finally mastered the black mother skill of balancing your phone on your shoulder whilst simultaneously doing an equally strenuous task.

On the other end of the line was Vonte, her boyfriend who left Louisiana for a trip to visit his people on the coast. Whilst on the ride over he forgot to call thus leaving her worried resulting in the sting of cuss words varying from letter J to N.

While cussing him out she was braiding my hair in thigh length braids for my birthday. She braids the top of my head in cornrows fashioned into a star on the side.

"Which?" Lauren asks, holding up two dvd's. In her hand was Friday or Bring It, the only god tier one with solange. Lauren had been trying to pick out a movie for a good ten minutes now going through my old black CD file that was about as thick as an encyclopedia. Her feet were tucked beneath her as she contemplated.

I pointed at Bring it, while Imani picked the opposite. Deiondre stepped around us from the back corner of my room where she was charging her phone.

She leaned her head down by the phone to hear what Vonte was saying, swiftly she interrupted. "V tell Grandmama I said Hey."

His response must've been something snarky because in seconds the phone was in her hand and she was fussing at her brother though the phone. The conversion was over quikly as she hung up on him mid sentence.

"Now fren, is that even a choice? Bring it, duh." she picked with no hesitation. 

𓆩 ♱ 𓆪

We were a good quarter through the movie before something that had been weighing on my mind bubbled to a head, like a volcano ready to overflow except instead of the opening of a mountain exploding it was my mouth.

"Do y'all think i should call my mama? No right? Right?"

The girls slowly turned around to face me. In a slow movement Imani paused the show. Her hand dropped to her waist and suddenly I had their full undivided attention.

"Nae, where did this come from?" Laur rose from her spot on the ground and got on the bed to lay beside me.

"Yeah Bae-Bae what happened?"

My relationship with my mother is strained to say the least. Before I was born my mother vowed to herself that she would make it. She'd make a name and brand for herself. She'd prove that her life and her existence wasn't by chance. Her hard life in the beginning was not going to mess up her end. She was on a scholarship attempting to gain a business major. She promised herself she wouldn't get distracted and caught up, but then my dad came and she was not only distracted but caught up too.

Long story short being a black woman coming from a poor background was hard enough but also trying to raise me and be in a committed relationship, it just wasn't going to cut it. So, she raised me to the point where I was self-sufficient enough and made sure my dad had a step by step guide. She was there for the important stuff but finding her work life balance especially when she moved away was hard. I love my mama, but lord is it hard sometimes.

𓆩 ♱ 𓆪

"It didn't really come from anywhere, it's just the big one nine ya know. I want my mom to be with me through my journey into adulthood. Being slightly absent up until now has really hurt, even if I didn't realize until now. Maybe I should call or something."

"Whatever you choose is right for you," Imani starts.

"Right, Stink, and we'll always be by your side." Deiondre tags.

"We are sistas forever. You don't have to forgive her if you don't want to or if you aren't ready for it. It was her choice as the adult to raise you right, with the perfect sprinkling of love and affection." Lauren says gently.

"And if you didn't get that it's all on her. Don't force it if y'alls time is not in the now. Do what's best for you." D adds again.

I feel my eyes start to well up and I can't hold back my tears. "I can't tell if i'm crying because you're being sweet af right now or because these braids tight as hell, either way thank y'all."

The night was what I'd consider the best birthday eve I'd ever gotten. We took polaroids and ate good food. We had gone through all the black novelty movies that we possibly could and lit vanilla scented candles. We played uno and reminisced about all the old school drama that used to seem larger than life then, but is smaller than my pinky now.

In the middle of the night suddenly Break From Dallas by Kaash Paige broke the silence of the night. I looked around squinting in confusion then realizing where I was. I checked the time. 12:37 in the middle of the night. The girls laid in my large bed knocked out. I slipped from beneath the soft covers revealing my thighs and shoulders and chest to the cold of my apartment.

I snuck into the bathroom and answered the call.

"Hey, Happy Birthday Baby." my mothers voice broke through the night and i sat up still on the side of the cool bathtub. My lungs suddenly thought that they were on hiatus because suddenly i couldn't breathe.

"Hey," My voice comes out thick and unclear. Then I felt tears running down my face and I didn't realize how much I needed this self healing.

"I heard about school..."

The other foot fell. I had my entire future set up but just with a snap of some judgemental white man's fingers it was gone. After Serenity Jones "exposed" me to the cheer community i was deemed "difficult" and now the entirety of my future is gone, my cheer scholarship is over, the reputation of my term as cheer captain smudged, my career as a Critical Care Surgeon nipped in the head before i could even get to it.

My future was all I had and that evil childish girl took it from me. It was all gone in a matter of seconds. Earlier I had promised myself not to think about it and here I am crying over it, in the middle of my bathroom, like a loser.

"Are you listening?"

It took me a second to realize my mom was still on the phone.

"Ma, I'm sorry, I was spiraling, what did you say?"

She let out a sign and started over again. "I know that this is difficult and hurts like hell, trust me i've had a few setbacks," Ouch. I mentally wince. "But there's always another plan. Take a gap year, come down here for a little while, work under me as a model and maybe if you want, learn the technical. Make some cash and maybe a name for yourself, network even, then when school starts back up next year have a game plan go back to the drawing board and try again. You got your ambition from me, now do something with it."

I analyze everything she said and realize it's not a bad plan. Maybe this is why I need a change of scenery and sometime maybe this plan is a good one.

"So?"

"Okay," I say with certainty.

I hear the smile form on her lips, "Baby, you have no idea how happy I am for you, this is gonna be a great start and you'll get to be with me too."

I get quiet, then decide to end the call, "Night Ma, thanks."

"No problem Baby, Vanessa..."

"Yeah, mama?"

"I'm really proud of you, don't let some stuck up white girl take your spark." With that she was gone.

Okay, that's it. No more crying in the bathroom on my birthday, no more settling, no more feeling sorry for myself. I'm gonna take back what's mine and I'm gonna do it right.

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A/N: Happy Black History Month y'all. Did I slay or did I slay? Anyway this isn't my original story idea and story layout this is just me building off of another creator's idea. Show some love to sukunaswhre and her sik-k fanfic called "Talk to Me" she did a really good job and i basically just wanted to do my own spin on it. Also sorry for the lack of Minsik he gon make his appearance just wait...

I'll be updating on Fridays....maybe. Stay Blessed and Stay Black and if you not black...stay you ig???

WORD COUNT: 1353