Streetz 2: The Tried

9. T is for Team

I woke up to the smell of bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast. I sat up in the pink, plush bed to check the time on my phone. It was going on nine in the morning which was considered late in California. Ariana was still asleep in bed and because I wasn't the only person in the house, I didn't really feel comfortable roaming around as if I lived there. 

Last night was pretty tough. Ariana and I had gotten into a disagreement and because of that, she was giving me the cold shoulder until further notice. She didn't understand where I was coming from and I don't think she was trying to. So, to avoid any other disagreements, I decided to keep my mouth closed on that subject and avoid it all together. 

Putting some clothes on to cover myself fully, I quietly slid onto the balcony to smoke. I smoked for a bit and decided to build the courage to call my mama. She answered on the first ring.

"Ermias Joseph!" She yelled, "Where the hell have you been and how come you haven't reached out to me?"

I dumped the ashes into an ashtray nearby, "Sorry ma, I've been really busy."

"Don't lie to me Ermias."

That was the hard part.

"I'm not," I sighed, "I just been havin' a lot goin' on."

"With Ariana?"

"No," I cut her off, "No. Just been workin' a lot and tryna figure some things off. I'm sorry that I haven't checked up on you mama."

"That's bullshit Ermias and you know it," She sniffed through the phone and I felt bad because both of the ladies in my life were shedding tears over my nonsense.

"Hey," I mumbled, "Don't cry, mama. I'm here. I took some time off and I'm back now. I can get a flight to come back home and see you."

"Don't worry, I already booked a flight and I should be seeing you next month."

"Next month?" I put the blunt out, "Where?"

"Calvin told me you were there visiting for Christmas."

I rolled my eyes. Now wasn't the time to get high because I sense that wouldn't be possible. 

"Well, alright. Just let me know when you get here and I can pick you up from the airport."

I ended the phone call with her, feeling everything but satisfied. It's not that I didn't want to see her, it's just that I didn't have my shit together and I wasn't so sure how she'd take that if she knew. I didn't have plans to stay with Calvin long at all but I also didn't have a place to call my own either. Sure, I could possibly stay till Christmas, but I was trying to be out before then.

My mama, on the other hand, only knew me one way. I mean I was human and I could admit my mistakes and look at them as such. But I didn't want my mama to think that all her hard work to get me to the states was a waste of her time. That's the only thing I could think about. Her standards for me were pretty damn high.

Finishing my fresh air break, I walked back inside, noticing that the food was still on the stove but the kitchen was empty. There was a pot of hot vanilla bean coffee brewing, and I grabbed a mug from the cabinet with Ari's name on it and used that to pour myself some coffee.

"Good morning-"

"Shit," I jumped, almost dropping the damn mug, "The fuck you want?"

Melody snickered and grabbed a mug for herself and returned to the stove to finish cooking. She was in her silk pastel pajamas. Her hair was curled up in a kinky nonput-together ponytail. She wore kiddy slippers and smiled at me as if there was nothing wrong. She knew I was uncomfortable and she found that to be funny.