Time

VIIII

Nautica James
Charlotte, NC
September 2021

I can't help but to just stare at Aris as she hops around my room singing and dancing. She is so beautiful to me. This past month of us actually working towards a relationship has been one of the best months of my life.

"Baby" i paused the music and called out to her.

She stopped mid dance move and turned to mug me, quickly changing it to a smile her when she saw I was smiling up at her. She came and hopped on the bed beside me.

"You okay?" she asked moving my hair out of my face as she checked for any emotion in my eyes.

"Yeah, i'm cool. I just wanted to talk to you real quick." I said while grabbing her and pulling her on my lap "Am I doing anything wrong, or is there something I need to work at all? I know things have moved a little fast with us and I just want to make sure you're okay with how we're moving along." i said rubbing on her thighs as she sat straddling me.

"Aw baby, no there's nothing you need to work on. You've been absolutely perfect this past month and I've been extremely happy with you. I'm really glad we decided to give this a try. Trust me, i've been trying not to break out in praise dance at the fact I finally snatched you up" she said laughing. "Is there anything you'd like me to work on or step up on doing?"

I hesitated a little bit. I've been wanting to talk to Aris about her mental state and how she's been coping for about a week now. She hasn't been taking care of herself and not only is affecting her, it's affecting Tahari.

flashback

"Nana, can I ask you something?" Hari said playing in her food.

We were currently out eating at a breakfast diner. I just picked her up from school but we had some time to waste before Aris was getting home so we decided to stop.

"Wassup?" i asked her, sitting up so she knew I was giving her my full attention.

"Is mommy okay?" she said looking up at me like she was about to cry.

I got up and moved over to her side of the booth, pushing her food out the way so we could talk.

"What's wrong, bug?" i asked her.

"M-mommy is just really mean lately. I know she's sad b-but i don't want her to be sad or mad at me." she said as tears ran down her cheeks.

I usually didn't do good with people crying and sometimes it was hard for me to empathize but with her I wanted to cry and give her a hug. I've been spending a lot of time with Aris a lot lately which also means I've spent time a lot of time with Tahari too. Me and her have grown a bond that I can't explain. I'll go to war for her like she's my own. She turning a nigga soft.

"Listen bug," i said taking her hand "your mama has had a lot of really bad things happen recently, which means she's going through a lot of different emotions. I promise you that she isn't mad at you, she loves you so much and you actually help make her happy when she feels sad or mad." i told her.

This was such a touchy situation and I didn't want to say the wrong thing so I prayed everything I said came out right. I didn't want to overstep but I want Tahari to know she can come to me and talk to me about anything. Even aside from Aris, Ty was my brother and I always told him I'd look out for them.

"I think you should talk to your mommy when we get back to the house and tell her how you've been feeling, but if you don't feel comfortable I can talk to her for you" i added.