Forever His Princess

-thirty-

AMARI ROUSSEAU

I had finished dressing up and made my way downstairs to the kitchen. "Are you guys ready to go?" Ant and Manny nodded. I was going to take the both of them to school since Papa had work.

"Can I see Dad today?" Manny asked. He'd been asking me for the last four months and each and every time the answer was no but he remained hopeful.

I can't believe it's been four months since I spoke to Niko.

He'd call Papa every other week so he could speak to Manny though. My heart literally ached at the thought of him. I missed him so much. I just don't know if I'm ready to deal with that whole side of his life.

I'm so confused I don't know what I'm doing anymore.

I still don't have a job. I tried applying for a few after I quit Evans & Co. but I got rejected from all of the ones I applied for so after a while I gave up. Figured I could do with the break anyway.

"No, baby, you can't." I kissed his head but a pout sat on his lips. "Go get your bag so we can leave." He dragged his feet as he went to get it.

"How are you, Mar?" Ant asked once Manny was out of the room.

"I've not been crying everyday since recently so I guess that's an improvement. I still love him so it still hurts, more than I can describe."

"If you love him so much then why don't you get back together."

"It's not that simple."

"I don't think it has to be this hard either, Mar. At least try talking to him. I don't like seeing you like this, I want you to be happy." He said, taking my car keys. "I'm gonna wait in the car for you guys."

Fuck, he's right. I shouldn't have waited this long.

—

We dropped off Manny first before going to Ant's school. I walked him to the front gate and of course, Ant being Ant, he complained the whole way. "I'm not a baby, Mar. You don't have to walk with me."

"But if I leave, you'd be walking all by yourself." I put my arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer to me, kissing his cheek. He wiped it away and scrambled away from me, making me laugh.

He looked around to see if anyone noticed and visibly relaxed when he saw no one was paying attention to us. I rolled my eyes at how dramatic he was being.

"Hey, Jer." I said as Jeremy came from behind us.

"Hi, Amari. How are you?"

"I am very well, thank you. Look how polite your friend is, Ant. Why don't you speak to me like that?"

"Not happening but Jeremy's here now so you can leave."

"Bro, she's sexy and older, everyone will think we're so fucking cool for pulling her." Erm...

"First of all, people already think we're cool."

"You're very humble, aren't you, Ant?"

"Antoine, look at her." Jeremy said, motioning to me.

"My second point being, we haven't pulled her, she's my sister, Jer. Stop being gross." Ok, this is getting a bit weird now.

"I'm gonna leave you guys here." I said, stopping at the gate. "Have a good day."

"Bye, Amari." Jeremy said with a wink and Ant hit the back of his head. I turned to make my way back to my car but stopped when I heard my name being called out.