Different Type of Love

7.

Almost three have passed since the incident with Armani happened. She's been seeing a therapist since October after she was released from the mental health facility due to her almost successful suicide attempt. A few weeks after Armani had been back home, nothing felt the same to her. She always felt dirty and questioned God on why He would have her go through these things. Did she do something wrong in His eyes?

Armani didn't know how she was going to make it through life so she tried to seek the easy route, overdosing. When she thought no one was home, she snuck in Aden's room and found his bottle of prescribed Adderall that he takes for his ADHD. Armani just knew this was her ticket out the door.

Just after she had taken well over the limit and passed out on Aden's bathroom floor, Aden came in with AJ to show him an outfit for their family dinner when Aden noticed his bathroom light was on. That's when he found his sister on the floor foaming at the mouth.

AJ called 911 and Aden turned Armani on her side so she wouldn't choke. The paramedics arrived quickly and took Armani in the truck while her brothers followed behind. Their parents and little sister went to a birthday party for one of Aaliyah's classmates when they got the call that Armani was being rushed to the hospital.

The doctors told Armani's family that she was clinging on to life, but they did everything they could to save her. Her family waited for almost five days for Armani to wake up and when she did, her family rejoiced. "Please don't scare us like that baby girl. We all need you here with us." her dad said, placing a kiss on her forehead. Armani gave a smile back and reached her hand out for her mom's hand.

A week after the incident Armani was sent to a mental health facility as she had a nervous breakdown at home and tried to hurt herself again. Luckily, her mom was there to stop her, but as a nurse, Angel knew that taking her daughter to this facility was for the best. In that facility is where Armani met her therapist, Ms. Packard.

She was a younger black woman who made Armani feel very safe. It took a few days for Armani to warm up to her, but when she did Ms. Packard made her feel heard. Armani stayed at the facility for almost two weeks before being evaluated one last time and being able to go home with her family.

Fast forward to December, Armani has been home since before Halloween. During her stay at the health facility Armani found out that she was pregnant and almost gave up on life again. Things had started to pick up for her but finding out that she was pregnant was the tip of the iceberg. Armani had multiple visits with her therapist as Ms. Packard did everything in her power to make sure Armani was her priority patient.

Being at home almost two months pregnant, Armani felt that time couldn't go by any slower. She managed to get caught up on her missing school work and still maintained good grades. Armani's parents didn't want to push her to go back to school, but they knew it would do her some good.

Armani went back to school for one week just to take her finals and after that she wouldn't return until January, the next semester. Over the course of winter break, Armani spent a lot of time with her family and close friends.

Emily and Trey had made it known they were talking, but before doing so they wanted to make sure that Armani was okay with that since Trey and Malachi were cousins. Armani didn't mind it because Trey had nothing to do with the things that Malachi did.

Angel, Armani's mom, had applied for a head nursing position at hospital's all around the country hoping that her family could get a new start. Of course this took a lot of time and thought as Angel would be packing up her entire family and moving to a completely different state, but wherever they moved to would be their forever home.

January 6th, 2019

It was the first day back to school and Armani was not prepared for being back full time. She had no idea how everyone would look at her as they knew what happened. Armani's stomach was still very small and she hoped no one would notice. The amount of anxiety that ran through her body was unreal and brought so much discomfort Armani had to find the nearest trash can to throw up in. Embarrassed that she just threw up in front of the entire school, she quickly rushed to the restroom to rinse her mouth out and gather herself.

Leaving out of the girls restroom, Armani spotted her best friend Emily walking to first period with Trey. Armani caught up with them making small conversation before they all went into separate rooms in the same hall. Luckily her first class of the day was with one of her favorite teachers, Mrs. Tyler. Finding a seat in the class, Armani was beyond ready for this day to be over. One of Armani's friends, Layton, sat next to her and they started a small conversation.

"Hey Mani! It's good to see you again. How have you been?" Layton asked. Armani absolutely hated this question as she felt it was a way for people to be nosey and in her personal business. "Hey Lay, I've been doing better, you know just hanging in there. How about you?" Armani replied. Even though Layton was a good friend of Armani's and knew what was going on, Armani still didn't want to give too many people all the details.

"Girl you know, same old, same old. Ready to be done with school, tired of morning sickness, it's just whew!" Layton replied. To Armani's surprise, Layton just revealed she was pregnant as well. "Wait morning sickness? Are you pregnant?" Armani replied in a softer voice. "Girl, yes." Layton replied. She explained that she never had a chance to tell Armani because she found out when Armani was going through a rough patch in her life.

Armani never thought that one of her friends would be pregnant right now too. She truthfully never thought she would be pregnant at this age either, but things happen.

As the day went on, Armani couldn't help but to think about Layton being pregnant as well. At the end of the school day, Armani caught a ride home from Trey and Emily as she didn't feel comfortable driving again. "Thank you for the ride. I'll see y'all later." Armani said as she got out of Trey's car. "No problem." Trey replied. "You know we got you." Emily said as Armani walked to the front door.

"I'M HOME" Armani yelled and to her surprise no one answered, so she put her bag down in a chair at the kitchen table and made her way to the den so she could relax. Turning the tv on Steven Universe, Armani got comfortable as she was ready to take a nap. With everything she had been through, the most exhausting thing for Armani was being pregnant. She was always tired and it seemed like everyday something new would be added to her list of things she craved or that made her sick. Before she knew it, Armani was on the couch in a deep sleep.

A few hours later, Armani heard her phone ringing along with noises coming from all around the house. She answered the phone without looking at who was calling her. "Hello?" Armani said sleepily. "Oh I'm sorry, bestie, I didn't realize you were sleep. I was just calling to see how you were doing." Emily answered.

"I'm fine, you know I been real tired lately. This pregnancy thing is no joke." Armani replied. The two talked for a little while longer before getting off the phone. Armani made her way to the kitchen to get started on her homework as she noticed almost everyone was sitting around the table. "Hey yall" Armani said to her family.

"Good morning sunshine. You was sleeping good got lines on your face and you a lil red." Aden said and Armani shot him a death glare. Angel was getting started on dinner when her husband, Anthony came downstairs to bother her in the kitchen.

"Well since everyone is down here, your father and I have something to announce." Angel said, smiling. "Ma please don't say your pregnant you have enough kids and Mani pregnant. I can't handle two pregnant ladies." Aden said and AJ just laughed at him. "No I'm not pregnant. I have been offered a position at a hospital in St. Louis and we will be moving next month." Angel replied and all the kids just stared at her.

Not knowing what to say, Armani started with "well a fresh start wouldn't hurt, but why do we have to move so soon?" Aden and AJ agreed waiting on answers.

"Well..." Anthony started, "her job needs her to start asap and that was the furthest out the hospital would agree on a start date for your mom. I'm not ready to leave but we have family up there, a bigger house, better jobs. It's just what we need." He continued.

Armani instantly cried as she knew this meant she would be leaving her best friend very soon. As the rest of January continued, Armani prepared herself everyday to be apart from her best friend. Emily was sad to hear she was leaving but knew that they would soon be reunited as both of their birthdays would come faster than they thought.