Tiana Maraj
9:20 pm
Maraj Household
"Grab the cups for me." Daniel nodded, leaving the kitchen after bringing the plates that I had started to clean. Both him and I didn't talk much as we finished up tidying the kitchen, table and livingroom. There wasnt much to speak about. With our parents back for however long, tension was going to be high in the household until they decide to up and leave again.
"Do you think she's okay." Daniel asked softly, referring to Nicki. I sighed softly, shrugging. "I don't know." But I was wondering the same thing. Nicki always took the blow for us. Its always been that way with them. She always held herself up as a shield, trying to block us from their abuse ever since we were younger. We tried telling her to stop, to let us try protecting ourselves, but she immedietly shut it down. We love that she wants to protect us, but we want to protect her too. She has no one to shield her.
Once we were done, I came up with the idea to try and cheer her up a bit. I dug into the freezer, and pulled out the tub of cookies n' cream icecream. If there was one way into her heart, it was either chanel bags or icecream. And I was not about to go out and buy a thousand dollar bag. Daniel had already gone up to his room and I was making my way to the stairs after grabbing two spoons for us.
"Tiana."
I froze, slowly turning around to come face to face with our mother. She no longer had mari in her arms. Making me assume she was with our father. "Yes ma'am." I mumbled.
"No greeting or hug for your mother? Don't tell me you've become just like your ungrateful sister." She tsked, her heels clicking as she walked closer to me. I fought off my eye roll and instead, huffed through my nose. "Sorry mama. Welcome home." I responded boredly before turning back around and beginning to make my way up the stairs.
"I'm not done speaking with you young lady. Come back down these stairs and show some manners." Her voice raised as she spoke. My lips smacked as I turned to look at her briefly, "Ive got homework i've got to finish." I quickly jogged up the stairs leaving her no space to say anything else.
Walking to Nicki's room felt painful. I was the only one out of the rest of us that has seen her at her lowest whenever they hurt her. I was that shoulder to cry on and to pick her back up. If she won't let me protect her, the least I could do was be there for her.
❖
OTM
"Nic?" Tia called for me as she stepped into my room. I could'nt silence my sniffles in time before I heard her exhale quietly, stepping fully into the room and locking the door. I felt the bed dip and the sheets ruffle as she climbed in with me. "I brought icecream." She whispered. I smiled weakly, wiping my face and sitting up. "How sweet of you."
"What can I say. I'm just a great sister." She shrugged, bumping my shoulder lightly.
"You aight." I retorted with a strained chuckle.
"Girl shut up. Im amazing." She mugged, opening up the icecream and giving me a spoon. She quickly dug into it and reached for the controller to my TV after handing the tub to me. The icecream don't even look as good as it usually does. Which says a lot. Everyone knows I go insane for some icecream. But I couldn't stomach it. Not right now. I placed it in my lap and watched as she flicked through netflix shows before landing on Top Boy. It was one of the shows her and I had started watching together and vowed to never continue it with out the other present.
"You don't want none?" She asked, referring to the icecream I had yet to touch. I shook my head no, handing it back over to her. She shrugged, and continued taking bites of it.
"So, whats up with you and ole girl."
"Not a damn thing." I answered shortly. Don't get me wrong, Beyoncé's cute. She's respectful whilst also being bold and knows how to communicate what she's feeling. That's such a huge turn on for me but I don't think she's got what it'll take to handle me and my flaws. I come with a lot of baggage. I'm not sure if she's willing to deal with my shit.
