Moving Forward

Five

Aaliyah

"Ugh," I screamed, burying my face into my pillow. Why did Roc have to be such a jerk? I finally find the perfect mother for my baby, and he has to go and scare her off.

 "Look Liyah I'm sorry," I heard Roc call from the other side of the door. He must have followed me up here.

"Go away!" I cried. When he finally left, I dug out that card Tasha gave me earlier.

I ran my fingers over the shiny black letters. CEO. I pulled out my phone and nervously punched in the numbers.

 "Tasha Davis, CEO of Interscope Records," She said, and my heart nearly skipped a beat.

 "Yeah, Tasha," I replied, grinning hard. "It's Aaliyah."

_______

I swallowed hard, staring at the large glass building in front of me. Interscope Records. Why am I so afraid? It's just a building. I took a tentative step inside, sighing heavily in relief when the walls didn't come crashing down.

 I followed the directions Tasha had given me. She had agreed to meet me, and we would go for ice cream. I quietly made my way to her corner office.

 "Tasha," I called, softly tapping her door. When I opened the door, she was heavily immersed in her work. "If you are busy, I could always come back later."

 "Noo." She scribbled a few things down, then grabbed her purse. "I'm just finishing up," she smiled. "Besides I know this great ice cream place a couple of blocks over."

 "So tell me about yourself, Aaliyah. How's school?" Tasha asked me when we had finally gotten our ice cream.

 "School is...school," I frowned, looking away. To be honest school is the last thing I wanted to be talking about. Especially since I haven't been since last week.

 "You don't like it?" She replied, curiously.

 "I mean I just don't exactly see the point. When am I going to use the formula for a right triangle?"

 "True, but in school, I learned a lot of life lessons," She replied. It's funny how talking to Tasha for a few minutes about school almost made me want to go.

 "Life lessons? What more life lessons do I need? Living without parents...that teaches you life lessons. Hopping from foster care place to foster care place only to end back up at the one you started in, struggling with the pain of being unwanted...ha. Those taught me a lot," I laughed bitterly, leaving an awkward silence between us.

 "I'm sorry," she whispered, breaking the silence.

 "Yeah, well...It's not like it was your fault," I replied, shrugging it off. "I have to go anyway. It's getting late."

 "Let me give you a ride. My car is right here."

_______

 "You must be insane! You drive in NYC! And in a freakin' Benz," I exclaimed, settling into the plush leather interior.

 "I like to drive," She laughed. "A little traffic won't kill me."

 "You must not know how bad it can get," I muttered, glancing out the window. "Turn on this street right here," I announced, pointing to my house on the corner. "Wait 'til Roc sees this. There he is now."

 "This is where you stay," Tasha gasped, and it was like she was remembering something about my house. I could see tears welling up in her eyes, but she looked away too fast for me to be sure.

"Yeah...I live here," I replied skeptically. "Why?"

 "Nothing.." She retorted, quickly changing her expression. "Well, this was nice. We should do this again."

 "We should," I smiled, stepping out the car. "Thanks for the ride."

 "No problem."

 I couldn't help but skip up to Roc. Tasha was amazing and beautiful, and she's nice too. She's like the mother I've always dreamed off. I made a move to enter the house, but Roc stopped me at the door.

 "Where were you?" He questioned me, roughly snapping me out of my fantasy.

 "I was with Tasha. See," I added, pointing at her Benz still parked out front. He eyed the car distastefully.

 "I told you I don't like her," He growled, crossing his arms across his chest. "Why would you go out with her?"

 "Why wouldn't I? She is going to be my baby's mother," I attacked, rage filling my voice. "I like her Roc. Can't you just be happy for me? She's perfect. She's successful, beautiful, kind, and smart. She runs her own company...Did you know that? She's like the youngest, black, female CEO."

 The longer I went on, the more I realized Roc wasn't even listening to me. "Roc are you listening?" I exclaimed, crossing my arms across my chest, but he ignored me. He just brushed past me, nearly knocking me over, and walked right up to Tasha's Benz.