It was 12:00 PM, and Zonnique was in the mirror as always. That's when she heard three soft knocks at the door. "Come on in." she said.
The door slowly opened, bringing in a cold draft. "Hey, Nique. You alright?" her mom asked as she shut the door then sat on her bed.
Zonnique stopped staring at herself then turned to her mom. "I'm fine, mom." she lied.
"Well, is there anything specific that you wanted for Christmas? You know it's about to be here in ten more days." her mom sighed.
"Yeah, ma'! I know."
"So what did you want, lil' girl?"
Zonnique twisted her lips then sat on the bed. She hated when her mom saw her sad; it only made things awkward and uncomfortable. So instead, she sucked it up and acted the best she could.
"Mom, I want to visit Bahja's grave. I've never missed one single Christmas with her and that's all I want. That's all I want."
Her mom stood silent for a second, not knowing what to say about that. She'd forgotten all about Bahja believe it or not. "I'll talk to Tip about it, okay?"
Zonnique closed her eyes then nodded her head, giving her a smile.
"So, how's you and Ray? Did you see him while in Cali?"
"Oh, it was great, ma'. Ray is funny as heck; I love 'em."
"Mm, was he acting right on tour?"
Zonnique raised her eyebrows up then giggled. "Yeah, ma'! He is sick, though."
"You know Tip doesn't like that little boy at all. He just gets bad vibes from him or something."
Zonnique sighed very hard then glanced down to the ground. "Momma, what are you trying to gesture because I'm not getting it.."
"Oh, nothing!" she lied. "I... was just trying to.. you know, have some girl talk."
"Do you think Ray would cheat on me? He's sick, plus he gave me this necklace with Bahja's face on it since he wasn't able to see me much." she yelled as she lifted the necklace from under her chin.
"That's darling of him, Nique, but you've got to understand... those boys have a lot of girls after them." she said as she stood up and gave her a "be careful" look. "All I'm just saying is watch out. I had a boyfriend like that in college and let's just say it didn't end too well."
Zonnique didn't say anything back out of disappointment. She didn't want to hear anything her mom or dad had to say about Ray Ray. When her mother saw that she wasn't going to say anything back, she opened the door then glanced back at her.
"I'm just trying to look out for you, Nique. That's what mothers are for. We wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't get on your nerves."
Zonnique sighed as she continued to stare at the carpet. With that, her mother gently shut the door then went off to ask T.I. about her little Christmas wish.
It was 7:00 PM and the whole family were going to a Sunday service in church. When they arrived, they immediately received a round of applause from everyone since it was T.I.'s family. He was an inspiration to many families around there since he grew up in the hood, then made it the way he did.
"Hey, everyone. No need to act all starstrucked; we're normal people just like y'all." he laughed as he sat down with his family. The whole church stared at them for a few more seconds, still getting used to a celebrity being in their church, then looked back at the pastor.
As the pastor started preaching his sermon of the Messiah, Tiny leaned over in T.I.'s ear. "Tip, do you think it'll be a good idea to let Nique Nique go and visits Bahja's grave?" she whispered,
