Just Be A Man About It

19.

Malik

Being back in St. Louis feels great. I miss being home, but I wouldn't trade being in Nashville with Naomi for anything in the world. I pull into my mother's driveway and park the car. I look over at Naomi, and she looks so pale in the face. I grab her hand and squeeze it. My mother has never liked Naomi. She's never had a reason to not like her. I just don't get why she has to be so hateful towards her. Naomi looks at me and her expression says it all. My mother always belittles Naomi to the point where she's bawling her eyes out. I always try to check my mom but she never listens. Instead she just harasses Naomi while I'm not around. I'm just not in the mood for all the drama but if I'm gonna knock some sense into Erica before Dani knocks her out, this is what I have to do.

"It'll be okay. Just stick with me and you'll be fine. As long as you're not alone with her, you'll be fine."

Naomi gives me a sad smile and mutters okay. We both get out of the car and walk towards my mother's front door. I can hear Naomi's breathing quicken as I rang the doorbell. The door swings open.

"Big Brother!" Erica shouts while pulling me into a tight hug.

"Oh thank god!" Naomi exhales.

I laugh at her while returning Erica's gesture. We walk into the house and it's surprisingly quiet.

"Luckily for you guys, Mother just left to go to some spa with Myra. She won't be back for more than a few hours. Oh and don't worry. She doesn't know that you guys are here yet."

"Cool. I'll deal with her later."

"Naomi, how have you been? Has Butthead been behaving?"

"Yea he's being good," she says smiling at me.

I kiss her and I hear Erica make barfing sounds. We sit down in the kitchen and Erica gets us all something to drink.

"So, why are you grounded?" I ask.

"I snuck out to see Jeremy three nights ago and I didn't come until like six in the morning. When I climbed back into my window, she was sitting on my bed drinking coffee with a door key in her hand. Apparently, she wanted to be a 'good mother' and wake me up for school only to realize that I was no where in the house."

I shake my head.

"Why do you do things that are gonna make her make your life a living hell?"

"Because she doesn't get it. This rich lifestyle isn't for me. I like being a normal person. I like simple shit that makes me happy like her driving me to school instead of making Harrison do it. I like making breakfast with her instead of having one of her cooks do it. I would like to have a relationship with her but it's like talking to a brick wall. The only way I get her attention is if I rebel against every rule she sets in the fucking house. I'm tired of it Malik!"

I completely understands where she's coming from. Once one of my mother's rich sugar daddies died, he put her name on his will and gave her an inheritance of 500 billion dollars. Why the fuck would he do that? I have no fucking clue, but she did use it wisely like getting us a better house and putting us through school. The only thing I didn't like was that she was trying to live upon the rich and do what they do. Get all designer clothing, live in a mansion with a million and one rooms, each with its own detail, and get maids for no damn reason. She doesn't need all this shit but you can't tell her anything. She's stubborn as hell.