Paper Trails 2 | Draft

21.

"And I was never quite sure whether you were the lighthouse or the storm."

*****

A series out loud knocks on the front door pulled me from my nap. I scowled. I abhorred being waken from my mid-day nap, and whoever just did will definitely get a piece of me.

I stormed towards the door and yanked it open.

"What the fuck—" I stopped, confusion taking over my face. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Where's Alaida?"

"Who the fuck are you?" I repeated as if I hadn't heard him.

"Maven!" Alaida cried out from behind me. She ran into his arms, and he lifted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist. "Oh my God, you're here!"

"Baby," he murmured, kissing her head. "Hey."

I heard footsteps and turned to see Raven walking towards us, a scowl on her face.

"The hell are you doing here, Monkey?"

My eyes widened. Monkey? This is Monkey?

"Um." I grabbed Raven's hand and yanked her towards me, keeping my voice low enough so he can't hear me. "Bitch, that's racist."

My eyes cut back to Alaida's boyfriend, half-expecting him to go off on Raven for calling him Monkey. First of all, he looked like he could pick Raven up by her wrist and fling her across this apartment. He was at least six-foot-two, a buck fifty, and he was currently glaring at Raven like she spit in his face. Part of me was waiting for her to realize her mistake and feebly point out that she, "has black friends."

Ridiculous.

"She called me."

Raven's eyes cut to Alaida. "Of course you did. You didn't even last a fucking day, Allie."

I'm still not over the fact that she blatantly called this dude Monkey to his face. Was he not even slightly offended? He didn't appear to be. Ignoring Raven, he put Alaida down and murmured something to her. Her lips tilted up, and her eyes closed and she leaned into him. They was cute or whatever.

Their momentary bliss ended he second Raven opened her mouth. The second she starting scolding her sister, I peace-d the fuck out and went to the kitchen for some coffee. In the background, I can hear Alaida and Raven arguing, and the louder they got, the harder they were to ignore. Raven said something about Alaida being selfish, and Alaida clapped back and called Raven a controlling freak show. If this is what having a sibling is like, I was really grateful mom stopped at me. Though, I guess all things considered, the accident stopped her for the both of us. Once my mug was filled almost to the top, I figured that'd be enough and returned to the front door. (Why were they still there, door open and everything? We have neighbors, damn it.) I grabbed Monkey's arm and yanked him inside. Then I closed the door before anyone could come and yell at us to shut the hell up.

"No," Raven snapped. "Get out. I need to speak with my sister alone."

Monkey crossed his arms over his chest, not budging.

"He's not going anywhere," Alaida said, putting her hand on his forearm. "He needs to talk to Nic anyway."

"Nic's not here," I pointed out.