HUMBLE.

XII. Christmas Day Pt. 1

[A/N: Umm, Jade's flashback/storytelling is a true story. That is all.]

Jade

I was smoking outside on the back porch with Buck since Tuck called himself about to bring someone over for the first time in forever.

"Bro, how come you never settled down?" I blew smoke in the air passing the blunt to him.

"Sis, you sound like Gina in dea'. When I find a broad that like what I like and don't mind my business then I'll have me a girl. Til then? I'm good onnat. Money is the love of my life right now."

"Whateva, man. You keep thinkin' like that you gon' be alone foreva," I shook my head.

He smacked his lips, "Since when you all wise and shit? Last time I heard, I'm the big cousin."

I smirked snatching the cigar from him, "I became the big cousin when I went through the shit I went through to get me up hea'. Just to get that bus ticket I had to be hungry for like a week."

He clenched his jaw once I brought that up. He was more upset than anything that I did that rather than just asking someone for help. "Ya hardhead ass. As many times as we talked and you tol' me everythang was good, you let yaself go through that. Know I woulda helped you out."

I shrugged, "I had to figure it out on my own. Can't keep dependin' on people or Imma become a kept person. That's sumn I'm not tryna do."

"Bein' kept and askin' for help is not the same thang," he shook his head. "Like you workin' for the club. I didn't approve that shit, Tuck did. I woulda helped you stay straight witout those lil ass checks you get.

I nodded, "I know. You, Tuck and G woulda kept me straight. I just feel like I gotta earn it, ya know?"

"We're about to get ready to eat," Ray popped his head out the door. "Let me hit that so I can smash on this food though." I was hesitant to pass him the blunt because I never thought of him to be a smoker. In the five years I've known Ray I thought of him to be this clean cut, straight and narrow dude. He pulled it from my hands and took a deep puff not even choking on the smoke. He passed it back to me and all me and Buck could do was look at one another and shrug.

We went inside the house and everything was completely silent. No one was in the dining room where all the food remained untouched. "I thought you said it was time to eat Ray," I looked at him. He shrugged his shoulders and that's when we heard a huge crash come from the living room. We ran to see what was going on and caught a glimpse of Gina being held back by Tuck screaming to the top of her lungs at someone. I got a little closer to see who she was yelling at, and was faced with the demon that birthed me.

"Why are you even here?" I asked confused. "Nobody wants you here."

Once she looked over at me, her entire demeanor got soft as if she was actually being a mother for a change, "Jade, baby, I came to apologize to all y'all."

I scrunched up my face and backed away as she got closer to me. "I don't accept apologizes from people that left me for dead. What you need to do is leave before Gina finds a way outta Tuck's grip. Hell, I'll help her drag ya ass out."

She sniffled putting her head down, "How can you say this to your mother?"

"How can you kill ya first born grandchild? How can you kick ya youngest child out the house at sixteen wit nothin', for nothin'? How can you stand thea' like none of this happened? How can you look at yaself in the mirror every single day knowin' what you've done? How can you live wit yaself? You're vile. You're not my mother. Emerald and Gina has been more of a mother to me the past four months than you have my entire life. You need to leave." By the time I finished my rant she was face to face with me and all I wanted to do was punch her in her nose. Everyone now knows what all went on in that house once my daddy left her the first time.