Stay the Night

Chapter 24

January 4th, 2003

Following Alison's tantrum at the Christmas party, things had been pretty tense with the family. Mariah hadn't really spoken to anyone in the family outside of Michael since the incident, not that she really wanted to. With her album doing a nosedive on the charts and her children on her mind, anything outside of family or work was really taking a toll on her nerves.

Michael, seeming to sense Mariah's moodiness, decided to appeal to her inner child in a way that only he could and organized a water balloon fight with Yandy.

Originally, they'd been split into teams, but it quickly devolved into chaos with water balloons coming from all sides.

Now where is he?

Mariah was crouched behind a bush, but made the fatal mistake of losing sight of Michael.

"Gotcha!"

She quickly turned around and put her hands up in surrender.

Michael frowned at her. "You're not even gonna try to run away?"

Mariah shook her head. "Nope, you win."

She slowly stood up. "Take your shot."

He sucked his teeth, holding his balloon at his side. "It's not fun if you're not gonna try."

He turned his head and Mariah took her chance to run away.

"Hey!"

Michael charged after her and the next thing she knew, a water balloon broke on her back.

Her tank top now drenched, Mariah skipped over to the arcade door.

"Wait!" Michael called out. "You're gonna leave me with these kids?"

Mariah chuckled. "I shouldn't be running round here with y'all anyway!"

He grinned, quickly approaching her.

"Yandy got it." She continued.

Michael shook his head. "Yandy ass getting attacked."

"Poor girl." Mariah started. "I almost feel sorry for her."

"Almost?"

"Yeah, almost. Nobody told her to get involved in Nicki and Noni's beef."

Michael smirked. "Yeah, well, they need the outlet. Sometimes I look in their little faces and they look so bored hanging out with us."

"We're boring parents."

He raised an eyebrow. "Correction. You are."

"I'm thinking we should get them in school again. They need some little friends." Mariah offered, ignoring her husband's games.

"Well, yeah. But what's the point now? Half the school year already over, might as well wait 'till July-"

"Still need something in the meantime though." Mariah interjected, her eyes fixated on their children.

"Well, there's Mia and Jackie. I told Yandy she could bring them but she said she's trying to get them back into school mode."

Mariah shrugged. "You don't think they're too old? Even for the twins I mean..."

"I think they're like 8 years old."

"Yeah, too old."

Michael raised his eyebrows. "Not really though. That could actually help us out. If we had some older kids around here, they could not only keep them occupied but help watch them."