Falling From It Again

Twenty 1

CHERYL's POINT OF VIEW

Once I made it home, I realized that everybody was at home. I decided to go and talk to my baby girl because we haven't been talking as much lately.

"Hey, baby." I said as I knocked on Cai's door. She smiled and watched me walk in. She was doing her usual- painting.

"Hey, Ma. Where have you been?" She asked in a calm voice and continued to paint.

"Just handling some business. Anyways, how about you give painting a break and you and I can go hang out together?" I asked her as I stood behind her and watched her paint.

"Sure. Where would you like to go?" She asked me as she turned to look at me. She then sat her brush down and wiped her hands on a towel.

"Hmm, lets just go out to lunch?"

"Sure. Anything to get away from my brother." She slightly giggled as she stood up.

While Cai and I were out for lunch- I was kind of afraid to ask my baby girl this question but I knew that as her mother...I needed to.

"Caiya..." I said as I put my menu down and looked at her.

"Uh oh. Am I in trouble? You only call me Caiya when its something serious." She said as she looked at me nervously and shifted in her seat.

"No, baby girl-....well, it is something kind of serious because Mommy has been wondering. Plus, I know that you can be just like your father sometimes. Keep things locked away inside of you. My question is...I remember Ciyle bringing up a boy that you liked. Do you like someone? You can tell me anything- i'm interested." I said as I waited anxiously for her to say something...anything.

"Well, I-...I do like somebody, yes. I tried to tell him but...I'm scared." She said to me. I was relieved.

"What's his name?" I asked her.

"Demetrius." She said as she started to blush just by saying his name. I could see that she really liked him because of how her eyes lit up.

"Tell me about him." I said as I smiled.

"Well, he draws. He doesn't really like painting but he loves to use pastels and I guess he's also into clay. Ma, you should see how he works his magic. He literally spends time after school to just draw and build things with clay. Like, live people. It's what made me realize how special he is and how passionate about art he is- just like me. He sits next to me in our art class and he talks to me from time to time. Small talk. I-...I don't know, Ma. His smile is so cute and he even has that one dimple and..." She said as she stopped talking and laughed a little bit. "I like him a lot." She said to end it.

"Talk to him when you go back to school, okay? You really like this young man, huh? What does he look like?" I asked as I watched her smile really hard.

"Well, he's like- hmm...he's a little bit darker than you and I...like a darker shade of caramel. He's tall, brown eyes and hmmm, I don't know. He's really cute, all I can say."

"I'm happy that you opened up to me about this, baby. You're growing up so fast and I can't even believe that you're already 16 years old. I remember you asking me to play tea party with you and now we're sitting her talking about cute boys, my gosh." I said as I tried to hold my tears back.

"Oh gosh, Ma. Please, stop bringing that up. I really can't believe that Bre and I always had those wack tea parties." She said as she laughed.

"Hey, they're not wack. Say that again and i'll post the picture that I took of you two when you would play that. Had on those Princess dresses and fake wigs. Lord...I know that I tried my best not to laugh but I probably failed." I said as I laughed and then took a sip of my water.

"Please, don't post those on Instagram. You just wanna embarrass me." She said as she laughed. I shook my head and smiled.

SKIP TO MONDAY

CAI's POINT OF VIEW (for the one time, one timeeeee.)

I was sitting anxiously in art class, waiting for Demetrius to come into class. I sat down on my end of the table and pulled out my phone to check my hair. Maybe I should wear makeup from now on? I don't know- I just hope that he doesn't decline what i'm about to do.

People were still entering the class room and I still haven't seen him just yet.

"Please be here today." I said under my breath and pushed my curly hair out of my face. I tapped my finger on the table and looked at the clock. He only had one minute to get here or else he will be late or that just meant that he wasn't here today.

The bell rang. I took a deep breath and just shrugged my shoulders. Maybe next time.

"Okay, class- take out your pencils and your brushes. Whatever you choose- continue on your drawings or paintings that you've chosen." My teacher said as she spoke to the entire class.

Suddenly, Demetrius bursted into the class room. He was breathing really hard and I could see that he was running and rushing just to get here.

"My-...My apologies. Traffic..." He said as he laughed nervously in front of the class.

"Sit and work." The teacher ordered him.

"Yes ma'am." He said as he nodded his head, looked at the entire class and made his way towards our table. I watched him but then quickly looked down once I realized that he caught me looking at him.

"Sup." He said as he put his backpack down and then took out his pencils.

Did he really just say hi first?

"H-...Hey." I said as I started to get nervous.

"You-...uh, look nice today. My first time seeing you wear a skirt." He said as he looked down at my skirt and then back towards his pencils.

"It's been in my closet for a while. Thanks. Kinda wanted to switch it up a little bit today." I said as I started to paint.

He nodded his head and took out some paper to sketch on for a while. I watched him as he started to draw- his focus was amazing to me. The way he bit his bottom lip while trying to make a perfectly straight line- too cute. I then dug into my backpack to take out a piece of paper. I wrote my number down and folded it.

"Here goes nothing." I said under my breath and looked over at him. I then slid the paper over towards him and watched him as he grabbed it. He looked up at the teacher and slowly began to open the small paper. I didn't look at him because my heart was already beating more than a thousand beats per second. There was an awkward silence between us.

"I-...I'll put your number in my phone right now. Caiya, right?" He asked.

You should know my name, dude.

"Yeah but most people call me Cai. Your choice..."

He nodded his head, smiled at me and then looked down at my number once more.

"Cai...humhp-...I like that." He said as he then smiled over at me. I blushed.

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