|A L W A Y S & F O R E V E R| B O O K 1

11||B a c k y a r d G a r d e n

Date: 4/30/15
Day of the Week: Thursday
Location: Los Angeles, California
Place: Ciara's Condo

Omniscient
The two lay wrapped in the thick plush blanket on the sofa. After getting back to Ciara's condo late last night, they decided to watch a few movies since they weren't tired. After watching movies for a few hours, Ciara fell asleep on Russ' shoulder. He had gotten tired too, but he didn't want to wake her. Instead, he laid back and pulled her on his chest, pulling the blanket over them.
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Light snores came from Ciara as her head rested against Russ' chest. Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of a phone ringing. Thinking she was in her bed, she felt around for it. Only to come in contact with something flat and hard. Russell's chest. She opened her eyes and rubbed them with the back of her hand to clear her cloudy vision from her sleep. Once she could see well enough, she attempted to sit up. The slight heaviness on her waist caught her attention. She looked down to see Russell's arm circling her waist.

"What in the hell." She panicked for a second. Then she remembered last night. Dinner, going for a stroll at the park, and then coming back to her condo to watch movies. She removed his hand carefully before lifting herself off of him and standing to her feet. She picked her phone up from the coffee table and saw she had a missed call from her mother.
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She closed the door to her room and dragged herself to her bed. Once she sat down, she called her mother back. It didn't take long for her to answer.

"Hey, Mama." Sleep dripped from her voice. Staying up all night was a bad idea.

"Good morning, sweetheart."

"Good morning." She yawned.

"Sounds like you had a long night." Her mother chuckled on the other end.

"Sort of." She smiled as she recapped on last night's dinner with Russ.

"You two went on a date, didn't you?" She could tell her mother was grinning.

"It's not like that, Ma. We just went out to dinner. Then we went to the park and watched movies when we got back. That's it. Nothing more. We're just friends."

"That's what you're saying right now. As much as you hate to admit it, you have feelings for him, baby." She sighed, knowing her mother was right.

"Mama, with everything going on right now, I don't think I should get involved with him. At least not right now."

"I know that your grandma having breast cancer is taking a toll on you, but you can't let that stop your happiness, sweetheart. Life is too short. Do you know how long my mother has waited for a good man to come into your life?"

"Yeah. For the longest." She chuckled. Before she knew it, her eyes began to water. She sniffled as she used her index finger to wipe her tears away.

"Are you crying?"

"I'm fine, Mama. This is all so shocking to me. I haven't taken it in yet. I don't think I ever will." Her mother didn't know what to say. She hadn't taken in the fact that her mother had breast cancer either, but she needed to stay strong for her daughter. She hid her pain on the outside well, but on the inside, she was breaking too.

"We're taking this one day at a time. We're going to get through this as a family." She paused.

"Sunday, I want you to come back to visit your Grandma. She's been worried about you. She told me what happened when you came last time. She wants to talk to you." Ciara ran her hand down her face as she shut her eyes.