Struggling to Survive

Chapter 18

Crystal
Nigel squeezed my hand as we walked into Stephanie's room. She had her hair tied up in a messy bun and had a big slash on her eyebrow and a busted lip. She had even more cuts and bruises on her leg. I let go of Nigel and ran towards Stephanie. I wrapped her in my arms and squeezed her tight.

"Ow mami! I get it I almost died but shit don't kill me in this hug." I pulled away giggling and wiped the tears out of my eyes. I looked to my right and saw the nurses bring in the baby.

She was inside of the incubator and looked like she was little bigger than both of my hands together. She was red and had tubes coming all out of her. The nurse rolled her over next to Steph and opened the circle part so Steph could reach inside and touch. Steph began to smile and cry as she reached inside to touch her.
"Aw baby, look at our baby!" She was crying and reached out for Trey's hand. Nigel and I held hands and walk to the other side of the incubator to look at her.
She was beautiful and had Stephanie's eyes and Trey's full lips.

"You guys know what you gonna name her?" Nigel asked as we all gazed down at her.
"Amari Diamond." I looked up at Stephanie and felt more tears come out of my eyes.

Flashback
Stephanie and I were gonna have a sleepover tonight so we decided to walk to my house so I can get my stuff. My grandad was in the hospital and I wasn't ready to go home alone.
"So if you have kids what you gonna name them?" Stephanie looked at me like I was crazy and shook her head.
"Hell no. I'm not having no kids. I'm not ruining my body just to raise some ungrateful heffer." I shook my head and began to laugh. "Just pretend you'd have a kid. Like if I had a girl I'd probably name her Amara or some shit."
"I think Amari would be prettier." I nodded my head in agreeance.
"Oh what if you have a daughter? You should give her a name similar to mines since you love me so much." I nudged her and laughed.
"So like Amari Shining? Or Amari Crystal?"
"No girl like Amari Diamond or something." We both looked at each other and smiled.
"That would be dope as hell bro. There wouldn't be another Amari Diamond anywhere."
She shrugged her shoulders.
"Well we both must be some baby naming geniuses." We giggled and kept walking talking about the future. 
Flashback over

"You actually remembered that name? We were 14 , I was joking." I chuckled while wiping tears from my eyes.
She reached over the incubator and grabbed my hand.
"I wanted my baby girl to have a special name from a very special woman in my life."

After being in the room for 3 hours, Stephanie's family finally arrived so Nigel and I finally decided to go home to relax. While being in the car I couldn't help but think about what Nigel said about not being happy. I looked over at him and grabbed his hand.
"Babe?"
"Mhm?"
"You know I love you right?"
He looked over at me and smiled.
"Yes babygirl and I love you too." He kissed my hand and kept driving.
"And you know I just want you to be happy?" He gave me a concerned look and looked back at the road.
"If this is about what I said at the hospital I don't wanna talk about it."
"But babe I don't want you to keep it in."
"Well that's my choice not yours."
"But I jus-"
"Crystal I don't wanna talk about it damn."

He pulled his hand away from mines and put it on the wheel. I sat up and stared at him for a while before looking out the window. I could tell he's holding something in but he's not trying to talk to me. I just want him to talk to me.

Nigel
After I yelled at Crys the rest of the drive home was quiet. When we got in the house, she pushed past me and went in our bedroom and slammed the door shut. I sat on the couch and took a deep breath. It's not that I don't wanna talk about it with her, it's just that I don't wanna talk about it at all. I like dealing with my problems on my own and she just doesn't get that.

I decided to do some homework so I got up to the bedroom so I could grab my laptop. When I tried to turn the doorknob I realized it was locked. I shook my head and knocked on the door.
"Crystal you can be mad all you want but don't start throwing a damn tantrum locking doors and shit." I waited a few seconds and she still hadn't opened the door.
"Bro I just wanna do some damn homework. I'm sorry I yelled at you in the car. I just don't wanna talk about my emotions right now."
"Why not?" She yelled so I could hear her through the closed door.
"Cause I just don't. Now open the fucking door bro. You play too much."
"I'm not opening the door until we talk. I don't want you to keep your emotions bottled in."
"Crystal I don't wanna fucking talk about it. Open the fucking door!" I banged on the door and heard the doorknob jiggle.

She opened the door and was just in a sports bra and her black shorts. I looked her up and down. She looked good as hell but since I was mad I pushed past her and went towards my laptop.
"So now you just gonna walk past me and not say nothing when I open the door?" She stood behind me with her arms crossed. I stared at her briefly and pushed past her and went back in the living room.
"Thanks Crys." I could feel her staring at me from the corner of my eye but I continued to start my homework. Eventually she went back in the room and slammed the door shut. I heard the lock click and sighed. I could tell tonight was gonna be a long night.

A/N
New chapter will be posted tmrw! I hope you're enjoying my book. I would just like to thank everyone for 1k reads! YAYYYY! Make sure you like, comment, and vote❤️