Three's Company

39

Cameren

I plopped down on the couch with the remote flipping through the sports section of the cable guide. Rockets/Lakers, I'm not moving off this couch. "Babe! Can you bring me a beer?" She was in the other room talking loudly on the phone with Jess' ass. I picked up the baby monitor tablet and checked the kids' camera. All three were knocked out.

Jayden walked in the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge and cracked it open and brought it to me. "Now why you didn't get a beer before you sat down?!" I smacked her on the ass. "Cuz I wanted to see your fine ass walk in here with them little ass shorts on." She gave me the middle finger and headed back out. "Give me a kiss at least!" She leaned over the back of the couch and kissed my lips. "Mmm...why you don't come watch the game with me?" "I will when I get off the phone."

Jayden

Me: Girl hold on. Lay is calling.

Me: Hello?

Layla: I'm coming over.

Me: What's wrong?

Layla: I'll talk to you when I get there.

Me: Okay...

Layla: See you in a minute.

I hung up the phone and clicked back over to Jess. "Babe! Layla is on her way!"

Cameren

Welp! So much for some alone time!

*cries from baby monitor* I ran upstairs to the kids' room to grab CJ from his crib. Me and little man went back downstairs to watch the game while I warmed him a bottle.

Layla walked through the garage door and let it back down. "Hey Cam." "Hey sis. Jay is back in our room. You good?" "Yeah I just need to talk to her. Hey CJ!" She gave him a kiss on the forehead before disappearing off in the room.

Jayden

Me: Hey boo! Wassup? Everything okay?

Layla: Okay don't be mad.

Me: What happened?

Layla had graduated high school only a month earlier and was working an internship in the summer, awaiting her college move-in date.

Layla: Alright, so...ma caught me and Justin. Well she didn't really catch us. Well technically she did...so her and daddy went to the movies. They've been letting him hang out over at the house, no closed doors. You know how it goes. Anyway...so ma comes in my bathroom and she's yelling about emptying my trash. Not only did she bust in my room and catch us all over each other because we didn't hear her cuz the music was loud. She found the pregnancy test I'd taken earlier in the trash.

Me: Okay, hold up? Pregnancy test?

Layla: I had a scare and I panicked. I was late nshit. I didn't know what to do.

Me: Why didn't you call me?!

Layla: Because I panicked! The test was negative, so it's fine.

Me: We'll go back to that. Did they kick you out?

Layla: Nah she was just trippin. She started talking about some punishment shit. I couldn't go nowhere or do nothing. She was gon revoke my driving privileges except for work. Curfews. All this dumb shit. I'm 18. Fuck all that shit, bro!

Me: She does pay all your bills though, sis. What were you thinking?!

Layla: Man, I don't care about all that. I just left. I snuck out my window. She prolly don't even know I'm gone.

Me: Ok we have to tell them where you are. They gon kill me and you!

Layla: Bro, just let me crash here for tonight. We'll deal with all that shit tomorrow.

Me: I gotta tell her, Lay. What if she reports you as a runaway?

Layla: Jay...please?

Me: Okay, fine. You are 18. I guess there's technically nothing she can do. But we're calling home in the morning.

Layla: Bet! Thank you. Forreal.

Me: Uh huh...go upstairs to one of the guest rooms. Don't be up there making noise because the twins are asleep.

Lord, what has this girl gotten herself into?! I've been telling her for months to be careful.

A few minutes later, Cam came in the room to check on me.

Cam: What was that all about?

Me: Mama caught her fucking AND she found a pregnancy test in the bathroom. She put her on punishment so Lay snuck out of the house.

Cam: Wow...

Me: This is about to be a big mess.

Cam: Well I guess tonight is a bad time for me to tell you what I needed to tell you.

Me: What?!

Cam: Our CEO resigned out of nowhere. They promoted some guy I've never heard of for interim and dude has reassigned all our projects and moved up all the deadlines. I'm gonna be working a lot more these next few months.

Me: Why the hell did he reassign them?!

Cam: I think just to be an asshole. He's on a power trip or something.

Me: I mean...I think I can handle it. It'll be okay.

Cam: I hope so. I'm hella stressed already and the shit just happened yesterday.

I could really use a blunt right now, but I can't smoke because I'm breastfeeding. I just felt hella anxiety come over me. I went in the kitchen to pour a glass of crown apple mixed with apple juice. I'm calling my therapist first thing Monday morning to schedule an appointment. When I came back, Cam was undressing down to his boxers and muscle shirt to get in bed.

I popped down with my glass and took it to the head. I wasn't even gon bullshit anymore. "Come here," he said pulling me closer. "Don't start getting all worked up you know how you get. That'll affect your breastmilk. We gon be aight." He kissed and caressed me and held me until I fell asleep.