more life / b.simmons (2)

5

amari runs a hand through her hair and then rubs her eyes with the heels of her hand. she's stressing out because of kyra. she's been whining and crying all day because she wants to see ben, who has been extremely busy with basketball, and they're going to his game tonight, but amari is reconsidering it because kyra is acting out.

"i want daddy!" she whines, throwing a fit on amaris bed. adrian sits quietly, watching a show on the ipad.

"i know," amari sighs frustratedly. she grabs her phone and texts ben to see if he's busy.

amari: kyra wants to see you

ben: call me

amari clicks the facetime button and hands the phone to kyra. "say hi to your dad," at that, kyra stops complaining and grabs the phone from her mom. amari gets up with a sigh and grabs some clothes from her closet and heads into the bathroom to get ready for the game.

"are you being bad?" ben asks kyra as he sees her tear stained cheeks. he knows that amari doesn't do anything to make those kids cry, and if they are they're usually hurt or acting out. for kyra, is was usually the latter.

"no," she lies, putting her thumb in her mouth nervously.

"don't lie to me. that's bad," ben scolds. kyra nods, feeling guilty.

"okay. i'm sorry, daddy," she says, looking at the bathroom door, waiting for her mom to emerge.

"it's okay. but next time tell the truth, okay?"

"okay," kyra looks over at adrian quietly watching his show and crawls over next to him. adrian puts the ipad between the two of them and kyra leans her head on his shoulder.

"hey, dre," ben says, smiling at the sight of his two kids.

"hi, daddy," adrian says distractedly, focused on his movie rather than whatever ben had to say.

"ky, go give mommy the phone," ben instructs.

"mommy!" kyra screams, making amari jump and almost stab herself in the eye with her mascara. she sighs and gets up, mascara in hand. "heres daddy." kyra says, extending her arm and handing amari the phone. she takes it and walks back into the bathroom.

"hey, baby," ben says.

amari props her phone against the mirror and takes a seat on the stool. "hey," she says, her voice monotone.

"whats wrong?"

"your daughter; she's driving me crazy."

ben chuckles and sighs. "i know—i haven't really been home lately and she's at that age where my absence bothers her," he says and amari nods her head in agreement.

"she needs to see you soon, because i don't know if i can deal with her anymore."

ben laughs and strokes his beard. "i'll be waiting for you guys."

"we'll be there soon. love you, honey."

"bye, love you."

-

amari clenches her jaw as kyra fusses in her arms and tries to get out of her grip. adrian walks calmly beside her, holding amaris hand as they walk through the back entrance and down the hallway to meet ben.

ben stands outside the locker room door in his warm ups, and kyra screams when she sees him. adrian runs to him and amari sets kyra down and the twins hold onto his legs. amari cracks her back and heads over to her family, leaning against the wall next to ben as he holds both kids.