without you ✰ ybnk

treinta y tres

months later...

nick

"damn nick calm down" i heard but i only screamed and clapped louder.

we were at tay's graduation and i've never been more proud of him. i was cheering for him as he walked across the stage. i'm only showing the same energy he had for me at my graduation last week.

after tay walked off the stage i sat back down next to steph and tays mom. this wasn't the only reason i was happy though. tays trial was finally over. molly and cordae were the only witnesses and without witnesses, there's so trail. so therefore all the charges were dropped. and some way somehow, the murder and rape was pinned on sheyaa and now he was going to jail. mostly likely for life too.

and now tay and i are going to clark alanta university together. he came so far and i couldn't be more proud.

.

"maaa please" tay whined.

"just a few more"

tay groaned but i just smiled at the sight. his mom been taking pictures of him with us and his friends from his school for like 15 minutes now.

"ma how about you go take some pictures with him" tasha suggested. his mom handed the phone to tasha and she rushed over to tay. tasha started to take pictures of they posed.

i took my phone out and took a picture of them. they looked so cute.

"tasha you should get in there" i said from beside her. they should have a family picture together.

she handed me the phone and walked over to the two. i snapped a couple photos.

after we were done taking pictures we started walking to the car so we can go out to eat. tay was walking beside me so i opened my phone and clicked on the snap icon.

i put the phone up showing me and tay. i started recording. "tay" i called out. tay looked up from his phone and realized i was recording. he mugged the camera while i made a kissy face. before he could throw up a gang sign like i knew he would i ended it.

"you ain't even let me-"

"exactly"

i ain't have time for the gang sign language he be doing. i made it a boomerang and made the caption a simple red heart emoji before posting it on my story.

.

"what's been happenin brother" stoke asked eating his food. since it's summer for college kids, stoke, jayda, and jah are home so they came to tay's graduation. "nothing. been chillin" tay shrugged.

"uhm you got arrested, accused of rape.. i would beg to differ" jayda deadpanned.

tay rolled his eyes, "yeah but it's over now, me and my baby going to college together"

"period" i chimed in.

steph smiled, "you two make me sick"

"you and joe make me sick" i stuck out my tongue as she blushed. "steph you have horrible taste. last boyfriend had a disease and now your new one just dirty" jahseh said. i had to purse my lips together to prevent from laughing.

steph looked at jah like he was crazy, "you talking about me? ain't stokeley dirty?"

stokeley and jahseh both started choking on their food. i can't believe they still haven't come to terms that they like each other. it's been like a year.

after we were done eating we left the restaurant and they dropped me home. as soon as i stepped one foot in the door i heard screaming. i sighed, it was 9pm and i just wanted to lay down and they making mad noise.

as i walked deeper in the hallway i saw all my siblings standing outside my room, looking inside.

"what's going on?" i asked, walking closer. they all looked at me but ricky was the one to speak, "shawna being a dummy, again"

i furrowed my eyebrows, peeking inside to see my mom and shawna arguing. "what she do this time?" i asked since it was now my mom yelling at her for something. we usually keep the shit kentrell does to her away from my mom.

lauren lifted her left hand and pointed to her ring finger. my eyes widened, "he proposed?"

they all nodded in response. i know you fuckin lyin. so nelly's mom makes her refuse to marry trell and months later he proposes to shawna. and i'm not even surprised that her dumbass said yes.

"and mama ain't happy about it" kamari shook his head, eating popcorn. i stuck my hand in his bowl and took out a handful.

i shrugged and walked inside the room. "hey ma" i greeted her. she paused and looked at me, "hey nicky. how was the graduation?"

"it was nice" i sat on the bed and finished the popcorn before taking off my shoes. she nodded, "nice to know one of my kids ain't out doing dumb shit"

"are we done here?" shawna asked rolling her eyes.

"you just don't get it do you?"

"mom i'm grown i can make my own choices"

"you are nineteen! you really think you should be getting married right now?"

"yes"

my mom just started laughing softly, "you do know he proposed to nelly too right? charlotte told me that she made nelly give him the ring back"

we've gotten really close to nelly and charlotte over the past couple months. my mom doesn't hold charlotte accountable for anything that happened and also, it was 16 years ago.

so nelly been coming over a lot more. and even though her and shawna mended things there is still some tension that resides between them.

"look, i love him and i don't care what any of you have to say about it"

"lil girl i'm bout to beat yo-" my mom reached out to hit shawna but she let out a shriek and ran out the room with my mom on her tail. i just laughed and let ava in before closing the door so i can change.

"when ya sister gonna stop being stupid?" she laughed, picking up her laptop from on top
of the dresser.

"my sister? that's ya twin"

"and yet we're complete opposites"

i took my dirty clothes and put them in my hamper before finally laying down. i been out all day, not that i mind because it was a special day for my baby. i closed my eyes about to fall asleep.

"nick?" ava suddenly said. "hm?" i hummed.

i heard her let out a sigh, "do you really think sheyaa is gonna get life?"

she been talking about sheyaa a lot. she's afraid that somehow, all this will come back to tay.

"hopefully" i simply responded.

honestly, that's all i'm praying for.

.

fuck rona, my prom would've been next week.