more life / b.simmons (2)

34

two months later

amari rubs her five-months-pregnant swollen belly as she walks downstairs. kyra and keanu sit at the bar counter doing homework and adrian is in the home gym shooting around.

kyra hears her mother's slow footsteps down the stairs and yells, "do you need help?"

"i got it," amari replies, stepping down off the last step. ever since amaris nelly got bigger, kyra has no problem waiting on her mother hand and foot. besides ben, kyra helps her the most. "what homework are you two doing?"

"bio," kyra says, clicking on her computer. amari nods and heads into the kitchen.

"you two hungry?" she asks, opening up the cabinets and pulling down the peanut butter. that's her biggest craving this pregnancy, and it doesn't make sense.

kyra looks at keanu and he shrugs. "no," kyra says, going back to their homework. "what'd you get for number 6?" she asks keanu. he flips through his homework packet and finds number 6.

"tRNA," he says. kyra frowns, being that her answer wasn't even close. she erases her answer and rereads the question to see where she went wrong. "just copy it."

"but i don't understand how that's the answer," she says, clicking back to the first couple of the slides. keanu goes back to his own worksheet and kyra figures out the problem.

amari glances at the two of them and wonders why they barely talk, but decides to ignore it. she takes her snack and walks over to the home gym to go talk to adrian.

adrian shoots a three and jogs to retrieve the ball as amari enters. "hey, mom," he pants, wiping his forehead on the sleeve of his shirt.

"hey sweetie," she says, sitting down on the bench. adrian dribbles over time her and takes one of her apples. "you got any homework?" she asks as he takes another slice.

adrian shakes his head. amari narrows her eyes at him and he holds his hands up in surrender. "i swear! i did it all in 8th period because i knew i was gonna work out after school—plus, we're going to dads game tonight," he says, bouncing the ball between his legs.

at that, amaris eyes widen. "i forgot," she says. adrian shrugs.

"you don't have to go."

"but i told him i'd be there," she says, rubbing her belly. adrian nods at her stomach.

"blame it on the baby. i'll call avery and see if she wants to go," he says. amari chuckles and takes another slice of apple. adrian heada back towards the court but stops once amaris calls for him. "yeah?"

"come back, i want to talk to you," she says, patting the spot on the bench next to her. adrian holds himself back from sighing and walks back over to his mother, taking the spot next to her. he dribbles the ball underneath his legs and amari shakes her head. "stop dribbling for a second, adrian." she says. he stops and holds the ball between his feet and grips the edge of the bench.

amari frowns at her son and sets her plate of food down. "what's wrong, honey?"

he looks at her weird. "what do you mean?" amari gives him a look that says really and that only deepens the expression on his face.

"boy, come on. somethings bothering you and has been for the last week. whats up?" she asks, looking him in the eye. adrian averts his eyes to his shoes, becoming suddenly uncomfortable with the eye contact. "i'm your mother, adrian. you can tell me anything." she adds. he doesn't meet her eye, says "nothings wrong" instead. a lie.

amari sighs. "can you at least talk to your dad about it?"

"there's nothing to talk about, mom. nothings wrong. can i get back to playing?" he asks, finally looking at her. amari stares at him hard, making him uncomfortable again. "fine. i'm just stressed about the season, it's nothing serious."