more life / b.simmons (2)

49

arielle cries at the top of her lungs for seemingly no apparent reason. ben picks her up and tries bouncing her in his arms. she's been crying like this all day and he doesn't know why; he's fed her, changed her, and has basically done everything under the sun that you do to get babies to stop crying, but nothing is working.

ben gently shushes her as he holds her against his chest, bouncing her up and down. his cellphone rings loudly against the hardwood of the table. it only makes her cry more so he quickly grabs it off of the table and answers the call from tahj. "have you left yet?" he asks.

"damn—no, i'm at the house," ben says, pacing around the living room while simultaneously trying to calm his baby down. tahj and him were supposed to meet in ten minutes but ben forgot because he's been busy with arielle.

"man, is that your baby?" tahj asks, the crying in the backgrounds extremely audible.

"yes, i can't get her to stop crying," ben says, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear. he takes arielle off of his chest and cradles her in his arms.

tahj laughs on the other line, stepping into his shoes. "man, hold on. i'll be over in ten," tahj replies. they say their goodbyes and hang up. ben sets his phone down and heads into the kitchen to grab arielle's bottle.

to his success, she actually takes it and she stops crying for ten minutes, until tahj knocks on the door and ruins the peace and quiet. she cries again and ben shushes her gently as he makes his way to unlock the front door.

"oh, you're okay," ben sighs, setting the bottle down on the counter as they pass the kitchen.  arielle continues to cry loud enough for tahj to hear through the door. unlocking the door, ben pulls it open to reveal his friend, who looks at his ben, the baby, and then shakes his head. "don't start."

"i didn't say anything," tahj says, pushing his way into the house. "but you're telling me that you can't get her to stop crying? three other kids wasn't enough practice?" tahj jokes, reaching for arielle and taking her out of bens arms.

ben rolls his eyes and runs a hand over his recently grown out hair. arielle continues to cry and ben shakes his head. "i guess you didn't get enough practice either," he mumbles as they retreat into the living room. tahj ignores bens snide comment and tries to calm down his dramatic niece.

"does she always cry like this?" tahj asks, grabbing her pacificar off of the coffee table.

ben shakes his head. "just recently," he says, letting out a breath. he thinks that she probably misses her mother and the motherly touch that she hasn't gotten in a few months. it makes him upset to think about the future and having to explain to her why her mom just up and left.

"did analiese dip?" tahj asks, and bens lack of response gives tahj his answer. "you're kidding." ben hasn't told anyone that she left—besides his parents—because he doesn't want to hear it. he already knows.

"nope, it's been almost four months?" he says unsurely, rubbing the back of his head. time has been moving so quickly ever since the twins graduated, he's barely even sure when the season starts.

"damn. what did amari say?" tahj asks, stroking arielle's head now that she's quiet. why ben didn't think of the pacifier makes no sense, but that's neither here nor there.

the tall man lets out a short, bark of a laugh that makes tahj's eyebrows shoot up the length of his forehead. "you're trippin, man," ben says, shaking his head. there's no way he's going to her and get an i told you so speech in the midst.

"i'm serious—you act like amari is evil, or something. i think she'd be understanding," he tries.

ben scoffs. "you clearly have not dealt with her for the last year."