Nina

9

"Did you have fun last night?" Ma asked me, as we took a sip of our hot chocolate.

We were bundled up in covers as we sat on the living room couch. It 12:30 in the afternoon and for once, she didn't have work and I didn't have anything to do today.

I glanced down at my half-drunken drink that held five big marshmallows. The amount of marshmallows they give in the pack aren't enough for us, so we bought a bag of giant marshmallows one day and have been satisfied since.

My mom and I were that mother and daughter who were more like best friends. Just the smallest things, we did in a way that we found to be more beneficial to us made us happy in a way. I don't know why, but it was always good vibes with her unless she was aggravating me.

When I think about it, I want to say that we've gotten even closer after Dad died. When he was alive, of course I was close with both of them, but I was more of a Daddy's Girl. He never steered me wrong and just his presence was enough to lift my spirits. A father was something other kids lacked and I actually had one in my life.

My mom was great as well. She loved him unconditionally, but of course I didn't believe that anyone could love him as much as I did.

"It was real cool, Deondre is real chill. His friend Jay is too. I met him yesterday."

I took another sip of my drink and began to reminisce on last night. The chips and salsa were really good. I wanted to go back to his house and get more from him because for some reason, his snack tastes better than the store's.

My mom nodded her head. "That's very good, Nina, I'm glad you had fun. As long as this boy treats you right, I'm good.."

She trailed off with a sigh.

"But I need to tell you something."

I gave my mom a confused look. For one, me and this boy just met. Nothing special was happening right now and two, every time she said "I need to tell you something," it was something big, more or less, would catch me off guard.

She flipped her long hair behind her back and took another sip of her hot chocolate.

"Are you listening Nina, because there's two things I'm going to tell you and I'm not trying to repeat myself."

I nodded my head to let her know that I understood and mentally prepared myself for whatever she had to say. She took a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts.

"First, I'm doing excellent at the firm of course and I've been promoted to Prosecutor. You know, that's what I've been going to school for, but there's something even bigger than that," she paused and took another deep breath. "They want me to be a prosecutor at my own firm.. but it's not here, it's in Louisiana. New Orleans, Louisiana. I accepted and we're moving in two weeks."
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"Heck nah, Nina. Ain't no way you leaving us. Ma needs to make a new decision." Lucas declared.

He, Caden, and I were all eating banana splits at an ice cream shop called Yo Yo. We've been coming here since we were kids.

Everyday after elementary school, after we'd caught the bus home, we'd come straight here, running with book bags and all. I could never get over how good frozen yogurt tasted.

I ate another spoonful of my Vanilla froyo drizzled in caramel and fudge. It was melting pretty quick in this warm weather.

"I know that Luke, but she got the job and I can't just tell her I'm not going because I'll have nowhere to stay and my mother is not going to leave me behind. I don't know what I'm going to do up there though. I have no friends up there, no family, and like I said, if New Orleans is where we have to go then that's where we're going. I can't stop her."

"New Orleans?" Our heads turned to see Deondre standing with his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face. I was out before the designated time he told me to be ready. I guess we were both caught off guard.

My heart pounded. I wasn't expecting to see him right now. I hadn't talked to him all morning.

Why did he pop up on me out of nowhere? What was he doing here anyway?

He took a chair from another outdoor table and sat it next to me. He took his seat and analyzed my face. Lucas and Caden looked me in my eyes as if to ask who is that?

I smiled at Deondre, while running my hands through my hair.

I guess I should probably introduce these two.

"Okay, Deondre these are my two best friends Lucas and Caden. They're actually more like brothers to me." I said, gesturing my hands to them.

"Sup bruh." Deondre greeted, giving them dap. He then turned back to me, his dark brown eyes staring into my sparkling blue ones.

"So, what's this I heard you say about NOLA?"

"I'm moving there." It was as plain as can be. I didn't even think to beat around the bush, for there was no reason to.

A smile lit up on his face which caused me to smile even more. It felt good to know that he was excited for me to move to his hometown. I kind of felt special.

"Dang ma, for real?" he asked.

I nodded my head and smiled while Luke and Cay kept a straight face. Well.. this was bittersweet.
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