His Rose

Chapter 4

"Oooooh Ria has a crush." Taliah said in a singsong voice next to me as we walked home from school.

I wanted to give her a nasty look, but a smile formed on my face at the thought of Liam. "Girl, I ain't even say all that."

"Then why the fuck is you cheesing so hard right now?" She asked stepping on a leaf.

Her face fell when it didn't make the satisfying crunching sound, but she smiled when she looked back at me. Probably waiting for an answer.

"Well..." The truth was I was happy because I had every period after lunch with Liam and we sat desk by desk in all of them. Talking and laughing with each other about nothing and everything.

But if I told T that she would never let me hear the end of it.

I was relieved from giving a response by the view of my house and my mom getting out of her car.

"Mom!"

"Aunty!"

Taliah and I yelled at the same time, running towards her like two big babies.

She laughed and put her purse back in her car, opening her arms for us to hug her.

"We missed you, Aunty." Taliah said holding onto her arm as they walked away from the car and towards the house. I followed, grabbing her purse from the car.

My mom shook her head, chuckling. "I was only in Texas for four days, y'all." Shit that's long enough.

Apart from T and a very few select cousins, my mom was all I had. My dad wasn't in the picture because...well just because. But Tiana Marie Rose more than made up for his absence with her unconditional love.

We walked into the house and I sat her purse down on the counter and got her a bottle of water from the fridge.

She accepted the bottle with a smile of gratitude and turned to Taliah. "So are you going to stay and catch me up on what's good with y'all?"

Taliah smiled and was about to say yes, but then shook her head no. I frowned. "I promised Kylie I'd hang out with her today."

"Ah ok." Mom said with some disappointment lacing her tone.

Taliah picked up on it. "I'm all yours this weekend though." She said giving her a goodbye hug. She gave me one too. "Bye Aunty! Bye Ri!"

"Bye!" We yelled back. My mom turned to me.

"I missed you, baby." She said opening her arms for a hug.

I gladly obliged. "I missed you too, Mom." She pulled away from the hug.

"Alright go do your homework while I catch up on some rest, and we can watch something tonight."

I giggled, "Yes, ma'am." I said with a mock salute.

<*      ^      *>

I woke up from my nap well rested.

I had some homework, but I was not about to do it. If a teacher assigns homework on the first day of school, that's on them.

The vibration of my phone caught my attention and I immediately picked it up.

Hey
It's Liam

I let out a little scream and did a little dance still in my bed.

Hi

I saved his name on my phone as "Liam💛" and went downstairs to see what my mom was up to.

I was met with the divine smell of homemade wings. My stomach growled loud enough for my mother to hear all the way in the kitchen.

She laughed. "Get your hungry self in here and fix yourself a plate." I eagerly followed her instructions, grabbing some paper towels and a bottle of water along the way.

She motioned to the living room and I went in, grabbing the remote and turning the TV on. We sat down and caught up with each other while looking for a show to watch.

She jumped up a little while I was going through our Netflix options. "Ooh let's watch Riverdale."

I looked at her like she was on crack. "So what exactly do they got in the water down in Texas?"

She playfully smacked my arm. "Don't play me, Ri." I looked at the TV and decided to exit Netflix because of her ridiculous suggestion. I went to Hulu instead and pressed play on RHOA. "This that ratchet shit." She grumbled.

"Language, Ma." The look she gave me made me sit quiet and eat my food.

My phone vibrated again and my heart skipped a beat when I saw it was a text from him.

L: what're you doing tonight?

R: nm. just chilling with my mom.

L: ah so you're a momma's girl huh?

R: yeah ig you could say that lol

L: I see. I bet I could make you a daddy's girl tho.

I choked on my wing, but quickly recovered when my mom glanced at me.

R: enough with me. wyd?

We spent the rest of the night texting each other until I fell asleep with my phone in my hand and one thought in my mind.

Maybe I do have a little crush.

Heyyyyy! um so that's Chapter 4.

Favorite reality TV show?

Y'all this writing thing is not easy😭 Idk how y'all be doing it so good.

Anyways thanks for the reads, comments, and votes. It's what keeps me going💗