Tongue Kiss the Chocolate off my Stomach

Clio

I smile at Dahntay, who comes into the front room, dressed in a basketball jersey, matching SnapBack hat, black skinny jeans, and Converse. His tattoos are on full display--his mama's name, his sisters' name, a portrait of his grandma on the side, among a few others that say things like "Chicago's finest." I mute the TV for a minute. "Goin' see Shae?" Like most of the Boys that come here, Dahntay isn't without a female friend. Now, where that relationship is going is beyond me. I'd like to bet she doesn't even know about Dahntay's daughter, Diana.

He shakes his head. "Not at first. Nina's comin' to town." His grin is wide and bright, and he's radiating.

I grin. "Really? Is she bringin' the babies?" Nina is his older sister at 23. She has two kids, Nate and Natalia. I love them. Especially Natalia, who, at one, adores me.

He nods. "Yeah, an' she's bringin' Diana, too."

Ah, that explains the smile. "Aww! Well, look, you go ahead an' go see her. Take lots of pictures. I wanna see a recent picture of my babies,"

He smiles wider. "Yes ma'am. I guess I'll be home around eleven."

I give him a thumb's up and unmute the TV. I'm watching Netflix on my Xbox, and Rugrats is on. Usually, I wouldn't watch something the boys would make fun of me for, but, I absolutely adore this show still, so.

Plus, with the exception of four, the other eight are out the house on Friday, attending football games and going on dates. I, as usual, am parked on the sofa, freshly showered in my PJ's, and watching TV and movies because that's the life.

Spire gives me a little wave as she leaves, face red as she exits Jace's room--the room she always uses for last and takes the longest to "clean." As if I'm stupid. I know she's sleeping with him. I don't blame her. I've heard his charm--not that he was using it on me--and it's pretty hard to resist actually.

I yawn, tucking my blanket over my shoulders as an episode goes off. Mama comes into the living room, stretching. "Hey, baby." She sits down next to me, scooting under my blanket.

"When did this become a party of two?" I tease, smiling at her. I scoot over to give her more room, though. Being my only parent, we're not really all that close. She's busy, and I respect that she has others to help. I'm a good kid. I don't need that much attention. But when she does spend time with me, I welcome it happily.

She smiles at me, then rolls her eyes at the TV. "You still love the Rugrats?"

I nod. "Of course. Now hush, Tommy is takin' out his screwdriver, an' it's about to go down."

We spend the next two hours on the sofa, watching TV and giggling about old memories. The four boys not out the house--Jace (who's on probation), Manny (just got here), Steven (doesn't have many friends), and Drake (sick)--are all bundled in their rooms. But it's about time for them to eat.

"Pizza tonight? I'm not in the mood to cook," Mama sighs, already digging out her phone and ordering. She adds some cinnamon sticks and hot wings, "just for us girls."

I go through the movies on Netflix and settle for some action movie she'd like.

I'm nothing like Mama, let that be known. She's a lot meaner than I am, a lot more uncaring. She's not exactly the "bake cookies and do crafts with my daughter" type of mom. Even before the boys, I don't remember her in my life, but a babysitter as she worked long hours and usually got home after I fell asleep. I was scared of her up until she created the House.

As for Dad, he's always been nameless and faceless. She told me he doesn't mean anything to her, and I'd be better off without knowing him. I believe her. She says he knows I exist, but he doesn't want to see me, so I don't want to look at him either. I'm pretty sure I'll know him if I do see him, though. I don't look anything like my mom. I don't have anything from her but the small height.

I yawn, getting up to answer the doorbell. The peephole tells me it's the pizza guy. "Hey."

He hands me my pizza with a smile. "Hey there, beautiful." I hand him the money and he leaves.

"HEY Y'ALL PIZZA!" I scream.

Three doors open and three boys come out. All except Drake who is probably nursing that horrible headache. I'm gonna bring him some medicine later.

Mama grabs our pizza--all meat, extra cheese--and heads back to the sofa, eyes locked on the screen. "Clio, you're missing the best part!"

I roll my eyes, leaving the boys to the pizza.  

<3 <3 <3

Mama's phone buzzes in the middle of the movie. She answers it immediately, face strained as she tosses the covers off of me and gets up. In the kitchen, I can hear the chomping sounds of boys and pizzas, and then the sounds of laughter. I hear somebody burp, and then there's a huge contest going on. Mama's voice is only a mumble in the hallway. 

I mute the TV, more out of respect for her. It's her "favorite movie" as she just so mentioned during the middle (honestly, I'm more of a wait until I see what other movies the world has to offer me before I say something like that). 

Dahntay laughs, loudly. "Clio!" he calls.

I throw my blanket off of me, lumbering up reluctantly. I'm not happy about it. There is nothing worse than being comfortable and having to get up. "What?" I mumble to myself.

Mama sighs. "No!" she yells. "She's fine without you."

Her words catch my interests. I turn to look at her. She waves me away, travelling further down the hall.

I push open the kitchen door, scared to see what I'll find. Nothing but three overly tattooed boys, shoving pizza into their mouth one slice at a time. "I can fit a whole slice into my mouth!" Dahntay says, mouth full.

I roll my eyes. "Underachiever." I grab two slices and shove them both in my mouth, chew, and swallow. 

They watch in wonder.

"your mouth is hella huge," Jace says, watching me gulp down some water.

I shrug. "Eh. I guess so." Truth is, my mouth is wide. I could probably get another piece in there. Depends on how big the slice is.

The boys go back to trying to beat me now. 

My mind if only halfway into it.

__

A/N: Is anybody reading this? Or should I give up and try another story?