𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑

𝟣𝟫 | 𝖥𝖠𝖬𝖨𝖫𝖸 𝖠𝖥𝖥𝖠𝖨𝖱𝖲

CIARA ARMANI LOVE | CICI

IT has been two months since CiCi, Ron, and Candy had seen their mother. The two oldest could live without her but the youngest was attached to her mothers hip so they eventually had to go back. Ron hadn't said two words since he entered the house. He ignored his mother's presence on the couch and locked himself into his room.

CiCi hadn't said much either. She helped Candy with her homework and didn't leave her room after. She sat on the pink fur carpet with her back leaned against the bunk bed with her computer in her lap, looking for apartments. As soon as she turned eighteen, she wanted her and Candy to be out of here.

Ron had already signed his lease but was waiting to move out. He ain't wanna leave his sisters in this crazy house alone.

"Candy, can I come in?" Gabrielle knocked at the door and after not hearing an response, she entered. "Oh, I ain't know you was in here. Where Candy?"

"Sleep," CiCi pointed to the top bunk. "Wassup?"

"Whatchu mean wassup? I wanted to talk to my goddamn child." She scrunched her face up.

"Now you wanna talk to her? You ain't call her in months ma and now all of a sudden you worried about her. That's not how this works." CiCi was fed up with her mothers antics.

"I know that ain't my baby CiCi talking to me like this." Gabi placed her hand over her chest, clearly offended. With CiCi being the less talkative child, she never spoke her mind. She ain't back talk or express how she felt. After seventeen years of mistreatment, she couldn't take anymore.

"I'm not tryna be disrespectful mama but I'm tired. What type of mother can you be to not talk to your seven year old child for two months? For gods sake, she has lupus! I hate to say it but you never know when she may take her last breath." CiCi stresses, "You had me and Ron change our position in her lives from siblings to parents and that's not an easy responsibility."

"So you saying I'm an unfit mother because I let y'all have y'all freedom for two months?" She didn't understand her responsibilities as a parent and was trying to word it in a way that she looked good.

"You tryna make it sound better but you not hearing yourself. She's seven, not seventeen. She doesn't need no freedom! She has recess at school, I take her to the park, to get her nails done, out to eat. That's more than enough freedom for an seven year old."

"You not finna sit up here and tell me it's okay to abandon a child." CiCi ain't wanna put it like that but it seemed as if the only way to get through her mom was to give her the hard truth.

"And you damn sure ain't finna sit up here and tell me that I abandoned my child. Youn disrespect nobodies parenting, those fighting words." Gabrielle was just scared of the fact she ended up just like her mother; unfit.

"So what? You wanna fight?" She ain't play when it can to her siblings. She could get on that type of timing with her own mother.

"That's what you wanna do?" Gabrielle asks her daughter, backing out of her youngest daughter room. She wasn't about to fight while her child was sleeping or in her room, that would definitely make her feel worser than she already did.

Despite Gabrielle trying to make excuses for her actions, she knew the way she raised her two eldest kids wasn't right. Her mother degraded her as a child and let her fiend for herself. Not getting the attention she wanted at home led to her finding it else where. Whether that was school, the club, public outings, and in men— especially. Turning to boys to fill the void her father never did, she got pregnant at the age of thirteen and unfortunately had an miscarriage. Her second pregnancy came at 16, then Ciara came at 18, then Candyce at 27.

"To be honest, if you was a random I would but since you my mama, I'm not."

CiCi was really sparing her but Gabi had too much of a big head to see that.

_____

"What's wrong ma? You ain't said a word since you got here." Sage asked CiCi as he came out the bathroom with steam following him.

CiCi had called her to come pick her up and they hadn't said much besides a hey. She had took a shower and a nap but had yet to express her emotion to him. She has no plans on doing so but he did open up about his father so it was only right she exchange the same gratitude.

"You know how I been staying at the Bnb right?" She begins earning a nod from him. "So I decided to go back home today and see what was up with my ma but she was still tripping."

"Gone ask me did I wanna fight because I kept it a bean with her. I thought about it but I know I could mop the floor with her and I was in my sister room. I wasn't about to take it there with her while she was sleep." Her face stayed mugged up the whole time she was talking.

"Oh yeah, she cut now. It's fuck her till I die." Sage said as he passed CiCi the Palmer's Cocoa Butter so she could lotion his back.

"That's still my mama stink," She laughs.

"Youn fuck with her so why should I?" Her silence told him his answer, "Exactly."

CiCi laid on her back, grabbing the remote to turn on Bad Girls Club. She could hear Sage's opinions about her parent as he stomped out the room, most likely to play the game in the living room. His dad wasn't home so she didn't feel uncomfortable or nervous just chilling in his room by herself.

She switched between her apps as the recap of BGC played, she came across a couples page. Deciding she wanted to be in her man's skin right about now, she wraps the thick blanket around her shoulders before allowing it to trail behind her small frame as she walks into the living room.

"What's wrong?" Sage pauses the game, looking over at her.

She shakes her head as she sits on his lap and snuggles her head into his neck. Sage chuckled at how clingy she could get, wrapping his arms around her waist.

The sound of the narrators on 2K caused CiCi to pull her phone out. Her arms rested behind his back as she scrolled through her phone. She found herself stuck on Safari again; looking at available apartments. She still had Sage's and Trey's birthday to celebrate but as soon as their were over, she was preparing for hers. Finding an apartment being the top three on her list.

Losing her virginity and going out the country being her other two.

"Hello?" CiCi answers the phone for Jelly.

"CiCi! Where you at?" Her tone causing CiCi to wince but the police sirens didn't fail to go unnoticed either.

"Wit—"

"It don't it matter. Bring your ass to the field. Ron just got shot." Jelly revealed making CiCi's eyes to widen.

"What?!"

—
You wanted it, you got it 🤷🏾‍♀️
Now I'm out fr 😭