Laughter and light chatter flowed from the occupants in the hospital room as the ate and joked around.
"Sorry if I'm smacking but this food is busting. I got fried fish, yams, mac & cheese and a mixture of collards and kale greens. It's from my sister The Jaded Soul food restaurant."
"Lo, who you talking to?"
"My peeps. Oh, before I forget do y'all mind being on camera. I'm on live." Lorenzo blurted out.
"He better be joking. Lorenzo I swear if you show me on camera, you gonna have your own bed in this hospital." Fatima said.
"What's good, beautiful people?" Michael said sticking his head in the frame.
"Why would you do that now, bro?" Zac asked him.
"My followers know how close Tima and I are so naturally they were worried about her too. Plus any content I do equals a bag and I need my bag."
"What you need to do is get a real job and put your expensive ass Bio Chem Engineering degree to use." Her father said.
"That part." Fatima and Omar chimed in.
"It really be your own people. Yall haters man.."
"What??"
"You ain't got shit to hate on. Excuse my language ma, Ms. Grace." Omar said as he throw a spoon at his little brother.
"Turn it off Lorenzo. We don't need everyone in our family business."
"But pop-"
"Now. Not everything has to be shared with the world."
"You heard him, cry baby."
"O, go.."
Fatima let out a yawn in the midst of their siblings squabble that caught Zac's attention.
"Ok. I think we should let Fatima get her rest. She had a long day."
"I'm not.." she yawned once more.
*****************************************
Fatima exhaled as her room door closed. Finally some peace and quiet.
A knock sounded throughout the room as Zac entered.
"Hey."
"Hey, did you forget something?"
"No I thought that I would stay with you tonight but only if you're comfortable with it."
"Umm..sure. it's fine."
He walked back over to one of the chairs and sat silently.
"You scared me today, you know."
"Honestly I was scared too."
They grew quite again.
"Well other than staring at the walls or watching crappy TV, we can finally have that long over due talk." Zac said
"Are you sure you ready for that?"
"Yeah it's time for us to both be mature adults and talk and listen to what is being said. Time to put aside the anger and pettiness. Plus you can't run away this time."
"True and I have your undivided attention. Too bad it took a trip to the ER to make it happen."
"We have known and loved each for years. Seen each other at our best and worse but we still made it."
"I know."
"So why is this fight so different?" Zac asked.
"Because..," she sighed " we're fighting against each other. We both want the same yet different things."
