The Black Woman #Wattys2016

The middle.

Alani
"Mami, why does Lani get to have her friends over but whenever I ask you to have my friends over its a freaking problem?" Acciah asked Mami, who rolled her eyes and continued setting the table. I placed the placed in the middle of the silverware while Acciah continued his little rant. "They're not even that bad!" Mami looked up at him for a split second, as if to say "yeah right," and went back to setting the table.

"Where's Declan, baby?" Mami asked me and finished off the last plate with silverware. I shrugged and placed the last plate down in front of my father's chair. "Him and Jason went somewhere with Julian and them. They'll be back before dinner." She sat down in one of the chairs. "Tell me something, baby," She started off. "What's with you and that Jason boy? I seen the way he looks at you, Lani so don't you say nothing." I sighed and leaned against the table. Acciah also leaned across the table like he was actually interested in what we were saying.

"Jason and I have history together, Mami. He was the first man that I met in the states...the first man to break my heart. He's married..well he was. I really fell for him but he was too busy worrying about everything else but me. He has a temper too that he's working on but-" She interrupted me. "So what's the problem?" I sighed again. "I'm pregnant, Mami. It's Declan's."

She motioned for me to continue. "Shoot I knew that." Acciah gasped. "Oooooh!! Daddy gone beat your tale!" I slapped him upside the head and he rubbed the side that I hit. Mami glared at him also. "Like I was saying, it's Declan's. And I don't know what to do.."

"Do you love Declan?" She asked me. I nodded, easy. "Of course I love him, Mami." She nodded. "I see that. But do you love him as much as you love that Jason boy?" I looked down at the floor and she stood up. "Ah, there it is. Right there." I wiped the tears from my eyes and my mom wrapped her arms around me. That only made them pour out more. It was something about being in my mother's arms that triggered everything in me to finally come out again. She rubbed my back and whispered in my ear. "You are your mother's child, Alani. You truly are." Then, she let me go and went back to the food. "Go get your siblings, the food is ready."
~~~
My dad walked in the house and put his briefcase down in the foyer. I ran to him and wrapped my legs around his waist just like old times. "Dad!" He hugged me tightly and placed me back on the ground. "There's my baby girl. I've been waiting all day just to see you." We walked hand in hand to the living room where everybody sat around and I pointed to my friends. "Dad, this is Blake, Flynn, and Dayja. Blake is my best friend and Flynn is his boyfriend. Dayja is Blake and Declan's sister." He shook their hands with a smile. "Nice to meet Alani's friends. She's never had a problem with choosing the wrong crowd to be around so I know that you're all good people." Then, I pointed to Declan, who was on his laptop. "That's Declan daddy, the man I was telling you about." I said with a smile. Declan stood up and shook my father's hand. "It's finally nice to meet you, sir." My father nodded and shook his back. "Likewise. So you're the man that's been stealing my daughter's heart?" Declan's smile slowly faded. "Yeah..something like that, sir."

My father looked confused and Declan stood out of the way and revealed Jason. He had a beanie on his head hanging low and he had changed from his attire from earlier to gray joggers and a black blink-182 shirt. "Dad, this is Jason." My dad raised his eyebrow but shook Jason's hand too. "So this is the boy?" Nobody said anything. My father groaned, clearly becoming impatient. "Well will somebody inform me on what's going on here!" Mami laughed at dad and took him by the arm. "Oh come on and eat, you old man. We'll explain it all to you some other time."

[aye family dinner is in the next chapter. Guess who's coming to dinner lmao]