My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Twenty-Two

A cold wind whipped my face as I climbed up the stairs to the house of my mother's current living quarters. I knocked on the door and listened for the loud "Come in!" From the house's current owner. A middle aged woman, very loud and cranky, with a boyfriend half her age and a lesbian daughter in jail. As soon as I opened the door, I was barreled into by a time force and a small voice squeaked out my name. Or tried to. What actually came out was 'Bewwa'.

It was the daughter's daughter. A cute, chubby faced half Mexican child. But the mom's a lesbian, right? True. However she did have a boyfriend at one point and that is where this little munchkin came a long. She was a little sweetheart most of the time, except when her grandmother, or, "Meme" came around. Then she knew she'd get her way all the time.

The child would scream, and hit and cry. It was like she was a completely different kid. Notice that I've been calling her kid up to this point. Because that's what I called her. Either kid, kiddo, munchkin or baby. Pretty much everyone called her baby though she was almost four years old. No one really knew how to pronounce her real name. Her mother named her something strange. I don't remember exactly what. Something like Alexandria or Allison spelled backwards.

"Go outside?" She slurred through her pacifier. Yes, pacifier. Her grandmother never weened her off of it but my mom refuses to answer the child if she has it in her mouth.

"You know your Meme doesn't want you to go outside." I responded with care.

Baby stared back at me with a confused expression. "Go outside?" She pointed to the door.

"No, baby." I took her hand and led her into the kitchen where her grandmother's boyfriend, Mike, was leaning against the counter top smoking a cigarette. He wasn't the best family guy either. The man once left the baby home alone for almost ten hours and every time I saw him, he was either smoking, high or wasted on alcohol. His daughter was a little younger than me and pregnant and he would smoke pot with her every time he saw her, which wasn't often. I'd seen her picture. Very pretty.

I'd been trying to avoid Mike all together since I found out he'd started flirting with my mom though she had a boyfriend and since he tried to offer me vodka. When I told him I was too young, he told me no one had to know about it. So I left the scene and returned to my mom's room. She was not pleased.

I sat the baby in a chair in the kitchen with a bag of gummies and then made my way to my mom's room. A small play room painted to look like hills and sky, with a small mattress on the floor and a small T.V. My mom baby sat the child- and I when I was there-, in exchange for food and a placed to stay. It wasn't the most ideal living quarters, but it was stable.

I rapped my knuckles several times on her door and said, "Mom, it's me."

"Oh. You didn't have to knock, sweetie. Sam," Her boyfriend. "Isn't here."

"How was I supposed to know?" I chuckled as I stepped into the room, the tiled floor cold against my toes as I slipped off my shoes and socks, then tossing my video game bag onto the box mattress.

"How was your week?" My mother asked with a smile.

"It was..." I stopped and shifted on the mattress. "Okay..."

"Uh oh. What happened?" She turned her attention to me. My mom wasn't just a mom to me. She was also a best friend.

My mother would support just about any decision I made and she trusted me to make the right ones. She would never judge me no matter what I did. I could tell her anything and everything.

"Well..." I explained the entire situation with my grandmother to her. By the end, her jaw had dropped and she was clearly irritated.

"Are you serious?" I nodded. "That's ridiculous! It was a HUG!" She shook her head and popped her jaw. Something she did when she upset or frustrated. "Sometimes I just DO NOT understand that woman..." There was a pause. "We'll how was your week aside from that?"

"Amazing!" A smiled spread across my previously sullen face.

"Oh?" My mother raised a dark eyebrow.

"We kissed."

"Oh!"

"It was his first kiss."

"That's so cute!" The grown woman squealed. Her long brown hair jumped in its bun as she bounced slightly in happiness on the mattress. She remembered what it was like to be a child.