The Lust That Hides The Love

Two-Nanny

Lapis's pov

Summer was always the same thing. And honestly other than summer reading, all I'd done was swim and hang out with Mangano.

Jasper was always gone doing summer sports which left just me to help mom out with Malichite. He should have been the one helping, but he was off doing 'buisness' out of state all summer.

"Hello! Earth to Lapis?"

"Huh?" I looked over at Mangano.

"Aren't you going to take your turn?"

"Right." We were playing a friendly round of Battleship because it had started raining as soon as she got there.

I didn't pay much attention to the game, however, because I was waiting.

"What are you waiting for?" Mangano suddenly asked, scarring me.

"Wait, are you reading my mind or something?" I asked. She started laughing.

"No, you muttered something about waiting."

"Oh, yeah. I guess I was just waiting for-"

"Lapis, could you please come here?" My mother's voice echoed from her office.

"That." Sighing, I got up and went to see what the issue was.

"Could you wake Mali up? She needs to be fed." I sighed.

"She's in the same room as you." I pointed out, walking over to the bassinet where my sister slept.

"Yes, but I'm trying to get caught back up with work. I've been gone for a while now and I'm going back next week." I looked at her like the mad woman she was.

"You can't really expect him to be ready to take care of her, can you? Who knows if he'll even be back by next week?" She shook her head.

"I don't expect him to. I think you'll do fine on your own." I started laughing. Not because I found what she said funny, but because I finally realized how crazy she was.

"Mom, I have a life too you know! And I don't want to spend however long you work everyday being a nanny!" She glared at me.

"Don't talk back to your mother like that! You are watching your sister, and that's final!" I groaned.

"This is bullshit!" I stormed out of the office and back into the dining room.

"Is everything okay?" Mangano asked when I got back.

"I'm really sorry for this, but is there any way you can go home a little early?" She looked at me.

"How early?"

"Now?" She checked the time on her phone.

"The next bus is in an hour." I sighed.

"Fine. Let's just clean up and then figure things out." She nodded and started to pull the pegs and ships out of the Battleship game while I cleaned up the snacks.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked after a minute or so. I sighed again.

"No. I just want to brood in my room like an emo teen." I said, making Mangano giggle.

"Didn't you have an emo phase though?" I groaned, but chuckled.

"Seventh grade. Ugh, don't remind me." It was when I first dyed my hair. Everyone thought it was weird at the time, but now almost everyone had dyed hair.

"There's still a while until the bus comes. Are you sure you still want me to leave?" I nodded.

"I'm just really upset with my mom and need some alone time." Mangano gave me a quick squeeze.

"I get it. Sometimes you just have to sit alone in the dark for a while. My mom thinks I'm crazy, but it really helps me gather my thoughts and clear my head." I chuckled a bit.

"I swear every time we talk we have more in common." I thought about what she said, and hugged her back. "I'm lucky to have a friend like you."

After she left, I sat in the dark like I had planned.

It felt like my mother always did stuff like that. Trying to control my life. But I wanted more than her plan for me. I wanted to be free. I was thinking about that when I received that life-changing text.

Hey.

(A/N) My girl! I love the dynamic between Lapis and Mangano.

Credit for Mangano once again goes to my amazing friend Girlneedsbooks

Random Fact of The Day:This book was originally going to be the third one, something to reflect on the third book(which would have been the second). I changed it when I realized that the plot of the third book would be confusing without this book.

Edit: fixed spelling